Chapter Text
Chan was thirteen when he met Felix.
He had moved with his family from Sydney to Seoul a little over a month earlier, joined the music club at his new school, and for some reason — even though he was new to the school but already had experience — was appointed leader of one of the club’s three groups. That’s how he and Minho ended up working together for the first time. Lee Minho was probably the most prominent dancer in the dance club, the leader of his own group, and when the teachers decided to organize a collaboration between their clubs in the form of a performance, Chan and Minho were put in charge of the planning.
The first time they met to discuss it, they went to Chan’s house. The second time, Chan visited the Lee family’s quaint home. They had been busy long enough for the sun to set and for Minho’s mother to return home with his younger brother in tow. Chan heard the sound of excited footsteps approaching his spot on the living room rug next to Minho, and then he saw him.
Lee Felix was a little bundle of energy as he burst through the living room door, his immaculate white taekwondo uniform half-open, holding a yellow belt and shouting to his brother about having moved up a rank. He had big eyes and freckles that stood out against his sun-tanned skin; a tiny golden star was stuck to his forehead as if it had been a gift from someone. Felix spoke loudly and with breathtaking enthusiasm. Chan was so captivated by his excited rambling that he barely noticed Felix staring at him curiously from his spot next to his brother.
Felix blinked and then asked Minho what Chan’s name was — despite Chan standing right in front of him. Then, the very next second, he was approaching Chan with all the innocence an eleven-year-old could have, showing off his new belt and asking if he wasn’t amazing for having moved up a rank so quickly. His big brown eyes sparkled, eagerly awaiting a compliment from this new person he’d just met.
The first word that came to Chan’s mind at that moment was: adorable.
He accidentally let the word slip, making his own ears turn red and prompting Minho to let out a wry laugh, but it left Felix completely ecstatic, as if it were the first time he’d ever tasted chocolate and discovered that addictive sweetness.
Something changed in Chan’s life after that day.
As a friend of Minho’s, it was normal for them to visit each other’s homes after school to talk about their respective problems with their clubs or play video games. As the years went by, Chan would be lying if he said he didn’t much prefer going to Minho’s house than inviting him over to his own. Hearing Felix’s excited voice calling him “Channie-hyung” whenever he saw him at home made Chan’s heart do a funny little somersault every single time.
Felix was constantly hovering around Chan whenever he saw an opportunity — and even when there wasn’t one. He’d snuggle up close to Chan when he and Minho were in the living room and start telling him about everything he’d done that day, eagerly awaiting Chan’s encouraging comments with that pouty little face that had become his trademark. Felix would sneak into Minho’s room when they were busy and demand, in that petulant yet cute way that only he was capable of, that they include him in whatever they were doing for fun at that moment — only being satisfied when Chan managed to convince Minho to let him join in.
Minho used to complain that he was losing his spot as Felix’s favorite hyung, but Chan knew there was no resentment behind his words. He knew Chan couldn’t resist doing whatever Felix asked, and he always teased him about it whenever he could. Minho would say that Chan was turning his little brother into an extremely spoiled little pest, but who could blame him?
Chan was fifteen when he presented. No one was surprised that he was an alpha, or that Minho presented as an alpha too, not long after. The admiration in Felix's eyes when Chan told him that his sense of smell seemed much sharper now was so endearing that Chan wanted to pull him into a tight embrace.
Shortly after turning sixteen, his cousin Jisung moved near where his family lived and started attending the same school as everyone else in the neighborhood. Jisung was genuinely shy around people he didn’t feel close to; he was always clinging to Chan at family gatherings to avoid answering the adults’ awkward questions. Chan didn’t think twice before dragging him — one weekend before school started — over to the Lee family’s house so he could meet them. Felix and he were the same age, so with any luck they might end up in the same class, which would put Chan’s mind at ease a little more.
He wasn’t surprised when Felix and Jisung hit it off — after all, behind all of Felix’s spoiled attitude, he was just a little ray of sunshine —but he just didn’t expect their friendship to work out so well, to the point where they even threw joint birthday parties because their birthdays were so close together. Minho complained that, because Chan had introduced them, he never had any peace in his own home again.
The two were like twins born to different mothers. They were so similar that they both presented as omegas just one month apart.
If you asked Chan what was the first thing that came to mind about what Felix and Jisung had in common, he’d have a single answer on the tip of his tongue: the need for validation.
He didn’t think of it in that negative or stereotypical way — that omegas had to seek validation to be considered good by society. No, the boys’ need for validation was much more about receiving praise with the same intensity as someone lost in the desert desperately searching for a sip of water.
