Chapter Text
Many people are unaware of the truth about what actually happens to omegas in care facilities. Felix does, though; he’s lived it for the past 10 years. It’s not actually care; they just use that as a way to disguise the horrors of what it actually is. When he was taken from his family at the Seoul airport, Felix was old enough to know what human trafficking was and that it's almost identical to what he’s experienced in and out of this facility.
The agents at the airport claimed his parents had false passports and that they would need to take their children while everything got sorted out. Felix, who had recently presented as an omega, and his two sisters were taken from their parents that day and were separated from each other about a week later. He wants to believe that the two of them found a way out and haven’t been suffering like him for so long, but that’s probably wishful thinking.
Felix has been passed between packs of brutal alphas like a toy since he was fifteen, but none of the packs have ever kept him. After the first pack, he was sent to returned him for being disobedient, he realized that was all he had to do to stay alive. At least in the care facility, he wasn’t a pound of flesh at some alpha’s beck and call. The conditions weren’t much better but he decided quickly that he preferred the facility’s cots, stale food, and occasional punishments to the unpredictability of the alphas he was sold off to.
Every now and then, Felix wonders how long they’ll force him to stay here. Since it's not actually a care facility, he wasn’t released when he became a legal adult and has no set amount of time to stay. In fact, he’s 25 and still being sold and returned on the regular. Many alphas buy him for his looks, but then change their mind when he causes enough trouble.
Today would be like any other day that he’s sent home with a new pack. They never tell him he’s being sold, but he’s been here long enough to know the signs. They allow him nice-smelling soaps, larger and more appetizing foods, and leave a more presentable outfit in his room for the next day. Foolishly, he hopes this pack will be different, but he’s been sold more times than he can count, and the majority of them were the same in most ways.
Looking at the clothes lying at the end of his cot, Felix sighs and moves into a sitting position. He goes through the motions of getting dressed and as clean as possible, then waits for whoever is buying him to arrive. There’s not much else to do here anyway but boredom is better than… the alternative. Felix tries not to think about what this pack will be like or how terrible he’ll have to be to be returned. He doesn’t enjoy being rude or violent or any of the other techniques he’s used before, but it may just be the only reason he’s alive and not merely a shell of the person he once was. Soon, he hears voices and footsteps approaching his room and can pick up bits and pieces of the conversation,
“Were they informed of his… history?” A woman asks hesitantly.
“Yes, and they assured me they could handle whatever trouble he throws at them.” He recognizes this voice as one of the guards in the facility.
“I hope so because this is the last chance we’re giving him.” The woman responds harshly before the door is unlocked, and the two of them enter.
The woman assesses him with a cold gaze, “Stand up straight.”
Felix wants to fight the command she’s given him, but this is one of the times biology betrays him. At the command from this woman, this alpha, his inner omega is helpless, and he finds himself obeying her command.
“Behave, do as you’re told, and be polite,” She says all of these as more commands that he will now have to follow unless another alpha breaks her commands, which in this case is unlikely. “Now then, let’s go meet your new family.”
The guard and woman escort Felix to the front of the building, where the new pack is waiting. As they walk, Felix starts to feel an odd warmth spreading through his body. It’s not the normal temperature that someone feels on a summer day. This is true warmth. A comforting, loving warmth. It makes him think of his parents and the feelings his family shared before they were separated. He wants so badly to lean into this and let it comfort him, but the beeping of a keypad snaps him out of whatever odd trance he was in as he’s pushed forward into the room.
When he looks up, Felix is met with two fairly large alphas, both of whom have an unreadable expression on their faces. These are usually the worst ones because you never know what's coming. Felix thinks for a moment that he might even prefer the aggressive alphas to the unpredictable ones, at least with them you know what to expect.
“Good morning, gentlemen. I just have a few forms for you to sign, then you can be on your way. Felix, you can wait over there.” The woman informs them kindly.
“Of course.” The smaller of the two alphas says as he walks over to the desk.
The other walks over to where Felix was instructed to sit. Although rather than being rude, or touchy, or any of the other terrible things that have happened when first meeting a new pack, this alpha simply sits beside Felix.
He quietly watches the other alpha from across the room before speaking, “I’m Changbin, and that’s one of my mates, Chan, but he also goes by Chris.”
Instead of ignoring him like Felix wants to do, the command to be polite nags in his brain and forces him to respond kindly with, “Nice to meet you.”
However, his words must come out strained because Changbin asks, “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” Felix answers truthfully and without the influence of the woman's commands.
Felix can’t quite describe why, but he feels safe with Changbin. Yes, he’s large and could easily injure Felix if he wanted to, but something is telling him that he won’t do that. That warm feeling begins to make its way back up into his chest again.
Before he can lean into it, though, it's snatched away from him again by the woman’s voice saying, “I gave him a few commands to make the transition smoother for everyone. You shouldn’t need to remove them unless they start to interfere with his daily activities.” She says all of this with a kind smile that’s in complete contrast to her sneer and cruel voice when she gave the commands.
“Understood, thank you very much,” Chan responds before motioning Felix and Changbin over to him and the exit.
Once the three of them are outside, Chan pulls out his keys and unlocks an expensive-looking car parked outside the building.
Felix tries to start up his usual attitude by asking if they stole the car, but he’s not able to say the words. All he can get out is a quiet noise of frustration. The whole car ride home goes about the same way.
They ride in almost complete silence until Changbin speaks, “Just to prepare you, the rest of our mates can be a bit…much. There are seven of us total, eight if we include you now. If you get overwhelmed, just let someone know, and we’ll take care of it.”
As they pull into a gated neighborhood, Chan finally speaks, “Also, before we go inside, I have to ask. Was the facility you came from an actual care facility, or is that just what they claim to be?”
Felix wants to play dumb so he doesn’t get in trouble when he goes back, “Um… I-”
“You don’t have to tell us everything right now. I know we just met, and you probably don’t trust us yet, but our pack calls in anonymous tips about fake care facilities based on the accounts of omegas we rescue from them. I’m only asking so we can take care of you properly.”
Felix hesitates for a few more moments until he notices the car has stopped in front of a very nice house. Though he quickly goes back to weighing the pros and cons of answering in his mind. They could be lying and just trying to lure him into a false sense of comfort, but he doesn’t want to believe that.
After a few more moments of silence, Changbin leaves the car, saying, “I’ll be back.”
Felix watches his form enter the house before he finally gets the guts to admit, “It’s fake.”
Chan gives him a sad smile, “Thank you for telling us. The only other question I have right now is how long were you there?”
Felix swallows the lump in his throat, “Ten years.”
When Felix looks up, he sees Changbin walking back to the car with another omega. Seeing the two of them brings that warm feeling back to life.
Changbin opens the door for Felix and says, “This is Jisung. We rescued him a few years ago, and he ended up being one of our mates. I thought it might make you feel better to know someone who’s experienced similar things.”
Felix tries to make a face that says he doesn’t believe him, but apparently that face falls under the be polite command as well, so instead he asks, “Where’s your tattoo?”
Felix has met omegas from other care facilities, and all of them have a tattoo showing that they’re from one of the facilities.
The omega, Jisung, pulls the right shoulder of his shirt down to expose an area where you can faintly see where a tattoo once was.
“What happened to it?” Felix asks, hovering his fingers over the spot curiously.
Jisung smiles at him, “One of our mates has a device that can erase the majority of a tattoo. You can still see some of it, but it’s less noticeable.”
Seeing the honesty in Jisung's eyes makes Felix allow himself to believe that this might be a good thing. Maybe he won’t have to settle for being returned this time. Maybe he’ll have the chance to have a family again.