Work Text:
Soobin vaguely remembers when it all starts. They’re at their last dance rehearsal before their performance for the fall festival, and he doesn’t think twice about throwing his spare hoodie at Kai when the younger announced he forgot his change of clothes at home. There’s a reason why he’s the leader; he’s always prepared.
It’s not until the end of practice when he notices his mistake—the yellow hoodie is soaked through with Kai’s sweat and scent, and underneath it all, Soobin’s own scent mixes in—to anyone else not in their group, they would likely think they were together. Kai’s blushing as he stammers that he’ll wash it and bring it back, but Soobin narrows his eyes and shakes his head—the Omega looks adorable in the oversized hoodie, and the sunny color suits him.
“Keep it,” Soobin says as he pinches Kai’s cheek, “It looks better on you.”
He didn’t know that it would snowball from there.
Soobin is attempting to resuscitate Kai’s grades from their grave—after all, he needed to at least maintain passing scores to keep his spot on the dance team. This meant that Kai usually rotated through with the members’ specialties—Taehyun’s the best in math, Beomgyu with science, Yeonjun in English, and Soobin with literature.
By the time they realize it’s getting late, it’s already midnight.
“It’s too cold to bike home,” Soobin says, “Just stay over.”
Kai scrunches his nose. “I didn’t bring anything though. Gross Soobinie-hyung, I’m not using your toothbrush.”
Soobin rolls his eyes. “Who doesn’t have extra toothbrushes?” Kai yelps when he flicks his forehead. “As for pajamas, just wear one of mine.” Soobin’s already digging through his drawers—any shirt will do, he thinks to himself; most of his shirts end up being big on Kai.
(If he’s a little eager to see Kai in his clothing again, he tries not to show it.)
Soobin doesn’t miss the way Kai sniffs delicately at the shirt after he catches it. He blushes a little bit when he sees the Alpha catch him in the act.
“You smell nice,” he mumbles, and Soobin smiles, while his Alpha preens. He’s been told that before; that his scent of vanilla and candle-smoke smells nice, safe. It makes him more approachable as a leader. He prefers it this way, even though Yeonjun smells more like a true Alpha, of danger and the sharp cut of winter and cinnamon.
“You smell nice too,” Soobin says, ruffling Kai’s hair. And it’s true, really Soobin might be a bit biased, but everyone in their dance group had unique, wonderful scents. There’s something about Kai’s scent that smells especially irresistible when it mixes up with his though; Kai smells of spilled sunbeams and the ocean breeze. There’s the undeniable ambrosia-scent of Omega underneath all of that, and sometimes Soobin catches the faintest whiff of pineapple too.
In short, Soobin is fairly certain Kai smells tantalizing, and worst of all, claimable. Both Kai and Beomgyu hang out often enough with Soobin and Yeonjun for the Alphas’ scents to rub off on them. The smell of another Alpha typically kept others away, but Soobin’s afraid that it won’t last; he saw Kai get approached in the hallway last week.
A soft “Soobinie-hyung?” jerks him out of his thoughts. “I still need a toothbrush.”
Right.
He gets up to show Kai where they are, heart thumping as he realizes they’ll have to sleep together. It’s not the first time and likely not the last, but Soobin always gets slightly flustered sleeping with Kai. The Omega is clingy, and he’ll inadvertently nuzzle near Soobin’s neck during the night; the Alpha used to spend half the night stiff with worry that Kai would mark him by accident. It’s never happened before, though, so over time he’d loosened up. Soobin seems to be Kai’s napping partner of choice, so really he was forced to accept the Omega’s sleeping habits or go crazy with sleep deprivation.
“Your alarm is set, right?” Kai asks as he puts his phone down on Soobin’s nightstand. Soobin was right, Kai is dwarfed in his shirt. The Alpha could barely see the edge of his boxers.
“Yup.” The pair was notorious for sleeping late. Whenever Kai slept over, they always staggered their alarms, just in case.
Soobin turns off the lights after Kai gets in the bed. The Omega curls into his side.
“Good night,” Kai says sleepily.
“Good night,” Soobin returns softly.
(He doesn’t get that shirt back either, not that he asks.)
