Settling further down into the small park-like bench of the complex’s private rooftop garden, Seungri sighed and absentmindedly brushed his fingers across the keys of his laptop keyboard; tracing an unseen pattern through the letters as his mind began to wander. It had been almost ten days since his two Alpha Hyungs had come to blows in the President’s office, both verbally and physically, and despite the pair of them having long since calmed down and cooled off, there was still no sign of the situation being resolved any time soon. Everyone knew the pair were both equally as stubborn in their ways, headstrong in the following of their own ideals and quick to rebuke any belief that was not their own. And so it wasn’t really a surprise to the rest of YG that they both refused to apologise first, putting the blame firmly on each other and getting incredibly offended should anyone suggest to them otherwise.

Seungri was all but ready to pull the curls out of his head in frustration at the whole situation, and he seemed to be the only one concerned the two practically-life-long friends weren’t even willing to be in the same vicinity as each other. He had of course tried to visit his two Hyungs on repeat occasions over the past ten days, naively hoping if he apologised to both Youngbae and Jiyong for being the cause of their arguing, it would set off a domino effect and persuade the hot-headed pair to do the same with each other. Yet each attempt had been met with resistance and ignorance from everyone.

He had tried to visit Jiyong first; ever since the argument and his resultant locking himself in his room, Seunghyun had been staying on Seungri’s sofa. At first Jiyong had simply been keeping him awake all hours of the night with his angst-filled torment of his personal music studio that didn’t seem to lull even as the system started to overheat. But when Seunghyun had snapped and barged his way into Jiyong’s room demanding he stop for at least one night so he could get some sleep, Jiyong’s temper had flared once again and before he could really register what was going on, Seunghyun had found himself unceremoniously pushed out of the apartment and locked out without his keys. When he’d tried to go back the next morning, Jiyong had anticipated his return and had simply left a bag with Seunghyun’s clothes and toiletries inside it in the hallway, leaving the eldest Alpha to slouch back to Seungri’s feeling remotely pathetic as he begged to take over his sofa for the foreseeable future.

Seungri had hoped that if he spoke to Jiyong and apologised, the Alpha would feel better and allow Seunghyun to return back to his own apartment. Or at least he had been hoping so anyway; as much as he had enjoyed his eldest Hyungs company for a while, Seunghyun had decided that by lodging with Seungri it was his duty to know his whereabouts every minute of every day and to be his bodyguard, checking his fan mail for anything nasty, constantly checking his phone for more vulgar text messages, standing over his shoulder when Seungri checked his emails or his fan café website. It had gotten worse once Seungri was sick, three days in, of being trapped inside. He had gone up to the roof garden one early morning, and Seunghyun had panicked and called everyone when he’d woken up to find the apartment empty. The eldest had been moments away from ringing the Police when Daesung had queried whether he’d checked the roof garden. When Seunghyun had found him, Seungri had almost gone deaf as the man had projected all of his panic into a loud rant, the likes most of them had never seen from the normally stoic male. Since that morning Seunghyun had followed him everywhere or demanded constant updates despite the fact Seungri wasn’t even allowed out of the building.

However, when Seungri had timidly knocked at the door to Jiyong and Seunghyun’s apartment, the Omega had felt his stomach twist as he heard the distinct sound of Jiyong’s slouching walk across to the door and the click of his ring covered fingers pressing against the door as he peered out of the peephole, only to walk back off without a word a few tense moments later. And no matter how long Seungri stood there knocking and calling gently for Jiyong to at least tell him to go away, instead of just ignoring him, the Alpha refused to come back to the door.

His attempts at talking to Youngbae had been just as pointless, if not worse, than with Jiyong. Seungri had tried one early morning whilst the rest of the complex were still asleep—Seungri and Youngbae had always been the early risers amongst the company—when he knew the Alpha would be up and training in his mini gym he’d set up in his spare room. After the disaster with trying to talk to Jiyong, Seungri had been preparing for a lot as he knocked at Youngbae’s door, but he hadn’t quite expected for Youngbae to appear, all smiles and half clearly mid-work out, only to register who it was stood at his door. Before Seungri could even open his mouth, Youngbae had yelped like a dog who’d just been kicked in the stomach, the smile dropping off his face to be replaced by a look of uttermost horror before he’d violently slammed the door shut and ran off into the safety of his gym. And despite his constant knocking, Seungri heard Youngbae’s training playlist getting steadily louder and louder until even he couldn’t hear his own knocking.

