Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chan was a very organized person, he always kept his calendar fully updated and checked it religiously so that no surprises ever snuck up on him.

It was because of this that when he woke up one morning and noticed his scent was a bit sweeter than usual and he was sweating a little in his sheets, he wasn’t caught off guard at all.

His heat had always been very predictable, always showing up almost precisely every three months and he had gone to bed the night before expecting his pre-heat to start this morning.

What did surprise him, however, was the warm body next to him that had an arm slung over his back. Jeongin must have climbed into his bed some time in the night without Chan waking up, and he inhaled a deep lungful of his strong cinnamon scent, his insides warming at the comfort it brought on.

He pressed closer to Jeongin, careful not to wake him, and rested his head so that it was right beside Jeongin’s neck where his scent was most potent, and he closed his eyes again as the smell invaded his nostrils, his omega preening at having one of his alphas in his bed.

The start of his pre-heat, which usually lasted around three to four days, meant he got so much more sensitive to smells, especially those of his mates. They just made him feel so giddy, and his omega always craved being surrounded by all of them.

Even now he could feel the start of an itch underneath his skin from having Jeongin’s scent in his bed. He wanted the other scents as well, wanted to make a big nest full of all their delicious smells that he could spend his pre-heat in.

The thing was, though, that Chan had always felt a bit insecure about how desperately he craved his mates’ scents during his pre-heat, since he had convinced himself it was some sort of embarrassing secret, or a weakness, if you will.

He was an omega, yes, but he was also their leader and he often held himself to an unfairly higher standard than the rest of them. He prided himself on always being level-headed, responsible, and sturdy. Someone the rest of the pack could always depend on, so he didn’t like the fact that, for a week out of every three months, he became so intensely dependent on them instead. Their scents, specifically.

In the past, he had tried to ignore his overwhelming urge to surround himself with their items of clothing or personal belongings out of shame, trying to convince himself that he could get through a couple days without them just fine.

The issue with that, however, had been that he’d gotten so desperate for their scents that he hadn’t been able to think about anything else, which had quickly become a problem since he still had to go to work and be a functioning adult during his pre-heat, so denying himself those comforts and going insane over them had started to negatively affect his work performance, which was just unacceptable in Chan’s mind.

So he’d set up a system which had been pretty successful so far.

Each pre-heat he secretly built himself a large nest made up of all his softest sheets, blankets, and pillows, and added in clothing from all his members so that each night he could bathe himself in their scents to keep himself sane until his heat properly started.

Jeongin was always the easiest to steal from since they lived together, all he had to do was sneak a couple shirts down the hall when Jeongin was in the living room or out of the house.

It was a bit harder to obtain items for the others since he had to sneak them out their front doors and then past Jeongin in his own dorm, but he’d gotten pretty good at it over the years and he hadn’t been caught yet.

He always spent his heat in someone else’s bed, as well, since he hated getting his own bed messy with slick and sweat and other bodily fluids while many of the others didn’t mind, so there was a low risk of them discovering all their clothing in his bed until he had a chance to return them all once his heat was over.

He was just planning which of Jeongin’s shirts or hoodies he was going to take this time when the alpha stirred next to him, opening his eyes briefly to squint over at Chan before closing them again, clearly deciding he wasn’t ready to be awake yet.

Chan cuddled closer to him now that he was up, taking in his warmth even as he was still sweating slightly. He’d have to get up and shower soon but for now he was happy to lay with Jeongin while the sleepy alpha worked his way back into consciousness.

“You smell good, hyung,” Jeongin rumbled after a little bit. “Pre-heat?”

Chan hummed. “Yeah. Right on time. You smell good this morning too, Innie.”

“Just this morning?”

“No.” Chan nuzzled into his neck, pressing his nose right up against the alpha’s scent gland and taking in a big whiff of cinnamon. “All the time.”

guess who started his pre-heat

lixie: yyyyyaaaaaaayyyyyy!!!!!!

binnie: how does he smell

how he always smells hyung

amazing

jinnie: perfect i havn’t done my laundry yet

minnie: ew why would channie hyung want your stinky dirty clothes

sungie: yes I love pre-heat channie he smells so good!!!!

jinnie: um cause they smell more like me obviously

jinnie: and I seem to remember YOU 🫵🏻 wanting my stinky dirty clothes
during your last heat kim seungmin

kittyhyung: ok well we know what that means

kittyhyung: everyone start leaving your clothes out for santa claus

aye-aye captain

Sure enough, Chan found it pretty easy sneaking away some of Jeongin’s clothes to start his nest. After the alpha had left his bed that morning to get ready for the day Chan had gathered all his usual nesting materials that he kept shoved away in his closet most of the time, and built the foundations for the nest that would serve as his safe place for the next couple days.

