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When Kai was scouted, his medical chart still reflected no secondary gender, but it was known that he came from a family with four generations of male alphas, not to mention his older sister was an alpha too—and that a few years down the road, Hiyyih too would present as an alpha.
Everyone, Taehyun included, would have made the safe assumption that Kai was an alpha and would simply be a late bloomer; their company made the same assumption, too, of course, debuting and marketing their boy group as all alphas.
Late bloomers, while not as common, were a known occurrence—and for whatever reason, their fans just ate up the idea of the maknae being the last alpha to present.
But two years into their career and in the middle of a world tour, Kai’s first heat broke out.
All the members could remember exactly where they had been and what they had been doing when it happened. Everyone had rushed to the youngest’s room when he cried for help, saying he felt sick, only to be washed over with the most mouth-watering, sweet, and delicious scent.
Soobin had been the reluctant voice of reason, saying that it was the worst idea they could have to keep four young and horny alphas around a newly presented omega, especially when all of them were basically bonded together. But all of them had agreed it was in their baby omega’s best interest to scent him, to make sure he didn’t feel rejected.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that they had to hold back Yeonjun from claiming Kai right then and there, and that Kai had been all but begging for it, begging to be claimed by all four of them, actually.
They had been smart enough—and perhaps lucky, more than anything—to call for their managers’ help that first time, and have them arrive in such a rush before they could do anything stupid.
For their company, it was easy, keep Kai off their official activities for three days and simply say he was tired, which was often used as an excuse for an idol being on their heat or their rut equally.
There was not even a need to make a statement about Kai being an omega or an alpha; everyone was rolling with the same assumption from years and years back.
Kai was put on medical watch, and soon after scent blockers and suppressants, all of it made it look so easy.
But the reality of it was that there was no easy way to keep four alphas away from who they believed to be their omega, especially not when Kai totally basked in it, luring them into it. There might have been no claiming bites on any of their necks, but it was an undeniable truth, a fact.
Not even two months after Kai presented, still in between concerts, they all knew Soobin had followed after Kai and gone into his hotel room for the night—and they could smell it in the morning. It was intoxicating; there was no claim, no contest, Kai had belonged to all four of them, but now that one of them got to have their omega, they all wanted the same.
It was like Kai had chosen to become an omega just for them, to strengthen their bond as a pack and as a group. To finally erase the thin line between friends and lovers that had long existed amongst the five of them.
Begrudgingly, their company had no choice but to lie for them too; it was as close to perfect as it could be. All they had to do was behave in front of their fans and in front of the cameras, and they could have it all.
They could have Kai, within reason.
But there was very little reasoning involved when they fell into the omega’s arms, maybe no reasoning at all, Taehyun included.
Which is what leads them to this morning.
Taehyun woke up with all his limbs tangled with Kai’s and one of his million plushies digging uncomfortably on his back, that much he was fine with it, the little groans from their omega urging him to stay in bed with him, pouting and still smelling soft and sleepy.
“Can’t do, it’s our day off, going down to the gym with Yeonjun-hyung,” Taehyun said softly, his words muffled as he pressed a kiss into Kai’s hair.
“I can be very good cardio,” Kai purred, rolling on his side already, hugging one of his giant plushies to his chest and blinking up at him. Taehyun swallowed down and looked away, blushing.
“I love you so much, but no.” It wasn’t often that Kai whined, but he did that morning, scooting closer and grabbing at his hand, tugging at it softly.
“Don’t leave me, alpha,” Kai said and Taehyun looked at him right away, slightly concerned at the sad lilt of the omega’s voice.
“Kai, what’s wrong?” When he looked at the younger he found his eyes big and shiny with unshed tears, before Kai was blinking and shaking his head, letting go of his hand and nuzzling into the plushie again.
“I don’t feel good, don’t go, please.” Taehyun brought a hand down to run his fingers through Kai’s soft blonde locks, uncovering his forehead and pressing his palm there. Kai was only looking up at him with the same pleading eyes.
“You feel a bit warm, but your heat is not close by. Are you sick?” Kai shakes his head, leaning into Taehyun’s touch when he touches his cheek. Preening.
“No! Don’t take my baby!” The omega cries when Taehyun takes the large bunny plushie that Kai was holding onto.
“Sweetheart, please, I just want to make sure you’re okay.” But Kai isn’t listening to reason, eyes filling up with tears again. Taehyun frowns as he gives back the plushie and watches the omega curling up around it, nuzzling harder into it.
