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“You get 5 minutes break and after that we will go through the choreo a final time before you guys film the music video tomorrow.” The choreographer explained. It was the first time they had worked with him, he was a beta and only a few years older than them. Beomgyu didn’t really like him. Maybe it was his weird scent, he smelled uncharacteristically strong for a beta and it gave Beomgyu a headache.
It’s not like the beta did anything wrong (expect for his annoying scent). It could just come from the fact that Beomgyu had felt off the last few days.
Beomgyu massaged his temples in an attempt to get rid of the throbbing headache he had felt for a few days now. It obviously didn’t help.
He made his way towards his water bottle sitting in the corner of their practice room. He took a few gulps, feeling a little better at the feeling of water running down his throat. He looked over the room to see what the other members were doing. They all seemed busy. Yeonjun was helping Soobin with a part of a choreo he always messed up, Kai was emerged in his phone and Taehyun was talking with their beta choreographer.
Sighing Beomgyu sat down against the wall, pulling his knees up to his chest. He closed his eyes to rest them for at least a few minutes. All the bright lights just seemed to be too much at the moment and worsened his headache.
He didn’t know why he felt off, he just hoped it wouldn’t get worse. Now really wasn’t the time for his body to act up. This would be his first comeback since he presented as an omega and while it wasn't unusual for omegas to be part of Kpop groups he still felt like he needed to proof himself.
Beomgyu felt like he should ask Yeonjun if his current state had anything to do with his omega status but he really didn’t want to bother the older. Yeonjun had only finished his heat a week ago and it was probably exhausting enough for him to go straight into comeback preparation.
He really wanted to be an omega like Yeonjun, Yeonjun always managed to do anything he had sat his mind to. Everyone respected him even with his omega status. Nobody ever questioned his decisions. And he knew if he wanted to be like Yeonjun he shouldn't need others to help him just because he felt a little off.
The newly presented omega scratched his bare arms to get rid of the weird tingling sensations on his skin. That was new, it wasn’t there yesterday. Beomgyu held back a whine at the uncomfortable state of his body. At least it wasn’t as bad as pre heat or at least it wasn’t for now.
He was only thrown out of his thoughts when he heard the leaders voice.
“Beomgyu? The 5 minutes are up.”, Soobin said in his soft tone. Unwillingly the omega opened his eyes. It took a few seconds for his eyes to get used to the harsh lighting in the room and even then it still seemed way too bright.
Beomgyu let out a small groan before he managed to get back onto his aching legs. That was another thing, the constant dance practice of the last few days didn’t help in the slightest. He was honestly surprised that his muscles hadn’t given up yet.
“Gyu, are you okay?”, Yeonjun asked after Beomgyu had walked over to his bandmates.
“Yes, just a little bit of a headache from the weather”, Beomgyu excused his previous behaviour.
“Just be careful yeah? Don’t overwork yourself, you can always come to me if you want to talk.”, Yeonjun reassured with a soft smile. And Beomgyu really wanted to talk to the older omega but he really didn’t want to bother him. He was just too nice to not offer him to talk.
🐻
When they finally reached the dorm it was nearing sunrise. Instead of going through the choreo one last time it ended up being five times.
On the way home all the members had discussed who would shower first but Beomgyu really only felt like going to his room to curl up in his bed. He knew he should at least wash off the scent blocker on his scent glands since it wasn’t recommended to keep them on the skin for too long but he really couldn’t be bothered.
As Beomgyu opened the front door to the dorm he felt overwhelmed by the incoming scents of his pack mates. Holding back a whimper he quickly walked to his room and shut the door, not noticing the concerned looks from Soobin und Yeonjun.
In his room he changed into his pyjamas and buried himself under his bed covers. He kind of wanted to build a nest but he didn’t know how to. He had seen Yeonjun nest countless of times but wasn’t sure how it worked. He probably should ask Yeonjun. But again, it seemed kind of annoying of him to ask Yeonjun to help him when the older had figured it out himself too.
For a second he thought about trying it out but he was way too exhausted.
He quickly fell asleep, again missing the way his door opened for a concerned Yeonjun to check on him. He also didn’t notice how Yeonjun adjusted his blanket to fully cover his shoulders.
