tamed - nct, shotaro x nct

α 5 α

"shut up."

"no, you shut up."

"seriously, what's your problem?!"

"my problem is you and how annoying you become whenever you have a rut."

"oh, annoying, me?! have you seen yourself?!"

"are you trying to say that i could be more annoying than you?!"

"yes, that's what i was saying!"

"you are an- "

"HENDERY, XIAOJUN!! YOU TWO STOP BICKERING OR YOU DON'T PARTICIPATE IN TODAY'S SHOW!"

a deathly silence took over the makeup room where a few nct members were getting their makeup done.

it seemed like hendery's rut was approaching, and as xiaojun implied, the chinese male could become more annoying than usual - not that it was different from other members - and nct's manager couldn't deal with it anymore.

kang namkyu had been hired by lee sooman personally, one day in early 2016, just after the brilliant idea of creating an alpha group had blossomed into his head.

in fact, the idea of hiring namkyu as nct's manager hadn't come from him. it's il daeho, one of lee sooman's long-time friends and exo's manager, who had introduced his boyfriend to the powerful ceo, claiming that the man was looking for a job. lee sooman had been seduced by the tall beta after testing his comportment around alphas, and so, he became nct's manager.

as a beta, namkyu had had quite a lot of trouble at first to manage nct. considering the 22 males were all from different horizons and liked to pick up fights with each other, they were rarely listening to what their beta manager was saying. but namkyu was quick to assert his dominance and show that, even if he was just a beta facing 22 alphas, he could be as scary and powerful as them.

now, after a few years of managing and scolding them day and night, the 22 alphas had acknowledged namkyu as one of them - as in part of nct and their music activities, of course, not part of their orgies and sexual tendencies - and so, namkyu was highly respected by them even if their anger issues often got the best of them.

speaking of those anger issues, namkyu didn't know what to do with them anymore.

after years of dealing with those, he believed they would slowly die down, but sadly, not only did they continue, but they also became worse than before, as if the older they got, the harder it was for them to contain their anger.

their bratty alpha syndrome was a bit like varicella; the older it hit you, the worse the consequences were.

and at that point, namkyu wished only one thing: finding a cure to this alpha disease that he couldn't deal with anymore.

"we're ready to start." a technician informed nct's manager. "the boys are awaited on stage to collect their mics."

"alright." the beta manager nodded before facing the alphas and taking a deep breath. "guys, on stage, RIGHT NOW!! and for the love of god, BEHAVE!!"

his sudden interjection caused the 22 nct members to groan in annoyance before heading towards the stage part of the studio where dozens of cameras were pointed at them.

they met the two mcs there, shaking hands one after the other before standing in line by their side, awaiting for their mics.

"osaki! the mics!!"

namkyu sighed, taking a seat on one of the stools available behind the cameras as he tried keeping his cool while jisung tried hitting jaemin and jeno. the manager didn't even dare looking at the other boys, knowing very well that he'll find them fighting with each other again - as usual - but instead decided to focus on the tiny boy wearing a pastel purple fluffy jumper that came running across the set with the mics.

"dealing with 22 alphas must not be easy everyday."

"you have no idea what you're talking about." nct's manager turned around to face one of the many persons that were working on set.

"i have a lot of respect for you. i have an alpha son myself and i'm already so overwhelmed... i can't imagine having to deal with 22 of them."

one particular thing about the alpha/beta/omega system was the beings' presenting, also known as the day when they discovered whether they were alphas, betas or omegas. this day occurred to everyone on the day after their 18th birthday, and starting from that day, the body and personality of each being morphed in order to match with the person's secondary gender.

and another particular thing in this secondary gender system was that it was completely random. in the same way a foetus growing in someone's tummy has as many chances of being a boy or a girl, a person presenting on their 18th birthday has as many chances of being an alpha, a beta or an omega, independently of their parents' gender. this was why families full of betas could end up having to deal with an alpha child or alpha parents could have omega babies.

"22 alphas is a bit too much, i have to agree with you on that." namkyu nodded, his full attention on the assistant.

"yeah. and i can't even imagine how it is when they are on rut." he gasped, realising that dealing with nct could be even harder.

"oh god... they're awful. i try to make them take suppressants not to trigger others' ruts at the same time, but they refuse most of the time." nct's manager whined after experiencing such things a few times already.

"damn, ruts must be wild for them."

"yeah, they are." namkyu sighed loudly. "honestly, i don't know what to do with them anymore. they always are picking up fights with each other or insulting each other and being violent, and i don't know what to do in order to have them stop without hurting their prided too much." he added, voicing out his worries and troubles with the 22 alphas. at that point, he could even seem miserable, but he didn't care. he was ready to do anything to make their situation better. "like it's starting to get so out of hand! they used to be annoying at the dorm but decent in public, and now, even during concerts or at fan meetings they fight with each other and ridicule themselves because of their behaviour."

"oh really?" the assistant asked, his eyes falling on the nct members standing in line on stage.

"yeah..." namkyu took his head in his hands. "even now, i don't dare looking back at them because i know that i'll find sicheng strangling jungwoo or sungchan and donghyuck having a curse word battle and i won't know what to do to make them stop because i feel like i've done everything already and nothing works."

the assistant frowned. "huh... it's not really like that, actually."

"sorry?"

"you should dare looking at them. they're not really how you described them to me right now." the assistant repeated his eyes flicking between nct and their manager.

praying silently, namkyu turned around hoping not to find nct in a compromising position or anything. however, what he saw was the last thing he expected to witness in his career as a manager of 22 alpha males.

just before namkyu's eyes, the 22 nct members stood in a line, all facing the cameras in silence with their back straight and their posture perfect.

and even more surprising that this - which was already very unusual - their cheeks were flushed and their mouths contorted in a silly smile.

namkyu gasped, rubbing his eyes energetically before making sure he wasn't imagining things.

"what... the... fuck...?!"