Chapter Text
Hyeonjun isn’t exactly surprised to hear Doran’s joining the team. Realistically, it was only ever going to be Kiin or Doran who could even hope to keep up in the toplane, especially if T1 was going to try for a 3-peat.
It does, however, surprise Hyeonjun to learn that Doran’s an omega.
It’s not like Hyeonjun hasn’t worked closely with omegas before. Hell, he’s teammates with Minseok, who is possibly the most stereotypically omegan person Hyeonjun’s ever met. The guy oozes with aegyo even when he isn’t trying. He’s tiny and cutesy and literally smells like cotton candy when he’s in a good mood. Admittedly, there’d been a time all the way back when Minseok first joined the team that Hyeonjun had… well. It wasn’t a crush, exactly, but he’d taken notice of a cute omega like any red-blooded, newly presented alpha would.
Not like it went anywhere, anyway. It was clear after a couple of weeks that Minhyung and Minseok were, like, soulmates or something. The prideful alpha in Hyeonjun very briefly entertained the idea of trying his luck and giving Minhyung some competition anyway, but one look at the bashful adoration in Minseok’s eyes whenever Minhyung so much as said his name had Hyeonjun backing off without another word. Hyeonjun wasn’t about to stand in the way of True Love or whatever the fuck those two had going on.
Anyway, the point is, Hyeonjun isn’t some awkward teenaged alpha who doesn’t know how to act around omegas. His family has never been all traditional about it like Minhyung’s is. When Minseok’s struggling (or, more often, pretending to struggle) to carry his suitcase, Hyeonjun’s more likely to laugh and make fun of him than just go over and carry it for him. He’s never done something for an omega that he wouldn’t for anyone else, never treated anyone different because of their secondary gender.
Somehow, Doran is different.
Hyeonjun hadn’t even known he was an omega in the first place. They’ve met before, of course, at LoL Park and at some LCK variety shoots and stuff like that, but only ever in places with top-of-the-line HVAC systems – Riot can’t have 50 barely-presented kids with raging pheromones all in one place without some scent-neutralising measures in place. Plus, it’s common courtesy to apply scent blockers before going out to that kind of event.
Doran is tall, taller than even Hyeonjun is, though in a sort of lanky kind of way as opposed to Hyeonjun and Minhyung’s broader frames. He doesn’t act bratty or cutesy like most of the omegas Hyeonjun’s known, classmates or friends’ partners who are used to being fawned over or coddled by virtue of their secondary gender. They seem to do it without even realizing, and Hyeonjun can’t really blame them for it – most alphas and even some betas can’t help the natural urge to make an omega happy. Hyeonjun’s just glad Minseok’s mostly reined it in when it comes to the rift.
The point is – by all indicators, Doran seemed to Hyeonjun like a typical beta.
It isn’t until Hyeonjun barges into Doran’s streaming room with a grin, intent on bullying his shy new teammate into being friends, that he realizes. The room’s been recently sanitized, and Doran’s decked out head to toe in what looks and smells like merch from the stash the staff sets aside for the team, so the subtle floral scent that wafts gently through the air, permeating the room and catching in Hyeonjun’s nose… that must be Doran’s natural scent. It’s clearly omegan, no doubt about it. Not sticky-sweet like Minseok’s more intense, candy-like scent, but lighter, softer. Like jasmine flowers blooming in early spring.
Doran is shy and a little flustered, but very polite, bowing low as he shakes Hyeonjun’s hand even though he’s older than Hyeonjun. He’s not wearing any scent blocker, Hyeonjun notices, eyes drawn to the long, pale column of Doran’s neck. Positively indecent, he finds himself thinking faintly. He’s going this exposed on stream? He should be wearing a collar…
Okay, no, what the fuck? Hyeonjun gives himself a stern mental shake, horrified at the possessiveness in his thoughts. It’s been too long since he’s been in close proximity with an unfamiliar, unmated omega, his alpha instincts are out of whack. “Fighting!” he tells Doran, hoping his grin doesn’t look too unhinged, and hightails it the hell out of there back to his own stream.
He tries his best to ignore the smell of jasmines clinging to his fingers.