🐻
The following week went by quickly in a blur of no sleep and filming.
Filming music videos used to be a fun experience for him but all the staff constantly touching him to fix his makeup, hair or clothes, the lack of sleep, the uncomfortable mix of unfamiliar scents and the pressure of getting everything perfect was just too much. Especially on top of the fact that his body seemed to get worse everyday.
After finishing the music video they went straight into pre recording shows and live performances.
On top of everything else he started to feel nauseous which didn’t particularly help. He wasn’t able to keep any food down, the taste just threw him off.
The lack of sleep also made itself known. Even in the few hours of sleep they were able to have he wasn’t able to sleep. The hours were spend with overthinking his actions and everything that went wrong with him instead. He felt like a complete failure. All the other members went through the same thing as him and still non of them seemed to be as affected.
Without really intending to he had distanced himself from his bandmates. Every time one of them tried to pick up a conversation with him he gave short answers to end the conversation as quickly as possible. He really didn’t know why he acted the way he did. He really wanted everything to go back to normal but the never ending schedules were in the way.
He knew if he just talked to Yeonjun the older would help him, Yeonjun always knew how to fix everything. Maybe he really should talk to him. Yeonjun would never see it as a bother, he knew it deep down. But what if he just pretended like he wasn’t annoyed?
Yeonjun didn’t have much free time either. And the fact that he and Soobin had a little more going on wasn’t really a secret. He probably wanted to spend the little free time he had with Soobin instead of his annoying omega bandmate.
“Beomieeee”, Beomgyu heard the voice of Kai from his left side. Beomgyu slowly opened his hurting eyes to look at his younger band mate. The Maknae still hadn’t presented which left him alone in their group. Taehyun presented a few days after Beomgyu, an Alpha.
“What is it?” Beomgyu grumbled, not feeling up to talking since his headache only seemed to get stronger with each passing second.
“Do you want to share some tteobokki with Taehyun and me?”, Kai asked. Alone the thought of the food made him feel sick so he just shook his head.
“Hm maybe Yeonjun can cook something for you when we get home. I can ask him.”, Kai said eagerly.
“No, no. It’s fine, I already ate.”, Beomgyu lied. He really didn’t want to eat anything. And he really didn’t want to give Yeonjun extra work when he wouldn’t be able to keep it down anyway.
Kai gave him a doubting look but he left him alone anyways. Beomgyu let out a relieved sigh and closed his eyes again, leaning back into the uncomfortable chair of the waiting room. They were on the set of studio choom to prerecord a performance. He normally loved to go to the studios of studio choom, the staff was really nice and they usually had so much fun on set. But this time just seemed off. Just like his body seemed off. Everything seemed off.
He spend the break not moving from his chair with his eyes closed until he was called by their manager to get back on set. He now started to feel dizzy, the world doubling around him. It felt like there was cotton in his head that blocked his ability to think straight. He felt like throwing up even though he hadn’t eaten anything to throw up. He felt uncomfortably sweaty even though he was cold and his whole body tingled.
He made his way towards his bandmates without a word to the manager who walked with him. He shouldn’t hold his band back, this comeback would be great for the group and he shouldn't be the one to screw it all up just because he presented as an omega. He should be as strong as Yeonjun is.
Just at the thought of Yeonjun, Yeonjun seemed to notice him, walking towards him. Beomgyu felt Yeonjun hand on his shoulder and for some reason his whole body reacted, yearning for the touch. Even the headache became better. He had the urge to rub his body against Yeonjuns hand to get closer to him.
Thrown off by his weird instincts he did the exact opposite and took a step back, efficiently losing the contact to Yeonjun. Yeonjun gave him a confused and slightly hurt look but he still let his arm fall back to his side, not bothering to make another move to touch Beomgyu.
As he saw the hurt expression on Yeonjuns face the urge to bury his face into Yeonjuns neck to comfort his fellow omega overcame him. Again confused by his weird new urges he adverted his gaze towards the ground.
“Are you okay Beomgyu? You seem kind of off lately. If you want to talk or cuddle or just have omega bonding time, my door is always open for you, you know?”, Yeonjun said in a quiet tone, probably so that no one could overhear him.
