╰─➤ everything you want in gold
               i'll be the magic story you've been told

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"ah, he finally awakens," an unfamiliar voice hums while donghyuck both physically and mentally gathered his bearings. the young adult felt his stomach churn and his head ache as he attempted to roll onto his side. this wasn't the bed he'd passed out on though, and he was no longer surrounded by the other harem boys who'd assured him he'd be fine.

the white sheets crumpling under his folded figure smelt of nothing, which was pretty concerning in itself since scentless things brought no comfort. the pillow was so flat it may as well have not been there at all, and the flimsy, cream duvet was underneath him, not on him. "ugh..." he heaved, gripping the edge of the bed frame and throwing up onto the floor with a loud splash.

"there you go," the same male chuckled from the other side, leaving the blonde extremely confused as to who it was. hyuck blinked twice and decided that tossing his guts up once had been enough to settle the gross feeling inside. then, he shifted on the bed to turn and take a look at everything.

it appeared to be a sickbay of sorts — an infirmary. his scratchy throat encouraged him not to speak as he glanced from left to right, noting the lack of personality to the space, and then finally settled on the doctor himself. "who...?"

"you can call me whatever you want," the brunette smiled softly and pushed a pair of large glasses up his nose...but he was fucking gorgeous. his brown hair flicked over either side of his temples like curtains, his perfect nose crinkled with that grin of his, and his clear skin was sallow and complemented everything about him, including his hazel eyes. "but technically my name is sungchan. the others tease me too much."

"sungchan..." the omega repeated quietly before sitting up properly and pulling his legs into his chest. he was adorned in a white hospital gown, and he could already tell someone hadn't put underwear on him. what would've bothered him over a week ago didn't anymore though, and his dignity was long lost. "what am i doing here?"

"you have been out-cold for about..." the man gushed before checking the laptop he was perched in front of to the side, "twenty-two hours. almost a day."

"what? but why?"

"your heat cycle has started, yes?"

"mhm."

"well, you've been the topic of most conversations around here for a little while now, since you caused quite the commotion yesterday." he scratched the back of his neck and tilted his head as he thought of it. "jeno and renjun were out on a mission, i believe, before you heated up. basically the others gave you a powerful injection, do you remember?"

"yeah, i recall all that. but what is the actual issue here? why am i dressed like i'm about to die, why is my stomach in bits and why does my head feel like someone threw a brick at it?"

"you rejected the drug," sungchan shrugged casually and turned the laptop slightly to show the boy the screen. it was a load of random sentences and numbers that, for the most part, made no sense to someone like hyuck who had no medical training. "it was too strong for you, okay? i would've thought you'd have known better than to share someone else's suppressant."

"i didn't want to—"

"regardless, you did. besides all that, it did in fact decrease your heat problems and your lust, but it also slowed your heart rate down and potentially induced a bit of a period."

"boys don't get periods."

"precisely, so you now know to leave renjun's suppressants alone, hm? lesson learned."

why is he so matter-of-fact about this? it sounds like i could've gotten seriously injured, the older gritted his teeth, but chose not to argue about it. most doctors tended to act like little gods, so this wasn't too surprising.

"don't worry about bleeding, because that's been explained. the headache will pass when you drink some water, and the sickness is probably from the medicine i gave you to fix up your problem. now," he suddenly stood up and pulled two containers down from a cabinet and double-checked the labels to make sure he wasn't wrong. "i have some presents."

"yay..." the omega mumbled, extending his hand to take a look.

"these are your suppressants, alright?" sungchan revealed the white tub with more korean nonsense written along the side. "i formulated these after a bit of testing and studying. they should work with your bodily proportions, your heat strength, and your activity. don't share them, whatever you do. and also, come to me when they run out, i'll keep a constant supply for you."

"thanks," the blonde smiled faintly and took them into his palms, feeling a sense of excitement in holding what were officially his suppressants. everyone had their own, and it was just common knowledge that one needed to be blood tested and whatnot...but he'd never been able to afford it before. this was...special.

