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Be there for me

Summary:

Jungwoo was living in a world where he was lesser, considered property. In a center since he presented as an omega, he doesn’t trust alphas. Now, an Alpha is taking him home and he doesn’t know what to think. Does he trust the stranger? Stay far away? Be the model omega?

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

He curled up further into the corner not wanting to face reality. Maybe if he just closed his eyes it would all just go away, in his mind he could pretend that he was somewhere else, that he wasn’t hurting, wasn’t feeling this way. Jungwoo just wanted to be at peace for once, he wanted to go back to the time when he was young and his parents still cared about him. He could practically feel his mom’s soft caress, his dad’s strong arms. When he was young, he thought that they were invincible. Apparently he had been wrong. They were just as susceptible to the vices of the world as anyone else. 

One of the handlers grabbed him by his arm and hauled him to his feet. Jungwoo’s shaky legs gave out from underneath him, but the handler just kept on walking, dragging his too-skinny body behind him until Jungwoo finally managed to regain his footing. Not that it mattered, the handler didn’t care if he had to drag Jungwoo or not; after all he was just a lowly omega, good for nothing.

 As they continued down the hall, the absence of scent made Jungwoo’s head fuzzy. You’d think that after all this time he would’ve gotten used to it, but it was as unsettling as ever. Omegas were naturally more perceptive to smells, they relied on them to know how their packmates were feeling, how to best help others, but, like everything else, the facility took that small comfort away from them. The omegas weren’t even allowed to see each other—every omega was kept by themselves in a tiny closed off room; Jungwoo had only ever caught glimpses of the others. That was a special kind of torture. They had no one to rely on, no one to bond with, no one to go to, no one to even smell. 

It was designed this way, it kept the omegas weak, susceptible, more likely to be passive with their alpha. Jungwoo had heard stories of omegas that were so touch and scent starved that they just let their alpha do whatever they wanted, even taking the mating bite on the first night. Others had gone crazy. Everyone had heard the horror stories of omegas ripping their hair out, screaming at all hours of the night, desperate for something .

Jungwoo understood it, there were times that he had wanted to scream, cry, run away, do anything to relieve the stress that built up in his body day after day, but he didn’t, couldn’t. He just laid there, curled up into a little ball in his freezing cement cell waiting for it all to end. 

And this was it. They were turning down a hall Jungwoo had never seen before. Maybe they were finally going to end it all. There was no way an alpha would want him, he was too tall, too skinny. Omegas were supposed to be short, all soft and curves, but Jungwoo was the opposite and the handlers never let him forget it: 

“An alpha’s never going to want a freak like you.”

“I can’t even stand to look at you, you’re so ugly.”

“If an alpha even ever gets you, it’ll be a big mean one, someone who can put you in your place.”

These statements were usually accentuated with a harsh kick to his ribs or a slap across the face. They weren’t supposed to leave marks on the omegas, but no one seemed to care about Jungwoo. He was worthless, no good, a horrible excuse for an omega. He had been in the facility for 5 years and no one ever let him forget it:

“An alpha could never love an omega like you,”

“Most omegas are gone within a year, especially with how young you are,”

“No one has even asked to see you in all this time,”

“You’re just going to die alone,”

“No one wants you, you’re worthless,”

They were right. He was a useless, good-for-nothing omega. Omegas were made to please alphas and he couldn’t even do that. His picture and description online hadn’t even been appealing to anyone. Not for five years. Jungwoo didn’t know what would be worse: the sterile, degrading facility, or an alpha who would beat him and use him. In the facility he would be led to a premature death, wasting away, slowly going crazy from the lack of scent, lack of touch, lack of communication. But, an alpha would make his life a living hell. He would have no freedom, would be forced to do whatever his alpha wanted. Either way he wouldn’t have a life worth living. Some days Jungwoo wondered why he even tried anymore, there was no point to it, he was going to have an awful life no matter what, so what was the purpose in living, in trying?

 

He was thrown into a room unceremoniously and was instantly struck by something he hadn’t experienced in five years: someone’s scent. More specifically, the scent of an alpha.

The alpha was standing in the center of the room, a confident and imposing figure. He was shorter than Jungwoo, but a lot more muscular. Everything about him screamed power.

When Jungwoo was thrown into the room, he was instantly completely and utterly overwhelmed. He had never properly smelled an alpha before, ever since presenting he had been in the center. Now, the man’s deep woodsy scent was invading his senses, making it impossible to think. Jungwoo couldn’t even stand up. He just sat on the floor where he had been thrown and looked up incredulously at the alpha. His mind was going a mile a minute and he couldn’t think. The man was saying something to the trainers, but Jungwoo couldn’t hear him. He was drowning, floating away somewhere in his head. His mind was high above his body, no longer on earth.

The next thing he knew, the alpha was helping him to his feet and leading him out the door and through the hallway. Jungwoo was too overwhelmed to even properly pay attention. His inner omega was trying to adjust to the sudden change, trying to catalogue what an alpha smelled like after being deprived of any sort of scent for years.

Then they were outside and Jungwoo was squinting against the sunlight, senses becoming even more muddled. He hadn’t seen the sun in years. He’d forgotten how bright it was, how much warmth it created.

There was also the sound of cars rushing by on the street. The smell of gas and trash and the millions of people who lived in the city. Birds were chirping, car horns were honking, people were talking, and it was all too much. Jungwoo’s body couldn’t handle all of the stimuli. He felt his brain begin to shut down.

He stumbled and the alpha steadied him, the touch of skin on skin surprising him, “Be careful there.” The alpha’s voice was deep and imposing. It reminded Jungwoo of all the horror stories he had heard from handlers. He was going to be hit, beaten up, used, broken. A small, pitiful whine forced its way out of his throat. 

The alpha suddenly stopped, looking at him intently, “Are you okay?”

He was in trouble. The alpha was looking straight at him, his gaze tearing him apart. Jungwoo had messed up and now he was in trouble. He shouldn’t have whined, should’ve just kept his mouth shut. Been quite like a good omega. Omegas were meant to be seen, not heard.

 Jungwoo dropped to the ground and curled up into a ball, bracing himself for the hits that would doubtless follow. But, no sharp pain followed. Instead, the alpha knelt by his side, speaking softly. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. I promise I’m not going to hurt you, you didn’t do anything wrong. My name is Jaehyun and I promise I will never hit you or anything. You’re safe now.” A calming scent surrounded Jungwoo, but he still didn’t move from his ball on the pavement. He had heard too many stories of alphas who broke their promises, goaded their omegas into trusting them just so they could break them all over again. No, Jungwoo wasn’t going to move from his protective ball. 

Jaehyun sighed, “It’s okay, I promise. I won’t hurt you. I just need you stand up for me, please?  It’s not safe for you to be laying down in the middle of the sidewalk and we’re almost to the car. You’ll be able to lay down in there.”

Jungwoo didn’t move. 

Jaehyun let out a heavy sigh. “Okay, I’m going to pick you up, alright? I promise I’m not going to hurt you or anything, but it’s cold outside and how much your shaking is scaring me. We really need to get you to the car.”

Jungwoo hadn’t even realized how cold he was until Jaehyun pointed it out. Now he was painfully aware of how every single bone in his body was freezing, how the cold wind cut through his thin clothing.

He let out a pained whimper, instinctively leaning into Jaehyun’s warm touch as the alpha easily lifted him up. 

“You’re so light, did they even feed you?” Jaehyun muttered to himself as he walked to his car, Jungwoo’s face buried in his chest. The poor omega seemed so overwhelmed and cold and tired that Jaehyun just wanted to wrap him up in a nest of blankets and make him feel as safe and as at home as possible; however, he knew that it was going to take a while for Jungwoo to adjust to his new life and even longer for him to trust anyone, especially an alpha. Johnny said it had taken a full week for Ten to even talk to him and another month before he let Johnny hug him. Granted, every omega was different, but Jaehyun was pretty sure it was going to take Jungwoo a while to come out of his shell. 

 

When they reached Jaehyun’s apartment, Jungwoo finally woke up from where he slumbered in the back seat. 

“Hey, let’s go inside, okay?” Jaehyun slowly opened the car door and motioned for Jungwoo to get out.

Jungwoo was confused. He didn’t know where he was or how he had gotten there. He was surrounded by colors and strange scents and he didn’t know what to do. There was that alpha motioning for him to get out of the car, but he didn’t want to. The car was safe. 

“Jungwoo, can you please come inside with me? It’s going to get cold out here.”

He didn't want to go. He really didn’t want to go, but the alpha wanted him to. He had to do what alphas said, otherwise he’d be punished. So, Jungwoo slowly climbed out of the car on shaky legs and followed Jaehyun into his apartment. 

The minute Jungwoo entered the doorway he was hit by a wall of smell, Jaehyun’s smell. The alpha’s scent permeated every object in the apartment, making Jungwoo’s eyes water uncontrollably. 

It wasn’t that Jaehyun smelled bad, Jungwoo actually quite enjoyed his deep, woodsy scent, but it was just everywhere . Jungwoo could smell nothing else except for alpha and every part of his body was screaming at him in a cacophony of voices: Submit , run , don’t move , scent him , stay far away , get closer .

It was all just too much. Too much was happening in one day; there was too much sensory input, too much change. Jungwoo’s body just couldn’t handle it anymore.

He dropped to the floor, body completely loose and pliant. 

 

Jaehyun cursed when he saw Jungwoo’s legs give out when they entered the apartment and he barely managed to catch the omega before he hit the ground. He should’ve seen this coming; he’d heard the horror stories of omegas becoming so overwhelmed after leaving the center that they passed out or withdrew so far into their heads that it was practically impossible to get them out, but he didn’t think it’d happen to him. But, here he was, holding an unconscious omega in his arms, not sure what to do next. He wasn’t prepared for this. He hadn’t expected Jungwoo to be so thin, so touch starved, so withdrawn. His friends’ warnings had done nothing to prepare him for the current situation on hand. 

He had to do something.

But what?

His original plan had been to show Jungwoo around his apartment and get him settled into his room before leaving him be for a little bit so he could get used to his new surroundings. However, Jaehyun hadn’t thought about how overwhelming the new experience and new smells would be for the poor, sensory deprived omega. 

Jaehyun groaned at his own stupidity and carried Jungwoo to the room the omega could call his own and laid his unconscious body down gently on the bed. Jaehyun then sprayed the whole room with scent neutralizers—something he should’ve done much earlier. He had stripped Jungwoo’s room of decorations and only had the necessary furniture adorning the space so that the omega could decorate his room however he wanted, but he had forgotten to descent it. Stupid.

Jaehyun groaned and ran his hand through his hair. He fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed Taeyong’s number. He would know what to do. He and his omega mate, Taeil, were like the parents of the group and they had coached everyone through all of their problems. If anyone were to know what to do, it would be those two.

Taeyong picked up on the second ring, “Hello?”

      “Oh thank goodness. So you know how I was going to the Omega Adoption Center today? Well, I may have come home with one. His name is Jungwoo, he’s 20 and had been there for five years already and I couldn’t just leave him there. He’s almost as tall as me and you know how omega stereotypes are—”

       “Jaehyun, you’re rambling. We can talk more about this later. What’s the problem?”

        “So I brought him home and he seemed really out of it, you know? Like overwhelmed and stuff like you said he’d be? And I may have forgotten to descent my apartment and he just like collapsed and now he’s unconscious on the bed and I don’t know what to do.”

      He heard Taeyong sigh from the other end and then Taeil’s clear voice was speaking to him, “First of all, I can’t believe you forgot to descent your apartment or at least one room, that is such a rookie mistake and we warned you so many times.”

      “I think he realizes that Taeil.” The rest of their conversation was muted, but when Taeil came back on the phone he was much calmer. “So basically Jungwoo’s body gave out on him because he felt unsafe and overwhelmed and for some reason omega biology likes to screw us over like this and—”

      “Taeil,”

      Jaehyun heard the omega take a deep breath to steady himself, “Sorry, yes, so this is what you have to do. Normally when an omega goes into a drop like this you would cuddle them and stuff so that they feel safe again and wake up, but since Jungwoo has been so sensory deprived for all of these years you definitely should not do that. So instead, try to wrap him up in as many scent neutral things as possible and kind of create a nest around him. Think like blankets and stuffed animals and stuff. It’ll probably take a while, but it’ll work.

      “Thank you so much Taeil! You’re a lifesaver!”

       “No problem, but I want to meet Jungwoo as soon as possible. Ten too. He needs the comfort of other omegas.”

       “I’ll text you!” and with that Jaehyun was hanging up the phone and running to find as many blankets and stuffed animals as he could, spraying them all with descenter before wrapping up Jungwoo as comfortably as possible. 

     Once he deemed his work satisfactory, Jaehyun left the room to sit on the nearby couch and wait for Jungwoo to wake up.

 

Jungwoo cracked his eyes open, surprised to be laying on a comfortable bed, cocooned in blankets. The room was devoid of decorations, just a plain bed and dresser. There was light streaming in through a window which overlooked the unfamiliar street outside. Jungwoo slowly sat up, still confused and disoriented. Where was he?

      Suddenly the events of yesterday came rushing back to him and Jungwoo scrambled out of the bed. He was so stupid. He’d probably angered his alpha yesterday with his little fainting episode. That would explain why he was all alone in a scentless room.

      He quickly made his way out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him. Jaehyun’s apartment was small, but nice. It all flowed together, so that you could see the family room, kitchen and doorway all at once. So, the minute Jungwoo exited his room, Jaehyun, who was cooking in the kitchen, spotted him.

      “Jungwoo! You’re finally up! Come have some breakfast!”

       Jungwoo nodded and slowly padded into the kitchen, cautious as ever. Jaehyun seemed to be in a good mood, but sometimes the handlers would mask their anger in smiles until you were close enough for them to pounce. 

       Jungwoo sat down at the kitchen counter at Jaehyun’s direction and looked down at the plate of eggs he was offered in surprise. Was this some sort of trick? The omega was supposed to cook for the alpha, not the other way around. But Jaehyun sat down in the seat next to his and started to shovel food in his mouth and motioned for Jungwoo to do the same. So, Jungwoo slowly picked up his fork and put a tiny bite in his mouth. It was good. He took another bite, then another. Soon, he was putting food into his mouth faster than he could properly chew and swallow, practically choking with every bite. It had been so long since he’d had a proper, warm meal and he was so hungry, he just couldn’t stop.

      Then, there was a hand on his, halting its progression up to his mouth. Jungwoo started to strain against the force preventing him from eating. He was hungry. He needed more. It was food. It was good. 

“Jungwoo.” He continued to fight against the hand restraining him. “Jungwoo, you need to slow down. You’re going to make yourself sick.

He finally snapped out of his stupor, flinching away violently from Jaehyun’s hand on his arm. He fell off of the chair in his hurry to get away from the alpha. He had just ignored Jaehyun, ignored an alpha. There was going to be hell to pay. 

Jungwoo continued to scramble backwards until his back hit the wall and he curled into a ball, trying to make himself a smaller target and protect his vitals. 

Jaehyun followed him, crouching down a couple feet away, holding his hands out in a non threatening way. “Hey, Jungwoo. It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you; I just wanted to make sure you didn’t make yourself sick. You were eating so fast you were starting to choke and that’s not good for you, yeah? I promise you can continue eating, just try to take it one bite at a time.”

Jungwoo was surprised. Jaehyun wasn’t mad? But he had disobeyed him, ignored him, been greedy. He’d been beaten for way less in the past, but this alpha was being passive, body relaxed, posture non threatening, trying his best not to assert dominance, to assure Jungwoo that everything was okay. It was strange. It went against everything that he had been taught, but Jungwoo somewhat foolishly unfolded himself from the wall and sat back down at the table, making sure to thoroughly chew his food before swallowing. Jaehyun sat down across from him and smiled approvingly.

A couple bites later, Jungwoo was full. “I’m sorry,” he muttered pushing the plate away, looking down at the countertop.

“Oh, no, it’s okay. You’ve been underfed for years, I didn’t expect you to finish it all.”

Jungwoo nodded, tracing patterns on the counter top, still not looking Jaehyun in the eye. He heard Jaehyun get up, gather the plates and start to put them away. Jungwoo didn’t move from his place on the chair. He felt cemented in place, butt glued to the fabric. He was scared,  confused, disoriented. He didn’t know what to do. Should he get up? Help Jaehyun? Go to his room? Start cleaning? Something else? He didn’t know.

Jaehyun finished with the dishes and turned around to face him, “Hey, is it okay if some of my friends come over? It would be a couple of alphas and their omega mates. I thought it would be good for you to hang out with other omegas, but if you don’t want to that’s totally fine.”

“No, uh, I think I’d like that,” Jungwoo’s voice was small and timid as he spoke, but Jaehyun’s face lit up at the words. 

“Great! I’ll go text them.”

Jaehyun ran off, presumably to grab his phone, leaving Jungwoo still sitting uncomfortably at the kitchen table. Jungwoo was still confused on what he was supposed to be doing, so he just quietly sat there, twisting his shirt in his hands. Jaehyun didn’t seem like the alphas they always talked about at the center; he acted as if he would never harm Jungwoo, but Jungwoo still didn’t fully trust him despite his seemingly kind intentions. Alphas were liars. Maybe Jaehyun was going to eventually turn on him, turn out crueler than his previous actions suggested. Jungwoo resolved to continue being careful, to be as well behaved as possible—especially when Jaehyun’s friends came over. He didn’t want to make a mistake and make someone mad. He would just have to be on his best behavior.

 

Notes:

Shout out to the amazing @CallisaRose for helping me edit and keep these chapters typo free!!

Please tell me what you think and follow me on Instagram @intricate_6 and on Twitter @6_intricate

Chapter 2

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

       Jaehyun soon returned, phone in hand. “They’ll be over in like an hour,” he announced, looking incredibly proud of himself.

Jungwoo nodded quietly, shifting in his seat. It had been so long since he had seen other omegas. Would they like him? Think him weird? Had years in the center ruined him? Did he still know how to act? What if they hated him? What if they refused to cuddle with him, bond with him? Could he take that kind of rejection?

Jungwoo was so stuck in his head he didn’t notice Jaehyun approaching him and he almost fell out of his seat when the alpha put his hand on his shoulder. 

“Oh! Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you. I just wanted to tell you that you shouldn’t worry about whether or not the others will like you or not, they’re all really nice. I’m sure you’ll fit right in.”

Jungwoo slowly nodded his head, collecting himself after the scare that he’d had. Of course Jaehyun thought that the omegas would always get along, alphas always did. They thought that all omegas were instantly best friends because of their biology. But Jungwoo knew that wasn’t always true. He’d heard many stories while in the center about omegas ganging up on the new one, bullying them, making them even more desperate for touch, for love until they slowly went insane. 

He couldn’t tell this to an alpha, though, so he stayed quiet and watched as Jaehyun began to clean up the dishes from breakfast. Wait, he was supposed to be doing the dishes. It was an omega’s job. Was this some sort of test? Was he failing? Was Jaehyun going to kick him out? He couldn't go back to the center, anywhere was better than that hellhole.

Jungwoo scrambled to his feet and headed into the kitchen as fast as his weak legs could carry him. “I’m sorry, I can do the dishes,” he muttered, head ducked, body braced for the blow that would inevitably follow. Hopefully Jaehyun would take it easy on him, he wasn’t sure his body could take a full strength blow from the muscular alpha.

“Oh!” Jaehyun turned around at Jungwoo’s words, causing the omega to try and make himself appear even smaller, “You don’t have to do the dishes, it’s fine. I’m done anyway.”

“But...it’s my job. I thought I was supposed to…” Jungwoo’s hands started to shake. He was so confused. At the center they were always told they’d have to clean the house, do the dishes, cater to their alpha’s every need without complaint, but here Jaehyun was, going against all of his training, saying he didn’t need to help out. It was confusing.



“No, oh, uh, please don’t cry.” Jaehyun flapped his arms around helplessly, looking like a lost bird. He started to get closer to Jungwoo, but stopped when the omega flinched away from him, curling up into a ball on the ground. “Um, you can help me do the dishes after dinner if you want?” He had absolutely no clue how to fix the situation, how to get Jungwoo to calm down. He backed up a little more. “I promise I’m not going to hurt you. It’s not a trick or anything. Oh, crap. What the hell am I supposed to do?”

Meanwhile, Jungwoo was trying his best to get his racing heart to calm down. Every part of his body screamed submit and obey , and Jungwoo was terrified. This was all so much. So much stimulus. So much new stuff. He wasn’t sure what to do. Everything was whirling around him, spinning in his head and he couldn’t make heads or tails out of any of it. 

Then, a soft blanket was draped over Jungwoos shoulders and it smelled like him . It was one one of the blankets from his room, one of the blankets he had scented, slept with last night. And it was lovely. It had been so long since he was covered in something soft, something that smelled like him

Jungwoo felt his heart rate slowing down, and he slowly unfurled himself from his ball on the floor, cautiously looking around, eyes settling on Jaehyun sitting at the counter starting nervously at Jungwoo on the ground. When he noticed that Jungwoo was finally up, he let out a sigh of relief and his shoulders relaxed.

“Sorry,” Jungwoo muttered. Jaehyun was probably going to kick him out. No one wanted a broken omega. One that couldn’t even go through a full day without a break down.

“Oh, no, it’s okay. I’m sorry for scaring you like that.”

Jungwoo was shocked. An alpha was apologizing to him? This wasn’t supposed to happen; alphas were unapologetic, demanding, always right. Before Jungwoo had a chance to analyze Jaehyun’s response, the doorbell rang and the alpha was running to answer the door.

The door swung inwards to reveal four people standing at the threshold of the apartment. Two alpha-omega pairs. 

One comprised of a large alpha, with a small, lithe omega by his side. The other was an exquisite alpha paired with a motherly looking omega.

Jungwoo found himself whimpering when the smell of the other omegas wafted over to him. His inner omega was whining at the potential of skinship with others of his secondary gender. From the time he has presented he had never been able to hang out with, cuddle, or scent other omegas, having been instantly locked up from the moment that he presented, his parents leaping to obtain the money they would receive by turning him in so young.

So when he saw the other omegas, Jungwoo instantly found himself reaching out towards them, the danger of the new, strange alphas completely forgotten.

Within moments, the other two were by his side, hugging him, smothering him in their comforting scents. For the first time in years Jungwoo felt safe.

In their huddle they headed into the room where Jungwoo had slept the night prior and the other two omegas finally introduced themselves: “I’m Taeil and Taeyong’s my mate.”

Mate. He’d said mate. That implied a sense of equality, of trust. Both had to agree to the mating bond and it was not something to be taken lightly, in fact it was highly unusual nowadays. Jungwoo had just assumed that Jaehyun used the word “mate” as a figure of speech when referring to Taeyong and Taeil, but now he could see the bite that the other sported on his neck. 

The other omega simply introduced himself as “Ten. Johnny’s my alpha.” It was a wording that Jungwoo was more used to, but Taeil shot Ten a disapproving glare. Apparently he was not a fan. 

“So,” Ten started to distract Taeil from his attempt at telepathic communication, “Do you want to like take a bath and change clothes?”

“Oh my gosh!” Taeil exclaimed, “I can’t believe you’re stilling wearing those horrible scraps of cloth from the center. What was Jaehyun thinking? You must feel so uncomfortable.”

Jungwoo flinched at the aggressive way Taeil talked about an alpha, was he not worried about being punished? But, before he could ask the older about it, he was being led down the hallway and into the bathroom. 

In an instant Jungwoo found himself sitting in a large tub full of warm water. He instantly relaxed as the other two omegas climbed in on either side of him; it was a bit of a squeeze, but Jungwoo didn’t care. When he was younger he’d heards about how omegas were always calmed be each other’s presence, but he had never been able to experience that particular phenomenon until now. And it was amazing. He felt his muscles relax as Taeil rubbed the shampoo through his hair and Ten snuggled into his side.

 It had been years since Jungwoo was properly cleaned, had taken a bath. At the center they would just be power washed with a freezing cold hose while you were still in your cell twice a month. It served many purposes at once: cleaning the cells, cleaning the omegas, and punishing them. 

Jungwoo shuddered violently at the memory of the cold water knocking the air out of his chest, leaving him shivering on the ground, body aching. During the winter it would take him days to properly warm up, his fingers and toes blue. In the summertime, it felt like his cell would never properly dry, the humidity making the walls seem constantly wet.

He shivered at the horrible memory and Ten just hugged him tighter. “It’s okay, you’re safe now. You’re out of there. You're never going to go back, I promise.”

Jungwoo didn’t know how the older instinctively knew what he was thinking, but he took comfort in the words nonetheless. 

 

All too soon, they were draining the bath, Jungwoo stepping out of the tub, watching as the black water swirled down the drain. 

“I’m going to grab some clothes for you.” And with that Taeil was off, heading down the hallway to who knows where.

“So,” Ten started off, “You came from the center?”

“Yeah,” Jungwoo looked down at his feet.

“So did I. I was born in Thailand and we were here on a family vacation when I presented and was taken.” Jungwoo winced in sympathy. That was horrible timing. “The next few years were hell. In Thailand omegas aren’t property and there are no centers, you know? I mean we’re not equal, but it’s not like this.” he started to cry, “I haven't seen my family since I was taken. Johnny tried to find them, but at his point we’ve given up hope.”

Big tears of sympathy welled up on Jungwoo’s face and he wrapped his arms around Ten, comforting the smaller.

 At that moment Taeil came into the room with clothes in his arms, “I found some-oh.” The clothes dropped out of his hand and he joined the others in a group hug.

Eventually Ten pulled away, “Let’s move this back to Jungwoo’s room.”

Jungwoo liked that, his room. It went against everything he had ever been taught, but these were not the most conventional of omegas. When they had entered both Ten and Taeil had seemed relaxed with their respective alphas. Taeil even had a mating bite. 

Jungwoo pulled on the clothes that Taeil had found. They smelled like Jaehyun and hung off of his small frame, the right length, but way too baggy. At least they were soft and infinitely better than the rags he had been wearing before even if these did smell like alpha.

They walked down the hall together, Jungwoo ducking his head, trying to avoid the sight of the alphas sitting at the table. He failed. 

“Do the clothes fit, Jungwoo?” Jaehyun called out.

Jungwoo gripped their hands in each of his as tight as he could and frantically nodded his head, staring at the ground. Taeil shot Jaehyun a look over his shoulder and after that the alphas stayed blessedly quiet until they re-entered the room, Jungwoo’s room. 

“You should give him a chance, he’s really not that bad, a little awkward, a little big, but he has a heart of gold.”

Ten shot Taeil a look of disapproval and he promptly shut up. 

“Hey, Jungwoo, can you count to ten for me?”

He slowly nodded and began to choke out the numbers, “One...two...three…” his heart was racing, breathing erratic. He felt like he was trapped in his skin, he couldn't get out. “Four...five...six…” he forced himself to focus on the numbers, focus on Taeil’s and Ten’s touch. “Seven...eight...nine...ten…” 

“Good,” Ten soothed, rubbing his hand up and down Jungwoo’s back. “Anytime you feel like that could you do me a favor and try to count to ten?”

Jungwoo nodded, he felt a lot calmer. He had control over himself once more. He snuggled deeper into Taeil and Ten’s sides and breathed in the scent of omega that he had missed so much.

