the moment shotaro would have to leave was getting closer and closer.

a few members were making dinner, while some other set the table for their last dinner together.

effectively, shotaro's 6th day with nct was coming to an end, and in 24hours, he would already be back to living with hawoon and hikari, in their small apartment – not that he didn't want to live with them anymore, but nct's presence made him so full that he dreaded what living without them would be like.

shotaro had spent this day with the members, trying to stay with all of them the same amount of time to enjoy their company as much as he could.

they had all gone to a big park in which they had raced each other in the field or even played football. hendery and mark had even taught shotaro how to aim better when shooting the ball, but it seemed like shotaro was a lost cause. acutally, it wasn't a secret that alphas were good at any sport and that their physical capacities were way higher than omegas' or betas'. and of course, omegas being at the very bottom of the physical ladder, shotaro had lost every race and almost had had asthma crisis at least five times during the afternoon.

anyway, after a few hours of running around and tiring themselves, they had gotten back to the dorms, and chosen much calmer games to play. shotaro had always liked board games, so the boys had decided to play with shotaro in the evening, which they had, making shotaro very happy.

however, since it was getting late, members left the game one after the other to prepare dinner and prepare the table for dinner. this left only shotaro with jaemin and jeno as the three boys were the last 'alive' players in their game of monopoly.

"your turn, jaemin." shotaro declared, handing jaemin the dice.

"thank you, pup." the older male replied, his hand brushing with shotaro's as he took the dice.

"i-i'll never get used to this..." shotaro chuckled shyly as his cheeks became pink.

"well, you should, because we're not going to stop soon." jeno informed.

after yuta had called shotaro 'pup' and the omega had claimed to like it, all of the other members were informed about it, and so, just like yuta, they started calling him 'pup' every once in a while, which didn't miss making the omega's heart flutter and his cheeks colour red.

but he wasn't going to lie, he adored being called 'pup' by the alphas. it made him feel as if he was part of them, as if they had a special relationship. nct were the only ones allowed to call him 'pup', it was their way to call him.

thinking again and again about this, shotaro started wondering why nct would call him that.

sure, yuta had said it was because he looked petite and cute or whatever, but shotaro doubted that this was the only reason. 'pup' was a very endearing word, and people rarely used it, as if it was too meaningful to be thrown around at anyone.

and if yuta had said right, they would be calling every cute and adorable people outside 'pup', which they clearly didn't. so there had to be a meaning behind all of this...

"do you have a mate?" shotaro asked a question that had been running in his mind for a while.

the two alphas stopped what they were doing to look at the omega. "a mate?" jaemin asked.

"no, we don't have a mate, yet." jeno shook his head.

"oh..." shotaro nodded.

"why are you asking the question?" jaemin frowned.

"well..." shotaro thought for a while. "the 22 of you look really close, and... and i was wondering if you weren't mates."

the two alphas stayed silent, looking at shotaro.

"i-i mean... it's stupid but... but i've observed you and... and the pheromones around you tell me that you care for each other and that you want to keep each other safe, which is what mates do." shotaro spoke again, as if he felt the need to justify his question. "like, i'm guessing that since you're alphas, each of you could have a different mate, but... but i feel like you don't really care about other people than your members, which is why i though that maybe... maybe you were 22 mates..." he finished, looking between the two other boys and trying to decipher what they were thinking.

the cool thing when being an alpha or an omega was that you were able to smell pheromones.

pheromones are scents that can be secreted and read by only alphas and omegas, and they make beings completely transparent.

the sole smell of a pheromone could tell you way more about someone than if he was voicing his emotions out.

pheromones made you feel what the other felt, they allowed you to be immersed in the other's emotions for a nick of time, and so, thanks to them, you could read very clearly what the other thought.

however, it seemed like neither jaemin nor jeno were thinking of anything at the moment. or at least, nothing that they wanted shotaro to feel.

"i think you can be right." jeno spoke first, breaking the silence.

"i-i can be right...?"

"yes. i think something unites the 22 of us. perhaps not a mate bond, but something that was strong enough to have us not willing to find our mates." jeno explained.

"it was as if... as if being together was enough for us. just like mates would feel." jaemin nodded.

"but then... why are you saying you aren't mates...?" shotaro frowned.

"because we aren't." jaemin replied. "an alpha's mate has to be an omega. because the only way to seal a mating bond is by marking the other. and alphas cannot mark each other. but omegas can mark alphas, and alphas can mark omegas."

shotaro frowned at the words that left jaemin's mouth.

so, they considered that they weren't alphas because they couldn't mark each other? that was stupid. such an intimate and complex bond could not be reduced to a simple mark.

shotaro had seen how close they were, he had seen how they looked at each other when they were at home, hidden from the public eye. and he was certain that these 22 alphas weren't just a bunch of friends living together. they were way more than that, and he was 100% sure that they were mates.

and shotaro was ready to prove it to them.

