Pretending to Be an Alpha in an All-Alpha Boy Band - Chapter 14
Chapter 14 Caught in the Act
That afternoon there was a magazine shoot on the schedule — Scepter’s first group outing — and the company decided to livestream it.
Yuan Shiyuan hadn’t been with Scepter long, but he was already familiar with the other members, which made the manufactured boy band look like it actually meant something.
Only Jiang Heng kept up his silent, stoic act all day.
Zhuang He had repeatedly urged him to interact more with the new member, but Jiang hardly opened his mouth.
When Yuan Shiyuan returned to the dorm he’d said in the group chat that he was going to take a nap.
The duty of waking him fell to Jiang Heng.
According to the original plan, Jiang should burst into the room with a camera crew to catch Yuan Shiyuan off guard — ideally capturing his stunned, uncomprehending expression on film.
If they could get something unexpectedly scandalous on camera, all the better; it would feed the audience’s taste for the salacious.
But the scene before them was a little too stimulating.
It might not pass censorship if they aired it.
At the same time, a huge number of people would accuse them of deliberately manufacturing a scandal, and another chunk of netizens would probably go crazy. If Yuan Shiyuan was doing a pocky game, the rabid alpha fans would already be up in arms — but if they actually saw him disheveled, straddling another Alpha, Starry Night Entertainment might get torched overnight.
Bo Jin would be turned to literal ashes, living up to his name.
“Wait outside. This isn’t suitable to film.” Jiang Heng turned to block the PD from entering the room.
The PD looked puzzled. What’s not allowed to film? Isn’t this the part that’s supposed to be surprising? The more out-of-control the footage, the bigger the ratings.
This was exactly what most viewers in the livestream chat were thinking. After hesitating a moment, Jiang said, “Yuan Shiyuan is napping and not wearing clothes. It’s not appropriate.”
At first the barrage of comments went wild with excitement, then suddenly another hoarse, muffled sound came from inside the dorm.
[What was that sound?]
[What the hell can’t they film? Other shows film people sleeping naked all the time. I don’t care, I want to see!!! (lecherous emoji)]
[Didn’t they just say Yuan Shiyuan is sleeping without clothes? Why is there another sound? And this voice sounds familiar…]
[That voice — it’s Bo Jin’s.]
[No way, so they’re napping together? Both naked???]
[This is bad. There’s adultery.]
[Why does Jiang Heng look like that? Bo Jin didn’t just rape my wife, did he?!!!]
[Supplement the tonic, supplement the tonic, don’t f*** my wife! (crying emoji)]
[Isn’t Bo Jin straight A???]
As a straight man, Bo Jin had never imagined he would one day have an improper reaction because of another Alpha.
Throughout it all, Yuan Shiyuan had only bent over to turn off his phone screen. With the smallest brush of movement, he’d frozen Bo Jin completely.
Even in his wildest, most out-of-control manic phases, Bo Jin had never felt this helpless.
Yuan Shiyuan didn’t notice Bo Jin’s loss of composure; his mind was entirely on turning the phone screen off — he didn’t want to ruin his reputation at such a young age.
He watched Jiang Heng close the door and met his calm gaze.
“Get off him,” Jiang said. “They won’t come in for a bit.”
The atmosphere was awkward, and Jiang’s tone… if everyone here weren’t straight guys, Yuan Shiyuan might have thought Jiang was coming in to catch them in the act.
Yuan Shiyuan cleared his throat and gave a transparently weak explanation, “Uh, that — it was an accident. I lost my footing and slipped, and fell onto Bo Jin.”
Even Yuan felt how flimsy that excuse sounded, but Jiang actually believed him. “Mm. Be careful next time.”
He paused for a moment, then added, “Change your clothes; we’re leaving to shoot the magazine.”
As for Bo Jin, Jiang Heng didn’t even glance at him.
Yuan Shiyuan quickly changed into something decent and joined the others for the livestream.
[Did he really come out with Bo Jin?? Sneaky behavior always means something’s up. (magnifying glass)]
[Heh heh heh—I ship ○ and Brother Huo, CP fans are ecstatic.]
[Please, Bo Jin, don’t f*** my wife. Don’t f*** my wife!!!!!! (breaking down)(crying)]
[Too late, he’s already fucked. (laughing)]
The black barrage of comments was lewd to an extreme, utterly offensive.