Felix was fascinated by praise in a different way than Jisung, despite everything they had in common. He showed off, recounting what he’d done in his sweetest voice, full of that persuasive tone that gave everyone a visceral need to praise him for his good work. He was always asking what people thought and how he’d done, growing proud and a little spoiled with every new confirmation he received, always craving more — it was always a bonus if it was Chan who was praising him.
Jisung, on the other hand, sought praise in a quiet way. Like when Chan taught him to play the guitar and Jisung managed to play an entire song for the first time without missing a single chord — he waited quietly for Chan to praise him for his success, but without saying a word to persuade him to do so. However, one way he was very much like Felix was that he, too, had someone whose praise always seemed the most special. But unfortunately for him, Minho was much harder to persuade than Chan, who couldn’t resist a pair of sparkling eyes and a face dotted with freckles.
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Something changed in Felix’s relationship with Chan when he came out as an omega.
It started small, he began touching Chan even more, holding onto his arm whenever he ran into him in the kitchen, resting his head on his shoulder when they sat in the living room to watch a movie. It seemed as though he made a point of subtly rubbing his alpha scent glands against Chan to mark him with his scent whenever he saw him — in that discreet way, as if there were no ulterior motive behind it.
At first, Chan really did think there was no intention behind his little actions. Felix was his best friend’s little brother, his cousin’s best friend, and that same kid who would scream with joy whenever Chan deliberately let him win a round of whatever game they were playing together. One moment, they were children in a brotherly relationship that made their parents sigh with admiration; the next, Felix would refuse to give Chan’s phone number to any omega who asked him — or even if he saw them asking Chan directly, he had absolutely no shame about sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.
The worst moments of Chan’s life were when Felix hit puberty.
The first situation that made Chan question all his life choices was when the omega bleached his hair until it was the perfect shade of blonde, making his freckles stand out as if they were little stars on his face. He came up to Chan with a smile wider than his cheeks, shaking out the long strands of hair that hadn’t seen a pair of scissors in a long time, teasing and nudging Chan until his ears turned bright red and he admitted that Felix looked incredibly handsome as a blonde. Felix let out a little squeal of joy and laughed in an almost smug way that day.
Then came the problem with the clothes.
Dear god, and what clothes.
One afternoon, Chan and Minho were studying arithmetic in the classroom when Felix came in, practically skipping, with Jisung in tow. He feigned surprise at seeing Chan there — as if he hadn’t been hanging around there for years — stopped right in front of him, and twirled in place in his beautiful new short pleated skirt. Chan had no words to describe what he felt, but don’t ask if he felt all the blood rushing to a very specific place that day.
When he managed to elicit a stammered compliment from Chan, the omega’s Cheshire-like grin only widened. He pulled Jisung closer and, with veiled, feigned innocence, asked Minho if Jisung didn’t look incredible with the way the crop top showed off his stomach. Jisung blushed; Minho barely moved, raising an accusatory eyebrow at his brother and declaring that he wouldn’t fall for his tricks because he wasn’t as weak-willed as Chan.
Chan was way more fun than Minho — Felix’s words, not his.
With each passing day, Felix became more persistent in his advances. Chan was torn between the overwhelming attraction he felt for him and his guilt. The guilt of being so interested in his best friend’s little brother gnawed at him more and more with every new day that Felix batted those long eyelashes in his direction. Chan spent a few months torn between longing and self-restraint, until Felix couldn’t take it anymore and put an end to it.
He was the most persistent omega Chan had ever met in his life. If he were a predator, Felix would be exactly the type to attack his prey without hesitation, no matter how much larger and stronger his prey might be than him.
On that particular night, Felix dragged Chan by the hand into his bedroom, locked the door, and shoved him until the backs of his knees hit the bed. With a feline gaze, he crawled onto his lap before the alpha had a chance to escape. He looked him in the eyes and stated in no uncertain terms that he'd been trying to seduce him ever since Chan had introduced himself, and that he knew Chan felt the same way, because the alpha's gaze was so intense it sent shivers down his spine
Chan, powerless and practically at the mercy of the younger omega, saw no other choice but to surrender to his most primitive instincts.
They had their first time right there in Felix’s childhood bedroom. Wet kisses, sweaty bodies, and breathless whispers. Chan was calm and gentle, treating the omega as if he were made of glass as he traced every tiny curve of his body. Later, Felix had to reassure him at least three times that it was normal to bleed a little the first time — and that Chan hadn’t hurt him — before he fell into an overwhelming spiral of self-blame.
They were still naked and sweaty, their limbs tangled together, when Chan asked him to be his boyfriend. Felix smiled, kissed him again, and then complained profusely about how long it had taken Chan to face his own feelings. Chan kissed him to shut him up before he burst with embarrassment.