Chapter Text
As the oldest and strongest alpha in NCT, it was no wonder that the original members had voted Johnny to be their head alpha. Even with twenty-three members in total so far, they all looked up to Johnny and valued his authority. He gave the younger boys a paternal figure when they needed it most, and he provided a shoulder to cry on or friendly advice whenever the others sought him out. While their official leader supported the group, Johnny guided the pack.
Being part of the foreign line in SM Entertainment presented its challenges, of course. Johnny had grown up training and watching his friends debut before him for years. Then when he had finally joined NCT, the company gave him hardly any screen time or lines. In a lot of ways, he might have just seemed like their token American, the English speaker for all of their international endeavors.
Still, whenever anyone from the outside ever asked Johnny how he felt, he always answered the same--that he was the luckiest man alive.
He still got to pursue his dreams as an idol, growing as an entertainer in more ways than he had expected. However, fame and trophies couldn’t keep him warm at night. For Johnny, the real reason he felt like the most fortunate man in the world, let alone Korea, was his three mates.
Johnny smiled just thinking about them. The youngest of their relationship, Jaehyun, held an especially soft place in his heart. At first he had viewed and treated Jaehyun like a little brother, bonding over their shared interests and similarities. He had always enjoyed teasing and bringing out the childish side of the 97-liner, the side Jaehyun so often replaced with more manly charms when in front of fans.
Yet, over time, their bond had blossomed into something more mature. If Johnny was the group’s head alpha, then Jaehyun was doubtlessly the 127 unit’s baby alpha. He didn’t show it frequently, but he absolutely loved to be spoiled. Johnny was always one of the first members to coo or ruffle the younger man’s hair, anything to make the latter’s ears turn a telling shade of red.
While Jaehyun would only blush at the affectionate displays, their other alpha mate preferred to put up a fight. The trait hadn’t surprised anyone at first, considering Yuta’s tsundere personality. The Japanese man had always stayed just out of arm’s reach, occasionally reminding Johnny more of an untamed animal than an idol. His alpha was wild, after all, and Yuta gave in to his instincts more than most of the group did.
It wasn’t that Yuta disliked being ravished…quite the opposite. He just wanted his mates, especially Johnny, to earn it. Sometimes Yuta craved to have his hair stroked and be told that he was pretty. Other times, he needed Johnny to push him against the nearest wall and make him submit until Yuta forgot that he was also an alpha. It just depended on the day really.
That left their only omegan mate, the one whom all three alphas would gladly die for over and over again. Everyone in the pack adored Taeyong, but the trio loved him more than words could ever describe. He was Johnny’s best friend, Jaehyun’s lifeline, and Yuta’s soulmate. Taeyong was the one who made sure that each one of them felt comfortable, noticed, and loved before he’d even think about himself.
Within the group, Johnny and Taeyong had become the parents, taking up their respective roles with natural ease. Jaehyun had practically grown up as Taeyong’s first--favorite--child, and now Taeyong continued to nurture him as a lover. As for Yuta, the two of them had convinced strangers more than once that they had been separated at birth.
They couldn’t have kept a pack without him, let alone a relationship.
So, when Johnny opened the door to their floor--the married people’s floor, as the other 127 members called it--after a late night of filming, all he wanted to do was fall asleep with them in his arms. The simplest method was to have Jaehyun on one side and Yuta on the other with Taeyong curled up on his chest, as they had learned from experience. However, to Johnny’s dismay, the main area was empty without a sight or sound of his mates.
He checked the kitchen first, because they were twenty-something-year-old men, after all. Johnny found a pot of spaghetti sauce cooking on low, but no sign of the chef. He ignored his rumbling stomach and checked the other 95-liners’ room next.
Since management couldn’t just encourage their sleeping all together even though they were mates, Taeyong and Yuta had been given one room while Johnny and Jaehyun were given the other. Two rooms with two beds each. Fortunately for them, they preferred to sleep close, and Johnny’s and Jaehyun’s beds pushed together made quite the sizable king.
