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Wooyoung brings it up, because of course he does.
“We’re trending!” he says at first, innocent enough for somebody to ask where that is happening. Understandably, Mingi baits.
“Trending where?”
“Twitter,” and before he can go on, a third voice goes, that can’t be good. Yunho doesn’t look up from his phone as he says that.
“It’s better you stay away from that site.”
“No, trust me, it’s one of the fun times,” and here Seonghwa gets skeptic from his place sitting in front of a makeup noona, doing his best to stay still and let her work. Occasionally, Twitter (now called X, and whatever) can be a funny place, that much he agrees. But it’s a pitch black, one way tunnel into mental distress if one happens to be a public figure. Like they are. “Somebody pulled statistics of another site where we’re popular, we’re close to the top in this list.”
“Popular how?” Mingi is progressing. He sounds curious still, but warily so.
“Okay, so. You know how Atiny write stories about us?”
Oh no.
“I’ve heard of it. We asked them to do that during Fever.”
That was fun. Like the time they also asked their fans to design Lightiny. There were a lot of fun things they used to do that are simply impossible to ask for now that they’re this big (which Seonghwa will never stop being grateful for, but yeah).
“I have a feeling this isn’t about lore theories,” Yunho says again, with a nervous laugh.
“Correct! It’s a romance thing. So people write stories about us on this site and we’re kind of huge there, we show up every year in these stats.”
“How do you know?”
“These are about one specific universe, though. Sometimes they also write alternative universes,” here Seonghwa feels his own mouth twitch a little, amused by the sound of Wooyoung using his youngest knows best voice on Mingi to tease him. “So like, us but not famous and doing something else—”
“Yah! I know what an alternative universe is! Yeosangie made me watch Star Trek!”
“So this is like a werewolf universe? It’s a little complicated but it uses a bunch of stuff from wolf packs and Supernatural. That show is awful though, it goes on for forever.”
“Wooyoungie.” Yunho suddenly does not sound as amused as before. “Are you looking into Omegaverse statistics?”
Seonghwa can’t help but blink towards them for a second. “You know about this?”
“It’s super popular with Exo-L,” Yunho supplies, not condescending but matter-of-factly. “They are part of the reason why this universe spread so fast online, years ago.”
Seonghwa raises his perfectly trimmed eyebrows at him. The makeup noona struggles for a second to angle his face back in place. “You read Exo fanfiction?”
“It’s Exo-L culture, hyungie. You should wonder why you haven’t heard of it.”
He’s stunned into silence so bad that he doesn’t have it in him to fight back while his juniors have a laugh at him for a bit.
“So we’re popular in werewolf fanfiction,” Mingi reels back. It’s unreal how academically interested he sounds all of a sudden, and then Seonghwa remembers he is the one that spams all the Wolfteez memes on their groupchat whenever a new one goes viral. There’s also the whole barking at concerts phenomenon that he started.
“Not werewolf exactly but the pack dynamic is a big thing, Hongjoongie shows up a lot as an alpha since those are the ones that are supposed to be in charge of everything. He’s thirteenth on this list.”
“Who’s on top?”
Yunho starts giggling from his place. “You can’t just ask it like that—”
“Hongjoong, usually.” Wooyoung is suddenly very serious as well. “You should know this, hyung. He tops all of us.”
“Wooyoung-ah,” Seonghwa warns, staring at them from the corner of his eye. The makeup professional in front of him is grinning from under her mask.
“That’s not what I was asking!”
“Alphas don’t have to be dominant every time, anyway,” and with that Yunho has debate season open. “I mean. That’s kind of what the role is written for, but people like subverting tropes.”
The back of Seonghwa’s brain starts itching at that. He remembers now, a few months back another meme that did some rounds on Twitter (because he lurks the place as well from time to time, he doesn’t live under a rock). A bottle of pink pills with a bunny on them, so similar to Ddeongbyoli that he had to do a double take to make sure it wasn’t their official merch. ‘Heat supressants’ it said.
“Let’s talk about something else,” he chimes, but the kids are not listening to him.
