Chapter Text
It’s weird . Namping thought. Setting foot in a place he never thought would be back in, according to his plans.
The air was refreshingly cold, a perfect day for his light sweater. Free of anyone’s scent or pheromones yet, as no other student is in sight at seven sharp in the morning, but namping’s nerves woke him forcefully up a tad too early.
After leaving Bangkok more than a year ago due to a family emergency, needing to switch to online classes and going low contact with almost everyone he once knew, namping is now back, surprising everyone, including himself, at how fast he recovered and moved back to finish the dreams he once started working on.
Taking a deep breath, he headed inside. It’s still an hour till students start pouring in, so he'd better grab a drink and brace himself for the whirlwind of his friend group when they see him again. After all, not even they know he is back.
…
Walking through the hallways, double checking the class’s number and finally stepping in, an iced coffee in hand, he was quick to notice there was another person there. A guy more on the petite side, his hair was light brown, with an innocent face that was focused on the book in his hand.
The smaller boy noticed namping’s presence, so the two exchanged polite greetings and went back to silence. Namping could immediately tell the other was an omega; if his sweet candy scent wasn’t enough lead, then the boy’s appearance would be sufficient.
Right, that’s how omegas are supposed to look. He smiled bitterly to himself and sat down on the furthest seat possible. Not like us. His mind supplied unhelpfully.
Despite his defeated smile, he can’t help but feel resentment towards himself. He is an omega, but he has none of the qualities a one should have, no petite figure, no small hands, no regular heat, not even prominent pheromones. A failure, echoed in his head, sounding suspiciously like his aunt’s voice.
And they might be right, heck, namping is 180cm tall, he towers over his omega friends, even some betas, let alone the disgusted looks he gets from shorter alphas.
And so, he altered to usually wear scent blockers, a cheap brand just enough to mute his already faint one, and smile politely and change the subject if any stranger asks about his sub gender. No one needs to know. He tells himself.
“Ping..?!” Suddenly, a sharp noise cut through the thick cloud of thoughts in the omega’s brain, and he turned. There at the doorway were his friends, led by firstone who called his name first, along with ohm, who looked flushed and teary eyed. Kong peered his head from behind firstone and his eyes went wide.
He quickly stood up, face too warm to his liking, and nervousness spiking his blood pressure, he smiled weakly, “Surprise..?” But his friends didn’t give him a chance to drown in fears as they all engulfed him in a hug.
“Why didn’t you tell me, idiot? I would’ve picked you up!” Firstone’s angry voice was the first to speak, refusing to break the hug, namping smiled sadly, he could hear the clear crack in the older’s voice. “I just wanted to surprise everyone..” he whispered.
“Well… this is surprising.” Kong said in a bit of a smaller voice than usual. Pronunciation clear, looks like he took his braces off. Namping’s smile didn’t waver, even as the group hug broke, he looked at each of them, noticing the changes since the last time he saw their faces, “What, is my absence that good you all look a hundred times better now.” He joked, hoping for the unshed tears to dry.
“Shut your ass up, you call these eye bags good? I barely had time to rest or sleep, I look miserable.” Firstone replied angrily, then looked around him as the rest exchanged warm looks. He sighed, “We missed you, you know. Don’t ever disappear again.” Namping saw the blush on the older omega’s face, he knew how his best friend hates talking much about feelings, so he knew better not to tease.
“I’m finally home. And I’m going nowhere. Promise.” He finally genuinely smiled. Passing a tissue to ohm and comforting him to stop tearing up while kong teased him about it. The four of them easily falling into their old dynamics, and namping for the first time in so long feels like he belongs.
…
“It’s afternoon, but why is it suddenly this hot? The humidity is kinda ruining my hair too.” Kong complained as they walked out of the department building. Namping nodded, having to take off his sweater and be only in his white shirt, “It was totally great this morning, I even wore a sweater, but man, the heat is unbearable.”
“Good thing kong’s boyfriend’s place has a good air conditioning system, we can wait the heat out there,” Firstone said, fanning his face. “Oh yes! P’Tho would be super happy to meet namping! We talked about you a lot to him.” Kong’s mood suddenly improved; now he was able to yap about his boyfriend.
Namping smiled, seeing their youngest happy in a relationship, especially since it’s his first one, and based on how everyone described this thomas guy, he seemed decent enough.
Suddenly, his body tensed, an unknown alpha scent was too close to his nostrils, and he felt a light tap on his shoulder, “excuse me,” came a somewhat tender voice, coaxing enough for him to turn around, coming face to face with another man.
The guy looked calm, no particular emotion on his face, but he didn’t look threatening, same height as namping himself, but with a bigger physique and an alpha aura and scent around him. And a guitar bag on his shoulders.
Namping was still freaked out and frankly puzzled, why this, objectively insanely good looking alpha, was talking to him. “Sorry about startling you, but you dropped this.” He handed namping his sweater, which apparently fell out of his bag while walking.
Namping immediately took it back and apologized for not being careful enough, “Thank you a lot, Phi, I didn’t notice it.” He said in a small voice, still timid but thankful, his eyes trying to memorize every detail of the stranger’s face.
The other smiled politely and left, leaving behind him a distinct scent that namping had never smelled on an alpha before.
Jasmine and rain.
And namping is not sure how these two notes work together, but this kind stranger makes it make sense.