It always looked sad and incomplete without any of his mates’ things though, so when he heard the sound of the fridge opening as Jeongin started searching for breakfast he made his move, slipping quietly out into the hallway and into Jeongin’s room, twisting the door handle oh so slowly so that it didn’t make any noise.

He went right for Jeongin’s laundry basket, where the clothing would smell most like him and where Jeongin would be less likely to notice them missing, and he smiled giddily as he pulled a hoodie out from the bottom as well as an old shirt Jeongin usually used to sleep in if he didn’t feel like going shirtless.

Unable to help himself, he held both articles of clothing up to his nose and took a deep inhale, his omega sighing in content as he was hit with a wave of strong, sleepy-smelling cinnamon.

He peeked his head out Jeongin’s door to make sure he was still in the kitchen before tip-toeing back to his own room and placing the clothes neatly into his nest, though it didn’t make too much of a difference since his bed had already smelled like Jeongin.

He still crawled inside for a few minutes though, relaxing into the scent before he had to get up for the day.

He was bombarded by Changbin the second he stepped into their studio, the alpha immediately grabbing him and scenting him as soon as he laid eyes on Chan.

“Bin,” he protested, but let him rub his wrists against his neck and take a couple sniffs before properly pulling away. “We’ve got work to get done today, let’s not get scent drunk at seven in the morning.”

“A little scenting won’t get you scent drunk,” Changbin rolled his eyes and Jisung stepped up to scent him as well. Chan let him, knowing that Changbin was right and he always liked to scent his mates in the morning, anyways. It was tough not living with most of them since it meant they usually smelled most strongly of their roommates at the beginning of the day instead of the whole group, as Chan would prefer it.

He only saw Changbin and Jisung that day since they spent all of it in the studio working on songs for a deadline that was coming up after Chan’s heat.

It made him sad, not seeing the rest of his mates, but Jisung smelled a bit like Minho and Changbin smelled a bit like Hyunjin so at least he got most of their scents.

It was just his luck, though, that near the end of the day when the three of them were getting ready to wrap things up, he checked his phone to see a text from Felix asking if he wanted to come over and possibly spend the night.

He texted back right away saying that he’d love to, and he didn’t even have to stop by his place before heading over since they all kept things like toothbrushes and extra clothes at everyone’s apartments for this exact reason.

The omega dorm smelled heavenly from the moment Seungmin let him in the door and he had to stop himself from rooting in place right in their entry to close his eyes and take a couple deep breaths.

Seungmin demanded a scenting immediately, though, so he got his fair share of sweet vanilla as he rubbed his nose against the scent gland on his neck before using his wrists as well, transferring some of his own scent onto Seungmin which made his younger mate hum in appreciation.

Felix came out of his room then and wanted exactly the same treatment, and Chan’s belly filled with warmth as he got drowned in the smell of honey. It mixed perfectly with Seungmin’s vanilla and he wanted it permanently absorbed into his skin.

They spent the evening on the couch while Felix and Seungmin played video games as Chan watched them fondly, and they ordered takeout since none of them felt like cooking.

When they all got a bit sleepy and decided to go to bed they piled into Felix’s nest, having to squeeze together a little to make it work but none of them minded. Felix’s nest was always so comfy, and Chan really should be asking him where he bought all his blankets since they were the softest he’d ever felt. He rubbed them against his skin, more sensitive than usual thanks to his pre-heat, and tangled his legs up with Seungmin and Felix on either side of him, both of the omegas trying to position themselves so that their noses were close enough to his neck that they’d be able to smell his throughout the whole night.

Chan fell asleep with his nose in Felix’s pillow, the sweet honey scent coming off of it lulling him into dreamland.

He woke early the next morning on purpose, giving himself enough time to sneak some clothing and return it to his own dorm before he had to leave for work.

Leaving Felix and Seungmin still sleeping soundly, he carefully extracted himself from their limbs and crawled out of the bed, holding his breath but luckily neither of them stirred.

He started in Felix’s room since he was already there, and grabbed the t-shirt he had noticed on the floor last night, hoping that Felix would assume he’d put it in the laundry without remembering. He snuck a plushie from Felix’s bed as well, a cute little kangaroo his fellow Aussie had bought last time they were home.

Taking the plushie was a little risky, he knew, since Felix was more likely to notice its absence than a random t-shirt, but he’d taken it before in the past and Felix had never mentioned it going missing so he figured he probably didn’t pay much attention to it.

He slipped into Seungmin’s room next, stealing two t-shirts this time and also a pair of sweat shorts that smelled like the omega had worn them recently. In fact, if Chan wracked his brain he thought they looked like the pants Seungmin had worn to dance practice only two days ago, and by the smell of them they hadn’t been washed yet.

