Archive of Our Own

Felix was a little sick. At least, he had been just a little sick when he’d left his tiny apartment that morning. Now, after a full day of classes, he was probably approaching something that was better described as very ill. His head was full of cotton, if cotton was also heavy like rocks and rattled around inside his skull painfully. Someone was playing a high-pitched triangle constantly in his ears, and the unpleasant ringing had the audacity to be annoying in addition to painful. Perhaps worst of all was the way his nose and eyes watered. Stumbling through the world blind was one thing, but doing it without being able to smell a thing left his heart thudding uncomfortably in his chest. 

On an ordinary day he could smell everyone around him, know someone’s subgender and mood before even catching a glimpse of their face.

Being stripped of that while also feeling like death warmed up was straight up awful.

Felix wanted nothing more than his nest. He stubbornly ignored the now familiar pang that pinched at his insides whenever he thought of the sad, thin little imitation of a not-nest that waited for him in his tiny room. 

Things would get better, and there was no point getting upset over shit he couldn’t change in the meantime. Felix was a firm believer in that.

With slightly renewed determination, he continued to drag one foot in front of the other, practically stumbling blind down the path that led off campus. He must have staggered into a crowd of students headed in the opposite direction, because suddenly he was being gently bounced between shoulders, as both he and the crowd apologized awkwardly and attempted to flee the interaction with great haste.

He broke free of them but only had time to gasp as he tripped over uneven ground and went sailing straight into something solid and warm. Felix stuttered out an apology even as his knees began to give out. His face was suddenly pressed against a warm, soft sweater, even as he continued to mumble apologies. 

Strong arms came around his shoulders as the stranger gently tipped Felix back and away from his warm sweater. Then, abruptly, something shifted.

It felt like a hand had reached into his chest and wrapped warm, gentle fingers around his heart. It was like sinking into a warm bath, all his aching, sick muscles easing and untensing at once. The stranger gasped loudly, then abruptly their arms were wrapped around Felix tightly, tucking his head under their chin and breathing deeply where their nose was pressed behind his ear.

“Hello darling,” a voice murmured, their tongue curling a little clumsily around the English word. The voice was so achingly pretty, so lovely against Felix’s poor, ringing ears that his teeth hurt with the need to bite down.

He, because there was no denying the thick, long arms holding Felix pinned against them and that soft charming voice belonged to a man, breathed in a long shaky breath.

Abruptly and without warning, the hand that had settled in his chest cradling his heart began to tug. The sensation was gentle, but insistent, as if whatever was tugging at him didn’t want to hurt him, but couldn’t conceive of letting him go. The ache in his body, the thudding cotton in his head, and the ringing in his ears grew worse and he sagged. 

Am I having a heart attack? he wondered fuzzily.

Felix was tucked so securely into the other man’s chest that it didn’t matter that his own legs were no longer holding him up. 

“Shit,” the man with the pretty voice cursed quietly, crouching and sitting Felix on his lap so he could bring a free hand to Felix’s forehead. “You’re burning up, love.”

None of the parts of him required for speech—his brain, mouth, throat, lips—were functioning properly, especially not when the hand began to tug at his chest with increasing insistence once more.

“Baby—” the man continued to speak, but the ringing in his ears grew loud and terrible. When it died out, all he heard was: “—or home with me?” 

Felix tried to blink, tried to get his head in order long enough to figure out what the pretty voice was saying, but his chest throbbed uncomfortably. A large hand began petting through his hair, running long fingers comfortingly through the soft strands and massaging the back of Felix’s aching skull. The pain began to recede.

“I’m gonna call our pack leader, just sit still for me a little longer, darling.”

Again, the way his tongue curled around the word “darling” sent Felix’s pulse buzzing in his throat like a scared rabbit’s.

There was movement as Pretty Voice pulled his phone from his pocket, then dialed someone. He must have put the phone on speaker, because Felix heard the dial tone drifting in and out of focus in his ears, before it cut off.

Pretty Voice didn’t give his pack leader a chance to speak.

“Hyung, I found him,” he said, breathless and reverent. “He’s in my arms right now, I found him, but he’s sick and there’s something wrong with the bond. It feels like… I dunno, like I threw him a rope, but it’s slack, like he isn’t taking it. I don’t know what’s happening,” he said all this gently, softly stroking Felix’s hair and pausing to make soothing noises when the omega frowned, but Felix could still sense his distress and he didn’t like it. “Shhh, you’re okay, love.”

“Jeongin-ah, you said he’s sick?” 

His name was Jeongin. Jeongin with the pretty voice and the strong arms.

“Seems like a fever. The flu, maybe?” Jeongin answered, tucking Felix’s face closer to his neck, as if encouraging him to breathe in his scent. Felix had never been so furious with his body, unable to smell anything thanks to his stupid snotty nose.

“Okay, if he can’t smell you, the initial bond won’t take until he can. It’s just a blocked nose, baby.” 

Jeongin breathed a sigh of relief into Felix’s neck, sagging forward slightly with relief.

“Fuck, I was so scared. You scared me so bad, darling,” Jeongin whispered into Felix’s hair. A sweet squeaky laugh could be heard over the phone. It sounded like walking into a warm room on a cold day.

“Darling, huh? Are you taking your darling to the hospital, baby?” the new voice teased.

Hospital. The word echoed in Felix’s ringing ears and his hand shot out from where it was curled against Jeongin’s chest and swatted at the phone petulantly.

“Nooo,” he groaned and Jeongin could be heard cursing as he fumbled with the phone, then laughed softly.

“Okay, no hospital. It’s probably just a bad bout of flu anyways. If he gets worse we can take him in later,” Jeongin murmured absentmindedly, long heavenly fingers returning to massage Felix's poor, aching skull.

His head had cleared some and all he could think about was how uncomfortable it would be if he had to go to the hospital and they called his emergency contact. Felix cursed himself for never getting around to taking his old pack off his paperwork.

There was a brief lull in conversation, then Jeongin sighed.

“Can I take you to our pack, love?”

Our pack.

A burst of adrenaline suddenly burned through the cotton rocks in his head.

“Our…pack?” His voice was barely a whisper, faint and strained with sickness but he felt the shape of Jeongin’s smile against the top of his head when he pressed his lips against Felix’s hair.

Hope that had sat tucked and curled away tightly in his chest unfurled shyly. Had he… finally found his real pack?

“Yes, darling, our pack. We’ve been looking for you. Can I take you home?” 

Felix whimpered, then flushed, embarrassed by how desperate he sounded. He really wanted to go home, but nothing had really felt like home since leaving his family pack back in Australia.

“Yes, please.”

***

After that, Jeongin carefully pulled Felix’s bag free and threw it over his own shoulder, then scooped him up as easily as if he were just another bag full of textbooks. If Felix were not near delirious with fever, he would have been embarrassingly delighted by this turn of events.

As it stood, he was sick and everything would be awful if it weren’t for the way Jeongin cradled the back of his head gently, fighting off the pounding in his head with a gentle massaging motion. He murmured sweet-nothings as he walked, narrating his actions to Felix, who mostly couldn’t bring himself to care where they were going when his entire world had narrowed down to the uncomfortable relentless tug on his heart, Jeongin’s strong arms and gentle hands, and the rising despair born from Felix’s intense need to smell Jeongin.

“We’re going down to the main road to wait for hyung. He’s gonna pick us up.”

“Gonna get you straight into the nest, darling.”

“You’re not going anywhere until that adorable little nose clears up and you get a good whiff of me. Not being able to feel you properly over the bond is driving me a little crazy, love, not gonna lie.”

All this was punctuated by soft growls, Jeongin occasionally snarling or grumbling whenever anyone drew too close, then muttering to himself moodily. Again, if Felix were a little more with it, he would be laughing with delight over how worked up Jeongin was.

They stopped at what sounded like the side of the main road and Jeongin sat down on a nearby bench with more grumbled complaints, clearly unhappy to be stranded on the side of the road with his new packmate so sick and vulnerable.

Felix gasped when Jeongin suddenly jolted to his feet, before whispering an apology accompanied by another kiss to his temple.

“They’re here, love.”

There was the sound of a van door sliding open.

“Hand him over, Jeongin-ah,” a new voice cried out boisterously and Jeongin straight up hissed.

“Over my dead body.” There was movement as Jeongin unhooked their bags then slung them into the van, somebody letting out a dramatic cry as they no doubt collided with the owner of this new voice.

“Ya, how could you talk to your hyung like that? Disrespectful maknae,” the voice grumbled.

A second new voice laughed. “He might not be maknae anymore, hyung. Maybe our new soulmate is a baby omega to go with our baby alpha?”

Jeongin growled again, sounding far less defensive and on edge than he had when coming up against strangers, but still clearly unhappy.

“Move over,” he ordered loudly, before climbing into the van with Felix still clutched tightly against him. Felix felt as he was set down gently, manoeuvred so he was leaning against the van wall and a seatbelt was clicked into place around him, before Jeongin sat practically on top of him, hiding him from sight as he tucked Felix against his chest once more.

There was much heckling, but Felix lost track of the conversation until a vaguely familiar voice, the owner of that cute squeaky laugh on the phone, cut through the noise.

“Okay you lot, give it a rest. Leave Innie alone, he’s just feeling a little tense because the bond hasn’t settled.”

“But Channie-hyung, he’s our omega, too!” two voices whined.

“Not until you scent bond, he’s not,” Jeongin grumbled into Felix’s ear and there was exaggerated gasps of outrage in response.

“How dare you, Yang Jeongin,” a voice very nearly shrieked and Felix couldn’t help but laugh softly as he drifted off to sleep.

***

Felix woke to the soft curl of something musky and delicious tickling at his nose, which was pressed firmly against someone’s neck, and before his sleep-fuzzed brain had the chance to fully wake up the hand in his chest suddenly let go and in its place, he found something that resembled a guitar string, taut and singing with contentment. He melted into the sheets below him, sighing softly as his headache eased, his ears stopped ringing and his muscles suddenly felt loose and limber, as if he’d just gotten a massage.

Someone gasped and Felix was gently pried away from the lovely smell just barely tickling at his nose. He blinked, trying to process what was happening as a man with fox-like eyes, beautiful bone structure and a smile so bright and beautiful Felix felt like he was having a religious experience overwhelmed him. He had a head full of beautiful, rich bright orange curls, which he shoved out of the way before reaching up and running a hand through Felix’s soft waves. Felix blinked up at the beautiful boy, still feeling a little out of it, but mostly just dazed by the way he could feel his joy singing down the taut string in his chest.

“Hello darling.”

Apparently the boy with the orange curls and the beautiful smile was his Jeongin.

“Hello,” Felix replied, clearing his throat when his usually husky deep voice came out in a lower rumble than usual. He watched with some confusion as Jeongin closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, then began to move.

He propped himself against the side of the nest they were curled up in, then scooped Felix into his lap, where he held him close, stubbornly trying to tuck every part of Felix’s body into his arms, despite how impossible a goal it was. When that didn’t work, Jeongin huffed and yanked a blanket from the nest, which he tucked around Felix, so only his head was peaking out.