A little while later he looked up, “So, Taeil, what’s your story?”

The older smiled and ruffled Jungwoo’s hair, “It’s not like your’s and Ten’s. In fact, you two and Sicheng are the only omegas to come from a center. When I presented, my parents never sold me off, I just continued to go to school wearing scent blockers and stuff so on one would find out. It wasn’t illegal, but it was frowned upon. I got good grades, went to college, had a big moment when everyone found out I was an omega. Some people were dicks about it, but it’s college, you know? A lot of people were pretty accepting. Then, I met Taeyong and everyone else and the rest is history.”

“That’s nice,” Jungwoo muttered. He couldn’t imagine not being afraid of alphas, of being okay with his secondary gender. Taeil’s life seemed so peaceful in comparison to his and Ten’s. He was jealous. 

 

A few hours later, they were woken up by Johnny knocking on the doorframe, “Sorry guys, but we got to go.”

Jungwoo buried his head under Ten’s arm, trying to escape from the imposing alpha. Ten just sighed, and hugged Jungwoo goodbye, followed by Taeil.

“Call us if you need anything.” Taeil said on his way out the door.

Jungwoo nodded, watching them leave, not wanting to venture out of his room when there were so many alphas in the house, no matter what Taeil and Ten said. 

Then he heard the front door close. They were gone. He was once again alone with Jaehyun. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, he just wished Ten and Taeil could stay with him forever. He really just didn’t like interacting with alphas, especially after he realized how nice and nonthreatening omegas were. 



Notes:

please leave comments and kudos if you liked this!!

Chapter 3

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“So,” Jaehyun stood awkwardly outside of his room, “Did you like Ten and Taeil?”

“Yeah, they were really nice.” Jungwoo started to tear up. He hadn’t even realized everything that had been taken away from him at the shelter until now. It had just felt so comforting to cuddle and just be with other omegas, people who understood. Now he felt all alone, stuck with a scary alpha.

“Oh, uh, Jungwoo?” Jaehyun said tentatively, “Are you okay?”

Jungwoo didn’t respond, instead just burrowing his head further into his pillows.

Jaehyun wanted to go into the room and comfort Jungwoo, but Johnny had said that he should never go into Jungwoo’s room without an invitation, that he needed a space that was totally his, that he could feel safe in. So, instead Jaehyun stood awkwardly at the door. “Hey, do you want anything? I was planning to go out to get some stuff to decorate your room and some clothes, but we can shop online or do that another day if you want.”

Jungwoo shrugged into his pillow.

“Okay, um, let me know what you want to do.” Jaehyun headed away from the doorway and toward the couch in the living room where Jungwoo could easily find him if he so desired.

 

Jungwoo was conflicted. He didn’t want to leave, just wanted to stay curled up in a ball on the bed, but the alpha obviously wanted to go out with him and it was impolite to ignore an alpha’s wants. He might get punished for it later. He really didn’t want to get hit again.

But on the other hand, Ten and Taeil had said that he shouldn’t do anything he wasn’t comfortable with and that Jaehyun was different than the alphas he had been told about at the center. They had said that not all alphas were bad, not all alphas hit their omegas or bossed them around. Taeyong and Johnny didn’t. 

However, Jaehyun could be different. What if he was being fake to his friends? And he was so big, not as big as Johnny, but still, Jungwoo would never be able to defend himself against Jaehyun if he got angry. He didn’t want to be hit again, be beaten until he was laying on the ground, broken and sobbing. Just thinking about it made the memories well up out of where Jungwoo had tried to keep them locked away:

A knock was sounding on the cell door, loud and brassy, echoing throughout the small room; however, Jungwoo didn’t want to get up, didn’t want to greet the day like he was supposed to. He was tired, alone. All he wanted to do was stay curled up in a ball on the hard floor, letting the cold seep into his bones. Maybe that way he’d eventually become a statue, never have to deal with any of this ever again.

The door opened, slamming against the wall, “Let’s go omega,” the handler hissed.

Jungwoo didn’t move. He didn’t have the energy, it was just one of those days when your bones freeze up and your mind freezes up and everything seems like a monumental effort. Jungwoo just didn’t feel like moving, what was the point? Maybe it’d just be better if he died. That way he wouldn’t be a bother to anyone anymore. No one loved him; his own parents sold him off and no one was ever going to claim him as their own.

Suddenly the handler was in his face screaming, “Did you hear me you stupid omega? I was talking to you. You need to get up. We’re going somewhere.”

Jungwoo just buried his face in his arms. He was just too tired. Then, there was a hand in his hair and his head was being forced back and he found himself starting straight into the handler’s eyes. 

“I said get up,” the handler snarled, baring his teeth.

Then he was being lifted up by his hair and dragged through the hallways, not even bothering to try and get his feet underneath him. A door opened and he found himself being tossed to the ground, landing hard on his side.

“You need to be taught a lesson. Omegas obey, no matter what.” A kick landed on his side, another on his back. “I don’t care if you want to move or not. If someone tells you to move, you move.” His arms were wrenched behind his back as he was dragged to his feet in the awkward position. “No alpha is going to ever take this kind of disobedience from one of your kind, you’re lucky it’s me teaching you this lesson. I bet your alpha would fuck you until you couldn’t walk, maybe lock you up, drag you around like some sort of pet.” 

Each word was accentuated with another punch to his body. Jungwoo let his body go completely limp, but it didn’t seem to deter the handler like it usually did. “Even if it’s the slightest of suggestions, you do what your alpha wants. Do you understand?”

 A hand was now around Jungwoo’s throat, cutting off his air supply. Black spots were forming in his vision, he could feel his heart pounding in his head. All Jungwoo managed was a weak nod before he passed out. 

After that day Jungwoo always got up when the handlers told him to, no matter how tired he was, how much his body ached. He never wanted to go through that again.

 

He never wanted to go through that again . With that realization, Jungwoo slowly sat up, rubbing at his neck. He could still feel the ghost of the handler’s hands wrapping around his neck, squeezing tighter and tighter. With that thought chasing him, Jungwoo rolled out of his bed and stumbled to where Jaehyun was sitting on the couch. “I want to go shopping.”

Jaehyun looked surprised at his declaration, but slowly nodded, “Okay, I’ll grab my keys.”

Soon, Jungwoo found himself uncomfortably seeated in the passenger seat of Jaehyun’s car, awkwardly shifting against the leather seats, sitting on his hands. Music was playing over the radio, a song Jungwoo had never heard before, and Jaehyun was quietly focused on the road in front of him. It wasn’t something Jungwoo was used to: going out, seeing people, buying stuff; and he was nervous. His heart was pounding in his chest, palms sweating. 

Jaehyun, however, seemed completely oblivious to Jungwoo’s anxiety as he began to softly hum along to the song that was playing. “I think we’re going to get you clothes first, those are more important than decorations. That okay?”

Jungwoo quickly nodded in agreement. Even if he did care about where they went, he would never disagree with an alpha, that would be way too dangerous and completely not worth the beating he would receive. It was much easier just to go with the flow—he had learned that lesson very quickly at the center. You never disagreed, at least not if you valued your body intact. 

The store they pulled up to was huge and sprawling with many of the parking spots already full. Jungwoo slowly climbed out of the car and instantly winced at the bright light that shone in his eyes and the mixture of smells that overwhelmed his nose. It smelled of alphas, omegas, betas, fear, happiness, sadness, and so many other things Jungwoo couldn’t even identify them all. 

“You ready?” Jaehyun asked.

He wasn’t. Jungwoo just desperately wanted to go back to the apartment, to curl up in a ball underneath the covers and never go outside again. But, instead he just nodded and began to follow Jaehyun into the monster of a store that he was faced with.

Somehow the store’s interior was worse than its exterior. It was buzzing with people and full of so many colors and fabrics that Jungwoo didn’t know what to do with himself. Luckily, Jaehyun seemed to know exactly what he was doing and lead Jungwoo to a section with softer loungewear type clothes. 

“We’ll start with these? You seem to enjoy soft things?”

Jungwoo nodded, eyes glued to the pattern on the tile floor, trying not to look anyone in the eye.

“Okay then, go ahead. Pick some things out.”

Jungwoo didn’t move. His feet were glued to the floor. He didn’t know what Jaehyun liked, what Jaehyun wanted him to wear, why didn’t the alpha pick out the clothes himself? That’s the way it was supposed to be. Yet, Jaehyun gestured for him to go pick out some clothes and by some miracle Jungwoo’s legs began to work.

He slowly made his way through the racks, keeping his eyes downcast, just brushing his hand across the fabric, finding whatever was most comfortable.

Jaehyun praised the two shirts and pants that he managed to pick out, calling them “very cute” and “soft”. The compliments almost made Jungwoo smile, but then he remembered where he was: in public, and the smile instantly melted away. 

“Okay, let’s get you some clothes that you can wear out and stuff, yeah?”

Jungwoo just nodded, having no clue how he was going to pick these out. 

By some miracle, Jaehyun decided to help Jungwoo by pointing out what he thought would be cute, much more excited about picking out clothes than Jungwoo was: “Oo, that sweater would be so cute with those torn jeans and with that jacket. You just have to get that.”

Of course Jungwoo did, mutely following Jaehyun around as the pile of clothes on his arms slowly got higher and harder to carry.

When turning a corner, Jungwoo tripped, almost spilling all of the clothes out of his arms. Jaehyun was by his side in a flash, reaching out to help Jungwoo with his load, but Jungwoo mistook his outstretched arm as an attempt to hit him and frantically stumbled backwards, crumpling against a wall, clothes strewn around him.

This is it. He’s going to get mad. He’s going to hit me, drag me out of here, discipline me . Jungwoo was a shaking mess curled up in the corner, whimpering whenever Jaehyun tried to get closer to help him. 

“Hey, Jungwoo. It’s okay. I’m not mad, you’re not in trouble. I should have been more careful I’m sorry.”

His words only made Jungwoo stiffen even further. Alphas weren’t supposed to apologize. This was a trap.

“Jungwoo, can you please get back up? I promise it’s going to be okay.”

It was not going to be okay, but Jungwoo couldn’t risk disobeying his alpha and getting into even more trouble, so he shakily climbed to his feet and helped Jaehyun gather the clothes that had fallen. 

“We’re just going to try on these clothes then we can leave, okay? We’ll save decorations for another day.”

He had angered Jaehyun, he wanted to get home so he could yell at Jungwoo in private, some alphas didn’t like disciplining their omegas in public places. But then again, Jungwoo desperately wanted out of the store, away from all the people, all of the colors, all of the smells. So, he slowly trailed behind Jaehyun at a safe distance, heading towards the dressing rooms. 

Once they got inside, Jaehyun hung up all of the clothes in one of the small rooms and then headed back out. “I’ll be right here on the bench, okay? You can show me every outfit if you want.”

Jungwoo nodded his understanding and started to get changed into the first thing he had picked out. Every time he ventured out of the room, Jaehyun complimented every outfit and asked if Jungwoo liked it. 

Upon seeing his last outfit, Jaehyun instantly perked up. “I know exactly what would go with that! You can change back into your clothes, then wait for me here. I’ll just be a second.” And with that Jaehyun sprinted off to somewhere in the store, looking like a little kid who was just told they could pick out whatever candy they wanted.

Jungwoo let a small smile grace his face at the sight, then quickly got dressed back into the clothes he had arrived to the store wearing. When he exited the dressing area, Jaehyun was still not back so he decided to lean against the wall right outside the entrance while waiting for him to arrive. 

A few minutes later the smell of alpha filled his nose, the scent tinted with dominance. Jungwoo glanced up to find himself face to face with an alpha, shoving his nose into his neck. He was paralyzed with fear, unable to move. The alpha was so close, so imposing, he could do anything and Jungwoo would be helpless. 

“You smell so sweet,” the strange alpha drawled, “and I don’t see a mating mark, or a collar. Do you have an alpha little one?”

Jungwoo frantically nodded, pressing his body as close to the wall as possible.

“Well he obviously doesn’t care about you just leave you out in the open like this, all alone. You should come with me.”

Jungwoo didn’t move.

“Let me rephrase that, come with me .”

Of their own volition, Jungwoo’s legs started to move, following the alpha. He was terrified. An alpha command had never been used on him before and he felt so helpless. He couldn’t control his own body, he felt trapped. 

“Get away from my omega,” a voice snarled and suddenly Jaehyun was hurtling himself at the alpha in front of Jungwoo, dropping a pair of ankle high boots on his way. 

Jungwoo felt the command lose control over him and he instantly curled up into a ball on the floor of the store, the sound of alphas fighting filling his ears. 

Soon, the snarling stopped and a familiar voice was speaking to Jungwoo: “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I left you all alone and I completely forgot to get you a collar. I’m so sorry Jungwoo.”

Jungwoo didn’t move, he could still feel the alpha’s nose on his neck, his slimy finger tracing his arm. That could’ve been it. He was under the control of an alpha command, he had no control over his body. 

“Jungwoo, please. Can you hear me? It’s safe now. You can get up, no one will hurt you.”

But Jungwoo was stuck in his own mind and the last thing on his mind was uncurling from his ball of safety. No one could stare at him when he was like this, he didn’t have to face the world, it was the most protective if someone started to hit and kick at him.

“Jungwoo,” Jaehyun’s voice sounded desperate, but he still didn’t move. 

“Oh my gosh, is he okay? I could smell an omega in distress from all the way across the store and I got here as fast as I could.” A new voice entered the fray, an omega.

Jaehyun angled his body to protect Jungwoo from the perceived threat that the stranger brought, but eased up at his next words.

“Hey, I’m not going to try anything. My name is Doyoung, I’m an omega and I just want to help.”

“Okay,” Jaehyun sighed, “if you can help then, please, go ahead.” 

Doyoung instantly crouched by Jungwoo’s side and released as many comforting pheromones as he could, trying to get the younger to relax. Slowly, Jungwoo released his tight grasp on his knees and Doyoung wrapped him in a hug, whispering softly in his ear. Ever so slowly, Jungwoo began to calm down and soon was sitting up, Doyoung holding him tightly.

“Are you okay?” Jaehyun asked. “I’m so sorry that I left you behind, I shouldn’t have done that.”

Jungwoo, just nodded and averted his eyes. 

“I’ll walk with you guys to the car?” Doyoung questioned.

“Yes, please,” Jaehyun said. 

The small group started to head towards the exit, Jaehyun paying for the clothes on his way out. The entire way Jungwoo looked like a zombie, walking haltingly, heavily leaning on Doyoung for support. 

Jaehyun felt awful. How naive was he to leave the poor omega all on his own? Even Doyoung had a collar around his neck.

Once in the car, Jungwoo collapsed into an unresponsive, boneless heap. 

“Thanks for your help.” Jaehyun ran a hand through his hair.

“No problem, here, take my number in case you ever need it. When you get home he’s going to need a lot of care and support, okay?”

Jaehyun nodded and then Doyoung was disappearing around a corner, leaving Jaehyun and Jungwoo alone.



Notes:

Sorry this took so long, I started new meds and they make me really tired so I basically just sleep and go to school and have time for nothing else. Also, I wrote this in one sitting and it's unedited, so please tell me of there are any mistakes.

Please leave comments, I absolutely love reading them!

Chapter 4

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

The ride back home was silent. Jungwoo didn’t say a single word and Jaehyun didn’t know what to say to comfort him. 

“So, uh, we can look for decorations online if you want?”

Jungwoo didn’t respond, instead curling up even tighter into a ball while seated in the back seat. He didn’t have a seatbelt on, had screamed in terror when Doyoung tried to wrap the device around him, the fabric feeling too restraining. Instead, Jungwoo curled up as tightly as he could on the floor of the car. Doyoung had simply shrugged in response, “Drive carefully, I guess.”

And that’s exactly what Jaehyun was doing, driving like a grandma, not going on the freeway, taking all of the backroads and side streets that he could. He was not going to risk Jungwoo with his crazy driving. Not ever. He just wanted to wrap the omega up to keep him safe from all of the dangers and mean people in the world. Jungwoo was too nice, too sweet, too pure to have to deal with crazy stuff like that. 

A while later Jaehyun finally pulled into his parking spot at the apartment complex. With his slow driving the drive had taken twice as long as normal, but Jaehyun didn’t care. Jungwoo was more important than a needless desire to get home quickly. The entire ride Jaehyun played soft instrumental music instead of his usual rap in an effort to calm down the omega. Jungwoo was so scared his sour scent was filling the entire car causing Jaehyun to have to roll down the windows to resist his instinct to protect the scared omega. Such an action would doubtlessly cause more harm than good with the state Jungwoo was in; an overbearing alpha would be entirely too much for him to handle. 

Jaehyun gently opened the car door, the cool metal resting against his fingers. Jungwoo didn’t even look up, just stayed curled into a ball on the floor of the car. His whole body was shaking and it looked as if he was crying, but it was hard to tell with the way his face was buried in his knees. 

“Hey Jungwoo, do you want to get out of the car? You’ll be safer in the apartment.”

Jungwoo showed no signs of responding.

Jaehyun heaved a sigh and pressed a little further into the car, thighs hitting the edge of seat with his feet still firmly planted on the asphalt. “Jungwoo, I promise it’s okay. It’s safe here. I would never let anything happen to you.”

Jungwoo didn’t move a single muscle.

Jaehyun shifted so he was awkwardly kneeling on the seat, half in and half out of the car. “I promise you’ll be safer in the apartment. I can even carry you there if you want. It’s not a far walk at all.” He started to let his alpha pheromones become more prominent, hoping that it would cause the omega in Jungwoo to relax and trust him enough that he could just get Jungwoo out of the car and to some place more comfortable. However, his effort ended up having the opposite of the desired effect. Instead of relaxing, Jungwoo whimpered pitifully and scooted all the way to the opposite side of the car, getting as far away from Jaehyun as possible.

Jaehyun instantly stopped releasing pheromones, but Jungwoo didn’t relax in the slightest. 

With a soft curse Jaehyun fished around in his pocket before his fingers finally closed on the smooth surface of his phone. He dragged the device out of his pocket and scrolled through his contacts before clicking on Johnny’s. Luckily, the older answered on the second ring: “Hey, wassup Jaehyun?”

“Johnny I need your help. We went to the store but this creepy guy attacked Jungwoo and he got scared and we’re back home but now he won’t get out of the car and I can’t get near him. He’s so scared and I don’t know what to do, he’s not even talking to me.”

“Okay, uhh,” Johnny called for Ten and they had a brief conversation before he answered again, “Just hang tight we’ll be there in like 10 minutes.”

“Johnny, hurry up! Shoes are not important right now, let’s go!” Ten screamed in the background, “Don’t worry Jaehyun, we’ll be there as quick as possible.”

There was a scuffling sound on the other side of the phone before Johnny’s voice spoke through the receiver, “I have to hang up now, but just hang tight we will be there soon.”

Jaehyun let out a sigh at the sound of the call clicking to an end. Help was on its way, he just needed to wait for a couple more minutes. Jaehyun glanced over at Jungwoo who was still curled up in a ball in the corner. He was definitely crying now, his whole body shaking from the force of his sobs. A small whine tore its way out of Jungwoo’s throat and Jaehyun’s heart absolutely broke at the noise. All he wanted to do was comfort the poor omega in distress, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t risk accidentally making something worse. Instead he just had to stand there waiting for Johnny and Ten to arrive and hope that Ten could somehow help Jungwoo, or at least get him into the apartment. 

Not even 7 minutes later a car haphazardly swung into the parking lot and Ten tumbled out of the passenger door before it was even fully parked. Johnny was calmer in exiting the car, but Jaehyun noted how he had two different shoes on. “Jesus Christ,” the older sighed, running a hand through his hair, “how we didn’t hit someone or get pulled over is beyond me. Ten was screaming ‘faster’ the entire time I was driving. I think I was going like 20 over the speed limit at some point.”

Jaehyun let out a low chuckle at that, Ten certainly could be a slave driver sometimes when he really wanted something. 

The alphas then turned their attention to Jaehyun’s car where Ten was standing at the car door, gently speaking in a low voice, trying to make his scent as comforting and soothing as possible.

Johnny clapped a hand on Jaehyun’s back, “It’ll be okay man, Ten will help him, we’ll get him to calm down.”

Jaehyun sure hoped so, it hurt to see Jungwoo this way: so frightened, terrified, curled up, shaking, not moving.

———————————————————————

There was an alpha. An alpha. Alphas were mean, scary. Stay far away. 

Jungwoo couldn’t control his thoughts, they were running rampant without him ever since the man cornered him in the store. He couldn’t focus his mind, his whole body was just screaming in terror and he wanted to get as far away from the alpha in the car as possible, but he couldn’t leave the safety that the shelter of the car provided. He just needed everyone to get away. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t do this. It was all too much.

When Jaehyun opened up the car door, the rational part of Jungwoo realized that he should go with him, would be safer in the apartment even if Jaehyun was also in it. However, instinct took over the instant the smell of an alpha wafted into his nose and Jungwoo found himself paralysed with terror. He couldn’t move. Alphas were bad. Alphas hurt omegas. He needed to hide, he needed to get away.

Then, Jaehyun had stepped into the car and all Jungwoo saw was white-hot fear. He scrambled as far away from the alpha as possible, cries of fear forcing their way out of his throat. Even after the alpha backed off, Jungwoo couldn’t stop crying. Images of that alpha man attacking him, cornering him in the store played through his head in an endless loop. God, he was so scared. 

All he could think was that the handlers were right: alphas were mean, they took advantage of omegas. He should’ve listened to them, not let his expectations be raised by the words of Ten and Taeil. Alphas were bad.

The squealing of wheels on pavement interrupted Jungwoo’s thoughts, the sudden sound causing him to flinch in surprise. Moments later, Ten’s sweet, calming scent was filling his nostrils and the sound of his soft voice reached his ears. “Hey Jungwoo, is it okay if I come in? I promise I won’t let anyone else near you.”

Jungwoo hesitated, he could still smell the deep scents of the alphas standing close by. All of his instincts were screaming danger at their smell, but safe at Ten’s scent. Eventually Jungwoo nodded shakily, his desire for comfort greater than his fear of the nearby alphas. 

Ten crawled onto the seat, still on the opposite side of the car from Jungwoo. “Is it okay if I close the car door? Will you feel safer that way?”

That decision was much easier. Jungwoo quickly nodded in response, with the door closed there would be a barrier between him and the alphas, he wouldn’t have to smell them as much.

The door slammed shut, making the car shake slightly and Ten crawled across the seat to be even closer to Jungwoo. “Is it okay if I touch you?”

“Please,” Jungwoo croaked out, lifting up his head. He wanted, no needed , a hug, to be comforted.

Slowly Ten’s arms wrapped around his body and Jungwoo leaned into the touch, burying his head in his friend’s shoulder before breaking out into tears, the force of his sobs shook his whole body and tears quickly soaked Ten’s shirt, but the older didn’t seem to care. He just held Jungwoo tighter, whispering gently into his ear. 

A while later, Jungwoo’s sobs started to die out, his body too tired to support such a display of emotion.

“Oh, Jungwoo,” Ten murmured, stroking his hand through the younger’s hair, “Are you feeling a little better?”

Jungwoo nodded and curled up in Ten’s lap, letting his eyes drift closed.

Ten, gently patted his shoulder, “You can’t fall asleep right here, how ‘bout we go inside?”

Jungwoo was too tired, his brain feeling slow and soft. He just softly nodded to Ten’s suggestion, forgetting in his exhaustion that outside was Bad and that the alphas were out there. He was only thinking of soft, and cuddles, and being comfortable. 

 

Ten opened up the car door, and wrapped his arms around Jungwoo as much as possible before leading the taller out of the car. Once outside, Jungwoo whimpered and buried his head into Ten’s shoulder, drawing the attention of the alphas. When Jaehyun took a step towards Jungwoo, Ten quickly shook his head, trying to communicate that they should stay far away. Luckily, Johnny understood the gesture as he grabbed Jaehyun’s arm, preventing him from taking another step. 

Ten decided to ignore whatever the alphas were doing and just focus on getting Jungwoo inside. The other omega looked sleepy and slightly out of it, but fear was still coming off of him in waves and Ten was afraid of another drop.

Jaehyun had said that Jungwoo had an omega drop when he came home from the center and having too many drops too quickly was quite dangerous for omegas as it trained their bodies to react that way whenever there was any outside stressor, usually resulting in unsafe situations. 

“Hey Jungwoo, stay with me alright?” Ten whispered.

“‘M right here,” Jungwoo slurred in response, eyes starting to drift closed. The whole world seemed to be moving slower as if he was swimming through syrup and Jungwoo just wanted to go to sleep. Why had he ever been afraid? There was no danger just soft and warm and arms wrapped around him, leading him to wherever they were going. 

Jungwoo’s weight slumped against Ten, becoming even heavier. Ten was suddenly glad for his training as a dancer making his arms and core strong enough to support Jungwoo’s almost dead weight on his shoulders. 

As soon as they entered the elevator, Ten leaned against the railing, letting the wall take the majority of Jungwoo’s weight.

 He heaved out a sigh of relief when the elevator finally opened its doors, they were almost there. By some miracle, the alphas had managed to beat them up, so the door was already open and all Ten had to do was lead Jungwoo to his room before they both collapsed on the bed.

Ten shifted on the bed so that he could be in a more comfortable position, but the movement made Jungwoo cry out, “No, please don’t leave me. I can’t.” Tears began to softly stream down his cheeks.

“Don’t worry, I’m never going to leave you. I’ll be right here when you wake up,” Ten whispered into Jungwoo’s ear and wrapped the taller in a big hug before they both drifted off to sleep.

—————————————————————————————-

When Jungwoo had exited the car with Ten, every instinct in Jaehyun’s body was screaming at him to help the omega in distress. He needed to protect, help. An omega was scared and he needed to fix it. However, Johnny had grabbed his arm, snapping him back into reality. He couldn’t help Jungwoo right now, he would make things worse, not better. Instead Jaehyun was forced to watch as Ten helped Jungwoo into the building, the younger looking like death reincarnate. His eyes were red and puffy, body looked devoid of any energy or liveliness. It broke his heart to see Jungwoo like this. 

No matter how many times Johnny told him that it would be okay, that Ten was terrified to go out at first, clung to Taeil as if he was a security blanket, Jaehyun still worried that Jungwoo would end up hating him, would rather live with someone else. The idea broke his heart.



Notes:

Sorry for the late update, life has been kicking my butt lately. Also, this is unedited because I may have stayed up for BTS's comeback...oops.

Please leave comments and kudos, your comments absolutely make my day!!

Chapter 5

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

Jungwoo cracked his eyes open, feeling like death reincarnated. His whole body was heavy and exhausted, his head was pounding, and his eyes felt gritty. Ten was already awake beside him and smiled when he noticed the other omega had woken up.

“Feeling better?”

Jungwoo just shrugged in response. He still felt a little shaky and weird, but maybe he was ready to face the alphas? He just wasn’t quite sure.

Ten must have noticed the conflicted look on his face because the next thing Jungwoo knew, the older was wrapping him in a big hug and whispering reassurances into his ear. “Hey, everything will be okay, yeah? You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with. You’re safe here.”