Soobin continues giving his clothes to Kai, there seemed to be plenty of excuses—reasons to. Kai seemed to be “forgetting” his change of clothes more often for practice, it was cold outside, he needed an Alpha to stop bothering him; sometimes Kai didn’t even bother with any pretense and just tugs his jacket off.
Other than the yellow hoodie, Kai does return his clothing eventually though. Soobin’s surprised, but the reason surprises him even more.
“I only kept them because they smelled like you,” Kai says matter-of-factly. Then he steals the jacket off Soobin’s back.
Soobin, again, doesn’t think twice about what he’s doing. He starts giving Kai clothing that he’s worn just for the sake of getting his scent on them, and the Omega is delighted.
My Omega, his Alpha says in satisfaction, and Soobin pushes those thoughts away. It’s just his biology speaking.
Yeonjun pulls him aside one day.
“Soobinie,” he says carefully. “Are you and Kai…” he trails off, making his intended question obvious.
“No!” Soobin says immediately, embarrassment coloring his cheeks. He knows he sounds too defensive, but it’s a question he’s expecting—Kai these days walked around smelling like a combination of their scents; every other Alpha in the vicinity must have thought Soobin claimed him and left the Omega alone.
(It may have been the third or fourth time Kai had shown up to school in one of Soobin’s giant, soft sweaters.)
“It’s ok,” Yeonjun says soothingly, but the smirk on his face gives him away. “It didn’t smell as strong as a scent marking, but it’s pretty close. You know if you two ever...” he insinuates with a hand gesture, “We would all support you, right?”
“I—” I don’t like him is on the tip of his tongue, but it sounds wrong. “It’s not like that,” Soobin finishes weakly.
Yeonjun just raises an eyebrow.
(The thing is, he knows himself well enough to understand that he might have a tiny crush on Kai, but he’s terrified it’s only because the younger is an Omega.)
Soobin’s used to holding hands with his group members. The first time Kai holds his hand when they’re studying gives him a shock because they’re alone, but the Omega smiles shyly and that’s all the explaining Soobin needs. He’s not surprised when it happens again, but he’s pleased.
(They seem to be spending more and more time together alone, and it gets to the point where Soobin frowns if he doesn’t smell a little bit like Kai. Of course, he goes to immediately correct it.)
(Both friends and family notice, but everyone is being surprisingly mature about it.)
“Soobinie-hyung, I want you to scent mark me.”
Soobin’s head whips up in record speed. Did he hear right? “Why?” he asks, mouth drying.
“I want to smell like you,” Kai says, almost disappearing into his (Soobin’s) hoodie as he fidgets with the strings. “For real,” he adds, as if he’s worried Soobin would get the wrong idea, because after all, they already smelled like each other almost all the time.
Soobin wants to, of course he does, but he’s wary—his Alpha is overjoyed that Kai likes his scent enough to want to be marked with it, but Soobin is a romantic at heart.
“I don’t know if that’s appropriate—”
Kai mutters something under his breath that sounds suspiciously like oh god Jjunie-hyung was right before interrupting him. “I like you, hyung,” the Omega says bluntly as he crosses his arms, and Soobin knows he shouldn’t be thinking Kai is adorable when he’s obviously annoyed, but he does. “It’s not some dumb scent attraction thing, or whatever,” Kai says in a huff, blowing his bangs away from his forehead, “I like you for a lot of reasons that aren’t related to that, and if you don’t scent mark me now I’m leaving.”
Soobin doesn’t think he’ll make good on his threat, but he grins at how petulant his Omega is being, feeling elated that Kai returns his feelings.
“I like you too,” Soobin says before leaning over the table to kiss Kai, his lips feeling every bit as soft and perfect as he imagined them being.
Kai seems dazed from the kiss, but still manages to whine, “Mark me.”
“Of course baby,” Soobin says tenderly as he pulls Kai into his lap, “I’ll make sure that everyone knows you’re mine.” The last part of the sentence comes out in almost a growl, and Kai shivers in anticipation. Soobin mouths gently at the pulsepoint near the juncture of Kai’s neck and shoulder, taking care when he bites down to not hurt Kai.
Kai mewls, his whole body shuddering as he’s Claimed.
Soobin rubs his back soothingly until Kai’s breathing returns to normal.
“Your turn,” Soobin says huskily, and the way his Omega’s eyes go half-lidded before he nuzzles into his neck suggest they may not get much studying done tonight.