Chapter Text
Yeon Sieun has a lot of secrets.
As a transferred student, he made sure that his past from his previous school doesn't leak. It doesn't have the chance to leak either.
Sieun doesn't have any social media accounts. He doesn't have Instagram, Twitter, or any of that. He has TikTok, though. With a private account only for his boyfriend to send him some funny videos.
With that, people in Eunjang only know that Sieun is a transfer student from Byuksan. He was expelled for breaking some rules that the teacher didn't bother to mention. But one important note, he is an amazing fighter. He was winning against the unbeatable Baekjin along with Park Humin. Made him one of Eunjang’s top dogs that's respected a lot.
He fights really well despite his status as an omega.
Yes.
Sieun is an omega.
And he doesn't try to hide his secondary gender. Others may guess from his short, small figure and pretty face. But from his personality, Sieun can be mistaken as an alpha. And he can live as a fake alpha if he wants too, but— no.
If someone's brave enough to ask about his status, Sieun would answer that he is an omega without any hesitation.
Some believe, some disbelief. Because Sieun doesn't act like an omega. Doesn't smell like an omega. He's tough. He can stand for himself. Don't have any fear of other alphas or fellow omegas. And he smells like summer. Warm. Like sunbathing, blue ocean. Though he only smells like that when he wears a familiar red or turquoise windbreaker.
That's why students in Eunjang don't really believe that Sieun is an omega and Sieun doesn't care either. Whatever that's made them leave him alone.
That's, until now.
In Eunjang, Sieun found new friends. Accidentally met new friends. Not only one, but three at once. Park Humin, or known as Baku. Go Hyuntak, or more familiar with Gotak. And, Juntae.
The four of them fought together during the war between The Union and since then, they are inseparable.
Today, Baku and Gotak were playing basketball, meanwhile Sieun and Juntae just sat on the sidelines. Unlike the two of them who were alpha and beta, the omegas here don't really have the energy to do some hard activity like sports during broad daylight.
They were doing fine. Baku seems like he has unlimited stamina. He ran a lot. From left to right, from this side to the other side.
Gotak just followed him. Back him up. When it was the right moment, Baku would pass the ball and Gotak made the score. Perfect.
Juntae claps and cheers them loudly. With Sieun beside him who's made a little smile.
That was going well for a while, until Juntae noticed that Sieun was shaking. He doesn't look at the field anymore. He stared down at the ground, instead. Hiding his face from anyone there, but Juntae still could see his back trembling. Like he was crying.
Is Sieun crying?
Juntae couldn't help but ask, “Sieun-ah, are you okay?"
Sieun doesn't answer with words. He just turned his head so he was facing Juntae. Who gasped in seconds after he saw Sieun's face that was full of mess.
He is crying.
Sieun's face suddenly became wet with tears. His eyes burning red and his nose running snot. He looks so miserable with his trembling and loud sobbing.
"What happened, Sieun-ah?!” Juntae asked again, this time with panic. And that caught Baku and Gotak’ attention. They stopped playing then ran towards them to the sidelines.
Sieun shakes his head, still not answering. But his cry got louder and harder than before.
Between the muffled sound, Sieun finally said, “Suho.."
His three friends made a confused look.
“Where have you been?"
Then stared at each other. Through their eyes, they asked the same question.
"Who is Suho?"
Uhh..
Juntae wanted to be the first one to ask. The first one to think. But before he can open his mouth, Sieun’s cries get louder again.
The three of them move in sync. Panic, actually didn't know what to do. After years of being friends, this is the first time they saw Sieun crying. And this hard too. Of course they didn't know how to react, right?
Then Juntae turned to hug Sieun. To put his head on his chest. To muffle his crying sounds. To hold his shaking body. Don't forget to release his calming pheromone.
Maybe because they were fellow omegas. Maybe because their bonding is stronger than others. But Sieun did calmer in Juntae's arms.
Now they can think in peace.
As usual, Baku opened his mouth first. If Juntae wants to ask first, Baku always comes before him. Though what he said was mostly useless, it didn't matter as long as he got the loudest.