Youngbae’s reaction had hurt. Seungri had tried to deny it, but there was no escaping the throat squeezing sense of rejection he had felt as Youngbae’s eyes had darkened upon seeing him. Of course, Seunghyun and Daesung had sensed his upset when they’d found him that afternoon once more hiding up on the roof garden, and when they’d dragged the reasoning out of him, the eldest had been all for going back down and giving Youngbae a taste of his recently explosive temper as well.

Realising in his absent musings he’d ended up accidently writing a pile of gibberish letters across his open document page, Seungri muttered angrily to himself and violently jabbed at the backspace key until the page was clear once again. He had come up to the garden that morning initially just to escape the suffocating claustrophobic aura cloaking his apartment, the Omega convinced he was days away from developing cabin fever. Yet he had been sat staring into space for a few moments as he watched the bench he was slouched on casting strange shadows across the floor from the sunlight behind him, before he’d realised he was humming a random improvised tune and it had sounded rather good.

The Omega had quickly raced back down to grab his laptop before returning, eager to see if he could write a song by himself, yet once he’d gotten his virtual piano software open and the improvised tune played out, his mind had swiftly slammed the door to his inspiration shut and Seungri had been left pressing mindlessly at keys for the past four hours, trying to coax it back open again.

Hearing a noise behind him as someone came up the stairs, Seungri checked the time on his watch and rolled his eyes, it was about time Seunghyun woke up and became his personal shadow once again. At least now he came to check the rooftop before trying to put the company on red alert, but that didn’t mean it still didn’t aggravate the Omega. Not bothering to turn around or even acknowledge the arrival of what he assumed was Seunghyun, Seungri carried on tapping at the keys as he spoke.

“Yes, I’m here, no I’m not depressed and getting ready to throw myself off the roof, I have not been kidnapped, I have not tried to talk to the two stubborn heads again, so no I’m not ‘broken hearted’ as you keep claiming, I’m trying to write and get some peace so go bother Daesungie Hyung for a while please.”

“Stubborn heads?” came the part confused, but obviously amused response from the doorway in a voice he hadn’t expected to hear.

“J-Ji Hyung!” Seungri exclaimed as he span round in his seat, almost sending his laptop crashing to the floor, eyes wide as he blinked rapidly at the now fidgeting male stood hunched over, hands in his pockets, cigarette hanging limply from his lips. “I-I’m sorry, I thought you were Seunghyun Hyung.”

“Oh. Daesung told me he’d turned into a puppy following you round.” Jiyong muttered, flicking the bangs out of his face with a small twitch of his head. Seungri for his part felt his inside clench almost painfully at his Hyung’s words. Jiyong had been talking to Daesung, had granted Daesung access where Seungri had repeatedly attempted to get, and didn’t it hurt like a knife to the chest? His pain must have shown on his features, as Jiyong’s entire demeanour changed and he removed the cigarette from his lips and turned to head back downstairs. “Sorry. I’ll…leave you be.”

“No!” Seungri all but yelled as he quickly leapt to his feet, barely remembering to set his laptop safely on the bench beside him as he did so. “I mean…please. This is for everyone, not just me. You clearly came up here to smoke so…please. If…If you don’t want to be around me, I can head back down it’s okay.”

As Jiyong turned back to face him, Seungri got a proper look at his Hyung now he had a moment to calm down. The elder looked awful, his already angular features had sunken into almost sharp edges, his eyes dark and cheeks hollow beneath the now razor sharp cheekbones, his collarbones rising like battlements out the low dip collar of his shirt as it hung limply off his bony stature. He clothing bore the signs of fitful infrequent naps from passing out more than necessity, his hair was slicked to one side, colour darkened and lanky from the combination of being unwashed and abused by ruthless fingers.