“Nice to meet you?” Felix said with a laugh, content to lie back and enjoy the warmth surrounding his sore body.

The bond between them was so right, so natural and a part of who he was that questioning it felt as silly as asking if the sky was really blue. 

Jeongin was his and he was Jeongin’s and even though he knew very little about the man beyond the color of his eyes and the shape of his nose, he belonged to Felix and that was all that mattered. The rest would come with time.

Jeongin clearly felt the same, because he huffed a laugh, but didn’t say anything more before tucking his face into Felix’s neck and breathing in deeply.

“Go back to sleep, darling. You need your rest.”

Felix didn’t bother asking how Jeongin knew this. Just as he could feel Jeongin’s content joy thrumming along their string of fate, he knew Jeongin had to know how tired he was and how much his body ached.

Felix grinned as he drifted off to sleep again.

***

When he next woke up, he felt better. Where he’d only been able to catch the faintest hint of Jeongin’s scent with his nose fully pressed against the other boy’s neck before, he now could smell his warm smoky musk more clearly, alongside the rich twang of alpha. He sighed with contentment, shifting onto his side, only for Jeongin to grumble with discontent and pull him close again. He was pressed along Felix’s back, arms wound tightly around his waist, and even asleep as Felix knew he was thanks to the quiet hum of their bond, his anxious discontent also shivered down the string whenever Felix shifted away.

Huffing a soft laugh, Felix nuzzled the pillow under his face, then slowly allowed his eyes to blink open.

He was immediately met with a pair of warm brown eyes. Breathing in sharply with surprise, the scent of another omega danced across his tongue and a second string snapped into place. His hand shot out and found the other’s before he’d even registered what was happening, and he clutched at the soft hand in his as a wide smile spread across his lips.

“Hi,” he whispered.

“Hello, little omega,” the other man murmured with a matching grin. Felix drank him in with his eyes.

He was so soft in appearance—soft brown fluffy hair, soft brown eyes, dressed in a soft sweater with soft, round flushed cheeks.

Jeongin’s string felt intense, reaching for him with large hands, possessive and passionate, but sincere, gentle and safe. In contrast, this new bond sang like someone humming in a fire-warmed house making tea, but with a mischievous twinkle buzzing away underneath that told him this omega was always ready to make good-natured trouble.

“I’m Seungmin. Our silly baby alpha is the only one who’s been able to talk to you, but he kept forgetting to ask your name. You’ll have to forgive him, he presented late, so he still gets a little overwhelmed by all those loud stupid instincts sometimes,” Seungmin cackled, threading his fingers through Felix’s with an affectionate squeeze.

“I’m Felix,” 

“Hello Felix. The stars led us to you,” Seungmin murmured softly.

Felix felt tears fill his eyes. Oh, how he’d longed to hear those words for so many years now. Hearing them in the stories his family pack had told, of how they’d caught the scent of their unclaimed soulmates and followed the trail until they found the person those words belonged to.

“The stars led me to you,” Felix replied, unable to help the tear that streaked down the side of his nose as Jeongin’s arms tightened around him and Seungmin shuffled closer from the front, sandwiching him between his two new soulmates.

“No tears, love. If baby alpha wakes up and finds you crying, he’ll be so pissed at me,” Seungmin teased. He laughed when Felix sniffled pathetically, using the soft fabric of his sweater to dab at the other omega’s cheeks.

“The first time is special,” Felix explained with a smile when he’d gotten the storm of relief and joy raging in his belly under control.

Seungmin scowled, shooting a disgusted look softened with fondness at Jeongin.

“This baby alpha. Falls to pieces the second anything involves his omegas,” Seungmin grumbled.

“I’ve been pretty out of it,” Felix defends their mate with a grin, amused when Seungmin just huffed about making excuses for baby alphas, then settled in closer to cuddle.

They laid together quietly for a time, and it was just like with Jeongin. There were a lot of things he didn’t know, but questions seemed so pointless when the shape of who Jeongin and Seungmin were was pressed against his ribcage. Jeongin’s sleepy satisfaction played a duet in his chest with Seungmin’s warm content and he drifted off to sleep feeling like a Felix sandwich pressed between the smoky musk of alpha and the sweet caramel of omega.

***

Seungmin sat with his legs crossed in the center of his nest, taking in with deep amusement the way Jeongin had managed to twine all of his limbs around Felix like an octopus. There was absolutely no room for Jesus between the two of them, and it would clearly remain that way if Yang Jeongin had any say in it.

Seungmin had been content to sleep, luxuriating in the delightful sensation of laying in his nest surrounded by the scent of sweet omega, but it had become increasingly difficult to sleep with the impatient thrum of discontent singing down five of his pack bonds. Frankly the only thing that had kept them out of the nest room, after Jeongin had fled Chan’s van and spirited Felix away inside, was the telehealth nurse Minho had called warning them that forming too many new pack bonds while he was already sick would drain poor Felix of what little energy he had.

It had taken a full 24 hours of rest in the nest before Felix’s nose had cleared enough to establish his end of the bond with Jeongin, and their poor baby alpha had spent every minute of that time slowly being driven to madness by his instincts screaming that something was very wrong. Even Seungmin’s entry into his own nest had earned him some discontent growls from his baby alpha. While their packmates pacing in the hallway, practically clawing at the walls waiting for their turn to come in, was mildly amusing to Seungmin, he also knew that Jeongin’s instincts were going haywire trying to figure out whether his beloved packmates prowling around outside were friend or foe given they had no bond with Felix themselves.

Flu or not, Seungmin didn’t think it was a good idea to put it off any longer. 

Seungmin watched Felix doze, the sight of his omega clutching onto his alpha filling him with deep satisfaction.

Whenever a new member joined the pack, typically they were babied and loved on even more than usual, a result of the new bonds establishing themselves and finding equilibrium with existing pack bonds. Some of their members took to being fawned over with great enthusiasm, like Changbin and Jisung. Jisung, since the pack had been so small when he and Chan found each other, had notably demanded a do-over after Jeongin had joined them. Others fled from it, unsure how to handle their loud pack’s affections despite ultimately craving it, like Seungmin and Minho. Hyunjin and Jeongin both passionately insisted they hated it, but were terrible liars and thus it was obvious they liked the attention. Chan had thought he’d escaped the new pack ritual by virtue of being pack alpha, but instead he just got aggressively loved on whenever he didn’t sleep or eat properly, or any time he made an even slightly self-deprecating comment, which essentially meant it was Chan-loving hours 24/7.

As Seungmin watched Felix snuffle sleepily and tuck himself more tightly into Jeongin’s neck, he got the sneaking suspicion that maybe their newest omega would be joining Chan in 24/7 lovins.

Seungmin edged closer, reaching over to poke at Jeongin’s hip, digging his finger in harder when the younger man just snuffled sleepily. Eventually one dark eye squinted open, glaring at Seungmin over the little curled up ball of omega laying between them. Seungmin stroked a fond hand over Felix’s soft golden hair, ignoring the grumpy look it earned him from Jeongin.

“Time’s up. I’ve held them off as long as I can.” Seungmin remained unmoved by the sulky pout Jeongin aimed at him. He clearly wanted nothing more than to ignore everything in favor of remaining tucked away in the nest with his pack omegas, but Seungmin was already heartily sick of all the alpha posturing he’d been forced to endure, when he should have been luxuriating in finally having an omega ally. The sooner they got this shit over with, the sooner Felix would be back on his feet and ready to join Seungmin in mischief.

Besides, he could practically hear Chan and Hyunjin whimpering and pawing at the door pathetically, and it wasn’t nearly so fun when he couldn’t even see them pouting and whining with his own eyes.

The door suddenly creaked open a crack, predictably causing Jeongin to roll over and plant himself between Felix and the door.

“Yang Jeongin.” Minho’s voice could be heard, low and calm, which Seungmin knew was when he was at his most crazy. “Stop hogging our omegas.”

Jeongin’s only response was to hiss.

Seungmin picked up a pillow and used it to land several blows on Jeongin’s back, who flinched, but refused to move from where he was shielding Felix’s sleeping form.

“Stop growling at your pack. I’ve had enough of this shit,” Seungmin muttered, glaring at Jeongin who sulkily burrowed into the messy nest with a pouty huff. Seungmin mentally added a new task to his to-do list:

1. Get everyone bonded to his new omega
2. Kick everyone out of his and Felix’s nest and remake it

Normally he’d never stand for the nest being in such disarray, but he was loath to move poor Felix when he was still so sniffly and sad.

“Send Channie-hyung in first,” Seungmin made an executive decision, knowing the others always deferred to Chan and Chan always deferred to Seungmin.

Before anyone could so much as twitch a muscle, Seungmin heard Hyunjin make a distinctly annoyed sound.

“Yah, do none of you have a sentimental bone in your body?! Is Felix even awake?” Hyunjin asked in a furious whisper.

Seungmin had to practically climb on top of Jeongin in order to confirm that Felix was somehow still snoozing peacefully despite all the noise and jostling.

Hyunjin hissed with discontent when Seungmin told them as much.

“You can’t just force scent bonds with the whole pack while he’s half asleep! He needs to be fully awake. Imagine how unfair it would be to rob him of feeling the bonds come to life for the first time because you shoved your scents on him while he’s only half-awake.”

Seungmin was glad none of his hyungs could see his expression, because Hyunjin was annoyingly right. Seungmin could only imagine how furious he would be if someone robbed him of the feeling of bonding with his soulmates for the first time. Felix needed to be at least conscious for the bonds to take, but they would still latch on even if he was dozing and not really taking anything in.

The way Jeongin was shooting a guilty look over his shoulder made it obvious he’d realized the same thing. His cheeks were flushed with embarrassment under the mop of orange curls that had formed something resembling a bird’s nest after three days spent curled in the nest with Felix sans hairbrush.

“Our Hyunjinnie is so smart,” Chan cooed from the hallway, where he was no doubt attempting to wrap himself around his squirming mate.

Seungmin chose to ignore them in favor of flopping on top of Jeongin, effectively pinning the baby alpha in place while also giving him access to their lovely omega.

Quickly becoming mesmerized by the freckles sprinkled across Felix’s gorgeous little face, he was loath to disturb their sick mate’s peaceful slumber. It was the work of a few minutes to convince himself to run his fingers through Felix’s hair in an attempt to gently coax him awake.

Eventually, he began to stir, eyes fluttering open to blink up at Seungmin sleepily.

“Sorry to wake you, love. The others are just really excited to meet you.”

Felix blinked a few more times, frowning slightly as his sick-fogged brain clearly tried to work out what Seungmin was saying.

“Our mates?” he finally whispered, the husky sick rasp unable to disguise the wonder in his voice. 

Seungmin couldn’t help but smile even as Jeongin cooed and nuzzled his nose into Felix’s neck.

“Yes, baby, our soulmates,” Seungmin agreed with a laugh. 

Felix grinned widely, despite looking as if he was seconds away from drifting off again.