“Do you think Suho is Sieun's father?!"
Somehow, they knew that this would come.
Not Gotak. It was Juntae who gave him the bombastic side eyes. Juntae who gave him the offended face with his brows deep furrowed.
"Idiot! Why would Sieun ask for his father?!” They had met Sieun's mother. And they didn't have to meet Sieun's father too, for knowing that Sieun's family is kinda questionable. There's no way Sieun would look for his father until he's crying.
“Hmmm.." Baku put fingers on his chin.
Said, “you're right." After minutes of thinking.
Baku doesn't give up though! He made another guess. Called that this Suho is Sieun's father, Sieun's uncle, Sieun's cat or Sieun's lost twins. Anything that came to his creative brain.
“Maybe he is Sieun's mate?"
This is not Baku.
Of course.
That was Gotak who made the guess.
They were silent in seconds. Thinking about how high the possibility is.
“W-wait.. I think Tak-ah is right." Actually, Juntae made the same guess before. But Baku was too loud and too fast, Juntae didn't have the chance to speak his words.
“OUR ICE PRINCESS HAS A MATE?!"
“IT JUST A GUESS!"
“BUT—"
“GUYS! Sieun is sleepy. Please don't shout at each other. Let's lower our voice, okay?" Baku shuts. Finally being calm. Maybe the calmest himself down today.
“I just made a guess though. I don't know if this Suho is Sieun's mate or not." The fact is, no one knows about Sieun's mate. They didn't even know that Sieun had a mate. They don't have the guts to ask about his private life. Sieun doesn't say anything about it either.
"Well.. there's a way to know.” Yes. There are ways to know if someone is mated or not. Beside their pheromone, you can look at their necks too. To see a mating bite. A mark of belongings.
"Should we.. check on his neck?” Baku and Gotak nod at the same time.
Juntae gulps.
Sieun is sleepy. He's getting pliant on his embrace so Juntae has the chance to peeking to his neck. To shove his collar then take a look at his naked collarbone and..
Juntae goosebumps.
He found it.
He found a mating bite in his friend's neck. Means that he has a mate all of this time and.. they know nothing.
Seeing Juntae stills, Baku and Gotak stared at each other. But from his reaction alone, they know what really happened.
“He is truly mated, huh?" Gotak asks. Answered with repeating nods from Juntae.
And if they take a closer look at Sieun's mating bite, they will know that this scar is not new. Sieun has had a mate for a long time. Maybe two or almost three years. Like there's a chance that Sieun and his mate were bonded to each other since their first mating season.
"Sieun-ah.. Is Suho your alpha?” Hearing the words of Suho and Alpha, Sieun lifted his head from Juntae's chest. Looking around in a flash. Eyes scanning through all directions.
Juntae knows what Sieun is doing, so he corrected him, “a-ah.. he is not here."
Sieun stared in disbelief. He looked so shocked, like he just witnessed the worst betrayal of the century. Then his lips trembled and.. And he cried again!
Not bothering to hide his face this time, Sieun cried in front of them. Three of his friends can clearly see how fresh tears fell from his pretty eyes. How his cheeks reddened and wet. How his trembling lips let out a lot of loud whimpers. With the same repeated words, Suho and Alpha.
It's panic again.
"I mean, not here yet! Y-yes, not here yet. Baku and Tak-ah would look for him! Don't worry, Sieun-ah.” It was so sudden. Juntae can't think straight. He would say everything, do anything as long as Sieun stopped crying. Not because he's annoying but because.. it hurts his feelings. As his friends and fellow omegas.
Baku and Gotak stared at each other. Pointed at themselves with a confused look on their face. They share the same question.
‘Where can we find Suho?’
Scratch.
Forget about where, they don't even know who Suho is. Does Juntae forget that this is their first time hearing the name?!
But..
But Sieun stopped crying in seconds. His lips shut. His hands wiped tears in his face. He lights up as he says, “really?!"
Baku and Gotak don't have the heart to tell the truth. To say that, "no. That's not gonna happen because we don't know who Suho is.”
