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when the pack had formed it wasn’t a planned thing by any means. the eldest three had already been presented prior to the eight of them forming together, leaving the 5 remaining to wait until they had become of the proper presenting age. presenting on time was never guaranteed, but with an approximate 96% of people having presented on their 18th birthday as is typical, it was quite uncommon to not present by that point. with the year changing, the 2000 line all shared excitement as their 18th birthdays were upcoming which meant theyd finally be considered adults, along with finally presenting.
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it started with hyunjin who presented as alpha. the elder three already presented as alphas had excitedly welcomed hyunjin and made it quite a big deal for the first couple weeks. september was quite nervewracking for everyone, with the twins and seungmin all lined up for birthdays and presentations. because sub genders were never confirmed beforehand, there was really no way of knowing what to expect for. when so many people were bound to present in consecutive days, they had to be prepared for all possibilities. after going the extra mile to make sure they had necessarily supplies for any expected outcomes, the three september babies celebrated their birthdays and new sub genders. all of which had presented, you guessed it, as alphas. as soon as seungmins final days of presentation passed by, the jokes started almost instantly. in a pack of 8, 7 were alphas. it wasn’t uncommon for packs of all one gender to form, but those more often happened with betas or omegas. despite all the outdated stereotypes, it was true that packs worked better with all subgenders present. stray kids were fortunate to be able to keep a tight grip on their feelings and emotions related to their inner wolves, resulting in a pack that went mostly without issue. before there had been seven alphas, chan had acted as head alpha. however, after the addition of four new alphas, it had been a group decision to rid of a head alpha for the meantime. no matter how great they were at controlling feelings, instincts couldn’t be helped at times, and no matter how much they all loved one another, it was not any wise to try and keep one singular head in a group of so many also pushing for that role. they were also keeping back on it in anticipation for jeongins presentation.
by the point everyones new subgenders had settled into the dynamics, it was nothing but a waiting game for jeongin to present as an alpha as well. for some unknown reason to jeongin, it had been the funniest thing in the world to his hyungs that they had a whole pack of alphas. any conversation where jeongins own presentation was brought up would never include the possibility of him being anything but an alpha. everyone would laugh and talk about jeongin being another walking baby alpha stereotype, and because jeongin had quite little information or access to people of othe subgenders, he never thought much into the ideal that he could be something else. instead, he laughed along with his hyungs and counted down the days to his 18th birthday. unlike with the september babies where the pack had prepared extensively for any types of presentation, the urge to prepare for jeongins had dwindled down to almost nonexistent. besides adjusting to new smells and sensitivity, alphas typically had relatively harmless presentations. with this in mind, the pack hadn’t gone to the same extent like previous.
everyone was genuinely expecting another alpha to join the mix. that’s why it was particularly jarring for jeongin to wake up on the morning of his 18th birthday to the most uncomfortable heat he had felt pulsing through his body. jeongins immediate thought was that he had slept with too many clothes or blankets on, he’d take a cold shower and feel better. jeongins next thought was, oh, it’s my birthday. all at once jeongin realized that he wasn’t hot because of his clothes, anyone who had been in school understood that omegas experienced heats at presentation and a few times a year afterwards. today was his birthday, his 18th birthday. jeongin was presenting, and not as an alpha. panic quickly pulsed through jeongins body, he was prepared for an alpha presentation, not an omega one. what even was he supposed to do? why was this voice in his head yelling at him to lunge into the neck of the nearest pack member as soon as possible? why were the hot flashes so painful? did they go away? patting his hands on his bed in search for his phone, jeongin checked the time hoping it was near enough to breakfast. all he could do was sigh when his phone screen yelled out a bright 2:34 am in his face. there was no way anyone else would be awake at this time. deciding against waking up one of his hyungs, this surely couldn’t be that bad right?, jeongin stood up on shaky legs and made his way towards the kitchen. there was a slowly growing pressure in his head, alluding to an oncoming headache, and