“Uhm, hi hyung, its me Daniel. I know you’re probably still in the recording studio, busy with the new tracks coming out soon and stuff but I have a situation right here. A sticky one. So Jaehwan came to my place this morning, said he was sick and didn’t want to be alone so he, Minhyun hyung and Seongwu hyung were gossiping the entire day. But problem number one arises at 11 o’clock with Jaehwan suddenly secluding himself in Seongwu hyung’s room, said he needed sleep. So both hyung ended up in my room. But now cue problem two, I dunno, I guess three of them are sick now. They are sweating buckets and craving for ice cream so I went to the grocery and bought 10 pints chocolate ice cream for summer supplies. Problem three is that BOTH OF THEM ATE 8 PINTS ALREADY FOR GOODNESS SAKE HYUNG I NEED YOUR HELP PLEASE GET HERE ASAP CAUSE I AM SCARED. THEY KEPT ASKING FOR WEIRD FAVORS AND COMPLAINING ABOUT EVERY SINGLE THING THEY SEE! I personally think they are possessed so HYUNG PLEASE CALL ME WHEN YOU GET THIS VOICE MAIL ALRIGHT! NOW THEY’RE LOOKING FOR ME, GOTTA BLAST. Please for the love of food, call me back.”

______

Daniel had been pacing back and forth the living room for quite some time now, phone tightly clutched in his hand as the other free hand kept on massaging his forehead. 

He could hear Seongwu and Minhyun’s laughter echoing almost maniacally, loud cackling coming from his bedroom can be heard all the way to his position near the kitchen, now chills ran down his spine in fear. 

It’s been a week and a half after the initiation but Daniel couldn’t find himself to act or feel like an alpha. Earlier today, he had just gotten himself intimidated by three omegas who forced him to shop for unnecessary stuff from the 24 hour market down the road in one of the hottest weather in Seoul, forcing him to walk under the scorching heat of the summer sun. Alongside the shopping mission, he was also tasked to clean the bathroom floor and cook an almost inedible lunch for the three or he’ll receive endless nagging and beating. 
 They were merciless. He got no choice.

And now here he was, waiting anxiously for the phone call that could possibly save him from the three omegas that had harassed his peaceful start of summer break.

And then there goes the door bell.

Daniel almost cried in pure joy. “Finally!” 
He ran towards the entrance of the apartment in a dash and unlocked the door with fumbling hands. Once he pushed open the door, he was met not only with Dongho’s weirded out face, but also the rest of the gang. Daniel ran forward to hug the life out of his savior.

“Hyung save me!” he cried out.

Dongho quickly pulled the younger boy apart from him and shut the door tight with a loud bang, leaving six males now occupying the narrow corridor including the owner of said apartment right outside the door.

Flabbergasted, Daniel frowned. “I know this may sound very unimportant to you right now but pushing me away and banging my door like that is a bit… too much?”

Dongho narrowed his eyes dangerously at the younger while holding his shoulders tightly. “How did you manage that…”

“What?”

The elder pointed his finger accusingly at Daniel’s innocent apartment while holding his breath. “I figured that somehow one of them must have been in heat but kid, any sane alpha, stuck in an enclosed living space with three omegas in heat, three ing omegas in ing heat, will not stay sane!”

“H-heat?” Daniel gaped.

Minki was pinching his nose to prevent any pheromones from disturbing his logical mind by blinding his senses and infiltrating his brain with not-so-nice thoughts. This turned his voice nasally and Kuanlin snorted at the weird sound. 
“Kid, the moment you opened that door, it was like the Pandora’s Box had been unleashed. The scents just slapped me right on the ing face and I thought I was going to pass out right there and then.”

Daehwi crossed his arms with a bored expression while holding his breath. “Did you lose your mind or did you lose your sense of smell?”

Daniel smiled sheepishly while scratching the back of his neck out of habit. “I am… not fully okay since the fever and severe cold hit me so my nose is still clogged. I can’t smell anything right now.”

“Figures,” Seonho added. 

Dongho heaved a deep sigh and pulled out something from his puffy duffel bag. A package of mask, those green surgical masks that doctors usually use whenever they’re operating someone, was passed around for everyone to use. Everybody got one except for the guy who brought it.

