Chapter Text
Sunghoon first met Jay in a club.
To be honest, Sunghoon didn’t even want to head out that night because he had just finished his final examination after pulling off multiple all nighters until Sunoo convinced him with his pouty mouth and pleading eyes, protesting that it was exactly because he had finished his final examination that he should go out and have fun.
Sunghoon had grumbled and complained all the way to the club — it was a mixed club so alphas, betas and omegas were all welcomed but it was clear from the moment Sunghoon stepped into the club that alphas outnumbered the other subgenders by a lot and the club was, frankly, stinking of alpha pheromones as the alphas tried to attract a partner.
Sunoo got off easy; by virtue of being a beta, his sense of smell was not as sensitive to scents unlike Sunghoon’s alpha nose and he was this close to leaving when he laid eyes on the most beautiful boy he had ever seen. The boy was at the other end of the club, laughing, and suddenly, Sunghoon was thankful for Sunoo for dragging him out because otherwise, he wouldn’t have met Jay.
Obviously, Sunghoon didn’t know that was his name at first but Jay — he looked like an utter vision under the strobing neon lights of the club with long legs clad in the tightest black pants and a tiny waist that Sunghoon wanted to hold with both hands. He was leaning against the bar counter, talking to someone, with his hair artfully slicked back and a drink in his hands.
Sunoo giggled excitedly, picking up on his friend’s interest, and then pretty much shoved Sunghoon over towards Jay. He stumbled a bit, slightly tipsy because Sunoo had insisted on pre drinking before leaving their dorm, but when he straightened up, he locked eyes with Jay whose eyes were filled with mirth and he was a goner.
Sunghoon didn’t quite remember crossing the crowded dance floor. All he knew was that Sunoo was laughing at him behind his back and then one second later, he was face to face with Jay. Jay and his good looks, all sharp angles and high cheekbones and plump lips and the sweetest scent.
Omega. Sunghoon’s alpha perked up instantly at the smell of geraniums and lavender. He had been on self imposed celibacy because of finals and he anticipated that he might have a chance to break it tonight.
“Hey.” Sunghoon said breathlessly. Damn, the omega looked even prettier now that he was in front of him.
A part of Sunghoon was embarrassed at being so whipped but his alpha was eager, almost bordering on desperate, to get to know the omega in front of him.
“Hey,” Jay answered breezily, a small smile on his face. He didn’t look fazed at Sunghoon’s directness but given his criminally good looks, he was probably used to being hit on every day.
“Can I buy you a drink?” Sunghoon asked, gesturing at the bar.
“I already have a drink,” Jay held up his cup, still more than halfway full, and Sunghoon wanted to die from embarrassment.
Right. Damn, it’s been so long since Sunghoon tried picking up someone, no thanks to finals, and his lack of practice showed. He was fumbling for something else to say — something witty, something smart — when Jay tilted his head back and tossed the drink back, downing it in one shot.
His mouth drying, Sunghoon watched as a stray drop of alcohol trickled down from Jay’s lip, tracing a path along his jaw and down his neck and into his shirt, disappearing beneath his collar. Sunghoon didn’t realise he was staring until Jay snapped his head upright and his eyes snapped back to Jay’s face.
“Now, you can buy me a drink.” Jay smiled flirtatiously, as he placed his now empty cup down on the bar counter.
Sunghoon grinned back.
Fifteen minutes later, Sunghoon had Jay on his lap and his mouth on his neck, his tongue greedily tracing the path the alcohol had taken while the omega pulled at his short locks.
Jay had come to the club with his friends and they had booked a somewhat private area which Jay had pulled Sunghoon to. He had pushed Sunghoon down onto the sofa and then pretty much climbed onto him, kissing him like his life depended on it. Jay’s earlier choice of drink was vodka, the taste of it both burning and sweet as Sunghoon licked into his mouth.
It was thrilling to know that Jay was at least just as attracted to Sunghoon as he was to him (they had exchanged names in between kisses and Sunghoon privately thought that Jay was such a pretty name) and Sunghoon rested his hands on Jay’s tiny waist like he wanted to from the beginning. His hands instinctively rose as they continued making out, slipping under Jay’s shirt when Jay abruptly stopped and grabbed his hands, halting him.
Lips red and swollen from kissing, Jay blurted out with pink cheeks. “I’m a virgin.”
Oh.
Sunghoon wasn’t super into virgins since he didn’t really want the heavy responsibility of being someone’s first ever sexual partner. He also didn’t really peg Jay to be one, especially with the sinful way he was rolling his hips on top of him.
“Okay.” Sunghoon replied, leaning forward to kiss Jay again, wanting his lips on his. Jay’s lips were addictive .