Or something like, "it was Juntae's idea, don't ask us."
So, they just nod. Feeling defeated by Juntae's glare at them, and Sieun's ‘full of hopes’ face.
“Of course! Anything for our Ice Princess." Baku grinned, thumbs up. Gave up to the situation. Praying that someone would help them to find this Suho guy.
And, that's it.
It was unplanned but in this broad daylight, Baku and Gotak swapped the plan. They run around Eunjang, exploring every class to look for someone named Suho.
—
Ten minutes later, Baku came with the first Suho that he found. He is a guy from first class. Slim and shorter than Baku.
Sieun has hid his face on Juntae's chest again, feeling sleepy. So it was Juntae who glared at him with his eyebrows deep furrowed.
"Here. I brought you Suho.” Baku sounds so confident. Feels proud of himself. But Juntae inhaled. Seems unsatisfied with his work.
"Baku.. Hyung. He is not even an alpha.”
Baku's mouth opened wide. Wide. Like he can swallow the whole universe in one go.
He pointed at the guy that he brought. Feels betrayal. He covered his mouth then said, “you! You lied.. at me?!!"
The guy seems confused. But still tried to defend himself.
“Hyung, I don't even know what happened. You just barged into my class, asking someone named Suho. I raised my hand and you yanked me here without saying anything. What's going on, huh?" The guy asked, genuinely confused. Juntae feels bad for him.
"Nothing’s really happened. I'm sorry for what Baku did. Please get back to your class." He actually wants to ask more. But chose to shut himself off after he saw the Yeon Sieun crying. Something bad must happen right now and he doesn't want to be dragged.
Now Baku is alone. Hands scratched the back of his head. Then he wiped his nose.
"Right. It must be my flu.” The truth is, Baku doesn't even have a flu. He's perfectly healthy. Just short-circuit as usual. Until he didn't notice how the guy doesn't smell like an alpha, or look like an alpha.
A few meters away, Gotak saw the scene unfold. He shakes his head as he murmurs, “that idiot."
Baku left again to look for another Suho when Gotak came. Brought someone that clearly an alpha from his big and tall figure.
"Here. Suho and Alpha.” Gotak fulfilled two of the main criteria. He was so sure that he brought the real Suho unlike what Baku did.
Juntae poking Sieun's shoulder. Whispering in his ear. Told him to look at this Suho to confirm if he really was the Suho that he wanted.
But Sieun doesn't budge. Juntae catched him taking a sneak though, and he just shakes his head slowly as the answer.
“Am I wrong?”
Juntae nods, “I think he is not the real Suho."
"Okay..” Gotak doesn't say anything more. Simply turn his way then explore again.
Baku brought the third Suho. But he's still not the right one because he doesn't smell like the ocean.
Sieun's Suho smells like ocean.
This is also the reason that they found out that Sieun's real pheromone is not ocean. He smells like that because he wears the clothes that his alpha already scented.
Sieun actually smells like chocolate. Hot chocolate in the middle of winter, and warm ocean in the middle of summer. Him and his mate have opposite smells but complete each other well.
The fourth Suho isn't right either. He is tall. Sooooo tall. He's even taller than Baku. Maybe the tallest in Eunjang and that makes them feel terrified.
Sieun's Suho has the same height as Baku.
The fifth Suho doesn't have a stupid bowl-cut that still looks good on his face. This actually made Baku and Gotak furrow their eyebrows. Thinking. How can someone still look good with a bowl-cut?!
But Sieun's Suho wears a bowl-cut.
They're on their way to find out the sixth Suho when Gotak ruffled his hair. Feel a little bit of frustration. Even Baku, who seems to have unlimited stamina, has grown tired. He used his shirt to fan himself. Feels hot and sweaty.
“How about his last name? Can we just call him with the speaker so he can come here by himself?” Like what Baku did to Baekjin. They can use a megaphone instead. They can shout that they were looking for someone named *Beep* Suho and the latter would come.
Simple.
Juntae agreed. He whispered, asked Sieun.
