Chapter Text
He recovered a lot quicker than you did. "Uh, hi! You must be the new translator ... it’s, uh, nice to meet you."
You blinked, unable to take your eyes off his face. Now in broad daylight, you could see that the dark hair you had previously thought black was actually a dark brown, and his smile, although forced, revealed dimples you wouldn’t have been able to see under the mask.
When you introduced yourself, your voice sounded off even to yourself. You coughed, hoping the other two would just think you had something in your throat.
"Right. I'm Bangchan- I mean, my stage name is Bangchan. But you can call me Chan! Or Chris, or Channie, or uh ... whatever you want."
"What do I call you?"
"Hmm, you can call me Alpha."
It seemed that he remembered your past interaction at the same moment you did, because he physically winced. It took every inch of your willpower and having to physically bite down on your tongue to keep yourself from mentioning it.
Jeonhui took a seat next to the manager. "Well, I suppose we should get started."
You pulled your chair out harshly, the metal legs grinding against the tiles with a high-pitched squeak. Chan sat down across from you, but neither one of you looked at the other.
What followed was the most uncomfortable 20 minutes of your life.
The manager, Soojin, talked to you about upcoming activities and the responsibilities you’d be in charge of. Promotional activities, concerts, statements, along with any help that of the other staff members would need with translations. It was a lot of work, but it was doable.
The only thing that stopped you from agreeing immediately-
You lifted your head, meeting Chan’s gaze for the first time since the meeting started. He looked embarrassed at having been caught staring, his eyes flickering to the windows behind you, neck and cheeks slightly flushed. His scent was faint, and it made you want to lean in closer.
You swallowed, forcing yourself to look away.
Soojin took your silence as your answer. "If the schedule doesn’t work, we can put one of the other translators in your place. Youd be in charge of two to three groups at a time, but you’d be working with someone else as well. Our former translators have more experience with the other groups, which is why we would prefer not to move them around, but if it’s too much work-"
"I’ll do it," You cut him off.
You knew their offer had nothing to do with you being an omega. As far as they were aware, you were just a beta. You could take the opportunity, work with another group you’ve never met, never slept with, and have no issues or drama to deal with. But even if it was a logical choice, there was a part of you that hated the thought of running away.
"Are you sure?" Chans eyes were burning a hole in the side of your head.
You met his gaze head on. And you raised your eyebrow. "Will that be a problem?"
His eyes darted down to your lips, then your neck, and they hovered over your clothed body. The smell of tropical fruit got stronger for a split second. You were close enough to smell the hint of arousal in his scent.
Lips pressed against your neck, sucking softly at the skin. You pulled away with a whine.
"No marks, please. I have work."
There was a hand on your stomach, and it pushed your shirt up. His lips disappeared from your still wet neck, reappearing against the tops of your now exposed breasts.
"I assume you mean no marks where they can be seen?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm." He pressed a kiss to your skin, tongue darting out to glide from the tops of your breast towards your nipples. He teasingly pulled against them as he passed, moving to press another kiss just to the side. "Is this okay?"
"Yes," You said, voice breathless.
Chan swallowed roughly. "No. No problem."
He looked away, and with the confirmation from both parties, Soojin and Jeonhui began to set up your workload. While Jeonhui would still be in charge of you at the company, you would report and answer to Soojin for as long as you were working with Stray Kids. You didn’t know how long that would be, but you were determined not to let your special circumstances get in the way of proving yourself.
If you were going to show that omegas could keep up with betas, you couldn’t back out just because it would be hard.
"Well, that seems to be everything for now. I'll have the work sent to you this afternoon so you can get started early tomorrow morning."
The two heads stood up, and began to leave the office room, but Jeonhui paused at the doorway as if suddenly remembering you existed.
"I have to get back to my work now, but if you have any questions, feel free to stop by my office. I suggest getting to know the rest of the Stray Kids staff and members, since you’ll be working closely with them for a while."
And with that she left the two of you in the room alone. The door closed shut behind her with a loud 'click'. There was a moment of silence, before you darted up, trying to make your way to the door as quickly as you could without running.
"Wait!" You paused with your hand on the handle. You didn’t look behind you, but you heard him push his chair back and stand up. "Look, I know this isn’t an ideal situation. But I think we should talk about this."
"What’s there to talk about? We slept together, we didn’t know we both worked for the same company, it’s an embarrassing situation, but it was a one-time thing."
He was silent for a moment, and you were tempted to peek at him, to see what expression he was making. His scent didn’t give anything away, which meant he was still next to the table.
When Chan spoke next, his voice was quiet. "What about ... your status?"
"Status? I’m single," You drawled, hand gripping the handle tighter.
"Thats not what I meant."
"Wasn’t it?"
"I’m just trying- Look, can you at least look at me? Please, I’m not trying to get you in trouble or anything."