“I…” Jiyong started, clearly thinking things over as he cast a wary glance over his shoulder down the stairway as if expecting Seunghyun to come charging to the Omega’s rescue. “…I never said I didn’t want you around Ri.” He eventually added, admittedly the only thing he could think of to say, the situation a lot more awkward then he’d ever envisioned.

“Come sit down then. You look like you need a good smoke.” Seungri had replied, smiling shyly as he chuckled, hoping the attempted injection of humour would soften his obvious comment about how dreadful his Hyung looked.

Nodding jerkily, Jiyong shuffled across to the bench, and once Seungri moved his laptop back onto his own lap, gingerly perched himself on the edge of it. From the corner of his eye, Jiyong watched as Seungri nervously fidgeted with the keys on his laptop, the tension evident in the soft sweep of his shoulders, spine rigid as he held himself upright, attempting to look at ease and failing miserably. With only the slight profile view to go on, Jiyong could still see how the past ten days had taken their toll on the Omega just as much. The dark circles cupped beneath his eyes had long since evolved from their natural smudge into an actual sign of sleep depravity, his hair just as finger-dishevelled as Jiyong’s own.

Realising he’d been visibly staring, cigarette still unlit and limp betwixt his lips, Jiyong quickly flipped open his lighter to do so, watching the end of the tobacco burn and shrivel for a moment before slamming the lighter shut against his jeans with a natural flourish. Taking a long drag, watching almost amused as Seungri’s nose twitched as it was tickled by the burning tendrils of smoke, Jiyong tried to ignore the way his throat tightened in guilt.

The day after Seungri had attempted to visit him, Jiyong had woken up slumped over the mechanics in his mini-studio having passed out in exhaustion, only to nearly lose ten years off his life as he found Daesung stood over him glaring disapprovingly. The Alpha had been unable to work out why Seungri had come round to see him, and the lack of answers had blocked his creativity until he’d given up frustrated and slumped over the tech board and eventually fallen asleep. Of course, Daesung had no interest in any of that, and had simply chewed him out over how his selfishness had once again deeply, emotionally wounded, the little Omega he was supposed to be so focused on protecting. The Beta had blitzed his apartment with an arsenal of cleaning products once he’d bodily forced Jiyong into the shower, clothes and all, before promptly clipping Jiyong round the head, telling him to do something to make it up to Seungri, or next time he wouldn’t be so polite.

Jiyong didn’t really think being verbally and physically assaulted on multiple occasions in the space of an hour was considered polite, but he’d nodded in agreement anyway just to appease the Beta practically spitting feathers. It had taken him another three days to get enough courage to even unlock the front door, and another four hours sat in the entranceway staring at the door handle to actually force himself to get up and go outside. If the Alpha was honest, he had come up to the rooftop garden to have a smoke to give himself some ‘Dutch courage’ but that plan had backfired when he’d found Seungri already there, lost in his thoughts.

“So…”

“Ri look…”

Clacking his jaws shut as they both started and stopped talking at the same time, Jiyong watched as Seungri’s lips twitched in badly disguised amusement, his own threatening to mirror it as the Omega gestured for him to continue, already starting to visibly relax next to his Hyung.

“Ri…Look…” He echoed, taking another long drag to try and make his fingers stop shaking with the nerves, or at least give himself a nicotine rush to explain the shake away with. “I…I want to apologise.”

“For what?” Seungri muttered, head tilting in mild curiosity, causing Jiyong to pause as he tried to work out whether the Omega had already forgiven him, or was simply asking which part of the past ten days he felt deserved an apology.

“Well…for everything really.” The Alpha murmured between small drags in quick succession as he inwardly cringed. He was supposed to be the lyrical master of YG, able to write twenty songs on the same topic, all different and all guaranteed hits, and yet here he was bordering on stuttering for a simple apology. “For what I did and said in the President’s office and before…as well as the other day when I ignored your visit.” He added, feeling like he shouldn’t be as proud of such a vague and badly phrased apology as he was.

“Hyung.” Seungri sighed, watching as the elder quickly drained his cigarette like he was at risk of having it stolen off him. “Why are you apologising?”

“Huh?” Jiyong reacted, before inwardly rolling his eyes at himself. Eloquent as ever it seemed.

