Chapter Text
Be an idol, surely it will be fun.
Even from the beginning, Hirose Ryo knew those were mere wishful words. He had always been a realist, an absolute T to the core. Ryo knew the life of an idol couldn't be easy. Still, when he was scouted by SM Entertainment, he couldn't refuse, even though he initially thought it had to be a scam.
Ryo had done his research. Out of the tens of thousands of people applying to become a trainee at SM Entertainment, very few pass the audition. In fact, some even joked that entering the company was harder than getting enrolled into Harvard. And even then, there was no guarantee that anyone who entered would debut, and not all groups were guaranteed success.
But this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Ryo figured that even if he were to fail, he could still attend an academy, take the entrance examination, and graduate university even without going through the same pathway as everyone. But the chance to become part of SM artists would never come back.
The chance to stand on the same stage as his beloved and most adored singer, Doyoung, would only come this one time.
So Ryo packed his bags and his treasured puppy plushy, and flew to South Korea. A year later, he was miraculously selected to be the final member of NCT’s final unit, NCT Wish. It was truly beyond his imagination. Sure, Ryo had fantasized about it once but he never thought it would actually come true.
Even when he was listening to the staff explaining about the plans for NCT's 10th year anniversary, it still felt like a dream to him. He, who once was in the queue trying to buy merchandise at an NCT concert, was now part of NCT. A member of NCT. He was actually having his own face, in a merch, displayed together with the other NCT hyungs.
“Oh, Sion-hyung looks so handsome here,” Riku commented while looking at one of the photo cards given to them.
It was near midnight and they had a dance practice after this but the staff had brought them to visit the NCT 2026 exhibition after closing. Ryo had been ecstatic of course, and so were other members.
“Everyone is so good-looking,” Jaehee agreed.
“Yeah, but this photo of Sion-hyung here…” Riku insisted.
“Well, when does Sion-hyung ever look bad anyway?” Jaehee laughed.
Ryo did participate in fan activities. He visited birthday cafes in Japan and was on social media. He was well aware of the existence of celebrity ships. Things like fan edits, fan arts, and fan fictions weren't out of his radar, though he didn't particularly seek them out. He was more interested in music.
“Ushi-hyung, you look so cool here,” Jaehee said while pointing at one photo of Yushi.
Yushi stood silently. He smiled just the slightest, but said nothing and proceeded to quietly admire Jaehee’s photo on the wall.
Ryo used to not care about celebrity ships. After all, won't most of those idols end up marrying their secret girlfriends anyway? But meeting Riku and the other members had changed his way of thinking a lot.
Sion called them all for a photo session. Ryo sat gleefully on the NCT 127 chair. They ended the vlog with commentaries from each member, then said their goodbyes to the camera before hopping back into the company van. Sion held Riku's hand tightly as they walked together to the van.
Really, Ryo used to not care. He never believed any of those ships were real, unless proven otherwise. Shipping was nothing more than fans’ fun fantasies.
But.
Sion leaned closer to Riku as they sat and whispered, “Baby, do you want me to order something for practice?”
How the fuck was he supposed to not think that there was something when his own groupmates were acting like this? Do the average men casually call their platonic friends ‘baby’ and hold hands in the car? Perhaps neither Sion nor Riku fit the description of ‘average’, but Ryo had also never seen a typical heterosexual man buy matching rings and matching pendants for his good buddy.
“Aah, Ushi-hyung your hands!” Jaehee complained.
Ryo had also never encountered a stereotypical straight man who had a habit of touching his groupmate’s chest and somehow trying to unbutton said groupmate’s shirt at random times.
Really, was there something in the water filter at SM causing all of his group members to act like this? Was there any scientific explanation as to why a group of people in the performing arts industry tend to be, or act in a queer way? Or was Ryo being too sensitive or prejudiced? Was he the only exception, the straight man here?
“Why do you have that look on your face?” Sakuya asked.
Ryo glanced at his best friend and sighed as he rested his head on Sakuya’s shoulder. Ah well, maybe four out of six being queer wasn't an anomaly in the entertainment industry. He supposed he and Sakuya were the only straight men here.
Ryo was curious, sometimes. How could he not be? He was always a curious young spirit. He was intrigued by dinosaurs, the space, the universe. He enjoyed learning new things and worked hard at school as he dreamed of exploring beyond the world as a child.
Once he became an idol, he tried looking up his name, of course. Sion did warn him to be cautious. Not everyone had a good heart. Some people would just…hate, for the sake of hating. Fan wars could get very ugly. One voice crack or one missed beat and suddenly all your hard work would be treated as nothing. Ryo was aware of that, and was prepared.
What he wasn't prepared for, was the amount of shipping contents. Did he know that NCT had a lot of fans, and thus plenty of fan content? Of course, he participated in them. Did he expect to see this much omegaverse discourse, his members being passed around from one to another, and multiple arts generated just from the slightest moments? Well, Ryo was no prophet.
But could he blame the fans?