Jungwoo took a deep, shaky breath and slowly nodded into Ten’s warm chest. “I think...I think I want to go out. To, uh, eat breakfast and stuff.” Jungwoo’s voice was soft and timid and the very sound of it made Ten smile fondly.

“Okay, let’s do that then.” Ten gently grabbed Jungwoo’s hand, soft and timid in his hold, as the pair made their way to the kitchen where the alphas were sitting at the table, talking. As soon as the omegas entered; however, all conversation ceased. Jaehyun’s head instantly whipped around to take in Jungwoo who was standing demurely at the edge of the hallway, hand firmly in Ten’s.

At the sight, Jaehyun felt his heart melt a little and he just wanted to go over to Jungwoo and wrap him up in a big hug and never let him go. However, Johnny’s firm hand on his wrist reminded Jaehyun that such an action would doubtlessly frighten the omega, something he was trying to avoid. So instead, Jaehyun slowly got up, and walked around the counter into the kitchen. “What do you guys want for breakfast?”

“I’ll just have some cereal,” Ten answered.

“Me too,” Jungwoo muttered, eyes focused on the ground in front of him.

The pair slowly made their way to the table, Johnny moving out of their way and into the kitchen with Jaehyun as to not frighten Jungwoo who was already looking very uncomfortable sitting at the table when there were alphas in the kitchen making food for him. Jaehyun remembered the first day when Jungwoo had wanted to wash the dishes and was surprised when Jaehyun insisted that he do it himself. The omega clearly wasn’t used to alphas doing household chores and it angered Jaehyun. What kind of messed up dynamics were taught in those centers? It was so archaic to believe that omegas should be the housewives while alphas were the over-demanding breadwinners.

In his annoyance, Jaehyun didn’t even notice that the milk was completely missing the bowl of cereal until Johnny gently took the jug out of his hands. “Calm down, you might scare Jungwoo,” the taller softly whispered into Jaehyun’s ear, prompting Jaehyun to look across the kitchen to where Jungwoo was sitting, curled up in his chair, Ten gently rubbing his back and reassuring him that the alphas would never hurt him.

The sight made Jaehyun’s heart clench and he instantly regretted letting himself get upset and therefore scaring Jungwoo. 

When Jaehyun set the bowl of cereal down in front of Jungwoo, the smaller began to speak, fidgeting with the table cloth as he did so, “I-I’m sorry for the way I behaved yesterday. That was out of line and I completely understand if you want to punish me or get rid of me. I deserve it.”

All Jaehyun could do was stare down at Jungwoo in shock. After he had finished talking, the younger had bowed his head and flinched, almost as if he was expecting to be hit.

“Jungwoo,” Jaehyun started, “it’s okay. I promise. You did nothing wrong. You can’t control your panic and I don’t expect you to. In fact it should be me apologizing for bringing you to the store when you weren’t ready and then leaving you all alone.”

Jungwoo’s head snapped up in surprise at Jaehyun’s words. The fact that an alpha was apologizing to him, a lowly omega, was baffling. Alpha’s didn’t apologize. Especially not to omegas. Alphas were supposed to be unforgiving, commanding, they just took and took and never felt anything for anyone else. It was an omega’s job to please the alpha, not the other way around; at least that’s what Jungwoo had been told at the center. But, then again, Jungwoo was slowly starting to realize that maybe the center was wrong, maybe not all alphas were terrible.

Ten gently squeezed his hand, the pressure making Jungwoo realize that he was still sitting there, frozen, trying to mull Jaehyun’s words over. With a quick shake of his head, Jungwoo snapped back to reality and began to spoon some of the cereal into his mouth. As soon as the crunchy substance hit Jungwoo’s tongue he recoiled at the overly sweet flavor. It had been so long since he’d eaten anything with real taste that the sugary cereal was a shock to his system.

Ten noticed his reaction and laughed, “Yeah, Jaehyun likes really sweet and sugary cereal, part of the reason why I asked for it. Johnny never buys the good stuff.”

“I could if you would just come with me so you could tell me what you want,” a deep voice resounded from the kitchen, causing Ten to wrinkle his nose in disgust, “Ew, going out.”

Johnny just rolled his eyes as if he was used to Ten’s reluctance to interact with the world. However, Jungwoo found himself agreeing with Ten, he never wanted to leave the apartment again if he had the choice. Outside was scary. Outside was where bad things happened.

Slowly Jungwoo began to curl up on himself, thinking about what had occurred at the store the day before. No, he definitely didn’t want to go outside ever again. 

Jungwoo hadn’t noticed that he was hyperventilating until Ten was whispering into his ear, reminding him to breathe, rubbing soothing circles on his back. Eventually, Jungwoo regained control of his breathing and was able to uncurl from the ball he had shriveled up into. 

Jaehyun and Johnny were still awkwardly standing in the kitchen, Jaehyun looking like he wanted to run over and help Jungwoo, but knew it was a bad idea, so he just stood there worriedly stared at Jungwoo while tightly grasping an empty glass in his hand. He knew that joining the omegas would just make Jungwoo’s state worse, but his instincts screamed at him to do just that.

When Jungwoo uncurled from his ball, Jaehyun was finally able to relax knowing that Jungwoo was okay. 

Johnny clapped Jaehyun on the shoulder as they watched the two omegas, “It’s hard isn’t it? Just watching? I remember in the beginning all I wanted to do was run to Ten and wrap him up and protect him, but we can’t. We just have to watch and wait. But don’t worry, you’re a good guy Jungwoo will warm up to you eventually, just give him time, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Jaehyun muttered in response. He knew Johnny was right, but it still hurt to have the rules be so plainly laid out in front of him with no sugar coating. All he wanted to do was go to Jungwoo and hug the smaller, keep all of the bad guys away from him, but such an action would doubtlessly incite panic from the omega. 

“Hey,” Johnny suddenly said, “have you brought Jungwoo to the doctor yet? He should probably get checked out to make sure he’s okay and all.”

“Oh,” the past few days had been so chaotic Jaehyun hadn’t even thought about that. His priorities were all in the wrong places, he was trying to make Jungwoo feel comfortable and adapt to him instead of first going to the doctor to get him checked out. “Yeah I should do that. I’ll call Kun and see when his next opening is.”

With that statement, Jaehyun picked up the phone and dialed his friend’s office number. Kun picked up on the first ring, and Jaehyun quickly scheduled an appointment for Jungwoo the next day at 10:00, promising to keep Kun updated if for some reason Jungwoo couldn’t make it or didn’t want to leave the house.

“If it's too much of a problem I could always do a home call so he doesn’t have to come in.”

“We’ll see, I want to at least try first, but that might end up being the case.”

When Jaehyun finished his call, he looked up and found that Jungwoo and Ten were no longer sitting at the table, but instead at the sink washing the dishes. At the sight, Jaehyun held back a sigh. Jungwoo really didn’t need to do all of the chores like he thought he did. Jaehyun didn’t want him getting the idea that his job was to help out around the house and be the model omega that the center wanted him to be. But, Jaehyun didn’t comment on it, not wanting to frighten or confuse the poor omega. That would be a fight for another day.

“So,” Ten said, speaking a tad louder than usual, “I heard that you made a doctor’s appointment for Jungwoo tomorrow?”

“Uh, yeah, at Kun’s. He’s really nice Jungwoo, so you don’t have to worry.”

“D-does that mean going outside?” Jungwoo looked frightened at the prospect, eyes wide with fear.

“I mean yeah, but just to the office and the waiting room. It won’t be bad at all.” Jaehyun said reassuringly, but Jungwoo frantically shook his head in response.

“No, no. No outside. I can't-” he promptly burst into tears. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please no. I can’t, I just can’t.”

“Hey,” Jaehyun rushed to his side, but Jungwoo violently flinched away from him, hitting his hip on the counter in the process. Jaehyun instantly backed up to give Jungwoo some more space. “Hey, Jungwoo, it’s okay. We don’t have to go outside if you don’t want to. Kun can just come here. It’ll be okay.”

But Jungwoo didn’t respond, just curled up even smaller whispering “please, please, please,” to himself. Ten knelt down next to Jungwoo and careful not to touch him, whispered soft reassurances that everything was going to be okay and that Jaehyun wasn’t going to make him go outside if he didn’t want to.

Suddenly, Jungwoo scrambled to his feet and bowed his head in Jaehyun’s direction, “I’m so sorry for misbehaving, please forgive me. I promise I won’t do it again.”

“Jungwoo, Jungwoo, it’s okay. I promise.  I’m not angry I’m not going to hit you. It’s okay.”

Jungwoo slowly nodded, still refusing to meet Jaehyun’s eyes. Ten gently grabbed the younger’s arm, “Let's go to your room, yeah?” and the pair slowly made their way down the hallway.

Once they were gone, Jaehyun sighed and slumped down on the couch with Johnny. “It's so hard,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair, “I don’t know what to do. I feel so useless, like I just can’t help him.”

“We just do whatever we can,” Johnny replied, “and I mean I managed not to screw things up with Ten, so believe me, just be patient and kind and everything will be okay in the end.”

Notes:

NCT concert is tonight!! I’m so excited! If you’re going look for the girl with the faded green hair lol.

Also, I’m really sorry for the late update, but things have been really chaotic with school and stuff and I’m afraid I can’t promise there will be another update until like May 23 when school is out. APs start next week and finals are ongoing and I just don’t have time to write right now :(

I hope you all are having good days and feel free to leave comments!! I love feedback!!

Chapter Text

The time had come for Johnny and Ten to head home. However, when Johnny made the announcement that he had work that needed to get done at home, Ten instantly started whining, “Can’t I stay? Please? Jungwoo needs me,”

Johnny just heaved a sigh at Ten’s response and looked around as if he couldn’t believe how difficult the smaller was being. “No Ten, we both have to go home. You can’t stay with Jungwoo forever and Jaehyun has things to do that don’t involve babysitting you.”

“It’s not babysitting me,” Ten muttered starting to gather his things—which was pretty much just his shoes with how urgently they had rushed over yesterday. 

Johnny just turned to look at Jaehyun as if to say ‘do you see what I have to deal with?’

“I have an idea. What if I stayed here and Jaehyun could go with you to get work done so I’m not being babysat? It’s the best of both worlds.”

“Ten,” there was a dangerous tone in Johnny’s voice that made Ten instantly give up his argument and head to the door. 

“Or we could go, either works,” Ten muttered.

Jungwoo quietly watched the whole exchange from where he was sitting at the table. He was terrified when Ten first started arguing with the alpha, expecting him to lash out, but when Johnny just shook his head and rolled his eyes, Jungwoo managed to relax a little. He trusted that Ten knew his alpha’s limits and wouldn’t push past them, after all they had come from a similar situation. However, it was still surprising to see an alpha as big as Johnny just laugh at Ten’s antics and not lash out, like he’d been taught they would. 

“Jungwoo!” Ten was suddenly by his side, wrapping him in a large hug, “I’ll see you soon don’t worry. And Kun is a great person, your doctor’s appointment will go swimmingly.”

And with that Ten and Johnny were closing the door behind them on their way out, leaving Jungwoo and Jaehyun alone.

“So,” Jaehyun started awkwardly, “Do you want to do something?”

“Uhh,” Jungwoo didn’t know how to answer this question. Was there something he was supposed to say? What was required of him in this situation? “Um, we could clean?” Was that the right answer? It was one of the things the center taught him he would have to do when an alpha bought him. 

Jaehyun looked completely baffled by Jungwoo’s answer, apparently it wasn’t the right one. “Uh, I was thinking something along the lines of playing a game or watching a movie or something?”

“Oh, yeah we could watch a movie,” Jungwoo muttered. He had gotten yet another thing wrong, upset his alpha yet again. He was such a failure.

“Okay, great. Um, you sit down and I’ll pick out a movie? Do you want blankets or anything? Uh, I’ll grab blankets.” With that Jaehyun ran off and Jungwoo nervously sat down on the far side of the couch, the chair smelling too much like Jaehyun.

A few minutes later, Jaehyun reappeared, arms full of blankets. “Johnny and I washed these yesterday, so they shouldn’t smell like anything? Uh, I think this one is softest, here.” Jaehyun tossed Jungwoo a blanket that was admittedly quite soft. Jungwoo instantly buried his face into the plushy fabric and deeply breathed in the scent of laundry detergent, before rubbing his cheek on it so that it smelled like him.

While Jungwoo and his blanket were having their bonding session, Jaehyun started up Finding Nemo and settled into his chair. 



Throughout most of the movie, Jaehyun ended up watching Jungwoo more than the screen. He just looked so cute cuddled up in his blanket, eyes wide as he watched the story line play out. Jungwoo was enraptured by every line the characters spoke, gasping whenever anything happened. 

All too soon, the movie was coming to an end and Jungwoo was stretching out his legs before standing up. But, once he was on his feet, he looked around, confused. He sat back down. The conflicted look on his face did not dissipate.

Oh , Jaehyun realized, Jungwoo doesn’t know what he should be doing. He should clear that up, help give Jungwoo direction. “Uh, Jungwoo, you can take a shower or bath or whatever while I make lunch.”

Jungwoo simply nodded in response and slowly stood up before heading to the bathroom, shoulders curved in, his body partially hunched over as he walked. It was as if he was trying to hide his height, make himself seem smaller, more demure. The sight broke Jaehyun’s heart. He wished that he could just wrap Jungwoo up and tell him how amazing he was and how there was no need to be afraid of anything, that he was never going to hurt him. But he couldn’t. It would scare Jungwoo and that was the last thing Jaehyun needed.

So instead, Jaehyun just watched Jungwoo disappear around the corner before getting up himself to make them grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.




Jungwoo could do this. He could take a shower. No problem. He’d be fine. He just had to ignore the fear bubbling up in his chest at just the very thought of showering, and the memories threatening to overcome him.

At the center there were no showers or baths, just the hose. The hose would cut through all of your defenses. It was hard, unforgiving. It took no prisoners. 

The handlers would aim the torturous device at the omegas, curled up in the corner, before turning it on full blast.There was no way to protect yourself from its reign. You got hit no matter what you tried to do; there was nowhere to run. 

Jungwoo remembered the feeling as the icy water cut through his clothes, soaking him through to the bone. The power of the stream would seek him out no matter where he was, how small he was trying to make himself. It never failed to leave him shivering, shaking, unable to get his body temperature back up. During the winter it was especially torturous. It would take days for him to stop shaking, hours to uncurl from his ball. The cold was never ending, invasive. Just the thought of it was enough to make Jungwoo shiver. 

 

But he wasn’t at the center anymore. There was no more hose, just a shower head that would spit out whatever temperature water Jungwoo wanted it to. He’d be fine. He could do this.

Gathering his wits, Jungwoo stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed behind him. He was no longer at the center, he’d be fine; there was no reason to be afraid.

With a deep breath, Jungwoo turned the knob and water began to stream out of the nozzle. 

He stepped into the spray. It was cold. It was cold. He couldn’t breathe. He was back in the center, trapped as cruel faces leered down upon him. His chest was tight, the walls were closing in on him. Everything was turning black. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t do this.

Jungwoo fell down to the floor of the shower with a thump, unaware that by now the water had warmed up.

 

Jaehyun had just finished putting the cheese on the sandwiches when he heard a loud crash coming from the bathroom.

Jungwoo.

The knife Jaehyun had been holding, clangd to the ground as he took off towards the bathroom, bursting through the door to find Jungwoo curled up in the shower, tears streaming down his face, whimpering. Jaehyun dropped to Jungwoo’s side. “Hey buddy, it’s okay, you’re okay.” Jungwoo didn’t respond, but instead flinched even further away from Jaehyun’s outreached hand. 

Jaehyun tried again, remembering what Johnny had said to him about what helped Ten the most. “Hey Jungwoo, you’re not in the center anymore, yeah? You’re here in my apartment in the shower. Can you feel the water? It’s warm right? And the tub is smooth and slick. It’s not your cell, you’re here with me. How about you focus on what you feel? Can you do that for me?”

Slowly, Jungwoo’s breathing began to slow and he opened his eyes, blinking rapidly as he took in his surroundings. His eyes fell upon Jaehyun and he visibly recoiled, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to freak out. I’m sorry please don’t...I didn’t mean to…”

“Oh, no. I’m not mad or anything.” Jaehyun worked his best to keep his scent as calming as possible, even though Jungwoo’s words stirred anger in his chest directed towards the center for abusing their omegas so horribly that they expected everyone to lash out at them.

Jungwoo scrambled to his feet, almost slipping on the slick surface of the tub. “I’m sorry I’ll just finish washing up and then I can make lunch, just please...don’t…” he burst into tears.

“Jungwoo, I’m not going to-” Jaehyun reached out towards the smaller, eliciting Jungwoo to flinch away from Jaehyun’s hand and almost fall in the tub. Jaehyun quickly withdrew the offending apendange and took a step back. “No, hey, you’re good, you’re not in trouble, I’m not mad. Everything’s chill,” he spoke in a soft, soothing voice and slowly Jungwoo began to relax, his instincts reacting to the alpha’s calming voice and scent. Jaehyun felt a little bad for manipulating Jungwoo in this way, but the priority right now was getting him to calm down before he hurt himself.

“Here, how about you take a bath?” Jaehyun made sure to move slowly as he plugged up the drain and flipped the switch so that water was coming out of the bath faucet instead of the shower head. Unprompted, Jungwoo slid down into the water and began to pour shampoo into his hair, using more than what was strictly necessary, but Jaehyun didn’t mind as long as Jungwoo was happy.

“I’m going to finish up the sandwiches, will you be okay?”

Jungwoo just nodded in response, dragging his hand through the water. He seemed to be in a weird sort of floaty headspace right now, but it was better than him freaking out, so Jaehyun was glad as he stood up to finish making lunch.

Once Jaehyun was done in the kitchen, he returned back to the bathroom to find Jungwoo still sitting there blankly, soap suds still in his hair. 

“Hey buddy, is it okay if I touch you?”

Jungwoo didn’t respond. 

With a sigh, Jaehyun accepted that he wasn’t going to get an answer and just went for it, carefully filling a cup with water and pouring it over Jungwoo’s head, making sure not to get any in his eyes. They finished the rest of the bath like this, Jungwoo barely moving, and Jaehyun gently cleaning him off, trying his best to touch the omega as little as possible. 

Finally, Jaehyun was draining the bath, wrapping Jungwoo in a fluffy robe and sitting him down at the table. The rest of the day passed similarly, with Jungwoo moving mechanically at Jaehyun’s direction, seeing, but eyes never really focusing. Jaehyun just wished he knew a better way to help than just gently leading Jungwoo around the apartment.




Chapter 7

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

A knock sounded on Jungwoo’s door, startling him out of his slumber. He looked up to see Jaehyun peeking his head around the door. “Oh good, you’re up. Kun will be over in like 20 minutes. He’s going to give you a quick checkup before he has to go to the office.” Jaehyun looked way too happy for 6:10 in the morning as proclaimed by the clock sitting by Jungwoo’s bed. However, Jaehyun said that he was supposed to get up. So, Jungwoo did just that, suppressing a groan as he stood up and stretched his muscles.

“Tired?” Jaehyun asked with a smile, “You’re not used to getting up early.” 

Jungwoo didn’t respond—he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to reply. Agree? Protest? A witty remark? Nothing seemed quite right.

However, silence didn’t seem to be the answer as Jaehyun’s face turned red at the awkward atmosphere and quickly backed out of the room, closing the door behind him after asking for Jungwoo to get dressed, then meet him in the kitchen for breakfast. 

That left Jungwoo alone in his room once more, the weak morning light streaming through his window, barely providing lightning for the dark room. Jungwoo switched on his lamp, wincing as the artificial light lit up the room. 

He still wasn’t quite used to bright lights as his room at the center was always sparsely lit by a single small window positioned too high for Jungwoo to see through unless he jumped. It was just another tactic employed by the center to make their omegas more helpless: not used to bright lights or even able to catch a glimpse of the outside world.

But Jungwoo was no longer in the center and should not dwell on the past. Instead, he needed to hurry up and get dressed like his alpha told him to. 

As Jungwoo peered into his closet, he realized he had no clue what he wanted to wear. There were so many pairs of clothes filling the small space—more clothes than Jungwoo had owned in years. He had no clue what Jaehyun wanted him to wear or even how to make the various shirts and pants match one another. It was a problem. What if Jungwoo picked the wrong clothes? What if they didn’t match? What if Jaehyun got mad? 

The thoughts made Jungwoo want to just collapse down onto the floor, but he knew he couldn’t, he’d already had a breakdown the day prior and Jaehyun was expecting him soon.

Gathering his strength, Jungwoo grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt at random, forced them onto his lanky limbs, and walked out of his room before he chickened out. 

Jaehyun was already waiting for him in the kitchen, setting a glass of orange juice down onto the counter.

“I-uh, didn’t know what you liked so I put all of the cereals and milk on the table?”

“Oh, thanks,” Jungwoo muttered, sitting down and pouring milk into his cereal bowl.

“No!” Jaehyun suddenly yelled, “You don’t—”

Jungwoo startled and dropped the milk container, the white liquid pooling out all over the table. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to. Please—” Jungwoo was close to tears, frantically cleaning up the milk, trying to figure out what he did wrong. He thought he was supposed to pour his own cereal, but apparently he misinterpreted Jaehyun’s instructions and was now in trouble. 

Jaehyun reached out his arm towards Jungwoo in an attempt to calm him down, but the action had the opposite effect: instead of becoming calmer, Jungwoo flinched and scurried backwards, tripping in his hurry.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to,” the omega was muttering as he curled up, head buried in his hands.

“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. It’s not your fault. I just...it’s just...you poured your milk first? And it surprised me? It’s kinda like a meme culture thing I guess? I mean not that you’d know that because you've been in the center for the past few years, but, yeah…”

Jungwoo cautiously looked up, tears streaking his cheeks, “So you’re not mad?”

“No, no of course not! You didn’t do anything wrong, I just forgot and overreacted. I’m sorry.”

“B-but what about the milk I spilled?” Surely Jaehyun would be mad about that. Even if Jungwoo did mistake Jaehyun’s intentions, he had still spilled milk all over and made a huge mess. No one wanted a clumsy, jumpy omega. Jaehyun would send him back to the center for sure. 

And when omegas went back to the center it was never good. Jungwoo had heard horror stories of how the handlers would handle those who had been ‘rejected’. They were considered ‘used’, ‘useless’. Those omegas never went to good homes, were never treated right. They were basically a free-for-all for everyone in the center. 

Just the thought of it made Jungwoo curl up even tighter and cry even harder. 

“No, no, please don’t cry, I don’t care about the milk.” Jaehyun was frantic at this point. He had really messed up and now had no clue how to get Jungwoo to calm down. “You know the saying ‘don’t cry over spilled milk’? Well, um, yeah, don’t? I guess?” What even was his point in saying that? He was such a mess.

“So, um, I guess I’ll just clean up the table now?” Internally, Jaehyun hit himself. Real smooth, he was now apparently dictating his every move? He really just hoped his brain would return by the time Kun came over. 

“So you can have the Cheerios? They’re really good. Uh, here, I’ll give you a bowl.” Jaehyun poured the circular cereal into the bowl and then added milk before handing the bowl over to Jungwoo who was still hunched over on the floor, back against the wall. 

“I hope you like those. They’re really good, and wow, I already said that. You know what? I’m just going to shut up now.” 

The corners of Jungwoo’s mouth ever so slightly curled upwards at Jaehyun’s awkwardness and the alpha considered that a success. 

Jaehyun grabbed the ten million boxes of cereal off of the table, tossing each one up and catching as he did so, maybe dropping a few in the process. But, he managed to get another small half smile out of Jungwoo so the Trix all over the floor was worth it. Jaehyun continued to clean up the table from breakfast in the most over exaggerated way possible, trying his best to see a full smile light up Jungwoo’s face. He never quite got there, but at least Jungwoo finished his Cheerios and got up from his place on the floor. 

Just as Jungwoo was putting his dishes in the sink despite Jaehyun’s protests that he didn’t need too, the doorbell rang. The loud noise made Jungwoo jump and drop his bowl into the sink with a small clatter and set Jaehyun sprinting towards the door. 

“Kun! What’s up?” Jaehyun and the man at the door embraced. 

“Not much, but I heard that there was someone here who needed a quick checkup?” Kun peered around Jaehyun, smiling when his eyes fell on Jungwoo. “Hey buddy, how are you doing?”

“Good,” Jungwoo muttered, backing into the kitchen counter, away from the strange beta man. 

“I’m glad to hear that.” Kun walked into the apartment and set his bag on the table, pulling various instruments out of it. “So how long were you in the center?” 

“Four years,” 

“Cool, you know I deal with a lot of omegas from centers so I promise I’ll take good care of you.”

Jungwoo didn’t reply, just eyed Kun skeptically. Doctors came to the center. They poked and prodded and invaded and hurt. Doctors weren’t nice or caring, they took advantage of you, the handlers would hold them down as the doctor came around to give them shots. Sometimes the shots made Jungwoo feel woozy and weird and he couldn’t remember what happened afterwards. Those were always the worst times.

But Ten had said Kun was nice, was one of the good guys. He had told Jungwoo to trust the older, that Kun wasn’t going to hurt him like the doctors at the center, he was different. And Ten was usually right about such things, so Jungwoo cautiously approached the table and sat down in a chair. 

Kun grabbed a tape measure out of his bag. “First I’m going to measure your height and weight.” He motioned for Jungwoo to stand so he could take his measurements, Jaehyun having to help Kun get an accurate height measurement. Then, a scale was brought out from the bathroom and Kun jotted down his weight. “It’s low, but we all knew that already. He should be fine if you make sure he’s eating well every day. Try your best to weigh him every week to make sure he’s steadily gaining weight. There shouldn’t be too much of a problem there, but if there is, please call me.”

Jaehyun nodded his understanding and Kun moved on, grabbing a stethoscope out of his bag. Kun was careful to keep his hands where Jungwoo could see them at all times and tell him exactly what he was doing. It helped Jungwoo feel a little better about the checkup. Kun explained all of his movements, all of his instruments, what they looked for, what the results were.

Everything was going great until Kun pulled a small hammer out of his bag and told Jungwoo he was going to test his reflexes.

Jungwoo was not a fan of that idea. He’d rather that hammer came nowhere near his body, especially his joints. Being hit with objects always meant more pain—everyone knew that. In the center when the handlers were in a particularly bad mood, Jungwoo would be hit with belts or shoes or even a crutch. Those always left the biggest welts that wouldn’t heal for days. Sometimes Jungwoo wouldn’t be able to stand afterwards. He would just curl up in a ball, trying his best to nurse his wounds and avoid the wrath of the handlers when he couldn't scurry away from the door fast enough for meal times. 

So when Kun brought the little hammer close to Jungwoo’s knee, he burst into tears. “No, no please, please, I didn’t do anything, please.” Jungwoo was gasping for breath, hands fisted in his hair, eyes screwed shut, whole body shaking. 

“Hey, Jungwoo, it’s okay. Kun’s not going to hurt you, I promise,” but Jungwoo didn’t respond to Jaehyun’s comforting words, just delving even deeper into his memories, his nightmares. 

“Hey, Jungwoo, could you count to ten for me?” 

Jungwoo didn’t respond.

Kun turned towards Jaehyun, “What do you usually do when he gets like this?”