"lastly, here are your contraceptive pills," the brunette passed him a small, blue container. "again, i matched up all the tests, predicted your cycles, your size and all that. as soon as you want to have children, stop taking them. if you miss even one morning dose, you risk pregnancy. got it?"

"got it," donghyuck beamed happily. "i'm actually pretty happy having these now. i feel more comfortable."

"that's good to hear," sungchan nodded with a small smile and sat back down to his laptop. "you were also measured in your sleep, so you're expected to be down in 'the wardrobe' whenever you're ready."

"okay....what and where is that?"

"down the stairs on the lower floor where the confinement chambers and playroom are. you've been there before, if i'm not mistaken."

jesus, does nothing embarrass him? the older blushed profusely and shook it off since nobody else seemed to care about politically correct conversations anymore. in the end, he held the two tubs in one hand and tugged at the hem of the gown. "where are my clothes?"

"burned. you're getting new ones."

"burned?"

"i'm joking, they probably went to the wash. just go down in that."

hyuck scoffed and felt like adding that this scanty item of clothing barely fell lower than his ass, but sungchan exuded the energy of man who gave zero fucks, and so he groaned dramatically before trailing out of the infirmary.

"nice meeting you," the doctor hummed.

"yeah, yeah. i'll see you around." with that, the door clicked shut behind him and the omega was left standing in the empty hallway. one he actually didn't recognise. "wow...fantastic."

an eery chill off a draught circulated the space, which meant somewhere, possibly near or far from here...was open. there had to have been an open window; an ajar door. hell, it could've been anything, and yet...the male didn't feel any burning desire to find it. there was no one here to stop him, no naggy harem member or mafia boss tugging at his arm to keep up...he could've just sprinted.

but he didn't.

instead, donghyuck let go of a prolonged sigh and started dragging his feet in the direction sungchan had described. a piece of him wondered if he'd ever get used to the size of this place, and he had to ask himself if jeno would ever be lenient enough with him to allow him to go outside. the windows along the corridor were teasing him, producing this gorgeous sunlight that tickled his tanned skin and practically enticed him to step out and absorb it.

his mind once again flicked to the dingy apartment he'd left behind with those three roommates of his, and the male would've laughed at their expressions if he went home now and said 'i'm living in a countryside manor. guess it was me who reached the highest after all', because they were forever telling him that he'd get nowhere with his omega body, and that he wasn't actually pretty enough to do a decent job of seducing rich alphas. in fairness, donghyuck was now the prettiest he'd ever been — much better than before — because he'd officially experienced affection.

an omega would only bloom and grow into its full potential with the aid of sexual and affectionate exploration.

"oh, there you are," a gentle voice murmured from down the hall, capturing the older's attention once he turned to view the culprit. jaemin was leaning against a far window with his shoulder, dressed beautifully in shorts and a collarbone-exposing t-shirt that was tucked into them on one side. his piercings were all present, and he seemed to be the only one who didn't take them out to let his face breathe. however, all that jewellery glimmered and sparkled against the sun, almost making it seem as though he'd become alight with celestial power.

"sorry," the older gushed, proceeding to jog over carefully since his gown kept riding up his waist. "i got distracted."

"i was actually about to visit the infirmary to check if you'd woken up," the beta hummed softly and caught the boy's sides, holding him still and allowing his eyes to do a general sweep of his body. "nothing wrong?"

"nope, it was just a nasty side effect of the powerful injections. but he gave me these, and now i feel safer," hyuck beamed and showed jaemin the containers he'd received.

"are those...contraceptive pills?" he enquired weakly before taking that said tub and reading the label.

"mhm. now we can practice safe sex, y'know?" his gaze started to soften and lips pouted a little as he watched jaemin develop this ambiguous expression. "what's wrong?"