“Are you wearing my shirt again?” Sion asked when he emerged from his bedroom and saw Riku in the kitchen.
Riku, dressed in that same grey shirt for the tenth time, giggled. “My bad.”
Riku did not feel bad at all and Ryo had to keep himself from rolling his eyes and maintain his focus on Mario Kart. At this point, clearly Sion was just baiting Riku, knowing the latter had expressed his fondness for Sion’s signature scent more than enough times. Ryo acknowledged that Sion was very good-looking and that he smelled very nice. He just didn't think those two things correlate unlike Riku and his rose-tinted filter (or should he say, tulip-tinted filter?).
If this was an omegaverse, everyone would probably draw the conclusion that Riku was an omega addicted to Sion's alpha pheromones. Ryo would 100% vote for Sion as an alpha, if he were to participate in the poll.
“Did someone eat my pistachio ice cream?” Riku asked. He opened and closed the fridge several times, as if wishing the missing ice cream would reappear.
“It wasn't me!” Jaehee, probably traumatized from his previous incident with Yushi, immediately replied.
Yushi took advantage of Jaehee's momentary distraction to take over his position in Mario Kart. Sakuya groaned as the group’s main dancer smiled triumphantly. Ryo tossed his controller. Well, he already knew he wasn't winning anyway.
Jaehee whined. Ryo frowned. Built wise? He would vote their main vocalist as an alpha. Personality wise? Hmm, debatable. Then again, perhaps he shouldn't assign omegaverse roles based on personalities. Wouldn't it be like assigning gender traits to someone based on preconceived notions?
….why the hell was he even thinking so seriously about this? This wasn't even real!
“Whoever it is, better confess,” Sion said. He took out a tub of caramel ice cream from the fridge and handed it to Riku. Wasn't that the ice cream that Sion just bought two days ago? Ryo remembered their leader mentioning how much he was craving that specific brand. Ah, and he was giving it to Riku? Provider. Alpha behaviour.
“Not me!” Sakuya quickly said.
“Really? Kim Daeyoung, are you sure you didn't eat the ice cream by mistake?” Sion questioned.
Protective of the pack. Or maybe this motherly attentiveness was more omega-like?
“I swear I didn't eat Riku-hyung’s ice cream,” Jaehee insisted.
The whiny, spoiled, youngest child's behaviour. Would Jaehee be an omega? Ryo thought. But if he wasn't supposed to assign them based on personalities, would it be about the build? What was Riku then? An alpha? He was tall and strong with muscular arms like an alpha, but also lean with a small waist and nicely shaped hips, like an omega. He was also nurturing, and suddenly Ryo remembered the times he mentioned liking Riku’s scent as it felt like family. Oh damn, was he the scented pup then? Did he unknowingly involve himself in this omegaverse and feed into the fan contents too?
Yushi slowly raised his hand. “Sorry, I just remembered. It was me. I thought it was my matcha ice cream since they were both green.”
Ryo hummed. Cool and collected Yushi always appeared like an alpha, but the cute and soft-spoken Yushi felt like an omega. A beta, then? Or just a non-stereotypical omega? Every time he looked at Yushi, all he could picture was a cute and adorable dumpling...
Sion raised an eyebrow. “Then who ate Yushi's ice cream?”
All eyes fell on the three maknaes. Jaehee rubbed his head sheepishly.
“Ah, if it's matcha, then last week…”
Sion sighed. “Kim Daeyoung, again…?”
“It wasn't on purpose! I really thought the dorm auntie -”
Yushi shrugged. “It's fine, I don't mind.”
Riku pouted. “Hey hey, my ice cream has become a victim too…”
“We have to stop this ice cream thievery issue here,” Sion sighed.
What a bunch of elementary school kids, Ryo thought. He smiled. Still, the scene of his members arguing, the loud banters, the teasings? All of them felt so warm and strangely soothing. It really did feel like family. Wasn't it because they were comfortable enough with each other, that they could freely express themselves like this?
Ryo picked up his controller to start another round of Mario Kart. He scooted closer to Sakuya and grinned. “Now that I remember, last week I ate the ice cream bar in the fridge too, but nobody asked about it. I guess that was the one the dorm auntie bought?”
Sakuya hummed. “Ah, the chocolate bars? I bought it.”
Ryo froze. He looked at Sakuya, whose eyes didn't stray from the TV screen. “You did? Why didn't you say anything?”
Sakuya’s deep voice remained calm. “I knew you were going to eat it anyway.”
…. Did Sakuya buy the ice cream for Ryo to eat? Come to think of it, chocolate wasn't Sakuya’s favorite flavour anyway.
Ryo laughed.
Maybe if Sakuya was a bit taller, cooler, and older, Ryo might vote him as an alpha. For now, he was just his best friend, who happened to occasionally make his heart skip with his ikemen moves. He patted Sakuya's arm.
"You feed me so well. Should I call you 'oppa'?"
"...."
"Just kidding."