Jay let himself be kissed for a while, all quiet whimpers, as Sunghoon sucked on his tongue with his lips, before he placed both hands on Sunghoon’s broad chest, palms down, and forced space between them.
“No, Sunghoon, wait,” Jay gasped, looking so debauched from making out that Sunghoon reconsidered his earlier assessment, “if you were thinking of hooking up tonight then I’m sorry but let’s stop now.”
Oh.
Not going to lie, Sunghoon was a tad disappointed, especially since he was already half hard under Jay’s ass and it had been a while since he slept with someone (again, no thanks to finals). Then he watched as Jay bit down on his bottom lip as he waited for Sunghoon to reply, showing the first sign of uneasiness since they met, and he looked so irresistibly adorable that Sunghoon figured that he could live with no sex since it was Jay. He didn’t know why but he was just so attracted to the omega, attracted enough to suppress his carnal instincts.
“Can we keep making out though?” Sunghoon ventured carefully, lowering his hands to a safer location of Jay’s hips instead.
At his words, Jay brightened up, looking oh so alluring and Sunghoon was filled with pure desire. Jay lowered his head to Sunghoon, whispering an affirmation before slotting his lips with the alpha’s.
Despite his reservations about dating virgins, Sunghoon started dating Jay.
They had exchanged numbers before they left the club that night and then met up for a date in the day that same week (it obviously had to be at an ice skating rink and Sunghoon very much enjoyed holding Jay’s hands as he led him around the ice rink), which turned into another and then another.
Somehow, they just clicked despite their different personalities and it didn’t hurt that Jay was so good looking. Sunghoon could spend hours just staring stupidly at Jay, eyes studying his features and memorising them for his late night fantasies, as he rambled animatedly about a new movie or book he had read — and Jay talked a lot.
Jay was easy to read too. He wore his heart on his sleeve and was so generous and benevolent, the kind who would lend money to a stranger or help a grandmother cross the street. If it wasn’t for his sharp features deterring unscrupulous figures, Sunghoon figured that Jay would probably get swindled multiple times.
Sunghoon found out that Jay was a business major but took fashion design electives, which explained how chic his sense of style was, and Jay was ecstatic when he found out that Sunghoon was Park Sunghoon, as in the ice skater whom one of his friends had fanboyed over when they were younger.
Jay had insisted on video calling that friend, squishing his cheek against Sunghoon’s face to fit into the frame as he proudly showed him off. Sunghoon was so embarrassed the whole time but his scent inevitably betrayed the sense of joy he felt at Jay being so proud of him.
By their seventh date, Sunghoon felt confident and reassured enough to turn to Jay during one of their movie nights in Sunghoon’s dorm and ask him to be his boyfriend.
It was not romantic at all — Sunghoon was wearing a ratty old shirt, Jay was halfway stretching his arms, most damning of all, Sunoo was snoring in the bed opposite them. But Jay had agreed of course and quite enthusiastically at that, pouncing onto Sunghoon and leaving him with so many hickeys that the moment he had seen him, Sunoo had screamed at him to wear a turtleneck the next day.
His new position as Jay’s boyfriend also meant that Sunghoon was allowed to visit Jay’s apartment. Sunghoon respected that as an omega, Jay was protective of sharing where he stayed and Sunghoon never pushed to know the address of the apartment.
They spent most of their dates either outside or at Sunghoon’s dorm since it was on campus. For his part, Sunoo had been a very gloomy third wheeler until Jay had managed to win him over by keeping the mini fridge he and Sunghoon shared with mint chocolate ice cream.
Sunghoon knew that Jay lived with his childhood best friend, a guy named Heeseung. Even though they were both business majors, Heeseung was a year older than both Sunghoon and Jay so Sunghoon had never seen him whenever he picked Jay up from lectures.
“He’s an alpha?” Sunghoon clarified, trying to sound as casual as he could when Jay had first told him.
“Heeseung hyung’s harmless,” Jay chuckled, unaware of Sunghoon’s discomfort. They were in the elevator of Jay’s apartment, the numbers climbing higher and higher.
While Sunghoon came from a comfortable upper middle class background, Jay was well, rich rich. The only reason Jay was even sharing an apartment with Heeseung was because his parents didn’t want him living alone and thought having an alpha they had watched grow up alongside their son be his housemate was the perfect solution.
“But he’s an alpha,” Sunghoon protested, curling an arm around Jay protectively. So sue him, he wasn’t exactly pleased to hear that his precious omega lived with an alpha even if they had been friends since they were in diapers, their friendship pre-dating their relationship.
(Jay had corrected Sunghoon that his friendship with Heeseung only truly started when he was nine years old, not when they met as literal babies. Frankly, Sunghoon didn’t see a difference because they were so annoyingly close anyways.)
At least Sunghoon knew for a fact that Heeseung hadn’t helped Jay with his heats and never will now that Jay had Sunghoon.