“I don’t know,” Jaehyun ran a hand through his hair, “Last time he calmed down when I talked to him, but that’s not working—wait, the blanket.” Jaehyun suddenly sprinted down the hallway into Jungwoo’s room and emerged with his blanket in hand. He draped the soft cloth over Jungwoo’s shoulders and the response was immediate. Jungwoo, buried his face into the fabric, body slowly relaxing, crying turning into small sniffles. 

“So we won’t be checking out your reflexes today,” Kun stated, easily moving on with the checkup as if nothing happened. 

Jungwoo stayed with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders, but followed all of Kun’s directions as his joints and bones were tested to see if there was any lasting damage from the handlers abuse. Luckily there wasn’t and Kun left soon after giving Jungwoo the clean bill of health. 

“You know at least he didn’t hit me like Ten or run away like Sicheng,” Kun said with a smile, embracing Jaehyun on his way out the door.

“Yeah,” Jaehyun responded, “Sicheng is actually coming over today.”

“Really? What did Yuta bribe him with to get him out of the house?”

“Not my business, but my intel tells me it was a cat stuffed animal.”

They both laughed and hugged one more time before Kun exited the door with a small wave to Jungwoo.

Once the door was firmly shut and locked, Jungwoo turned to Jaehyun, “Sicheng? I’ve heard that name before.”

“Yeah, he’s another omega from the center like you. He doesn’t like to leave the house much, so I didn’t want to tell you until I was sure he was coming over. But, he’s really nice, you’re sure to like him.”

Jungwoo quitely nodded and went back to burying his face in his blanket, glad that Kun was finally gone.

Notes:

So, my next work is going to be a soulmate au where the main character is aroace, but I just wanted to hear your guy's favorite type of soulmate au. I was thinking of doing the drawing one, but I'm still not sure yet. Also if you have any other ideas or favorite tropes, please share those too!! Everything helps!

Chapter 8

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

A little while later, a knock sounded on the door. Jungwoo didn’t lift his head at the sound, just stayed laying face down on the couch. He didn’t care who was there, he just wanted to be left alone. However, when the familiar smell of another omega reached Jungwoo’s nose, he couldn’t help but lift his head out of curiosity. 

Standing at the entrance to the apartment was a relaxed alpha who embraced Jaehyun as soon as the door was opened and an anxious omega who was hanging back, nervously twisting his hands together.

“Yuta, Sicheng, what’s up?” Jaehyun said once he broke off his hug with the alpha.

“Oh, you know, same old, same old.” the alpha, Yuta, replied with a bright smile, “But I heard you have someone else living with you now?”

“Ah, yes. Yuta, Sicheng, meet Jungwoo. Kun just came over to give him a checkup so he’s lying face down on the couch, but he’ll definitely be excited to see you, Sicheng.”

The omega—Sicheng— just nodded shyly in response and continued to twist his hands together in anxious knots, not making any move to head towards Jungwoo.

The lack of movement made Jungwoo’s stomach twist unpleasantly. Did Sicheng not like him? Was that why he wasn’t coming over to say hi? Had Jungwoo done something wrong? He must’ve. Ten and Taeil had run right over to him and they immediately started cuddling. Maybe his height had scared Sicheng; he was too tall for an omega, a disgrace.

Tears started to leak out of the corners of Jungwoo’s eyes at the thought of Sicheng’s obvious rejection. It hurt that another omega didn’t want to see him, that he scared even Sicheng.

At the sight of Jungwoo’s tears and rising scent of distress, Sicheng began to fiddle with his hands even more and even started to step towards Jungwoo before stopping himself and looking towards the ground.

“Sicheng, go to him. You don’t need my permission.”

At the sound of Yuta’s words, Sicheng ran over to Jungwoo and wrapped the crying younger boy in his arms, releasing as many comforting pheromones as he could, trying his best to calm Jungwoo down. He even began to coo and hum as he pulled Jungwoo even closer to his body—sounds that were usually reserved for a mother trying to calm her distressed pup.

Eventually Jungwoo got the message that he wasn’t being rejected by Sicheng and his sobs began to soften and he nuzzled his nose into Sicheng’s neck, scent marking the other. Sicheng just responded by hugging Jungwoo even tighter to his body. 

Yuta and Jaehyun were floored by the sight in front of them—Sicheng was treating Jungwoo like his pup even though the other omega was only a few years younger.

“Wow,” Jaehyun exhaled.

“Yeah, Sicheng wasn’t even like that with Ten and Taeil,” Yuta marvelled. “I wonder what it means.”

“We’ll have to ask Taeil—he knows everything omega.”

“I’m going to call him right now.” Yuta fished his phone out of his pocket and fumbled with that device for a minute before finally managing to click on Taeil’s contact.

“Yuta I swear to God, if this is another question about how to turn on a kitchen appliance… trust me, you’re just not made out to be a chef. I know you want to impress Sicheng and all that, but seriously, can’t you find some other way?”

“No Taeil, it’s not about that. I’m at Jaehyun’s house and Jungwoo and Sicheng are acting really weirdly? Jungwoo started crying then Sicheng ran over to comfort him and is now cooing like a mother to her pup?”

A heavy sigh sounded from the other end of the phone. “You guys are absolute idiots. I don’t even know why I answer your calls anymore. Sicheng is acting like that simply because that’s how omegas calm each other down? Especially when both parties have been locked away for so long and their instincts weren’t properly developed. It’s literally so normal and you two are complete idiots. Why do you feel the need to call me about everything? Now I’m going to go take a nap because I get tired just talking to you.” There was a click as Taeil hung up.

“Oh,” Yuta sighed, turning towards Jaehyun, “I’m glad everything is normal.”

“Yeah, me too,” Jaehyun replied, “but, kitchen appliances? You press ‘start’?”

“It’s really not that simple.”

 

While the alphas debated the simplicity of cooking, Sicheng and Jungwoo moved their cuddling to Jungwoo’s room where it was more comfortable. Once inside, they instantly went to work, stripping the bed of all the sheets and collecting all the blankets they could find. Jungwoo even went as far as to grab clean towels out of the linen closet to add to the growing pile on the floor. 

As soon as Jungwoo and Sicheng deemed that they had enough blankets and towels, they got to work, actions led almost entirely by instincts. 

By the time they were done, a well constructed nest was sitting in the corner and Sicheng and Jungwoo were curled around each other inside of it.

“It’s my first time ever making a nest, I was locked up ever since I presented” Jungwoo muttered into Sicheng’s neck.

“Me too,” the older omega replied.

“Wait, how does that work in China?” Jungwoo partially sat up to look at Sicheng’s face. “With omegas and stuff?”

“It’s similar to here, but we at least get to talk to other omegas through the bars of our cages.”

“Oh, that seems nice. How did you end up here?”

“I was chosen to go on a show tour to other countries because I was one of the prettier ones and people like ‘exotic’ omegas. Our first stop was here in Seoul and Yuta saw me and decided to get me. Apparently I looked too sad in the cage or something. I’m still trying to figure him out, he’s...different, too nice, seems to care or something.”

“Jaehyun is like that too,” Jungwoo shifted so his head was buried in Sicheng’s chest. “I guess we’ll figure it out eventually.”

“Yeah,” Sicheng’s hand began to stroke Jungwoo’s hair and the younger quickly drifted off into a comfortable sleep. Sicheng stayed awake, though. He didn’t trust the alphas in the next room enough to leave both him and Jungwoo completely defenseless and unaware. Yuta seemed nice enough, but he didn’t know Jaehyun, and alphas sometimes changed when they were together, felt like they had to prove themselves to one another. It was too dangerous to fall asleep, especially with Jungwoo trusting him so completely. 

So instead Sicheng stayed awake, vigilant, wondering how he was going to keep Jungwoo safe forever. At some point Yuta was going to want to go back to his own house and probably take Sicheng with him. That meant no more cuddling with Jungwoo. No more being able to keep the younger omega safe.

Jungwoo seemed so scared, so wary around Jaehyun, so clingy to Sicheng. There was no way Sicheng was going to be able to leave the younger all by himself. Especially without another omega. Jungwoo needed someone. He had spent too many years all by himself at the center; it simply wasn’t in an omega’s biology to be alone for so long. Jungwoo needed another omega. And Sicheng wasn’t going to leave him alone.

 

———————————————————————

 

“So how are things going with you and Jungwoo?” Yuta asked Jaehyun after the omegas ran off together.

“He’s great, but sometimes I feel as if I’m just making things worse. Like I can never seem to properly calm him down, and sometimes it feels as if I’m just making everything worse.” Jaehyun ran a hand through his hair, leaning against the counter.

“Ah, I feel you there. Honestly, Sicheng only recently stopped flinching at every move I make. Just give Jungwoo time and show him plenty of love and care. You’re a great person, Jaehyun, Jungwoo will see that soon,” Yuta patted Jaehyun reassuringly on the back. “Let’s go sit down and I can give you some tips.”

 

After a few hours, Yuta stood up from where he had been seated on the couch and stretched, leaning backwards and lifting his arms over his head. With a groan, his back popped and he returned to his normal posture, checking his watch. “Ah, it’s probably time for Sicheng and I to head home. I have to go out to dinner with some potential customers for work tonight and I want to make sure I have plenty of time to get ready and make sure Sicheng is going to be okay without me for part of the night.”

“Of course, I’m sorry to keep you too long.” Jaehyun also rose to his feet and started to take a step before stopping, foot still in midair. “Wait, how long was it before you went back to work?”

“Uh, like a week or so, but I still frequently took days off. Honestly I would recommend doing whatever you can get away with. But, I’m sure Ten, Taeil, or Sicheng would love to come over and hang out with Jungwoo if needed.”

Jaehyun nodded thoughtfully—Ten would not miss an opportunity to go out with Jungwoo, last time they could barely get him to leave.

Stopping in front of Jungwoo’s room, Jaehyun raised his fist and gave the door three soft knocks. There was no answer. He tried again, knocking a little harder this time. “Sicheng? Jungwoo?”

That elicited a response from the two omegas, rustling could be heard on the other side of the door before it slowly creaked open, revealing an alert Sicheng, posture tall and defensive, with a half-asleep Jungwoo standing behind him, hair mussed and sticking up in all different directions. 

“Sicheng? You ready to go home?” Yuta beckoned Sicheng forward with his hand.

At the action Jungwoo flinched, taking cover behind Sicheng’s body, face buried in the older’s shirt. Sicheng’s posture straightened even more and he squared his shoulders, “I’m not leaving.”

The sudden declaration made Jungwoo fist his hands even tighter into Sicheng’s shirt and Yuta and Jaehyun blinked in surprise. “You-you’re not leaving?”

“No, I’m staying here with Jungwoo.”

At this point Jungwoo could barely be seen over Sicheng’s body, despite his taller frame. The younger had completely glued himself to Sicheng’s back and was shaking in fear of the repercussions the older would face for his actions.

Jaehyun and Yuta looked completely floored. “I mean we could stay a couple more minutes I guess, but I have a dinner I have to go to.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“At all?” 

“I’m staying here.”

Yuta  just stared at Sicheng in disbelief, never had he seen the omega so bold. Sicheng usually just flitted around the house, ducking his head, folding in his shoulders, taking up the least amount of space possible. But this was a completely different side to him. Sicheng was standing there confidently denying an alpha, stating what he wanted to do. There was no way Yuta could say no. “Well, if it’s okay with Jaehyun, you could stay over.”

“Yeah, yeah, he can stay over. I’ll just have to figure something out for dinner.” Jaehyun ran a hand through his hair. Jungwoo violently flinched back at the action and Sicheng put out his arm as if he was guarding Jungwoo from danger. It became very clear to the alphas that Sicheng was not moving.

“Well, uh, I’m going to get going now. I hope you have fun with your sleepover, Sicheng.” Yuta turned and walked away, hauling a gaping Jaehyun along with him.

Once they were safely away from where the omegas could hear them, both alphas let out sighs of disbelief.

“What do we do now?” Jaehyun asked, running a hand through his hair once more, making it stick out all over.

“I’m not sure...I guess I go to my work meeting and you watch over them and we’ll call Taeil later tonight?”

“Yeah, I guess. Taeil is really going to hate us after all this.”

 

———————————————————————————-

 

As soon as the alphas turned to walk away, Sicheng closed the door and sunk to the ground, breathing hard. What had he just done? Defying his alpha? Unheard of. What had overcome him in that moment?

Sicheng had just wanted to keep Jungwoo safe. And the other was clearly terrified by himself, flinching at every move Jaehyun and Yuta made. He couldn’t just abandon a fellow omega in distress, his instincts wouldn’t allow him.

So he had done the unthinkable: stood up to alphas. And nothing bad had happened. They hadn’t lashed out in anger, hadn’t hit him, hadn’t threatened him, had just accepted it. It was everything Yuta had been promising him over the past month: understanding, compassion, patience, forgiveness. Things that Sicheng hadn’t believed could exist. Until now. Maybe the alphas weren’t horrible, maybe these ones were different.

But for now, it didn’t matter. He had Jungwoo upset and curled up in his lap, clearly needing comfort. Sicheng could think on this more later when his friend wasn’t making the whole room smell like distress.



Notes:

Sorry for the inconsistent updates, my mental illnesses haven't been great lately, but I promise I will be able to stick to more of a schedule in like September lol

Chapter 9

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

It was 9:00 at night by the time the alphas got around to calling Taeil. Yuta’s meeting had gone well despite the fact that the entire time he was stressing about Sicheng. Somehow he was still able to function when every second his brain was replaying Sicheng’s defiant face as he protected Jungwoo. All of Yuta’s instincts were screaming at hm to go back to his omega, compliment him on being such a good protector of the household, comfort him, and make him feel less defensive. However, Yuta was stuck in a stiff suit exchanging smiles and small talk with potential customers. It was torturous.

By the time Yuta finally made it back to Jaehyun’s apartment, the taller alpha was standing in the kitchen staring at the large plate of food in his hands.

“I don’t want to disturb them,” Jaehyun said, looking up as Yuta entered. 

“Here, let me.” Yuta carefully grabbed the plate from Jaehyun’s hands and knocked on the door of Jungwoo’s room. “Hey guys, I have food. I’m just going to leave it on the floor outside, okay?”

There was no response—exactly what Yuta had expected. But as he walked away, he heard the door creak open and the plate gently scratch against the tile as it was picked up.

When he returned back to the kitchen, Jaehyun was staring at him in open mouthed disbelief. “You’re so smart. I never thought about that!”

“This ain’t my first rodeo. When Sicheng first came to my house all he did was hide in his room. He absolutely refused to come out.”

“Oh,”

The pair settled down on the couch.

“Okay, so it’s your turn to call Taeil because I did it last time.” Yuta stretched out on the couch, a sly smile on his face as Jaehyun rolled his eyes at the older and clicked on Taeil’s contact in his phone.

The phone held up to Jaehyun’s ear rang for a total of six times before Taeil’s voice filtered through the speaker: “Hello, I’m not able to come to the phone right now so please leave a message as long as it’s not stupid—I do hold grudges.”

Jaehyun sighed and hung up, not sure what qualified as a stupid voice mail and didn’t want to risk it.

“So, Taeyong next.” Yuta didn’t miss a beat in picking up his phone and dialing Taeyong’s number.

He answered on the second ring, “What’s going on?”

“Can we talk to Taeil? We have an omega situation.”

Taeyong audibly sighed, “I’m pretty sure he’s ignoring you on purpose. I was told not to bother him with any of your problems, that you two could figure it out on your own.”

“Please,” Jaehyun whined, “they won’t come out of Jungwoo’s room and Sicheng even stood up to Yuta. We need heeeelp.”

An indistinct conversation occurred on the other side of the phone before Taeil’s voice finally came on: “I swear to god this better actually be serious.”

Yuta explained the situation.

“Yeah, okay, so that sounds like a you problem and have fun figuring it out on your own. I believe in you.” And with that Taeil hung up.

“Well I’m glad he’s such a great friend,” Yuta muttered.

“Yeah, I don’t think he likes us very much, but we can always try Ten.”

“Go ahead,” Yuta waved a hand at Jaehyun. “He’s more likely to answer you anyways. I think I somehow managed to piss him off last time we talked.”

Jaehyun snorted, “I’m not surprised.”

 

Johnny luckily answered his phone on the second ring and Ten was on the other side in a matter of seconds when Jaehyun mentioned they had a problem.

“What’s wrong with Jungwoo? Do I need to come over?”

“Uh, well, I don't know...I mean Sicheng and Yuta are also over,”

“Oh...I guess I’ll hear the problem first.” There was the sound of something thumping to the floor—probably shoes—as Ten spoke reluctantly. Jaehyun made a mental note to ask Yuta what the hell had gone down between him and Ten.

“So like Sicheng and Jungwoo locked themselves in Jungwoo’s room and won’t come out? Like Sicheng even stood up to Yuta when he said it was time to go home.”

Ten sighed. “Jaehyun please tell me how this is a 9:30 at night problem? Like literally let them be for the night and if there’s still a problem I’ll come over in the morning. I swear to god, alphas are so stupid and overprotective.”

There was a click on the other end of the receiver as Ten hung up on them.

“So, I guess we’re having a sleepover then?”

 

———————————————————————————-

 

Jungwoo woke up feeling safe. It was a feeling he hadn't experienced since before he presented as an omega and his life turned upside down. But now, curled up in Sicheng’s arms, Jungwoo wasn’t wary, wasn’t scared. He felt at peace; his insides were warm and fuzzy like his organs had been wrapped in a fluffy blanket; his heart was oozing with love and happiness, spilling out into the room. Every scent in the air was unadulterated, calm omega.

“Are you awake?”

Sicheng’s deep voice sounded in Jungwoo’s ear, making him smile to himself. “Yeah, I’m up.”

“Good.” Sicheng shifted slightly away from Jungwoo, reaching for something outside of the nest. The slight loss of contact was enough to make Jungwoo’s heart to beat faster, heart rate speed up. However, Sicheng was back in a second. “Hey, it’s okay, I’m right here. I was just getting the dinner that the alphas made for us. I grabbed it while you were still asleep.”

Jungwoo’s head snapped up at the mention of food and eagerly dug into the food on the plate, stuffing rice and beef into his mouth.

However once Jungwoo’s hunger was satisfied, Sicheng’s words sunk into his brain. Fear lit up his veins. “Are the alphas mad at us?” His voice was meek, scared of the consequences of their actions last night.

“Oh honey,” Sicheng pulled Jungwoo into a hug, “They made us breakfast and didn't even try to come into the room, they understand.”

Jungwoo was puzzled by Sicheng’s words, just yesterday he was small, hiding in Yuta’s shadow. Now, he was confident that the alphas actually cared. Sicheng was becoming his own person like Ten and Taeil were. He hoped that he could be like that one day too.

“How-how are you so confident? It could be a trick.”

“It’s not,” Sicheng said with 100 percent certainty. “I can feel it in my bones. They’re being truthful. Plus, what alpha makes food for their omegas and then just leaves it at the door?”

Jungwoo had to admit that Sicheng was right. Jaehyun and Yuta didn’t behave like the alphas they were told about at the center. They didn’t demand anything, didn’t scream and yell, were patient, looked at them with care in their eyes. But, it could still be a trick. They could be pretending, waiting until Jungwoo was comfortable to pounce, to show their real selves. It could be some sort of twisted, perverted game. Maybe alphas like that sort of thing.

Nevertheless, Jungwoo vowed to be careful. He couldn’t afford to have his trust broken yet again.

 

Sicheng looked down at Jungwoo. The younger was twisting his hands together, plate discarded. He was clearly still distressed and Sicheng didn’t blame him. It took more than a couple of days to get over years of mental conditioning and abuse. 

He himself was still struggling with the fact that he had stood up to, talked back to alphas. And nothing bad happened. In fact, just the opposite: they caved. Jaehyun and Yuta had just come up with a solution that respected Sicheng’s decision no matter how spontaneous. But  there was still an uneasy feeling in Sicheng’s stomach. The alphas could be lying, pretending, trying to trap the omegas. Maybe at night when he and Jungwoo were asleep, Jaehyun and Yuta would burst into the room, scream at them, hit them. Sicheng remembered an omega at the center that was similarly tricked: he had refused to leave his cell when instructed. The handler simply walked away without putting up too much of a fight. However, later that night a group of alphas had swarmed the cell. Sicheng still remembered the screams. He had never seen that omega again. 

Sicheng shivered at the memory causing Jungwoo to look up at him in worry. “It’s okay, just a bad memory,” Sicheng reassured him. 

Jungwoo responded by wrapping his arms around Sicheng’s slim frame and pulling him close. Sicheng felt Jungwoo’s tears forming a wet spot on his shirt. “Will we be okay?”

“Yes. I will protect you. I promise no alpha is going to even come close to you.” At that moment, Sicheng felt a wave of strength flush through him. He was going to do whatever it took to keep Jungwoo safe, no matter what. He would even stay up all night if that's what it took to make sure Jungwoo would feel safe and no one would invade their room during the night.

Eventually, Sicheng felt Jungwoo slump against him, relaxed, asleep. The younger’s breaths were even and face peaceful as night overtook him. 

Sicheng carefully shifted Jungwoo to a more comfortable position so that his neck wasn’t at a weird angle, but still kept the younger flush against his body. Sicheng would never admit it, but he needed the contact and comfort just as much as Jungwoo did. Sure, Ten and Taeil did come over at times, but it wasn’t the same level of comfort as having someone younger to care for. Everything about Jungwoo called to Sicheng’s instincts, made every inch of his body scream to protect and care for the younger. 

Maybe this was what it felt like to be a mother. If so, Sicheng finally understood why all the omegas in the center cried and mourned for days when their babies were taken from them, cherished their young ones even if they cried every hour of the night and sucked away their mother’s strength. The sacredness of having a little one to take care of trumped everything else in the world. 

Sicheng reached down to stroke Jungwoo’s hair, letting the soft locks card through his fingers. The action was relaxing and Sicheng decided to curl up next to Jungwoo, angling his body so that he was between him and the door. This was about to be a long night.

 

—————————————————————-

 

Ten and Johnny arrived at 10 the next morning much to the chargain of the alphas who had been up since 7 trying to come up with ways to coax the omegas out of the room without breaking their trust. None of their plans even came close to being implemented. In fact, the most they did was make breakfast and leave it at the door, sliding a note underneath announcing its presence not wanting to knock and risk waking Jungwoo and Sicheng. So when a knock sounded at the door both alphas rushed to let Ten in.

Ten, however, was standing behind Johnny, using the taller as a shield. Yuta instantly took several steps backwards, holding out his hands as if to say he intended no harm. Jaehyun was bewildered. What on earth would cause Ten to have that reaction? Even though he was still shy around alphas from his time at the center, Ten was usually much better. Especially with Johnny’s friends. 

Johnny quickly took charge of the situation, being the voice of reason and peacekeeper that he always was.

“Ten, why don’t we go see how Jungwoo and Sicheng are doing, huh? I bet you could help them out.”

 Johnny guided Ten to door of Jungwoo’s room before leaving as to not scare Jungwoo and Sicheng by his imposing presence. Once Johnny was safely out of the way, there was the sound of Ten’s soft knock and the door opening to let him inside. The alphas all exhaled a sigh of relief at the sound, hopeful that Ten could help the other two out.

“So,” Jaehyun turned to face Yuta, “What on earth happened between you and Ten?”

Yuta flinched and sunk deeper into his seat, fidgeting with his hands. “Well, um, you see…”

Jaehyun looked towards Johnny for the answer as Yuta trailed off, his face blushing a deep red. However, Johnny just shrugged and nodded towards Yuta as if to say, ‘Listen to him, it’s not my story to tell.’

With a deep exhale then inhale, Yuta started his story: “Okay, well, you see, I was only really used to omegas like Taeil who were used to alphas and stuff because like in Japan omegas aren’t treated quite as bad as here. So I just like expected Ten to be like that. But he wasn’t. So the first time he came over I didn’t really like pay attention to his body language or anything before I rushed at him and wrapped him in a hug.”

 Yuta winced as if the story was causing him physical pain. “He just kinda like went limp in my arms and like I didn’t really notice at first and when I did, I jumped away from him and he just kinda like crumpled into a ball on the floor crying. It took a lot of coaxing from Johnny to finally get him to stop crying and like back to a functioning level. This was before we learned that it was best to call Taeil for things like that. I, of course, felt horrible and apologized profusely to Ten the next time I saw him, but understandably, Ten hasn't liked me since.”

“Yeah that would do it. But I mean, it was an honest mistake.” Jaehyun said

“It doesn’t change that Ten hates me now.”

“I mean, he’ll come around eventually; plus, it’s not like Johnny harbors any hard feelings towards you.”

“I guess so…”

“I don’t.” Johnny chimed in, “I mean you just didn’t know any better. And don’t worry, Ten will definitely come around eventually. He’s already come so far, but it’s just gotta be small steps at a time, ya know?”

Yuta nodded, but still looked miserable.

“Here, let’s go watch a movie.” Jaehyun swung his arm around Yuta’s shoulders, guiding him to sit down on the couch. “This’ll take your mind off of things.”

 

————————————————————-

 

When Jungwoo heard Ten’s voice on the other side of the door, he eagerly got up from his nest to greet him at the door, Sicheng following close behind. Ten was instantly pulled into the room and the nest, seamlessly joining the cuddle pile.

“Wow guys, this nest is gorgeous .”

The compliment made both Sicheng and Jungwoo preen, a warmth blossoming in Jungwoo’s heart at the words. Ten wrapped his arms around the both of them and scented both Jungwoo and Sicheng. 

The new, comforting scent being added to the pile caused Jungwoo to feel like he was being wrapped in a fuzzy blanket. In response, he maneuvered himself so that his head was somehow miraculously buried in both Ten and Sicheng’s chests. It was the best feeling in the world and slowly Jungwoo felt his mind floating away from his body. It was as if his body just couldn’t take all of the happiness he was feeling and needed to extend itself into the ethereal plane.

Jungwoo wasn’t sure how much time passed until he felt himself return to his body to Ten gently rubbing his back and whispering his name.

He blinked several times and shook his head to clear the remaining fuzziness out. 

“Good, you’re back with us,” Ten said in a low voice that made Jungwoo want to somehow be even closer to Ten. The older just felt like home, familiar. Sicheng seemed to be having a similar response judging by the way his head was completely tucking into the crook of Ten’s neck, breathing steady and slow.

“So guys,” Ten started out, “you know that you can’t just, like, stay in here forever, right? You gotta go out sometime; Sicheng you do need to eventually go home.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No. I’m staying. Here. With Jungwoo. And you.” Sicheng looked straight into Ten’s eyes as he spoke, voice more certain than Ten had ever heard it.

“But you need food and water and it’s really hard for Jaehyun and Yuta to give you that right now,” Ten tried to reason.

“We got less in the center.”

“Okay, yes, but that’s not a good way to live it’s not healthy.”

“We’ll survive.”

“I mean yes you will, but it’ll be uncomfortable and it’s not good for you. You need to get out and go outside sometimes to be healthy and live a good life.” Ten looked Sicheng in the eye, trying to reason with him as gently as possible. “Plus, it’s not good for Jungwoo. See how skinny he is? He needs to be eating regularly and exercising so that he can gain weight and feel better. He’s really weak right now and needs special care that he can’t get in here all alone.”