He sits in their bed again—well, it's Tajeyun’s bed, but Kai started making a nest in his room about a week earlier, nothing out of the ordinary—petting his lover’s hair, moving closer to nuzzle him and rub against his scent gland to try and calm him down.
“It’s okay, Kai, I’ll stay here with you. What do you want, sweetheart?” Kai turns to him, nuzzling into his side and wrapping his arms around Taehyun’s middle; the omega clearly didn’t smell sick, in fact he smelled warm, healthy.
“Just stay with me, don’t leave.” Taehyun sighs, but he agrees right away, he’d never leave knowing Kai felt distressed of course. What baffles him is that not even two minutes later of petting the omega’s hair he’s fallen asleep again, and the plushie Kai had been hugging is not half digging against his thigh.
‘Hyungs, I think something is wrong with Kai, everyone come to my room please.’
No questions whatsoever, three thumbs up reactions show on the message right away, and Yeonjun is the first one typing.
‘JunHyung:
Omw, do I bring anything?’
Taehyun looks down at their mate again, presses his palm on his forehead, on his cheek, and on his neck, checking his temperature again just in case he missed something obvious the first time.
Watches closely as the omega sleeps, peaceful as ever, as if nothing had ever bothered him, but then he thinks of the outburst just minutes earlier, at the verge of tears.
‘Water… his cookies maybe? Idk’
Soobin knocks at the door twice but doesn’t wait for an answer to open and let himself in, first his head poking in and cautiously smelling the room, and then walking in with Beomgyu following just two steps behind him and doing the same.
“It’s usually bad if you don’t know what’s wrong,” Beomgyu whispers, now standing next to the bed and watching Kai sleeping. Soobin moves closer, nuzzling Taehyun and then sniffing at Kai, trying not to disturb him.
“He doesn’t smell sick, or distressed,” Soobin comments, a frown settled on his face already. Taehyun can only nod, but doesn’t offer anything yet, and wants to make sure Yeonjun will be there too.
“Ahh! There’s my leather jacket, no wonder I couldn’t find it, I wanted to wear it two days ago,” Beomgyu pouts, staring at a spot in the bed where the jacket must be buried in the pile of Kai’s nest.
“Is it nesting problems then?” Yeonjun’s voice startles all of them, turning towards the door where their oldest member is walking in, arms full with water bottles and bags of snacks.
“Yeah, what happened, Taehyun?” Soobin asks, and even if he tries to act calm, keeping his voice low and steady his scent betrays him quickly. Anxious, worried.
Taehyun is still sitting in bed, with Kai curled up against him, with his fingers still threading the omega’s hair, half covering his ear with his palm so as to not rouse him.
“For one, he didn’t wake up before I did, but I just thought he might be tired,” Taehyun starts, looking down at their mate again, seeing some heads nodding as they follow along. “I didn’t see or smell anything odd, but when I tried to leave he got up so quickly and almost started crying asking me to not leave him.”
Yeonjun, who was hovering by the end of the bed already, sits down carefully, placing all the stuff he brought for Kai near the omega’s legs, reaching out to him and touching his middle over the blanket getting nothing but a groan from Kai.
“Kai, wake up darling,” Yeonjun coos softly, squeezing Kai’s arm softly and watching as their youngest woke up again, cheeks rosy and smelling as sweet as ever.
“Hi~” Kai sing-songs for them, sleepy eyes blinking up at all the alphas in the room, barely making himself sit up straighter now pressed against Taehyun’s arm. “Why is everyone here? Did you buy me a surprise gift again?”
“Hmm, maybe we should’ve done that, he looks totally fine,” Beomgyu says, his tone turning deadpan at the end and patting Soobin’s shoulders, trying to force him to relax. But Soobin only groans.
“Kai, Taehyun called us over because he was worried about how you got… sad when he tried to leave to the gym earlier?” Kai blinks slowly, shrinking on himself a bit and blushing, pulling his plushie higher to his face.
“Oh, I worried you? I’m sorry.” Kai turns towards Taehyun and nuzzles against his shoulder as an apology, planting a chaste kiss on the covered skin.
“It’s okay, but we just want to make sure you’re fine.” The omega looks at the rest again and smiles before he nods enthusiastically.
“Sorry for worrying everyone, I think maybe I just wanted to keep someone with me to scent me, I know my heat is not close but…” Yeonjun growls dramatically then, crawling into the bed until he’s flopping down on top of Kai and making him squeal.
“Nonsense, darling, you can always ask us to give you more attention. I’ll sacrifice myself today and stay with you in bed,” Yeonjun says in between kisses, littering the omega’s face and his neck.