“Yes, please.”

Jeongin moved so he sat against the side of the nest, before arranging Felix in his lap like he was a little prince sitting on a throne and ruling over his court of pillows and blankets.

Seungmin sat next to them, eying the messy nest with dissatisfaction. Felix frowned at him sleepily, clearly aware he was unhappy about the state of the nest. Seungmin’s mild frustration sang down their soul bond, and Felix reached over and began patting his hair like he was a particularly adorable grumpy puppy. From his perch on Jeongin’s lap, he could no doubt see the enormous mattress built into the nest room floor was a chaotic mess of soft things that would make any omega unhappy.

“Wanna fix the nest first, Minnie?” he asked softly, his voice too weak to produce much more than a hoarse rasp. 

Felix flushed when fondness thrummed down their bond in response to the nickname that had slipped out so naturally.

“No baby, we can fix it together later,” Seungmin assured, reaching over and squeezing Felix’s hand gently. “I’m gonna call Channie-hyung in first, okay?”

Seungmin didn’t bother explaining that having Chan on side would help in settling Jeongin’s freaked out instincts best.

When their baby alpha had finally presented, everyone had braced themselves for the usual posturing of a new alpha, only to be pleasantly surprised when Jeongin had taken to Chan in much the same way he’d responded to Seungmin post-presentation—he hadn’t let either of them out of the nest for weeks without smothering them with his scent, and glared at anyone outside the pack who looked at Chan with more than a passing interest, much to their pack alpha’s obvious delight.

It was likely Jeongin’s anxiousness would only settle in their pack alpha’s presence.

Taking a final deep breath to brace himself for whatever happened next, Seungmin stood and opened the door a little more, sending a warning glare to his gathered mates where they were all huddled in the hallway eavesdropping.

“Only Channie-hyung for now. Felix is still really weak, this is going to take a lot out of him.”

All five of his mates nodded solemnly, adorably serious expressions painted across their faces.

Seungmin laughed softly, unable to hide his fondness as he quickly ushered Chan into his and Felix’s nest.

***

Felix was trying very hard not to fall back asleep. He closed his eyes, concentrating on the slightly anxious thrum in his chest coming from Jeongin. Blindly reaching for Jeongin’s hand, he squeezed it gently.

“Everything’s okay. Don’t worry,” he assured gently, clumsily patting Jeongin’s hand. The young alpha snorted, some of his anxiousness fading to be replaced with warm fondness.

The mattress that formed the base of the huge nest dipped slightly as someone kneeled on the other side. Felix blinked his eyes open, gaze immediately drawn to bare muscular arms tucked neatly and unthreateningly into the newcomer’s lap.

The now familiar hand settled around his heart, tugging. The sensation wasn’t painful, but it was uncomfortable and wrong. 

“I can’t smell you,” Felix complained, voice very nearly a petulant whine. 

The alpha with short, bright white hair laughed softly, the squeaky giggle familiar to Felix from Jeongin’s call to his pack alpha. He had a really gorgeous smile, Felix decided.

“Okay, I’m coming closer, Innie,” the alpha warned. He shuffled forward on his knees, clearly doing his best to appear small and unassuming despite his hulking muscles. They could both no doubt feel the way panic shot down their soulbond with Jeongin, his instincts clearly at war since they recognized his own pack alpha, but couldn’t abide by someone who wasn’t soulbound to his sick omega being so close.

Seungmin sat himself next to Jeongin, and the way he was eying their baby alpha, coupled with the determination Felix could sense from him, made it clear he was ready to pull him into a headlock if he tried anything.

Felix laughed softly, patting Jeongin’s knee reassuringly. His new packmates were so full of care for one another, he couldn’t help but feel nothing but happy fondness seeing them be so careful with him and each other. 

When the new alpha settled in front of him, kneeling and tucked into himself a little so that Felix had to look down at him, he smiled softly. Felix stared, taking in the barely there freckles splashed over the alpha’s cheeks and the gentle smile on his beautiful, lush lips. He breathed in deeply, desperate to catch his scent and letting out a frustrated grumble when he couldn’t catch anything.

“Come closer, please,” Felix demanded, his tone bordering on petulant. It earned him an adoring smile and another squeaky giggle. 

The alpha shuffled closer, carefully tilting his head back to bare his neck. Ignoring the way Jeongin grew more and more tense the closer the alpha drew, he tipped forward, pressed his nose directly to the alpha’s skin, and breathed as deeply as he could.

Relief flooded him as something warm and alpha tickled at his nose, coating his tongue like honey. As his third soulmate string snapped into place, singing like a guitar string, he felt Jeongin breathe a sigh of relief, sagging forward into his pack alpha and pinning Felix between them.

“The stars led us to you, Felix. I’m Chan,”

Felix took a long time to find his tongue and extract it from Chan’s thick honey-like scent. Chan felt like a chocolate truffle, something hard with a perfectly round surface, but over their bond Felix could reach through that sweet outer shell and take the soft, gooey inside in his hand. It felt like he’d been handed something precious and sweet, and determination to protect that soft warmth began to burn somewhere in his gut. 

“The stars led me to you,” Felix finally managed, blinking sluggishly through the honey running through his veins. He pressed closer to Chan, breathing the lovely scent he now needed more than air to survive.

Chan cooed, reaching forward to wrap Jeongin in his arms, so that Felix was cradled between them. 

“Immediately scent drunk,” Seungmin snorted, his bond thrumming with soft amusement.

“Am not,” Felix protested weakly, then turned his head to breathe in more of Chan’s scent. 

“I think Minho-hyung is going to have to come in last if this is how he’s responding to alpha scents,” Seungmin murmured softly, and someone in the hallway made a loud, offended noise that was met with amused laughter.

Felix lost track of reality a little after that.

Conversation drifted around him, Seungmin, Jeongin and Chan talking in soft voices, giving Felix a chance to rest following the intense sensation of a third soul bond settling in his chest. He resisted the urge to fall asleep again, but it was hard because he was so warm. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so content and at peace. It didn’t matter that he felt as weak as a kitten, still sniffling through a mostly blocked nose. Mere days ago he’d had no soul bonds and now he couldn’t imagine how he’d gone his entire life without feeling Seungmin, Jeongin and Chan strumming in his chest. 

He had to stay awake. There were four more soul bonds waiting for him. If just three felt this incredible, how would it feel to have all seven? Surely he was about to gain the ability to fly or do magic, he couldn’t imagine feeling anything more incredible than this.

His drifting mind was lured back to his body by the sound of a spirited game of rock-paper-scissors coming from the hallway.

“Minho-hyung, why are you even playing? Minnie already said no more stinky alphas,” a voice teased before squawking and crying out, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, you’re not stinky, baby. You smell amazing.”

More scuffling and cursing, then a triumphant cry. 

“I win, suck it.” The door slammed open and Felix flinched awake, eyes flying open just in time to watch as someone bounded closer, collapsing onto the nest on their knees in front of Felix and looming close enough that Felix was able to breath in their rich, spicy beta scent before Jeongin had time to do much more than tense. 

Their soulmate bond slammed into place and his first beta mate smiled so softly and sweetly that Felix’s heart beat loudly, already wrapped in the thrumming strand that connected them. 

He was tall and broad, with long black hair that fell around his beautiful face in loose shaggy waves that hid them from view when he leaned forward and pressed his forehead to Felix’s.

“The stars led us to you, angel,” the beta murmured softly and Felix had to take a deep breath, because he was so tired and full of sensations.

“The stars led me to you,” he gasped, taking another deep breath to steady himself as he shook. The soulmate strings vibrated with sweetest joy, content and concern, his mates watching him carefully as he dragged in a third deep breath.

“What’s your name?” he finally asked when the strings all began to sing with increasing worry. He didn’t want his soulmates to worry about him. There was just a lot going on all at once, but all of it was happy and perfect. He was the most all right he’d ever been.

Seungmin tsked, eying the beta with fond exasperation.

“I thought you were the smart one today?” he muttered with a teasing smirk, but the beta ignored him, the happiness thrumming down their new bond undisturbed by Seungmin’s good-natured prodding.

“I’m Hyunjin. Hyunjinnie to you. Never Hwang Hyunjin,” he ordered imperiously, before laughing and running a long finger over Felix’s cheek gently. “Like stars,” he whispered softly as Felix’s eyes drifted shut and he lost track of time once more.

He knew he had three more soulmates to meet, but Chan and Hyunjin’s strings were buzzing so loudly in his chest, new and effervescent, so excited and vying for his attention beside the more settled strings of Jeongin and Seungmin.

The memory of Jeongin’s anxious fear lit determination in him, however. Felix didn’t want to leave his final soulmates in limbo while he slept any longer. He wanted them to be all together. He’d waited so long, he could do this even if he had to sleep for days after to recover.

“Next one,” he called, and Seungmin laughed with delight while Chan, Hyunjin and Jeongin blinked at him with surprise.

“You heard our omega, next!” Seungmin called, running an adoring hand through Felix’s hair.

“Speaking of omegas,” Hyunjin muttered, unfolding himself from where he’d been perched over Felix. He stood, circled around Chan, then flopped on top of Seungmin, ignoring his indignant cries. “You’ve been locked up in here for days, too, Seungminnie. You’re mine for the rest of the day,” Hyunjin wrapped all of his limbs around Seungmin, who went limp, expression dry and unimpressed.

Felix squinted at them over Chan’s shoulder, unconvinced by Seungmin’s performed annoyance when he could feel his contentment humming down their string.

A burst of noise from the hallway indicated the end of the next round of scissor-paper-rock and Felix’s attention drifted, then there was a large hand gently cupping the back of his head, guiding his nose to a thick, delicious neck. He breathed in, a new string forming as he swallowed something rich and luscious, indescribably gorgeous and distinctly beta.

He chased the scent when the beta began to draw away, wriggling an arm free from where it was pinned against Chan and throwing it blindly around the gorgeous neck to draw his soulmate back toward him. 

“Oh, he likes you, Changbinnie.”

A new voice, warm and rich, chuckled against his ear.

“The stars led us to you.”

Felix was suspended in pudding, if pudding was also Jeongin and Chan holding him between them as he breathed in Changbin’s warmth. How could he talk through pudding? If he opened his mouth, would they be able to hear him through the pudding that had replaced the air around him? His head was spinning, like he’d eaten a whole plate of his sister’s special brownies.

“The… The stars led me to… to you,” he finally managed, and was rewarded with a soft coo from Changbin.

“You’re very scent drunk, love.”

“Nuh uh,” Felix protested, unable to even pry his eyes open by now. “Next,” he ordered, adopting Hyunjin’s imperious tone much to his mates' amusement.

“Okay, little prince.”

“You sure you don’t want to take a nap, baby? You don’t have to push yourself, we can wait,” Chan assured and Felix could feel his warm worry thrumming in his chest.

“No, no more waiting,” Felix insisted and felt as Chan nodded, pressing his plush lips to the top of Felix’s head.

“Okay, baby.” Chan then turned and called in the direction of the door, “Jisungie, you’re up.”