Sicheng bit his lip and looked conflicted, “Jungwoo needs to go out to be better? So he doesn’t sleep all the time? And I can’t see all his bones?”

“Yeah, so that he can be healthy. We both want that, right? For Jungwoo?”

Sicheng nodded, “I guess I can go out. For Jungwoo. So that he can get better.”

Ten let a smile spread across his face. “That’s the right choice, Sicheng. It’ll be the best for both you and Jungwoo.”

Sicheng gave Ten a tentative smile back and started to move so that he could stand up, but was stopped by Jungwoo latching a hand on his arm.

“No, please don’t leave me. I-I can’t. Not a-alone.” Tears began to flow freely down Jungwoo’s cheeks and sobs racked his skinny frame.

Sicheng immediately stopped his movement. “No, Jungwoo. I’m never going to leave you. It’s okay. I’m right here. I promise.”

Sicheng and Jungwoo sunk down together, wrapped around one another. Ten sighed in defeat. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

“Hey, Jungwoo? Sicheng isn’t going to leave you and you’re still going to have this space all to yourself, but you just gotta leave this room to eat and shower and stuff. So that you can feel better.”

Jungwoo vehemently shook his head. “I’m not leaving.”

“But don’t you want to eat yummy food that’s actually warm and fresh? And watch movies?”

“I’m fine here. I have Sicheng.”

“Okay, but you can have Sicheng out there too.”

Jungwoo shook his head eyes going wide. “No I won’t. The alphas want him to leave. And we can’t say no to the alphas.”

“But Sicheng already did and nothing bad happened.”

“No, the rules are different in this room, but out there they’re the same.”

“Okay, what if I get Jaehyun and Yuta to promise? And Sicheng can still be with you and everything.”

“I guess.” Jungwoo hid his face in Sicheng’s shoulder, a clear sign that he was done with the conversation.

Ten sighed. At least he had gotten somewhere. It was time to tell Jaehyun and Yuta the plan and hopefully get Sicheng and Jungwoo out of the room.

 

Ten got up and left the room, promising that he would be back, but he wasn’t supposed to leave. This was the safe room where everything was like a sunset, full of soft, warm colors. Outside was harsh and cold. Jungwoo didn’t understand why anyone would ever go out there. Now that he had discovered this whole new world with Sicheng he was never going to leave.

A while later, the door opened  and Jungwoo looked up to see Ten, Jaehyun, and Yuta standing in the doorway, Ten halfway inside the room body language relaxed and open while Jaehyun and Yuta were fidgeting—an action that was very unbecoming to alphas. Alphas were supposed to be confident. They were never nervous.

“We have a proposal,” Luas started out. “You guys come out of this room and you can have whatever food you want, whenever you want, and you can watch all the movies I have and you don’t have to separate until you’re ready.”

“And Jaehyun and I will stay as far away as you want and we won’t yell at you. It’s your choice. We promise.” Yuta chimed in. “We’ll leave you alone for now until you make your decision.” Then, true to their word, Jaehyun and Yuta left.

Jungwoo looked at the alphas warily. It sounded too good to be true. And an alpha’s promise meant absolutely nothing to him. At the center promises were broken all the time.

However, Sicheng had perked up at the proposal and Yuta’s words. “Let’s do it. Yuta never breaks a promise. And imagine how much better you’ll feel with all that good food.”

“Okay,” Jungwoo trusted Sicheng. He was brave, but made reasonable choices. Not only that, but he would protect Jungwoo at any cost.

Ten was practically beaming and Jungwoo and Sicheng linked hands and stepped through the doorway together.

Notes:

Sorry if this has like a bunch of typos or sounds weird or something, my life has kind been a mess lately lol. But school started like a week ago so like hopefully things will get better and I can get on a normal schedule once again.

Also, please leave comments telling me what you think! Comments give me life!!

Chapter 10

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

Jaehyun practically fell over in shock when he saw Sicheng and Jungwoo step out of the room. He honestly had expected them to stay in there forever. Sure, Jungwoo was currently hidden behind Sicheng, eyes downcast, holding onto the older for dear life, but he was out. Ten was a magician. 

When Jaehyun finally looked up from his ogling, he realized that Yuta was in the kitchen and jumped up to join him, feet tangling up in one another in the process. “Shit,” Jaehyun cursed loudly as his body careened towards the floor. He fell hard, feet twisted up in one another not allowing enough time for him to reach out and save himself. As his shoulder hit the carpeted floor, it throbbed in pain. Jaehyun heard Jungwoo cry out in distress. Within seconds he was on his feet again, knees protesting at the speed he jumped up. But when Jaehyun turned around Jungwoo was gone. 

Johnny and Ten were by his side, though. Ten was was cursing him out for being so stupid and “who the heck even jumps up like that? What did you think was going to happen? Flight?” Johnny, on the other hand, was carefully checking Jaehyun for injuries. He truly was the dad of their friend group.

Sicheng was still standing in the hallway, looking stunned while Yuta was doubled over laughing in the kitchen. Jaehyun wasn’t sure if it was his or Yuta’s actions that confused Sicheng the most. It didn’t matter in the end because Sicheng after a few seconds of observing the scene, turned quickly on his heel and followed Jungwoo back into the room. So much for that.

“Dang it,” Jaehyun muttered, limping towards the kitchen, “I ruined it.”

“They’ll be back.” Johnny patted Jaehyun on the back reassuringly. “Now, let's work on breakfast.”

 

Jaehyun was mad. Jaehyun had fallen. Jaehyun had yelled, cursed. Loudly. 

Jungwoo had ruined everything. Jaehyun was mad at him. He was the reason Jaehyun fell, Jaehyun was just trying to help him, make food because that’s how needy Jungwoo was, always wanting more, too much. Jaehyun had fallen because of him, because of him and his excessive wants. Jaehyun wasn’t going to want him anymore. He was going to throw him out, discard him like a broken toy. Things were finally looking up and Jungwoo had to go around and ruin everything.

Jungwoo curled up in the nest, knees hugged to his chest, sobbing. Then Sicheng was there, rubbing his back, telling him that nothing was wrong, that it wasn’t his fault.

“I was there, Jungwoo, no one was mad, I promise. In fact, Yuta was laughing at Jaehyun. Ten didn’t even seem worried, instead he yelled at Jaehyun for scaring you, and Jaehyun even looked ashamed for it. Can you imagine that? An alpha ashamed because he scared an omega? Ten is right, they really don’t mean any harm.”

“But-but he yelled, really loud, he was angry.” Jungwoo buried his face even deeper into the covers, he trusted Sicheng, but the older wasn’t making any sense. How could it not be his fault? Jaehyun was clearly trying to do something for him when he fell. But, then again, everyone was berating Jaehyun for his mistake, not Jungwoo. 

Sicheng curled up next to Jungwoo so that they could lay face to face. “I know that the center told you that everything was your fault, but would you blame Jaehyun for something similar?”

“No-no. But he’s an alpha, he has the right to be mad.”

“Really? Has Jaehyun done any typical alpha things?”

Jungwoo looked down and fidgeted with the seam of his shirt. “No, but he could always change his mind. What if this is all a facade?”

Sicheng rubbed Jungwoo’s arm comfortingly, “Ten trusts him, though. And Ten definitely wouldn’t place his trust in someone who was a fake, right?”

“Right,” Jungwoo admitted. Ten was much too smart for that. He had gone through the same system as him and Sicheng, knew how dangerous alphas were, yet was still able to trust them, to be around them. Jungwoo wished that one day he could be as strong as Ten and Sicheng, be able to overcome all of his fears. 

“Okay, ready to go back out then?” Sicheng tugged Jungwoo up to his feet before he even had the time to properly react, but still didn’t protest when he was led into the hallway. 

Pots were clanging in the kitchen where the three alphas were at work. Johnny was directing the other two, Jaehyun partially capable, Yuta not at all. He truly was awful in the kitchen. When Jungwoo and Sicheng first saw him, Yuta had somehow managed to boil water over the edge of the pot and was frantically trying to clean up the mess without thinking of turning the heat down. Needless to say the whole situation was hopeless.

Ten looked up from his seat at the counter and beckoned Jungwoo and Sicheng to sit next to him. Johnny, noticing the movement, looked up and gave the two a subtle nod before returning to preparing lunch. 

Jungwoo slowly walked over, tightly clasping Sicheng’s hand, and sat down in between the two omegas, shifting his weight in the chair several times before Ten leaned over to whisper in his ear, “Doesn’t Yuta look absolutely ridiculous? He can’t even boil water for heaven’s sake. I used to be scared of him, but after seeing this mess, I can't even imagine why.”

Sicheng let out a peal of laughter at Ten’s words and Jungwoo even felt a smile tug at the corners of his lips.

“He has no idea how to work anything in the kitchen, I really have no idea how he survived before he got me,” Sicheng leaned over to whisper conspiratorially  to the others.

However, he must have been slightly too loud because Jaehyun was soon chiming in: “He literally only ate things that could be warmed up in the microwave. It was ridiculous.”

“Hey! It really wasn’t that bad!”

“It was,” Johnny confirmed with a small smile at Ten. “Now could you please get out of the kitchen before you break something?” Johnny gave Yuta a gentle shove and Yuta obliged, mumbling something about how unfair Johnny and Jaehyun were being, that he wasn't even that bad. 

Without Yuta there to make a mess of everything, Jaehyun and Johnny finished making lunch rather quickly and soon steaming plates were being set down on the table. Yuta even came out of sulking to eat the food; however, he claimed that the food tasted awful without his help—all while shoveling huge bites into his mouth as if he was starved. 

Jungwoo ate with less vigor than the others, it was unseemly for omegas to eat too much. He needed to stay in shape for his alpha. Sicheng quickly noticed what Jungwoo was doing, though, “You need to eat more than that. You have to eat to gain strength and be healthy.”

Jungwoo just shrugged in response, not planning to change his eating habits at all. That was until Jaehyun decided to chime in: “Jungwoo, can you please eat more? For me? I know you’re really hungry.”

With his alpha’s permission to eat as much as he wanted, Jungwoo began to shovel spoonful after spoonful into his mouth, not even stopping to breathe. The food just tasted so good. And it was warm . Jungwoo hadn’t had warm food in forever. He had forgotten how amazing it was and just couldn’t help but try to consume the food on his plate as fast as possible. 

“Jungwoo,” Sicheng’s hand was on his shoulder, soft words catching his attention. “You can’t eat so fast buddy, you’ll make yourself sick. I know it’s really good, but you have to slow down. Believe me, becoming sick from overeating is no fun.”

Jungwoo nodded, his mouth full of food, and then began to eat at a slightly slower pace. However, his new eating speed was apparently still too fast because the next thing he knew, Ten was placing his hand on top of Jungwoo’s. “How about we take a small break so that you can actually chew your food.”

Oh. Now that Ten mentioned it, Jungwoo realized that he hadn’t really been chewing his food in his rush to eat. He looked up sheepishly and noticed that the alphas, as well, had stopped eating. 

“Sorry,” he muttered, ducking his head. 

“Don’t worry, you have nothing to be sorry about,” Johnny said in his deep voice, “Do you know how many times Ten threw up before he realized that he had to eat at a reasonable pace if he actually wanted to keep the food down?”

Ten let out a small laugh at Johnny’s words, “I guess it was pretty bad, huh?”

Jungwoo glanced between Ten and Johnny, slightly baffled at their banter. He would never get over the fact that Johnny joked around with Ten and made him laugh. It was the opposite of what he had been taught at the center, he had been told that such things were unnatural, but Ten and Johnny seemed perfectly comfortable joking around with one another. 

Jungwoo then felt a small tap on his shoulder and he turned to face Sicheng who was holding up him a reasonably sized spoonful of food for him. He ate the proffered bite and then continued to slowly consume small amounts of food as per Sicheng’s discretion, mimicking the older’s movements, eating when he did. 

Halfway through his bowl, an uncomfortable feeling developed in Jungwoo’s stomach: he was full. But all of his food wasn’t gone yet. He couldn’t waste food. At the center they were always punished if even a morsel of food was left on their plate, any food left meant that they weren’t grateful enough and didn’t want to eat anymore. But Jungwoo did want to keep on eating, wanted to be able to eat tomorrow. So, he slowly lifted the spoon he had set down back into his mouth. He chewed slowly, the food no longer tasting as good as it once did. He lifted the spoon up one more time, the broth slowly dripping off the noodles.

“Jungwoo,”

Jungwoo dropped his spoon in surprise, head snapping up, searching for who had just spoken.

“Jungwoo,” Yuta repeated, “you don’t have to eat anymore if you’re full.”

“But, the food will go to waste.”

“No it won’t. I’ll eat it.” Jaehyun reached over and grabbed Jungwoo’s bowl, dumping the food onto his own.

Ten burst into laughter at the surprised look on Jungwoo’s face. “Jaehyun has no manners, at least Johnny asks before he takes my food.”

Jaehyun looked up at Ten’s remark, cheeks stuffed full of noodles, “Jungwoo may I have your food?” only he was speaking with his mouth full so it sounded more like “Wunwoo mway I haff youw food?”

Yuta reached over and hit Jaehyun on the arm. “Could you behave like a normal person for once? Jungwoo, I apologize for Jaehyun’s lack of manners. He was truly raised in a barn.”

Jungwoo just sat there in stunned silence, not sure how he was supposed to react. None of this was taught at the center. To be honest, Jungwoo hadn’t even heard jokes or genuine laughter since before he had gone to the center, before he knew that he was an omega.

 He used to go out with his friends all the time, they would stay out late, play games, joke around like normal teenagers would. In fact that’s what they were doing the night that Jungwoo presented. Him, Mark, Xiaojun, and Donghyuck had gone out swimming as a last hurrah before summer ended. The water at the community pool was cool, made even more enjoyable by all of the splashing that was going on. The war had started when Mark had nailed Donghyuck directly in the face, prompting a returning splash from the younger. The next thing Jungwoo knew, he was inhaling a mouthful of water, Xiaojun practically falling over with laughter at Jungwoo’s expression. “You’re that surpr-” 

Xiaojun was cut off by the large wave of water that Jungwoo sent his way. Soon they were in an all out war, water flying across the pool, soaking everyone in its path. Jungwoo was reeling up to nail Mark with a big wave when suddenly Donghyuck pounced on his back, forcing Jungwoo beneath the water. They grappled with each other for a few minutes before Jungwoo gained the upper hand and shot to the surface for a much needed breath of air. 

Once above the water, Jungwoo couldn’t help but laugh at Xiaojun and Mark who were dueling it out, dramatically trying and failing to gain the upper hand against one another.

Soon, their games progressed to chicken fighting and then trying to outdo one another on the diving boards. Jungwoo had declared his backflip was the winner, but Donghyuck insisted his bellyflop was legendary.

Then, the lifeguards were blowing their whistles, signaling that the pool was closing. The boys grabbed their towels and began their walk home, still joking and laughing together. 

“Ooo, Jungwoo you’re going to be starting high school tomorrow. You’re going to meet so many cute guys,” Mark said suggestively. 

“Oh my gosh,” Donghyuck exclaimed, “there’s going to be people who have presented in high school.”

“You idiot, there’s people who have presented in our school.”

“Yeah, but not a ton. In high school there’s going to be a lot . Hey, Jungwoo, when do you think you’re going to present?”

“It has to be soon, he’s gotten so tall recently.”

“Oh shut up you two,” Xiaojun said, hitting them with his towel. “You know Jungwoo hates thinking about presenting.”

“Oh right, well, did you guys see that new superhero movie that came out? Wasn’t it amazing?”

“The one I saw with you? Hell no!”

Jungwoo shot Xiaojun a grateful look as Mark and Donghyuck returned to their normal banter. 

The rest of the way home was full of playful hits and lusting over the cutest people in their grade. They departed with the promise to meet up at the corner the next morning so they could all walk Jungwoo to school. But Jungwoo never saw his friends again, he presented that night.

**




Notes:

Oof sorry this literally took like two months to update, I really don't have an excuse except for the non-existent college apps I've been doing lol

But in other good news the great @CallisaRose has been helping me to edit this thing so all of my chapters are now typo free and just make a lot more sense in general so big shout out to her bc she's amazing!!

Pls leave comments! They really help and I respond to all of them!!

Chapter 11

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

“Jungwoo, are you okay?” Jungwoo came back to reality at the sound of Sicheng’s soft, worried voice.

Once Jaehyun saw Jungwoo was back to reality, he started talking: “I’m sorry if I upset you, Yuta and I were joking around and I wasn’t thinking about what I was saying or doing and—”

Jungwoo decided to cut Jaehyun off, “It’s not your fault. I was just caught up in memories,”

“Good or bad?” Johnny asked.

“Good, of times before the center.”

Ten let out a low whistle at that. “Those are always bittersweet. It reminds you of a time you can never go back to. A time when you had your family and friends and were in your hometown and had no worries. There were no leering eyes, no abuse, no imprisonment. We were free, blissful in our ignorance and innocence.”

Jungwoo looked down at his plate and fiddled with his chopsticks, swallowing back tears. Sicheng gently rubbed Jungwoo’s back and when Jungwoo looked over at the other omega, he saw a tear slowly make its way down Sicheng’s cheek.

Jungwoo wrapped his arms around Sicheng, squeezing tightly, wishing that they could all go back and have the childhood that was taken from them, be able to play with their friends, complete high school. But instead, they were locked up in cells, brainwashed, and isolated from the world. 

Another pair of arms wrapped around Jungwoo and Sicheng, Ten’s scent filling their noses. He, too, was crying. 

“It just sucks so much. I want to see my mom again, my dad, my sister, but I can’t. We don’t know where they are anymore, if they’re even still alive. And even if we did know where they were, would they even love me anymore? I’m so different now, no longer the sweet kid I once was.”

Jungwoo and Sicheng just squeezed tighter in response, Jungwoo thinking of his own family and how they had reacted when he presented:

 Jungwoo had just finished packing his bag, preparing himself for his first day of high school, when he felt the first cramp. The pain sent him doubling over, clutching his stomach, but it had only lasted a few seconds and Jungwoo didn’t think much of it, assuming that it was stress induced. He was about to attend a new school without his best friends for a year. But then again, he could always make new friends, right? Xiaojun seemed to think so at least. Haechan, on the other hand, had said that Jungwoo was going to be a lonely weirdo without them, but then again, Jungwoo was pretty sure that the younger was just jealous that Jungwoo was going to be going to school with “so many cute guys”. On his way to the bathroom, towel thrown over his shoulder, carefully arranged so the scratchy fabric didn't touch his skin, Jungwoo decided that he’d just trust Xiaojun’s judgement and believe in his ability to make new friends.

The next cramp hit when Jungwoo was brushing his teeth and practicing friend pick up lines in his head. He had just come up with the great one of ‘How much does a polar bear weigh? Yeah, I don’t know either. I just really need a friend.’ when pain began to build in his abdomen. His insides twisted and Jungwoo spit out his toothpaste all over the mirror, in complete agony. A few torturous moments later, the pain faded into a dull ache leaving Jungwoo doubled over, hands on knees, wondering what the hell he had ate to make him feel this way. Slowly, Jungwoo stood back up and groaned at the sight of toothpaste dripping down the mirror and collecting on the counter. He had a lot of cleaning up left to do.

Once the bathroom was finally clean, Jungwoo headed back to his room, shifting uncomfortably as his clothes suddenly felt like they were made out of sandpaper. Every brush of his shirt against his skin felt like agony. Jungwoo stripped off his shirt and slid under his covers, grateful for their smoothness. 

A few minutes later another cramp raced through Jungwoo’s body, and then another, and another. Over the next half hour the cramps began to come more often and built in intensity until Jungwoo found himself curled up under all the blankets he could find, moaning in pain. Jungwoo’s organs felt like they were tearing themselves apart and there was nothing he could do to rid his abdomen of the pain. Sweat was beading on his forehead and running into his eyes. He was so hot, but yet so cold at the same time. There was nothing he could do to be comfortable.

Jungwoo, in his naivety, had thought he was sick from stress or from going to the pool earlier that day with his friends, but the minute his mom walked into his room, she smelled the truth.

Now, both of Jungwoo’s parents and his sister were alphas and they prided themselves on this fact, boasted how strong their bloodline was. His dad was always talking about how he married another alpha because omegas were too weak, unable to do anything, only good for reproduction and household chores. 

So, when Jungwoo’s mom smelled her newly presented omega son, it was an understatement to say that she freaked out.

She had instantly called for his dad who took one whiff of Jungwoo before marching over to him and yanking his newly presented son out of his bed. Jungwoo’s cry of pain had been shut up with a sharp slap and he was dropped off at the nearest omega center within the next 15 minutes. 

Needless to say, Jungwoo had no desire to see his parents ever again. But his friends and sister who he had never gotten a chance to say goodbye to, that was another story. Everyday in the center Jungwoo found himself thinking of Xiaojun’s kindness, Mark’s teasing, and Donghyuck’s endless energy. Jungwoo wished he could see them again, but there was no guarantee that they still lived in Seoul or hadn’t presented as omegas themselves. 

 

“Jungwoo, Jungwoo.” Jungwoo looked up at Sicheng who was stroking his hair while quietly saying his name. “Hey buddy,” Sicheng mummered when he saw that Jungwoo was back in the real world and no longer in his head, “Do you want to go back to your room? I think you’ll feel better in the nest.”

Jungwoo nodded silently, that seemed like a great idea.

“Okay, let’s go then,” 

Sicheng tucked Jungwoo into his shoulder and led the younger to the nest, Ten walking on Jungwoo’s other side, muttering soft words of encouragement. Jungwoo loved it. The two other omegas made him feel so safe and protected that he never wanted to leave their sides, wanted to curl up between them for forever and ever. But apparently that wasn’t feasible, so Jungwoo just had to settle with cuddling as much as possible before the other two had to go home. 

Sicheng gently deposited Jungwoo in the nest and then started to stand back up, but a shot of fear ran through Jungwoo at the action. He clutched on even tighter to the older’s shirt, trying to keep him in the nest. “Please don’t leave me,” Jungwoo sobbed.

“Hey, don’t worry.” Sicheng leaned over to gently stroke Jungwoo’s hair, “I was just going to grab us an extra blanket.”

Jungwoo reluctantly released his grip on Sicheng’s shirt, but the other was back within a matter of seconds, blanket in hand.

Soon they were all curled up together, Jungwoo in the middle, completely content, happy to be surrounded by comforting scents and other omegas. Jungwoo felt like he was going to burst with how happy he was and his chest had a strange, but somehow good feeling bubbling out of it. His chest started to rumble and Jungwoo was shocked by the sound that was coming out of it. It’d never happened before. Was something wrong? Did he mess something up in some way? Would he have to go back to see Kun? He really didn’t like Kun.

But his fears were soon appeased by Ten suddenly squeezing him tighter, “Oh my gosh he’s purring Sicheng! It’s so cute!”

Sicheng also had a huge smile on his face and Jungwoo smelled his scent become sweeter and more content before a similar noise came from Sicheng’s chest.

Ten gasped at the sound, “You guys are so cute!” he exclaimed before he too began to purr.

“What is purring?” Jungwoo asked. It was apparently a good thing judging by everyone else's reactions, but he had never heard of it before and had never felt this strange feeling in his chest. It wasn’t a bad strange, it actually felt quite good. Jungwoo hadn’t felt this happy and pleased since before he presented. 

“Purring is your body’s way of showing it’s happy and comfortable. It only happens when an omega really trusts all the people around them, so it’s really special that you’re doing it now. It shows how much you trust Ten and I and even how much you feel safe in this room, even with alphas just down the hall.” 

“Oh, cool I’ve never done it before,”

Sicheng and Ten both had sad smiles on their faces after Jungwoo’s last admission. 

“They don’t give you much reason to be happy in the center,” Sicheng quietly agreed.

“When was the first time you purred, Sicheng?” Ten asked, trying to lift the mood, “Mine was with Taeil. He had just brought me some ice cream and I was so happy that he would do something so nice and caring for me that my chest just started rumbling. I had heard of it before, but had never experienced it myself. My mom and sister would purr all the time at home.”

“Mine was when I was still in China, before I came to Korea. Since there we were allowed to see other omegas we used to cuddle together at night and more often than not we would all end up purring before we fell asleep. In Korea, though, I think this was my first time.”

“I wish it wasn’t like this,” Jungwoo blurted out, “I wish that we could just stay with our families and weren’t considered so different from everyone else, you know?” he started to cry, “I just want to see my sister and friends again. I don’t even know if they’re omegas or alphas or betas because I presented first. One of them could be locked up in a center for all I know.”

Ten wrapped his arms around the taller omega, “I know how you feel, I have no clue where my family is, I have no way to contact them, but we just have to hope for the best and believe that they’re okay and that we’ll see them again, that’s the only way to get through the day. We just have to believe in the good in life, that somehow we’ll be able to find them or the other way around. It’s tough, but it’s what we have to do. Just remember that by surviving and being your own, strong, amazing person you’re proving those in the center wrong. You’re one upping them by just being yourself.”

“Thanks,” Jungwoo said, tears threatening to spill down his cheeks as he buried his head in Ten’s shoulder, focusing on not breaking into tears.

Moments later, Sicheng’s hand was on his back, quietly rubbing comforting circles.

The following silence was encompassing, but rich in love and comfort. Pressed in between Ten and Sicheng, Jungwoo drifted into a comfortable sleep.

 

————————————————————————————

Jaehyun watched the omegas retreat back into Jungwoo’s room, a sense of failure filling his body. “Did I do something wrong?” he wondered out loud.

“Were we too loud? Jungwoo got all spacey after we started teasing each other. He said it wasn’t our fault, but…” Yuta said, running his hand through his hair, face twisted with guilt.

“You guys were fine, don’t overthink it.” Johnny advised from where he was in the kitchen washing the dishes. “There are some things that you can’t control and that was one of them. Jungwoo was just remembering stuff that happened in the past, things that you have no control over. You can’t predict his every thought so don’t blame yourselves for such things and help me with these.” Johnny held up one of the plates he was washing, eyebrows raised as if to say that Jaehyun and Yuta better hurry up and help him out if they valued his friendship. 

“Yeah, but I still wish I could help,” Jaehyun muttered, stacking dirty plates to bring over to Johnny. 

“You are helping,” a hint of exasperation was creeping into Johnny’s voice. “You’re helping by just being a nice, calm alpha who doesn’t abuse their omega.”

“It’ll be okay.” Yuta clapped Jaehyun on the back. “It took forever before Sicheng would talk to me.”

“Ten used to attack me anytime I came near him.”

“Wait—Ten used to attack you? You’re like a foot taller than him!”

“Yeah, he’d leave bruises too the little devil.”

At that Jaehyun and Yuta burst into laughter. The mental image they had of tiny Ten attacking the giant that was Johnny was just too funny.

“Please tell me someone took a video,” Yuta managed to choke out in between laughs.

Johnny gently swatted him on the shoulder with the dish towel. “No one got a video. No one else even knew about this until you.”

“So Taeyong and Taeil don’t know?”

Johnny sighed, “Can we just do the dishes and forget I ever told you two that?”

“So they don’t know!” Yuta cackled dialing Taeyong’s number as fast as he could.

