Arthur had never been good with elevators, even if he was taking it alone. Unless he was the very first person who entered it after the daily cleaning, there would always be a trace of people's pheromone. After a whole day, it would be unbearable, no matter how good the installed air purifier was.
Because of that, he always took the stairs if it was less than ten stories high. Yeah, he'd rather climb ten stories of flight rather than use the elevators, burning some calories while at it. Even while going with others, he would take the stairs and wait for them near the elevators. People would mistake him for being claustrophobic because of it.
Most just chalked it up to another one of Arthur's quirks, but they would still ask questions first. This was the rare time Arthur didn't have to deliberately separate himself or ask to use the escalator first. Eugene didn't even glance at the elevator, even though it had just arrived when he walked past, and only two people went inside.
Could it be that he was the one who had claustrophobia? Arthur wondered while following the man to the escalator.
Since it was the weekend, the escalator actually had more people than the elevator earlier. Even though it was a bit awkward, Arthur had to stand right behind Eugene, staring at the silky black hair.
Omega was omega after all; despite being taller and more muscular than most, the details of Eugene's profile were still refined and delicate. Pale and smooth skin, silky hair, thin but pink lips...
Arthur shook his head. Was there a need to observe someone's skin texture and lip color? It wasn't a very discernible body part since texture and color constantly changed. It would be helpful if he could identify Eugene's scent, but it seemed like the omega diligently used a scent blocker in public, because Arthur had never smelled his pheromone in the company.
Not that he ever been in close proximity with the omega. At most, they were talking face-to-face near the bridge to the adjacent building. Even then, there were still a few steps between them. In fact, standing behind Eugene on the escalator was the closest Arthur ever was to the omega.
Closer even than the time he was dragged by the hand earlier.
How could an omega be that strong, anyway? Arthur couldn't even wriggle himself out of the clutch.
While wondering if Eugene had been going to a self-defense class or something similar, a bunch of rowdy teenagers climbed the escalator while laughing and bumping against the people who were standing neatly on the side, including Arthur and Eugene.
With a shopping bag in one hand, Arthur wobbled as he lost balance from the bump, nearly toppled back if it wasn't for a hand grasping the scruff of his neck and pulling him forward. Blinking in surprise, Arthur looked up to see Eugene holding onto him, eyes betrayed no shift in emotion.
One hand gripping the escalator handbar, Arthur took a deep breath and froze. His nose, so close to Eugene's neck because of the safety grip, sniffed a scent that jolted a memory.
Violet. Bluebell. Powder and musk.
Arthur flicked his eyes, up and sharp toward the omega in front of him. The green eyes looked at him nonchalantly, head tilted slightly as his neck was let go.
"You okay?" Eugene asked while pulling his hand away from Arthur.
The alpha narrowed his eyes and quickly scrutinized Eugene's neck. The edge of a scent blocker patch came into his view behind the omega's black sweater.
So it's not his pheromone, Arthur thought in disappointment while nodding. "Yes, thank you."
Whose scent was that, though? He frowned slightly after Eugene turned his head away. Was it a perfume? He looked around in case the scent came from someone else, but the scent had already vanished, no matter how hard he sniffed.
Before Arthur could ask, they arrived at the fourth floor, and Eugene gestured around with his chin. "Where do you want to go?"
"I can choose?" Arthur arched his brow. He was under the impression that Eugene wanted to take charge of the conversation, so it was a bit unexpected.
The omega hummed quietly as if he were in deep thought as his eyes swept the interior. "Been a while since I went somewhere with someone other than Sophie. Just choose whatever, as long as we can sit."
Huh...Arthur had thought someone like Eugene--who was friends with Sophie--would have gone cafe hopping at least twice a month. Arthur wasn't very confident about his own aesthetic judgment, but the omega also seemed to have features that were very agreeable with a lot of people by the general standard, so he thought the man would at least go to some dates to cafes and such.
"Why are you just standing there dumbly?" Eugene asked impatiently, making a displeased face.
Never mind. Perhaps he didn't have many dates because of that personality.
Arthur shrugged and walked to a place that had caught his attention the moment he stepped off the escalator. It was cute and vibrant, and most importantly, smelled divine. Fruity, sweet, and sugary--the legal drug!
* * *
A man who was clearly an alpha, and another tall man--but shorter--who was probably a beta or a recessive alpha, entered the cute dessert cafe together, pulling the attention of the workers and the customers alike.
Even more because both of them were objectively good-looking. Not only that, they entered nonchalantly, and the man who was clearly an alpha even looked rather excited.
