Chapter Text
Changbin had slept through all of his alarms, and it was Felix, who was generally the last to wake up, who had come into his room to wake him up with gentle pecks and lots of giggles.
He whined as he turned over when Felix tried to grab his blanket. A part of him wanted to just pull the beta into the bed and make a huge comfy nest and stay there forever, but Felix just wiggled away when Changbin tried to pull him closer, smacking his butt playfully.
“No, No Binnie hyung, you gotta wake up, we have a long day ahead. No more sleeping, come on.”
When Felix, the clingiest member of the pack, denies cuddles, it means that they are indeed running late.
So Changbin pulled himself out of the bed begrudgingly. Felix gave him a small peck on the cheek as a reward, before leaving him to get dressed for the day.
Changbin quickly brushed and showered and threw on the first pair of clothes he found, realizing from the scents that it was Minho’s jumper and Seungmin’s pants, the soothing scents on his pack members making him feel slightly better.
Changbin then took a look in the mirror and it was obvious how tired he was. His skin looked pale, lips chapped with heavy eyebags, he looked as miserable as he felt.
He really needed to take some time off. He can’t wait for the weekend to hit as the pack finally gets 3-4 days of much-needed rest.
He quickly slathered some sunscreen on, and wore a pair of fake glasses on to hide his dark circles, not wanting to worry anyone from the pack. He then proceeded to walk into the kitchen slowly, still feeling groggy.
Most of the pack was already in the dining room, though no one had started eating.
He walked to the table, and the pack hollers their greetings in his direction. Chan looks up at him, not so subtly scanning him up and down. Changbin immediately straightened up a little and plastered what he hoped would be a convincing smile onto his face. Changbin never slept in this late, and he couldn’t have possibly thought the pack leader wouldn’t have picked up on that.
The alpha beckons him over, and he obeys. Chan pulls him to the empty seat adjacent to him, hands worming into his own.
Changbin immediately felt a little more at ease at the contact, and his smile melted into something more genuine.
Bangchan opens his mouth to say something, probably to ask Changbin if he is okay, but just then, a hand cuts through the space between the two of them, and suddenly a plate of food appears in front of Changbin.
“Eat up Bin-ah.”
Changbin turns around to smile brightly up at Minho, who sends a wink and smirk his way before going back into the kitchen, presumably to get more food or cutlery.
As the smell of the food reaches his nose, his grogginess disappears and he starts digging into his food with a vigor that seems to satisfy the pack alpha that he is okay, and the alpha sends a fond smile his way before getting started on his own food.
Changbin was almost done with his serving when the thick scent of caramel wafted through his nose. Immediately, the entire pack was on alert as Han walked in, bundled in a blanket and looking exhausted.
Changbin winces a little at the smell of discomfort in his fellow omega’s scent. Han was in the throes of his pre-heat, and it always took a huge toll on him, leaving him feeling exhausted. The only good thing about it was that Han always had a fairly predictable heat cycle, and allowed for the pack to prepare well in advance, adjusting their schedules such that someone from the pack would always be with their youngest omega while he struggles through cramps and generally feeling like shit.
Han takes one look around the dining table, scanning through his pack members before his gaze lands on Chan. He immediately waddles his way over to him, plopping himself on the pack alpha’s lap with no ceremony. Chan wraps his arms around the younger, securing him over his lap, and the pack lets out a collective breath of relief as Han quietly settles.
While the pack were generally not picky about which member they spent time with, the omegas could get quite picky during their heats, their hormones making them seek the scent of a particular pack member during these times. There were certain members the omegas generally preferred, but it also tended to vary once in a while. It seems like for this heat, Han’s omega has chosen Chan to be closest with. When Han starts building his nest, it’s probably going to be loaded with Chan’s clothes.
Not that the leader minded in the slightest.
Chan scents him gently, murmuring something into Han’s ears that has the omega whining in response. It must have been about food, because despite the obvious dislike on his face, Han obediently opens his mouth when Chan feeds him.
Changbin notices the two of them from his seat with a small smile, fondness washing over him as he takes in Han, wrapped up like a burrito, cheeks bunched up as he eats like a squirrel. Their youngest omega was certainly the cutest. And Chan was doting on him, feeding him diligently from his own plate, seemingly satisfied just by watching his pack mate eat.