There was some shuffling, then someone was standing in the nest.

“Hand him over, alphas!” Felix felt the hand in his chest take hold of his heart tightly, tugging even as Jeongin’s anxiety began to sing down his string. “No, don’t growl at me, baby alpha! You’ve been so greedy and naughty. Hand him over.”

Jeongin seemed to reluctantly subside. Felix felt as he was passed to a new set of arms, watching through a tired haze as Jeongin buried his pouty face in Chan’s neck, bullying the pack alpha into a corner of the nest and beginning to scent him thoroughly. Chan allowed it with a squeaky laugh.

Felix floated, allowing the new person to guide him so he was lying on top of them, his face tucked into their neck. The tugging hand loosened and stretched, forming a sixth string that sung, harmonizing with all the others in a way that made their slightly discordant notes form something more cohesive, very nearly a whole and complete song.

“Hello, my baby. The stars led us to you. I’m Jisung,” a voice spoke gently into his ear. Felix tried not to breathe too deeply, knowing the gentle warm beta scent of Jisung would make the pudding in his brain worse.

“Stars… the stars… they led me to you.”

“Aw baby, you’re so out of it, huh? Just one more, okay? I know you really want to sleep, but Minho-hyung is going absolutely feral out there on his own. Can you do one more?” Jisung asked gently, concern thrumming down their connection.

“I can do it,” Felix insisted in a sleepy slur. Jisung pressed his lips to Felix’s temple, making a noise that resembled the sound someone usually made when losing their shit over a tiny kitten.

“Of course you can. You’re a strong, independent omega,” Jisung insisted with a laugh.

Felix felt the nest shifting as his final soulmate prowled closer. He rolled, tipping himself into the nest to lay in Jisung’s arms, held firmly against the beta’s side.

The man Jisung had referred to as Minho-hyung stood looking down at them, his eyes dark and intense. Felix felt pinned as he took several deep breaths, trying to take in the absurdly handsome man looming over him with a wolfish intensity most people were unable to carry over to their human forms after shifting.

Minho prowled closer, before lowering himself to the nest and laying himself over Felix like a lean, muscled blanket. Most of his weight went to the elbows he pressed to either side of Felix’s narrow shoulders. Both of his hands found the back of Felix’s head, massaging the back of his neck as he scooped up Felix’s head and tucked his face into his lean neck.

“The stars led us to you.”

Tears spilled over Felix’s eyes as he breathed in the sensation of a thunderstorm, dark stormclouds made of brown sugar settling like puffs of fairy floss dissolving on his tongue, as the final string wove into place, rooted somewhere deep in his chest cavity, where someone would have to kill him to carve it free.

He mumbled a response that resembled words through the cloud of sugar in his mouth.

The seven strings hummed and sang, forming a harmony that sounded like home.

Felix clung to Minho with what little strength he had, winding his fingers in the other man’s clothes so it would be impossible for anyone to pry them apart as he drifted off to sleep.

***

Felix did a stellar job of scaring the shit out of his soulmates by sleeping for the next two days, interrupted only by bathroom breaks and when they were occasionally able to coax him to drink some water and eat a few bites of fruit.

At one point, when Felix was finally able to stay awake for more than fifteen minutes at a time, Minho cuddled up to him in the nest and helped him apply for two weeks academic leave, which all students were entitled to in order to settle a new packbond. This meant Jeongin and Seungmin were practically his constant companions in the nest, while the others were more or less around 24/7 as well. The only exception was when something cropped up at their various jobs that they were unable to leave unattended.

A full week after Jeongin had kidnapped Felix and held him hostage in the nest, as the rest of the pack liked to tease, he was finally allowed to venture to the bathroom unsupervised.

He promptly lost his balance, tripped, and brained himself on the bathroom counter. After that, no one in the pack allowed him to so much as stand by himself, and so he spent the second week of his academic leave being carried around like a child’s revered teddy bear. 

A part of him felt he should be protesting the treatment. His old pack’s frequent complaints that he didn’t have any respect for personal space was a wound he’d worked to heal that still ached from time to time. But the more pragmatic part of Felix figured his new pack was only being so tactile because their bond was so fresh and it had come into being when Felix was so sick and weak that their instincts were going a little crazy trying to protect him from something they couldn’t very well fight off with fists or words: the common cold.

And tactile, his new pack was.

They picked him up, carrying him like a princess or gently tossing him over their shoulders, filled with smug pride when Felix would laugh in delight and massage their arms and shoulders with greedy little hands. Whenever he found himself returned to the nest, he was never without a soulmate blanket draped over him. Even when they sat down to eat, one of his mates would always tug him into their lap and spend the meal coaxing him to eat more, like it wasn’t impossible to pay attention to his food when they were scenting him and nuzzling his neck the whole time.

It was the blissful honeymoon phase of a new pack bond that Felix’s family had described to him constantly as a child, and he was determined not to squander it. If he was only going to get a few weeks of this level of intimacy, he would milk it for all it was worth.

Which is how he found himself curled into the corner of the huge lumpy couch in the living room, Jisung draped over him in such a way that if any of their mates entered the room, they’d be unable to even see him under the pile of beta and blankets.

Jisung had waged war with Jeongin to get him to go to his own room and do his homework. Usually when Jeongin had to dedicate time to staying on top of his assignments, he would sneakily coax both Felix and Seungmin into his room, insisting it was study time for the only three mates who were still attending university, but Jisung was home for the day while Chan and Changbin took care of something in the studio, and he refused to allow their baby alpha to “hog the omegas.” 

Jisung huffed even as Felix laughed underneath him, delighted by the friendly bickering. The arguing and growling was always accompanied by a feeling of warm-content-happy-fun in their soul bond, so Felix never had to worry that there was some sort of weird tension playing out in the pack.

It was so different from how things had been with his old pack, where they hadn’t shared a bond and he hadn’t ever known what any of them were thinking, why their scents would turn sour and angry at times, or why they would get mad at him for seemingly no good reason.

“That silly baby alpha is getting on my last nerve,” Jisung grumbled, before shoving his nose into the crown of Felix’s head and breathing deeply with a content sigh. “Just because he’s your first mate, he thinks he can be a greedy little gremlin.”

Felix blinked. He’d never heard someone refer to a “first mate” before.

“First mate? Like a pirate?” Felix asked, tucking his head into Jisung’s neck sleepily.

“Ha! Oh my gosh, a pirate, that’s so cute. I gotta tell the others you said that. But no, it’s a running joke we have.” Jisung began to explain with great enthusiasm, his fingers carding through Felix’s soft hair gently. “Channie and I first met in Music Production 101 so we’re each other’s first mates. Then in Creative Music Production the next semester we met Changbin, and me and hyung argue about whose bond formed first, but it was basically the same time, so we’re Binnie-hyungs first mates. Then we made this group chat where we were supposed to text each other if we ever caught the scent of a new mate, but…” Here Jisung’s eyes glimmered mischievously as he laughed fondly. “None of us had any intention of giving up the chance to be our next mate’s first mate. Changbin-hyung caught Minho’s scent when he went for a walk to get the creative juices going one morning, then he ran for three hours following the running trail along the Han River so he could be the first one to bond with Minho-hyung, and he didn’t even text us. We had no idea where he was all that time until he showed up at the studio with this gorgeous new mate. I was so mad at him.” 

Felix smiled against Jisung’s neck. It was clear from the excited-fond glimmer to Jisung’s string that he didn’t harbor any actual bad feelings as a result of his pack’s strange competition.

“Honestly, Minho-hyung is a text book tsundere though because he caught Hyunjinnie’s scent on campus and it led him to the student dance centre. You take classes down there too, right Lix?” When Felix nodded, Jisung continued, “The classroom entrance is on the outside of the building, so he sat in the snow for hours waiting for Jinnie’s class to be over, and to this day he’s always rubbing it in our faces that he’s Jinnie’s first mate.” Here, the beta stopped to pout at Felix until he huffed a laugh and patted Jisung’s head consolingly. Jisung preened under the attention, cheeks round and so sweet, Felix couldn’t resist leaning forward and planting a kiss to the corner of his eye. Jisung flushed, stunned by Felix’s daring for a moment.

“Anyway, Jinnie found Minnie, then Minnie found Innie, and we’ve been waiting for almost two years for you to come along! We could feel we only had one more mate to go, but it’s weird Innie and Minnie never smelt you anywhere on campus.”

“I’m only in my third semester at this university. I did the first year of my degree in Australia,” Felix explained, but Jisung still frowned with some confusion.

“Still, that’s almost a year and half now.”

Felix hesitated for a moment, then figured if he couldn’t open up to his soulmates, then who would he ever be able to talk to? 

“I spent a lot of that first year around my old pack. Then some shit happened, and my housing stipend was gone, so I got a job off campus to help pay for accommodation. I guess I just don’t spend a lot of time there outside classes, because I’m usually so busy,” Felix confessed with an easy grin.

Jisung frowned for a moment, thinking over Felix’s words. Then his expression cleared.

“Well, you’ll live here now, so you don’t have to worry about making rent anymore. We really should go and get your stuff though, so you don’t have to pay rent on an empty apartment.” Jisung wriggled around, fishing his phone from his pocket.

Of course, it was only natural that Felix would move in. That’s just what soulbound packs did.

Felix flushed with embarrassment, but his determination to be honest with his soulmates compelled him to explain.

“Actually, I got a text from the gosiwon manager a few days ago. I missed payment while I was out sick, so they packed all my stuff up and rented my room out to someone else. I have to go pick up my stuff from the manager’s office when I feel better.”

Jisung blinked at the word “gosiwon” but eventually nodded understandingly. Gosiwon’s were cheap, extremely tiny accommodation usually meant for students. The kitchen and bathrooms were shared and the room itself was barely big enough to hold the smaller than standard single bed and a tiny desk and chair. Felix could easily touch both sides of his room at the same time.

Jisung suddenly frowned, an uncomfortable icy cold feeling shooting down their bond.

“Does that mean they pulled apart your nest?” he asked gravely, peering down at Felix with wide, sad eyes.

“Oh, don’t worry Jisungie! I don’t have a nest.”

Far from reassuring Jisung, this just made him frown more deeply.

“But you… You like nesting, right?” Jisung asked and Felix nodded easily.

“Yeah, I love nesting with Seungminnie especially. I just…” Again, his conviction to be honest was tested, finding it a little hard to confess to what had been an embarrassing and upsetting time in his life, but he took a deep breath and powered on. “I brought a lot of nesting stuff with me from Australia, but when me and my old pack broke up, I had to leave all of it behind. It was a messy break, and I didn’t want to go back for anything. Nesting stuff is kind of expensive, and I haven’t really felt like nesting, so I never bought any new stuff,” he concluded cheerfully, doing his best to convey how unbothered he was to Jisung through their soul bond.

Even a few weeks ago, some of that old hurt had still lingered despite all the work Felix had done to heal, but his seven strings of fate left no room for any of that. Letting jerks who had manipulated and taken advantage of how young and naive he was have any hold over him felt ridiculous in the face of his completed pack bond.

