"do you think i have everything i need?" shotaro asked, looking around his bedroom to see if he had forgotten anything important.

"no, you don't." hikari exclaimed.

"what did i forget?" the omega blinked in confusion, searching what he could have forgotten.

"you need your annoying older sister and her boyfriend with you." hikari replied with a pout, making shotaro roll his eyes.

"hikaaaa..." he whined. "i was serious."

"so was i." the beta girl crossed her arms over her chest. "are you seriously abandoning hawoon and i? after everything we did for you?"

the omega sighed, approaching his sister and pulling her in a bear hug, unconsciously releasing comforting pheromones despite the fact hikari wouldn't be able to feel them.

"i am not abandoning you..." he informed. "first of all, i am just going to live in the nct dorm which is a few streets away. and second of all, you and hawoon are getting older, you won't take care of me all of your life... it's my mates' turn to do so."

"i know... but i don't want you to leave me..." the older girl pouted dramatically.

"i'm not leaving forever..." shotaro assured. "i'll come and visit you again, don't worry. but we both know that it is time for me to go with my mates and for you to pursue your life with hawoon."

"yeah, you're right..." hikari nodded, tightening the hug her brother and her were involved in. "so, you promise you will come and see us?"

"of course." shotaro nodded with a smile as he pulled away from the hug. "i'll come with the boys too."

hikari let out a loud sigh that ended in a groan.

"what?" shotaro raised a brow.

"nothing." hikari shook her head. "i'm just salty that you get to live with hawoon and i's favourite idols while we only get to watch them on tv."

"for your information, i introduced all of them to you." shotaro stated.

"yeah, and we both looked like stupid fangirls, unable to utter a grammatically correct sentence." hikari rolled her eyes.

"come on, you don't realise what you're saying." shotaro tsked. "you just saw them as my mates and not your idols, and so, you threatened them to cut their dicks if they dared to hurt me."

the beta girl let out an inhumane groan as she hid her face in her hands.

"i don't know which one is worse..." she let out.

"hika..." shotaro's eyes rolled to the back of her head at his sister's child-like attitude.

"yes, i know, you need to leave." the girl stood up properly again. "i really don't want you to."

"i'm sad i have to leave you and hawoon too, but i know we both will enjoy life this way as well."shotaro smiled at her. "and we'll visit each other."

"definitely." hikari pulled her brother in a last hug before kissing his temple.

the two of them then walked to the living room where hawoon was waitinf for them.

"so... you're leaving now?" he asked the omega.

"i am." shotaro nodded. "but i'll be back, don't worry." he added before hugging his sister's boyfriend. "i'll miss you a lot."

"i will miss you too, cuite." hawoon hugged him tight. "take care of yourself, okay?"

shotaro nodded again. "i will."

the omega pulled out from the hug and waved at his sister one last time before walking towards the door, grabbing his giant suitcase on the way there.

"wait!" hikari said before he could walk out. "can you tell nct one last thing for me?"

"sure. what is it?" shotaro asked.

"no pups before you're 25." she told, making her brother frown.

"no pups before i'm 25?" he repeated. "but they're already calling me pup..."

hikari rolled her eyes. "tell them that. and make sure they understand that it's a threat."

"huh... sure." shotaro shrugged. "goodbye hika, goodbye hawoon!"

"bye sho!"

the omega was outside in a few seconds, and there, a few members immediately rushed to his side to carry his suitcase and bags.

"i-i can carry things, you know?" he chuckled.

"yes, but we don't want you to hurt yourself. we can do it for you." jeno replied immediately.

shotaro heaved out a sigh as he got inside the car, fastening his seatbelt as soon as he was sitting down.

"one last thing to say before leaving your family house?" taeyong asked, turning around from the shotgun seat.

"huh..." shotaro thought for a while. "yeah, hika told me to tell you 'no pups before i'm 25' but i don't really understand why... and she said it was a threat."

taeyong looked at shotaro, his lips curving up in a smile at the boy's immaculate innocence.

"you'll tell her that we got the message next time you see her." he said, sending shotaro a wink, causing him to flush red immediately.

the car ride to the nct dorm was quick. shotaro didn't get bored as he listened to the nct members dissing and making fun of each other inside the car.

before shotaro realised that they had reached the dorm, the car stopped and the boys started to get out, taking shotaro's luggage with them.

taeyong pulled the keys out of his pocket and opened the front door, allowing the boys to walk inside one after the other.

"welcome to your new house, pup." taeil stated as soon as the 23 mates had entered the dorm.

"it already feels like home..." shotaro breathed out as he couldn't contain his smile at the familiar scent lingering in the nct dorm; a mix of the 22 alphas' pheromones that used to make him feel completely overwhelmed but was now his favourite smell.