For the first time the six Alphas of the Scepter boy group found themselves helpless in the face of their fans’ enthusiasm. They wanted to respond, but minutes passed without finding a single comment suitable to read on air.
Finally, Yuan Shiyuan spotted a normal comment: [Calling Yuan Shiyuan! May I ask if Ying Mingxi and Ying Mingche can come into your elementary school together? (excited)]
“Elementary school?” Yuan Shiyuan was stunned. “Right now?”
“They couldn’t now,” the comment replied. “They’re too big; they can’t fit.” Yuan Shiyuan didn’t understand why the fan asked that, but he answered earnestly, “They could before—back when they were smaller.”
The chat, oblivious to context, filled with: [checkcheckcheckcheckcheckcheckcheckcheckcheckcheckcheckcheckcheckcheckcheckcheckcheckcheck]
The livestream was shut down.
Great. They didn’t have to work now—sullen, they climbed into the shuttle van to head to the next engagement.
Only after he sat down did Yuan Shiyuan notice the complicated look on Bo Jin’s face when he glanced his way.
Oh no—his straight-man status was at risk!
Bo Jin wouldn’t think he was gay just because he read those smut fics, right?
The one thing a straight man cannot have questioned—and must guard above all—is his sexual orientation.
“I’m totally straight!” Yuan Shiyuan sprang upright like a startled fish, lowering his voice. “That was a link someone sent me. I was just curious and clicked it!”
“Curious enough to view the opening? How many chapters did you get through?” Bo Jin stayed suspicious. “Or were you pressed against a bathroom mirror by two Alphas c—”
He seemed to think the last word was a bit too spicy, so he slammed on the brakes and sneered, “You’ve got quite the curiosity if you already reached the VIP chapters.”
“There aren’t many chapters! I was just skimming. How could I possibly be like the novel—pressed down and fucked by two Alphas?”
“Could you stop talking so crudely?”
“You read the cruder original to me just now and now you call me crude?”
“…”
Yuan Shiyuan: “Could reading gay fanfiction make you turn gay?”
Bo Jin: “No.”
The denial was immediate, unwavering, and reassuringly blunt. Yuan Shiyuan said, “See? Me neither.”
Only then did Bo Jin realize he had overreacted earlier. Even if Yuan Shiyuan had read it, so what? Was it worth getting so worked up?
But that momentary surge of feeling was hard to control; he couldn’t accept it.
How could Yuan Shiyuan be in their dorm, lying on his bed, wearing clothes that almost showed everything, reading fanfic about him and other Alphas?
“That filthy stuff just hurts the eyes to look at,” Bo Jin said coldly.
Unexpectedly, Bo Jin turned out to be rather conservative. Yuan Shiyuan: “Mm, yeah—I shouldn’t be reading such filthy things in the sacred space of the dorm.”
“Don’t get too close to those two brothers either. Just looking at them gives me bad vibes.”
“Why are you talking badly about people?”
“Are they any kind of good people?” Bo Jin mocked. “How many decent Alphas are there?”
Yuan Shiyuan thought for a moment and asked, “Aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
“But I think you’re great.”
Bo Jin looked at Yuan Shiyuan with meaning.
Although Yuan Shiyuan’s way of making friends was insincere and perfunctory, he had to admit Yuan Shiyuan always said things that secretly pleased him.
Yuan Shiyuan, however, took that look as a warning: “Alright, alright—I won’t read stuff about me and them anymore. I’ll just read stuff about me and you, okay?”
Bo Jin said nothing.
Yuan Shiyuan smelled the faint, almost imperceptible pheromone from Bo Jin. It was light, but somehow made him feel comfortable.
He stretched lazily like a cat sunbathing by the sea.
Bo Jin watched Yuan Shiyuan take a sip of water, then put on an eye mask. He probably needed to sleep and recover after what he’d just seen—something that had irritated his kidneys, so to speak.
His pink hair was fluffy and soft. The bridge of his nose under the black mask had subtle contours; his tip was slightly upturned and his lips well shaped. Because he’d just drunk water, the seam of his lips looked wet and slightly red.
Bo Jin couldn’t help but think of certain scenes at a very inappropriate time.
At the time, in his anger, he hadn’t considered them closely; now, savoring them, they felt strangely different.
