sweeter than candy || yeonbin { HIATUS }

intro

Soobin remembered his mom's tales of when he was 5, tucked in his race car bed and dim lighting all around him. His mom was dressed in her nurse's scrubs, ready for her night shift. His father was awake, watching the news as he graded papers in the kitchen, and his siblings all were tucked into bed, kissed good night by his mom. After the older woman pecked his cheeks and his forehead, child Soobin begging for his mom not to go, she told him a story, a legend, if you will.

"Binnie, when you get older," she would say sweetly, "and you get your second gender, you will begin to smell something." She would tickle his nose around this point, and Soobin would giggle at the funny sensations. "This smell, is the smell of your mate. Everyone has a mate, like your dad and I, your friends, your sisters, everyone."

"What's a scent, Mama?" He would ask, already being lulled to sleep by the comforting voice. She would only smile at her drowsy baby, and then tell the rest. "A scent is something that smells really good! You have a scent too, and your mate will smell it. You only smell it when you're in the same room as your mate, so it's very hard to find out the scent of them with other people there. For example, I smell blueberries when I'm near your dad, and he smells strawberries and cream." His mom pinched his chubby cheeks, and the small child giggled loudly. "As your mom, I smell sweet lavender and peppermint. Your mate will love the scent, baby."

Child Soobin nuzzled his bunny plush, closing his eyes to dreamland. Faintly, as he fell asleep, he heard one last thing that always put a smile on his face.

"You'll find your mate one day, Binnie, and we will love them as much as we love you."

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The sweet scent of peppermint and lavender filled Yeonjun's nose again. The pink haired boy inhaled the smell a bit, breathing it in.

It was always nice to have it, that little sniff of goodness, because it reminded Yeonjun of what his fate was going to be.

Choi Yeonjun was 21 years old, and in his third year of college. The male worked at a coffee shop as a barista at the campus cafe between classes, and then went home to his roommates. Everyday, he woke up and went to class, then to work, then home to pass out 5 hours later. The only thing that kept him going was the smell of lavender and peppermint. Fuck, he liked majoring in fashion design, but it was so hard at times. Sketching the same shirt for 5 hours isn't fun, as Yeonjun soon found out.

People said that he was an omega for choosing "such a stupid major," but Yeonjun could care less. The alpha enjoyed fashion more than boring accounting. He didn't want to be rich because he parents told him, but because he did it with what he loves. Fuck the norms. He knew plenty of omegas who went to high class universities and made a presence for themselves, and he hoped to prove to the fashion world that he as an alpha can change the fact that betas only worked in that career choice. For now, he was focusing on school work and his job. It was closing time, and there was two other people in the shop besides himself and a coworker. Yeonjun could barely walk five feet without getting hit with the smell of peppermint and lavender, so he knew it was one of the two customers.

The boy was sitting at one of the loveseats in the shop. The coffee shop large, with wooden chairs and tablets dotting the area. On the walls was shelves of books and plants, and a dim lighting filled the entire room. At the furthest side facing the door, there was Yeonjun and Yeosang working. Yeonjun wore a white tee and jeans, with black plaid layered over the tucked in shirt. A worn black apron that had a name still scrawled on the tag on the back was tied to Yeonjun's form.

One of the customers caught his eye immediately. It was a boy with fading purple hair, in a white sweater and ripped jeans. He was immersed in a book he was reading, with a vanilla latte to his side. Yeonjun watched as the boy's eyes widened as he continued reading, the milky chocolate orbs visible from here. Yeonjun didn't need to think twice about him.

He seemed so cute, his head stuck in a cloud of reading. The purple haired boy took small sips of his drink, then placed it down with a gentle thud.

The mystery boy glanced up, and he met Yeonjun's eyes.

Yeonjun's eyes darted away, desperately trying to make it look it he wasn't staring at the figure in white. The pink haired male started making an iced americano almost immediately, and turned red. Hopefully in the dark lighting, the mystery boy wouldn't know he was blushing.

He finished making the drink and Yeosang flicked his head towards the door. Taking it as a silent sign of "you can go home, I'll clean up", Yeonjun ran towards the back and hung up his apron before leaving the cafe in a hurry. As he left, the purple haired boy from before was staring at him with curious chocolatey brown eyes.

Choi Soobin couldn't smell the coffee and orange scent anymore. He assumed that he could, after all, he's in a coffee shop. The barista from before literally just made a cup of coffee a few minutes ago. Soobin wondered if that boy was his soulmate, but he brushed it off and continued reading deep into the world. It was easy for his soulmate's scent to be overpowered in places that smelled the same. Soobin slowly sunk into the world of castles rooted deep into the mountains, glass swords and crowns passed between hands, and furious battles at sea. As he was deep in his blur of his book, a blonde figure popped up in front of him.

"Hey, we're closing soon. You gotta leave," the person said. Soobin quickly got out of the thickening daze and nodded. "Sorry, I'll be on my way."

"So, because of this..." Yeonjun's teacher droned on. He could barely pay attention, and laid his head on his desk.

Yeonjun could hear voices in the corner of his ears, but he was too drunk on sleep to care. It wasn't until a large slam placed squarely on his desk made him shoot up. It was a mess, with drooling pooling from a corner of his mouth, his face squished to the side, and panting. The purple haired male giggled at this quietly.

Wait, purple?

Yeonjun glanced around frantically, trying to see the boy whom was at the coffee shop yesterday. He breathed in, and nearly choked on the overwhelming scent of lavender filling his nostrils. It nearly put him to sleep, but the mystery figure pulled his arms up. Yeonjun's hands flopped to the side and when his hands hit the desk, Yeonjun groaned out in pain.

"Ok, actually get up," the mystery boy deadpanned. "My shift starts in 20 minutes and I want to get some coffee before I go. I'll give you candy."

Yeonjun slid out form his chair and yawned before reaching up to stretch his arms out. He breathed in, trying to wake himself up, but then the bite of sharp peppermint woke him up in an instant. Soobin sniffed the air curiously. "Damn, what coffee blend are you using? That smells fantastic." Soobin set his bag onto the desk and rummaged through there until a clear cellophane bag filled with sugar covered cubes.

Soobin gently placed the clear bag on the desk, then walked away. Yeonjun groggily watched him move from his sight until it smacked him that he should thank him.

A clear bag of sweets that brought together two distant strangers. One's an alpha with a determination to be the best and a shit sleep schedule, and the other's an omega trying to get through life with a coffee and book addiction.

What would happen? Where would this take them? How would this... work out?