“Hyung, where’s yours? You said it yourself, no sane alpha can withstand an omega’s scent during heat…” Daniel questioned with furrowed eyebrows.

“Don’t worry about it, champ. I’ll survive… I think.”

“No, you use it!” Daniel urged as he forcefully put the earloop of the mask on Dongho’s ears. “I told you I can’t smell a thing. If the sewer broke and three tons of waste ended up in my room, I wouldn’t be able to know unless I see it with my own eyes.”

 The rest looked uncertain but didn’t pry more. At Dongho’s signal, Daniel punched the numbers to his password buzzer on the door and let everyone in a hurry. 

“, I can still smell their scents even with the mask.” Minki complained.

“We have kids around, please tone the language down.” Dongho snarked.

Everyone quieted down as they heard Minhyun’s and Seongwu’s laughter coming from the bedroom.  Daehwi looked particularly scared to his wits as he hid behind Kuanlin’s taller form when he finally registered the strong pheromones attacking his olfaction. 

Dongho clapped his hands to gather everybody’s attention. “Okay, troops. Since I’m the only one around who knows something about the omega life, please listen and do as I said. Step one, we need to separate them. There are three people in heat and that’s not good for their health or their future heat cycle.”

“Why?” Seonho looked petrified.

“Heat, especially first heat, is very dangerous to those who got presented recently and I believe those three idiots didn’t even know they’re in heat right now. Heats are infectious, just like flu and fever. Jaehwan was the first to show signs, according to Daniel, as he was the first to feel uncomfortable with his body and this triggered the dumb and dumber to finally go into their first heats too.” Dongho then opened his bag again and poured all the content out. “Why would it affect their health? It’s because there’s only one alpha in the house when there’s three of them.”

Kuanlin shook his head. “I still don’t get it, hyung.”

“I believe you guys had learned ed from high school so I’ll just say this frankly: Omega needs an alpha not only to sate them but also for so many contexts. One of the many reasons why they have the urge of having an alpha near is they’ll feel safe with the strong scents from an alpha. But. Omegas don’t like to share. If they feel the need to defend their own alphas, they get pretty aggressive and out of character.” Minki helped with the explanation as Dongho crouched down on the floor to find something. “That’s probably why Seongwu sent Daniel on an errand in this kind of weather and do house chores. It’s his way of saying ‘if I can’t have him in vicinity then nobody can’ kind of statement. And if this unsaid competition continues, their inner self will go insane and keeps on exerting more pheromones to attract the lone alpha, thus making the pain for each heat wave to increase tenfold.” 

“I should have seen it coming,” Daniel frowned.

After some time, Dongho finally stood up and gave Daniel a black string bag. From the intense eye contact, Daniel didn’t dare to ask what’s inside and Dongho seemed to be content that the younger wasn’t questioning.

“Okay, since we’re such a bunch of good friends,” Dongho said in a pained and hopeless tone. “We should help them go through their heats separately. And since we have three alphas right now, I think Jaehwan should be under Minki’s care and I’ll take Minhyun with me.”

Minki shrieked at the suggestion. “Did you just assign me with that monster?”

“You’re a psycho so what makes the both of you so different,” Dongho nonchalantly shrugged as he received multiple beatings from Minki. Daniel winced when a particular plastic vase flew past him and hit the elder on the head.

“Why am I assigned for Seongwu hyung?” Daniel asked when the two alphas were in a wrestling match.

The two stopped whatever they were doing on the floor to stare at Daniel before breaking into a laughing streak with Daehwi, Kuanlin, and Seonho guffawing their out too.

“Are you seriously asking that question right now?” Kuanlin bit his lip to prevent himself from laughing.

Daniel nodded, still clueless to why everybody was laughing. Kuanlin cracked up and rolled on the floor while shrieking a high pitch chortle.

“So, would you want to see other alpha taking care of Seongwu then?” Dongho asked while chuckling.

“I… it depends,” Daniel stammered. “If that alpha is better with what he or she is doing than they should… take care of Seongwu hyung. I mean, Dongho hyung is more knowledgeable in this situation.”

