Chapter Text
Doyoung was an enigma to put it kindly. The world would call him an abomination. At the age of 15 - the peak of puberty, he presented as an omega. But nobody could figure out if he was really an omega because he didn't smell like one. The healers were baffled too, until one confirmed that he was - but with a condition.
There was a one in a million chance of a scentless omega existing. And Doyoung was (un)lucky enough to get that chance.
So he grew up shunned by his peers, scared that they would catch what he had - as if being around someone scentless could render the same condition. But what people didn't know can never be understood. And when dealt with the unknown, people tend to twist it into one big fat harmful lie.
Because as years went by, Doyoung found himself loathed by his peers because they believed him to suck your scent from you and claim it as his own.
It was harmless the first few months until it turned malicious. The whispers turned to verbal harassment. Avoiding him turned to shoving him every chance they could. Fear does things to people, Doyoung would say to himself. He understood and he hated it.
It was too much for his family - but they never made Doyoung feel like it was.. His parents treated him like he was normal and maybe even showered him with more affection. They say it's because he's the baby in the family - Doyoung thought so otherwise. His older brother went above and beyond to protect him. His hyung, Gongmyeong was an Alpha so that helped a bit. But there was just too much fear around him to fight off. His brother was relentless though and never failed to make Doyoung feel like there was nothing wrong.
"It's like a birthmark, most people don't have it - just a few. I don't even know anyone who has one."
A birthmark - a rather unfortunate one.
The harassment he received flowed over to his family and Doyoung knew they had to make changes. He could smell how much it affected his family, which was ironic. Because the lack of having a scent heightened his senses, similar to an alpha’s with his capacity to smell. It was getting too much, he could smell it so they needed to do the extreme, they needed to move.
And as if the universe wanted them out of their hometown, it all aligned with his father receiving a transfer to the main office in the city where his brother was accepted to University. Doyoung demanded a family meeting, where he discussed the need to take artificial scent pills. They were against it obviously.
"We don't know what that'll do to you, Doie." His mother would reason out.
"It can't be worse than what I already have - or don’t rather.”
"It might mess up your cycle." She argued and she had a point. Because despite not having a scent, he still had a regular cycle. His pheromones were still normal, his heats came whenever they should. But his scent just wasn't there. An enigma.
"Please. I don't want us to go through the same thing in the city. It's a clean slate, my second chance. Please.. I just want to be normal."
"You are no--"
"Don't finish that sentence hyung because the world thinks so otherwise."
And it was decided. He had his pick of the scent that was more on the common side - a fruity-floral scent - reminiscent of tangerines and magnolia. And after assimilating to the pills, Doyoung felt excited. Their life in the city would be so different.
**
It's been 4 years since they moved. Doyoung was now entering his third year of college, his older brother in his last. Their dad was promoted every year because he had much less problems to worry about at home and focused on providing for the family and is now a director of Finance at his company. His mother too started a little business making homemade condiments that sold like hotcakes. Their life was blossoming so well because Doyoung wasn't a problem anymore, he himself would like to think. The pills did him no harm, just gave him a scent. Everything was how it was supposed to be.
It was the summer before his third year at university. Everybody was occupied this summer that they couldn't go on a summer holiday so Doyoung found himself with too much time in his hands. His friends too had their own plans. Taeyong, an omega he met his last year of highschool was off to meet Johnny's parents having mated with the alpha the day after classes ended. Yuta & Sicheng who he met at university flew back to their respective countries for summer. Everybody he was close with was out of the city so he was left to his own devices.
"Maybe you should find work? Get a part-time job this summer?" Taeyong said over their video call, Yuta and Sicheng both nodded in agreement.
"That doesn't sound so bad, right Doie?” Sicheng added.
“At least there’s something to do. And you get moolah!” Yuta said excitedly as if it was him who was gonna get paid. Doyoung just shook his head at Yuta who was now excited. Sicheng was looking at the screen with soft eyes Taeyong and Doyoung had to stifle their snickers. Sicheng had it bad.
Taeyong ended up recommending a cafe that Johnny has connections to. It was their family friend’s business and Johnny could put in a good word for him. It was also just a couple of stops on the metro from his house so it sounded like a plan.
A week after that video call, he found himself on the metro at 9AM. It was his first day at the cafe and he was told to come at around 10:30AM by the manager - his name was Jongin. His shift starts at 1PM but the newbies were asked to come a bit earlier so that he could show them the ropes and treat them to lunch. He was excited about that.
But his nerves were getting to him at every stop. He was told that they were 3 part-timers in total. Doyoung’s never been good with meeting new people, and he was nervous about them finding out his predicament. But he was sure he took his pills. And he could smell himself - something Omega’s couldn’t do. Then again, it wasn’t his real scent. He doesn’t have one anyway.
**
“And that’s how you make espresso! Easy right?” Jongin said as he poured the shots into tiny cups. Jongin was a beta and had a faint scent of cinnamon. They were done with the show-and-tell and Doyoung was feeling confident. The other part-timer was Jungwoo - a fellow omega and incoming university freshman. He smelled of cotton candy - but with a hint of burnt sugar probably because he was nervous about his first day.
Jongin was now leading them to the lockers and was telling them their tasks for the first few days. Doyoung was tasked to shadow Seungcheol and Jeonghan, the staff behind the counter to get used to the flow. The other two were to do clean-up and inventory duty and they’ll do a rotation every two days. They will work half of the operating hours so the three part-timers will overlap.
It was almost lunch time and as promised, Jongin took them to a restaurant where he’d treat the part-timers of them lunch. But as they sat down and said their orders, it was just the three of them - the other part-timer still MIA.
“Sir —“ Doyoung started.
“Jongin’s fine.” The older interrupted with a kind smile.
Doyoung blushed. “Ah— yeah. Jongin, I thought there were three of us? Did the other one back-out?”
Jongin sighed and shook his head. “No, there’s three of you. The last guy doesn’t really need to go through what you did this morning because he’s part-timed before. But he’s still going to benefit from lunch. Speaking of..”
And as if on cue, the door opened and Doyoung felt his skin tingle. He felt the extreme urge to look where the scent was coming from as it kept getting stronger and stronger. He could feel sweat forming on his palms as he tried to maintain his composure. He was sure his nervousness could be smelled, luckily nobody can pin point it to him since his fake scent won’t mix in to his biology.
“Just in time.” Jongin said as Doyoung heard a chair scrape the floor followed by a small thud of someone sitting. The scent was now sitting directly in front of him.
Introductions were made. He could see Jungwoo’s eyes twinkle - could smell his interest, sitting beside their other colleague as they said hi and waved at each other. And when it was his turn, their eyes met and Doyoung had to consciously take in a breath.
Porcelain skin, soft eyes and dimples to die for.
He smiled.
“You must be Doyoung. I’m Jaehyun.”
And for the first time in his life, he felt his omega stir at the attention of this alpha - the scent of campfire, coffee and parchment making his heart soar up in the sky but keeping his feet on the ground.