"i just..." the younger sighed, handing the small box back like it carried numerous diseases and shrugged. "why would you not want kids? why would you purposely force your healthy body to give that gift up? not everyone has that ability...and you're just..."

the older furrowed his brows and clutched the containers closer to his chest, staring at the boy distantly and suddenly feeling trapped by his hands on his hips. why is he getting emotional? loads of people choose not to have kids. "i-i'm too young, i guess. why would i want to condemn myself to a baby when i'm twenty? it does so much damage to the body, and omegas have a lot of problems during the birthing process."

"but..." the white-haired male groaned, "will you ever have them? please tell me you aren't writing them off entirely."

"mhm, i don't know. why does it matter though?" hyuck leaned in a little to study the other's face. "there's no way six men in a mafia want a kid running around their ankles, right? you're all young, anyway. nobody here is ready for a child, and i would know."

how would he know? jaemin gritted his teeth, and there was no way that was correct. he had wanted a child for years, and jeno even longer than that. the only reason there wasn't a miniature human running around the base was because renjun had issues. "fine, i guess it's up to you. just don't decide that you won't have any yet. like you said," he tugged on the older's wrist and started guiding him down the hallways again, "you're too young for big decisions."

"okay." donghyuck sped up his steps a bit to stay in line with the beta, eyeing the pale hand holding his own. it was cute in some ways, because he was used to be looked down upon most of his life and having to slot into the position of an appealing body for an alpha to choose, or the silent outsider that was seen but not heard. neither were attractive roles in life, so this was definitely a step up.

it only took a few minutes to reach the large landing again where a staircase led downwards to the bottom floor and another double stairwell stretched along the walls upwards to the next level. the newest arrival couldn't help but remember when his legs developed a mind of their own and escaped renjun a few mornings prior...bringing him here where jeno was most definitely wondering if he'd made a bad decision in keeping him. he'd never felt so tiny before in his life.

"down here," jaemin snapped him from his scattered thoughts, now latching around the shorter's arm as they descended the stone steps again and reached the darker, red and black themed area where the omega's life here began. the air was thicker with bad scents, maybe due to prisoners in solitary confinement, or maybe it was the playroom. whatever the cause, the older of the pair crinkled his nose in disgust and followed the blonde down the corridor.

they edged onwards through the more familiar zone and found themselves facing a door of dark mahogany wood with curving, engraved gothic designs. the knob was brass, and squeaked softly as jaemin twisted it and let them in, inviting a better aroma to settle as they closed the whole frame behind them.

"took you two long enough," chenle chuckled, prancing over and pulling hyuck in by his hands. "how are you, angel? are you sore? high? are the drugs making you feel sick?"

"ah, nothing like that," he responded honestly and glanced around the massive room to observe his surroundings. it was still quite dark, but there were racks upon racks along every wall full of black gear and equipment. it smelt of that nice leather scent when one would go shoe shopping and purchase brand new boots. the floor was carpeted with the same crimson fabric as out there, and there wasn't actually a window, but a long vent along the far wall's upper edge. "this is the wardrobe?"

"yeah, we tend to call it that since it fits the ominousness, right?" jisung hummed. he was actually getting dressed into some dark clothes of his own, and jeno was helping him. the attire consisted of black cargo pants with pockets from the thighs to the shins and a skintight, navy t-shirt with straps around it to hold weapons, it seemed. he was still gearing up, but so far it looked really cool.

"ji broke his harness for his weapons on the last mission he attended," chenle then explained from beside the curious boy. "we have an endless amount of clothes around here for you to find what suits you and what fits, okay? jeno will help you, but since he's a bit busy, we can get started."

donghyuck followed the boy into a maze of clothes racks with a lot of similar things, but never two items the same. there were no guns or knives around, but that was to be expected of a wardrobe — which wasn't an armoury. within this sea of darkness stood the only other omega of the mafia; renjun. he was actually dressed in his training attire as well, which was comprised of a black shirt with the sides cut out to expose his waist, a tighter pair of lycra trousers with pockets along it as well, and two bands along both arms to hold what seemed to be communication equipment.

once again, the chinese boy had managed to fuck hyuck's hormones up and have him drooling over the wrong gender.