Changbin then notices Seungmin push a plate of food from beside Chan toward the pack alpha, and Chan thanks him with a smile.
“Binnie hyung?”
Changbin turns around to see Jeongin seated beside him, beaming up at him. Changbin immediately smiles at the maknae, and can’t help but pinch his cheeks as their baby alpha swats his hands away, feigning irritation.
“Hyung, stop it. I’m not a baby!” He whines and Changbin coos further, ruffling his hair.
“But you are my baby!” He says, gently scenting the maknae, who immediately calms down as his hyung’s chocolatey scent washes over him, despite acting like he hated it.
“What was it, pup?” Changbin prompts.
“Are you going to the studios today? I have a vocal lesson today, so I thought we could go together!”
Changbin beams at the suggestion, immediately nodding as Jeongin cuddles further into his embrace unconsciously, nuzzling into his neck. Changbin treasures these few moments with the maknae, who in general was not keen on cuddling.
Just then, Minho walks up to him and wordlessly fills his plate with more food, giving him a small fond smile as he leaves.
Changbin feels happy for the rest of the morning.
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.
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As the afternoon wore on, the bliss from the morning subsided and left Chagbin restless. He had ridden to the studios along with Jeongin that morning, just as promised, but he had no idea when his mate was going to return home. He probably had, while Changbin was stuck in the studios for the whole day, filling in for both Han and Chan for the day.
Normally, Changbin wouldn’t mind. They often did this for each other during their cycles.
But it seemed like today was one of those days when Changbin could not bring himself to concentrate. He kept getting distracted, feeling restless and uncomfortable no matter what he did. The exhaustion from the morning returned ten-fold, and with the scents of his pack members fading from him, he felt distressed, the omega inside of him stirring a little in annoyance.
He was starting to feel stuffy in the studio room, so he decides to take a break, and just leave the room for a bit to get some fresh air.
He takes the lift to the ground floor to maybe get a cup of coffee from the company cafe. Just as he is exiting the lift, he overhears a couple of voices from up ahead of him.
“Don’t you think it’s weird?”
“I know right? I mean, it makes sense for Han and Hyunjin, but him?”
Hearing his bandmates’ names in the conversation piques his interest. He walks a little further and finally sees the two women in front of him, both headed in the direction of the café as well, talking amongst themselves. Changbin recognizes one of them as one of the stylists who worked with them during their previous comeback but doesn’t remember seeing the other. The stylist continues speaking.
“Exactly. He looks so scary, with all the big muscles he has gained over the past few months, he barely fit into some of his clothes last comeback, we had to cut the sleeves off. All big and buffed up like that, how could someone possibly believe he is an omega? It’s bizarre.”
It dawns on Changbin that the two of them are talking about him, and he feels his stomach drop at those words. The stylist, oblivious to him standing right behind her, continues on her rant.
“He also tries so hard to get everyone’s attention all the time, hogging all the alphas of the group to himself, doesn’t even allow Hyunjin or Han near them.”
“Oh, I know right? Especially with how he was always hogging Minho, not even allowing the alpha to spend time with Han. Even Felix seems to always be around him, ignoring Hyunjin. He is such an attention whore.”
Changbin stops in his tracks, while the two women walk on in the front, completely unaware that the person they were badmouthing was right behind them, hearing every word.
He takes a couple of minutes to just process what he had just heard.
Attention whore?
Hogging all the alphas to himself?
When did he ever do that? He knows that he can be loud and demanding sometimes, but it's mostly on camera, mostly as an attempt to take attention away from the more shy members of the group, like Han, who gets anxious often.
Did he really hog the pack alphas? When did he ever separate Han and Minho?
And did he really look so scary with all his muscles? The pack has always told him how nice he looks after he started bulking, Chan often complaining about how thin and undernourished he used to look back during their rookie days. Minho loves cooking him lots of delicious food, and he thought the alpha would always be proud of how well Changbin finished all of the food.
Then why was this staff member saying such things?
Did he really look scary?