The other boys’ room had become more of a closet than anything, and Johnny sighed when he realized they weren’t in there either. Only one more room left, because there was no way that all three of them had managed to squeeze themselves in the bathtub. It was hard enough to even share a shower with one other person.
Despite his tiredness and hunger, Johnny could have stood in the doorway and watched the scene before him for hours. It wasn’t sexual, but it always filled his heart with warmth to watch his mates also take care of one another. Tonight, Yuta and Taeyong passed the time with a spa date while Jaehyun watched half-asleep from the middle of the two beds.
Johnny had come home to several versions of this same scenario, because the other two 95-liners absolutely loved to pamper themselves. It was even better when they could do it together. They both wore a face mask, Yuta’s gold and Taeyong’s a bright blue, but nothing could have hidden their amusement. Oblivious to Johnny’s arrival, Yuta massaged an expensive-looking cream into Taeyong’s calves while the latter intricately braided the Japanese man’s long hair.
He might have been able to stare on for another half hour, had his rich alpha scent not contrasted sharply with the sweet-smelling lotions and gels. Jaehyun noticed him first, no doubt because the other two were lathered with other fragrances. “You’re home,” he yawned, his voice low and weary but his eyes bright.
Yuta and Taeyong immediately looked up then, delighted to have their own mini pack complete. The smaller man scrambled up off of the floor and ran to him. That was one characteristic Johnny loved about the omega--Taeyong was always happy to greet him. Of course, a hug was never enough. Taeyong stood on the tips of his toes, and even then Johnny had to help Taeyong stretch higher to nuzzle his face in the older man’s scent glands. Taeyong was also never discreet about trying to replace any foreign smells with his own affections.
“Yongie, you’re still wearing the mask,” Yuta reminded before Taeyong could transfer the sticky substance onto Johnny’s skin as well. “Hi, Johnny. You’re late.”
Taeyong pouted just a moment and stole a chaste kiss to the tall alpha’s lips instead. “How was filming?” he asked curiously. “Did you finish the new episode of JCC?”
“I did,” Johnny confirmed, letting the small omega lead him to the other two mates. They all had a system by now, and they knew Johnny had to kiss each one before he could rest. “You guys will like it. It should come out next week.”
He kneeled down beside Yuta, since the Japanese alpha had made no attempt to move even a muscle. “Hi, handsome,” Johnny offered, leaning forward. “Did you miss me?”
However, Yuta pulled back before Johnny’s lips could make any contact. “Maybe,” he admitted, the smallest smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. Ah, tonight would be a ‘fight for me’ kind of night. “But you can’t touch yet--the masks still have another fifteen minutes to set.”
“Mine is for glowing skin,” Taeyong announced proudly. “And Yuta’s is nourishing.”
“I’m sure you’ll both be even more beautiful than usual,” Johnny agreed. The omega behind him giggled easily at the praise, his happy pheromones coaxing Jaehyun even deeper into slumber. Johnny wasn’t done though, the stubborn alpha in front of him not letting him move on to their youngest mate just yet. “You’re not really going to make me wait another fifteen minutes to kiss you, are you, love?”
Yuta fidgeted ever-so-slightly, the action so minimal that it was hardly noticeable. Of course, the other three caught everything, especially the American alpha since Yuta was still in his sights. “You can kiss me somewhere else,” he mumbled finally, not able to make eye contact and continue his play. “Just don’t mess up the mask.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Johnny chuckled. Just as Yuta had asked, he avoided the other’s face completely and kissed his hair instead. It might have looked casual to an outside observer, but Johnny knew better than anyone else that Yuta’s mane was his crown. The way Yuta shivered and bared his neck slightly was all the proof Johnny needed.
When he turned his attention to the youngest of their relationship, Johnny grinned to find the baby alpha sleepily waiting his turn. “Did you not want to join them?” he asked, the question merely a whisper against Jaehyun’s lips.
His eyes fluttered as Johnny’s warm breath grazed his cheek, but they snapped open again before Jaehyun could miss anything. The shift immediately reminded Johnny of when Jaehyun used to fight sleep like a child, loved but not yet a lover. “I just woke up a couple minutes ago,” he confessed. “Taeyong hyung’s elevator music put me to sleep.”