Beomgyu didn’t raise his gaze from the ground. “I’m fine Yeonjun-ah”, he said in an attempt to make fun of the older like he used to do in the past. He also managed to throw a hopefully playful smile towards Yeonjun. The time were he was able to freely joke around with Yeonjun seemed like ages ago even though it hadn’t even been a month. Yeonjun picked up on his attempt, giving him a sad smile.
“Its still Hyung for you Beomgyu.”, he said, again reaching out to rub Beomgyu shoulder. This time Beomgyu allowed himself the few seconds of comfort. It ended too soon with their manager calling for them to get into position.
Somehow he managed to complete the studio room filming without any incidents. He made a few mistakes since he felt dizzy but he could play it off as tiredness which wasn’t really a lie anyway.
The only problem was that the filming for studio choom wasn't the last schedule of the day. Now they would drive over to some other studios to film some type of variety show, he wasn't really sure. He honestly just felt like curling up on the ground and never standing back up. His whole body was aching, his legs felt like they would give out any second, his head throbbed painfully with every beat of the loud music blasting in the studio, his vision was blurry, his stomach cramped uncomfortably and his dizziness made it impossible to think straight.
He wasn't even sure what would make him feel better. Other people only made everything worse since the scents and noise was too much. When he was alone his thoughts overtook and he wasn't able to get any rest.
He just felt helpless.
His eyes began to burn but he held back the tears, he didn’t want to bother his members, they probably were stressed themselves.
🐻
When they finally walked back into the dorm he wasn’t even sure how he was still able to walk straight. The world around him was circling like he sat on a marry-go-around or something. The members around him all chattered happily as they removed their shoes. They got the next two days off before the comeback promotions really started so all of them were happy.
Beomgyu really did want to join in, he was happy too, wasn't he? But for some reason he still felt like he wanted to crawl into a corner to make the world around him stop.
So when he felt an arm around his shoulder he bolted.
“Don’t touch me”, he hissed, slapping the arm from his shoulder and taking a step back. The only problem was he walked straight against someones chest. He still didn’t really know who’s arm had touched him, everything was too blurry for him to comprehend. So when he felt the chest against his back he again jolted back until he felt a cool wall press into his back.
He felt his breath quicken, his chest rising and sinking in a fast pace.
“Beommie, try to breathe slowly, everything is fine”, he heard a voice say. It sounded familiar but he couldn’t match it to anyone. Beomgyu felt his cheeks getting wet, realising he was probably crying. Slowly the world around him seemed to focus again, he was still breathing too quickly but he wasn’t able to slow it down.
He saw all of his band mates surrounding him, all of them looking concerned. Kai had tears in his eyes, holding onto Taehyuns arm. Soobin had a hand over his month, seemingly not knowing what to do. And Yeonjun just looked like he was concerned, maybe a little scared.
“Beomgyu, everything is fine, just breathe with me okay?”, Yeonjun said, his concerned gaze locking with Beomgyu’s.
“Just leave me alone. I don't need your help”, Beomgyu said shakingly. Tears blurring his vision, his breathing became quicker but it seemed like no air actually reached his lungs. His vision started to become darker around the edges from the lack of oxygen. He slowly sank to the ground, becoming too dizzy to stand even with the support of the wall behind him.
“Beomgyu”, he again heard Yeonjun say in a scared tone. Without Beomgyu noticing he fell to the side, only becoming aware when his head hit against someones chest, warm arms closing around him. This time he didn’t fight it, he wasn't even able to. He just cried harder, feeling a warm hand stroking his hair and the world around him slowly started to turn black.
🐻
When he woke up everything around him was warm. There was a warm chest his head rested against, a warm hand stroking Beomgyu's long hair, a warm arm that held him safely against the warm chest, a warm smell of cinnamon surrounding him and warm blankets covering him.
Beomgyu took in a deep breath to get more of the comforting scent. He hadn’t felt this good in days, maybe even weeks, even the headache was reduced to a slight ache he was able to ignore if he wanted to.
“Beomu, are you awake?” he heard a soft voice. Beomgyu hummed in response, whining slightly when the warm hand in his hair stopped moving.
