Chapter Text
As the only unpresented member of the Stray Kids pack, Kim Seungmin was both weighed down by responsibilities and coddled like a baby.
On one hand, he was extremely reliable. The responsibilities of a quarterly heat or rut, nor the effects of scents and pheromones, didn’t burden him. When a scent was spread out around a room, he felt absolutely nothing, unlike his other packmates. Or so they thought. An alpha's scent is intense, husky, and dominating. It makes its presence known and lets everyone else know they’re there, and they’re in charge. An omega's scent is light and comforting but equal in intensity to an alpha’s. It slips into spaces and intertwines with the room. You don’t realize how strong it is until you’re already entranced with it. A beta, less powerful in the scent department but not any more or less affected by anyone else, has a typically neutral and indifferent smell. Their purpose is to balance out the strong, warring scents of alphas and omegas.
When you’re unpresented, all of this means nothing. An unpresented can’t smell any more than a baby could at birth. An omega's scent could soothe them; an alpha's scent can bring comfort; a beta's scent can calm them, but they will never be controlled by a scent. An omega couldn’t overpower them with a strong, sickeningly sweet scent and force them to submit. An alpha couldn’t overwhelm them with their husky, smoke-like scent and render them dazed. An unpresented could never understand what it was like to smell a nice alpha from across the room and feel the slick begin to form and drip down their thighs. They would never feel the increasing heat of a rut as the ember begins to burn in their belly and rise into roaring flames of pure, unadulterated horniness. Not until they present at least.
And for Seungmin, age 23, supposed late bloomer extrodinaire a.k.a. the only unpresented member of the Stray Kids pack, that fact made him a highly coveted resource. When heats and ruts struck, they expected him to take care of everything. Shoving his hands, elbow deep in dirty dish water, and scrubbing the large bowl until there was no trace of the bibimbap that the rest of the pack had scarfed down before returning to their…activities. The bibimbap that he had made because all of the prepped meals Minho had already been gobbled down in one of their frequent fits of hungriness that struck them all during someone's heat or rut.
He washed all of the dirty laundry, watched out for which sheets could and couldn't be saved from the copious amounts of cum and slick. He made sure not a single object in the house was unstraightened, god forbid Chan seeing it and freaking out while having to deal with a heat. Seungmin did every task expected of him, yet he was never allowed in the room. The room where they all went to cuddle, to love each other, and to help each other through the grips of their heats and ruts. He was unaffected by the pheromones, the heats, and the ruts, and he was innocent, making him perfect for the role of a full-time baby to be coddled and a sometimes housemaid for the pack. He was a good boy who took care of his alphas, omegas, and betas and never complained, because his role was vital.
And how could he? Seungmin was their baby. When they weren’t affected by the hold of slick and dripping erections, they were his perfect hyungs and his little brother Jeongin. In packs, the unpresented member is the most special. They still cling to the habits of their childhood. Seeking comfort and the neck of an omega. Hiding behind an alpha for protection. Falling asleep a little too early in the evening. Seungmin knew this. That's why he's never said it, never admitted to the others. It’s why he hid it, because he fears rejection and losing the family he's built his identity around.
Seungmin would stay their innocent, coddled baby, and borderline maid during heats and ruts just to keep the affection of his packmates. He fulfilled his role perfectly, and he couldn’t ever give that up. The role he's had since he was young, barely 16, and being guided by Chan as one of the very last pack members, barring Minho. Because he knew, he knew he would never be seen the same way. If he were an omega, which he definitely would never let himself be, they would exclude him. Or even worse, hate him.
Jeongin was the pack's baby, the cutest, youngest member. But he was also strong, biceps growing by the day. He had pretty, foxy eyes and could seduce any member in a second. When Jeongin presented at 19, he was immediately revered and worshipped… in bed that is. Seungmin is their baby in the way that Chan still rocks and sings him to sleep sometimes. Minho holds him in his lap and slowly helps him eat. Changbin holds his hand while walking through the street and watches to make sure he's following road safety rules. He and Hyunjin have weekly coloring sessions while lying on their stomachs and kicking their feet. Jisung teaches him guitar and strokes his head in affection. He and Felix have frequent, albeit usually disastrous, baking sessions where Felix guides him through each step. Each member has their own way of showing their passionate, yet never romantic, affection. And Seungmin loved it, he sincerely, truly did. He wouldn’t give up that feeling for the entire world.
And that.
That is why.
They could never know.
Kim Seungmin was an omega.
He buried himself under suppressants and blockers, making himself essentially unpresented, just as he wanted, just as he was told to do. Thanks to medical advances and technology of the modern world, he could easily hide his designation, at the expense of his body, of course. He took 3 suppressant pills a day, having to up the strength recently. He applied scent-blocking patches to all of his scent glands. He regularly bathes himself in scent-blocking shampoo and body wash, which he secretly hides in his room. He gets monthly injections to offset the omega instincts breaking through the normal amount of suppressants. He ignores the constant headaches and the dizziness when he stands up. He pushes down the sickening nausea sitting at the back of his throat. He bites his tongue when the intense cramping in his stomach makes him want to scream and cry until everything just stops.