“It’s not elevator music,” the omega corrected lightly. “It’s a lullaby--it’s meant to slow down people’s heart rates and help them relax.”
“Looks like it worked a little too well on Jaehyunnie,” Yuta added, his smirk broadening. “Baby’s only exhausted because Haechan convinced him to play video games as soon as he got home from the recording studio. You should have napped with Tae and me.”
“I had to,” Jaehyun insisted, rarely sounding his age. “Mark had almost beaten my high score.”
It was Taeyong’s turn to laugh then. “Well, we couldn’t have had that, now could we?” he giggled and petted the youngest man’s cheek. “Having the high score on some racing game is the top criteria for being our mate.”
Jaehyun only grinned, so grateful that Taeyong took his side at least ninety percent of the time. Yuta scoffed at the obvious favoritism, but he smiled as well. “We didn’t leave Jaehyunnie out either,” the Japanese man added. “We painted his toes while he slept.”
Startled, Jaehyun gasped and kicked the covers off his bare feet. He whined at the sight, his nails now every shade of the rainbow. “Hyungs!” he groaned.
“So pretty,” Johnny chuckled, the teasing sound affecting all of his mates. The omega hummed in pleasure while the other two alphas inhaled sharply under the influence of their combined pheromones. “My three pretty loves, even with your nails painted and your faces covered in gunk.”
Yuta shrugged, always the first to return the elder’s taunting words and games. “Just wait until you see how pretty we are in…twelve minutes.”
Johnny didn’t have to say a word for them to know he already thought they were gorgeous. His warm gaze and heady pheromones spoke volumes. He praised and loved each and every one of them in different ways, determined to fill whatever voids or needs his younger lovers possessed.
As the group’s leader, Taeyong most often chose to be coddled and treated delicately. It made perfect sense that Taeyong found his escape in Johnny’s arms. In Taeyong’s mind, they made the perfect hiding place.
Even though Jaehyun was the unofficial baby of 127, let alone their mini pack, he usually needed reassurance more than affection. Johnny had thought this more times than he cared to admit, but Jaehyun would have made a strong head alpha in his own pack one day. Oh well…he was their baby alpha now.
While Yuta’s alpha usually needed extremes, the Japanese man himself just sought out one thing--acceptance. As another foreigner, Johnny could understand Yuta’s needs better than their other mates. Jaehyun watched anime with him and Taeyong excitedly spoke the other’s native language; but it was Johnny who held Yuta when the other two slept and wiped his tears of homesickness away.
“Ah!” Taeyong screamed suddenly, surprising the others. “My spaghetti sauce!”
“It’s okay,” Johnny hurried before Taeyong could run out. “I checked it when I got home. It’s just simmering.”
Taeyong breathed an obvious sigh of relief then returned his attention to the trio. “Dinner in twenty minutes? How does that sound?” he asked no one in particular.
“Sounds perfect. I’m starving,” Johnny groaned, clutching his stomach. “So who wants to take a quick shower with me?”
“Sorry, Suh,” Yuta snorted. “I’m serious about this mask thing. Unless you can drag Jae across the hall, you might have to shower by yourself.”
Jaehyun pursed his lips under their waiting stares, debating with himself. “I guess I could shower,” he agreed finally. “But mainly because I know Taeyongie hyung isn’t going to let me skip dinner.”
“Correct,” the omega answered with more authority than the three alphas possessed combined.
“I’ll clean our spa station up then set the table,” Yuta offered, standing up as well.
When Johnny glanced back at the youngest of their relationship, he sighed to see Jaehyun’s eyes already heavily falling again. “Come on, baby,” he begged, helping Jaehyun at least sit up on the bed. “If you don’t make me shower by myself after I’ve been away from you all day, I’ll make you feel really good.”
“How good?” Jaehyun asked, peeking one eye open. “Twenty minutes isn’t long enough to wash and make me come.”
Johnny smirked as he guided the other alpha to his feet, Yuta’s amused laughter ringing clearly in his ears. “Oh, I love a challenge.”
“Just don’t be late for dinner!” Taeyong called, already halfway to the kitchen.