→ Sosuke:

Five years prior to Sosuke’s current dilemma saw him scrubbing the hell out of his boxer briefs in the small bathroom sink, too ashamed to have his mom see or even smell the foreign drainage. He was already two weeks into his long-awaited summer break and not only did he have yet to play a single dungeon run with his best friend, Tobias Torres, but he’d been experiencing all sorts of weird pains since he turned twelve three weeks ago.

First came the uncomfortably warm sensation in what he thought was his stomach, but later realized was actually his groin. He’d retired to his room right after dinner the next day, only to roll around on the bed for hours.

Then came his sudden fascination in his mother’s ALPHA magazines she kept in the bathroom. He would never understand why she felt the need to read what he thought was borderline porn when she had his amazing dad. Was it because he was a dominant beta?

The explanation she provided him didn’t make sense until he picked up the magazine himself. Tobias had given him a rather lame excuse for skipping out on their first summer weekend, and then Sosuke had ended up toilet-bound. He’d flipped through the thin pages to see for himself what his mother found so fascinating.

A rather excessive close-up of a model’s open mouth gave him pause. Under normal circumstances, Sosuke would’ve scoffed at such a cocky grin, but there was something about the abnormally large incisors, the cascading drool—the visual made him feel so hot all over his stool slipped right out.

He'd dropped the magazine back into the toilet-side holder and booked it to his room immediately, locking himself in until the strange feeling subsided.

The worst of all Sosuke’s troubles was the fruity scent that started soon after. He knew his mother’s lemon squares would get to him one day! The smell seemed to follow him everywhere, and he constantly had to steal his older brother’s cologne to mask it.

When the stench first began, Sosuke thought his prankster brother had set off a bomb in his room as a joke, and promptly opened the window to air it out. But one morning turned into every night thereafter, and Sosuke couldn't continue simply chalking it up to his brother playing a sick trick on him.

And this latest, present-day horror only confirmed his suspicion that he himself was releasing the lemony scent since it smelled just like it (Sosuke, like any other curious boy, had to investigate the unknown substance by “taking a whiff,” of course).

Sosuke's mother, Su Takahashi, gave him her award-winning squinty eyes a couple times during the past week whenever he came out of hiding, but he had refused to confide in her. At least not until he could first figure it out on his own. Plus, her meddling was seriously next level and he didn't want to invoke more chaos.

The final straw was thanks to Sosuke's next discovery whilst showering. He'd discarded his soiled and—now pre-soaked by hand—clothes and promptly hopped into the stall, hoping the hot water would wash away his fruity scent. But of course, the steam actually brought the opposite effect: the whole bathroom was taken over by the smell of fresh-cut lemons.

Sosuke became a master of the two-minute, military-style routine because of the inevitable permeation. But his luck had finally run out when he brushed over an opening that never existed before. And, like any preteen coming into puberty for the first time, he screamed bloody murder.

Thankfully for him, Su was too busy trying to administer Sosuke’s brother’s daily medicine to really notice the middle schooler’s anguish. Yet the preteen ran out to the kitchen to force her attention the second he left the shower, clad in only a towel around his waist.

“Mamaaaa!” Sosuke cried and tugged at her cutesy, “#1 Tiger Mom” apron (which he loved because it fit his mother to an absolute t). His brother fixed him with his signature puppy eyes, retaining hope somehow that Sosuke would save him from the torment (which he hadn’t done in years, especially after the time their mom made him play “pass the meds” when he was only ten years old). “Moooooom! Please hurry up—he’s looking at meeee.”

“Quit your whinin’ an’ let go, Sosuke Haneul!” Su ordered in her thick Korean accent, pushing against the small preteen. “You distract him and you know this takes pri-or-ity. Go wait in your room.”

“But moooom,” Sosuke exclaimed and reluctantly took a step back. “There’re parts that weren’t there before…” he mumbled to his bare feet.

“What?” Su snapped and looked back, loosening the iron grip she had on her teenage alpha son.

“Freedoooooom!” Sosuke’s brother yodeled, wiggling out of Su’s clutches to leap away. “No pillsies todaaaaaaay!”

Su scoffed at her tyrant son’s eccentricities and grabbed hold of her tiny smartass instead. If Sosuke’s confession was true, then she had bigger fish to fry than worrying about her handicapped teenager skipping a day.

(She’d get him again when he least suspected it, anyhow.)