Felix jerked when Jisung’s string began to vibrate and hum in his chest, both sad and furious in equal parts. Jisung scowled down at him, ignoring Felix’s protests when he squished the omega’s face to his chest and began possessively stroking his hair. 

“Those jerks. Stealing my baby’s nest. Oh, wait til Minho-hyung hears about this,” Jisung grumbled, wrapping all of his limbs around Felix and clinging to him.

Felix sighed, his eyes straying to his phone as it began to light up with messages from their group chat.

chanifer: why is jisungie sad/mad?

chanifer: who’s home and able to check on him?

seungmong: me

babybread: me

yong.lix: he’s okay, he’s with me. Just a misunderstanding. dw

babybread: i’m coming

yong.lix: no thank you, i got it love

Felix snorted, easily imagining the disgruntled expression Jeongin was likely to be wearing based on the grumpy strum of his string.

“Nobody stole my nest, Jisungie. I just didn’t want to face them again. I was a bit of a coward about it, that’s all,” Felix reassured, only to blink with surprise when Jisung wrenched his face from where he was nosing at Felix’s hair and scowled at him fiercely.

“If you didn’t feel safe going back for your nest, then they were a shitty pack,” Jisung insisted and Felix sighed, unwilling to fight with his mate over this.

“Okay, Sungie. They were kind of shitty, I guess.”

Jisung was clearly unhappy Felix wasn’t cursing his former pack and their entire bloodline, but he let it go, choosing to bury his face in Felix’s neck and pout.

“Was it… Were you romantically involved or was it just a platonic pack?” Jisung eventually asked softly.

Felic sighed, knowing his soulmate wasn’t going to like what he had to say.

“I… it was kind of unclear. The pack alpha approached me first, but they avoided putting a label on it. Obviously, I knew it wasn’t going to be a permanent thing. They weren’t my soulmates, but… People form temporary packs all the time, you know? I figured it would be nice to have a pack while I was at uni,” Felix confessed.

He’d been incredibly lonely despite making friends fairly quickly during his first semester in Korea. Being away from his family pack had been hard, as it often was for people moving away for study or work for the first time. Which was why he hadn’t thought anything was strange when the pack had started trying to get closer to him. He’d even been flattered that they’d been interested in adding him to their already established pack. Nothing had seemed off, even if he was often confused about whether they were interested in him romantically or just as a platonic addition to their pack.

“I didn’t have time to even think about joining a temporary pack,” Jisung confessed with a reassuring smile. “I think I might have tried finding one if Channie-hyung and I hadn’t met during my first week of classes.”

Felix frowned, doing the math in his head. “How did you meet in a first year class? Channie-hyung is a few years older than us, isn’t he?”

Jisung grinned. “I’m a genius. I skipped grades and started uni early.” He held eye contact with Felix, enduring the omega’s skeptical eyebrow raise for several moments before snorting. “Nah, I was home-schooled so I qualified a year early and Chan came from Australia and restarted his degree, so we ended up starting the same year. Fate, I guess.” Jisung batted his eyelashes dramatically, causing Felix to laugh softly.

A comfortable silence settled between them and Felix enjoyed the quiet thrum of Jisung’s chest pressed against his, their string drawn tight and singing happily at their proximity. He took a deep breath.

Honesty, he reminded himself. He took a deep breath, enjoying Jisung’s warm beta scent. It was like breathing in sunlight.

…But maybe he didn’t have to tell Jisung absolutely everything today? Surely, it was okay if he took his time. 

Felix felt a little guilty, but he’d also learned he had to take it easy on himself sometimes. He had so many things to learn about his soulmates, just as they had many things to learn about him. They had time.

Jisung nuzzled his nose just under Felix’s ear and breathed in his scent before letting out a content sigh.

“You smell so good. Feels like we were waiting for you for so long. The bond finally feels right now,” Jisung murmured sleepily, then snorted with amusement. “We used to tease Jeongin so much. He kept insisting that it was his turn to be someone’s first mate, but it took us so long to find you that we all started saying we were gonna steal you from him and he better hurry up. It was mostly jokes, but sometimes he’d get so mad at us,” Jisung laughed gleefully.

“Poor Innie,” Felix laughed, his chest filled to the brim with adoration for his baby alpha.

“Yeah, but he found you in the end,” Jisung muttered sleepily, voice fond.

A brief whisper of pain strummed at Felix’s string, and he ruthlessly suppressed it, smiling when one of Jisung’s eyes popped open to study him carefully before falling sleepily shut again. 

A part of Felix wished his story resembled Jisung’s, and that Jeongin had walked into the same classroom as him in his first week, saving him from all the pain and confusion that had consumed his first year in Korea.

But then, Felix always chose to see the good in things. Maybe he wouldn’t know how to cherish his lovely, kind, sweet soulmates the same if he hadn’t experienced for himself just how horribly wrong relationships could go.

“I’ll never get to be someone’s first mate though,” Felix complained with an exaggerated pout, not actually all that upset.

Jisung drew back long enough to boop Felix on the nose and grin his adorable gummy smile. “Yeah, but you get to be everyone’s last mate.”

Felix tried not to feel too ecstatic and smug, but the indulgent look Jisung sent him said that the beta still felt it humming down their string of fate.

***

Changbin and Chan came home that very same day with a suspicious amount of bags and boxes. Felix, still tired and weak and pinned to the couch under Jisung, barely had time to call out a sleepy greeting before the two of them had disappeared down the hall after shouting a brief greeting.

Felix watched them go with a pout, a little sad that the clingy period seemed to already be ending, since normally none of his soulmates would miss an opportunity to smother him in cuddles after a day out of the apartment. 

It was okay, he’d known it was coming.

Seungmin’s loud snort distracted him from his slightly morose thoughts.

“Idiots,” he muttered, before returning his attention to his book, ignoring the way Jeongin was wrapped around his waist like a particularly disgruntled limpet. His earlier attempts to pry Jisung off Felix so he could insert himself in the middle had been met with immediate loud and outraged disapproval from Jisung, so he’d retreated to Seungmin to sulk. In Felix’s limited experience, Jisung was usually willing to give Jeongin anything and everything he wanted, as long as the baby alpha paid for it with a smooch on the cheek, so it was no doubt very jarring for him to be chased off by the sweet beta.

Seungmin found Jeongin’s unsettled alpha instincts amusing, if not exasperating, so he was enduring Jeongin’s pouty clinginess with a smirk.

Ten minutes later, the apartment door beeped as someone typed in the code, then there was a lot of noise as they struggled to open the door. There were thundering footsteps before Chan stumbled out of the hallway, wrenched the front door open, then ushered the pile of shopping bags on legs inside. Only the very top of a tall head with long black hair scraped into a high bun revealed that it was Hyunjin behind all the bags.

“Hello my angel babies,” he cried out, before allowing Chan to guide him down the hallway, where much cursing and thumping could be heard.

Felix peered out from underneath his beta blanket to try and catch sight of what was going on deeper in the apartment, but Jisung suddenly began shuffling around, until Felix found himself lying on the couch, pinned and surrounded by a warm beta scent that made him sleepy and lethargic again. He promptly forgot about whatever their oldest mates were up to. He was still too busy purring and kneading Jisung’s chest to pay any mind to the front door beeping open and Minho storming into the apartment accompanied by the crinkling of yet more shopping bags.

He only returned to reality when the alpha returned to the living room with a giant ankle length puffer jacket that smelt strongly of Minho and began attempting to excavate Felix from where he’d been swallowed whole by the couch. Jisung whined and tried to fight Minho off, but the alpha just sighed, set aside the jacket, and wrapped an arm around Jisung’s waist. The beta squawked indignantly, flailing and trying to struggle free to return to Felix, but Seungmin and Jeongin obediently accepted him from Minho and pinned Jisung between them.

“Come on, love. We have to go pick up your stuff from that shitty gosiwon before they try and throw it out.”

This was enough to summon Felix’s brain back to his body from where it had been floating in space.

“Oh… is there room for my stuff? I can get rid of some of it,” Felix offered easily. He didn’t have a lot of things, given the teeny tiny room he was living in. Most of his clothes and nesting stuff had been abandoned after all.

“No, baby. Seungmin fought tooth and nail to have you in his room. He always sleeps in the nest anyway, so it's just a place to store his shit,” Minho explained, tugging Felix to sit up before feeding his arms into the giant puffer jacket. Felix allowed himself to be manhandled, enjoying Minho’s quickly becoming familiar brand of fuss.

He glanced over at Seungmin, who was radiating smug pride over winning the roommate war Felix hadn’t even been aware was ongoing. In his defence, he’d been following a particularly lazy cat’s sleep schedule these days.

“Jeongin was trying to cram you in with him and Channie. I think our maknae would be in heaven if he’d managed it,” Jisung grumbled, still disgruntled over being pried from Felix’s arms, but slowly melting into Jeongin’s hold regardless. Jeongin said nothing to deny his accusation.

“Sungie, don’t go back to sleep, or you’ll be up all night,” Minho laughed, before leaning down and lifting Felix into his arms. Jisung whined, flailing about until Seungmin flung his book aside and climbed on top of the beta to pin him in place.

Minho carried Felix to the front door, setting him down on the nearby stool to slide the omega’s shoes on his feet. Felix flushed red, too pleased to protest the princess treatment when he knew it was only a matter of time before it would all be over.

It was nice, being scooped back into Minho’s arms and carried out the front door to the elevator. They didn’t speak, content to let their strings talk for them as they always did when in such close proximity, humming in a silent conversation that said Minho had had a mostly good day. Felix had spent the whole day cuddling with Jisung, and Minho frowned disapprovingly when he was able to discern that Felix hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Felix avoided his eyes, his string insisting he’d slept so much there hadn’t been time for food. Minho huffed, but carried Felix from the elevator, setting him gently in the front seat of his car, before buckling him in. Felix sniffled, the cold outside air immediately making his nose run again. 

“Let’s pick up your stuff and then get some of your favorite chicken for dinner,” Minho suggested when he was done, leaning down to press a kiss to Felix’s hair before closing the door and circling the car.

Minho took Felix’s hand in his when they were out on the road, holding it gently the whole way to the gosiwon.

***

Felix slept late the next day, the short trip into the outside world taking more out of him than he would have liked. His runny nose was back and his throat was sore, but all of his stuff had been accounted for in the two battered boxes the manager had handed over along with his empty suitcase, so he considered the trip a win.

Even if Minho’s string had thrummed unhappily upon seeing the few sets of clothes, the stack of textbooks, and the jumbled pile of chargers that was the sum of all of Felix’s worldly possessions.

Felix turned over, burrowing into the blanket wrapped around him, but then blinking slowly awake when the soft fabrics scent registered in his brain.

Most of the nesting material in their bed smelt of the pack, but Seungmin’s was the most prevalent scent, since all the blankets and pillows belonged to him. They were all gifts from the rest of the pack and mostly in shades of softest brown and sage green. Hyunjin had a nest of his own in his room that he guarded fiercely, but even still the array of purple and pink soft things were largely gifts from the pack, which only made them more cherished and special to Hyunjin.