“Are you apologising because you’re being forced to by one of the others? Or because you feel guilty for ignoring me?” Seungri explained, setting the laptop down as he turned more to face the Alpha. “Or are you apologising because you actually feel like you did something wrong that needs atoning for? Because I don’t want an apology from you unless it’s the latter. If you’re apologising because of guilt or pressure, it’s not really an apology. It’s meaningless and I don’t want those kind of apologies.”

“But…I…”

“Hyung no.”

They both spoke at the same time once again, yet this time Seungri held up a small hand in silent request for Jiyong to keep quiet while he finished.

“It doesn’t change anything. You’re still my Hyung, you’re still as important to me and I want us to be back to normal with each other and not sat here tense like we’re about to resort to violence. But I don’t need an apology for that. I just need my Hyung looking out for me again.” Seungri stated, turning briefly to grab the ash tray off the small picnic table beside the bench before holding it out to Jiyong like some bizarre peace offering. “Changmin said that you’d spent ten years going all out to keep me safe with the others, and that how you were was just a knee jerk reaction to seeing your plans falling apart around your feet. I understand that, I do. But it’s not me you need to apologise to Hyung, you need to talk to Bae Hyung.”

“He’ll demand I apologise to you first.” Jiyong murmured, taking the ash tray and crushing the tab of his cigarette into it, slightly too violently. “If he doesn’t punch me on sight.”

“Then tell him you have. You have apologised, and we are okay now. He doesn’t need to know the technicalities behind the acceptance of your apology does he?” Seungri smiled, before it all but fell off in shock as Jiyong suddenly turned and tugged him into a tight hug, pointed chin digging into the crook of his neck.

“Okay. I’ll try. But if he breaks my nose this time you can pay for the cosmetic surgery to make me good looking again.” Jiyong chuckled as he squeezed the substantially-slimmer-than-he-remembered waist of the Omega, before turning serious once again. “And…listen, I can’t say I feel like I did wrong with how I called Bae out on his actions, and…yes I was angry at you for letting yourself so easily be swept away like that…But how I treated you, and how I spoke to you and…how I spoke to Bae, yes…it makes me feel guilty, but guilty because I know I did wrong and should apologise for it and try to atone for it. So…I’m sorry for how I spoke to you, and how I treated you, and I apologise for how negatively I reacted, but not for what I reacted to.”

“That’s fine Hyung. I forgive you…and I understand okay? Whilst I might disagree and think you should have more faith in your oldest friend, I understand how you reacted like you did.” Seungri muttered, happily burying his nose into the shoulder of Jiyong’s shirt.

“No you don’t.” Jiyong stage-whispered some minutes silence later. “You don’t understand why I reacted that way. We have set of rules we created without telling you. As you started to get older and started to progress from cute to handsome. All three of us agreed to them, the order of how we’d go about things should one of us fall for you and want you to be our bonded. That is why I reacted that way, Bae broke those rules, not the ones you and Changmin-sshi know about.”

“Y-You what?” Seungri croaked as his blood ran cold in panic, fingers subconsciously twitching against the back of Jiyong’s shirt. “W-Why would you have rules like that? Why would you not tell me them?” He all but whined, attempting to pull back from the hug as Jiyong’s arms tightened in worry.

After the first nights brief discussion before Seungri had fallen asleep, the pair of Omegas had, had incredibly long text and phone conversations about the way the Alphas had reacted to each other, piling theory after theory on top of each other to try and come up with something better to explain the violent reaction other than simply ‘to protect Ri’s honour’. In the end the pair of them had simply settled for said idea, purely because it made the most sense and fit more into Jiyong’s mind-set of taking everyone on as his responsibility. But they had never considered the possibility that Youngbae was breaking another set of rules entirely, a set of rules that; providing Jiyong was right in his assumptions, meant Youngbae had more than just a couple concept on his mind. And that was what had sent Seungri into a panic. Just as he thought he was starting to keep a barrier between himself and his Hyungs once again, here they were again attacking them from a different angle, and Seungri was convinced some higher power was determined to torment him daily with a new possibility of his secret being discovered.