---
Hyeonjun chalks the incident up to temporary pheromone-based insanity and resolves to put it out of his mind. He is a modern adult in full control of his actions. He is not one of those caveman alphas who tries to wife every omega he meets, no matter how sweet they smell or how handsome they think he is. (Yes, he saw the clip of Doran calling him handsome, on stream, in front of 60,000 people. Yes, his scent spiked at the thought. And yes, he is resolutely ignoring all the fans shipping them because alphas and omegas can be friends and colleagues without being romantically involved even if they are physically attracted to each other, which, Hyeonjun is not saying they are physically attracted to each other but if they were it wouldn’t be a problem because they’re adults and professionals, okay?)
The point is, Hyeonjun is fine. So what if Doran turns out to be kind of devastatingly cute, with his gentle voice and lovely smile? So what if Hyeonjun finds himself turning to chase the scent of jasmine wafting through the halls? So what if the way Doran is so stunned by everything T1 has to offer makes Hyeonjun want to swaddle him in blankets and keep him far away from anything that could ever treat him poorly ever again? It’s fine. Hyeonjun is a cool guy. He’s no slave to his instincts. Once he gets used to Doran’s scent, he’ll be over this minor infatuation and they’ll look back and laugh about the whole thing.
Hyeonjun is just going to have to tough it out and act normal in the meantime.
---
On paper, this Jim Beam shoot sounds like a fun way to help Doran break the ice with the rest of the team and get some fun content out of it while showcasing everyone’s personalities and reinforcing the T1 Family branding to the general public. Hyeonjun thinks it’s a good idea, especially once he finds out they’ll be shooting in T1 HQ, which keeps its scent-neutralising HVAC systems blasting at all hours.
Hyeonjun is last to sit down to have a chat with Doran after Kkoma and Mata. Without the haze of jasmine around him, he marvels at how easy it is to mistake Doran for a beta. Even knowing he’s an omega, Hyeonjun takes in Doran’s height and big hands and serious face and his brain tells him – beta. At the very least it confirms his theory that the whole Doran Situation is just a scent thing, nothing deeper.
And then Doran looks at him with those gentle, soft eyes, and says shyly, “Hyeonjun-ah.”
Hyeonjun’s heart gives a violent thud in his chest, his throat itching with the urge to rumble like a pleased alpha at the sound of his name in Doran’s mouth. “Mm, what is it?” he hears himself respond, voice low.
Doran ducks his head with a shy grin, rocking forward just a little in his chair, and Hyeonjun just sits there and thinks, oh no, he’s cute.
After that it’s like the floodgates have opened. Hyeonjun is endlessly endeared every time Doran bursts into giggles at whatever unhinged bullshit Minhyung is asking him to say. He can’t help but tease Doran a little, about calling his mom to change his name, about who should take the Jjunie nickname, about how often he gets ganked. All silly little things, but they make Doran’s whole face light up with laughter, and the sight makes Hyeonjun’s chest go warm.
Doran is bolder than Hyeonjun thought, too, almost flirty when he says they might not be a perfect fit as toplaner and jungler, or when he says they should practice together until 4am in the coming year. And then there’s the way he compliments Hyeonjun’s body profile shoot and calls it racy with a completely straight face. It’s almost certainly at Minhyung’s command, but Hyeonjun would never have thought the timid little omega he met just a few weeks ago would be capable of saying something like that to an alpha without batting an eye, and on camera no less.
“Racy?” Hyeonjun repeats, raising an eyebrow.
“Since you’re shirtless in them,” Doran elaborates with a cheeky grin, even though he looks a little embarrassed.
“Well, you’re meant to show off your body,” Hyeonjun says, keeping his tone nonchalant. “That’s what body profile photos are for.”
“Ah, is that so?” Doran says, teasing. “They were still pretty racy though.”
Fuck it. Hyeonjun smirks, catching Doran’s gaze and keeping it steady as he says, voice low and flirty, “Is that the kind of thing you’re into?”
That finally seems to fluster Doran, startling a little embarrassed laugh out of him as he folds forwards, the tips of his ears going pink. It’s a good look on him. Hyeonjun wants to make him blush all the way down his smooth, unblemished neck.