"that's because we're here." johnny wiggled his brows. "and we are your home..."

α

"pup? can i come in?" sungchan's voice rang from outside the door.

"of course!"

the alpha pushed the door open, his eyes blinking a few times to get familiar with his new surroundings.

since shotaro was living with them now, the boys and namkyu had agreed that shotaro's bedroom would be namkyu's old bedroom, and the manager could go back to living with his boyfriend since nct didn't need him around 24/7 to make sure they were calm anymore. of coruse, not. they had found their omega to tame them now.

"wow..." sungchan let out, his eyes scanning over every corner of the room that had been decorated with a variety of purple objects, making it look like he was standing in the middle of a 'purple aesthetic' post on pinterest.

"do you like it?" shotaro asked, tilitng his head to the side as he rearranged one of the frames on the wall so that it was straight.

"yeah." sungchan nodded. "it fits you a lot." he added, inhaling the powerful smell of lavender that came out from the room.

the omega had already claimed the room as his, even after a few hours of living here. his stuff was everywhere around, and so, his scent had invaded the space, masking any other scent that may have been there before.

"did you need to ask me something?" shotaro asked, pulling on the sleeves of his black sweater – it was very unusual to see him in something else than pastel purple clothes – to have his hand poking out.

"yeah, we wanted to have a small talk with you in the living room. are you coming?" sungchan stated.

"sure!" the omega replied happily, jumping to his feet and approaching sungchan, the sleeves of the sweater falling back in their initial position, way past shotaro's hands. sungchan grinned at the boy's cuteness before he caught a glimpse of a familiar scent.

"are you wearing one of lucas' sweaters?" sungchan frowned.

"y-yes." shotaro stuttered. "i was cold and i forgot to bring a comfy sweater. i asked lucas because he passed in front of my room at that time, but his sweater is a bit big on me."

"it's fine. oversized boyfriends' clothes are cute on you." sungchan shrugged.

"b-boyfriends?!" shotaro gasped, his cheeks flushing red.

"not yet." sungchan chuckled, taking shotaro's arm and rolling the sleeves on themselves to make them fit shotaro. "but would you be against that idea?"

"against the idea of what...?"

"becoming our boyfriend." sungchan replied, smiling proudly now that both of shotaro's hands exceeded the cuffed sleeves of lucas' sweater.

"o-oh..." shotaro flushed.

"so?" sunghcan raised a brow. "would you be against the idea?"

"n-no, of course not..." the omega admitted shyly, making the alpha smile.

"come with me, then." he said, intertwining his fingers with shotaro's and bringing the boy to the living room.

the 21 other members of nct were already there, sitting around the couches and smiling brightly when they smelt the omega arriving in the living room.

sungchan led shotaro to the central sofa, making him sit down there before sitting down himself on an armchair a few meters away.

"s-sungchan said you wanted to talk to me...?" the boy stutterd. he was still intimidated when the 22 alphas were looking at him like that, and he wondered if one day, he would be confident enough not to stutter when all of his mates stared at him like they wanted to devour him alive.

"yes." johnny nodded. "we had a big question to ask you."

"a-a big question?" shotaro repeated cutely.

"exactly." jungwoo nodded.

"taeyong will speak for all of us on that one, pup, okay?" sicheng asked, to which the omega nodded.

"so..." taeyong started as both the alphas and the omega turned around to look at him. "it has barely been three weeks since we met each other for the first time, at that reality show we filmed, and so much things happened since then." he started. "from the first time we laid out eyes on you, from the very first time we got a sniff of your divine scent, we got addicted to you, and we all realised that something in you was different from other people we had met. and now, three long weeks later, we know what was different. you were made to be our mate, and we couldn't be happier now that we finally found you and that we claimed each other. the feelings we all developed for you are incomparable, shotaro, and we really want to prove it to you by making you ours officially. so, pup, more than being our mate, will you make us the honour of becoming our boyfriend?"

a short silence followed, pheromones of anticipation flying all over the room as taeyong and the 21 other alphas turned their heads towards the omega to wait for his answer.

they all melted at the sight of their cute mate, biting his quivering lip with all his might as his eyes were glossy, threatening to release an endless cascade of tears. there was no way the alphas could have mistaken this sight as a refusal to their question, because a growing bubble of happiness and excitement pheromones slowly took over the air and dominated the alphas'.

"y-yes..." the omega stuttered out, looking at his lap as his cheeks became bright red.

"yes?" yangyang repeated, asking for confirmation as all of the other alphas leant forward to make sure they would hear the answer. shotaro tended to speak very low when he was shy, and it seemed like right now was one of the moments he had been the shyer.

"yes!" shotaro exclaimed, looking successfully at his 22 mates – very soon to be boyfriends. "i not only want to be your mate, but also your boyfriend."