Johnny sighed in defeat, “I’m never going to hear the end of this. And just so you know, you guys have to finish washing these on your own.”

 

Notes:

Sorry for the longish wait. There's just been a lot going on with college apps and kpop and stuff.

But anyways, I hope you all are having fantastic days and please leave a comment!! They're really encouraging and help my motivation a lot!!

Also follow me on Twitter @6_intricate

Chapter 12

Notes:

TRIGGER WARNING FOR ATTEMPTED SUICIDE
if you don't want to read this part it's in between the --------

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

 

The alphas were lounging on the couch, watching a movie, and the omegas were curled up together in Jungwoo’s room when a knock sounded at the door. 

Jaehyun, Johnny, and Yuta looked at each of other, confused. “Who’s at the door?” Yuta asked.

“I have no clue, Jaehyun answered, “Just ignore it. It’s probably someone wanting money or something.”

Yuta shrugged in response and they went back to watching the movie.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door again, much more aggressively this time. “Let us in you dimwits!” 

“Oh, Taeyong and Taeil are here,” Yuta goraned.

Johnny rolled his eyes at the overdramatics of the other two and opened the door for Taeyong and Taeil. 

“My lord, you guys took so long to open the door. Do you even check your phones?” Taeil complained as he walked into the apartment and took an exaggerated whiff. “Jeez it stinks of alpha in here. You three are releasing pheromones like crazy. You really need to calm down. And they say omegas are the emotional ones.”

And with that Taeil was gone, disappearing down the hallway and into Jungwoo’s room. 

All four alphas watched Taeil’s retreating figure, stunned by the impact the small omega had with just a couple of sentences.

Finally Taeyong broke the silence, “So should we start cleaning and descenting this place before Taeil yells at us again?”

“Or we could just finish the movie and then worry about it; there’s no way Taeil is going to get Jungwoo out of there anytime soon,” Jaehyun grumbled sinking into the couch, a little mad about being yelled at about his scent by Taeil, even if he was used to the older’s constant berating.

“You really think Taeil won’t be able to get them out?” Taeyong asked, him and Johnny going through the cabinet looking for the scent spray. “My mate can work miracles. I mean he is the one that managed to talk Ten off the ledge.”

Johnny froze and everyone flinched at Taeyong’s statement. 

“Shit, sorry man I wasn’t thinking. That was such a stupid thing for me to say, I’m such an idiot. I know how much you care about him, Johnny.”

“It’s okay Taeyong. You’re right, Taeil did work miracles that day.”

Everyone was quiet after that, remembering that fateful day two years ago:

——————————-

 

Ten had decided that he’d had enough. Enough with Korea and their stupid omega system. Enough with the fact that he was stuck here forever, owned by someone, never to see his family ever again. Ten’d had enough and he decided that the minute he was able he was going to end it all. 

There was just simply no reason for Ten to live anymore. He knew that he was never going to see his loved ones again and everyone in the center was always telling him that he was just a good for nothing omega, only able to do basic house chores and whatever else his alpha pleased. It was degrading and not a life Ten wanted to live. 

So, quite logically, in Ten’s mind at least, he decided that the minute he was able to, he was going to kill himself in whatever way possible. No alpha would want to pay for the treatment for a suicidal omega, even if he was what the people at the center called “pretty and exotic”. It was a simple fact of the trade that “damaged” omegas were no good and therefore put down. 

Ten decided this a week into his training at the center, right after he had been forced to recite the stupid, awful “rules” of being an omega. Ten hated those things. “An omega will obey, an omega will be quiet, an omega will...blah blah blah.” As awful as those rules were, they were what made Ten come to his realization that his predicament within the system truly was dire. 

His only options were to escape or die, and there was no way to escape, not with his scent a bright red flag that he was an omega.

So Ten started to look for opportunities to end up dead.

However, the center did everything in its power to make sure that didn’t happen. His bowls became plastic, he was denied cutlery, food and water were forced down his throat, he was even put up for sale only a few months into his training—something almost unheard of. 

That’s when Johnny came into the picture. He had seen Ten’s photo on the website and instantly fell in love. He had said that there was something in Ten’s eyes that attracted him, a fight the other omegas didn’t have. Ten had told him to sod off. 

But nevertheless, Ten soon found himself in Johnny’s car being driven to the alpha’s apartment. The ride had been tense, Ten growling the entire time while Johnny tried unsuccessfully to explain to him that he didn’t mean any harm and didn’t like the center any more than Ten did. 

Ten had just continued growling. 

But there was some small part of him that was affected by something Johnny said, because the first thing he did in the apartment was not make a beeline for the balcony, but rather for Johnny’s bed. 

The smell of alpha was incredibly overwhelming to Ten’s nose, but he had battled his need to submit and curl up in a ball just enough to sprawl himself across Johnny’s bed before falling asleep. 

It was the ultimate power move. Ten had walked into the apartment and stolen Johnny’s space, his very bed. And Johnny found it adorable.

Any other alpha would’ve been pissed, would’ve beat Ten up for disrespecting them, but Johnny was friends with Taeil, the very definition of an unconventional omega. So instead of exploding, Johnny called up Taeyong and Taeil and told them everything that had happened. The pair was over the next day before Ten was even awake yet, Taeil praising the unconscious omega for his bravery and promising his services to the other whenever they were needed. 

However, when Ten woke up, Taeil was the first to be knocked off the bed by the omega who lashed out at the first face he saw. 

“Leave me alone,” Ten growled, but then stopped his glaing when he finally caught whiff of omega through the cloying scent of alpha that surrounded him, “Wait, you’re an omega?”

“Yeah stupid, maybe you should wait a second before you hit someone,” Taeil said climbing back onto the bed.

Ten rolled his eyes and then turned over and curled up on the bed. “Great now leave me alone?”

“W-what?” Taeil sputtered.

“You heard me. I don’t want you in here. Leave.”

“Okay. Fine. I just wanted to help, but be like that I guess.” Taeil walked out of the room, mad that Ten just kicked him out. Who even did that? He was just trying to help, make Ten feel better, but if the other omega didn’t want it then fine. He would just leave. 

As soon as Taeil was gone, Ten began to sob into one of Johnny’s pillows. He really wanted, needed a friend, but he wasn’t much longer for this world and it wouldn't be fair to Taeil if he befriended the other just to kill himself. This was much better, cleaner. This way no one would feel guilty or blame themselves and Ten could be in a better place with his grandma and wait with her for the rest of their family. 

It took another couple of days before Ten put his plan into play. 

In those days Ten collected information and tried to annoy Johnny as much as possible. The first part of his plan was successful and Ten was able to find the stairs to the roof of the apartment building, but the latter was not. Johnny was just impossible to annoy. No matter how much Ten invaded his space, refused to talk to him or leave his room, Johnny would just smile sadly and tell Ten that he was welcome to anything at any time. It was frustrating. Johnny was a huge, strong alpha, towering over most people, but had the gentlest soul. It was almost enough to make Ten reconsider his plans. Almost.

However, two weeks after he had gone home with Johnny the perfect opportunity came up. An opportunity that Ten just couldn’t miss: Johnny left him home alone. 

It was only going to be for 20 minutes while Johnny went to pick up Taeil from somewhere for something—Ten didn’t really listen to the details. All he heard was that he was going to be alone for 20 minutes, plenty of time for him to throw himself off the roof. 

The minute Johnny left, Ten started to get ready. He grabbed a piece of paper and scratched a quick note on it: Sorry, it’s nothing you’ve done, I just want to be with my family -Ten

After that was done, Ten grabbed the extra set of keys that Johnny kept in one of the kitchen drawers and headed up to the roof. 

Once standing on the edge, Ten looked down at the drop below him, ready to step off of it and end his life. Ten hated being an omega in a country that saw his sub gender as useless and only good for basic housework and sex. He hated the fact that after his time at the center he instinctively flinched whenever an alpha came near him, expecting to be hit. He hated that he now had an intrinsic fear of Yuta because the alpha had invaded his space and hugged him, the contact sending Ten into a panic attack. He hated the fact that he could no longer see the good in the world, no longer had his family, no longer had something to live for. Ten hated everything about his life and wanted to start anew. 

“No, Ten, wait!” a voice shouted, making Ten pause, stopping him from taking his final step.

It was Taeil, out of breath from sprinting up so many flights of stairs. 

“Come any closer and I’m going to jump,” Ten said, causing Taeil to halt his slow procession.

“Okay, but hear me out,” Taeil said, holding his hands out in a sign that he meant no harm. “I know you want to see your family again and that may not be possible, but what if it is? What if you do get to see them again? Wouldn’t they be disappointed to hear that you commited suicide? And what about Johnny? Don’t you think he’s going to be devastated? I know you hate alphas, but he really cares about you even though it’s only been two weeks. And then there’s Taeyong and Kun and Yuta. You may not like them, but they all like you and would be in tears if you died. And what about me? I’m standing right here. If you jump I’m going to have to watch you die. You may not like me at all, but we’re both omegas and I feel a sort of kinship with you. I just can’t imagine how much you dying would hurt.” Taeil’s voice cracked and Ten turned around to see tears streaming down the other’s face.

Suddenly, arms were wrapping themselves around Ten’s waist and he was dragged away from the edge. It was in that moment that he realized that Taeil was the distraction while Johnny got close enough to bring him back to safety. 

“I hate you!” Ten screamed, “I hate both of you. I just wanted to die and you couldn’t even let me do that!”

Taeil and Johnny just looked down at him with tears in their eyes. “One day, you’ll thank us,” Taeil muttered, eyes rimmed red with tears.

 

It had taken a couple of days in a room in Kun’s hospital, a month of being constantly monitored, and a year of counseling, but in the end, Ten did eventually thank both Taeil and Johnny for saving his life that day on the roof.

——————————————————-





Taeil knocked on Jungwoo’s door and entered slowly, his heart melting at the sight in front of him. Sicheng, Ten, and Jungwoo were all curled up together in Jungwoo’s nest, sleeping peacefully. Taeil couldn’t help himself but take a picture of the sweet sight. 

At the soft sound of the door opening and closing, Sicheng sleepily opened his eyes and upon spotting Taeil, nudged the other two awake. Ten was fully awake in a couple of seconds and beckoned for Taeil to join them in their cuddle pile. 

Taeil carefully situated himself next to Ten and watched as Jungwoo curled farther into Sicheng’s side, whining when Ten tried to nudge him awake again. Sicheng just wrapped his arms around Jungwoo and whispered into his ear, “It’s time to wake up, Taeil is here.”

Jungwoo whined again, but sluggishly blinked his eyes open and smiled at Taeil. “Hi Taeil,” he mumbled.

Taeil’s heart melted at the sight. Jungwoo was just so cute, he could understand why Sicheng never wanted to leave his side. The younger omega even brought out Taeil’s motherly instincts and Taeil’d had a lifetime of trying to suppress his omega nature. 

“So what brought you here, Taeil?” Ten asked, leaning against Taeil’s shoulder and tilting his head back, asking for his hair to be pet.

“Jaehyun and Yuta keep calling me in panic asking for advice, so I figured I might as well see what is going on for myself.”

“They want us out of this room, right? But we really were just out, we all ate lunch together.” Sicheng asked, adjusting Jungwoo’s position on his lap so they were more comfortable. 

“I don’t know what they want,” Taeil shrugged, “It’s not like I stopped to ask them. But what I do know is that you two can’t stay over at Jaehyun’s and Jungwoo’s house forever. I don’t think Johnny and Yuta will leave you here alone, and all of the alphas have work to go to.”

Ten nodded at Taeil’s words. “Three alphas and three omegas all in an apartment for two is a lot, especially since alphas like their personal space.”

“You’re going to leave me here all alone?” Jungwoo cried out, clutching on desperately to Sicheng desperation etched into his face. 

“No, no, it’s okay Jungwoo, I’m not going to leave you here alone.” Sicheng said clutching Jungwoo tighter to his chest. He started to stroke Jungwoo’s hair comfortingly and glared at Taeil, making it clear that he did not appreciate the very idea of him having to leave Jungwoo.

Taeil and Ten glanced at each other, exchanging looks of exasperation.  

“I got them out of the room, it’s your job to get Sicheng to leave the apartment,” Ten whispered to Taeil who sighed heavily in response.

“Jeez, this is going to be hard.” Taeil ran a hand through his hair, “Well, I’m going to let Taeyong know we might be here for a while.”

Taeil turned around to exit the room, but was stopped by another cry for Jungwoo. “You’re leaving? Do you not like my nest? You didn’t even lay down in it. Do you not like me? Did I do something wrong?”

Taeil’s heart tugged at the sight of Jungwoo, tears welling up in his eyes. “No, Jungwoo it’s okay, your nest is lovely, absolutely spectacular.” Taeil stepped into Jungwoo’s nest and wrapped Jungwoo in a hug. The younger instantly latched onto him.

“Really? You like it?” 

“Of course Jungwoo.”

“So you’ll stay here? With me and Ten and Sicheng?”

“Yeah, I’m going to stay here.”

Jungwoo hummed happily in response and wedged himself between the three other omegas. Taeil couldn’t help but smile at the warmth and comfort radiating off of everyone in the nest. He understood why Sicheng didn’t want to leave. 

Well, a couple more minutes with the others wouldn’t hurt anyone. Taeil thought and before he knew it he was asleep. 

 

“I told you they weren’t coming out any time soon,” Yuta mumbled as the movie they were watching came to an end.

“What do you think they’re doing in there that’s taking so long?” Jaehyun asked glancing towards the hallway.

“Probably cuddling and sleeping,” Johnny answered, standing up to stretch. He paused halfway through the action, sniffing the air. “You know, Taeil is right, it really does stink of alpha pheromones in here.”

“Are you saying we smell?” Yuta asked.

“Yes, we do.” Johnny answered, grabbing a bottle of scent neutralizers from the cabinet.

Yuta grumbled something about descenting the apartment being pointless as Taeyong and Johnny began to spray any and everything with the spray.

“When do you guys have to go back to work?” Taeyong asked, settling back onto the couch, finished with his quest.

“Today is Sunday, so I have a couple more days off before I have to go back.” Jaehyun answered, “I got a week and a half off of work.”

“Good for you,” grumbled Yuta, “I have to go back tomorrow. We have an important project we’re working on, hence the dinner Friday night.”

“So when do you plan on going back to your house then?” Taeyong asked.

“Well, tonight hopefully. I’m sorry Jaehyun, but staying over at your house for so long is kind of making me restless and I would feel so much better if I could prepare for work with both Sicheng and I at our own house.”

Jaehyun nodded, “I get you man, I love you all, but I seriously need my house to myself.”

“Okay, so I tell Taeil it’s our goal to have everyone out by tonight?” 

They all nodded in conformation and Taeyong texted the message to Taeil. 

“So now we just wait and hope for the best.”

 

Taeil was jolted out of his sleep by the buzzing of his phone. He glanced at the illuminated screen and noted the text from Taeil telling him to try and get everyone to leave before the day was over.

Taeil started to rub Jungwoo’s back. “Come on sleepyheads, let’s get up.”

Jungwoo groaned and stretched out his arms, jostling Sicheng and Ten awake in the process. 

“Can I just sleep all day? I like sleeping,” Jungwoo muttered, curling up around Sicheng’s arm.

Before Taeil could try and think of a reply that would get Jungwoo awake, Sicheng was running his hand through Jungwoo’s hair. “You’ve been sleeping for a really long time, buddy. Too much sleep isn’t good for you, and we want you to be as healthy as possible.

Jungwoo grumbled, but sat up and cracked open his eyes. “What are we doing?” he asked.

“Eating,” Ten answered. “It’s already noon which means that we slept through dinner last night and breakfast this morning. Aren’t you two hungry?”

Sicheng’s face slackened into an expression of shock at the news and he quickly turned around to check the clock on the wall. “It’s noon already?”

Jungwoo, on the other hand, wasn’t phased. “I don’t really want to eat. I just want to stay here. I’ve gone longer without food.” he grabbed onto Sicheng’s arm as if the other omega was going to protect him from having to leave the room and eat lunch.

“Jungwoo, you have to eat.” Sicheng scolded the younger. “You need the nutrients that are in the food in order to stay alive, yeah?”

“Yeah, but we could also stay here and sleep.” Jungwoo sat down, still grabbing onto Sicheng's arm, causing the older to lean to the side to support Jungwoo’s weight. Sicheng looked helplessly at Ten and Taeil before submitting to Jungwoo’s demands and curling up with the younger once more.

Taeil sighed at the sight. “Jungwoo, do you want to know why you’re so tired? It’s because you haven’t eaten anything in a day and your body needs to conserve its energy. Basically you’re so tired because your body is shutting down in order to survive.”

Sicheng looked up sharply at Taeil’s words. “Really? That’s the reason he’s always so tired? Because he didn’t get enough food at the center and still isn’t getting enough?”

“Yes,” Taeil said, exasperation creeping into his voice. “That’s what I’ve been saying this whole time. Jungwoo is malnourished and needs to eat.”

“You know if you don’t eat, Jungwoo, Kun has to come back.” Ten stated, a small smile creeping onto his face as he said the words that would doubtlessly work against the other.

Just as Ten suspected, Jungwoo’s hatred for the doctor exceeded his unwillingness to leave his room and the younger was quickly on his feet and heading out the door, assuring Ten that a visit from Kun was not necessary in any way, shape, or form. 

As Jungwoo and Sicheng were heading out into the hallway, Taeil and Ten exchanged a look of frustration, both clearly starting to understand the ramifications of trying to get Sicheng to leave by nighttime. 

“Well, I mean we do have like 8 hours to get everyone to leave.” Ten said before following Jungwoo and Sicheng into the kitchen with Taeil trailing close behind, trying desperately to come up with a plan to get Sicheng to leave willingly. 

Taeil was broken out of his deep thought by Ten nudging him in the side and pointing to Jaehyun and Yuta who were sitting on the couch, jaws agape, starting at Jungwoo and Sicheng in pure shock. Taeil was just about ready to laugh at the two foolish alphas when Jungwoo suddenly ducked behind Sicheng, buried his face in the older’s neck and started to tug Sicheng back to his room.

Luckily, Taeyong noticed the movement and was there before Taeil even had time to react. “Hey Sicheng, Jungwoo, I heard that you guys haven’t eaten anything since lunch? I’m sure you’re absolutely starving. But I have some leftover tteokbokki in the fridge that I can heat up for you. Why don’t you go sit down and I’ll go grab it?”

Jungwoo and Sicheng looked uncertain at first, but eventually started to move in the direction of the table. 

Taeyong sent Taeil a triumphant smile before heading to the kitchen to heat up the food. God, Taeil loved his mate. Taeyong had down everything perfectly: descented the room, stayed out of their personal space, had his hands open and to his sides, posture relaxed and inviting and it had paid off. They had finally managed to get Sicheng and Jungwoo out of the room and were one step closer to getting Sicheng home. 

But in order to get Sicheng to leave, Taeil had to talk to some alphas first. 

Taeil made his way over the couch where Johnny, Jaehyun, and Yuta sat.

Halfway there he was stopped by the voice of his mate: “Ten, I seem to recall that you haven't eaten either, let Taeil talk to them, you should have lunch first.” Taeyong said.

Taeil turned around to see Ten frozen behind him, looking like he had been caught red handed. “Ten, what are you doing?” Taeil demanded, surprised that the other had followed him. “Go eat. Plus you don’t even like Yuta,” Taeil scolded.

Ten frowned at his words, but slowly turned around and slunk back to the table where Jungwoo latched onto his arm and said something into Ten’s ear that made him relax and sit down. 

Happy that the Ten situation was taken care of, Taeil turned back to his task of talking to two very stupid alphas. 

He pulled up a chair to the couch where Johnny, Jaehyun, and Yuta were sitting. “What on earth have you guys been doing? You two really suck at this.”

“Us two? What about Johnny?” Yuta complained.

Taeil sighed and gestured towards Johnny who was currently not paying attention to anyone else but Ten, a worried look on his face as he watched the other eat. “Johnny is a lovesick idiot who should just man up and go sit next to Ten.”

Johnny glanced back towards Taeil and smiled sheepishly before going to the table and sitting on the other side of Ten, his presence causing Jungwoo to shift slightly towards Sicheng, but not otherwise affecting the omegas.

“Why isn’t Jungwoo terrified of Johnny?” Jaehyun complained as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. 

“Because Johnny is calm, Ten trusts him, and he’s not Jungwoo’s alpha.”

Jaehyun pouted at Taeil’s words, “But I’ve been trying so hard,” he whined.

“My lord,” Taeil rolled his eyes, “Thanks for reminding me why I didn’t want to come over. Dealing with whiny alphas is so exhausting. The things I sacrifice for the greater good.”

Yuta groaned and slumped further down on the couch. “Can you please just tell us the plan so that I can go home tonight?”

“Fine,” Taeil sat forward on his chair. “So basically all you two have to do is be on your best behavior—no loud noises, no sudden movements, nothing that could even have the possibility of frightening Jungwoo. Ten, Taeyong, and I are going to make sure that Sicheng and Jungwoo don’t go back to Jungwoo’s room so that Jungwoo can get used to hanging around alphas and won’t protest as much when it’s time for everyone to go home. Now, I’m going to go eat because I’m hungry.”

And with that, Taeil left the two alphas sitting on the couch as he went and joined everyone else at the table. 




Notes:

Yesterday I checked my work on my math final for the first time this year and found three mistakes...always chec your work kids, don't forget +C, 3+2=5, and cos(pi)=-1 not 0

In other new, I got a Twitter! (I really hope that link works)

Chapter 13

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Lunch went well with Jaehyun and Yuta staying on the couch so as to not disturb the omegas who desperately needed to eat before they even thought about playing games and getting Jungwoo comfortable enough for Sicheng to leave.

Once everyone was done eating, Johnny and Taeyong collected the plates while Taeil distracted Jungwoo and Sicheng by pulling out a pack of Uno cards and explaining the rules to the Chinese omega who apparently hadn’t had a childhood and didn’t know how to play Uno. 

Soon, the dishes were done and everyone was sitting around the table, Ten and Sicheng on either side of Jungwoo and Taeil on the other side of Sicheng, so that there was no worry of Jungwoo or Sicheng having to give or receive any unfavorable cards from the alphas. This was meant to be a fun game—not a stressful one. Taeil had learned that a buffer was needed after Ten had purposely lost a game of Uno to Johnny shortly after he had arrived, two +4 cards in his hand. 

The game started and Jungwoo played his cards without problem, smiling wildly when he laid down a +2 card, forcing Ten to draw.

“Aw, man,” Ten whined. “I was doing so well.”

“That’s too bad, now draw.”

As it turned out Jungwoo was ruthless, not sparing a soul, including poor Sicheng who was just collecting cards left and right, claiming that he wanted to save all of his good ones until the end. Taeil was pretty sure that Sicheng just didn’t want to make Jungwoo sad because when Johnny switched the direction to give Ten a break from Jungwoo, Sicheng had no qualms about using his +4 on him.

Taeyong ended up winning the first round with a perfectly placed wild card as his last one, making everyone sigh. They had just changed the color to ensure that Taeyong wouldn’t win, but with a card like that, all of their efforts had gone in vain.

The second round of the game was going as well as the first until Sicheng changed the color to red and Jaehyun loudly complained. “Dang it, I have no reds, why’d you have to change it?”

Sicheng froze at the words, body going stiff. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” he muttered.

Jaehyun’s eyes went wide as he realized what he had just done and Yuta hit him on the shoulder. “Oh, uh, I didn’t mean it like that. I actually mean to say that I love the color red and that I was waiting for someone to change it to that color.”

Taeil facepalmed and Sicheng somehow managed to sink even further into himself, gripping tightly onto Jungwoo’s hand and refused to change the color after that.

At least Jungwoo was too focused on the game and had been having a side argument with Ten over the rules at the time of the incident and hadn’t overheard Jaehyun’s insensitive words. They really didn’t need Jungwoo freaking out because that would just spell disaster and send them back into the room for sure. 

The second round continued to progress with Sicheng holding on tightly to Jungwoo’s hand, but luckily not saying anything when the younger changed to color. Jaehyun, too, was blissfully silent. But that may have been due to the fact that he only had one card left and shortly after won the game.

Yuta dealt out the cards once more and the third round started. The beginning was a flurry of +2’s and +4’s as Yuta apparently sucked at shuffling and poor Johnny was stuck drawing card after card until he finally landed on a yellow, almost 20 cards held in his hand at that point.

Through it all, Jungwoo seemed to have the best luck and slowly the cards in his hand began to dwindle until he only had one left. He was just about to set down his last card when Sicheng grabbed his hand and whispered something into Jungwoo’s ear that made the younger deflate and draw another card, looking incredibly guilty.

Taeil wanted to curse. Jungwoo was so close to mindlessly winning and realizing that the alphas wouldn’t care and instead congratulate him, but of course Sicheng had to ruin it, still feeling guilty after Jaehyun’s comment about the card color. 

After that, Jungwoo didn’t change the color again and drew what was probably an excessive amount of cards.

Johnny won that round and Taeil decided that they should play Monopoly next to get away from the disaster that was Uno.

“Okay guys, let’s play Monopoly next and have teams of two since there’s so many people here and otherwise it would take forever. Me and Jungwoo will be a team, and then Ten and Sicheng, Jaehyun and Johnny, and Yuta and Taeyong. Taeyong can also be banker because I’m pretty sure he’s the only one we all trust.”

Everyone nodded their agreement and started switching chairs so that they could sit next to their partner. As Taeil sat next to Jungwoo, he couldn’t help but smile at his own genius. The teams were perfectly designed to make him and Jungwoo win. Ten and Sicheng sucked at the game, Jungwoo would have no problem swaying Jaehyun into a trade, and Taeil was the master at manipulating Taeyong. They had this in the bag.

A couple of minutes in, it became clear to Taeil that he maybe had his work cut out for him more so than he had previously thought. They had just landed on their first property and Jungwoo didn’t want to buy. 

Everyone knew that if you wanted to win Monopoly you had to buy every property you landed on—especially in the beginning when you had a ton of money and everything was up for grabs. But apparently Jungwoo hadn’t gotten the memo because he absolutely refused to buy Oriental Avenue for $100. 

“Come on, Jungwoo. We have to buy it, plus the game just started so we have plenty of money,” Taeil pleaded to no avail.

Jungwoo just glanced over at the two teams of alphas and vehemently shook his head in response.

“Jungwoo, buy the property, no one will be mad. It’s just a game,” Johnny reasoned.

Jungwoo bit his lip in indecision, unsure if Johnny really meant what he was saying. 

“If you don’t buy the property you’re basically forfeiting the game and we all wanted to play with you so badly.” Taeyong chimed in.

That did it. “You can buy it,” muttered Jungwoo and Taeil sighed in relief. God bless Taeyong. His mate really was a life saver. 

The next couple of turns, Jungwoo just watched quietly as everyone else played, but didn’t make any more objections to Taeil buying properties. 

Jungwoo’s spell of silence was suddenly broken when they landed on the Electric Company. “We’ll take it!” he exclaimed loudly, surprising everyone at the table. “Oh,” Jungwoo’s voice dropped several volume levels. “I mean we would like to purchase the electric company please.” 

“Of course,” Taeyong said, handing Jungwoo the card without skipping a beat, a large, genuine smile plastered on his face.