“Come now,” Su whisper-shouted, dragging her still-damp youngest son by the arm. She steered Sosuke into his own room in case the boy released any pheromones. No matter how small the potential explosion might be, Su did not want to suffer at night because of it.

“Lay down,” Su demanded after giving her son a gentle push toward the bed. She locked the door behind them to prevent her curious first-born from snooping. Ever the obedient son, Sosuke did as she instructed.

“Good boy,” Su praised. She walked right up to the edge of Sosuke’s bed and yanked his towel off, tossing it unceremoniously behind.

“Ma!” he balked and made to cover his private parts.

“What do you think I’m going to do, Sosuke Haneul,” his mother questioned and crossed her arms. “Violate my prepubescent son? Spread those damn legs apart and let your mother see what’s going on.”

Sosuke groaned and moved both arms to cover his eyes instead, too embarrassed to watch. He was at the age where it felt wrong to have his mother see him nude, even if it was for a necessary inspection that he asked for in the first place.

“Aiyaaaa,” Su exclaimed after half a minute’s glance. Sosuke cracked his arms apart to gauge her expression, and was surprised to see genuine concern. Then he released the strangest sound when she dared to poke him—the kind of cry he imagined was what the omega’s “chirp” sounded like, which he’d learned about in health class some time ago. Sosuke dropped one arm to cover his mouth and attempted to kick his mother back, but Su caught his leg like a pitcher expecting a baseball.

“I didn’t believe Sophia before, but this is definite proof here I cannot deny.” Su dropped her son’s leg and took a step back, eyes wide. “Get dressed and meet me in the kitchen,” she continued while picking Sosuke’s towel back up. “We have a lot of work ahead of us, so make it quick.” She tossed the towel over her youngest and ignored the incredulous look he gave her.

“But mom!” Sosuke called, scrambling to sit on his calves and clutching the fluffy towel to his chest. Were they always this comfortable, he thought offhandedly. “Y-you didn’t tell me why…or what it is…”

The self-proclaimed #1 Tiger Mom turned to look at the son she poured years into prepping for greatness with sadness. She wanted him to become the super successful alpha she originally intended for her eldest before she discovered he’d be dependent on her and Simeon for the rest of his life. But it was clear to her now she’d been destined for failure from the start.

That wasn’t to say he couldn’t go to an Ivy League college and make a good career for himself, but he’d never receive the same respect that an alpha would, and would likely struggle to be taken seriously at all in any field.

“My poor boy,” Su whispered to him from the doorway. “I’m afraid it means you’ll never be the same again. Now get ready so we can talk somewhere else—I’m sure you miss that troublemaker friend of yours anyway.”

The mere mention of Tobias saw Sosuke jumping from the bed to scrounge around for his nerdiest attire. Su chuckled and promptly left him to his own devices. There was no point in crying over spilt milk, as she liked to put it. She had an equally eccentric Hispanic mother to call and an autistic son to catch before she could refigure her now-omegan son’s future.

This drastic discovery was how Sosuke found out his best friend was having the exact same problems, and subsequently why he was blowing off their dungeon crawls. While the sacrifices they had to make to hide their rare condition were hard, at least they had each other.

And oh how grateful Sosuke was to have Tobias to share his troubles with, because he would’ve likely run away from the glamorous lady that approached them now, five years after they both presented as omega.

Sosuke wasn’t surprised in the slightest that they’d been caught eyeing her stand, but he was shocked she’d dared to actually approach them. They’d debated at least seeing what she’d had to offer, but the sheer fear of coming out to the world kept them from crossing the line.

“I don’t know if I’m more weirded out by the fact she came to us, or honored she somehow saw potential in us,” Sosuke piped up from behind Tobias.

“Dunno, Sosuke, but I think we should say hi. Better than standing here like the dweebs we are,” Tobias said and rearranged the slipping fliers in his arms. He stepped forward with purpose, dragging Sosuke with him since the teen hung from him.

“But Tobias,” Sosuke whisper-shouted as he stumbled along. “This is not going to help our game creation in the slightest. And she only takes girls,” the teen continued, excuses coming out faster and quieter the closer they got.

“We need a summer job, not a contractual commitment!” Sosuke smacked into Tobias’ back when he stopped dead in his tracks. Tobias turned to face Sosuke and fixed him with a stern face.