“Hongjoong is at the top of a list where he tops other people?”
“He doesn’t top the people on the list, Mingi, please keep up. It’s a list of the characters that get written as the alpha the most.”
“Okay sure, where am I in it?”
“You’re joking.”
“Mingi-yah, three seconds ago you did not know what alphas were.”
“Let me see the list!”
The sound of Seonghwa’s bandmates tussling behind him follows the command. By the time he’s finally free to roam around Wooyoung is suffocating on the couch, from where Mingi is draped half on top of him to look at the phone screen.
“Wait, Yunho is also on this list. Where am I?”
“On the omega one since you’re a bitch—”
“The what one?”
“Who do you think the alphas are supposed to be topping?” Yunho takes the phone, and there’s another awkward sound when Wooyoung pushes Mingi around and whatever shiny clasps and buttons they’re wearing echo as they hit the floor. “Give and receive, silly. That other list should be somewhere here.”
Seonghwa doesn’t know what he’s expecting to see when he looms next to Yunho, peeking at the phonescreen. He feels hyper aware of the layers of makeup covering his face, itchy. “So this is a yearly thing? These lists?”
“Yeah. People really like their math when it comes to group popularity.”
Yunho is so nonchalant about the whole thing, like they’re discussing sales and points in music shows, which Seonghwa is partly grateful for but also. Mildly horrified by how much he already knows. Seonghwa is aware that fanfiction is a thing. But he rarely ever does more than like tweets of funny moments of him with his kids behaving vaguely romantic. He gets a little dizzy when he sees steamy ones, although he must admit he doesn’t actively avoid them. Lately there’s been a bunch of stuff about him and Christian Yu that he doesn’t really mind scrolling about.
“Oh, here! Seonghwa-hyung is in this one.”
“I am?” he ducks into the phone. It’s a spreadsheet. A highly organized one, Jesus. His eyes glaze over a bunch of cartoons’ names and then he finds himself. Fourteen.
Yunho scrolls down the spreadsheet and snorts. “Wooyoung is here as well. Thank you for your hard work, Wooyoungie! We could not have made it without you.”
Mingi starts wheezing somewhere. He is not on this list either but Seonghwa doubts he cares anymore about showing up first on any of these ranks.
“Does Changbin know his entire group is in these? Somebody should tell him. He’ll have a heart attack.”
“Give me my phone back and maybe I will!”
“Hold on, I’m sending this to our chat.”
Seonghwa’s own phone buzzes in his pocket. He feels a hand twitch with the urge to check it out right now, and then the door opens. Hongjoong peeks in and gives them a hard stare, the three of them hoovering over Wooyoung’s phone like vultures.
“What are you doing? The other members are already onstage.”
“Coming!” Wooyoung takes the chance to peel his phone back from Yunho’s hands and sprints out of the green room. He starts yapping instantly, but as Seonghwa follows them around, he feels his ears ringing. Give and receive.
The internet is a funny place, which is the sole reason why he hasn’t deleted all of his social media already, from all the times they also trend and viralize over stuff that isn’t as funny as the whole conversation they have early that morning. Atiny are hilarious when they behave, which he appreciates. This “omegaverse” thing, however, he’s not sure whether to pin on ‘harmless and funny’ or ‘ignore at all cost’ just yet. He has to do some research.
When he finally checks their chat there’s actually three spreadsheets, and Seonghwa finds himself impressed by how well rounded the numbers are. Hongjoong is thirteenth on his, Seonghwa fourteenth on another one, and the third list is not about individual people but pairings of them. They show up together at sixteen, and there’s an equal sign next to the number that clues him to the fact that they’re not only popular, but consistently so. For the last couple of years, at least.
He starts looking into what it means for him, fiction wise, to always be tagged as ‘omega’, and he honestly isn’t super surprised. Maternal they all have always acknowledged that he is, so that fills out for most of things. He likes the part about it meaning that he gets to be comforting for his pack mates—band names. Nesting is weird, but he tries to understand. Suspension of disbelief, and all.
