Strawberries & Cream

Be Sweet For Me

It was a bit surprising when Felix invited Seonghwa to see him at the JYP building later that weekend. He hadn't been sure what to expect when he made his way over, since it wasn't really typical for idols from different companies to visit each other's practice rooms. When Felix had first asked to hang out, Seonghwa thought it might've been a date, but when he told him where to meet him, he really had no idea what the hangout was supposed to be. Seonghwa was more than a little nervous, especially considering it would involve him meeting seven more alphas.

They weren't what Seonghwa had expected though. Sure, he'd met Stray Kids in passing. He'd met Changbin a handful of times through Wooyoung. Still, in close quarters, actually spending time with the other group, Seonghwa was surprised by the true personalities and relationships of the members. Woojin was pretty much how he'd expected, based off of what little Felix had told him. He wasn't awful, Seonghwa had definitely met worse alphas, but he was pretty typical- a bit loud, a bit rough, he butted heads with Chan quite a bit, but there was an undeniable love between him and the other members. It didn't compare to what everyone else had with each other though. Chan was like an alpha from a sickeningly sappy romance novel written by an overly idealistic omega. He was sweet as honey (smelled like it too, mixed with a mouth-watering smokey flavour) and he doted over every member of the group, regardless of whether they were an alpha or omega.

And the other alphas let him. They didn't shy away from the affection or challenge him for being too soft, they were equally as affectionate with him. It was actually hard to tell who was an alpha and who was an omega based purely on the way they treated each other. Chan and Changbin acted cute and pouted when they got teased, Han frequently yelled and threatened to hit people, and Felix, despite his angelic first impression, swore like there was no tomorrow. Seonghwa felt touched seeing how well they all worked together and how much love and respect could be sensed between every member. It reminded him of Ateez was before they debuted, before everything got so messed up and broken.

"Felix." Seonghwa waved him over. "Walk me out?"

It was getting late and Seonghwa's phone had been blowing up for a while with texts from Wooyoung asking when he would be home. Felix scurried over to him, taking his outstretched hand to walk with him.

"I'm glad you came today." Felix beamed, planting a kiss on Seonghwa's cheek.

"Me too." Seonghwa smiled back. "I'm still not really sure though, why did you invite me today? Do you guys always have guests over for normal practice days like that?"

"I guess I was just hoping it would help." Felix shrugged. "I thought it might be good for you to spend time with different people."

It had become apparent to Seonghwa that the language barrier between them had made it difficult for Felix to console him the way he could tell he wanted to. Felix could speak fine but his vocabulary was still a little limited and it got harder with serious topics, and Seonghwa's English skills had suffered a lot since leaving Australia. It was touching to see Felix still make the effort to figure out ways to help him despite that, and he had been right- spending time with Stray Kids did help. It had restored a bit of hope in Seonghwa that alphas and omegas were capable of being friends.

Before leaving, Seonghwa kissed Felix and thanked him. If nothing else, Seonghwa felt like he at least had somewhere to go sometimes when things got too unbearable with his own group. He had a good friendship with Felix now, maybe more someday, and he'd gotten along well with Jisung and Minho, too. For the first time in months, Seonghwa was actually in a good mood when he returned home to the dorm that evening. Walking through the door and kicking off his shoes, Seonghwa was still grinning at his phone, reading texts Felix was already sending him, and almost walked right past his members without realizing they were all staring at him. He actually only looked up because he caught a whiff of the peppery leather and rum spice indication of Hongjoong's presence. It was unusual for him to be home so early, why-?