The blanket tucked around Felix’s body right now was soft and lush and smelt faintly of his pack. He squinted at it sleepily, surprised to see it was an unfamiliar soft blue.

Sitting up, the enormous blanket pooled all around him. 

There was a giant daisy shaped cushion, soft and squishy under his hands, that had been tucked under his shoulders, the white and yellow of it cheery and bright. Felix stared, the sound of his heart thumping slowly suddenly loud in his ears.

The nest was empty since it was a little late in the day. Unsurprisingly however, moments later the door opened and Hyunjin appeared with a warm smile. The pack had yet to relent when it came to letting him wander around by himself. The bruise spread across the left side of his forehead following his one-sided battle with the bathroom counter made it hard for him to argue.

“Do you want to go out for breakfast, love?” Hyunjin asked, shuffling forward to crouch in front of Felix.

“Am I being allowed outside now?” Felix asked teasingly, grinning up at his soulmate.

Hyunjin snorted, reaching forward to tuck a stray lock of blonde hair behind Felix’s ear. “Jeongin is at a meeting he couldn’t wriggle out of for his group assignment, so I think we can smuggle you out for a few hours.” Hyunjin tugged him to his feet, wrapping an arm around his shoulder to lead him down the hallway. “We put all your stuff away in your room, but obviously feel free to move it around.”

Felix hadn’t had much opportunity to explore the apartment, since he’d spent most of his time curled up sick in the nest or on the couch. He knew there were six bedrooms and the nest room, in addition to the open plan living room/dining room/kitchen. It was a very large pack apartment, one that Changbin’s family pack had put the deposit down for when Chan, Changbin and Jisung had just started out their producing careers.

Seungmin’s room had a large double bed that looked largely unslept in, since Seungmin was rarely found in his room unless he needed to do a video call for one of his classes or get changed. Felix had seen inside a few times while passing by on the way to the bathroom, but the bed now sported a pile of soft blankets in pale blue and yellow, and there was an adorable fluffy white cat plushie situated next to Seungmin’s Ikea dog plush.

Hyunjin crossed the room to the second enormous wardrobe that had appeared at some point, identical to Seungmin’s and likely holding the handful of jeans and shirts from Felix’s sad little box of things.

However, when Hyunjin opened the wardrobe a moment later, Felix gaped when its contents came spilling out, the rail packed to exploding with clothing on hangers. 

“What is all that?” Felix asked, eying the ridiculous amount of clothing incredulously. 

Hyunjin flushed, avoiding his eyes as he struggled to dig around for something for Felix to wear. “It’s cold and you didn’t have a lot of clothes, so the others dug out some stuff from their wardrobes for you to wear. And we picked up a few things yesterday,” Hyunjin confessed in a rush, no doubt hoping if he said it quickly enough Felix wouldn’t hear. 

“A few things?” Felix laughed, wandering closer to take in the piles of pastel blue and pink hoodies and knit jumpers that didn’t look like something any of his soulmates would choose to wear. 

Hyunjin chose not to say anything, instead thrusting a cream colored jumper covered in embroidered daisies at Felix, along with a comfortable pair of jeans, a t-shirt that smelt strongly of Hyunjin and a black beanie with cat ears that definitely belonged to Minho.

“Quick, get dressed before Jeongin senses something weird and comes storming home.” 

Felix shrugged, slipping the clothes on as Hyunjin went to the desk and began setting out an armful of skincare.

“Can he really sense what we’re doing through the bond? I thought it mostly picked up on strong emotions and when one of us is nearby.” Felix tugged on the jeans, before losing his balance and tumbling onto the bed. He was able to sit up before Hyunjin noticed, which was probably the only thing that saved his trip outdoors from being cancelled.

“Depends how in tune you are with the bond I guess? We’ve always had a really strong connection I think. I mean I’ve talked to friends and family about what their soul bonds are like and I think ours is particularly intense. And Jeongin is stressed about leaving you, since you’re still sick, so he’s probably really focused on you at the moment. I wouldn’t put it past him to sense something other than sleepy, happy and content and come running,” Hyunjin laughed, his eyes crinkling up fondly.

“He’s so cute,” Felix muttered as he tugged on his jumper.

“He really is. I just want to eat him up most days. Such a sweet baby alpha,” Hyunjin agreed. “Here, wear Jeongin’s jacket so at least if he’s home before us he’ll be happy you went out smelling like him.” 

Hyunjin handed over an oversized denim jacket, the collar warm and fluffy and, best of all, smelling strongly of Jeongin.

***

Over the final few days of Felix’s two week break he began accumulating a truly absurd amount of soft, fluffy things. Blankets made from luxurious materials, quilts, knitted and crocheted blankets, large squishy pillows in all shapes and sizes, soft cat plushies and baby chicks and puppies and foxes. The bed in Felix and Seungmin’s room was buried under an assortment of soft pastel yellow and baby blue nesting supplies and toys.

Then there were the clothes. Soft socks and hoodies, comfortable loose pants, cute beanies and hats. The wardrobe would no longer close for how many clothing items were forced inside it. No one in the pack spent all that much time in their rooms beyond getting changed, so it didn’t matter all that much that his wardrobe was vomiting excess clothes all over the floor. 

Regardless, every morning he woke up wrapped in a new luxurious blanket, surrounded by a small offering of soft things. He and Seungmin had fun remaking the nest whenever the new blanket smelled sufficiently of Felix’s sweet omega scent, until it had become a patchwork of Seungmin’s sage and brown and Felix’s yellow and blue. Hyunjin even blessed them with a single purple pillow case from his own nest, which they placed high in the wall of pillows forming the outer ring of the nest, front and center for everyone to admire. Their packmates were appropriately awed and impressed that they’d been blessed with Hyunjin’s favor, which lead to Seungmin, Hyunjin and Felix preening happily, filling the nest with happy scents.

By the time Sunday rolled around, the day before Felix was to return to classes, the pack had spent a truly absurd amount of time curled up in the nest, scent dazed and talking. He’d learnt so much about his pack, spent hours learning about their past and their likes and dislikes. The bond between them meant Felix knew all seven of his soulmates in a way that no one in the world would ever be able to. But it was like knowing a finished painting like the back of your hand, but having to learn all the colors that had been used to paint it. Felix loved every minute of it though. It felt like he was finally home.

***

Going back to classes after having two weeks off to settle their new soulmate bond was difficult for Jeongin. Staying home with his whole pack, content and happy with the seven strings of fate singing in his chest was like heaven and he didn’t ever want to give it up. It was only the promise that they’d all be home together again every night that forced his reluctant feet out the door.

Felix’s presence around campus was a win he hadn’t anticipated. When it had just been Seungmin and Jeongin attending their university, they’d sought each other out during the day, exchanging cheeky barbs and having lunch together, sometimes with each other's friends. It was nice and he’d enjoyed having something to look forward to every day.

Felix slipped into their routine seamlessly, as if he’d always been there. Whenever Jeongin sensed Felix nearby, it was usually only a matter of minutes before he would come bounding towards him with a bright grin, full of energy and excited to see him. 

The first few times it had happened, Jeongin had been primed and ready to catch his omega, sure that the slightly older man was about to fling himself at Jeongin, but Felix always caught himself before they made contact. Instead, he’d come to an abrupt stop at Jeongin’s side and ask cheerfully how his day was going or if he wanted to get lunch or a snack together. Inevitably, Seungmin would already be with Felix or would find them in short order and then Jeongin got the euphoric experience of walking around campus with both his pack omegas, very conscious of the envious looks he got from practically every alpha and beta on campus, and unbearably smug about it (Seungmin’s words, not his.)

It wasn’t just the students on campus who were jealous of Jeongin. Their remaining packmates tried not to be obvious or weird about it, because Seungmin would sooner bite their noses off then put up with any weird subgender shit, but they all envied Jeongin just a little for getting to spend so much time “hogging Seungmin and Felix” to himself. All the smug preening he got to do as the subject of envy and awe on campus probably had something to do with that. The others had all picked them up after classes enough times that they’d witnessed it themselves.

Jeongin felt it was only fair that the three of them got a turn spending extra time together. He hadn’t complained (much) over how Chan, Changbin, and Jisung got to spend all day, every day together at work, nor had he said anything during the time Minho and Hyunjin worked at the same dance studio when they were still studying, despite feeling jealous that they’d got to go about their days together, while he and Seungmin had completely incompatible class schedules that first year.

No, Jeongin wasn’t losing any sleep over his new status as the campus alpha heartthrob with two gorgeous omega soulmates.

What he was losing sleep over was the way Felix had slowly drawn physically away from the pack after recovering from his rough bout of flu made worse by all the soul bonding.

Felix welcomed them all into his personal space easily and with great enthusiasm, but he no longer initiated anything. He didn’t draw them into his side, or bury his face into their neck or chest, he didn’t allow his whole body to melt into a puddle of omega in their laps.

It bothered Jeongin.

If he’d thought Felix just wasn’t into physical affection, he’d be fine with it. Jeongin and Hyunjin sometimes did not want to be touched and while the bond was really helpful for the rest of their pack when it came to navigating that, they’d had tense moments over the years that had needed negotiating and a lot of communication.

But Felix loved cuddling. He loved when Chan caught him by the hand as he passed and tugged him into a hug. He loved curling up on the living room floor with Minho in his wolf form as his pillow. The bond between the eight of them sung with happiness and content when Changbin picked Felix up and draped him over his shoulder, stroking his back and cooing. Felix and Jisung spent hours cuddling on the couch and scrolling reels together, provided Jisung was the one to whine and plead and pin Felix down first. Even Hyunjin, who still stubbornly pretended to struggle and wiggle free from cuddles, sought Felix out for “sunshine UV therapy” whenever he got home from a particularly grueling day at the gallery, keeping Felix hostage in the beta’s nest in his own room, which he was very particular about. 

Nesting was usually an omega’s domain, but Hyunjin had a stronger nesting instinct than Seungmin some days, an instinct he’d kept hidden from the pack for months before finally letting Seungmin into his nest. The scents had to be absolutely perfect, or Hyunjin would pull the whole thing apart and wash everything, having to start again from scratch. It usually left Hyunjin’s string strumming sadly for days, so the rest of the pack were extremely careful about entering his room. Seungmin had been the only one with a free pass to fish their beta out of his nest or join him when he was having a rough day, but Jeongin was extremely happy to see Felix had also been afforded the same privileges, even if he didn’t seem aware how special his frequent presence in the beta’s nest was. He’d proved to the pack what a sweet angel he was when he’d not even blinked at Hyunjin’s nest, treating it as the totally natural and acceptable thing it was despite what the shitty bullies from Hyunjin’s high school had to say about it. Felix had treated Hyunjin’s nest with the same respect and reverence afforded any omega nest, and it was probably a combination of this respect and Felix’s calm, accepting omega scent that had earned him free entry into Hyunjin’s coveted nest.