Everyone was so close on grabbing the nearest item around them and throwing it to Daniel in hopes of waking him up from his lie.

“We all know you have a crush on Seongwu hyung so stop with the innocent act,” Seonho snorted.

Daniel gasped and quickly threw himself to the younger, palm already latched on Seonho’s mouth. “He. Can. Hear. You,” he hissed like a cat.

“Since when did all of you know?!” Daniel continued while whispering loud enough for the people nearby to hear.

“Since you ditched the football match, the most important match of the academic year, to run for your life back to Seongwu without minding the rainstorm.” Minki pointed out with a raised brow.

Well, in Daniel’s defense, he was terribly worried for Seongwu because he had never seen the older fell sick before. He was supposed to enter the football field, kick balls and score goals like the ace he was and emerge as the MVP of their high school. But then someone had passed the message that Seongwu couldn’t show up to support the school team because the older ended up sick. So he ran home. 

Daniel tried defending himself although sounded futile. “It was years ago and-“

“Don’t tell me that it’s what friends are for or what friends are supposed to do kind of crap because I wouldn’t even save Seonho if he’s drowning,” Daehwi sassed even when his voice was muffled by the mask.

Yeah, to look back at it, Daniel wasn’t supposed to overreact like that if the feelings were completely platonic. And he finally accepted the fact that yes, he lik- no, scratch that, he is in love with Ong Seongwu. He is even using the L word.

Daniel groaned, hands clutching his head in agony. “That’s the more reason why I’m not supposed to be near him! What if I suddenly lose control and do stupid stuff and ended up hurting him?! What if my nose isn’t clogged anymore? I’ll go on a rampage!”

“You won’t.” Dongho’s voice sounded resolute. “If there’s one person who understood Seongwu most and would never even thought of hurting him, that person would be you Daniel. Your sincere feelings would be stronger than your lust.”

The boy gulped uneasily. How is he going to handle his not-so-tiny of a crush on an omega in heat?

“Okay, back to topic! Daehwi and Seonho will help Minki drag Jaehwan out from the room while Kuanlin and I handle Minhyun, bring both of them to the living room than move together to my car to avoid any alpha from attacking.” 

The maknae line looked quite okay with the plan as they nodded in unison while Daniel could only sigh in defeat. After the short prep talk, the team split up with Daniel leading Dongho and Kuanlin to his bedroom where Minhyun and Seongwu were. He took one deep breath before knocking on his own door and swung it open.

Minhyun and Seongwu laid side by side on Daniel’s bed, both looking weirdly flushed but still happy with the huge grins of their faces to indicate there’s no discomfort whatsoever while watching videos of felines jumping around a trampoline on the laptop. Daniel held the urge to coo at how cute Seongwu was looking.

“They look drunk,” Daniel whispered almost silently.

“Well that’s because they are. Hormones in an omega’s body will trigger body reaction similar to how our bodies react to alcohol. It will make them tipsy and act like a drunkard but this only happens on the first day of the cycle. Some will act like a child and crave for attention, cuddling to an alpha most of the time.” Dongho spared the two people in the room with bored glances. 

Once the cat video had ended, only then did Minhyun acknowledge the guests.

“What is this fat hobo doing here?” Minhyun cocked his head to the left once he spotted Dongho. 

“But some will be very snarky and primal like this guy,” Dongho added loud enough for Daniel to hear. The younger hid a bubbling laughter behind his hand.

Dongho shrugged off the rude remark and neared the taller guy. “Minhyun let’s go, we need to get you out of here before the first wave of heat hits everyone.” 

Minhyun blinked a few times out confusion, Seongwu looking a bit lost too. “Wait. W-what? Am I…” Then he laughed for a while. “Are you saying I’m currently in heat right now? Like, right now?”

Looking at the lack of reaction from everyone, including Kuanlin and Daniel’s quiet response even when they would crack up at the slightest things, Minhyun realized that the situation is more serious than it seemed. He looked back at Seongwu quizzically.

“I guess that explained us being overly sensitive today?” Seongwu grinned sheepishly with an unsure shrug and used the nearest towel to swipe the sweat pooling on his forehead.