jeongin hoped he could avoid it with some pain killers if possible. downing a couple of pills, jeongin headed towards the bathroom for a cool shower. jeongin slumped down on the toilet after he turned the shower on, finding himself exhausted from the short bit of walking he had just done. huh, maybe that was a side effect he wasn’t aware of during omega presentations. not like he would know many, he lived with 7 alphas. at the thought of his hyungs, jeongin felt an involuntary whine slip from his throat. jeongins eyes widened in shock at his own body, what was that? distantly, in the back of head, jeongin could feel a little nagging voice shouting its unpleasant feelings at him, he should be with his alphas right now, why was he alone? jeongin, not having quite figured out what that little voice exactly was, ignored it for now. he didn’t want to wake up his hyungs. he knew they’d be disappointed that he couldn’t complete the full alpha pack like they had all been anticipating. to be honest, jeongin was scared he’d be kicked out or left out of pack activities now. somewhere along the months where the pack had been operating as all alphas, it had been stuck in jeongins head that having an alpha only pack was the desired outcome. so to wake up and let the realization that he wasn’t an alpha kick in, jeongin was rightfully terrified. he was never given any options to really think about anything otherwise, of course his hyungs expected him to be just like the rest of them. not wanting to waste water, jeongin shook his head to try and clear his head of thoughts momentarily, the headache making its presence more and more painstakingly obvious. the shower had been refreshing for the first couple minutes, jeongin was relieved to have that nasty film of sweat off of his body and basked in the cooling sensation. the cooling feeling didn’t last for long though, a heat wave once again rippled through his body and jeongin felt hot again. even standing under the icy chills of the water, the heat was so powerful he could still manage to feel overheated. jeongin stayed under the stream of water for a few more minutes, desperate to feel the cooling sensation wash over him again. his legs felt like jelly and his head by now was full on pounding but he found himself unable to move. just a few steps out the door and he could jump in one of his alphas arms and ask them to help make the pain go away. but the underlying wave of dread continued to creep through jeongins thoughts, infesting his mind with every negative outcome and reaction possible he could think of.
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somewhere along the lines of losing himself to his thoughts again, the terrible heat coursing through him and his head that felt like an elephant, jeongin lost his balance. jeongin, who has always been clumsy and known to trip over himself, normally would’ve laughed this off. if this was any other day that was. today was jeongins birthday, he was presenting and honestly more scared of his own body than anything else right now. he was feeling weak and like he would pass out any moment. distantly, jeongin wondered why anyone looked forward to these things. just managing to avoid hitting his head on the way down, jeongin curled into himself and finally allowed himself to let out the tears that had been building up. amongst the running water and his own loud tears, jeongin missed the sound of a door opening just across the hallway. however it didn’t take long for the overwhelmingly strong scent of chestnut to fill itself into his lungs. the chestnut scent had quickly cleared down jeongins racing mind, something he wanted to find alarming, however that small voice in his head yelled at him to trust it. feeling at peace with his thoughts temporarily, jeongin registered the knock coming from the other side of the door followed by what sounded to be minhos voice asking if he was okay. opening his mouth to politely send his hyung away, jeongin felt his eyes bug as his own voice betrayed him and called out for the alpha in a high pitched whine. who did that? maybe it was that person in his head controlling his mind, they did seem to have quieted down. as soon as jeongins mouth betrayed him, the door swung open and the blurry sight of his alpha flooded his teary vision. no sooner than later, two warm hands found their way on jeongins face, thumbs gently wiping away tears. at the sudden scent swarming his lungs and the comforting hands on his face, for the first time that night, jeongin felt his body relax. his head still felt heavy and his body remained the temperature of an oven, yet like the flip of a switch, jeongin could understand that he felt safe. he could hear his alpha saying a few things, most of it going in one ear and out the other. but if the arms snaking around his waist and the hand coming up to pet his hair meant anything, jeongin suspected that his alpha wasn’t mad at him at the least. minho lifted jeongin of the shower floor, not bothering about his clothes getting soaked from the water transfer.