“Actually, for body profile photos you’re not supposed to wear any pants either,” Hyeonjun says casually, glancing down at himself. Satisfaction curls low in his belly when he sees Doran’s gaze flicker down to follow suit.
The PD clears her throat to interrupt them. “Perhaps we should move on,” she says sternly, with an admonishing look at Hyeonjun. All at once, Hyeonjun remembers that he isn’t actually on a blind date with a cute omega, despite the shoot’s concept – they’re at work, and they’re being filmed, and there’s a whole crew and Minhyung watching this entire conversation happen.
“Right, yes, of course,” Hyeonjun chokes out, mortified. “Um, sorry, noona.”
The PD waves his apologies off with fond exasperation. “It’s alright. But let’s keep the flirting to a minimum while the cameras are rolling, okay? You two can pick this back up after we wrap.”
“Yes, noona,” Hyeonjun agrees with a sheepish smile. Doran bows in agreement, too, and they move on to League, a much safer topic.
In typical Minhyung fashion, he can’t resist taking a jab at Hyeonjun through Doran, claiming Hyeonjun is a terribly noisy upstairs neighbour.
“It’s the building,” Hyeonjun insists. “I’m not that loud, really.”
“I really can’t stand that kind of thing,” Doran says. “I’d go right up there. I’d go up and… and…” He pauses, eyes darting around as if trying to remember what he’s supposed to say.
“And?”
“And I’d… do it.”
Honestly, with a statement like that is it really Hyeonjun’s fault his gaze drops to Doran’s lips for the barest fraction of a second? “Do what?” he asks, his mouth dry.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watches the PD-noona sigh, but luckily Doran laughs it off, cheeks pink.
“I’d… I’d teach you a lesson,” Doran says shyly, clearly still embarrassed, which, wow, Hyeonjun has to change the subject right now immediately before he does something drastic like leap across the table and kiss his new toplaner in front of everyone, shoot be damned.
“It’s really only Minhyung that seems to be bothered by the noise,” Hyeonjun says quickly, hoping Minhyung will be triggered into defending himself.
Doran gleefully hops on the chance to make fun of Minhyung, saying, “To be honest, you can make as much noise as you like, personally I don’t have a problem with it.” And then, after a pause, “How noisy could one person be anyway?”
“Well, sometimes friends call… and, well–”
“Or are you not alone up there?” Doran interrupts, and honestly is Minhyung even trying to keep this not-flirty, because how is this any different from asking so are you seeing anyone?
“I live alone,” Hyeonjun says firmly, because video concept or not he’s not about to pass up the opportunity to let a cute omega know he is, in fact, single and very available. And then, because he can’t stop himself, “If you don’t believe me, you should come visit some time.”
“Alright, let’s cut,” PD-noona sighs, clearly giving up on the idea of keeping flirting to a minimum. “Minhyung-seonsu, why don’t you come out and we’ll get a group shot of the three of you to close…”
---
Later, after they’ve wrapped and the crew’s all packed away, Doran approaches Hyeonjun hesitantly.
“Hyung?” Hyeonjun asks, pulse picking up in anticipation.
“Hyeonjun-ah,” Doran says, with an awkward smile. “Um, good work on the shoot. I just wanted to say – I know you weren’t really, um, flirting with me. I think since we’re alpha and omega, and we’re both unmated, um, PD-nim just assumed that we… y’know? But I get it, I know you were just, like, joking around before.”
Hyeonjun just stares at him, gobsmacked. “Uh,” he says dumbly, because Hyeonjun definitely was not joking around at all. Was all of that just for the camera? Is Doran really that great of an actor??
“Anyway!” Doran squeaks when Hyeonjun can summon no other words to express how dumbfounded he feels. “Just wanted to, um, clear the air. I’d hate for this to get in the way of our professional relationship. That’s all I wanted to say, so. Looking forward to working with you this year! Fighting!”
“Uh, yeah,” is all Hyeonjun can muster up, still reeling. “Fighting.”
Doran spares him one brilliant, lovely smile, and then he’s scurrying away, disappearing down the hall without another thought for the bewildered alpha he leaves behind.
Minhyung, who is sitting in the corner of the room and apparently witnessed the whole thing, lets out a heavy sigh. “Yikes,” he says.
“Tell me about it,” Hyeonjun grumbles.