The fanfic had described Yuan Shiyuan as being pink everywhere. Though the author was indulging in wishful thinking, somehow they’d accidentally gotten some things right. Apart from not having seen inside his shorts, Bo Jin had read everything else.
Indeed—it was either white or pink.
Once the thought came, it was hard to suppress—for example, imagining Yuan Shiyuan sitting on him and eating a big orange segment, his face going pale from holding on.
Absurd lines raced through his head. Bo Jin glanced at Yuan Shiyuan’s ankle—bony and delicate. This small frame really could make such things… possible.
Achoo—
Yuan Shiyuan sneezed, and Bo Jin snapped back to reality. He scowled and covered Yuan Shiyuan with a small blanket, feeling even more conflicted.
What on earth was he thinking? Yuan Shiyuan was an Alpha!
That fanfic was completely divorced from reality.
Stuff about forcing more food into someone already full so their belly bulged, and because Yuan Shiyuan had a small appetite he ate too much and was stuffed, helplessly clutching his belly with tears spraying everywhere… it was ridiculous!
Don’t nostalgically mull over this like a pervert, Bo Jin warned himself.
But this did make him recall something else.
Bo Jin’s manic episodes were hereditary: incurable, only manageable. He had always forced himself to resist them. Lately, though, he felt as if he’d been soothed; he hadn’t been feeling unwell so often.
And he hadn’t done anything special recently.
Except that Yuan Shiyuan had once forced his face onto Bo Jin’s gland so he could smell his pheromones.
But that certainly had nothing to do with Yuan Shiyuan.
The van rocked slowly as it drove. When the driver braked, Yuan Shiyuan’s head tilted to one side.
Bo Jin instinctively put a hand on his shoulder, letting him lean against him and offering a steady place to sleep.
The overly intimate physical contact stunned Bo Jin.
He wasn’t used to being that close to someone. He turned his head awkwardly and watched Yuan Shiyuan’s cheek sink against his shoulder; beneath long, thick lashes, the seam of his lips parted slightly, releasing a warm, damp breath.
It smelled good.
Even though he was an Alpha, his scent was more pleasant than any Omega’s pheromones.
The doctor’s warning suddenly burst into his mind: “You must be exposed to high-matching Omegas, but you won’t even use synthetic Omega pheromones. Overly suppressing the condition will only have the opposite effect.”
But what could Bo Jin do?
His pheromones would indiscriminately harm others. Even someone with a high match to him would be hurt. Besides, he had no intention of marrying an Omega, nor did he want to be drawn into a bond just because of high compatibility.
The family’s inferior genes were doomed to end with his generation.
Bo Jin stared at Yuan Shiyuan’s sleeping face for a moment, wanting to push him away, but when his fingertip brushed Yuan Shiyuan’s cheek his heart skipped a beat.
Yuan Shiyuan, having his face touched, made two soft, unconscious noises as if tickled, and turned his head away a little.
The next second he buried his face back against him, finding a comfortable position; his cheek rubbed sticky against him, mussing his pink hair.
Bo Jin’s gaze darkened—too unguarded.
Even as an Alpha, Yuan Shiyuan shouldn’t be so defenseless.
Yuan Shiyuan had no idea how dangerous the Alpha beside him could be.
S-rank alphas possess strong mental fortitude, and mania under such high mental strength comes with great destructive power and intense reproductive drive. Bo Jin knew full well that if he let his mania continue unchecked, sooner or later it would reach a point beyond control.
When that day came, Bo Jin might become a beast utterly ruled by desire. Even knowing Yuan Shiyuan was an Alpha, he would drag him to his den regardless, use his barbed tongue to work at the back of his neck, and frantically leave his mark.
Then Yuan Shiyuan would surely be terrified and regret ever meeting this madman. But it would be too late—fear and tears would only excite the Alpha more.
No matter how Yuan Shiyuan cried and tried to run, he would be hauled back under him.
Author’s Note:
Straight Guy
About to enter VIP. Need to cut down the word count a bit; the next chapter will update on Sunday. After VIP it can be updated daily stably. [rose]
Thanks to my darlings for the support and tips! When tips reach ten thousand I’ll add an extra chapter—babes, consider it! [let me see][let me see][shy][shy][kiss][kiss][heart]