“Ri…We had to. You’re an Omega, the three of us are Alphas, it was always a very strong possibility that one or more of us would end up falling for you. And if not us falling for you, there was always the fact you may want one of us to consider.” Jiyong explained, finally pulling back to stare at Seungri, concern for the Omega darkening his irises. “I mean, you were adorable when you joined us, and then as you got older and you stopped being so…squishy…and we suddenly had Alphas and Betas paying a lot of attention to our little debuted trainee. And that only grew as you matured so quickly. You and Changmin-sshi are the two most popular celebrity Omegas.”

“But…” Seungri started, ready to rebuke the idea of being on the same level of attractiveness as Changmin who was often referred to as the Adonis in human form, before Jiyong quickly clamped a hand over his mouth, the Omega trying not to grimace at the sudden scent of stale tobacco on Jiyong’s fingers hit his nostrils.

“No, Ri. I’m serious, you and Changmin-sshi are polar opposites and you appeal to different people. But you are incredibly attractive and we had to prepare for that. I mean it Ri, if I didn’t consider you my little brother, I probably would have been tempted.” Jiyong continued, sounding slightly exasperated at the Omegas bizarre lack of confidence. “But Bae broke the rules, twice.”

“But he hasn’t.” Seungri spluttered, wrenching his head away from Jiyong’s rather stubborn hand, purposefully ignoring Jiyong’s previous comment. “He isn’t interested, he was just…shocking me to calm me down or…whatever. Besides, you know how he views equality and wants his Omega to be the one to pursue him so he’s never concerned he’s pressuring someone. Did you even think to ASK him why he did it before accusing him of rule breaking?!”

“Ugh.” Jiyong grunted, the look painted across his face telling Seungri quite clearly he thought he was being a naïve idiot about the whole thing, before it disappeared with a roll of his eyes, the Alpha getting to his feet. “Fine. I’ll go ask him now and we’ll see.” He added before stomping off back down into the building, leaving Seungri alone with his laptop and his thoughts once again, along with the distinct feeling Jiyong’s interrogation of Youngbae wouldn’t go the way he’d envisioned.

Crossing his legs at the ankle as elegantly as he could whilst perched precariously on the stupidly inappropriate stools the television studio had chosen for their guests to sit on, Changmin tried to keep the tight smile on his face from turning sour in disgust. He was supposed to be focusing on whatever ridiculous new spiel Yunho was sprouting to the MC, he knew that once the elder finally managed to take a breath, the MC would ask Changmin for his opinion on what had been said. But all the Omega could do was sit and focus all of his attention into stopping himself from snapping Yunho’s fingers that were currently fidgeting through the waves of his hair, in what the Omega could only assume was supposed to be a delicate, affectionate display. Changmin on the other hand was convinced if Yunho’s slightly sticky fingers kept it up, the Omega would be lucky if he got backstage with any hair at all, he felt like a chicken being plucked for thanksgiving and it was definitely not affectionate.

Out the corner of his peripheral vision, Changmin could see Kyuhyun stood just out of camera shot backstage, looking torn between laughing at the Omegas obvious distress—that is, obvious to anyone who wasn’t Yunho—and stomping on stage, cameras be damned, to snap Yunho’s fingers himself. After the huge issue with Seungri and his nasty text messages, as well as the eruption with how easily it had been to get into the Omegas vicinity, the Beta had been even more paranoid about protecting Changmin. He had reasoned that since Seungri and Changmin were so publicly close friends, that Changmin could be in the firing line next by association. In all honesty, Changmin privately hoped he did get some kind of ridiculous text insulting him, he’d been eager for someone to vent his notoriously rather eloquently worded rage at, and that would be the perfect opportunity. And if it put them off insulting Seungri again, then even better.

Feeling a tug to his earlobe, something Changmin despised regardless of who did it, the Omega yelped rather loudly and snapped his attention back to the Alpha perched beside him glare all ready to burn the other for his insolence, belatedly realising the man was smirking at him as the MC and audience laughed at his reaction.