Minhyun groaned out loud and threw his head back to the stack of pillows behind his back while Seongwu laughed like crazy next to him. Yep, they’re acting pretty drunk right now.

Without much of a persuasion, Minhyun removed himself from the bed and waved a pitiful bye to Seongwu. The other pouted like a child while waving towards his best friend and Daniel closed his eyes to avoid squealing out loud at the cuteness overload that is his roommate and current subject of affection. Once the short farewell was done, Minhyun decided to latch himself on Kuanlin as the younger dragged him out of the room like planned. 

“Uh Daniel, you can join the rest in the living room first, I’ll have a short talk with Seongwu for a few minutes and join you guys later.” Dongho ushered.

Daniel felt uneasy but complied anyway, trying to forget the staring contest between Dongho and Seongwu that he had witnessed before he left the room in search of his other friend. He closed the door to provide some sort of privacy for the two and strutted almost lifelessly towards the living room. Jaehwan was already out from his hiding, looking haphazard and always in a daze as he continuously asked for cold water and ice.

“I don’t feel so good,” Jaehwan whined. 

“You don’t look good either.” Minki added unhelpfully. “Your cheeks look like they’re about to explode.”

“By how big it is?”

“No, by how red it’s looking. People would think that I slapped you ten times on each side.” 

Jaehwan grumbled something under his breath but Minhyun only cackled loudly as he sat next to Seonho on the couch. Daniel decided to plop himself next to Minhyun and drown his worry with other thoughts like how he’s going to survive the next few days alone with Seongwu. But then there’s something unsettling at the pit of his gut and he just want to scream for no good reason, he doesn’t know what triggered his sudden turmoil. He felt like dashing back to his bedroom to do anything, just something! But what would he do if he’s back in that room? Why is he even angry?

“Don’t tell me you’re actually jealous of Dongho…” Minhyun guessed with a tiny smile.

Daniel looked flabbergasted and quickly shook his head. “N-no, what no! Why would I? I mean, I’m in no position to be jealous. Dongho hyung knew Seongwu hyung better than I do since they dated and all so he-”

“They fake dated, Danny boy.” Minki cut him off. “They were never in a relationship in the first place, what to worry?”

“I know but… they just got the chemistry, okay? Dongho hyung would send Seongwu home every single time they’re out and they were literally inseparable w-”

“It was part of their play, foolish child. Remember the stalker guy? He was scared of Dongho so he backed off after seeing Seongwu with the guy he feared the entire time he followed Seongwu. Inseparable? You don’t know how much they wanted the 3 month contract to end.” Minhyun laughed as he patted Daniel’s head like a father would to his child. 
 

The boy pouted even more.

Jaehwan clicked his tongue. “Seriously, Dongho’s probably just giving tips and tricks to handle the heat since he studied and did research about it his whole life. Just relax, nothing is going on between them both.”

Minutes later, Dongho finally emerged from the bedroom looking slightly smug to say the least. He simply snapped his fingers twice before everybody was on their feet as they headed straight to the main door. Daniel followed them out to see them off. The maknae line, being beta and all, headed out first to make sure the coast was clear and to see if there were any other alphas in the perimeter. The two omegas filed out soon followed by the alphas. 

“Uhm, hyung.” Daniel stopped Dongho by the arms. The older looked puzzled but stayed.

“What is inside?” Daniel held up the string bag that had been safely cuddled up in his arms the entire afternoon. 

For a moment, Dongho looked back to make sure the kids are out of earshot before chuckling. “Those are toys, don’t worry it’s new.”

“Toys?” Daniel furrowed his eyebrows. 

“Yeah, toys for Seongwu. It’s essential for an unmated omega to have toys for them to get through the heat.”

Heat rushed up to Daniel’s ears as soon as he heard the sentence, blush spreading unto his cheeks too after fully knowing what it’s for. Dongho laughed aloud and patted the younger’s shoulder. “I have to remind you that during the , probably on the fourth or fifth day, it’ll get worse. Seongwu will beg, he’ll be on his knees to make sure he’s sated because it’s the most painful time for any omega. Let me remind you, no penetrative , no toys, no fingers are allowed on that particular day.”

“Why? I thought he’ll need it even more when it hu