After that, Jungwoo slowly came out of his shell, slowly taking over for Taeil, interacting with everyone more.

When they pulled a get out of jail free card, Jungwoo struggled to hide his smile as he added the item to their already growing stack of cards. Two turns later, when they landed on the dreaded spot, Jungwoo refused to use the card that they had just gotten, whispering to Taeil that jail was actually a great place to be because you got to collect on rent without having to pay any yourself. Plus, the get out of jail free card was perfect for negotiating with other, more impatient players such as Ten and Sicheng who exchanged their Vermont Ave. for said card, giving Jungwoo and Taeil the first monopoly of the game. 

It was fun to watch Jungwoo getting consumed by his competitive nature and becoming more and more involved in the game. It was as if he was a totally different person. The once shy omega was becoming a stern business conglomerate. 

“Hmm,” Jungwoo stared down at the board. “Jaehyun, I’ll give you Baltic Ave for your water works.”

“Um, is that even fair?” Jaehyun looked very confused at the offer, studying the cards in his hands.

“Of course it’s fair. If I give you Balitc Ave then that completes your monopoly of the properties on that strip and you can start building houses which then bring in more revenue.”

“Oh, well okay, in that case we have a deal.”

Jungwoo and Jaehyun traded cards, Jungwoo looking at Taeil in triumph. 

In truth, Taeil had no clue how Jungwoo managed to make Baltic Ave sound so lucrative. It was one of the cheapest properties on the board. And for water works? He and Jungwoo now had a monopoly on the utilities, making them ten times more expensive. Jaehyun really was an idiot.  

But then again, no one was going to point out Jaehyun’s monetary error to him when Jungwoo was smiling like he had just won the lottery, trying and failing to look chill about his huge win. 

Needless to say, Jaehyun and Johnny were the first team out and everyone else followed closely behind.

Granted, it was incredibly hard to win when Jungwoo and Taeil had a monopoly on the utilities, railroads, and three separate rows of properties with hotels on each of them. No one could resist Jungwoo’s puppy eyes and the younger somehow managed to get the best deals and incredible trades on everything.

Taeyong even gave up the Reading Railroad for States Ave, the fool. His only excuse was that Jungwoo had looked so sad when he said “no” at first.

With Jungwoo playing, the game only took two hours and afterwards, no one was even remotely sad about losing because Jungwoo had hugged Taeil in excitement when Taeyong was finally forced to declare bankruptcy.

“I haven’t played Monopoly in so long. I didn’t think I still had it in me!”

“Well, to celebrate do you want some cookies?” Taeyong asked, pulling a tin out of nowhere.

Jungwoo’s smile got impossible bigger as he was handed a chocolate chip cookie.

“Jungwoo, great job! You did amazing!” Jaehyun said, holding up his hand for a high five that Jungwoo gently returned, looking only slightly spooked at the action.

Jaehyun, on the other hand, seemed to be on cloud 9 the minute Jungwoo’s hand touched his. “He high-fived me,” said alpha mouthed to Taeyong after the action occurred.

“Wait, you guys aren’t mad that Jungwoo and Taeil won?” Sicheng asked, baffled by the alphas easy going reactions to being beaten by a pair of omegas. It went up against the things he was taught. Alphas were supposed to be fiercely competitive and unyielding. An omega should never win against an alpha in order to not make them angry.

“Why would we be mad?” Johnny asked, “Those two won fair and square.” 

“Plus, we basically just accepted defeat the minute we went up against Taeil and apparently Jungwoo too. They both played really well.” Taeyong added, smiling brightly at Sicheng.

“Oh, I guess I just thought…” Sicheng trailed off, unsure how to say that he thought that everyone would be mad when they lost.

“It’s okay, Sicheng, I was terrified the first time I won rock paper scissors against Johnny.” Ten whispered conspiratorially to the younger. “Can you imagine that? Being afraid of Johnny? He’s like the chillest alpha ever.”

Sicheng snorted with laughter, then covered his mouth in shock. Yuta started laughing at the look on Sicheng’s face and soon everyone was joining in. Even Jungwoo cracked a small smile at the ridiculousness that was occurring. 

The entire time that Sicheng had been questioning their winning, Jungwoo had gripped Taeil’s hand tightly, clearing paying attention to the words that were being spoken, but still nibbling at his cookie. When all of the laughter started Jungwoo relaxed, shoulders visibly drooping and his death grip on Taeil’s hand released. Now, he was looking at everyone, a relaxed expression adorning his face as he still slowly ate his cookie.

Once all the laughter died down, Yuta stretched dramatically and looked at his watch. “Well, it’s getting late and I have work tomorrow, so I think Sicheng and I are going to head out.”

“Yeah, Ten and I too,” Johnny chimed in.

Sicheng suddenly looked like a deer caught in headlights, looking from Yuta to Jungwoo, Yuta to Jungwoo, back and forth. “Do I have to go?” he asked, “I can just stay here with Jungwoo.”

“I think that it’s best if you go home for the night, Sicheng. Yuta has to work tomorrow and would rather get ready for that at his own house and I bet Jaehyun wants his house to himself so that he can have time to bond with Jungwoo. Plus, you can see Jungwoo tomorrow. I’m sure Yuta will drop you off here on his way to work,” Taeil explained, trying to reason with Sicheng.

Sicheng, luckily, did look conflicted at Taeil’s words, worrying his lip between his teeth. 

Finally, he turned to Jungwoo. “Will you be okay if it’s just you and Jaehyun?”

There was a pause as Jungwoo considered what he wanted to do. On one hand, he really would like the company of Sicheng, have an extra wall between him and the alphas. On the other hand, what Taeil was saying really did make sense and he would have to be alone with Jaehyun eventually. Plus, Jaehyun didn't seem too bad and the two of them had been alone in the apartment before and that hadn’t been completely awful.

“You can leave. I’ll be fine with just Jaehyun.”

Taeil audibly sighed in relief. Thank god Sicheng and everyone were finally going home. Jungwoo wasn’t going to actually get anywhere if he had another omega by his side, constantly enabling his fear of alphas.  

Sicheng, however, looked sad. “You sure you’re going to be okay without me? Just you and an alpha?”

“Yeah, because Jaehyun is so frightening” Ten butted in before Jungwoo could change his mind. “That man is like a puppy who doesn’t realize how big it is. The biggest thing to fear with Jaehyun is his clumsiness.”

Yuta and Taeil started to laugh and everyone, Jaehyun included, joined in.

“I’ve only dropped like three things in your presence, why must you judge me like this?” Jaehyun whined goodnaturedly. This time even Jungwoo cracked a smile.

Eventually, everyone gathered their bags and items strewn around the apartment and headed to the door. 

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Sicheng asked as he embraced Jungwoo.

“He’ll be fine. You’re literally seeing him in like 14 hours.” Ten groaned as he wrapped his arms around Jungwoo. 

“I’ll call you if something goes wrong,” Jungwoo said.

“I promise he’s in good hands,” Jaehyun remarked from where he stood several feet away, saying goodbye to the alphas. 

“Okay…” Sicheng reluctantly broke away from Jungwoo and followed Taeil out the door. 

“Bye everyone!” Jaehyun cheerily shouted before closing the door. 

They had all finally left, leaving him alone with Jungwoo, and quite honestly, Jaehyun had no clue what he wanted to do. Maybe play some more games?

Jaehyun was broken out of his thoughts by the sound of Jungwoo’s quiet voice. “I’m sorry,” the smaller whispered before running to his room and closing the door. 




Notes:

It's finally just Jungwoo and Jaehyun in the apartment!!!

Also, pls give me a reason not to drop math,,,it's rlly tempting rn

Leave a comment and follow me on Twitter!

Have a great week!!

Chapter 14

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

Once inside his room, Jungwoo sank down, burying his face in his hands. Jaehyun was going to be so mad at him, Taeil so disappointed, Sicheng so worried. 

But Jungwoo hadn’t wanted to cause anymore trouble, hadn’t wanted to make Yuta and Sicheng stay over yet another day. So he had lied, made it seem as if he’d be okay if it was just him and Jaehyun. And truly he had convinced himself that it would be okay if it was just him and the alpha alone in the apartment, but the minute everyone was gone and it was just him and Jaehyun, Jungwoo realized how wrong he was. 

Everyone said that there was no reason to be afraid of Jaehyun, that he was a big softy on the inside, but Jungwoo disagreed. Jaehyun was an alpha. Alphas were always scary. Jaehyun’s biceps were huge, large enough to hold Jungwoo in a grip that he couldn’t free himself from. They were big enough to hit hard, leave bruises, render Jungwoo helpless. 

As soon as Sicheng and the other omegas had left, Jungwoo had been overcome with pure terror. It was just him and Jaehyun. Just a skinny omega and a buff alpha without any barriers between them. There was no one to protect Jungwoo, no one to keep Jaehyun in check.

So Jungwoo had done the only reasonable thing: he bolted, returned to his nest, the safest place in the house, only whispering a soft “I’m sorry” before he ran away.

It was a rude thing to do, something that would undoubtedly make Jaehyun mad, but it was all that Jungwoo could think of in the moment. His brain perceived danger so he bolted. 

However, now Jungwoo found himself curled up on the floor of his room, shaking with the knowledge of what he had just done. Jaehyun was going to hate him, going to burst into his room at any second, demand that Jungwoo should leave. Jaehyun was going to drag Jungwoo out by his hair, scream at him, berate him for being a terrible omega. Jaehyun was going to hate him, drop his nice facade and show his true alpha colors. And everything that was going to happen next was all Jungwoo’s fault.

If Jungwoo hadn’t lied to everyone, hadn’t said that he was going to be okay on his own, they wouldn't be in this situation. 

So Jungwoo just curled up in a ball on the floor of his room, entire body shaking, waiting for the repercussions of his actions.

 

A knock sounded on the door. Jungwoo’s blood ran cold.

“Hey, Jungwoo, are you okay? I think that we should talk this out if that’s alright?”

Jungwoo didn’t respond. He knew it was a trap, a ploy by Jaehyun to get him out of the room, out of his nest. The minute Jungwoo opened the door, Jaehyun would take it as an invitation to invade, to take over the small, safe space that Jungwoo could call his own. 

“Jungwoo? Can you hear me? Is everything okay? Did I do something wrong? I’m really sorry if that’s the case, I’m such a fool, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Jungwoo still didn’t answer. Jaehyun was lying. There was no way an alpha didn’t know when they scared an omega. Alphas were always trying to scare omegas. That was the whole purpose of the centers, the whole way his parents behaved towards omegas. Jaehyun could not be that clueless, he was lying, trying to gain Jungwoo’s trust so he could take advantage of him.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to come in, but I’ll be right outside the door if you need me, okay? If you want to watch a movie or something we can do that too. Or play another game? You seemed to really like Monopoly and I have lots of games that we can play. If you’d like to I mean? Uh, I’m going to stop talking now before I make an even greater fool out of myself. But I’ll be just right outside, yeah?”

At those words, Jungwoo lifted up his head slightly to look at the door. Jaehyun sounded...nervous, an emotion that alphas weren’t supposed to feel around omegas. It was actually kind of comforting to hear an alpha second-guessing themselves, not sure what they should do. It made Jaehyun seem slightly less intimidating, slightly less scary. 

In fact, it was comforting enough that Jungwoo got up to properly lay in his nest rather than curled up on the floor right by the door. Maybe Jungwoo was going to be okay for now. 

“Oh, I have an idea! I’ll play some music. Um, give me a sec, I gotta find my favorite song.”

Jungwoo expected rap or heavy metal or something to come out of the speaker that he could see form under the crack in the door, but instead slow r&b flowed into his room.The slow rhythm and soft words of the song were actually quite calming and Jungwoo slowly drifted off into a soft sleep.

 

—————————————————————————-

Jaehyun’s heart plummeted into his stomach when he watched Jungwoo run back into his room, scent terrified. He had been naive to think that Jungwoo was warming up to him, was beginning to tolerate his company. Jaehyun had thought things were going so well, but that had all shattered the minute Jungwoo took off running.

Jaehyun realized that Jungwoo was just pretending to be okay, pretending that he’d be fine on his own, because that was clearly what everyone wanted. 

Taeil had made it no secret that it would be best if everyone returned to their respective homes for the night, and Yuta had whined to Sicheng endlessly about how much he wanted to leave. However, it apparently hadn’t been something Jungwoo wanted or was comfortable with—not that he’d told anyone. Jungwoo just wanted to please everyone, never standing up for himself. 

Unless, of course, it came to Jaehyun. If Jaehyun was involved, then Jungwoo would run as fast as possible in the other direction.

 

Jaehyun walked to the door of Jungwoo’s room, wincing at the sharp scent of fear that permeated the hallway. 

Jaehyun rapped against the door two times, the vibration against the wood sounding impossibly loud. The scent of fear increased ever so slightly.

“Hey, Jungwoo, are you okay? I think that we should talk this out if that’s alright?” Jaehyun asked, wincing at how desperate and awkward he sounded. There was no way Jungwoo was going to want to talk anything out, he had just run away from Jaehyun for heaven’s sake.

Jaehyun tried again, this time asking what he had done wrong, stumbling over his words as he spoke. Unsurprisingly, there was no response yet again. Jaehyun really was a fool, but he tried to speak to Jungwoo yet again, this time droning on like a fool. Why couldn’t he seem to do anything right?

After a couple minutes more of silence, Jaehyun decided to play some music. Jungwoo would like that right? Music always helped him to calm down so maybe it would do the same for Jungwoo? Jaehyun really didn’t know; however, there was no way that he could possibly make this situation any worse so he turned on his favorite song and hoped that it would help Jungwoo relax.

A minute passed and Jaehyun realized the scent was nowhere near as strong anymore. Had he actually done something right for once?

Well, if Jungwoo liked r&b, Jaehyun figured he might as well capitalize on it. Jaehyun then spent the next 30 minutes sitting on the tile outside of Jungwoo’s room trying to make the best playlist he could, full of the best relaxing songs. When Jaehyun was finally done he had a 100 song playlist full of songs who’s bpm was strictly under 90. According to Google the best songs for relaxation had bpm’s of 60-80 and Jaehyun wasn’t going to risk going much over that range. 

As time progressed and Jaehyun’s playlist got bigger and bigger, the scent of fear slowly faded from the hallway. Jaehyun was pretty sure that it was because Jungwoo was asleep, but honestly, at this point he was just taking what he got.

And to be fair, his playlist was really quite calming. Google definitely knew what it was talking about when it said that a bpm of 60-80 would sync with your heartbeat and make it slow down. Even Jaehyun could feel his eyelids growing heavier and heavier with every passing song despite the fact that he was sitting on cold tile flooring leaning up against the hard wood of Jungwoo’s door. But that didn’t seem to matter to Jaehyun’s tired body as he struggled to keep his eyes open as Alicia Keys’s voice sounded through his speaker.

 

Jaehyun was jolted awake several hours later by his stomach rumbling loudly. He checked the time on his phone, 7:00? No wonder he was so tired, he had been asleep for almost four hours.

Jaehyun gingerly stood up from his cramped position on the ground, wincing at how his muscles ached at the movement. Sleeping on the hard floor, propped up by the wall was definitely not recommended. Jaehyun felt as if his body had just been run over; his back was stiff, his neck had a crimp in it, and his legs were sore from being curled up underneath him. He slowly clambered to his feet, but this instant he took a step, his leg gave out from underneath him and Jaehyun hit the ground with a bang.

“Damnit,” Jaehyun muttered under his breath. He hadn’t realized that his entire left leg had fallen asleep until it was too late and he was already shifting all of his weight onto that leg which had promptly crumbled underneath his body weight, twisting his ankle in the process. 

To add insult to injury, Jaehyun heard shuffling on the other side of the door, signifying that Jungwoo had been awoken by Jaehyun’s dumbassery. 

Jaehyun tried to climb to his feet, but failed when a shot of pain traveled up his leg—it was still partially asleep. “Gosh dangit,” Jaehyun cursed as he thumped painfully back down to the ground, tweaking his ankle yet again. 

This time, Jaehyun waited for the pins and needles in his leg to fully fade before he stood up again; however, he had underestimated how badly he had twisted his ankle. The minute Jaehyun’s full body weight was shifted onto his injured ankle, pain coursed up his leg, forcing Jaehyun to grab onto the handle of Jungwoo’s room for support before he fell down. Luckily, this time Jaehyun was able to stop his fall with the door handle and didn’t thump down to the floor for a third time. However, he hadn’t been able to keep his cry of pain silent.

“Oh shit, ow, that really hurts,” Jaehyun whined, clutching at his poor ankle that was quickly swelling. 

“Are you okay?” a small voice asked from the other side of the door.

Of course Jungwoo chose the moment when Jaehyun was at his worst to open up the door and carefully peer out, the crack only big enough for Jaehyun to see Jungwoo’s round, brown eyes peeking out. 

“I’m fine, you don’t have to worry about me,” Jaehyun said, smiling softly at Jungwoo as if to show that he was, in fact, okay. 

The door closed suddenly, slamming in Jaehyun’s face. That was what he got for trying to smile and be comforting—a door slammed and Jungwoo hiding once again.

However, Jungwoo’s door opened a couple moments later and Jungwoo slipped out of it, staying as far away from Jaehyun as possible. 

“I’m fine, really, I just need to rest my ankle for a couple more minutes and then I can go make dinner for us, I promise, “Jaehyun stated cheerily. 

Jungwoo gently reached out to touch Jaehyun’s swelling ankle in response, frowning at whatever he saw. “You shouldn’t walk on it,” Jungwoo muttered before turning and heading into the bathroom, leaving Jaehyun stunned. Had Jungwoo just spoken to him directly? If Jaehyun had known all it took to get Jungwoo to talk was an injury, he would’ve thrown himself to the ground days ago.

Jungwoo returned a minute later with a first aid kit Jaehyun didn’t even know he owned in his hands. 

“I really am fine, you don’t have to do this,” Jaehyun protested yet again, but stayed still and even leaned back as to give Jungwoo more space to work farther away from Jaehyun’s body.

Jungwoo, for his part, didn’t even glance up at Jaehyun’s face as he carefully opened up the first aid kit and sorted through its contents, placing an instant ice pack and an ace bandage off to the side before starting to repack the first aid kit, sliding everything back into its spot, making it ten times more organized than it had been previously. 

Jaehyun was so distracted by the focused look on Jungwoo’s face, the way his brow furrowed slightly when he was concentrating and his mouth slightly skewed to the side, somehow making his face look even softer and more attractive, that he didn’t even notice when Jungwoo’s slender fingers moved from repacking the first aid kit to probing Jaehyun’s ankle until Jungwoo hit a particularly tender area and Jaehyun cried out in pain. 

“Ow! Crap, that really hurt. Please never touch that ever again, oh my, that really hurts.” Jaehyun whined, somehow resisting the urge to yank his leg away from Jungwoo, knowing that the sudden action would just serve to scare him.

However, Jungwoo still jerked away, frightened by Jaehyun’s pained words, putting his hands up to protect his face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you, I was just trying to help. Please don’t hit me.”

Jaehyun’s heart absolutely broke at the sight of Jungwoo cowering on the ground next to him, expecting to be hit for simply trying to help him. “No, please don’t be scared, I’m not going to hit you for trying to help me. That would be a pretty silly thing for me to do don’t you think? Me hitting you for my own mistake? It’s my fault I hurt my ankle and I would never hit you, let alone for something as kind as trying to help heal my self-inflicted injuries.” As he spoke, Jaehyun slowly shifted his arms to his side and slightly behind him, and leaned back while slightly tilting his head backwards to bare his neck in order to show Jungwoo that he meant no harm. 

The tactic seemed to work because slowly Jungwoo began to unravel himself from his protective bubble and reached towards Jaehyun’s ankle, waiting for a nod from Jaehyun before his soft fingers actually made contact with Jaehyun’s swollen skin. This time, however, Jungwoo didn’t actually apply any pressure with his hands, but instead reached for the ace bandage and began to wrap up Jaehyun’s ankle, eying him cautiously the entire time.

“How did you learn how to do all of this?” Jaehyun asked, hoping to break the awkward silence between them.

“I wanted to be a nurse when I was younger and they taught us basic first aid at the center,” Jungwoo muttered, not looking Jaehyun in the eye as he spoke.

Jaehyun’s heart ached at Jungwoo’s words. He could easily see Jungwoo as a nurse, helping those around him with ease, making them feel better during their hospital stay. However, presenting as an omega had ripped that dream from Jungwoo, ensured that he would live as property, never to receive the education and rights that he deserved. 

“You would make a great nurse,” Jaehyun said.

Jungwoo ducked his head at the words and just focused even harder on wrapping Jaehyun’s ankle. “There,” he stated several minutes later, shaking up the instant ice pack and placing it by Jaehyun’s hand, indicating that he should take it. “You should probably move to the couch. It’s more comfortable.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that.” Jaehyun reached up and grabbed onto Jungwoo’s door handle in order to hoist himself up to his feet, trying his best to keep his weight off his injured ankle. 

Admittedly, the process of getting to the couch would be a lot easier if there was someone to help support Jaehyun’s weight so that he didn’t have to awkwardly hop and wobble across the apartment, wincing in pain at every step, but there was no way Jaehyun was about to ask Jungwoo to help. The poor guy had already  looked scared enough when he was bandaging Jaehyun’s ankle, and Jaehyun couldn’t imagine how scared Jugwoo would be if he had to be right next to Jaehyun, arm thrown around his shoulder, supporting part of his weight.

As it was, Jungwoo was already trailing behind Jaehyun, alternating between staring at the ground and Jaehyun guiltily, looking as if he wanted to help, but was also completely terrified by the prospect. 

“Uh, could you please grab me a glass of water? Falling down really made me feel quite parched,” Jaehyun asked, feeling bad for making any request from Jungwoo, but wanting to give him something to do so that he didn’t feel guilty over not helping Jaehyun make his way to the couch.

Jungwoo quietly nodded and headed to the kitchen to grab a glass of water while Jaehyun hobled as quickly as he possibly could without falling, barely making it to the couch before Jungwoo turned around with the glass in his hand, a look of surprise briefly crossing his face as he took in Jaehyun’s sudden change in position.

However, Jungwoo took it in stride and set the glass down on the table by Jaehyun’s head and moved to put the ice pack against Jaehyun’s injured ankle.

“Do you think it’s broken?” Jaehyun asked as Jungwoo carefully maneuvered the swollen limb onto the arm of the couch in order to elevate it.

Jungwoo’s head turned suddenly to look at Jaehyun once he had spoken. “I don’t think so,” Jungwoo responded, eyes glued to the floor, hands fidgeting. 

“Oh, well, that’s good. I hate going to the hospital.”

Jungwoo nodded in a quiet agreement, eyes still downcast. 

Jungwoo stayed standing still, eyes looking at the floor for a couple moments more, before he inhaled deeply as if to gather up his strength. “What do you want me to make for dinner?”

“Cook?” Jaehyun asked incredulously, sounding like a complete idiot as he tried to wrap his mind around what Jungwoo had just said.

“Yeah, cook. What do you want me to make for you?” Jungwoo’s hands began to twist together and he shifted his weight nervously.

“You don’t have to cook for me,” Jaehyun immediately responded, voice probably a tad too harsh, judging by the way Jungwoo winced in response. “I mean I was going to order food for us. It’ll just be easier that way. In the meantime you can just take a seat and we can watch a movie if you want?”

“Okay,” Jungwoo softly replied, slowly moving over to the chair, looking to Jaehyun for approval, seeming unsure of his every movement.

Jaehyun felt bad seeing the injured look on Jungwoo’s face, but he wasn’t about to have Jungwoo making dinner for him because he was injured and could do nothing. The center had doubtlessly trained Jungwoo to do all of the cooking and cleaning like a good little house omega, and Jaehyun was going to do everything in his power to break that idea ingrained into Jungwoo’s head, even if that meant ordering out for a couple of nights because he couldn’t cook. 

“Do you want to eat tteokbokki or japchae for dinner?” Jaehyun asked, typing frantically into his phone to find a good place to order from. Honestly, he would’ve preferred for Jungwoo to just tell him what he wanted to eat, but Jaehyun knew that was unrealistic, as he had learned from Johnny and Taeil it was important for Jungwoo to make his own decisions, but they had to start small, give him two options to choose between rather than an infinite set of possibilities. 

Luckily, Jungwoo didn’t seem to have too much trouble deciding. “Uh, Japchae,” Jungwoo responded, absentmindedly, eyes unfocused, staring at the wall, clearly lost in thought.

“And for the movie, Mulan or Lion King?” Jaehyun asked, deciding to see if Jungwoo would make another decision.

“Mulan,” Jungwoo answered, starting to rub his thumb against his wrist, still staring off into space.

“Good choice. I love the part where Mulan grows wings and flies to Korea,” Jaehyun said, seeing if he could get a reaction out of Jungwoo. However, Jungwoo just nodded along to Jaehyun’s statement, clearly not hearing a single word.

Jaehyun wondered what Jungwoo was pondering that had suddenly made him so distant, but before he could think about it too hard, his stomach rumbled and he went back to focusing on ordering the food.  

Notes:

The other day while running it was rlly windy and I was almost hit by a tumbleweed lol

Also the next chapter will have Jungwoo's perspective, this chapter just got kinda long so I stopped it here

Pls leave a comment, they're rlly encouraging to read!!!

 

Twitter!

Chapter 15

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

Jungwoo was startled awake by a loud thumping noise coming from outside his door, followed by a loud “Gosh dangit,”

At the words, Jungwoo felt his body relax slightly. Jaehyun wasn’t trying to break into his room, wasn’t trying to invade Jungwoo’s nest, wasn’t trying to take over. No, he had simply just fallen, tripped over his own feet, like he had done the other day, being as predictably clumsy as ever.

Having seen Jaehyun fall before and just get right back up, Jungwoo wasn’t worried until he heard Jaehyun trip again, this time followed by the rattling of the door handle as Jaehyun tried and failed to catch himself on the way down.

“Oh shit, ow, that really hurts,” Jungwoo heard Jaehyun whine.

Those words were enough to make Jungwoo pause. It sounded like Jaehyun was hurt, actually hurt from his two falls. Before he could second guess himself, Jungwoo grabbed the door handle and turned it, parting the door just enough for him to peer out.

Jungwoo was met with the sight of Jaehyun sitting on the ground, grasping his ankle, face twisted in pain. “Are you okay?” Jungwoo asked, not knowing where that sudden bravery had come from. 

Jaehyun’s eyes whipped up towards Jungwoo in surprise. “I’m fine, you don’t have to worry about me,” he said with a soft smile, that was probably supposed to be reassuring. It wasn’t.

But Jungwoo was suddenly second guessing his idea to help out Jaehyun and retreated back into his room, closing the door firmly behind him. 

If Jaehyun said he was fine, that meant that he didn’t need any help, right? Jungwoo didn’t need to go back out there, didn't need to help Jaehyun with his injured ankle. In fact, Jaehyun didn’t want his help, would probably yell at Jungwoo for helping. So it would be pointless, unnecessary for Jungwoo to leave his room and help Jaehyun with his injured ankle, Jaehyun had said that he was fine and didn’t need help and Jungwoo so desperately wanted to listen, to believe him.