“Baby, you need to eat and drink something, yeah?”, the voice again said softly, “After that you can sleep some more, I promise.”
Beomgyu again whined in response.
“I can even get Soobinnie or Huennie to carry you okay?”, the stroking in his hair picked up again. Beomgyu grumbled but still slowly opened his eyes.
To his surprise there weren't any bright roomlights greeting him but instead a comfortably dimmed room, seemingly Yeonjun’s. The chest he currently was lying against was also clearly Yeonjun’s as well as the comforting scent of cinnamon.
He knew exactly why he wasn't able to place it imminently. Company rule was to always wear scent blockers when they left the dorm to hide at least that part of their private life away from the public and so he wasn't able to smell the scents on his hyung as often as he’d like to.
“Can’t you carry me Hyung?”, Beomgyu pouted. It’s not like he didn’t like Kai or Soobin but he didn’t want to part with Yeonjun right now.
“But you’ve gotten so tall. I don’t know if I can carry you.”, Yeonjun laughed, stroking Beomgyu’s hair comfortingly.
“Please?”, Beomgyu tried again and this time Yeonjun gave in. It wasn't all that hard to get Yeonjun to bend to his will.
“Alright, but it's an exception. Are you feeling better Gyu?”, Yeonjun asked.
“Oh, yeah I only have a bit of a headache I think.”, Beomgyu explained.
“Then I think it's what I thought it was. Hyung will fix it, yeah?”, Yeonjun said in a soft voice, giving Beomgyu a small kiss on his head.
“What is it, Hyung?”, Beomgyu asked with slight confusion. Did it really have to do something with him being an omega?
“I think it’s touch starvation, Gyu. You distanced yourself so much lately and your omega just craves touch so it's not healthy to deny yourself contact to others.”, Yeonjun explained.
“Oh.”, Beomgyu cuddled closer into Yeonjun chest. Yeonjun never seemed like he needed others for his body to be healthy, why did Beomgyu need it?
“I also saw that you never built a nest. It’s really important to us because the scents of our pack mates are really important for your omega to be content. And because of the scent blockers you’re just never around them so a nest helps with that.”, Yeonjun continued to explain.
“It that why you build nests?”, Beomgyu asked, voice laced with confusion. He always thought nests were just a comfort place, a space in which the person that built it felt completely safe. He never thought about the scenting aspect. But it honestly made sense, the scents of your pack mates were your comfort. The scent of cinnamon surrounding him right now was proof of that.
“We can make one after you ate.”, Yeonjun offered.
On that exact moment the door to Yeonjun's room opened and Kai's head appeared. He looked apprehensive, like he was scared to do the wrong thing. “Uhm, Gyu do you want some choco?”; he asked carefully.
“Sure.” Beomgyu mumbled, giving Kai a small smile.
“I’m really sorry for earlier. Here, take Hubert.”, Kai quickly stepped into the room and pressed a cute Toast plushy into Beomgyus arms before leaving the room quickly.
“Huh, what is he sorry for?”, Beomgyu asked with confusion, hugging the plushy close to his chest, scenting it slightly. Kai didn’t have a distinct smell yet but he smelled of a mix of all the scents of their pack which was really nice.
“Probably for earlier in the hallways when he touched you. It was kinda what threw you over the edge so he feels guilty.”, Yeonjun explained.
“Oh.”, Beomgyu whispered.
“Now let's go, yeah?”, Yeonjun helped Beomgyu to sit up, the world still spinned when he was in an upward position, his head having to get used to the change of position.
Somehow he ended up being piggybacked by Yeonjun on the way to the kitchen with the Toast still squished in his arm.
In the kitchen Yeonjun drops Beomgyu on Soobins lap who sat at the kitchen table. Beomgyu immediately buried his nose into Soobins neck to get closer to his sandalwood scent.
“Here’s your choco”, Kai said as he sat down next to Soobin and Beomgyu. Beomgyu took the mug and drank a big gulp off the hot drink. The drink seemed to warm his insides comfortingly. He licked his lips to get rid of overdue on them.
“Thank you Ningning”, he smiled at the younger who smiled in return.
