Chapter Text
Jisung had always known he was different. From the moment his secondary gender manifested at sixteen, he'd felt like an outlier. The only omega among a group of alphas and betas. It wasn’t that they deliberately treated him differently—if anything, they went out of their way to ensure he never felt lesser—but the insecurity still lingered. Omegas weren’t weak, he knew that. He had trained just as hard as the others, pushed himself past limits even he didn’t know existed, but there was always that voice in the back of his mind. You’ll never be as strong as them. Never be as fast as them, as good as them. Never be enough.
It only got worse when they started rising in fame. More schedules, more performances, more people watching their every move. It felt like everyone was waiting for him to mess up, to prove he wasn’t cut out for this.
After a gruelling practice, exhaustion weighing on his limbs, the scent of sweat and tension thick in the air. The choreographer had been pushing them harder than usual, wanting perfection for their comeback. Jisung had been struggling to keep up, his body screaming at him to slow down, to rest— and then his knee buckled. He barely caught himself, panting hard as Chan called for a break. The others flocked around him instantly, concern written all over their faces.
“Ji, you good?”
Jisung flinched as Hyunjin suddenly crouched beside him, brows furrowed. The scent of his concern—fresh rain and something sharp—was already curling in the air.
“I’m fine,” Jisung said automatically.
“You sure? You looked like you were struggling earlier.”
“Everyone’s struggling. It’s hard choreo,” Jisung muttered, standing up too quickly. His legs wobbled again, and an arm wrapped around his waist before he could catch himself.
“Whoa—careful.”
It was Chan. Of course, it was Chan. Their leader’s scent of warm cinnamon and bergamot wrapped around Jisung like a protective shield. His thick arm tightened around Jisung’s tiny waist helping him stay up.
“I said I’m fine.” Jisung gritted his teeth and pushed away, stepping back.
The alpha frowned. “Jisung, you—”
“I’m not fragile,” Jisung snapped. “You don’t have to—” He swallowed hard, clenching his fists. “You don’t have to keep treating me like I’m gonna break.”
The room went quiet.
The others exchanged glances, and suddenly, Jisung realized what he’d just done. They weren’t going to fight him on it. They weren’t going to argue. No, they were going to do what they always did—what they didn’t even realize they were doing. They were going to coddle him.
Chan sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, cringing with guilt. “We don’t think you’re fragile.”
“Yeah,” Seungmin added. “We just—” He paused. “Look, it’s not a bad thing to be careful.”
“But you’re more careful with me.” Jisung’s voice came out small. “You don’t even realize it, but you are.”
No one denied it.
Jisung sighed, his scent spiking with frustration. He hated this—being seen as weak, needing to be taken care of. He wasn’t some delicate omega who needed protection. He was part of Stray Kids, just like them. “Ji,” Minho’s voice was calm but firm. “No one’s saying you’re weak.”
Jisung clenched his fists. “Aren’t you? Everyone’s always watching me, making sure I don’t fall behind, making sure I don’t—” His voice cracked, and he bit his lip hard. The others exchanged glances. Jeongin hesitated before speaking. “We’re watching because we care. Not because we think you can’t handle it.” Felix nodded. “You work just as hard as any of us. Maybe harder. But even alphas have limits, you know? We look out for each other.”
Jisung was too exhausted to bother fighting with them again, so he just let them all hug and scent him. Which in turn did actually help him relax a bit more as they started to pack up and go back early for the day.
When they go back to their dorm, Jisung goes straight for his room to try and sleep off his frustration, but that means he is left with his own thoughts. He starts thinking about all the times they would just unconsciously do things that proved they saw him differently and it wasn’t just in practices.
At award shows, the others subtly positioned themselves so he was in the middle, when they would have to walk around or have to sit in a interview. During fan meets, if a fan got too close, one of them would shift forward instinctively and start joining in the conversation. Even at home, he knew that someone would check in soon enough, when they think he has been unaccompanied for too long.
It was suffocating.
They weren’t treating each other like that. Just him and he knew why. It was his scent, his designation, his status as the group’s only omega. They didn’t even realize they were doing it, but their instincts screamed protect, shield, take care of him. Jisung wanted to scream back, I don’t need protecting.
But saying that would make it a bigger deal than it already was. So he just sits in his nest pouting.
Just like he predicted a couple minutes later there was a knock at his door, and Felix poked his head in. Felix was the packs go-to damage control, even though they had Hyunjin and Sungmin as betas who were better at keeping their cool and understanding when situations can get stressful. Felix was such a cuddle bug and made it very hard for people to stay in a bad mood and that probably why they sent him in. Felix also faces issues because of his subgender, due to his soft and bright appearance everyone expected him to be an omega, so presenting with his strong Amber & Musk scent blooming was a shock to say the least. Unfortunately, due to this, he would get misgendered when wearing blockers and it caused a lot of uproar in the media.
“Hey, sung, can I come in?”
Jisung nods, and then when Felix gets close enough, he grabs his arm and tugs it into the nest. Felix lets out a surprised yelp but lets himself fall with the tug, landing right on top of Jisung. Then it's Jisung’s turn to yelp, surprised as he wiggles to try and get out of Felix's grip. Felix leans down to cuddle more and chuckles into Han’s ear with his deep voice as Han goes boneless in defeat of the hugging death grip. He gets rearranged to sit in Felix's lap with their chests facing and chins over each other’s shoulders, taking in the other person’s scent.
“Hey Hannie”
“Hey Lixie”
“Listen, we are sorry that we got you upset today we didn’t mean anything bad, we just care about you and sometimes our instincts push us more than we notice.”
Han just hums, burying himself further into Felix’s scent gland and the warmed amber scent. Which causes the other to jostle Han around. Indicating he wanted a verbal response.
“it just annoying it feels like no one thinks I can’t do anything by myself without needing one of you guys”.
Felix rocks them from side to side as he hums in acknowledgement.
“I’m sorry you feel that way babe, while I can’t promise much by myself. I think if you spoke to the whole pack or at least Channie Hyung, we could probably ease your mind a bit. But let’s eat first I heard Changbin hyung whining for fried chicken when we came in, so it should be here by now”
They both get up and walk towards the dining room to eat with the others. And Han is already mentally trying to figure out how to talk to their leader, like Felix said.