“I think Minnie-yah is a bit distracted today, he hasn’t eaten yet.” Yunho teased, voice smooth as he all but purred and puppy-eye attacked the MC before turning his simpering sweet smile back to Changmin. “Don’t worry Minnie-yah, once we finish I’ll take you out and you can eat as much as you like, my treat.”

As the audience and MC practically fainted from fawning over the adorable display, their ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ audible throughout the studio, even from the staff behind the scenes, Changmin fought the urge to throw up. He hated that pet name, he was not a mouse in a red and white polka dot dress, nor was he an eight year old who used a cute name to back up his aegyo. Despite the fact he was inwardly seething in disgust, Changmin ducked his head awkwardly and scratched at the back of his head as he apologised to the MC and audience, thanking Yunho for his offer, his thanks just on the awkward side of polite as he fidgeted in his seat. The action was enough to appease the MC and audience; who all but cooed at his response, and played well into their company’s concept of him being awkward and supposedly awe-struck around the Alpha.

He could practically see his management backstage behind him nodding in approval at his behaviour, and if it kept them off his case about his public image then he was willing to do it. But that’s all it was. An image, originally designed to draw in the fans with the possibility of watching a beautiful and almost poetically awkward romance blossoming for the Alpha and Omega in front of their eyes if they stayed around long enough. Yet now Changmin was trapped in a prison of his own agreement, with no chance of escape without a backlash on a national scale. No matter what he did, he would come out the bad guy for rejecting Jung ‘perfect-Alpha-with-perfect-hair’ Yunho, even if he didn’t feel anything for him. He would be at fault for leading the Alpha on, for giving him false hope of a mate and family, he would be the one to face the vindictive wrath of the fandom and probably face exile like he were infertile and unclean.

His own experience was part of the reason he’d been so wary when he’d found out about Seungri’s prospective duet with Youngbae. Not necessarily about Youngbae himself, he didn’t consider the small Alpha to be anywhere as pressuring or insistent as Yunho—even though recent events had caused his opinion on the Alpha to alter slightly—but about the concept of a couple. The concept was nothing more than a metaphorical shackle, chaining Seungri to Youngbae’s side permanently, even long after the duet was over, Seungri appearing as the Omega Youngbae longed to claim as his own would follow him to the end of his career and beyond and Changmin didn’t want his best friend to face the same issues he already faced himself.

Hearing a discrete cough in his ear from the earpiece left behind after their live performance, Changmin risked a small glance off stage to where Kyuhyun was stood, the backstage communicator held to his mouth. Realising he had the Omega’s attention, Kyuhyun gestured for him to pay attention, fingers moving in a long since developed system of code between the pair of them, telling him to try and get his own word in to the MC and not to sit there like some passive submissive.

Nodding slightly, Changmin reached to rub at his ear lobe for a moment, the sign to say he understood, before he returned his focus to the interview. Yet every time he managed to get a word in edgeways in an attempt to answer the MC, Yunho was there to talk over him. Even as the MC started directing his questions towards Changmin as much as he was to Yunho, the Omega could feel his irritation rising steadily from his gut as Yunho kept butting into his sentences. Literally speaking over him every time he opened his mouth, or constantly cutting him off by making Changmin physically jerk as he cupped the back of his neck, pet his thigh slightly too high for comfort or worst of all, tugged at his ears.

Just as Changmin had, had enough and viciously slapped Yunho’s hand off his thigh with a worryingly audible crack, the MC turned back to the audience and brought the show to a close, the Omega taking the opportunity to get to his feet and bow to the cheering audience, barely waiting until the cameras had been turned off before he was marching off the stage. Sensing the black cloud feuding over his friend-and-technically-employers head, Kyuhyun quickly backed out of the way as Changmin stormed past, the Omega not even pausing to spare the Beta his usual smile before he was barging through the gathered staff like a vengeful archangel heading off to war.

Yet before he could make to head after him, Kyuhyun yelped slightly as he was shoved hard in the back and sent crashing into the scaffolding sides of the studio set and the poor unsuspecting staff still recovering from Changmin’s wrath. Apologising profusely as he got to his feet and tried to help the smallest staff member to their own at the same time, Kyuhyun barely had time to look round to see who had pushed him, before he spotted Yunho forcing his way into the dressing room the angry Omega had locked himself in moments previous.