“Sorry for worrying you guys,” Taehyun says, mostly towards Beomgyu and Soobin, who had been left standing around the room, equally both as concerned for their omega but trying to hide it in different ways.
Beomgyu is the one moving closer now, nuzzling Taehyun and kissing his cheek. “It’s okay, you were just being a good mate. Now get out, you’ve been hogging up Kai. I will stay with him too.”
Kai is too busy, currently held down by Yeonjun, who’s scenting him properly, to notice the switch of people around in bed, seemingly content with just having one—or more—of his alphas in bed.
“I guess I can go to the gym with you, since Yeonjun oh so bravely sacrificed himself,” Soobin deadpans, rolling his eyes when Yeonjun takes a split second to turn towards him and poke his tongue out.
Things feel normal and happy again. Kai is laughing and getting kisses and plenty of attention from Yeonjun while Beomgyu whines at Yeonjun to move and make space for him.
It’s not that it’s a small bed, not at all, but Kai’s nest is way too crowded with plushies, blankets and stolen shirts—so naturally, Beomgyu starts with the biggest plushie.
Just as Soobin and Taehyun step outside the room, they hear Kai whining and crying like he’d been hurt, snapping at Yeonjun and Beomgyu.
“Let go of me, give me my baby! It’s mine!” The scene greeting them back is nothing like three seconds ago, Yeonjun is now sitting back, hands held up as to not touch Kai, and the omega has one hand wrapped around Beomgyu’s wrist, small claws digging into the skin and his other arm clutching around the plushie.
“Kai let go! What are you doing?” Beomgyu says, exasperated and clearly trying to hold back from growling at Kai, to not intimidate the omega into submission; but it’s clear that Beomgyu is thrown off, smelling equal parts worried and angry.
And just like that Kai starts crying, letting go of Beomgyu. “I’m sorry, I-I don’t know why I did that,” Kai says in between cries.
“What did you do?” Soobin accuses Beomgyu, and then Yeonjun, baring his fangs at them, scolding them. Beomgyu growls back but it’s only half hearted, doing their best to not further distress their omega.
“We don’t know, he just got up and yelled.” Taehyun glances from Beomgyu’s wrist where he can make out the pink marks of Kai’s claws having dug into the skin, to their crying omega nuzzling into his plushie.
“Kai, why did you get upset? We’re not mad at you, you can tell us,” Soobin says, taking a few steps towards the bed but simply crouching in front of it, careful of not invading Kai’s space.
“I don’t know, I swear…” Kai pouts.
“Did I hurt you? Did you feel like I was grabbing you too roughly? Did Beomgyu touch you somewhere you didn’t like?” Yeonjun asks, but Kai only shakes his head no.
“You’re mad at me, don’t leave me, please.” That's what Kai says, curling into himself again. Taehyun thinks back to what he did earlier, to what he said earlier, to what Kai had said earlier.
“Fuck,” Taehyun groans, one hand going to cover his face, knowing there are four sets of eyes on him now.
“What is it, Taehyunnie?” Soobin asks, knowing he’s already figured out what’s wrong.
But instead of answering, he turns the question to Kai. “What are you holding, Kai?”
“My baby,” Kai speaks softly, like he, too, finally understands now how incriminating it is. “Our baby.”
“What, the plushie? You got upset because Beomgyu grabbed your plushie?” Yeonjun asks, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Kai only whines on the back of his throat.
“Why would you get protective over a plushie?” Beomgyu asks next, but there’s a twitch in his jaw, and his scent turns anxious—betraying that he’s putting all the clues together as well.
Soobin moves closer to the bed again, grabbing Kai’s hand and bringing it to his face, nose pressed to the pulse point in his wrist.
“So sweet… you smell so sweet, Kai.” Soobin mutters, kissing the skin delicately, sighing loudly, and letting his forehead drop forward, resting on top of the blankets now, slowly accepting the idea he had created. “And nesting too, such a good omega.”
“Kai always smells sweet… and nesting, isn’t that normal? Besides! Kai’s heat is not close; it was less than a month ago, we already ruled that out. Yeonjun’s voice has a strain to it that he cannot hide anymore.
The omega is nuzzling into Soobin’s hand, thrilling and blushing. Kai doesn’t need to say anything, doesn’t smell distressed. Why would he? His brain is telling him right now that everything is perfect. All his alphas are in the very same room, washing him with attention and affection.
“But you have been using protection, right, Kai?” Taehyun drops the question out of nowhere, breaking the peace between them.