The point was: Felix was very happy to sit in Hyunjin’s nest, running his hand through Hyunjin’s hair and purring softly while the beta attempted to curl his long gangly limps into Felix’s lap. 

The most compelling evidence for Felix’s adoration of physical touch was the frequency with which their omegas could be found curled up together purring and scenting the nest room. The first few times any of them had stumbled across the omega cuddle pile they’d ended up sprawled out in the nest, scent drunk and useless for the rest of the day. In this way, Seungmin and Felix had managed to trick Chan into getting several full nights of sleep by luring him into the nest with promises of just a short cuddle before scent dazing him so bad he’d had no choice but to sleep through the night. Jeongin saw the whole thing as a huge win for the pack.

Seungmin and Felix’s omega scents seemed to strengthen one another’s, their strings singing in harmonious joy, amplified and echoing together down the pack bond in such a way that Jeongin sometimes felt like he no longer knew the shape of sadness anymore. Once, the two omegas had cuddled up in their nest during one of Jeongin’s evening classes and he’d spent the whole class smiling widely during the dullest lecture of his life.

All this to say, Felix loved being cuddled. He loved physical contact. But these days, he was like a sunflower following the sun, but rooted to the ground, never reaching out.

Jeongin had watched him with his friends at university, and quickly noticed something odd. In his head, Felix had two types of friends: the Before and the After. 

The friends Felix introduced who he’d clearly met After meeting his old pack were sweet and welcoming, but not particularly tactile. They didn’t touch Felix more than what was normal between friends. They were excited to meet Felix’s new pack, and happy he’d found his soulmates.

The Before, friends Felix had made before his unfortunate former pack, were very tactile and sweet, often reaching out and wrapping an arm around Felix, hugging him and ruffling his hair affectionately. And perhaps more damning, they had been very wary of Jeongin and Seungmin when they’d first been introduced.

This, in addition to the few things Felix had said about his former pack, was beginning to paint an unsettling picture. A part of him wanted to ask Felix’s friends about them. Felix was very measured in his assessment of the situation, always assigning equal blame to his old pack for being bad communicators and sort of maybe manipulative, but insisting that he had been young and naive and expected too much. Jeongin was of the opinion that Felix was downplaying how awful they’d treated him. He wanted to ask Felix’s friends, but also didn’t like the idea of going behind his back.

So he left it alone.

As much as Jeongin’s instincts were always screaming at him to protect Felix, he knew his omega was a grown adult who could take care of himself. Jeongin hadn’t been very good at keeping a lid on his instincts in the first few weeks they’d been together, but he was determined to reel it in and make sure he didn’t end up acting like a dumb alpha meat head now. 

That meant waiting until Felix was ready to share for himself. Even if Jeongin was dying to know why his sweet omega was pulling away from him.

***

Felix sighed, dumping his bag on his desk and staring at his over-flowing wardrobe blankly for a moment. His back hurt from hauling around the stupid amount of textbooks he’d needed that day and he’d developed a migraine sometime in the early afternoon after catching the scent of his former pack alpha.

It wasn’t necessarily uncommon that he saw his former packmates around campus, despite how big the university was. Usually they just ignored each other and it wasn’t a big deal, but the pack alpha’s scent especially made him feel icky and sick.

Felix decided it was time to retreat to the nest to nurse his headache, quickly changing into an oversized black hoodie that smelled strongly of Chan and a pair of shorts that were probably Seungmin’s. He surveyed his mountain of soft things with the appropriate amount of seriousness, before selecting a yellow quilt covered in baby chicks and a giant pink body pillow.

He dragged them into the nest, which was empty given everyone was at work and Seungmin and Jeongin had class until late in the afternoon. 

The body pillow was a poor substitute for a cuddly soulmate, but Felix was used to making do and still convinced it was only a matter of time before he’d have to rely on his body pillow to sate his need for cuddles.

He drifted off to sleep quickly, hoping his headache would be gone when he woke up.

He jerked awake what felt like minutes later from a bad dream which was actually just an old bad memory, the scent of his former pack sitting in his nose unpleasantly.

It took several moments before Felix realized he was clinging to someone, arms tightly wrapped around his mate’s torso. Reluctantly, he quickly went about disentangling himself, disappointed but determined not to repeat past mistakes. He couldn’t be too clingy. He couldn’t be too much. It was a lesson hard learned, but one well worth it if it helped make his mates feel comfortable.

Before he could draw away completely, a hand grabbed his, tugging Felix back down into Chan’s warm, wide chest. He was lying with his head cushioned on a wolf’s belly, Changbin in his tiny wolf form snoozing in the nest beneath him.

“You’re gonna be in big trouble if Seungmin sees you in the nest, mister,” Felix mumbled sleepily. 

“He said you guys are going to pull it apart and wash everything tomorrow. The night before wash day is the only time Minnie lets any wolves in the nest,” Chan explained absentmindedly, studying Felix’s expression intently. 

Felix grimaced. “That’s cause Minnie’s right and seven whole wolves worth of fur in here would be so disgusting.”

Chan frowned softly, tilting his head to the side quizzically.

“Only seven wolves, huh?” he murmured softly. He clearly wanted to ask more, but Felix had found Chan to be the type of pack alpha who let the pack do things in their own time. Felix found he much preferred it to the overly confrontational pack meetings his former pack alpha would call, usually aimed at “correcting Felix’s behaviour.” That’s why talking to Chan felt so easy. He didn’t dig or pry for more than Felix was willing to give.

He figured now was as good a time as any. “You know how everything’s just sort of instinct when you shift?” Felix asked, waiting until Chan nodded. “I get really clingy. All I want to do as a wolf is cuddle and sleep and sometimes play, and it's a lot. I was really clingy as a pup and if they let me I would stay glued to my parents in wolf form 24/7 so they made a rule that I was only allowed to shift after finishing my homework at night.” Felix laughed softly, but some of that old sting still stuck with him a little. He loved his parents, but the exasperated sighs aimed at tiny pup Felix had slowly accumulated like a bruise he mostly forgot about until someone prodded at it. “Anyway, it turns out they were right to try and break me of that habit, because the pack I joined last year also really hated how clingy I am.” Felix shrugged like that hadn’t also hurt real bad.

Sometimes he still forgot that there wasn’t much point trying to hide things from his soulbound pack. Chan was regarding him with sad eyes, his string of fate humming with sympathy and love in response to the melancholy that had settled over Felix.

Felix smiled reassuringly, hesitating for a moment before taking Chan’s broad hand in his and squeezing it. “I just avoid shifting now. I don’t want to accidentally trample into other people’s personal space, so it’s just easier to stay human.” 

Before Chan had the chance to do much more than blink sadly at him, a whimper was heard from the doorway. Jisung in his wolf form had nudged the door open with his snout, looking small and sweet as he stared at them with big eyes.

“Are you here to help cover the nest in fur, Sungie?” Felix asked, smiling indulgently, but Jisung just stared at him with sad eyes before trotting to the nest and joining Changbin in curling around Felix. 

Changbin was alarmingly good at hiding how he was feeling from their bond, but he too was quietly regarding Felix with sad eyes.

“You know we don’t think you’re clingy, right Felix?” Chan said eventually, taking Felix’s hand in his own and beginning to trace patterns along the back of it.

“I’m glad. I’ve been trying to keep my hands to myself.” Felid had aimed for joking, but it fell kind of flat, if the increasingly sad eyes all three producers fixed on him were any indication.

“Is that why you never reach for us anymore?” Chan asked softly.

Felix blinked, unsure.

“Oh, is… the bond still a little fresh? I can spend more time cuddling if you’re feeling a little unsettled, that’s no problem.” In fact, Felix felt immediately excited at the idea, happy that their soul bond honeymoon period was apparently still in full swing. He’d been sad when it came time to go back to university, sure his days of hugging and being picked up and manhandled by his mates were over.

Chan didn’t say anything for a long moment, his lips pressed together as he studied Felix with gentle worry. He was quiet long enough that Minho appeared in the nest room doorway, his fur jet black and sleek as he trotted straight into the nest and collapsed on top of Chan’s legs with a wolfy huff. When Chan didn’t laugh sweetly as he usually would, Minho regarded him with large serious eyes, before turning to study Felix just as intently.

Eventually Chan sighed, and something uncomfortable began to thrum in Felix’s gut, worry and anxiety brewing. 

Before he could spiral too badly, Changbin nuzzled his tiny wolf face into Felix’s belly and huffed, staring up at Felix expectantly until he began to stroke the fur on top of the wolf’s head. Changbin was the smallest of his soulmates as a wolf, a tiny bundle of compact muscle that usually gave Felix intense cute aggression. Today, he found the little ball of fluff reassuring in the face of what was sure to be a scolding from his pack alpha.

“Felix, we’re a really tactile pack. We love cuddling. I’m gonna be honest, when you guys went back to classes and you stopped reaching out to me for cuddles I was really sad, but I figured if you weren’t super into physical affection, we should respect your boundaries. But that’s not what this is, right? Am I hearing you right, you like being held and touched?”

Felix nodded, stunned by the unexpected turn in the conversation.

Chan continued, “You were sort of panicking just now.” He pressed a hand to his chest, making it clear he’d felt Felix’s little freakout through their string. “Can you explain what you were thinking?”

Chan’s voice was soft and gentle, so different from the scorn and scoffing of Felix’s last pack.

“If I tell you something kind of… fucked up… Can you promise not to freak out?” Felix asked, laughing when immediately Jisung’s string grew high and tinny with alarm while Minho’s buzzed with discontent. Changbin’s concern was a little quieter, but obvious in the way he’d wrenched his little head free to stare up at Felix searchingly. Chan signed, his string worried and sad.

“What does not freaking out cover?” Chan began to negotiate reluctantly when it was clear their packmates weren’t interested in transforming and helping him out.

Felix contemplated what he knew about his packmates, eying the fierce protective gleam in Minho’s black eyes.

“No hunting anyone down and exacting revenge,” Felix said eventually, unsurprised when Minho especially bristled with outrage.

Chan snorted. “He’s got you all figured out, Min.”

Felix grinned, then squinted down at Minho suspiciously. “That also means you can’t get Jeongin, Seungminnie or Jinnie to do it for you.” 

Minho growled, making it clear that was exactly what he’d intended to do.

“Okay, we swear, no taking revenge if that’s not what you want.” Chan conceded before Minho could refuse.

Felix sighed deeply, turning his attention to petting Changbin again. He wanted to be honest with his pack, but he was embarrassed about how badly things had turned out with his last pack.

“My last pack was kind of a mess. It was like something out of a bad drama by the end. I found out a lot of shit that was really messed up, but I should have figured it out long before I did. They didn’t exactly do a very good job of hiding it,” Felix sighed, watching with some amusement as Hyunjin came skittering into the nest in his wolf form, freezing when it became obvious he’d walked into a serious discussion, before coming to drape himself on top of Changbin, who only huffed with content. 