You spun around, eyes narrowed. "Trouble for what? You know what I am, and if you really wanted to avoid causing any problems, then you should keep your mouth shut and never bring this up again."
"You're pretending to be a beta," he accused, taking a step forward. "You could get fired if they figure it out, or worse, they could sue you for lying on official documents."
"Don’t worry, I have a good lawyer," You shot back.
Chan took a step forward, and you held your breath as his scent wafted toward you. "How did you even do it? How long can you keep it up before they realize? You're wearing, what? A synthetic scent on you?"
"Synthetic scents have a distinct smell,” You said, looking at the windows. "Pheromone based perfumes don’t."
"Pher- You're wearing someone else’s scent? How do you even get that? Actually, forget it, I don’t want to know."
"You really don’t."
"Is this worth it? Faking your presentation to get a job? Risking the chance of getting blacklisted from the entire industry?! What are you going to do when you have a heat!?" Chan exclaimed.
You rushed forward, smacking a hand over his mouth. "Hey! Are you trying to tell the whole world? Keep your voice down." He blinked but didn’t move. "My life and my sub gender are none of your business. You and I both know those stupid company policies are bullshit, and I have every right to work here. I know the risks, I know the dangers, and I decided to do this despite them because it’s my dream. So don’t try and hit me with this fake sympathy of yours, because I’m not going to suddenly realize what a mistake I’ve made and give up. So do us both a favor, and just drop it, okay?"
You both stood there for a moment, the sudden silence deafening. Chan reached up slowly, hand lightly gripping your wrist and pulling your hand away from his mouth. "The rooms are soundproof."
"Huh?"
"The room? It’s soundproof. I wasn’t trying to reveal anything about you to the world, nobody would have heard."
You gave him a deadpan stare. "Seriously? Is that all you took-"
"And you're right," Chan interrupted. "Those rules are borderline illegal with how discriminatory they are."
You narrowed your eyes. "You're agreeing with me."
He tilted his head in confusion. "Did you expect me not to?"
"A minute ago, you were telling me that I was stupid."
"I never said you were stupid," Chan said, squeezing your wrist gently. Then he let you go completely, taking a step back to put space between the both of you. "Just this ... situation."
"And I told you, I know the risks."
Chan’s jaw clenched. "Do you?"
"I wasn’t joking when I said I had a good lawyer," You reassured him.
"It’s not the legal problems that worry me. There are worse things that can happen than just losing your job," Chan said softly, crossing his arms.
You blinked once, then twice, before it dawned on you. "Oh."
"This industry ... it’s a blessing and a curse. Believe me. But there’s a dark side to it. Even though you don’t hear about it, or see it, you know it’s still happening. And there’s nothing we as artists can do about it."
You swallowed. "Thats not legal."
He gave you a 'no shit' look, and you winced, looking away. The sky outside had begun to darken, storm clouds rolling in over the city, and the growing realization was beginning to make your stomach turn.
"Look, it’s not something you have to worry about. Okay? I won’t let them find out about you. I'll protect you."
You found yourself snorting at that. "I can protect myself just fine, Chan."
"I ... I don’t doubt that."
Silence settled over the two of you again, and you awkwardly hugged your middle, rubbing your arms to warm them from the growing chill.
Rain drops began to splatter against the windows.
"So, what now?"
Chan looked away from the windows and met your eyes again, giving you a shy grin. "You do your job. I do mine. We pretend as if today is the first time we ever met."
"And about ..." You gestured to yourself.
"I can keep a secret," he reassured you.
"Okay."
"Just-" Chan hesitated, biting his lip for a second before he regained his composure. "Just promise me you'll be safe."
"I will," You promised.
"And if you need help, come find me." There was a fire in his eyes, a determination to do right, but there was also a lingering worry in the way his lips pressed together.
You nodded your head. "I will."
-0-0-
You took Jeonhui’s suggestion, heading down to the first place she had shown you that morning. There were a handful of offices in the building for staff that dealt with management or advertisement, but the translators themselves only had two rooms, sharing the rest of the floor with the stylists. You had already met the other translators briefly, but if you would be working directly with Stray Kids, you would be meeting with their personal staff members a lot more than with other translators.
You figured you’d start with the stylists, since you knew where to find them.
The first person you ran into looked like they were in a hurry, carrying a box full of scraps, so you didn’t bother them. Instead, you walked over to a young woman with blonde hair. She was holding up a long-sleeved mesh shirt in one hand, a bright purple fuzzy crop top with the other. As you walked over to her, she layered the crop top over the mesh shirt, and you saw a vision begin to take place, the combination looking surprisingly good together.
“Who’s that for?” You wondered.
The girl looked up in surprise, giving you a wide-eyed look. “Uh, Lia. For their upcoming comeback.”
You nodded in understanding. “ITZY, right?”