He stuffed his findings into his work backpack and left it at the front door before sneaking back into Felix’s room to find the two omegas still sleeping.

Deciding not to wake them he kissed both of them lightly on their heads and wrote out a quick note that he left on the bedside table, explaining that he’d gotten up early and returned to his dorm before work.

He couldn’t stop smiling on the short walk home, excited to add his new additions to his growing nest.

he stole my kangaroo again :(

i love that thing

roomieee: look on the bright side it’ll be drenched in his scent when
he returns it

true…

changbinniehyungg: does he really believe you don’t notice a stuffed
animal disappearing from your bed and mysteriously reappearing a week later??

hyunjinnieee: apparently so

minhohyunggg: he thinks we’re dumb

ayennieee: just let the poor guy think he’s being sneaky

ayennieee: it’s cute to watch him sneak around

Next on his list of targets was the Hyunibinie dorm.

Luckily, Changbin was usually pretty obsessed with his pre-heat smell and always found some kind of excuse to stick his nose in Chan’s neck, so it wasn’t shocking when the next day after they’d finished dance practice and Chan was sweating that Changbin urged him to come over to their place. Most likely hoping to delay his shower so he’d keep his sweat-sweet smell for a little longer.

He took a car back with Changbin and Hyunjin to their apartment but he wasn’t sure how he was going to pull off stealing some of their clothes because the two of them had glued themselves to him from the moment they walked through the threshold.

Hyunjin clung to his back, and Chan basked in his warmth and scent as Changbin made them dinner.

But Hyunjin needed to use the bathroom after a while and despite trying to get Chan to accompany him he refused, and he took the opportunity to sneak down to their bedrooms after glancing to make sure Changbin was still busy cooking.

Hyunjin’s laundry basket was sat in the middle of the room, which Chan briefly noted as weird since he usually liked to keep his dirty clothes shunned in the closet, but this only made it easier for him. He dug around quickly for something that smelled like him and ended up pulling out a jacket and a red beanie that smelled strongly of Hyunjin’s lovely shampoo.

Next was Changbin’s room where he was delighted to find a pillowcase in his laundry that smelled so strong. Which made sense since Changbin must have rolled all over it in his sleep.

He realized, though, that he didn’t have anywhere to put his items other than his work bag that was still at the front door.

The kitchen, where Changbin and most likely Hyunjin by now were hanging out, was just out of sight of their entryway, so Chan took a risk by balling the beanie and pillow case up tightly in his hand and tucking the jacket under his armpit in an attempt to conceal them.

He peeked out of Changbin’s room and was relieved to see that, sure enough, the both of them were in the kitchen and didn’t seem to be looking for him.

He scurried down the hallway, aiming more for speed than for quietness, and managed to make it to the front door where he frantically stuffed the clothing inside, right under his laptop.

“Hyung?”

He whipped around to find Changbin standing behind him, his head cocked.

“Dinner’s ready. What were you doing?”

“Um…” Chan faltered. “I just…I was making sure I had my computer.”

“Oh, okay,” Changbin seemed to believe him, thankfully, “come eat, then.”

Chan sighed in relief as he turned around and walked back to the kitchen, following him even though his heart was pounding at almost getting caught.

He didn’t think his lie had been very good, either, but Changbin hadn’t questioned it so maybe he was a better liar than he thought.

has anyone seen my red beanie i think i lost it somewhere

seungminnie: are u dumb

seungminine: obviously chan hyung took it

oh yeah

forgot

wife: you guys should’ve seen his face when I caught him stuffing
me and Jinnie’s things into his bag tonight

poor things was blushing the rest of the night

pixie: remind me again why we let him think we don’t know

minho hyung: he’s embarrassed, lix

innie!!: yeah he might stop building his pre-heat nest if he knows we know

innie!!: and it’s not really hurting him since he gets all our scents anyways and lets us take
care of him properly during actual heat so…

minho hyung: plus it’s cute to let him believe he could ever hide something from us

Chan lay in his nest that night after returning from Hyunjin and Changbin’s, resisting the urge to roll all around it and cover every inch of his skin in their scents.

The nest wasn’t complete, though, and he wanted to wait for that.

He still needed clothes from Minho and Jisung, and he wanted to get all of them today. He only had a day or two left of his pre-heat and he was getting desperate to complete his nest, the itch under his skin getting more irritable as his omega complained about not having the scents of all his members collected yet.

Getting Jisung’s scent proved to be the easiest, since the alpha had taken a long nap on their studio couch yesterday wrapped up in the blanket they kept there, and all Chan had to do was bring the blanket home to add to his nest. And if anyone questioned its absence he could just say he took it home to wash it.

It was getting something from Minho that was difficult.