Sieun doesn't answer right away. He shuts for minutes. Before opened his mouth and said, “Ahn."
"AHN?!!!” Baku pulled out his phone. Scrolling on the screen and suddenly, without anyone can guess what he would do, Love Dive by IVE played in the entire field. With Baku singing and dancing through the song.
Gotak looks offended.
“YAH! Ahn Yujin is my bias, you bastard!"
"YOU SAID YOUR BIAS WAS LIZ!”
“YEAH BUT NOW MY HEART BELONGS TO AHN YUJIN ALONE!"
“GUYS!" How can you.. Ahh.” Juntae sighs. Inhaled, exhaled. He rubs his chest. He can't even find the right words to show how tired he is. Baku and Gotak were so loud and Sieun.. their Sieun is still half crying in his arms.
Thankfully, both Baku and Gotak know that they were wrong. They stop bickering though Baku has attempted to throw his phone to Gotak's head.
‘.....’
Right.
A light bulb formed in Juntae's head. He actually asked himself, how. How can they never think about it before? How can they never think to call this Suho that they were looking for around three hours straight.
There's a technology called the phone and they wasted its use.
“Sieun-ah, how about we call your Suho? You have his number, right?” The question made Sieun realize something. He lifted his head. Reached his pocket. Pull out his phone and.. right. Sieun forgot that his phone died. Low battery. He tried to turn it on by pressing the power button but nothing changed.
Sieun feels desperate.
He throws his phone to Juntae. Who's luckily, has a powerbank. He actually has everything that they need, even small things like that. He's truly their saviour.
Juntae doesn't waste his time. He quickly plugged the charger to Sieun's phone. Seconds passed before the phone turned on and he was welcomed by 91 unread messages and 44 missed calls.
All coming from the contact named Ahn Suho, with a red heart emoji beside his name. So there's no way that they will mistake another Suho. There's no way that Sieun will put an emoji, especially a red heart one beside someone's contact name if they're not his specific one.
This must be the right one.
Juntae pressed the call button. Hear the ringtone. Here comes the weird sound and,
“Yah, Yeon Sieun, I swear to God—"
"Hello?”
The other side went silent.
“Who is this? Why are you answering my calls? Where is Sieun? Did he lose his phone? Are you the one who found his lost phone? Can you share your location right now?” And more.
It was silent for seconds. Then Juntae gets bombarded with questions. A lot of questions. All about Sieun and his lost phone, that's actually not lost at all.
“How about we meet at—"
“Are you Ahn Suho?"
“Yes."
Juntae can't help. He sighs in relief. His mind said, finally. Finally he can release his breath that he's been holding since Sieun started crying. Finally they found the right Suho!!!
Baku and Gotak should cheer. Celebrate together. Jumping, and hugging each other like they used to do.
But, no.
Baku has other plans.
And that was snatched Sieun's phone from Juntae's hand. He decided to talk, no, shout to the real Suho by himself.
“You, Ahn Suho bastard! Don't be a coward! Come to Eunjang and pick our Ice Princess because he's been crying for nearly—"
“What?! Who's crying?”
Juntae reacted fast. He grabs back Sieun's phone. Muted the calls. He should have known that something like this would happen.
Baku, despite everything, was a protective person. He doesn't want anything bad to happen to his friends or anyone in Eunjang. And if something bad is already done, he would be so mad about it.
"Hyung, please. I will talk to him, so calm yourself, okay? We don't even know if he's wrong or not." The truth is, Sieun can be the one who's wrong here. He forgot to charge his phone, that's why his mate can't call him or ask him about his condition.
Baku looks hesitant. But nods anyway. After Gotak slaps the back of his head.
Juntae shakes his head. Feels a sudden headache. Then he unmutes the calls that fortunately haven't ended.
“Hello?"
“Oh, it's you again. What happened? Who's the other guy? No. Who are you? And My Sieun.. What happened to My Sieun? Is he really crying?"
My Sieun..
He calls Sieun, My Sieun..
Oh..
Juntae wants to cry. This Suho guy sounds so sincere. Sounds so in love with their Sieun and that somehow makes him feel relieved.