Changbin knew he was not your typical omega, with his not-so-delicate features and the recent bulking up. But he was confident about his sub-gender, and his pack knew more than anyone else how Omegan his personality really was.
He was sure about himself and his place in the pack, so he was not generally someone who would mind any hateful comments, knowing all hate came from a place of insecurity on their side.
But hearing a staff member, someone who had worked with them and seen them off camera, say something like that, really rocked him to the core, especially with how tired and out of it he was already feeling.
Just then, someone called out his name, and he turned around to see that some of the twice noonas were here too. It had been Dahyun who had called him.
So Changbin shook off everything that he was feeling and mustered up a smile as he waited for the twice members to catch up to him.
As he started walking towards the café with his noonas Changbin forced himself to suppress all the negative thoughts.
He knows his pack loves him, and he knows that he would never hog any of the members for himself.
He knows, and his pack knows the truth, and that’s all matters.
Right?
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.
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Changbin called it quits around 7 in the evening, deciding that he was not going to get anything done in his current condition. He actually felt like he was getting a fever and his movements felt slow and sluggish. He had tried hard to shake off everything he had overheard the afternoon, but he was still a little out of it, and he just decided to go home.
He will make a huge nest and cuddle with Hannie and forget everything about today.
A car is ready soon, and Changbin smiles and greets the driver as he opens the door for him. Just as he crouches to get into the vehicle, a sharp, stabbing pain shoots through his abdomen. He winces a little, and the pain subsides just as fast as it came.
“Are you okay, Changbin-ssi?” The driver asks, and Changbin nods, finally entering the car. He puts on his seatbelt, feeling a sense of unease take over him.
It can’t be.. can it? It’s too early……
Once again, the pain shoots up in his belly, and Changbin doubles over a little at how sudden and severe it is. It lasts for a few seconds this time, eventually subsiding as Changbin tries to breathe through it.
He must have whined, or made some sort of noise, as he now realizes that his driver was looking at him worriedly through the dash mirror.
Changbin gives him a small smile, trying to reassure the man, even as his heart beats really fast, the implications of his cramp hitting him full force.
It all made sense now. How he was so drained in the morning, sluggish all day, eating for 2 people, and how he had been craving his pack’s scent all day.
He had also been feeling the urge to nest the last few days, but he had just summed it all up to being stressed from all the work that he had been having the past few days, and the fact that they had not had the time to spend time together as a pack lately. But it wasn't just that.
He was in pre-heat.
3 weeks earlier than supposed to.
Changbin has had his fair share of heats since presenting, hitting him like clockwork every four months, allowing him to plan everything well in advance for those three days when his sub-gender takes over his life. So, he is really surprised when he realizes that his heat is hitting almost 3 weeks early.
It’s not uncommon, Hyunjin often has an unpredictable heat cycle and it would sometimes hit him out of the blue, the pack scrambling to try and navigate their schedules accordingly. Of course, unless they have an ongoing comeback, during which time his pack mate would have to take heat suppressants.
Something that Changbin never does. He had tried taking them early on during their rookie days, but had not reacted well to them, and had never taken them since.
Since he could always plan his heats down to the day it would hit him, and he had a wonderful pack to take care of him, he never had to.
Thankfully, they were not in the midst of a comeback, having planned it out for after when Changbin’s heat was actually about to it. So Changbin feels a little hopeful as he scrolls down to check his schedule for this week, guessing from his current symptoms that his heat would be hitting in a couple of days…….
The same day as Han.
Han also had a fairly predictable heat cycle, and while it was not as specific as his own, he always suffered preheat for a long time, symptoms hitting him almost a week prior.
Changbin recalls how tired and out of it his fellow omega had been that morning, having started the nesting phase of his pre-heat last night.
Having two omegas hit their heat at the same time is not something new, and the pack has dealt with it plenty of times before, especially with Hyunjin’s unpredictable cycle. So, while a little surprising, Changbin doesn’t think much of it as he turns on his phone to text someone, maybe Chan or Minho about his heat and to ask if they needed any supplies. He had turned it off after lunch in a desperate effort to try and focus, and while he had not been able to do that, he had also not bothered to turn it back on.