After becoming official, Jay had sat Sunghoon down and confessed truthfully that he wasn’t sure when he was ready to have sex. Sunghoon didn’t mind waiting; he respected Jay’s boundaries and they never went any further than making out, their hands staying over their clothes. They hadn’t discussed how they were going to deal with Jay’s heats and Sunghoon’s ruts but Sunghoon figured that they would cross the bridge when they reached it.
Jay gave Sunghoon a pointed look and the alpha backed down obediently but kept his arm around him. Jay was a firm believer of platonic friendships between alphas and omegas, and he didn’t appreciate his own boyfriend doubting his friendship.
“Okay, baby, if you say so,” Sunghoon relented reluctantly, since he obviously couldn’t do about it (unless he magically won the lottery and could afford an apartment of his own that he could whisk Jay to but then again, he would have to convince Jay’s parents that he was a better choice of a housemate than Heeseung which was unlikely because they would just take one look at him and know for a fact that he wanted to sleep with their son).
Sunghoon softened considerably when he saw Jay flush at the endearment and he planted a kiss on Jay’s nose.
“Fair warning though, Heeseung hyung can be a bit protective of me.” Jay shared, just as the elevator doors slid open silently.
“What do you mean?” Sunghoon asked, surprised. He had made the effort to dress up in a buttoned down shirt since he likened meeting the older alpha to meeting Jay’s parents.
Jay blushed as he admitted, slipping out of Sunghoon’s hold. “Well, you’re the first boyfriend I brought back home in a long time and Heeseung hyung used to give my ex boyfriend a hard time.”
Sunghoon barely registered the second part; all he heard was that he was Jay’s first boyfriend in a while and he was smirking before he knew it. He pulled Jay into a bone crushing back hug, draping himself over the omega who squealed in surprise. “Sunghoon!”
“First boyfriend in a long time huh?” Sunghoon teased as he nuzzled Jay’s neck where he knew he was sensitive and Jay squirmed in his hold.
“Sunghoonie,” Jay whined, trying to escape but to no avail. They were in front of Jay’s apartment by then but Sunghoon didn’t want to release Jay. He was squeezing Jay playfully when the front door swung open, and he was slammed with a face full of alpha pheromones.
Upset alpha pheromones.
Sunghoon instinctively tightened his grip on Jay protectively as he locked eyes with the other alpha standing beside them, one second from shielding his boyfriend with his body. The other alpha was taller than Sunghoon but he was sure he could take him in a fight if he really had to.
Sunghoon barely calculated the odds of the hypothetical fight when Jay wrenched Sunghoon’s arms off him, complaining to the other alpha, “hyung, chill out.” Then he turned to Sunghoon, his nose all scrunched up in disgust. “You too, Sunghoonie.”
Startled, Sunghoon didn’t even know that he was emitting a foul scent that was meant to deter any nearby alphas. The scents of two unhappy alphas must have been upsetting for Jay and he hastily relaxed, controlling his scent to his usual musky sandalwood and peonies. “Sorry, baby.”
Jay squeezed Sunghoon’s hand in response before facing the other alpha — Heeseung. “Hyung, this is Sunghoon, my boyfriend. Sunghoon, Heeseung.”
Heeseung calmed down, pulling back his scent immediately.
“My bad, I thought Jongseong was in distress.” Heeseung smiled politely, stepping back so that the couple could enter the apartment, but Sunghoon didn’t miss the way his nostrils flared in annoyance when he walked past him. He also didn’t miss the fact that Heeseung used Jay’s Korean name, probably a remnant of their shared history.
Sunghoon tried not to take it personally as he slipped his shoes off. He was a stranger alpha entering his home and they had gotten off on the wrong foot.
“Even if I was, I don’t need your protection,” Jay grumbled, dumping his backpack on the floor.
“That’s not what your mom thinks,” Heeseung teased, closing the door behind him. “She called me earlier to check if you have been eating well.”
Jay groaned before jumping into an affectionate rant about his mother and accusing Heeseung of being her spy, while Sunghoon surveyed the living room before him; it was the first time being in Jay’s home and he could tell that it was a place carefully crafted and put together with items that he knew belonged to Jay — that guitar leaning against the wall, that hoodie draped on the sofa that looked suspiciously like Sunghoon’s — along with other objects that most likely belonged to Heeseung.
“So, Sunghoon, Jongseong says you’re a kinesiology major?” Heeseung asked politely, sitting down on the armchair beside the sofa. At least he wasn’t frowning any more.
“Yeah, I’m a fourth year student.” Sunghoon answered as Jay gestured for him to sit on the sofa, settling down beside him with his legs curled up beneath him. Sunghoon followed the way Heeseung’s eyes rested on the way Jay was pressed up against his arm. Jay wasn’t kidding when he said Heeseung was protective.