“So what?” his best friend started. “I don’t see why we can’t do college and this at the same time. Or at least save up for our game. Hell, the fame this job would bring us would be enough to earn a pretty penny off a kickstarter and hire a whole team to help work on our baby.” Tobias placed his free hand on Sosuke’s shoulder, leaning down to meet his eyes. “So yes, I’m going to entertain the scary lady’s stand. But I’m not going to do it without you so come on now—let’s at least hear her out.”

With a heavy sigh, Sosuke gave a hesitant nod of approval and Tobias braved the minefield ahead with Sosuke still clinging onto his back. The slightly-older teen halted directly in front of the very vibrant stand and awarded the tall, retired model what Sosuke deemed as Tobias’ “you have five seconds to pique my interest or I’m leaving” smile.

Sosuke stopped just behind his best friend and peered out from the side, trying to ignore the few glances from nearby or passing classmates. The pristine model sitting behind the booth looked them up-and-down before swiveling in her seat to face her boss. She dropped her pink puffball-ended pen on the just-as-equally-pink-covered table and crossed her arms. Sosuke broke out into a cold sweat and tightened his grip on Tobias’ button-down tenfold.

“How did you know?” Tobias whispered, unphased by the mini boss’ judgment.

“You have your tells,” the woman running the stand responded. “But it helps that I’ve been looking for a while,” she smirked.

“Well, your ‘tell’ is wrong because we’re just two betas applying for tech positions,” Tobias lied with his head held high. The booth owner snickered, amused at the boy’s shifty glances between the many female omegas stalking her stand.

The CEO of OMEGA Magazine slammed her hands down and leaned over the table, close to Tobias’ face. “Your fear of exposure here is misplaced when the whole world will see you in my magazine,” she said with a borderline hiss. Sosuke could feel Tobias tense, but his best friend held his proud stance firm.

The scary lady cleared her throat and straightened up when Tobias made no other remark, which Sosuke took as a sort of approval from her. “For your unique assets, I’m willing to offer you both a cut above my average first-year, and you will be personally trained by me,” the CEO said, unphased by the confused teen girls behind the boys.

She picked up one of the business cards from the table and a pen. Sosuke stepped out from behind Tobias to better block the unnecessary spectators, but also to help quell the growing animosity he felt from his fellow omegan brother.

“Here,” the boss lady said and handed the card to Tobias. She had written something on the back of it, but he wasn’t able to make it out from Tobias’ grip on the card. “I won’t keep you long, so you can call me with all the questions you surely have. I promise the pay-off will be worth it for both of you,” she finished with a smug smile, and Sosuke got the impression this lady was rarely told no.

“Thanks for the offer,” Sosuke piped out. The scary boss lady raised an eyebrow at his sudden appreciation. He tugged on Tobias’ sleeve then, effectively shocking the teen back into reality.

Tobias gave the OMEGA CEO a curt nod and led Sosuke over to the next booth. Their previous audience surrounded the booth the second they left, and Sosuke could just make out a few of them fighting for a business card. Sosuke pulled Tobias away from the neighboring booth and headed for the center of the cafeteria.

“What did she write on the back?” Sosuke asked when they were in the clear. He dropped his binder portfolio onto one of the many empty tables and took a seat.

“It’s just a number,” Tobias said as he sat down beside Sosuke. He passed the card to Sosuke and rested his face in his hands. “Probably a personal cell phone since there was already a business number on there.”

“Really?” Sosuke squinted at the pink ink and briefly pondered why everything OMEGA had to be in pink all the time. “Maybe she doesn’t want us to talk to her receptionist?” Tobias laughed at his suggestion, but Sosuke knew he likely agreed.

“She’s probably on some secret mission to find an ‘omega male’ candidate for sure. But she must be really desperate to come to a low-end high school fair like ours, that’s for sure,” Tobias said.

“Oh, that’s undeniable,” Sosuke agreed and passed the business card back over. Tobias ignored the card and watched one of the janitors mop the kitchen area. Sosuke sighed and stared over at the booth area. “Question is, are we desperate enough to be her guinea pigs?”

Tobias chuckled and moved his stare to Sosuke’s wary face. He gave one of his signature, dimple-exposing grins. Sosuke had just enough time to block his nose from the oncoming flick. He stuck his tongue out at his best friend and they both had a laugh.

“Well,” Tobias said after they calmed down. “Let’s look at the other booths and leave the decision-making to later, eh?” Sosuke rubbed under his nose and nodded.

“Aye, aye, Captain!”