when minho had woken up due to his inner alpha pestering him with distress signals, he was more than shocked to catch the scent of an omega in pre heat drifting through his door. bolting up, minho quickly checked the time on his phone before rubbing the sleep from his eyes away. jeongin had clearly started presenting, right on time, as an omega. minho would’ve loved to say this was something he was prepared for, but truthfully none of them were. everyone had been preparing for another alpha presentation, and as minho neared the bathroom door with a shaky hand to knock, he realized that jeongin must be terrified, if not afraid. no one had ever, to his knowledge, even presented the idea that jeongin would present differently from the rest of them. and now, as minho gathered the newly presented omega in his arms, he realized that they absolutely were not prepared for this. and it was their own faults. as minho helped the younger out of the bathroom he could feel his own alpha instincts yelling at him to scent the omega and help him start feeling better. despite how badly his insides were yelling at him, minho knew he had to wake up atleast chan and changbin before anything else. kicking open the door to his own room, minho laid jeongin down on his bed and started surrounding him with some clothes and pillows that he knew had scent on them. he hoped that while he went to wake the others and have someone head out and grab supplies it could somewhat help out the omega. with a couple assurances that he’d be back and jeongin was okay, nobody would be upset with him, minho quickly left the room. the next hour was surprisingly relatively uneventful. chan stopped by minhos room to give jeongin his own set of assurances, minho having expressed that jeongin was probably extremely anxious having not presented how everyone else expected him too. after that chan headed out to the store, feeling responsible being the oldest and not wanting anyone else to have to leave during this. changbin was quick to slide in next to jeongin on minhos bed, tugging him right into his chest and whispering soothing words. for awhile minho stood next to them, watching cautiously, only joining after jeongin peeked his head out from changbins chest and asked him to cuddle as well. it seemed that jeongin had luckily calmed down from before, not content to lay between the two alphas, only showing signs of discomfort everytime a new heat wave pushed through his body.
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around ten minutes after having settled down, two curious heads came into view from the still open door of minhos room. upon a quick discussion, jisung and felix quickly replaced the previous spots that changbin and minho had occupied, claiming it was no fair to hog innie. jeongin, now surrounded by four of his alphas felt the most relaxed he had possibly felt in the past year. the heat still flooded his body, but chan was supposedly on his way back with stuff to help it go away, and the new income of strong alpha scents were helping his head feel more floaty instead of it’s previous heaviness. honestly, the new floaty feeling was making words hard to understand and his already jello feeling legs even gummier. his eyes were open, but he could only really focus on what was directly in front of him. eventually he could tell that chan had returned, someone urging some type of chewable substance into his mouth and helping him digest it. jeongin was really in no place or state of mind to question what had just been fed to him, he trusted his alphas, especially hearing quite a few of them already assure him that they weren’t upset. when exactly all 7 of his hyungs had shown up, jeongin was unsure of. he was just awar enough to understand they were all moving out of minhos cramped room and into the big den. as soon as they reached the den and everyone surrounded jeongin he was out like a light.
following the last couple days of his presentation period ending, multiple pack meetings were held. jeongin expressed his initial worries of not being an alpha like everyone had wanted, which he had quickly been apologized for. rules of boundaries and any new rules he’d like to have in place were made and given room for adjustment down the line. they all had been very adamant on telling jeongin that he was allowed to express any discomfort or weariness he might feel as a result of anyones alpha acting out. all jeongin asked for was that they didnt treat him any differently because he was an omega. certain things related to safety were unavoidable, but it really upset jeongin imagining the idea of any of them downplaying his capabilities simply based off his subgender. multiple assurances were sent his way, promises that nothing besides the glaringly obvious would change. and with that, the stray kids pack settled into life. if jeongin was doused in affection prior to presenting, it only increased ten fold after the fact. something that had changed was his reaction and acceptance towards those moments. times where jeongin used to shove away one of his hyungs turned into times where jeongin himself would initiate skinship. there wasn’t any recent times where jeongin could remember himself leaving the dorms alone without one of the alphas scent all over him.
if there was thing jeongin could always talk about with friends was how it felt to have seven alphas protective over you at any time of day, including around eachother. he still can’t forget the first time one of them had become a tad bit overly possessive of jeongin and growled at the rest of them until jeongin himself intervened. if someone asked jeongin if this is how he imagined his life would be once he presented, he would’ve just laughed. everything was different now, but jeongin wouldn’t have it any other way.