He is alarmed when he finds that Chan and Minho have both called him multiple times, and his messenger app is blowing up. He instantly calls the leader first, heart thumping hard as he hopes it is nothing serious.
Chan picks up on the first ring.
“Hello, Changbin? Where the fuck were you?” Chan screams into the phone, and Changbin is startled.
It wasn’t like Chan to scream at anyone, much less the pack omegas. Changbin is taken aback at the tone, not used to having the leader curse at him out of the blue. He feels a whine bubble up in his throat at the anger directed at him, but it seems like someone has grabbed the phone away from Chan.
“Don’t use that tone on him, Chan, he has no idea about what is happening.” A voice calls out from beside the pack alpha. Immediately they talk to him, in a much softer tone this time. “Binnie, hey.”
Hearing the calm tone of his hyung calms him down a little. He swallows around the lump in his throat, and manages a quiet “Minho hyung?”
“Yes, baby, It’s me”
Changbin is immediately comforted by the voice of his alpha. Not that Chan wasn’t his alpha, but despite being a poly pack, each omega had a preference for the packmate they were most comfortable with during their heats, and for some reason, Changbin’s omega had always gravitated towards the grounding, calming presence and soothing coffee scent of Minho’s alpha. And despite the cold aura Minho puts out in general, he is a huge softie and always finds ways to silently spoil all the omegas, especially Changbin, who tends to try and deflect attention towards the younger omegas of the pack.
“Hi, hyung.” Changbin whispers, suddenly feeling a little shy in his preheat daze to hear Minho addressing him.
“I’m sorry about Chan there, he is really stressed here. It’s been quite chaotic over here all day.”
“Why, what happened?” Changbin springs up in his seat, cramps momentarily forgotten as his scent spikes in worry.
“It’s just that Hyunjin’s heat suddenly hit today out of the blue, and it seemed to have preponed Han’s heat as well, as they had spent the whole day together. We all thought Han’s was due in a couple of days, so we weren’t exactly prepared for this to happen.”
And Changbin’s heart sinks.
Both Hyunjin and Han are on their heats?
Another cramp hits Changbin just then, and he holds his breath, hoping it passes soon. Minho, unaware of what was happening, continues to talk into the phone.
“So, we are a little all over the place. Seungmin and I.N are still in vocal training, and with only three of us here, Chan was stressed out when he couldn’t reach you. You know how his instincts go haywire when any of your heats hit.”
The cramp passes and Changbin relaxes a little, even though it does nothing to help the silent dread creeping up his spine. But he pushes it aside for now, forcing himself to focus on what Minho was saying.
“So can you head over quickly here? Are you still in the studio?” Minho questions.
“No, hyung. I’m on the way back home, already. I’ll be there soon. Do you guys need anything, supplies? I can get them on the way home.”
“I think we have run out of painkillers, so could you please get us those on the way back, and maybe some energy bars as well?”
“Okay, hyung.”
“Okay, thanks Binnie. You are an angel.”
.
.
.
As the car stops outside the pharmacy and Changbin exits the car, his thoughts are racing. Having two omegas in heat is hard enough on the pack, but three?
Changbin recalls how stressed Chan had sounded on the phone earlier. If he finds out that not two, but all three of the pack omegas are on heat, he might get more stressed.
He walks up to the pharmacist.
“Hello.”
“Hello, can I have some heat painkillers and energy bars?”
He also tries so hard to get everyone’s attention all the time, hogging all the alphas of the group to himself, doesn’t even allow Hyunjin or Han near them.
Attention whore.
The words of the staff from before flood his thoughts, and Changbin barely suppresses a whine.
He couldn’t possibly hog the heats of both of his fellow omegas. Changbin was always incredibly needy during his heats, his omega trying to make up for all the time he would reject his packmates otherwise, even though deep down he had always craved attention. During his heats, he always wanted all his pack members next to him as much as possible and would cry if any of them left his side for too long.
How could the pack deal with that, on top of Han and Hyunjin’s heats?
He…. He couldn’t do that to them. To the pack.
He wasn’t an attention whore. He will prove it to them.
So, swallowing down the lump in his throat, Changbin makes a decision.
“Also, can I get some heat suppressants?”
...