“I’m Juntae, Sieun’s friend. I think Sieun is nearing his heat. He's been crying for hours, calling your name.. Can you come to Eunjang right now?”
There's no answer but breathing that gets faster.
“That lunatic.. I know he's in his preheat since his pheromone went stronger this morning. I told him to stay at home but he can be so stubborn, right?"
Yes. Juntae can imagine it. In the morning, Sieun, weaker than usual. Pheromone went stronger so his alpha knows that he's nearing his heat. He told him to stay at home but Sieun, stubborn as usual, doesn't follow his words so here he is.
Crying in the middle of the field, in broad daylight, looking for his mate.
"I will come. Please take care of him for another hour, no. I will make it faster, just tell him to wait for me, okay?”
Juntae doesn't know where Sieun's mate is. Does he live together with Sieun? Or, he is in his own place that somewhere.. far?
But they will wait.
“Oh, and please wait somewhere cold. Sieun is easily getting hot in this situation, he would get cranky. If you know what I mean." Juntae giggles. He knows what he means. He nods, though Suho can't see it.
“Don't worry. We're in the field but Sieun is with me, under the tree. And I think he's sleepy. He doesn't move but I'm sure he hears us." Suho doesn't complain about that.
“Okay, I'll drive now. Thank you, Seo Juntae. I'm sure you and Go Hyuntak helped My Sieun a lot.”
What..
How does he know his full name and Gotak's name?
“And tell Park Humin to not shout in my ears next time.”
“YAH! You jerk, what did you—”
Beep.
The calls ended.
Baku was furious.
“He's so annoying! Did you hear what he said?! What he knows about me, huh?! And I helped too!! Do you remember how much Suho that I brought?! I put in a LOT of effort, you know?! For our Ice Princess!"
Gotak and Juntae just nod. While trying to hold their laughter because Baku is just so funny.
And they wait.
Forty minutes later, they saw a new figure with a familiar red windbreaker. Half running. The smell of the ocean spreads through the field. Tall as Baku. Doesn't sure if he has the stupid bowl-cut or not, because apparently he was so handsome with his messy hair.
But.
But Sieun woke up. Lifted his head. His eyes scanning, sparkling. His lips trembled as he called, "alpha..” with his open arms.
His alpha runs faster. Doesn't waste any time to hug Sieun the second they were close enough.
The scene unfolds like a drama.
Sieun, still sits on the bench of the field. Being hugged, half standing by his alpha.
Not for so long.
Because his alpha holds Sieun strong enough to make him stand on his feet. To make it easier for him to scent him. To nuzzle at Sieun's mating bite to calm him down.
Juntae backed away to make a distance. Asked Baku and Gotak to do the same too. Like it feels so wrong to get close to them in this intimate scene.
"I'm glad,” Juntae said, when it's already a safe distance from Sieun and his mate.
"He loves Sieun so much.” Gotak added.
“Yes. I can see it.” From his gesture, effort. And the way he talks from the phone call before.
They can guess that his mate loves Sieun so much, and they are sure. Sieun loved his mate just as much.
“He better love Sieun that much or I will crush him with my own hand.” Baku cracked his knuckles. Acted like he was ready to fight.
“Well, at least he is good looking like me!" Then Baku puffed his chest. Cancelled the fight. He's bragging about his so-good-looking face instead. And was rewarded with side eyes from both Juntae and Gotak.
“What?! My Gotak, don't you agree with me?" Gotak doesn't answer. Choose to enjoy the warm feelings around them. Though he can't smell it because he was a beta, he's sure that right now, Sieun's and his mate pheromone have filled the field and made that warm feeling.
Juntae glanced at Baku. Then chuckles when he saw his pouty face. But he doesn't answer Baku’s words either, so Baku finally shuts.
It was a comforting silence between them. Just a warm, spring breeze and calming pheromones around the wind.
They can't wait for Sieun to introduce them to his mate. Ahn Suho seems like a cool, funny guy. They hope they can get along well.
.
.
.
.
.
"He looks like my Appa, though!”