He starts frowning when he realizes how popular it is to write alphas as this crazy-possessive, macho persona. Hongjoong is nice. He would never use some supernatural voice to force him—or anyone—to do anything.
Seonghwa clicks on a few manhwas and clicks out spectacularly fast. He deems it enough then.
Point in case. They’re trending together. Every year around this time, apparently. And Atiny seem to be taking it in stride with humour. However scary big those numbers are, this doesn’t reach tabloids or anything, and it really is just harmless fiction, so they’re good.
He just can’t stop thinking about it.
It’s English practice, he tells himself, when he finally checks into the site the stats are from. He scrolls for a bit until he finds a few lengthy works to read and. And.
He starts getting the appeal of alpha characters once he’s put through the whole courting thing. That’s cute. And Yunho was right, there are so many different dynamics that it takes him a bit to mentally classify what’s standard and what’s not. One thing all their fans are spot on is how possessive Hongjoong can get once he decides he really likes something, how quietly satisfied he behaves when he proves himself to be a good provider. Something safe to rely on. Someone that leads and protects.
Seonghwa is getting a little too into all of this, so he decides to tell Hongjoong. To spook himself out of it, he tells himself, because Hongjoong is sure to have some big reaction. It’ll do him good.
“I found something online.” He starts there, spoon digging into a desert that gets placed in between them. They’re dining out together, for a change, which means they’re on one of their not-dates. Hongjoong offers to pay for everything, goes as far as ordering for Seonghwa while they’re there, and they share something sweet if they feel like it. Seonghwa gets teased to hell and back by San when he goes back to the dorm. It’s a nice routine they all have, so he doesn’t mind.
Hongjoong hums. I’m listening. He picks up his spoon, hoovers above the plate like a busy bee deciding where to sting before he digs in. He’s wearing that black turtle neck that hides his entire arm right up into the knuckles. He looks cozy, and the place is quietly buzzing with the other couples sitting inside fancy cubicles like them.
“It’s—kind of like an achievement? Something Atiny did for us.”
“Cute. Did we hit a mark somewhere?”
“Kind of.” Seonghwa stares and waits patiently for Hongjoong to get a spoonful of ice cream before he moves again. This is the one thing where he exerts some self-restrain, so the sweets actually last long enough for both of them. “Um. You know they write stories about us, right? Fanfiction.”
Hongjoong blinks up. “Right.”
“So. There’s a specific type of fanfiction that’s really popular.” He fixes his glasses, folds his arms on top of the mantle. “People draw statistics about it every year, so they know what relationships trend the most. It’s a big thing, since so many people worldwide are participating. We’re sixteen on that list! Out of a hundred, haha.”
Hongjoong sits very still, spoon halfway out of his mouth, but not quite. Finally, “We as in, ATEEZ? The eight of us?”
“Um, no. Just you and me. On number sixteen that is—”
“What type of fanfiction?” Another blink.
This is moving fast. Okay. Seonghwa can do this.
“Uh. Omegaverse?”
“What’s that?”
Great question. Seonghwa breathes deep. “It’s a little complicated but, it’s a sort of universe where people get split into three types of groups, mainly.”
“Like in The Hunger Games?”
Seonghwa laughs. His shoulders feel less tense. “No, this is a biological thing. Like wolf packs? So your category is supposed to dictate your role in society and what you do, but you can also rebel against it.” He pauses for a bit where he starts feeling rather stupid, and realizes, “like Divergent, actually.”
“I never watched those, sorry. But go on!” Hongjoong presses on when he sees Seonghwa attempting to hide himself behind the ice cream, scooping a big portion in silence. “You said something about biology? What do we do?”
Seonghwa does his best not to choke.
“Um, so those groups, alpha, beta, omega. Betas are just regular people like in real life, but alphas and omegas are what those stories are usually about. We ranked high on people who get written as alpha and omega, too. Atiny really like writing about us.”
He hopes so bad that the last part throws Hongjoong off, but alas, all he gets is his captain’s eyebrows quirking up in interest. It’s probably the low light in the restaurant what makes it look like his eyes are shining. He’s doing oddly well at eye-contact tonight.
