"wait, so... if i understood correctly, you're telling me that you have 22 alpha mates?"

"yeah, that's exact." shotaro nodded.

"and those mates aren't just anyone, they're nct..."

"yeah, that too." the omega chuckled, glancing around the room at the 22 idols that were sitting around the small living room of his, hikari's and hawoon's house.

"god, this is a whole lot..." hikari sighed, looking successfully at her favourite idols and then at his brother, sitting in the middle of them with bite marks visible on his neck and arms.

as a beta, it was quite hard to imagine how powerful the bond that united alphas and omegas. sure, betas did fall in love and share their life with the same person until they died, but they never get to know how amazing the mate bond can be.

and so, it was hard for hikari and hawoon to understand what united shotaro and nct, but they were aware that something had changed; now everything seemed to make sense for them.

shotaro had met his mates for the first time at work, both in the entertainment company and at the café. and then, namkyu had asked him to come and live with them for a week.

during those seven days that passed, shotaro got closer with the alphas, and got to know them better. some kind of chemistry happened between them and they obviously grew attached for each other. and at first, hawoon and hikari had judged that to be a simple friendship, but it was in fact a complex mate bond.

this explained why shotaro felt more and more depressed after coming back from nct's dorm. he had gotten used to the presence of his mates around, and being taken away from them caused his inner omega to react badly as a coping mechanism.

but now that shotaro had met with nct again, and that he had been marked by them, all of this was over, and shotaro was back to being happy and bubbly. and even better, he was not an easy target anymore for malicious betas or predatory alphas since he had alpha bites visible on him, meaning that his mates would instantly feel it if their omega was in danger.

"can i ask you if you all marked him?" hikari asked as the overprotective sister that she was.

"we did." taeyong nodded.

"we don't want him to feel unsafe when walking around the city anymore." yuta explained.

"him wearing our marks will discourage people from approaching him to harass him." lucas finished.

"yeah, i understand." the beta girl flashed his brother a smile. "and... did you mark them?"

shotaro shook his head no which didn't go unnoticed by the alphas.

"actually..." jaemin coughed, catching the attention of the others. "jeno and i have his mark..."

"huh?!" "what?!" "how come?!" "what does that mean?!" "why you two?!" the neos asked in unison, immediately feeling jealous that two members had had the privilege to get a taste of shotaro's bite mark.

"i-i marked you?" shotaro stuttered, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"yes." jeno nodded. "do you remember that day when you asked if the 22 of us weren't mates? then jaemin and i showed you that alphas couldn't mark each other. and then, you tried to mark us."

"b-but... the marks faded..." shotaro replied.

"they did, but they reappeared again after a few minutes." jaemin told, tugging on his collar to reveal the reddish mark that shotaro had done days before.

"so, you marked two of them..." hikari smirked at her baby brother, making him flush red in embarrassment.

"yes..." he replied shyly.

"and... does that mean that the others are next on the list?" hawoon questioned, making shotaro flush even brighter.

"y-yes..."

α

"HE'S YOUR MATE?!" namkyu yelled across the nct dorm, making the 22 alphas flinch simultaneously.

"will you stop screaming, please?" doyoung tsked.

"seriously, i lost my hearing with that move!" yangyang whined.

"stop dissing me and just tell me if i heard this right." namkyu rolled his eyes. "shotaro is your mate?! all of you?!"

"what is so difficult to understand...?" kun sighed. "we already told you he was."

"are you sure he is?" the manager questioned, rubbing his temples.

"we marked him." taeyong stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

"woah..." namkyu let out, eyes widened.

there was a quick silence during which the nct members all stared at namkyu who seemed to be in a deep reflexion.

"wait a minute!" the manager gasped.

"what?" taeil frowned.

"you found your mate... thanks to me!" namkyu happily clapped his hands.

"huh... no, not really." johnny shook his head. "we would have met him at the reality show or at 'sweet delight' even if you didn't exist."

"sure, but you wouldn't have been living with him if it wasn't for me." namkyu pointed out, making all of the neos shut up. "now, who's the boss, huh?"

the 22 nct members accepted their defeat and nodded at their manager.

it is true that without him, they would never have been able to get so close to the pastel purple boy smelling lavender. but namkyu had to be the best manager out there and know what his boys needed.

"speaking of which..." hendery started speaking. "will he come back to live with us again?"

"oh!" "yes!" "please!" "oh my god!" "that would be amazing!" "namkyu please!" the neos started screaming again, the simple idea of shotaro living with them making them so eager.

"wow, wow, wow! calm down." the manager stood up, making the boys shut up again. "first of all, this is not my decision. it's shotaro that needs to agree with this, and if he agrees, lee sooman still has the right to refuse it. he was the one to agree having shotaro living with you for a week, but he was very reluctant about it at frist."

"oh..." the boys let out desperate sighs that namkyu didn't miss to notice.

the manager heaved out a sigh himself at the sight of the sad alphas. "but if you get shotaro to agree coming to live with you, i can find a way to make sooman say yes..."

"yeah!!!!" the members all exclaimed excitedly, their previous desperation totally vanished.