“Yeah.” The girl trailed off with her response, eyes furrowed. “Sorry, who are you?”
“Oh, right. Sorry. I’m the new translator.”
She perked up. “Ah, I heard about you! You’re the one they’re assigning to Stray Kids, right? I heard they were going on tour soon, and they needed a personal translator. Something about having issues on the TWICE tour.”
“Yeah, they had a couple scheduling issues in America, almost didn’t get a replacement on time. They didn’t want a repeat of it happening again, so they decided to hire translators to work directly for them, that way they wouldn’t have to rely on finding one in each city.”
The girl smiled. “Well, in that case, welcome to the JYP family. I don’t think we’ll be seeing much of each other though.”
You nodded your head. “I was actually hoping to meet some of the stylists for Stray Kids? I wanted to get to know some of the staff.”
“Oh, I think Maya’s here today. She had to do some re-measurements for Changbin.”
“Don’t even get me started,” Another young woman said as she walked in behind you. Following behind her was a dark-haired man wearing an oversized hoodie, carrying three shirts in his arms. “I mean, two sizes in a month. I can’t keep making adjustments the day before your performances, Changbin!”
“Speak of the devil,” The blonde-haired girl muttered.
She mouthed ‘good luck’ to you and turned away, practically running off into the corner. The newcomer, who you assumed was Maya, had reached one of the many cluttered desks in the room to grab a pen and a piece of paper, angrily writing down numbers. The dark-haired man paused next to her with a pout.
“Sorry noona.”
“Don’t ‘sorry noona’ me. Just do me a favor and take it easy this week, okay? You keep building more muscle and your shirt will rip on stage. Or worse, your pants!”
“Okay, I understand.”
Maya turned back around, grabbing the shirts from Changbin’s arms, and moved to place them onto a pile of clothes stacked haphazardly on a spare chair. She paused as she put them down, eyes meeting your own.
“Um, hi?”
“Hi,” You said, lifting up a hand to wave awkwardly to her. “Maya, right?”
She slowly straightened up, eyeing you up and down. “Who’s asking?”
You introduced yourself to her, giving her a small bow. “I’m the new translator.”
“Right, nice to meet you. Do you need something?”
Her harsh tone threw you off. She had long dark hair that fell in soft curls over her shoulders, her eyes a piercing green that complemented her dark green sweater perfectly, and if it wasn’t for the ugly scowl she wore, you would have considered her beautiful.
You weren’t sure how to deal with this situation. You figured if you told her the truth, that you just wanted to introduce yourself to all of the staff members, she’d probably find it unimpressive. You felt like you had already gotten off on the wrong foot. You couldn’t find your words, mouth opening and closing twice as you struggled to come up with an excuse that wouldn’t make you look like a total idiot in front of this beautiful woman, and you were thankful for your scent blockers for hiding your distress.
Changbin came to your rescue without even realizing. “You’re the new translator? Hi!”
He distracted Maya enough that you came to your senses, immediately turning to the rapper instead. “Yeah, that’s me. I was told to introduce myself to staff and members, it’s nice to meet you.”
Introducing yourself to a stylist was apparently weird, but introducing yourself to a member of the team you would be working for? Totally logical.
They didn’t need to know that you had no idea one of the members would be here.
Changbin gave you a nod of acknowledgment, but Maya just shrugged. “Right, okay. Nice to meet you, you can go now.”
It was dismissive, and it rubbed you the wrong way. But you weren’t looking for a confrontation, not after your earlier one with Chan, so you reluctantly bowed to the two beta’s and took your leave. The blonde-haired girl gave you a sympathetic look as you passed her.
You made it to the elevator, deciding that maybe you should just give up on introductions and go home at this point, when a voice called out from down the hall.
“Hey, hold the door!”
It was Changbin, and he was running to catch up to you. You threw your hands in between the closing doors at the last second, stopping them from closing and allowing the rapper to make it onto the elevator. He shuffled in with a little huff of laughter, moving to stand next to you. The doors closed properly, and the elevator began to move down, but you noticed he made no moves to press any floor numbers.
“I’m sorry about Maya. She isn’t usually like that, I just left her in a bad mood,” He said, clearing his throat. “I hope you don’t hold it against her.”
You shook your head. “Don’t worry. I don’t mind, really. It's just been a long day.”
“Have you met any of the other members yet?” He asked you.
The elevator reached the lobby, and the doors opened, but you didn’t move. You thought about Chan, who you had left in the meeting room upstairs less than half an hour ago, and wondered what he was up to now. Had he disappeared off to the studio? Had he gone back home?
Did the thought of you affect him as much as it still affected you?
You took a deep breath, your nose assaulted with the smokey scent of burning wood. It reminded you of summer camp, making smores by the campfire, telling scary stories in the dark, and awkward first kisses with your schoolyard crushes. It was comforting, somehow.