“That’s an interesting major. I think you’re the first guy I know majoring in it,” Heeseung admitted good-naturedly after a pause. He was looking at Sunghoon, studying him like one of his business reports.
Sunghoon let out a chuckle. “Well, I used to ice skate professionally when I was younger.”
“He’s being modest. He won awards!” Jay jumped in before rattling off a list of competitions and awards that Sunghoon had won. Beside him, Sunghoon smiled goofishly at how proud Jay sounded of him, his alpha feeling just as pleased at their omega.
The three of them made small talk before Heeseung had to excuse himself to head off for a lecture on campus. Sunghoon didn’t want to admit it but he only relaxed for real once the older boy had left. Despite his easy smiles, Heeseung was intimidating with a piercing gaze that followed Jay or Sunghoon each time one of them initiated skin contract and Sunghoon almost felt like a child about to get reprimanded.
It didn’t help that Heeseung was so good looking with his big eyes and charming smile (whenever he wasn’t looking at Sunghoon, of course). He probably had dozens of girls chasing after him and to top it off, he was extremely smart, having been on the Dean’s list since he was a second year. If Jay wasn’t so obviously in love with him (he was always touching Sunghoon, be it his fingers or arm), Sunghoon would have felt worried about Jay cohabiting with such a catch of an alpha.
For what it’s worth, Sunghoon could tell that Heeseung was a good natured guy and clearly cared a lot for Jay despite their jibes and banter. Jay had spoken very highly of his childhood friend and Sunghoon wanted to like him, especially since he would likely be seeing a lot of the other alpha if their relationship progressed.
And Sunghoon knew where Heeseung was coming from. Just like Jay had warned, Heeseung was a bit protective and wasn’t exactly fond of him yet but Sunghoon chalked it up to general concern for Jay. His own younger sister was an omega and while she hasn’t started dating anyone yet (that he knew of, at least, he got to ask his mother soon), Sunghoon was pretty sure that he would be just as standoffish to any guy his sister brought home as Heeseung was to him or worse.
It was just that Heeseung’s an alpha living with his omega. By virtue of that, Sunghoon disliked him intensely.
“So?” Jay asked eagerly the moment Heeseung left.
“He’s… nice,” Sunghoon cautiously said. He could tell that the omega hoped that they both got along and he didn’t want to disappoint him. Well, he did his part by being cordial. The ball’s in Heeseung’s court now. “I don’t think he likes me though.”
Jay laughed as if the possibility itself was impossible, raising his hands to hold Sunghoon’s face. “Hyung likes whoever I like, and you know I like you very much.”
Sunghoon’s heart fluttered at Jay’s sincere words. While they were still strictly celibate, Jay never failed to reassure Sunghoon of his love either through his words or actions and today wasn’t an exception.
As if making up for the lack of sex, Jay was always down for making out and exchanging “I love you”s with each other. They could spend hours just lazing in Sunghoon’s bed until the sun went down or until Sunoo came back, making his entrance as noisily as possible, their lips on each other’s and their bodies twisted together until Sunghoon wasn’t sure where he ended and where Jay started. More than once, Sunghoon would have to excuse himself because he would get hard (who wouldn’t?) and Jay would laugh but he still never allowed Sunghoon to touch him sexually.
It wasn’t a one sided affair. Sunghoon knew when Jay just as turned on as he was, the way his scent turned sweet as honey (especially between his legs) the way he locked eyes on Sunghoon’s tenting trousers or the way he pressed his legs together, but no matter how horny he was from their make out sessions, Jay was firm in his boundaries and Sunghoon was only more attracted to him for his rock hard conviction.
“If you say so,” Sunghoon smiled and Jay moved his face forward to kiss him. It was a short kiss, a peck if anything, but no less endearing.
“Come on, I want to show you my bedroom,” Jay said, grabbing the alpha’s hand and getting to his feet. Sunghoon followed suit obligingly. If it was anyone else, it would probably be an invitation to sleep together but it was Jay and he was transparent to a fault.
As Jay led Sunghoon to his bedroom, he couldn’t help but eye the other closed door near it. It was most likely Heeseung’s bedroom. Despite himself, he couldn’t shake off his jealousy at the alpha living and sleeping so near his omega but he reined his envy in — Jay said Heeseung was harmless and even if he didn’t trust Heeseung (not yet, at least), he trusted Jay.
That was enough to calm the green eyed alpha in Sunghoon and he let himself be pulled into Jay’s bedroom, his sacred place.
Heeseung may live with Jay but I’m his alpha, Sunghoon reassured himself, his uncertainty dispelled when Jay excitedly took him on a mini tour of his bedroom, his hand never once leaving Sunghoon’s.