"ah, junnie!" chenle called and dashed over with the older in tow. he stopped beside their cold harem member and watched as he pulled out an interesting top of peculiar yet amazing design. "can you help—?"

"that's what i've been doing this whole time," the oldest uttered lightly before pulling the taller omega to stand in front of him. "lele, go and find trousers that match jisung and jeno's, but keep them a little too big for donghyuck. and quick."

"okay!" the youngest agreed, running off again to fulfil his task. meanwhile, the pair were then left alone. hyuck chewed the wall of his cheek and stood still as renjun held the top up against his body and checked its lengths and widths.

"put this on."

"huh? here?"

"obviously. why not?"

"i dunno...it's just so open, isn't it?"

the older sighed dramatically and tilted his head with the 'are you serious?' look in his eyes. "in case you've forgotten, we were all present to watch our leader finger you, so i don't think you have any dignity to be worrying about. eventually we'll all have slept with you as well — what is the problem here?"

"jeez, chill," the younger pouted and took the shirt off renjun to lay it on the rack and started taking the gown off his body. "you're so mean sometimes, y'know that? and then you're nice when it suits you."

"i don't need a lesson in socialising, alright?!"

ugh, he's so difficult, the blonde thought defeatedly before dropping the hospital-related piece of clothing onto the ground and feeling all too awkward now in absolutely nothing. but he avoided the other's eyes and kept getting dressed, pulling the top layer onto himself and feeling his lungs constrict once he was sure it was worn correctly. "this is a bit..."

"it's good. you and i have the luxury of wearing more sexually appealing clothing since we can usually take on the role of the con-artist or distraction. this is designed to match inside tricks," the male explained, running his hands over the black material. the bottom hem rested on the boy's hips, not long enough to cover his exposed area, obviously. then, the sleeves weren't matched since one of them wasn't even there, just a strap over his shoulder while the other was peasant-styled and started from his mid bicep, running down to his hand where his fingers and thumb slotted through two spaces. otherwise, it was just a straight, coal colour and stuck close to his skin to allow for some gear to be thrown over it, he presumed.

"feels like it's for girls," he murmured.

"possibly, but why would that matter?" renjun arched his brow and leaned forward to ghost his sweet-scented breath over his lips. "girls can rule the world if they want to, hm? and boys can wear feminine things. it adds colour to society, and people notice those who stand out. alphas try to pick me up because i push myself over the natural line other omegas are too scared to cross."

"i'm scared..." donghyuck whispered quietly, sinking away under the intense pressure the older always managed to weight him with, "i won't survive out there."

"not yet," the ravenette nodded softly, gently pressing a kiss to his lips for some form of comfort before lowering back down to his heels and turning around to start walking. "once you're trained, you will."

the younger wondered if he was supposed to follow, because the shorter just took off without a word and with such strength that it felt he wanted to be left alone. though the fleeting seconds he had to ponder on this were shut down as soon as chenle jogged back over from the end of the aisle again and with a pair of similar pants to what the mafia leader and jisung wore.

"i'm sure these are what he was talking about," the brunette stated, ignoring entirely the fact that the omega was now half naked. these things didn't matter to the group, and they never really had...so the sooner the blonde worked that out, the better. "try them on. they're a size or two too big, but i think renjun has a plan. maybe a specific belt or something."

"oh," he nodded faintly and didn't question it. the younger winked cutely before handing him underwear as well, leaning back against the rack and waiting patiently.

these are actually quite comfortable, the korean thought absentmindedly as he slid the trousers on over the boxers and started to zip and button them up. as he finicked with the small details, his auburn irises raised up a little to look at chenle with an awful lot of respect. "um...i saw you fighting yesterday...or the day before. i'm not sure what time it is since i passed out and all. anyway," hyuck smiled, "you were really cool."

the younger watched him fondly, bashfully looking down to his boots and grinning with slightly pink cheeks. the blonde actually felt his heart skip a beat once he saw those cat-like eyes squinting even more into crescents...they were so beautiful.

