"everything alright? do you need something else?"

"no, thank you mister- namkyu..." shotaro replied, looking around the small bedroom that nct's manager would be lending him for the week. "it's already so kind of you to lend me your room... i don't want to ask too much."

"it never is too much, shotaro. tell me what you need."

"no, no, nothing. everything is perfect." the omega answer, sitting down on the bed, his feet dangling in the air because he wasn't tall enough to reach the ground.

"okay, then how about we go down to the living room so you can meet the members and get to know them better?" namkyu asked, tilting his head to the side.

"o-okay." shotaro nodded, jumping off the bed and walking to his suitcase to look for something.

"he's so cute!!! can we adopt him? please!" daeho squealed silently, gluing his body to his boyfriend's so that shotaro didn't hear their conversation.

"babe, what did i tell you?" namkyu sighed.

"that we couldn't adopt him..." the beta pouted.

"exactly. and it's still the case now." nct's manager placed a kiss on his boyfriend's forehead before walking to the door and pulling it open.

the second the door opened, namkyu was forced to take a step back as a group of males fell to the carpeted floor, surely because they were leaning against the closed door. behind the pile of alphas on the floor stood the remaining members of nct, smiling sheepishly at the manager.

"what the hell are you guys doing here?" namkyu rubbed his temples with his hands.

"we were just... huh..."

"guarding the door."

"yeah, right!"

"so that we made sure nothing happened to shotaro."

"exactly!" a few members made up an excuse, sounding everything but believable.

"of course..." namkyu rolled his eyes. "everybody up and to the living room. shotaro is going down right now."

"okay!"

and before namkyu could utter another word, the seven neos that were on the floor were up to their feet and soon, the 22 of them had dashed away from the corridor to get to the living room, awaiting shotaro's arrival like a kpop comeback.

namkyu sighed again before facign his boyfriend and shotaro.

"let's go?"

"o-okay." the omega nodded before taking baby steps towards the door.

he followed namkyu across the many corridors forming the house, trying to remember the way back to the room he would be using.

"t-the house is huge..." shotaro noted, looking at the dozens of identical doors.

"it is." daeho nodded. "took me around a month to remember where namkyu's room was. at first, i kept walking into one of the boy's rooms, and it's really the worst experience, because they have no decency and they keep having se- "

"yeah, the house is huge." namkyu spoke over his boyfriend's voice to muffle the words he was about to say.

daeho placed his hand over his mouth when he realised what he had almost let slip out. "y-yeah. sorry." he smiled sheepishly at his boyfriend who was throwing him a glare.

the rest of the journey to the living room was calm, and shotaro had already lost himself in remembering the way back to his room, so he simply looked at his surroundings to get familiar with them.

shotaor walked in the living room shyly, nervous of how the alphas would welcome him. but it seemed like he had nothing to fear since they were all standing up behind the couches, looking at the omega with bright smiles on their faces.

"hello, shotaro. welcome to our dorm." taeyong spoke gently. "i am taeyong, nct's leader, and it's a pleasure to meet you. i guess we will get to know each other more now. please have a seat anywhere you'd like, we didn't want to force you to sit somewhere without you choosing."

the omega blinked, his cheeks tinting red. "t-thank you. i-i am v-very happy t-to meet y-you..." he spoke in a low voice, making all of the alphas feel a sudden rush of dopamine.

shotaro then hesitantly walked towards one of the couches before taking a seat there, and alsmot instantly, the 22 neos were sat around him, keeping their eyes on the small omega all the time.

a few meters away, namkyu and daeho were standing side by side, staring at the scene unfolding in front of their eyes, and not believing what was happening.

"are you sure it was a good idea?" daeho raised a brow.

"they're not fighting." namky replied.

"sure, but they're really weird." exo's manager pointed out. "it's scary."

"it's just the first hours. i guess it will get better later on."

"i hope so... i don't know if i prefer to deal with them having anger issues or being over-obsessed by an omega." daeho shrugged, making his boyfriend snort.

"you don't even have to deal with them. it's my job."