Sprawled across the rather distressed looking leather sofa in their dressing room, Changmin sighed behind the velvet cushion he’d placed over his face the moment he’d landed in his current position to scream some of his frustrations into. He was never one to let his emotions get the better of him unless it was something so overwhelming he had no chance to scrabble at the barricades to secure them before the tirades washed over him, and Yunho chipping away at his temper never fell into such a specific category. After all the years of performing, living and training with the Alpha, and dealing with his less than subtle behaviour, there wasn’t a lot Changmin couldn’t handle by himself. Yet with his concerns over Seungri whirring round his mind, Yunho’s recent behaviour had only been the added extra needed to tip him over the edge and Changmin was almost ashamed to feel the edge of his eyelashes starting to clump together from his unshed tears.

So caught up in the disbelief at how easily Yunho’s actions had gotten to him this time, the Omega didn’t register the door to the dressing room being forced open, or the slow click of shoes as they padded across towards where he lay. And it wasn’t until long slender fingers slid tenderly into the long curls atop his head, did Changmin even realise he was no longer alone. Assuming it was Kyuhyun coming to check on him after his dramatic exit off stage, the Omega sighed and melted into the touch, ignoring the sniff that escaped from his lips behind the pillow in a bubble of weakness.

“I’m okay Kyu-hyu. He just got to me with everything that’s happened lately.” Changmin muttered, hand moving from the velvet pleats of the cushion to curl around his friend’s wrist beside his hair. However, as his fingers moved over the rather thick and powerful wrist joint connecting a rough, solid palm and a taught, toned forearm, Changmin felt his breath catch in panic. It wasn’t Kyuhyun hovering over him, Kyuhyun’s wrists were slender, to the point of almost delicate like the rest of his appendage—in fact there was only one person who Changmin knew that had such muscular joints.

“Kyu-hyu? Such a cute little pet name for your pet Minnie-yah. Does he have one for you?” at the sudden deep purr close to his ear, Changmin barely had time to try and jerk his head away, before the hand tightened sharply in his hair, nails digging into his scalp as a sudden weight dropped onto his chest, the hand not in his hair moving to pluck the pillow away from his face. Blinking at the sudden onslaught of the artificial light of the dressing room, after spending so long hidden in the shadows of his own making, Changmin winced as he found Yunho straddled across his torso, eyes dark as he smirked. “Does you always use your pet name for him in private? Do you whimper it into his ear while he hoists your legs over his shoulders?”

“I—what the hell are you on about?!” Changmin snarled, hips bucking as he thrashed, trying to upset the Alpha from his perch, hands grabbing at the solid wrist connected to his hair, desperately trying to untangle the warm fingers from his locks. “Get off me! You’re going to end up ripping my hair out!”

“No. You do know what I’m talking about Minnie.” Yunho hissed, letting go of Changmin’s hair as requested and swiftly clamping his fingers round the Omega’s wrist in the same fluid moment, barely finishing his sentence before he had both the younger’s scrabbling wrists in the vice-like grip of one of his hands. “I saw the little signals you kept sending each other today, just like every other day.”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Changmin spat, doubling his efforts to escape despite the fact his arms were bent at an odd angle over the arm of the sofa, eyes starting to sparkle with the possibility of real fear.

“I saw you both. I always see you both. Do you think I’m that stupid not to know what the pair of you are capable of Changmin? Do you think I don’t know what your little coded messages to Seungri and Kyu-hyu mean?” Yunho growled back, shifting slightly to press a knee into Changmin’s stomach, delighting in the way the Omega visibly spluttered, chest heaving as he tried to breathe normally.

“W-We don’t have any codes…I-I don’t know what you’re on about!” Changmin barely managed to pant, breathless from the combined efforts to escape and the steadily increasing pressure of the Alpha’s knee into his ribcage. “G-Get off me!”