Felix watched Chan run his fingers through Minho’s thick tail for a moment before forcing himself to continue. “We started hanging out early in my first semester and I thought they just really liked me, I guess. They wanted me to join their pack and move in with them for the second semester. I figured out much later that they wanted a pack dorm and the pack had to have six members to qualify. And if your pack has an omega, the university will assign you a dorm with a nest room.” Ignoring the fury he could feel simmering down five of his strings of fate, Felix kept going, the words spilling out of him now that he finally had someone willing to listen. He’d been too ashamed to tell anyone the full extent of how much they’d hurt him, but there was no part of himself he wanted to hide from his pack. “It was only after I signed the housing contract and my housing stipend was tied up in that dorm until I graduate that they started showing me who they really were.”

Changbin’s warm wet nose burrowed under his shirt to press at his belly, the wolf letting out a sad keen. Movement drew Felix’s attention from his tense pack, where he found Jeongin sitting in the doorway in his wolf form, massive and white with grey fur streaked throughout. He was easily the largest wolf in the pack, and his string of fate had joined the furious symphony buzzing in Felix’s chest like a hive of bees.

He took a moment to be thankful Chan was the only one in human form, because he could only imagine what Jeongin and Minho especially would be saying right now otherwise.

“They, um… decided to turn the nest room into a gaming room since I was the only omega and they said I should just nest in my room.” 

Felix was unable to hide the devastated thrum of his string when he thought about coming home from classes that first week of living together and finding all his precious nesting materials strewn over the floor of his room, tossed out of the nest room where he’d stored them carefully like discarded rubbish. Worse still was his former packmates’ confusion in the face of his sadness, somehow completely oblivious to how much it had hurt to see his nest tossed out and manhandled like that. They’d accused him of being too sensitive. He’d talked himself down then, sure that they’d done it because they were careless and ignorant, not because they were trying to hurt him. It had just been another lie he’d told himself because he’d been unable to leave.

“After that, I spent a lot of time alone in my room because they reacted so strangely to me, and I never understood why. I missed my family a lot and sometimes just wanted a hug, but the few times I tried to initiate or even ask for physical contact they’d get really tense and growl at me. It took a full six months of living with them for me to figure out that they were actually all soulmates.” Chan’s loud gasp was drowned out by a growl ripped somewhere deep from Minho’s chest, teeth bared as Felix felt the way he pressed himself flat over Chan’s legs and breathed deeply in an attempt to stay calm.

“They were already bonded and asked you to join their pack, all for a fucking bigger dorm? Without telling you?” Chan summarized, taking a deep breath of his own and letting it out shakily.

“Yeah, I guess it’s why they were always so mad at me. They were all bonded and looking for their real omega, so their instincts were screaming that I was some kind of intruder trying to touch their mates and replace their omega. It was messy. I never would have gotten involved if I’d known, which is probably why they didn’t tell me.”

Felix, for all that he hated upsetting his mates, felt a glimmer of something that was almost pleased as he listened to the symphony of his mate’s rage. Felix had spent months after escaping that suffocating pack apartment agonizing over how complacent he’d been in preventing his own misery by staying in that awful place for six whole months. Shame had stopped him from telling anyone the true extent of what had happened, mostly because the idea of anyone pointing out how stupid he’d been hurt almost worse than any of the cruel things his former pack had said or done.

But his soulmates’ fury was like a balm. Nobody was looking at him, wondering why he’d been so stupid, he could feel that much right down to his bones. It was incredible, carrying a quiet worry in his chest for so long and finding all that anxiety had been for nothing, because his mates were good people and they were hurting just as bad as he had, just hearing about all the awful ways they’d used him.

“So they’re still in that apartment? And your housing stipend is paying part of their housing fee?” Chan asked, a note of steel in his voice that Felix hadn’t ever heard in the month they’d been together.

“Yeah.”

“And you’ve been working at the cafe all semester on top of classes and studying and dance practice to pay rent on your room at the gosiwon?”

“Yes.”

“Anything else those scumbags have done?” Chan asked, lips pressing together as he took several deep, steadying breaths.

“Um… I heard they found their final soul mate and moved them in after I left.”

“So you’re paying their omega’s rent?” Seungmin’s voice suddenly rang out from the doorway, his brows furrowed as he ran a hand over Jeongin’s fluffy ears, the massive wolf reaching his chest in height as he was sitting upright, guarding the door.

Felix nodded. He’d made peace with losing his housing stipend, but clearly his mates were more than furious enough to make up for his apathy about the whole mess. He was almost dizzy from the swirl of fury and despair singing through the pack bond.

“So they’re the ones we have to blame for our omega not touching us these last few weeks?” Seungmin spat, patting Jeongin on the head when their baby alpha began to growl softly. “Okay well, they’ve broken at least three university policies and committed fraud, so we’re suing them,” Seungmin announced, all the wolves curled in the nest nodding sagely in agreement.

“Hey, wait. Chan-hyung promised no revenge,” Felix protested half-heartedly.

“This isn’t revenge, it’s justice,” Chan retorted, smiling serenely despite the way his string was still rumbling with fury. 

Felix bit his lip, unsure. He just wanted that part of his life to be over. He didn’t want to drag all those bad feelings out again, not after he’d spent so long coming to terms with the mistakes he’d made.

“Lix.” Seungmin came into the room, tugging Jeongin along with him using a handful of fur. With Felix buried under the betas, Seungmin sat next to the pile of wolves surrounding him and manhandled Jeongin to lay down until he made for the perfect omega backrest. “The way you talk about those assholes, it's like you’re determined to take fifty percent of the blame for their actions. They lied and manipulated you and they did it while hiding their soul bond. They put you in a dangerous situation as well. What if one of those stupid ass alphas had lost his shit and hurt you because he got too worked up about an unbonded omega being around his pack. You did nothing wrong, but saying nothing and letting them get away with this—that is wrong. You have a housing stipend because you’re supposed to focus on studying, and instead you’ve been working to make rent while they fucking sit around in your nest room and play computer games. We can all feel how much they hurt you, Felix. Please let us help you make it at least a little bit right.”

Feeling incredibly cared for, Felix smiled at Seungmin sweetly, enjoying the way his packmates’ simmering rage seemed to melt as all the love Felix felt for them suddenly sat warm and buoyant in their chests.

“Can I think about it?” Felix asked and Seungmin pretended to grumble, avoiding his eyes even as love sang down his thread in answer to Felix’s adoration.

“You can, but just know we have a right to press charges and file complaints on your behalf as your soulmates so even if you say no, you can’t really stop us,” Seungmin insisted petulantly, and Felix laughing, knowing they would never do anything he didn’t want them to.

“Okay, love,” Felix assured indulgently, enjoying the flush that spread across Seungmin’s cheeks as he avoided Felix’s eyes. 

No one spoke for a long time, just floating in the warmth singing through their veins. It was the first time any of them had felt Felix singing that he loved them down their strings, even though he’d felt it a few times from his mates over the last month, the feeling slowly creeping into the rhythm of their pack bond until it was just part of their song.

Seungmin eventually shifted into a small brown wolf to escape how flushed with warmth he’d grown, though his string beamed with soft joy even as he draped himself over Jeongin’s much larger form. 

Chan, still pinned under Minho’s almost equally massive form, flopped onto his side and reached for Felix’s hand.

“I’ll say this as many times as I need to, Lix, but please believe me when I say you’re not clingy. We love you so much just the way you are, and if we ever feel like we need space or don’t want to be touched, I promise we will tell you gently and we will explain why. No snapping or growling or angry scents, okay?” Chan’s voice was like soothing aloe vera on a sunburn. Felix nodded, eyes slipping shut as he enjoyed the echo chamber that was bouncing his pack's gentle feelings around the nest room.

Half way to scent drunk, he blinked sleepily when Chan tugged on his hand once more. Felix pried his eyes open to find their pack alpha peering at him with an adorable pout, blinking large dark eyes at Felix in an exaggerated attempt at being cute.

“Can we pretty please meet your cuddle bug wolf form?”

Felix snorted, hesitating for a moment before extracting himself from his cosey spot in the beta wolf pile. His departure was met with much grumbling and whining, but Felix just patted the three of them on the head gently and circled Jeongin until he was crouching behind the two youngest wolves.

Concentrating for a moment, he felt himself begin to shrink, before in the blink of an eye a white wolf stood in his place. Placing both front paws on top of Jeongin’s sprawled out form, he peaked over the top, little white head poking out as he surveyed his pack with mischievous eyes.

Hyunjin suddenly transformed back with a pop, scrambling free from Changbin and shuffling closer until he was crouched next to Jeongin.

“Oh, my little love, can I pick you up?” He cooed, reaching over and scooping Felix up to hold him like a baby when the little white wolf nodded. 

Hyunjin cradled him close, looking close to tears as he nuzzled between Felix’s ears and resisted the urge to bite them, overwhelmed with cute aggression. Instead, he sat and squished Felix’s little snow white face between his hands.

“Oh my gosh, you’re just as little as Binnie-hyung,” Hyunjin whimpered, running a stressed hand through his long hair, ignoring the disgruntled huff Changbin released. Hyunjin suddenly froze, then seized Felix’s two little paws in his hands and peered down into his amber eyes. “Did you ever shift around those losers?”

Assuming he was talking about Felix’s old pack, Felix shook his head.

“Oh my gosh, they were never blessed with seeing this perfect little angel.”

Felix made sure his pack could feel that he was judging them when all of their strings sung with smug content upon hearing this.

A pair of hands suddenly began prying Felix from Hyunjin’s lap.

“Okay, it’s omega bonding time, give me the baby,” Seungmin insisted, attempting to flee with Felix in his arms back to Jeongin.

“Yah, get back here. I’ve had it with this omega only bullshit, Kim Seungmin, you maknaes need to stop icing out your hyungs!” Hyunjin cried, diving forward to wrap his arms around both the omegas and depositing them back in the middle of the nest.

Felix scrambled free from Seungmin’s arms, and was quickly snagged by Chan, who deposited him between Minho’s front legs. Felix snuggled in for a nap. Minho immediately began grooming him as Chan cooed loudly.

“You’re so pretty baby,” he whined, ignoring the way he was being jostled about by Hyunjin and Seungmin wrestling in the centre of the nest.

Following his lead, Felix ignored his rambunctious mates in favor of enjoying Minho’s warmth. Before long Changbin and Jisung joined the cuddle pile, the three smaller wolves piled on top of Chan and Minho as Hyunjin finally managed to pin Seungmin to the mattress, curled up along Minho’s spine. Jeongin appeared, flopping down next to Minho so Felix’s tiny white form was sandwiched between them.

Felix resisted the urge to fall asleep, wanting to enjoy how blissfully happy and light he felt, snout tucked into Minho’s thick black fur and all his mates’ hearts beating in his chest.

Just as he was dozing off, Jeongin’s large form shrunk and changed, until he was lying tucked against Felix’s back, large hands carding through the white fur on his back.

“The stars led us to you, darling,” he murmured sleepily, pressing a soft kiss between Felix’s tiny pointed ears.

The stars led me to you, Felix whispered back down their string of fate.