“I see. And what do alphas and omegas do?”
The ice cream is either really cold or Seonghwa’s face is starting to get real hot.
“So. You know how fanfiction is—it's mostly romantic, right? So alphas and omegas have this connection with each other, somewhat like they’re meant to be together, most of the time.”
Hongjoong is doing the bruni smile. Well.
“Meant to be, huh? Together to do what?”
Seonghwa tries to stare him down in what he hopes is a scolding manner, but it’s proving to be just as useful as when he tries to scold San or Wooyoung as well.
“You know what.”
“I don’t! Really.”
“Have children, Hongjoongie.” He somehow doesn’t trip saying that, but he catches a glimpse of Hongjoong’s ear turning red. He’s still grinning like a maniac, though. “With each other.”
“Can we do that, biologically? In the stories, I mean.”
You definitely never know what you don’t know. For once, Seonghwa never knew that feisty, never look you in the eye because it’s too intimate Kim Hongjoong would be asking him about the hypothetical scenario where they have children of their own. Does Seonghwa even want these hypothetical children? His dongsaengs are already a handful.
“Well, it is kind of the whole point of Omegaverse, I think. For alphas to, uh, breed their omega.” It sounds awful once he says it out loud. He’s pretty sure his earlier plan worked, he is never getting into any of this stuff ever again.
“Oh, I see. So which one am I?”
The ice cream is gone. Seonghwa looks down at the empty plate, horrified once he tries to scoop more and the spoon meets ceramic. He needs a moment to gather himself.
“You said we ranked high on those categories, right? So are we in the same one, or—”
“Atiny think you’d make a good alpha.” And Seonghwa regrets nothing at throwing their fans under the bus. It is true. He clears his throat. “It’s kind of the provider role.”
“So I would provide for you.”
The way he says it, states it instead of asking, makes Seonghwa snap his head back up. They’re alone, it’s quiet and private, and it still feels so inappropriate, the fondness with which Hongjoong is looking at him now.
He shrugs. “I suppose.”
“What do you gain from this, being an omega? Wouldn’t I be smothering you?”
“No, I don’t think you could ever do that.” They are rather close on top of the table now, voices hushed and calm. Seonghwa isn’t just talking about fanmade stories when he says that. “I have a feeling the fans that write these stories want you to, anyway. The whole procreating thing is a bit violent in these works.”
“Ah, yes, I honestly don’t see the appeal of the heat stuff. Mingi will love it if he ever stops thinking himself above fanwork, but it’s a bit much for me.”
“Well,” Seonghwa swears he can hear the metaphorical pin drop after that, landing with a bang and scattering the remains of his brain around. Hongjoong stops looking all giddy once he realizes what he said as well. “You knew already?”
Hongjoong raises a placating hand. “Listen—”
“And you let me say all this nonsense for nothing!”
“You brought it up! No, listen—hyungie, I didn’t know everything! Wooyoung only told me about the pervy stuff, I didn’t know we were popular!”
“I’m paying for the bill.”
“Nooo, captain is supposed to provide for you. I have to be a good alpha.”
Seonghwa starts standing up. “Bye.”
Hongjoong grabs his arm and holds him down until a waiter comes around. Seonghwa lets him pay but stares to the side, sulkily, to make a point. There’s a beat of silence after the waiter leaves and then Hongjoong is sitting next to him on the seat, rubbing something fluffy to his neck.
Seonghwa looks down, horrified. “Hey, what are you doing?”
Hongjoong is mushing the top of his head to Seonghwa’s scarf, like some demented puppy. The ladder’s eyes widen when he says, “I’m scenting you, so you know that I’m sorry.”
“It doesn’t work like that!!”
“Am I doing it wrong? You can teach me later, I have to be good.”
“Let me get out, please.”
“”And you’ll teach me?”
“Yes, whatever! Please stop being embarassing!”
Seonghwa can’t honestly tell what he just signed himself up for, but he dreads the way Hongjoong beams at him when they walk out. He has a feeling it’s not just “scenting” they will be talking about.