"thank you," the chinese teen murmured. "it's actually rare to get compliments from any of these meanies," he motioned his head over the rack beside them and really was implying the other five boys. "but i always try my best, even though sometimes your best isn't good enough and improvement is due. you'll reach amazing heights, donghyuck, i can already tell."

"i don't know about that. if i stepped into the arena with you, you'd throw me down onto the floor and kill me before i could even draw my first breath."

"you keep seeing so short-sightedly. imagine all the fun we'll have training you up, teaching you the ways in which we grow and defend ourselves? sooner or later, you'll come to realise that you're on-par with our levels, and you'll look back on this conversation one day and laugh that you ever found you were weak."

that sounds amazing, the older would agree, but he didn't want to kill someone. the way chenle so effortlessly took down a group of heartless criminals, but ended their lives with it was almost too much to handle. he never wanted to be put in that situation, yet he knew he'd have no choice. "then i suppose i should start aspiring and making goals, huh?"

"that's the best way to live."

"hey, are you two finished yet?!" they could hear mark yell, which was their queue to get a move on. the younger did a quick check to make sure everything was in place for the blonde, and decided that all seemed well. with that, they both shuffled out of the aisle they'd been cooped up in and skidded to a halt in front of the remaining group with light giggles.

"what were you two up to?" jisung quizzed with wriggly brows, "something suspicious?"

"absolutely not," chenle scoffed and nudged donghyuck forward a little. jeno stepped to be directly in front of him and said nothing while examining the clothes his boys had chosen. they suited the arrival well, and would probably hold a decent amount of kit to defend him. unfortunately, the badass vibe they should've emitted was killed with how terrified the omega looked all the time.

"smile, doll. you'll get nowhere with a face like that," he instructed and started to slowly turn him around to check the back. "is it comfortable?"

"mhm."

"that's not an answer."

"yes, it's fine," hyuck gushed and blushed a deep fuchsia at being reprimanded to a minimal degree. once he'd made a full rotation, jeno placed his hands on his bare shoulders and ran them down along his arms. now that they'd actually properly seen each other for the first time since that night, the younger was feeling hellishly awkward. how was someone supposed to see another after sex? was he just making a bigger deal out of this than necessary? heck, the older didn't even look fazed.

"you look lovely. now, we need to sort out gear for you later, don't we? we'll wait until you've tested out various weapons to see what type of fighter you are. how good is your eyesight?"

"um...decent?"

"like how decent?" mark interjected. "let's put it this way: jeno, renjun and i can never be snipers because we need glasses. so instead of using glasses, we use close-range combat. do you understand?"

"yeah, i can see," hyuck nodded slowly. "i've never been tested, though."

"kay, that's on our list then," renjun murmured. "what about your pain threshold? are you easily hurt?"

"obviously."

"he doesn't get these questions," jisung giggled. "like, 'person x' walks into a table and hits their leg, it hurts, they swear, but they walk on. 'person y' does the exact same thing but it leaves them immobile for twenty seconds while they whine about it and curse their nerves. are you 'x' or 'y'?"

"i think i'm 'x'?"

"we'll see."

"one more question," jaemin claps his hands together, "are you fast? can you run?"

"depends," donghyuck sighed. "running for the hell of it? no. i hate that. but running because someone's chasing me? i'll be gone like the wind."

"that's enough to go on, i suppose," chenle hummed. "let's clean up here and do something fun. i'm tired."

"agreed," the others mumbled and started pulling off anything they used for fighting and got back into casual wear. the omega whined when he glanced at the hospital gown again and almost considered actually burning it — unironically, unlike sungchan had joked.

"don't worry, we went out and got you a whole new wardrobe," jeno chuckled as he watched the poor boy put it back on with a great deal of reluctance. "you were measured and all that while you were unconscious, so that laborious job just passed you by. be grateful."

"yeah, i feel so happy," the younger whispered to himself sarcastically while tugging the stupid piece of cloth down to hide his ass again. "people manhandling me when i'm mentally absent..."