Seungmin could never let his beloved pack know what he was hiding; they would hate him. Hate him for lying and hate him for not being what they needed. He has fulfilled the role of their little unpresented helper for so long, he has no idea what they would do without him. He has no idea what he would do if they stopped coddling him if they found out he wasn’t actually unpresented. That affection is the entire reason why he fights so hard, why he just doesn’t succumb and give in to his omega's screams to be free. They were his family. Chan and Minho helped raise him, more than his deadbeat parents ever did. He was lucky that he only thought of the pack in a platonic, familial way. He can only imagine how difficult the nausea of ignoring scents while pushing down his own instincts would be if it were romantic or lustful. An even worse thought would be that they expect him to fulfill his omegan duties… in bed. The idea sends shivers up his spine every time he thinks about it. What if instead of kicking him out of the pack, they wanted him to make it up to them? What if they only baby him right now solely because he is still unpresented, and they never just saw Seungmin as a person, as their baby to take care of? What if Jeongin was an outlier? Seungmin and Jeongin were the only ones still unpresented, when the pack fully formed, so there's little evidence for Seungmin to go off of. And that builds fear in him. He can never let them know.
The company even helped him hide it. He was still a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, fresh idol when he presented, and the pack was still finding its footing with each other. The second he felt that all-encompassing heat, he ran. He ran straight to his manager, got on his knees, and begged. He was destined to be unpresented, so why was his body betraying him and trying to become an omega? Seungmin felt the fear of an entirely guaranteed change in the dynamics of almost all aspects of his life. From his fans to his pack, if he were an omega, he would be fucked. So he begged not to be. Seungmin promised anything in return for the safety of being unpresented. And, of course, his manager and the company agreed. He was still fresh off his debut, and among all the subsections of the entertainment industry, the idol sphere was the most competitive, the strictest. With the rest of the pack, being presented was easier. They produced art, and themselves as a person, as a figure, would be hardly affected by what subgender they were. But for an idol, for Seungmin. He had to be perfect, down to a T. In the idol industry, fans were vicious. They didn’t just watch the art form you were creating; they watched you. Every action and idol made would have a fan. And everything an idol was, the industry and the fans dictated their success based on that. So, Seungmin couldn’t just suddenly switch up after a fresh debut; they would hate him, and he would never have a career. That was the only reasoning he needed, what he told himself and what he told the company.
He had been hiding it since he was 18 years old, and the one thing he craved, allowed himself to indulge in, would be his downfall. Seungmin felt a staggering, devastating, immediate need for romantic love. Of course, he loved his packmates. Admired them, loved them, cherished them, looked up to them. He could go on and on about them for hours.
The way that Jisung would gently shake him awake and lead him to the kitchen for breakfast. The kitchen, where Chan would gently guide Seungmin's body to his own and cuddle his baby to his chest. Then Minho would grab Seungmin, sit him down at the dining table, and not so kindly glare at him until he began eating his eggs. Always eat food with high protein in the morning, Minho said. Changbin and Hyunjin would then sit on either side of him and begin slurping down their own respective foods, Changbin with a chicken protein shake and Hyunjin with pancakes. They talked loudly over their food, turning to tease Seungmin and pinching his cheeks in bouts of cuteness aggression. Felix would then tickle Seungmin's feet with his own under the table to get Seungmin's attention and then gently smile at him, just to remind him of his presence. If he turned his head to the right, beside Felix, he could see Jeongin's faint smile, as if he were trying to hide his happiness, his love. They all knew how he was feeling anyway.
So clearly, he was fond of his packmates and their presence. However deep down, he knew, and his omega knew, he craved more than that. Seungmin knows he shouldn’t because how could he want more? He knows he has all that he needs. The Stray Kids pack, comprising 8 of Seoul's largest celebrities, owned one of the most expensive and sought-after penthouses in the city. They all had flourishing, successful, and different careers and were even under the same managing company, JYP.
Chan, Changbin, and Jisung formed the most successful producing group of their generation, 3RACHA, and were only growing bigger. Domestic and international markets sought them out like moths to a flame, rendering them highly coveted and highly successful. Felix and Jeongin followed closely behind them in popularity as Korea's 2 top male models. Every corner you turn, every advertisement, every brand you see, you can almost one hundred percent of the time see Felix or Jeongin right along with it.
Minho and Hyunjin were a little less conventional in their career choices, yet they rivaled 3RACHA in their success. Minho was behind almost every solo artist's and idol group's choreography at least once. Starting as a backup dancer for JYP and slowly working his way up to the top, he became the head of the dance department and partnered with several other companies, leveraging his diverse knowledge of a range of dance styles. Hyunjin began a little differently. He found his way into JYP as just a visual, a pretty face. But he soon found his passion for artwork. His paintings have reached a scale that many modern artists have failed to achieve. That, combined with the large following he has gained on TikTok for both his art and his beauty, has created an exceptional and grand career for Hyunjin.
And then there was Seungmin. Seungmin, the idol. Seungmin, who could hit any note effortlessly, without even thinking about it, without even warming up. Seungmin, everyone's perfect, unpresented singer, Seungmin, who found himself with a large audience of female fans. He loved his fans a lot. He found it amusing how they giggled at even just a sliver of his stomach being shown. They were unique for an idol's fans, whom they called themselves Puppies. Instead of overly sexualizing him, they turned everything into a silly situation. Like the way they were so excited, he wore a “Seungpant” after a while of wearing jorts. His fans admired them, so he stayed strong, continued releasing music, and sang to his heart's content.
But, even still. Even when he tried to remind himself of all that he was grateful for, all that he loved about being the baby of the pack and experiencing a fruitful career, he couldn’t stop the way he felt. He was an omega still after all. And no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t stop the way he felt, the way he yearned for that romantic closeness and for a chance to be the omega he desperately fought against and yet craved to be.