"but i'm here to help. exo can manage themselves on their own most of the time." exo's manager replied. "i'm here because i love you."

namkyu smiled at his shorter boyfriend. "i love you too, babe." he confessed before pecking the boy's lips quickly and concentrating back on the 22 alphas and the omega. "aren't you going to give him something to drink?" he asked, making the alphas gasp.

"oh my god, yes!"

"what would you like to drink?"

"we have champagne, or wine, and even beer!"

"is he even old enough to drink?"

"we also have sodas!"

"and don't forget the syrups!"

"yeah, lots of things."

shotaro pressed himself further in the couch as a few members attacked him with questions.

"h-huh..." he stuttered. "d-do you have v-violet syrup...? i-it's my favourite..."

"oh, shit, we don't." lucas let out.

"what do you mean, we don't?!" jisung raised a brow.

"it's a flavour we don't have." lucas gasped again.

"i can go to the store and buy it for you!" xiaojun stood up immediately.

"no, i can go!" yuta hopped on his feet as well.

"no, me!"

and here were the neos again, verbally fighting to know who would go buy some violet syrup at the store...

"guys, calm down instantly." namkyu let out an exasperate sigh. "none of you is going to the store right now."

"oh..." the members all let out a disappointed sigh.

"daeho is going on his own, and you guys stay with shotaro to get to know each other better." namkyu continued. "and shotaro, i'll go get you a glass of water if that's fine for the moment."

"i-it's perfect..." the omega nodded.

following this somehow chaotic conversation, daeho walked out of the dorm with the mission to buy violet syrup and namkyu brought shotaro a glass of water. inevitably, the 22 neos started introducing themselves one after the other, trying their best to slide some jokes or funny annecdotes to make the omega laugh and appreciate them.

"so, how old are you, shotaro?" jeno asked, placing his chin on top of his palm.

"h-huh, i'm 20." the omega replied shyly.

"oh! you're the same age as jisung!" chenle noted, patting jisung's thigh at the same time.

"and do you like being an omega?" taeil continued the questioning.

"w-well... it's sometimes good, and s-sometimes bad..." shotaro shrugged. "b-but i'm not complaining. t-that's the way things are, and i have to d-deal with them."

the alphas all listened carefully to shotaro's every word, as if the small omega was a prophet, whose speech could save lives and solved ancient mysteries.

namkyu was looking at the scene from the side, rather surprised by the way nct's comportment had changed so fast in presence of the omega. he expected good results, for sure, but he hadn't imagined they would be so impressive and happen so fast. nct were completely changed at the moment, as if the 22 beasts with anger issues had never existed, and instead were 22 romantics who were ready to do anything for their omega.

"sometimes bad?" renjun raised a brow.

"y-yes. for example... huh... being stared at, being an easy prey, o-or even being used b-by others..."shotaro explained.

"oh my god, that's awful." taeyong let out.

"don't worry about that anymore." mark stated.

"we'll make sure none of this happens while you're with us." sicheng nodded.

"yeah, we're alphas. we can easily scare people off." kun explained, making shotaro smile at them.

"t-thank you... i-it is very kind from you..."

the alphas smiled back at the boy, almost making namkyu roll his eyes for how cheesy they all were. never in his life had he imagined he would rather have the boys fighting to death than doing anything else. and well, this day had arrived now; they were so cringe.

"and..." johnny looked at the omega. "there's a question that all of us have been meaning to ask you..."

"you don't have to answer if you don't want, okay?" yangyang was quick to add.

"y-yeah...?"

"do you... do you have... a mate?" johnny asked as all of the boys looked at the omega intensely, waiting for the answer.

shotaro gulped, already feeling the boy's pheromones taking over the room.

"n-no... i don't have a mate... which is m-mostly why b-being an omega can be bad..." shotaro explained. "omegas without a mate are easier to attack..."

as soon as these words left shotaro's mouth, the pheromones in the air completely changed, going from a strong musky scent to something much lighter and bearable, a scent that could perhaps be conveying happiness or hope.

the neos looked at each other, their eyes leaving the omega for a few seconds only, and then, barely above a whisper was heard taeyong's words. "he doesn't have a mate..."