"we're going to ask him tomorrow then!" renjun stated, making the others agree with him immediately and start to debate on how they could ask him.

"huh... tomorrow? what's happening tomorrow?" namkyu frowned.

"we have a date." donghyuck said proudly.

"our first official mates date." sicheng nodded.

"you have a date..." namkyu snorted. "tell me you guys haven't forgotten about the photoshoot, right?"

a long silence followed namkyu's sentence, and the alphas all exchanged glances. oops?

"nooooo, we totally didn't forget about it!" ten shook his head, sounding anything but convincing.

"yeah, what time does it start again?" jisung asked with a sheepish smile.

"9am." namkyu replied.

"wow, that's early." jungwoo pointed out. "and it finishes around...?"

"9pm." namkyu informed.

"oh..." taeyong let out, thinking silently for a while.

they had planned on taking shotaro out in the afternoon the next day, but it seemed like it wouldn't be possible. they boys were so engrossed in shotaro and the fact they were mates that they had completely forgotten about the photoshoot that was supposed to occur the next day.

this was the photoshoot for their next album, and the company had made it very clear that they wanted something perfect. the theme for their next album was 'wildness', and so, the photographers had proposed to have a photoshoot outside, in the middle of nature. however, there were no such places in seoul, meaning that they would need to drive to the suburbs to be able to be taken photographs on in the middle of nature. and of course, this implied going there early and leaving late. they needed to do all of the pictures at once, because moving all of the cameras and lights there would take so much effort and time, so this was why the photoshoot was supposed to last so long.

"and of course, there's no way we're changing the schedule or anything...?" mark tried, looking at the manager with the best puppy eyes he had.

"the only schedule you can change is that date with shotaro." namkyu replied unphased.

"and..." kun hesitated for a few seconds. "how if he came with us to the shoot?"

the neos started jumping on their spot in excitement. and who was namkyu to deprive them of such happiness? he had waited for so long for them to be disciplined and obedient, and now that he had found the magic ingredient to tame them, he could at least grant their wishes.

"sure, he can come with us. we'll pick him up at 8:45am."

α

"sho, what are you doing up so late...?" hawoon asked, noticing the light of shotaro's bedroom still on as the boy was rummaging through his closet with furrowed brows.

"i... i'm looking for something to wear." the boy replied, getting of his tippy toes to reach for a piece of clothing on the top shelf.

"but, it's almost 1am..." hawoon pointed out, looking at his watch. "you're going to be super tired tomorrow at 8:45am when your mates will come and get you..."

your mates.

it had only been one day since shotaro had officially been claimed as nct's mate, and he couldn't get enough of it. this had to be the best thing that had happened to him in his life.

the sole thought of being with them was enough to make shotaro's heartbeat go completely crazy. he couldn't believe that after 20 years, he had finally found them, the alphas that were meant to be with him forever.

"sho, go to bed, you'll find some clothes tomorrow." hawoon broke shotaro's daze.

"no, i need to find them now." the omega shook his head. "if i'm not awake enough tomorrow morning, i'll pick the wrong outfit. so, i should find it now."

hawoon sighed at the boy's behaviour. "alright. can i help you, then?"

"huh... yes please..." shotaro nodded, pulling two shirts out and showing them to hawoon. "should i go with this one which is more a causal vibe, or that one which is shorter and more see-through?"

hawoon frowned at shotaro's choice of clothes. they didn't fit him – not that they wouldn't look good on him, actually, they surely would because shotaro could pull anything; but they weren't his style.

shotaro always wore cute things, oversized clothes, sweater paws, his signature pastel purple colour... and the clothes he had selected were far from beign cute. they were sexier, more mature, and it was obvious that shotaro wouldn't feel comfortable wearing them.

"why aren't you dressing like you usually do?" hawoon asked, approaching the open closet.

"i-i don't know... i want to look pretty for them..." he admitted shyly.

"i'm sure they'll find you pretty whatever you're wearing, sho..." hawoom reassured the boy. "you don't have to wear things that you aren't comfortable with to pelase them."

"r-really?" the omega asked with a glint of hope in his eyes.

"of course." hawoon nodded. "can I?"

shotaro nodded, allowing hawoon to rummage through his closet and pull out a set of clothes that fit shotaro ten times more than what he had previously selected.

"here." hawoon showed the fit to shotaro. "white wide jeans, a white tank top, and a pastel purple button-up shirt that you'll leave open. this would be perfect."

"i like it, thank you." shotaro nodded, his eyes glistening in happiness.

"you're welcome. and you could accessorize this with silver jewellery and a purple bag." hawoon continued.

"thank you so much hawoon." shotaro stated, wrapping his arms around his sister's boyfriend to embrace him in a hug.

hawoon didn't hesitate to hug the boy back. it felt good for him to know that this cute baby omega had finally found his mates, and that he would be protected by them at all costs.

"you're welcome sho." he replied. "now, go to bed, you need to rest."

"goodnight, hawoon." shotaro pecked the boy's cheek.

"goodnight sho."

and with that being said, the omega hopped to his bed, sliding under the covers and falling asleep almost instantly, the only thought of his 22 mates making him feel safer than ever.