"let's go!" jisung yelled suddenly before jaemin and chenle visibly paled and started muttering long lists of profanities to sprint after the youngest who dashed out of the room. they were gone within seconds, and the remaining oldests all rolled their eyes at their antics and slowly dragged themselves to the door as well.

"i hate when they race. it causes unnecessary stress," jeno uttered before slinging an arm around renjun's shoulder.

"tell me about it. they crashed into me three days ago," mark scoffed, "and didn't apologise. just kissed me and told me to watch where i was going."

wow, that's shit, donghyuck inwardly giggled and tried not to let it show through his bored façade. they kept wandering onwards and upwards past the staircase, beyond the corridors, ignoring various mafia members until they reached their beloved bedroom. it must've taken about ten or fifteen minutes, but the walk had been pretty nice.

once they pushed inside, they found the immature trio on the bed, play-fighting each other and pulling their hair. "ow! jaemin, that's my earring!"

"that was for cheating!"

"cheating?!" jisung laughed before playfully batting the oldest's leg, "you're the one that pushed me. dude, the hypocrisy stinks in here!"

"boys, settle," the boss instructed without needing to raise his voice. everyone filed inside and sat up onto the massive bed together, watching as the bluette retrieved that same, strange little box he'd taken from the playroom the other night. "now, i'm sure the rest of you know what time it is."

"yes~" mark smirked excitedly and pulled donghyuck in to rest against his chest. "this will be fun, i promise."

"fun? what the fuck is that?"

"this," renjun purred in a sultry tone before crawling to lay against jeno and place the box on his own lap, "is a special container. we've all been made wiser to its purpose."

"why do i feel like i'm about to be violated somehow..." the blonde whispered and gnawed at his lower lip anxiously. "does...whatever is in there hurt?"

"a bit," jeno explained. he opened it up, exposing a lot of the childish drawings all over it as he did so, and leaving it on his omega's lap. renjun tilted it to show off all the little, glittery pieces of metal and tools inside.

"are those...piercings?" hyuck gasped, backing up against mark and shaking his head wildly. "no, god. fuck, i really don't want those."

"if you don't relax, it'll feel worse," chenle beamed. "believe me, it's a momentary sting and then it all goes away. we won't pierce any cartilage today, okay?"

"no, i don't want any," he whimpered and tugged at the oldest's sleeve before curling into him. "please mark, don't let them do it."

"it'll be fine, princess. you're just psyching yourself out. look, would we choose to get them done again and again if it was really that bad?" he asked knowingly and played with his decorated ear for effect. "jeno isn't a psycho. if you hate it that much, we'll find a way around it."

"it's...it's not that bad?"

"really not that bad," renjun reiterated from his lover's lap. "come on, see for yourself."

i hope i won't regret this, he blinked innocently and tried to shuffle out of the oldest's gentle hold. as he made his way over, the question on his mind slipped from his lips without him even processing it. "why are there children's drawings all over it? the box, i mean."

jeno's lips curved into a slight smile as he glanced over to jaemin by the headboard. "well, it's a very old thing i've always kept. nana went through this phase when he was about...five? mhm, somewhere around then, and he drew on everything. my brother always got mad when he used crayons on the walls, but it was so cute."

"oh...you've known each other that long?" the omega murmured before kneeling before him. "that's ages. and you have a brother?"

"had one," renjun gave him this 'don't ask' look, although the leader caught it and nudged his shoulder.

"don't worry about it, jun. he's entitled to our secrets and stories now." he then glanced back to hyuck. "he died when i was nine, but it's not important. what you should take from this is that jaemin is the oldest member of the harem. the member who was here before this group even existed."

if he was here that long, does that mean they were just boyfriends once? what the hell would inspire someone with a lover as beautiful jaemin to create a harem? though this was just one question he had that would lead to many more as he unraveled this relationship's mystery. they weren't holding back information, so there was plenty of time to learn.

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...to be continued