It was definitely a rare occurrence for this kind of establishment, especially when the alpha ordered a string of teeth-rotting desserts that filled the tea table where they sit at. On the other hand, the shorter man only ordered a yoghurt smoothie, as if sparing the table from anymore burden.
"So? What do you want to talk about?" Eugene asked after sipping his smoothie and digested his surprise at the amount of cakes the alpha ordered, belatedly recalled that Allen called the man a foodie. He thought back to the exchange on the bridge to the adjacent building. "The effect or something like that?"
"Right, let's start with that," Arthur nodded and swallowed another slice of kiwi cream cake. He lifted his fork and wiggled it toward Eugene. "Do you know why Ashley asked me to join this project?"
How would I know? Eugene almost rolled his eyes before remembering that this was supposed to be a civil conversation. "Because you're his cousin?"
"I'm also a professional, okay?" Arthur smacked the table lightly.
"No one said you're not."
"...a lot of people do," the alpha said quietly before shoving a whole lemon meringue pie as if it were his emotional support pill.
"Oh..." Eugene recalled the office gossip he heard the other day and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Sorry."
Why is this alpha so good at making people feel guilty?
"Forget it," Arthur waved his hand dismissively before putting his fork down and shifting to his warm tea. "Anyway, there's something that Ashley actually wants to do regarding the effect of pheromones in the movie."
"Such as?"
Arthur shifted in his seat and sat more properly, as if they were in a real meeting instead of a cute cafe with a bunch of desserts in front of them. The sparkling, rich brown eyes reminded Eugene of his daughter every time she told him about the new cartoon episode she had just watched.
"You know that movie uses visual representation to show the pheromone to the audience, right?"
Since there was no technology to deliver scent through the screen yet, moviemakers would use colors or put on an effect according to the scent characteristic of the pheromone. During romantic scenes or actions where clashes of pheromones occurred frequently, it helped the audience's immersion and understanding.
Naturally, everyone who had seen a movie would know it, so Eugene simply nodded. "Uh-huh."
Arthur smiled with a twinkle in his eyes. "This time, Ashley wants to use music--well, sounds and melodies and such."
"Huh..." Eugene arched his brow. "Why?"
"Because the protagonist couldn't smell the pheromones."
Eugene almost flinched since it felt like talking about him. He took another sip of his drink while putting on a confused expression.
"Let me give you an example," Arthur smiled. "There's a scene where an alpha goes into rut in the middle of a boulevard and affects everyone so strongly that many started to emit strong pheromones too, right? Meanwhile, Ian keeps standing blankly because he can't smell anything."
Eugene chuckled. "You called him 'Ian'?"
"Why? It's easier--and people do call him that," Arthur said, pursing his lips defensively.
"Okay," Eugene raised his hands, chuckling inwardly.
Well, as the author, he was quite satisfied that someone would call his protagonist with a sense of intimacy.
Wait--the protagonist was based on him, though? Ugh...
"What I want to say is, using visual clues like clashing colors to show how chaotic it is would be too messy for the picture," Arthur continued his explanation. It wouldn't be a problem if there were only two or three clashes of colors, but it became a problem if there were dozens of them. "If we use sounds instead..."
Eugene leaned back and tilted his head up to try imagining the scene. The screen would only show the chaotic boulevard without any disturbing visual effect, but they would hear a clash of dozens of disharmonious sounds. The feeling of discrepancies would be so jarring that they couldn't help but hold their breath.
"It'll be clean and chaotic at the same time," Eugene said.
"Yep," Arthur snapped his fingers. "And when it comes to Ian's pov, we can just mute all the sound."
"I see..."
That does seem good--Eugene nodded. It might not be very inclusive for people with hearing impairment, but then again, movies could never be completely inclusive since people with visual impairment wouldn't be able to enjoy them either.
Arthur picked up his fork again and added with a smirk. "Also, it'll be different from other movies."
"I see..." Eugene could only nod again before tilting his head curiously. "What's that got to do with you, though?"
"Well, I'm an expert on turning pheromones into melodies," Arthur shrugged and popped a whole choux cream as if rewarding himself. "I have a whole music library representing all kinds of pheromone notes that I built myself since I was a teenager."
Eugene raised his brow, half-amazed and half-curious. He blurted out a question before he could stop himself. "Because you're sensitive to smell?"
Arthur stopped the movement of his fork and widened his eyes at Eugene. "How...do you know?"
...shit.