Staring wide eyed up at the man who, for all point and purpose, was knelt on his ribcage, Changmin felt the cold tendrils of fear secure its hold around his body, threatening to snap his fighting spirit the longer he remained at Yunho’s mercy. He had never seen the Alpha like this before. Sure, Yunho had often tried to climb onto him when he’d sprawled exhausted across the sofa in their apartment after a long days schedules, but a swift knee to the spine or a shove had always easily dislodged him. This was new, this was painful and this was very real in the terms of danger. He’d heard horror stories about Alphas snapping and murdering an Omega because they were repeatedly rejected or couldn’t accept the Omega was already bonded to another, but as much as Yunho obsessed over him, Changmin had never envisioned the Alpha he spent so many years training beside would ever do something like that to him.

“Don’t insult me further Changmin!” Yunho suddenly snapped, voice dropping dangerously into an almost incoherent growl as his fingers twitched around Changmin’s wrists. “You and that disgusting excuse for a Beta you hire are trying to publicly ridicule me, and that little idiot friend of yours is in on the game.”

“Don’t you—don’t you dare insult my friends to me!” Changmin wheezed, gaining a second wind of strength as his anger boiled. No one insulted Kyuhyun or Seungri in front of Changmin and got away with it, not even Yunho who was currently trying to make him as uncomfortably sore as possible.

“And don’t you dare insult my intelligence you little !” Yunho bellowed, face dropping rapidly, all but pushed up against Changmin’s own, spraying the Omega’s skin with spittle as he roared, eyes dilated almost madly before his tongue peeked out the corner of his pale lips to lap delicately at Changmin’s jawline, the gently action completely superfluous to soften the harsh bite of his words. “I bet you’ve been under that Beta every moment possible haven’t you? Or does he you rough? Is that what you prefer?”

Grimacing at the wet stripe against his jaw, the air instantly starting to cool the saliva into his skin, Changmin turned his head away as best he could, weakly struggling to escape both physically and mentally. He could feel his cheeks starting to flush from the combined vulgarity of Yunho’s words and the anger at blatant disrespect for those closest to him. All he could hope was that he was able to distract Yunho long enough for Kyuhyun or their Manager to turn up to take them home and find them like this, then the company would be unable to deny that Changmin was in very real danger within Yunho’s presence, and in turn couldn’t deny his requests for at least his own place to live.

“I bet that’s what you prefer isn’t it Minnie?” Yunho continued, voice turning sickly sweet once more as he peppered open mouthed kisses across Changmin’s neck, apparently ignorant to the Omega’s knees as they ruthlessly slammed into his back. “I bet you crave to be taken roughly against the wall like the you are don’t you? Does Seungri join in? Do the pair of you worship your Beta pet’s little ? Is that why the three of you are always together, maybe I should warn Youngbae-sshi what he’s getting into. But given how things have been, he probably knows. I hope he got himself tested after being near that mouth.”

“W-What?” Changmin choked, forcing himself to ignore most of Yunho’s words as his final comment rang alarm bells in the back of his head. No one was supposed to know about how the past couple of weeks had been for their rival companies’ artists. He and Kyuhyun were the only non-YG members who knew what had happened to Seungri, and more importantly, no one but they were supposed to know about Youngbae kissing the little Omega. “H-How…how do you…?” Changmin managed to gasp amidst his exhaustive struggles.

“I told you not to insult my intelligence Minnie-yah. I know all about your little friend and his drama—I, “ Yunho began, and that was all Changmin needed to erupt, cutting him off mid-sentence.

“I don’t know what you’re on about! How dare you speak about Seungri like that! You disgust me, do you hear?! You. Disgust. Me. I will never be your bonded! I hate you!” Changmin yelled, some distant part of his mind registering a distressed thumping at the door as someone tried to get in.

Yet as he paused for breath mid-rant, the knee to his chest vastly depleting his ability to breathe, Changmin wasn’t prepared for the hand clutching the pillow to lift, or for Yunho—whose features had darkened and cooled into a terrifyingly blank slate—to use it to smack him across the face as hard as his arms allowed in such a confined space. The smack was nowhere near enough to cause any kind of damage, but it did disorientate the Omega enough to stop him struggling. Stop him long enough for Yunho to let go of his wrists and bring his hand back round so both wrapped around the pillow as he brought it down over Changmin’s face once more and pressed his full weight onto it.