An hour after their surprise encounter at the pond, Elys Rydel found himself in Yuliang's clean but sparsely furnished apartment, dry and dressed in a large purple hoodie while drinking delicious warm soup that Yuliang had made just for him!
Elys subtly inhaled the collar of his sweater as deeply as he could. The sweet smell of citrus that occasionally wafts from the older omega during their after-class discussions clung strongly to the fabric and did wonders calming his frayed nerves after the events of the day.
Elys really admired Yuliang.
Yuliang was the most amazing omega Elys had ever met and completely unlike everything that people expected an omega to be.
Yulang was so smart. He might even be the smartest person in the whole world. Yuliang knew everything and anything to do with Healing and he could explain the stuff their stupid textbook took hundreds of pages to explain in like two sentences. He was also only seventeen! The same age as the morons he went to class with!
Yuliang was also very beautiful. Beautiful in the most uncaring, effortless way that drew Elys' eyes no matter what he was doing. Yuliang wasn't traditionally attractive. In Society, omegas who were smaller and slimmer with soft and gentle features were considered ideal. Yuliang in contrast, was tall and strong with sharp and full features. Yuliang pulled off androgyny in a way that most omegas didn't bother to do, and he was what Elys thought an ideal omega should be. Masculine, but with a touch of femininity. Unfortunately, most omegas in Society were expected to be feminine to the point of almost being female.
Elys probably would have been expected to be the same in university as well if his second brother Lorcan hadn't listened to his pleas and argued his situation with his parents in his stead. Elys didn't mind wearing dresses and skirts on occasions like special events, but he didn't want to wear them every single day or to a university where the majority were commoners. That was just asking for unnecessary attention. Omegas, especially noble ones, were a rare sight for commoners.
Another reason Elys idolized Yuliang was because of how Yuliang, while being smart and beautiful, was also crazy strong. Elys had seen Yuliang carrying things twice his size and weight for lessons effortlessly without breaking a sweat many times. If Yuliang wasn't already a Healer, Elys would bet he would have become an Enforcer or an athlete or any other career with a lot of physical labour involved.
Witnessing Yuliang's strength had inspired Elys to get strong as well, but when he asked his third brother for advice, Seth had just laughed in his face and told Elys to go play with his dolls.
Which was such a stupid thing to say, because Elys hadn't played with dolls since he was nine, but Seth had always been a dumb-dumb and Elys didn't even know why he bothered trying to ask that jerkface.
Had it been any other day Elys would have gone to his second brother for advice instead, but Lorcan was busy these days with work at the Force. His next option would have been his oldest brother, but Conrad was living in Ebren these days so he couldn't ask him either. Asking either of his parents was pointless, since they would probably have just flipped out about their delicate son becoming a brute or something stupid like that. so through the process of elimination, Seth had been his only option. Now Elys had to patiently wait for the next time he saw Lorcan at home to ask him for help like he originally should have.
Speaking of home, Elys was once more overwhelmed by the fact that he was currently in his idol, Yuliang's, home.
"You're probably used to better food than this back home, but it's the best I could do, so sorry about that," Yuliang said, joining him at the dining table with his own bowl.
Elys vehemently shook his head, "No way! I love it! It tastes so much better than what I usually eat."
Yuliang snorted, lips curling up, "I'm not sure if that's a compliment to my cooking or an insult to your chef, but thanks I guess."
Elys felt awe, as he usually did when the usually dour omega expressed amusement. The omega had a beautiful smile, and it was a shame that Yuliang didn't do it more often, but it was also probably for the best with how out of breath Elys always felt whenever his idol did it.
Before Elys started university, his dream had been to graduate and become a world-famous Certified Healer. That was something he still wanted, but now that dream had slightly changed. Now he still wanted to become a world-famous Certified Healer, but he wanted to achieve that with Yuliang Davos by his side.