His fellow omega had been scenting him profusely the last couple days since his pre-heat started, just like the rest of his mates who couldn’t get enough of his heightened scent, so he’d been getting plenty of his scent but Chan couldn’t find an opportunity to steal any of his clothes.

He could’ve invited himself over to their dorm, or even asked them over to his own, but he was worried they’d be able to tell something was up. He might have successfully lied to Changbin but he was sure Minho would be able to see right through him.

The last day of his pre-heat he got desperate, and it didn’t help that they had spent the whole day in the practice room running through choreographies. They were all sweating profusely, and none of them were very fond of wearing scent patches while they practiced so the room was full of their scents.

Chan was pulled towards Minho’s specifically, his omega yearning for some piece of the scent so that he could add to his nest to complete it.

He followed Minho into the changing room when they were all done, following his nose as it pulled him towards his younger omega.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as Minho stripped out of his dirty practice clothes and put them in his bag before changing into his regular clothes and then going into a stall to use the toilet.

Chan acted before he could even think about what he was doing, opening Minho’s bag and taking the dirty clothes out of it, putting them in his own bag.

It was risky, for sure. Minho would definitely notice that the clothes were missing from his bag, but Chan prayed that he wouldn’t find out until he got home and by then the clothes would be safely in Chan’s nest.

Plus, his heat would begin fully tomorrow and then Minho would be distracted by taking care of him, and Chan would make sure to return his clothes first before all the others.

He held his breath as Minho came out of the stall and then breathed a sigh of relief as he kissed Chan on the cheek before swinging his bag over his shoulder without glancing at it.

“Do you know whose bed you wanna spend your heat in this time, hyung?” He asked. “It should start soon, right?”

“Tomorrow, I think,” Chan said, trying very hard to look Minho in the eye without looking too guilty.

“You okay, baby? You look stressed about something.”

Shit.

“Can I spend it in your bed?” He asked instead, hoping to distract the omega.

Minho blinked at him a couple times, studying his face, but he only said, “of course, hyung. Do you wanna sleep over at me and Jisungie’s so you can be there already?”

“No,” Chan said quicker than he should have, desperate to go home and complete his nest. “I mean, I wanna sleep in my bed tonight. If that’s okay. Not for any particular reason, though.”

Minho nodded, though the corner of his lip twitched up slightly as if he were fighting a smile. “Sure, hyung. Jeongin will drive you over tomorrow morning, yeah?”

“Yeah. Right,” Chan agreed, and then thankfully Minho kissed him again before leaving. Chan was hoping he imagined the soft chuckle he heard.

The nest was complete. Finally. And this time Chan didn’t even try to hold himself back from rolling around in the middle of it, stopping to press his nose deep into each article of clothing that he’d snuck from his mates before tucking them back into the nest neatly and rolling around again.

A purr kicked up in his chest before he could stop it, and it was cathartic in a way to let it out, his omega preening with happiness at being surrounded by the best scents in the world.

It was like all the muscles in his body relaxed as the purr vibrated through his body, so loud that he was sure it could be heard next door, and he was surprised Jeongin wasn’t bursting through his door demanding some purring-omega cuddles. The alpha must be asleep already since Chan couldn’t remember a time any of his mates had heard him purring and not come running.

In his right state of mind he might attempt to muffle his purrs to lower the risk of Jeongin coming in and finding his nest filled with all his stolen items, but his head had gone a little fuzzy and in the back of his mind he could recognize that he was getting a little scent-drunk. Not surprising, really, since that always happened to an extent when he had all his mates scents at his disposal.

He didn’t know how long he laid there, shifting around to rub his face on each article of clothing until he could taste their scents on his tongue and his mind went blank, purrs still reverberating around the room.

He fell asleep that night with his head on Changbin’s pillowcase that he’d put on his own pillow, and Felix’s kangaroo clutched to his chest. His nose brushed against the soft fur. The other clothing surrounded him in a neat semi-circle, creating a comforting blanket of smells that lulled him into peaceful sleep.

He couldn’t hear it, but his purring continued on into the night, his body overjoyed at having all his trophies surrounding him even as he was peacefully unconscious.

okay he’s in full heat

he’s spending it in your bed right, minho hyung?

kittyhyung: yes bring him over

sungie: everyone gather at our dorm!!

jinnie: changbin just flew out the front door in his underwear

jinnie: we’ll be right there

lixie: us too!!

sungie: but wait didn’t you find him in his nest this morning Innie?

sungie: i find it hard to believe he had the energy to wander out of his room

lixie: yeah how does he not know we know about his pre-heat nests when
innie finds him in them each heat

well he’s usually really out of it when i find him so he probably just

doesn't remember

binnie: stop I can’t

binnie: he’s so cute

binnie: our cutest omega

kittyhyung: hey

jinnie: hey

lixie: hey

minnie: hey