Yeonjun had quickly made some waffles and had handed them over to Soobin so he could feed them to Beomgyu. Sometime Taehyun also came into the kitchen. Beomgyu had quickly changed laps to also bury his nose into Taehyuns neck to get closer to his Seabreeze scent. Now that he was surrounded by all the scents of his pack mates he felt completely at ease. Taehyun took over to feed him some pieces of waffles with some strawberries and blueberries in between. When he finished his second waffle Yeonjun leaned close to his ear.
“Should be go to your room and built a nest and then have a pack cuddle session?”, Yeonjun whispered in his ear. Beomgyu immediately agreed and got up. He still felt a little shaky on his legs but it was almost completely gone to his satisfaction.
Yeonjun smiled brightly at him and made his way towards the door. Beomgyu quickly gave Kai a hug to whisper in his ear that he never meant to snap at him and then followed Yeonjun. As they walked they linked their hands to swing their joined hands between them.
“Can you get some clothes from the others and I get my nesting blankets? We have to get you your own blankets”, Yeonjun said. Beomgyu nodded in agreement, parting from Yeonjun.
Beomgyu first went to Taehyuns and Kais room. He got a cushion from Taehyuns bed and another plushy from Kais. Then he got shirt and an oversized sweater from their laundry basket. He quickly pulled on the sweater that carried a comforting Seabreeze scent and made his way to the next room.
In Soobins room he got another pillow and multiple shirts. Then he went to Yeonjun room to get a few pieces of the older omegas clothing and a huge bedsheet. He didn’t even know why he got the pieces he got, he just let his instincts lead him.
When he got to his own room Yeonjun was already there. He had closed all blinds and had lid the lamp on his side table as the only light source. There was a pile of blankets on his bed, probably the ones Yeonjun had talked about.
Just make it however you want it, it’s your nest.”, Yeonjun smiled at him. Yeonjun sat on the side of the bed, leaving enough room for Beomgyu to build a nest.
“But how?”, Beomgyu asked, confused. He just didn’t know how to start.
“Just do whatever you want. What your instincts tell you to do. There aren't any rules to how your nest should be, it’s yours and only for your comfort.”, Yeonjun explained.
And that’s what Beomgyu did. He still was scared that he would do something wrong though, but every time he self consciously glanced up to Yeonjun, his hyung smiled encouragedly.
When Beomgyu was satisfied with how he had arranged the blankets, pillows and pieces of clothing he again looked up to Yeonjun, not knowing what to do.
“Just lie down in it”; Yeonjun said. Beomgyu hummed and crawled into his first ever nest. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. The scents of his pack mates surrounded him comfortingly and he felt almost completely content and Safe. The only thing missing was his band mates. So he opened his eyes and looked demandingly at the older omega, wanting him to come into the nest.
“Do you want me to join you?”, Yeonjun asked. Beomgyu nodded, holding his arm open.
Yeonjun crawled into the nest and closed his arms around Beomgyu. For a while they just hugged in silence, letting their scents comfort each other. Beomgyu eventually broke the silence.
“Sorry for being so needy.”, Beomgyu whispered.
“What do you mean?”, Yeonjun asked, brows furrowed.
“You’re always so independent and manage everything on your own and all I achieved is getting touch starvation or whatever.”, Beomgyu grumbled.
“Beomgyu thats not true.”, Yeonjun said, hugging Beomgyu closer. “I have older cousins that are omegas that helped me when I first presented you know. And nobody can tackle everything on their own, alphas need help, omegas need help and betas too you know. The pack is important to everyone and distancing yourself from your pack mates is never good.”
“Sorry”, Beomgyu mumbled into Yeonjun chest, his cheeks heating up in embarrassment.
“Its not your fault Gyu, its everyones fault, we should have noticed something is off but the last weeks were so stressful that nobody paid enough attention”, Yeonjun said softly, kissing Beomgyu on the forehead. “Sorry for not noticing sooner”, Yeonjun whispered. Beomgyu just cuddled closer.
After a while there was a knock on the door and when it opened it revealed the rest of their pack mates.
“Come in”, Beomgyu said, smiling at them.
“Can we come into your nest?”, Taehyun asked and Beomgyu nodded again. They all crawled into Beomgyus nest, cuddling close to the omegas ending up in a big cuddle pile.