It’s not April Fools, not even one of their birthdays—and more than anything. Kai isn’t breaking into laughter at his own antics. Silence settles in the room as Taehyun and Kai stare at each other.
“Like you’re not guilty of it too,” Kai quips back, and Beomgyu huffs out, a sound caught between a laugh and a cry, running his hands through his long hair and pulling at it some. “None of us has used protection. I wanted to be bred by my alphas.”
“Holy shit, we’re gonna be dads,” Beomgyu says, eyes wide in pure shock, looking at Kai like he’s never seen him before, staring at the omega’s body.
“No way…” Yeonjun is sliding down to the floor now, with the wall as his only support; he’s as pale as Beomgyu.
“Yes way,” Soobin looks and sounds all too happy, muttering something under his breath that only Kai seems to catch, nodding and blushing happily.
“Soobin-hyung, you’re not thinking clearly. Kai is pregnant, they’re going to kill us all,” Taehyun says, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning, but just one worried glance from Kai makes him crumble too—watching as the omega drags one of his hands to his still-flat tummy and clutches the fabric on top.
“They will take our baby?” Kai asks, at the verge of tears again, holding his plushie tighter, closer.
“No.” All three voices say at once, Soobin, Yeonjun, and Beomgyu show zero hesitation, and Taehyun almost wants to laugh, but his throat feels tight just thinking about the possibility.
“We don’t know… not for sure yet, but we will do whatever Kai wants,” Soobin speaks, and Taehyun nods; they all nod.
“I have a list of baby names already,” Kai says, suddenly cheerful again, and Soobin laughs, loud and hearty, but then it turns into a sniff, a hiccup as he tries to hold back his tears.
“Don’t fucking start crying, hyung,” Beomgyu laughs, even if his voice breaks at the end of that sentence.
The room is quiet for a second, Yeonjun crawls into bed and drapes himself over Kai again, kissing his face, arm around his middle, and then everyone is squirming their way in, trying to get their hands on Kai, careful not to mess with the pile of plushies that get a priority over them apparently.
Taehyun knows they can’t just speculate, for all they know they could be wrong, Kai could just be wishing he was pregnan and his body is indulging him for a bitt, if the list of baby names is any indication. They need to do a pregnancy test before they tell their managers somehow…
“Wait, so who’s the real father?” Beomgyu dares to ask. And all the calm they built is gone in a second.
“What the fuck do you mean real father? Do you have a death wish?” Yeonjun barks, pushing Beomgyu off the bed.
“Oh my god, I think I would rather kill myself than know the baby isn’t at least one tiny bit mine,” Soobin says, sounding a bit too serious for a second.
“I’m just saying! If we know none of us was using protection, is it the first person or the last person that was with him during his last heat?” Beomgyu doubles down, and Yeonjun bolts out of the bed to punch him on the arm.
“I swear to god I will punch you in the face…” Kai only giggles, tugs at the sleeve of Soobin’s shirt, urging him closer now that there’s an empty space on one of his sides, and Soobin obliges, wrapping his arms around the omega. Taehyun ends up sitting on his other side, caressing Kai’s face again.
“We need to make sure, before you continue with the list of baby names, Kai,” Taehyun speaks softly, as if not to scare him or ruin his mood, tracing Kai’s cheekbone.
“You will breed me and knock me up if it didn’t catch this time, right?” Kai purrs his question aimed directly at Taehyun, turning his neck where Soobin is pressing his nose into it. “I want a baby, alpha.”
It should be no surprise at all how they ended up like this, not when their mate makes the cutest face as he begs them for a baby. It’s the weakness that all four of them share, having ignored reason and responsibility for a chance to please their omega.
Even Taehyun finds himself nodding, promising to Kai anything he so wishes for. Ignoring the reality of their careers, of their image, ignoring that part of his mind that tells at him about how dangerous this is.
But, god, he would have to be insane to deny himself the pleasure of daydreaming about their omega pregnant with their pup, of Kai’s sweet scent, of his body, about raising a family together.
Taehyun’s bed isn’t big enough for five grown men, especially not when it involves Yeonjun and Beomgyu who are still arguing about the mechanics and logic of getting Kai pregnant and trying to shove some blankets away.
“Someone needs to sneak out and buy a pregnancy test,” Kai speaks, his soft voice renders them all quiet, stops the movement around the room.
“Rock, paper, scissors, loser has to go, shoot!” Soobin raises his voice and then his fist. Kai giggles and just nuzzles into his pillow again, about ready to fall asleep in his makeshift nest.