The elevator doors began to move, and you reached out once again to keep them from closing. “Yeah, I met your leader earlier.”
“Nobody else?”
“Haven’t had the chance yet, no.”
The elevator closed on your hand again.
“Hmmm. You should stop by the practice rooms tomorrow. You can meet the other members, and I can introduce you to our makeup noona’s afterwards,” he offered.
You blinked in surprise. “That … that sounds like a great idea, actually. Thank you.”
He smiled at you, and it was cheeky and genius at the same time. “Happy to help.”
The elevator doors hit your hand once more, and you finally moved to leave the elevator. Changbin reached over to press one of the floor numbers, and as the elevator doors finally started to close, he winked at you.
You shook your head in amusement. You said goodbye to the man working the front desk, the same one from the day you had shown up for your interview, but he only glanced at you as you passed.
-0-0-
“No fucking way.”
“Yes way.”
Sooyoung shook her head in amazement. “You fucked your boss. Oh my god, you fucked your boss!”
“He’s not really my boss,” You said with a laugh. “He’s more like my client.”
“Still! I mean, you know what his dick looks like.”
You winced. “Actually, I don’t?”
“Ah, too preoccupied with other stuff, huh? You naughty girl.” Sooyoung gave you an exaggerated wink, and you laughed so hard you snorted.
“Oh my god, shut up. I meant that I didn’t actually see anything because I was blindfolded.”
“What?! Oh my god you kinky bitch, I should have known!” Sooyoung exclaimed.
“I didnt do it for me!”
“Oh my god, your boss is the kinky bitch?!”
“Sooyoung!”
She cackled, and it was contagious, making you join her immediately. The two of you had just finished dinner, a quick meal that Sooyoung had made, and were now sitting on the couch talking over a bottle of wine. You had let her complain about the Calculus teacher and their harsh comments for about an hour before you finally decided to let her in on your new development, knowing just how much she loved a good drama.
She was reacting just as expected.
“Wait, why were you blindfolded?”
“Well, I know now it was so I wouldn’t recognize him as an idol, but in the moment I kind of just thought maybe he was shy, or insecure, or something,” You explained.
“It definitely seems obvious to me that he was a celebrity of some kind, but I guess you were a lot more distracted with … other things,” Sooyoung said, wiggling her eyebrows at you.
You didn’t have the energy to argue. Especially because she was right.
“Tell me if it’s too tight,” He whispered, a soft cloth brushing against your eyelids.
His scent was heavy, your mind hazy from the arousal. When he finished tying off the blindfold, he leaned against your back, his mouth pressing a soft kiss to the juncture of your neck. You tilted your head to the side, an ache to feel his teeth pressing against the skin running through you and causing slick to drip down your thighs.
You let out a whine.
“Easy baby girl. I got you.”
His warmth disappeared, and you opened your eyes. The blindfold made it so that you could make out the shadows of the dark room, a vague shape of a person as they removed their clothes. You reached down to grab the hem of your own shirt.
“No, don’t,” He said, voice thick. “Let me.”
“So that’s it then? You’re just going to … pretend it never happened?” Sooyoung wondered.
You shook your head to clear your thoughts. “Yeah, I guess.”
Sooyoung downed the rest of her wine in one gulp. “You don’t sound very happy.”
“It’s not like I have a choice. This isn’t just some random one night stand I can call back when I need an itch scratched. We’re going to be working together,” You said, swirling your own wine around your cup.
“Ah, forbidden love. How tragic,” Sooyoung mused.
You rolled your eyes. “It’s not a forbidden love. It’s not even love.”
“Hmm, you sure about that?"
You stuck your tongue out at her.
“What about the rest of your day? Anything interesting happen?”
The two of you continued to talk about your day until you grew tired, deciding to retire to bed early. You got ready for bed, making sure your alarm was set for work the next morning, brushing your teeth, and getting changed into your pajamas. You paused as you grabbed your t-shirt from on top of your dresser, a familiar scent reaching you. You lifted your shirt up to smell it, but the scent was faint.
You leaned down and spotted a stray piece of fabric hidden under your dresser. You pulled it out, revealing a tank top shirt that was much larger than any other you would wear, the smell of it making your chest ache in recognition.
Chan had left his shirt.
You remembered him leaving shortly after you two had finished. He had received a phone call, and whatever was said made him rush to get dressed. He had told you it was a ‘work emergency’. You remembered him leaving with his sweater on, but you imagined that he had been unable to find his shirt where it had gotten thrown, and probably decided to just leave it.
You closed your eyes with a sigh, and your grip on the shirt tightened. The urge to breathe in his scent was strong, and it took everything in you to open up your bottom dresser drawer, the one where you held old or ripped clothes, and throw the shirt in.
You slammed the drawer shut.