"can you show me?" the omega asked, looking at the two alphas with pleading eyes.

"show you?" jeno frowned.

"show me how you mark each other." shotaro explained.

"but, why?"

"i want to try something." the omega replied.

jaemin heaved out a sigh before pulling on his collar to reveal the bottom of his neck and his bare collarbone.

"mark me, jeno." jaemin stated, looking in the other alpha's eyes.

a glimmer of lust and passion appeared in jeno's eyes as he approached jaemin, his eyes focused on the skin of his neck.

and then, jeno opened his mouth, approaching it from the bare unmarked skin. shotaro was somehow mesmerized by the sight of his canines that seemed to grow pointier with each second passing.

jaemin let out a strangled moan as his eyes rolled to the back of his head when jeno bit his flesh, the older boy keeping his mouth shut against the skin for a few seconds before pulling his teeth out and taking a step back.

shotaro kept his eyes focused on the red bite mark that was visible on his neck, but slowly disappeared, leaving nothing but smooth skin after a few seconds.

"it doesn't stay..." he pointed out.

"that's what we told you." jaemin put his collar back in place.

"can i see you marking jeno too, please?" he asked the younger male.

"yeah, if you want."

the omega watched with the same amazement as jaemin tugged on jeno's collar before biting his neck with force, then pulling away to watch the flesh reconstructing itself on its own.

"and... can i try something now?" shotaro asked, looking in the two alphas' eyes.

"yes, sure."

shotaro gulped before getting on the bed jaemin was sitting on, crawling towards the boy and tugging on his collar to reveal the place jeno had bitten a few seconds earlier. the skin was smooth, as if nothing had ever happened.

the omega used his finger to trace the place where the bite mark should have been, barely pressing the perfect skin in fear of hurting him.

"it's not possible..." shotaro mumbled in japanese, his eyes analysing every millimetre of the smooth flesh.

"what did you- aghh..."

jaemin was cut in his question as shotaro bit the place jeno had previously marked him, causing him to let out a sound that could be misinterpreted as a scream of pain but was in fact a moan.

shotaro pulled out from jaemin's neck after a second, looking at the skin of his neck where the mark of his teeth was still present.

"w-what happens?" jaemin stuttered, his whole body trembling.

"you have a mark." jeno pointed out.

"no, wait..." shotaro frowned as he noticed jaemin's flesh slowly reconstructing itself.

a few more seconds passed during which jeno and shotaro observed the bite mark slowly fading until it had fully disappeared again.

"s-so?" jaemin asked.

"it disappeared..." shotaro pouted, his eyes focused on the seemingly untouched skin. "can i try on you too?" he asked, looking at jeno.

"huh..." he had an eye-contact with jaemin. "yeah, sure..."

α

"taeyong, we have something to tell you." jaemin tugged on his leader's sleeve – jeno by his side – as the others were finishing to clean the table and heading to bed after a good and amazing last dinner together.

"huh... i'm a bit busy ther- why are you guys wearing turtlenecks when it's burning hot?" the leader frowned, his hands moving on their own as they cleaned one of the many plates they had used for dinner.

"that's what we have to tell you about." jeno informed.

taeyong sighed, leaving the plate in the sink and drying his hands with a rag.

"is it just bad, or very bad?" he asked, placing his hands on his hips.

"huh..." the two younger alphas exchanged worried glances.

"god..." taeyong rolled his eyes. "translation; can you tell me about it here or do we have to go somewhere more private?"

"private." jaemin and jeno answered at the same time.

in less than a minute, the three alphas were locked in a random bedroom, the younger alphas too scared to start talking.

"so, what did you two do?" taeyong crossed his arms over his chest.

"well..." jaemin passed a hand through his hair.

"it's not really what we did but..." jeno continued.

"spit everything." taeyong growled, inevitably getting impatient.

the two younger alphas gulped, exchanging one last glance.

"w-we can't let shotaro leave tomorrow." jaemin started.

"what do you mean? of course, we can." taeyong rolled his eyes.

"no, shotaro is ours." jeno spoke, his voice slightly shaky.

their leader let out a sigh of despair.

"look, i know we all got attached to him, but he's certainly not ours. he was just here to help namkyu deal with us. but we had been warned that he would have to leave and- "

"no, you don't understand." jaemin shook his head.

"shotaro is ours." jeno repeated. "as in, our omega." he added as both him and jaemin pulled their collars down, revealing a bright red bite mark resting between the bottom of their neck and their collarbone.

taeyong stared at the two younger boys, his eyes wide and his mind blank.

"oh my fuck..."