But, there was the sight of his ankle, already starting to swell, the expression of pure agony on Jaehyun’s face when he first fell, the cursing that had echoed through the hallway. Jaehyun was injured and Jungwoo had the means to help him.

With a sigh, Jungwoo slowly got to his feet, he had made his decision. 

 

Jungwoo opened the door and slipped out, body pressed against the wall in order to stay out of range of any potential hits or kicks. He was ignoring an alpha and Jungwoo wasn’t naive enough to think that came without consequences.

Jaehyun muttered some complaint about how he didn't need any help, but Jungwoo was determined to ignore the alpha as much as possible. If he never looked Jaehyun in the eye, then he could pretend that he was bandaging the ankle of someone else, of one of his friends from before. 

“You shouldn’t walk on it,” Jungwoo muttered, pretending that it was Donghyuck laying in front of him instead of Jaehyun. He had to go and grab the first aid kit that he had seen underneath the bathroom sink and didn’t want Jaehyun to move before his ankle was properly bandaged. 

When Jungwoo returned with the kit, he was relieved to see that Jaehyun hadn’t tried to move. 

Jungwoo knelt down by Jaehyun’s leg, as far as possible from the rest of the alpha’s body and opened the kit. The contents were a mess, all mixed together, nothing in its place, but Jungwoo had expected nothing less. 

As Jungwoo sorted through the kit, he let his mind drift to when he had been taught how to bandage ankles.

He and Donghyuck had gone to a first aid camp for a week. From a young age they had decided that Donghyuk was going to be a doctor and Jungwoo his nurse and their parents had figured that a first aid camp would be a great way for them to get experience and learn some useful skills. 

To be honest, he and Donghyuck had messed around most of the time, wrapping each other in gauze like mummies and trying to put bandaids on each other’s backs without getting caught. 

However, the section on sprains they had actually paid attention, mainly because Xiaojun had just sprained his ankle a couple days earlier and they both wanted to impress him with their ankle wrapping skills. 

The chance had never come because Xiaojun wisely refused to let them anywhere near his healing ankle, but Jungwoo still remembered the basics from the class—not that it was incredibly hard to wrap up an ankle in gauze. 

As Jungwoo finished reorganizing the kit and had finally found what he needed, he reached out to gently prod at Jaehyun’s ankle to see how bad the swelling was and if it could be broken. 

However, he didn’t think the action through because the minute he applied pressure to Jaehyun’s wounded joint, the alpha yelped in pain.

Jungwoo yanked his hand away in fear. He had just hurt an alpha. He had just made an alpha scream in pain. That wasn’t good. That wasn’t good at all. 

There was no way Jaehyun was going to let this one slip, no matter how nice Ten and Taeil said he was. Jungwoo had just hurt an alpha, made them curse in pain.

Once, in the center, Jungwoo had made a handler cry out in pain, it was a day that he would never forget. 

It had been sometime within his first year of being at the center and Jungwoo had just shot up in height, leaving his legs long and thin and feet still way too big for his body. Due to his sudden growth spurt, Jungwoo didn’t quite know how to control his legs, how to walk in a straight line with his now humongous feet. Suddenly, Jungwoo found himself tripping all of the time as he was dragged around by the handlers, unable to properly coordinate his movements, unused to such lanky limbs.

But that particular day, the handler seemed to have been in a bad mood. 

“Get up omega. We have places to go,” the handler had grunted, but didn’t even give time for Jungwoo to struggle to his feet before he had crossed the small cell and was hauling Jungwoo up onto his legs.

“I said let’s go you worthless piece of crap.” the handler tightened his grip on Jungwoo’s upper arm as he spoke, “How do you even expect to get an alpha to take you home if you can’t get up in the morning? You do know that you’re going to have to get up early every day to cook breakfast, right? Stupid omega.”

Jungwoo just ducked his head and tried to force his legs to move fast enough to keep up with the handler’s brisk pace. 

However, Jungwoo’s legs absolutely refused to listen to him. 

As the handler yanked on Jungwoo’s arm for the thousandth time, urging him to go faster, Jungwoo’s foot caught on the edge of one of the doorways. To this day Jungwoo had no clue how on earth his foot managed to get so far away from the rest of his body; the only answer he could come up with was the power of teenager Jungwoo to completely lose control of his limbs.

Needless to say, Jungwoo went flying. Straight into the handler.

Jungwoo’s shoulder collided with the handler’s arm before Jungwoo fell to the side, landing hard on his wrist. 

“Ow! God dammit,” the handler roared, his anger turning to Jungwoo who was now sprawled out on the floor, injured wrist pulled close to his chest. The moment the handler stepped towards Jungwoo white cold terror rushed over his body. He knew that look. The one of icy cold hatred, of anger that was cutting, frozen over. It was the kind of anger that was focused and brutally unforgiving. 

Jungwoo scurried backwards as fast as possible, stopped by the cold, hard brick of the wall hitting his back. The handler took two deliberate steps towards Jungwoo, closing the space in between them.

“Stand up,” he demanded.

Jungwoo tried his best to follow the command, but halfway up he was met with a sharp kick to his knee that sent him sprawling back down to the ground.

“Stand up,” the handler repeated, looming over Jungwoo. 

This time, Jungwoo barely even got his feet underneath him before a fierce kick to his side was sending him back down to the floor.

“Stand up. We don’t have all day,”

Jungwoo was knocked back down before he was even on his feet.

“Stand up. Stand up. Stand up.” Each phrase was punctuated with a kick, each kick harder than the last.

Jungwoo just laid curled up on the floor and took each kick without a word. He had learned very quickly that the more you protested, the more you cried, the worse it got. So Jungwoo just tried to coil himself tighter as blows rained down on his side and legs.

He just had to endure until it was over, he could cry and scream all he wanted when he was back in his cell, but for now he had to be quiet, had to be strong. Had to try and not give the handler yet another reason to continue beating him. 

Finally, with one last kick to Jungwoo’s injured wrist, the handler was reaching down and grabbing onto Jungwoo’s upper arm, his grip of iron digging painfully into the now tender skin. But Jungwoo bit back the whimper that rose to his lips at the action and let himself be hauled to his shaky legs. 

“You missed your lesson you stupid bitch,” the handler hissed, dragging Jungwoo back towards his cell, grip of steel never wavering, even when Jungwoo tripped again and his leg gave out from under him, forcing the handler to drag the majority of Jungwoo’s weight through the hall. 

Through it all, Jungwoo never made a sound, not even a small whine of pain. Even as he was stumbling to keep up with the handler’s brisk pace, feeling as if he was being stabbed in the side every time he took a deep breath, Jungwoo didn’t let so much as a tear leak out of his eye. 

He waited until he was shoved into his cell, knees hitting the ground with a loud thump, and the door latched shut before he let the first tear leak out. Everything just hurt so bad. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t walk, couldn’t even move without a fresh wave of agony running up his body. 

It took two days before Jungwoo could move without tears springing to his eyes, a week before he could walk properly, and a month before his ribs and wrist stopped hurting. 

However, Jaehyun didn’t act like the handler had. Instead of screaming and hitting and calling Jungwoo stupid, Jaehyun apologized, slightly bared his neck, showed submission. 

It shocked Jungwoo enough that he stopped cowering, slowly unfurled from where he was waiting for the inevitable hits.

Jungwoo stared cautiously at Jaehyun as he reached for the ace bandage to wrap up his injured ankle, waiting to see if there still would be a hit coming, but Jaehyun stayed still, neck still bared, body relaxed and scent calm. It made Jungwoo want to trust him. His body language was all correct and it cried out to Jungwoo’s instincts, screamed that Jaehyun wasn’t a threat, was safe.

However, Jungwoo had learned to not always trust his instincts, that some alphas just liked the game, like to gain an omega’s trust just so that breaking them would be all the sweeter. Jungwoo wished more than anything that Jaehyun wasn’t like those alphas, that he was actually genuine, actually cared, but experience was telling him to be wary. Jungwoo wasn’t sure he could take another betrayal, another heartbreak after what had happened with his family, so he kept his distance, stayed wary. It was safer that way.

“How did you learn how to do all of this?” Jaehyun suddenly asked, breaking Jungwoo out of his line of thought.

Jungwoo gave Jaehyun some vague answer in response, but the question resurfaced all of the memories Jungwoo had with Donghyuck and Xiaojun, fantasizing about the future, about what colleges they would go to, what they would study, how they would all live together. 

That was never going to happen, though. The minute that Jungwoo presented, he lost all of his rights as a person, lost the ability to pursue his dreams. He was property now and it was dangerous to forget that.

Jungwoo finished soon after and handed Jaehyun the ice pack while suggesting that he move to the couch where it was much more comfortable than the tile floor.

Jaehyun slowly hoisted himself up using Jungwoo’s poor door knob and took a very wobbly step. 

Jungwoo realized that he needed to help Jaehyun, needed to support him so that he could make it to the couch without falling. However, that would mean being right next to Jaehyun, easily within hitting range. He would have to support the alpha’s weight, get in his personal space. 

Just the prospect of being that close to Jaehyun made Jungwoo shudder. There was too much that could go wrong, too many ways for Jungwoo to get hurt, for Jaehyun to get angry. What if Jungwoo wasn’t strong enough? What if he dropped Jaehyun? What if he fell?

Luckily, Jungwoo’s train of thought was interrupted by Jaehyun requesting that Jungwoo grabbed him a glass of water.

Jungwoo let out a small sigh of relief at the request, getting water was simple, something straightforward that he could do without messing up. It was a comfortable request, one that was often brought up at the center. 

Jungwoo turned around with the full glass of water in his hand and paused for a second when he saw Jaehyun laying on the couch, somehow having magically moved across the room in the time that it had taken him to fill up the glass with water. But, Jungwoo didn’t feel like dwelling on Jaehyun’s apparent teleportation skills for long and just brought him the water. Not questioning was something that they had taught at the center, and something Jungwoo had become very good at. 

As Jungwoo set the glass of water by Jaehyun’s head and started to move Jaehyun’s leg onto the couch so that he could elevate his injured ankle, Jaehyun spoke, surprising Jungwoo. “Do you think it’s broken?” Jaehyun asked.

“Uh, I don’t think so,” Jungwoo stuttered in response, inwardly cursing himself for giving medical advice. If he was wrong then a punishment was most certainly in order. Maybe Kun would come over again. It would be best for someone who actually knew what they were doing to check Jaehyun’s ankle, but Jungwoo didn’t feel like pointing that out to Jaehyun. Alphas didn’t take advice from omegas. Omegas existed to serve alphas, not the other way around.

Speaking of serving alphas…”What do you want me to make for dinner?” Jungwoo asked, eyes staring at the ground, hoping that he didn’t get hit for asking the question. The center had said that omegas should know what to make for their alphas, should never have to ask unnecessary questions, but Jaehyun hadn’t had Jungwoo cook yet and Jungwoo was uncertain about what he should make for dinner.

But Jaehyun just stared at Jungwoo like he had grown an extra head. “Cook?” he asked as if he didn’t know what the word meant. Maybe he had hit his head in his fall. 

Jungwoo decided to clarify for poor Jaehyun who was looking more confused than ever. “Yeah, cook. What do you want me to make for you?”

“You don’t have to cook for me,” Jaehyun snapped. Jungwoo flinched, waiting for the hit that always accompanied harsh tones of voices, but it never came. Instead, Jaehyun said that they were going to order food and asked Jungwoo what he wanted to eat. Jungwoo just picked an option at random, too baffled to properly choose.

Jaehyun smiled when Jungwoo told him what he wanted to eat, though. And the alpha’s smile got even bigger when Jungwoo picked a movie to watch. 

It was almost as if Jaehyun liked him making choices? But that made no sense. Omegas weren’t supposed to have their own opinions and views, they just followed the will of alphas. They were property without any real choices. The center had drilled that into Jungwoo more times than he could remember. 

When Jungwoo first arrived at the center, he hadn’t understood how everything worked as everyone in his family were alphas and Jungwoo had screamed and yelled, demanding to see his parents and friends. It had only taken a week of torture, smacks across the face for evey word out of line, swats with the stick for every movement that wasn’t commanded, for Jungwoo to realize his new place in this world.

But it had taken a year for the center to completely erase his personality, his hope for a better future. They had shaped Jungwoo into the perfect omega, docile, ready to go where told.

However, now Jaehyun was here, asking Jungwoo for his opinion, telling him not to cook or do house chores. Jaehyun gave Jungwoo his own room and didn’t intrude when Jungwoo locked him out. It was baffling. Jaehyun was confusing. 

Things weren’t like the center had said they would be and Jungwoo didn’t know what to think. One part of him wanted to test the limits, see how far Jaehyun would go, find out where the boundaries were so that he could easily work within them, have clearly declared lines. However, the other part of Jungwoo, the scared part, the part that feared getting hit, hated mean words, just wanted to behave and stay neatly between the lines. 

The doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of food, and Jungwoo jumped out of his seat to grab the bags from the door, ignoring the hungry look the delivery man gave him. 

Once Jaehyun had his food, Jungwoo dug in and decided that he would postpone his analysis of his place in the household for another day, and for now just focus on the food in front of him. 




Notes:

Am i posting this during class? No comment.

Pls leave a comment they are always so nice and encouraging to read!

Chapter 16

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

Jungwoo found himself drifting off near the end of Mulan , blinking his eyes rapidly in a doomed attempt to stay awake. Exhaustion weighed down his eyelids despite his nap earlier. His body used to the slow days of the center when he mainly just laid in his cell unless there was a lesson or something he had to go to. But today, he had been up and about, playing games, bandaging Jaehyun’s ankle and the break from the norm had left Jungwoo’s body feeling heavy and tired. 

Jungwoo battled against his drooping eyelids, wanting to finish the movie before he fell asleep. It had been forever since he had watched Mulan , and Jungwoo desperately wanted to finish the film that was his childhood favorite. 

However, the tiredness that was weighing down Jungwoo’s body won over his will to stay awake and Jungwoo fell into a deep sleep before Mulan could even make it to the capital. 

 

A heavy knocking on the door startled Jungwoo awake. He jumped out of the chair he had fallen asleep in to open the door before Jaehyun could yell at him for not being quick enough; however, his legs got tangled up in a blanket that had been laying across his lap, causing Jungwoo to faceplant. The blanket had not been there when Jungwoo fell asleep, so Jaehyun must’ve draped the fabric over Jungwoo sometime during the night.

The kind gesture surprised Jungwoo. Jaehyun would’ve had to get up to put the blanket over Jungwoo, hobble around on his wounded ankle just to do something to make Jungwoo feel a little bit better in his sleep. 

It was both incredibly kind and incredibly stupid. Jaehyun could’ve fallen again, could’ve injured his ankle even worse. But then again, Jungwoo was slowly learning that Jaehyun didn’t always do the smartest things. According to Taeil, Jaehyun just acted and didn’t actually think about the consequences. 

The person at the door rapped against the wood and Jungwoo scrambled to his feet and rushed to the door, Jaehyun beginning to wearily blink open his eyes from where he lay on the couch.

“Jungwoo? Are you okay?” Jaehyun called as Jungwoo opened the door to reveal Yuta and Sicheng, the alpha dressed in a suit and holding a briefcase, looking very much like the stereotypical alpha businessman. Sicheng’s clothes were in stark contrast to Yuta’s, wearing a soft sweater and black joggers that clung slightly to his legs. 

“Wait, what happened? Why is Jaehyun asking if you’re okay? Are you okay?” Sicheng’s face was clouded with worry as he held Jungwoo’s shoulders to look him over.

“I’m fine,” Jungwoo said, “I just fell getting out of the chair.”

“At least you didn’t break your ankle,” Yuta joked at the same time Sicheng exclaimed “You slept in the chair?”

Jungwoo took several steps backwards at the force at which Yuta and Sicheng spoke.

“Sorry,” Sicheng apologized, holding his arms open for Jungwoo to fold into. Jungwoo easily relaxed into Sicheng’s embrace and let the older’s calming scent fill his nose. It felt good to once again be able to relax, to not have to worry about the alphas, about Jaehyun and his ankle, about how he had to act. 

“Did you eat breakfast?” Sicheng asked, pulling away slightly to look Jungwoo in the eye.

“No,” Jungwoo answered, refusing to meet Sicheng’s eyes, knowing the disapproval that he would find, “we just woke up.” 

Sicheng just sighed in response, “Let’s go make breakfast.”

Jungwoo trailed after Sicheng, heading into the kitchen. As they started to pull out ingredients for breakfast, Jungwoo overheard Yuta and Jaehyun talking. “So when is Kun coming over to check out your ankle?”

“Later tonight when he gets off of work—”

The pan that Jungwoo was holding slipped out of his hand, clanging loudly on the counter. Both alphas turned to look at him in surprise.

“Kun is coming over?” Jungwoo asked, his blood turning cold at the thought of having to see Kun again. Even though the doctor was only a beta, he still terrified Jungwoo with all of his scary instruments and calm demeanor that could only be hiding something. 

“Yeah, Kun’ll be dropping by later today,” Jaehyun awkwardly ran a hand through his hair. “But you can just stay in your room the whole time. You don’t even have to actually see Kun if you don’t want to. Although, uh, he might stay for dinner and I may have to go into his office for x-rays if Kun thinks my ankle is broken.” Jaehyun’s hand dropped to rub at the back of his neck, an apologetic look on his face.

“But other than that it’s completely fine,” Yuta unhelpfully chimed in, earning a swat on the arm from Jaehyun.

Jungwoo just silently stared at them, body trembling in fear as he imagined various scenarios involving Kun and his medical instruments. 

When an omega was admitted to the center they had to undergo an evaluation by a doctor. Jungwoo didn’t remember too much of that time after he first presented, his brain foggy with shock and pain for the first couple of days, but Jungwoo remembers enough of that medical evaluation to know that it had been an awful experience. 

He’d had to strip out of his clothes and the doctor had let his hands roam over Jungwoo’s body as he checked him over, evaluated his stature, forced his mouth open to check his teeth, ran his hands through Jungwoo’s hair. The whole process left Jungwoo feeling gross and uncomfortable. 

At the time, Jungwoo hadn’t been able to properly understand what was happening to him, his brain too clouded with the stress and pain of presenting. But looking back on it, Jungwoo realized how dehumanizing the whole process was, how he had been treated like some animal that was going to be put up for auction.

Ever since then, every checkup in the center had been the same: full of lingering hands, bruising grips, and cruel words. Even though Kun wasn’t completely awful the first time Jungwoo had met him, Jungwoo couldn’t stop the wave of fear that washed over him at the prospect of having to have any more interactions with doctors than strictly necessary. 

“Kun is actually really nice.” Sicheng grabbed the pan that Jungwoo had dropped. “He gave me a piece of candy after the appointment and the shots didn’t even hurt that bad.”

“Sh-shots?” Jungwoo stammered. “I didn’t get shots. I don’t need shots, do I?” his hands began to shake and he clutched onto the dish towel like a lifeline.

Jungwoo absolutely hated shots. There was nothing in this world worse than needles. Needles injected you with harmful substances, forced you to be calm, compliant, when you least wanted. They put foreign substances in your body, things that hurt, things that made your brain feel fuzzy, things that made the world go black for an uncertain amount of time.

Jungwoo was tall, Jungwoo was gangly, clumsy. Before he learned how to control his rapidly growing limbs, there was always the threat of drugs to keep him in check, to keep the handlers safe from him, keep him under control before he had been totally broken, back when there was some spirit left in his heart. 

Drugs hadn't been used on Jungwoo in over a year, but the very thought of needles brought back memories of times when Jungwoo had been under the influence of the mind-numbing substances, his free will ripped from him. 

“No, you don’t need shots, Sicheng only needed them because he’s from China,” Yuta answered, face twisted into an expression of worry at Jungwoo's adverse response to the very idea of shots.

“I can always reschedule with Kun if you need me to, I’m sure he’d understand,” Jaehyun commented, eyeing Jungwoo anxiously from his spot on the couch.

“No!” Jungwoo exclaimed, instantly regretting his loud tone of voice when all three pairs of eyes in the apartment turned to look at him in surprise. “I mean no, don’t reschedule. A doctor really needs to check out your ankle.” Jungwoo clarified, face beet red from his earlier outburst.

“Ah, uh, okay then, is him coming by at 6:30 good?”

“Sure?” Jungwoo was confused as to why Jaehyun was asking him if plans would work. It wasn’t like Jungwoo had anywhere else to be. Maybe it was because dinner had to be ready? Was he going to cook tonight for Kun and Jaehyun?

Apparently Jungwoo spoke that last part out loud because Jaehyun was quickly assuring him that he wouldn’t need to cook: “Oh no, I wouldn’t make you cook all by yourself. I mean unless, of course, you really like cooking, then I guess you could cook for us? But I was just planning on ordering food to eat here.”

“Because Kun would love that you’re eating takeout everyday,” Yuta drawled sarcastically from where he had perched himself on the arm of the couch.

“I thought you needed to go to work.” Jaehyun swatted at Yuta’s arm, “We’ll figure something out, now leave.”

“Okay, good luck with ‘figuring something out,’” Yuta shot back with a smirk as he slipped off of the couch and onto his feet. “Bye Sicheng, I’ll see you at 5:15! And we’ll actually have good food to eat tonight unlike this hooligan.” Yuta blew Jaehyun a kiss as he headed out of the apartment.

“Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out,” Jaehyun muttered, clearly annoyed at the predicament he now found himself in. Once the door was closed, Jaehyun turned to Jungwoo and Sicheng. “You guys don’t have to make any for me, I can just eat cereal for breakfast.”

Jungwoo didn’t think that was a good idea, but didn’t say anything, not wanting to contradict an alpha, even one who was as chill as Jaehyun. It was 8:00 in the morning and Jungwoo really didn’t have the energy to toe any lines.

Sicheng apparently had the same idea as Jungwoo as he just hummed in response to Jaehyun’s words, but cracked two more eggs into the pan anyways. 

Jungwoo set down the dish towel he still had clutched in his hands and started to make the rice and stir it in with the eggs, him and Sicheng not saying much to each other, but working in harmony, easily moving around each other in the small kitchen. Then, the eggs and rice were done and Jungwoo poured three glasses of chocolate milk and Sicheng put the food onto three plates, one serving slightly bigger than the other two. 

Sicheng grabbed one of the plates and glasses once they were all done and winked at Jungwoo before bringing over the food to where Jaehyun was on the couch, answering emails on his computer. “We accidently made extra,” Sicheng stated as he set the food into Jaehyun's lap before heading back to the table to eat with Jungwoo. 

“Wait, what, you—” Jaehyun stuttered, looking at the food in his lap and then to Sicheng and Jungwoo and then back to the food in his lap, clearly baffled and trying to form his next words carefully. “Thank you guys, but you didn’t have to, I would have been fine with cereal.”

“We just made too much,” Sicheng repeated, eyes trained on his plate.

“I—” Jaehyun paused, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Sicheng answered, a smile lifting at the corners of his mouth.

Jungwoo just ducked his head in acknowledgement, but also found that a small smile had manifested itself on his face. It had been a sneaky thing to do, but seeing the look on Jaehyun’s face had been worth it: all surprise and no malice. 

As they finished up with eating breakfast, Jungwoo’s stomach feeling as if it was going to burst with all of the food in it, Jungwoo and Sicheng exchanged triumphant looks, as if getting Jaehyun to eat the food they had made was a big accomplishment. Jungwoo’s omega was happy with him for providing for an alpha and he was sure Sicheng felt the same way. 

But then, Jungwoo realized he felt how the center said that he should, that omegas were only good for house chores because of their instincts that wanted to please and Jungwoo began to question himself once again. If the center was right about this, what if they were right about other things too? About how alphas would trick omegas to misbehave in the beginning to teach them their place, how all alphas were commanding. Jaehyun was injured now, so maybe he was playing down his alpha-ness just to punish Jungwoo later when he was feeling better, and could actually walk around. What if there was a punishment waiting for Jungwo around the corner? What if Kun was actually coming with the drugs that Jungwoo so hated? 

Jungwoo froze in terror, his plate halfway into the dishwasher. What if Jaehyun was just waiting to punish Jungwoo when Sicheng wasn’t around because he didn’t want to accidentally hurt another alpha’s omega? What if this was all just a trick? What if—

Hands were suddenly on Jungwoo’s, guiding the plate into its spot in the dishwasher and then pulling Jungwoo into his room where he collapsed with Sicheng into his nest, curling up into the older’s side, the smell of fear thick in the air. 

“What happened?” Sicheng asked, arms wrapping around Jungwoo, pulling him closer. 

“I don’t know,” Jungwoo said flatly, “I just—” he stopped, unsure how to share with Sicheng that he was scared that everything had just been an act, that the center had its claws so deep into his mind that he was doubting his every move and it was driving him crazy. “I—” Jungwoo tried again, but just couldn’t manage to put his thoughts into words, failed at conveying his struggles to Sicheng.

“It’s okay, just take your time, we have all day,” Sicheng muttered, hand beginning to stroke through Jungwoo’s hair in an attempt to calm him down, stop him from releasing the bitter scent of fear into the room.

But Jungwoo’s brain just wasn’t on board and he kept spiraling and spiraling down into his thoughts. Kun was coming over tonight and anything could happen. Sure, he had been calm and nice the first time he had checked Jungwoo over, and this time Jungwoo wasn’t even the patient, but he couldn’t stop his brain from thinking of the worst case scenarios. He remembered how the handlers would sneer at him, tell him that his owner would pass him around to everyone, how he would probably whimper and cry so prettily.

They would talk about how after dinner the omega would be the dessert, how he had to stay thin for his alpha, how breakable he would be. They would say that it was the alphas that seemed nice at first that you had to look out for because every alpha would turn eventually, they all had a breaking point. One could only deal with a disobedient omega for so long. And Jungwoo had been disobedient. He had hidden in his room, dropped pans, spilled milk, ignored orders, sequestered himself away with other omegas, been a terrible omega. What if this was Jaehyun’s breaking point?

Jungwoo curled up even tighter into a ball, hugging his knees to his chest, the room absolutely reeking of omega in distress.

“Okay, so Jungwoo I’m going to need you to breathe.” Jungwoo faintly heard Sicheng over the roaring in his ears, but he couldn’t bring himself to listen, couldn’t get his lungs under control.

“Jungwoo, you need to breathe. C’mon- in for four, out for eight. Ready? One...two…” Sicheng continued to count, but Jungwoo wasn’t listening, he was in his own world, drowning in his thoughts, suffocating in his head. 

He wouldn’t be able to take it if Jaehyun suddenly turned on him, Jungwoo had just started to feel okay and if Jaehyun turned out to be like all the alphas that the center told him about, Jungwoo would break, would crumble, would just be ashes. Jungwoo had gotten his hopes up, a dangerous thing, and just the thought of them being crushed was enough to send him into a panic.

Hands were suddenly wrapping around Jungwoo, guiding his head to someone’s neck where they were pumping out calming pheromones, a hand started to stroke his hair, the other pulled him close, rubbed his back. “C’mon Jungwoo, come back to me, you got this, just take deep breaths,” They muttered, the calming scent slowly seeping its way into Jungwoo’s mind.

Slowly, Jungwoo came back to reality and realized that it was of course Sicheng who was hugging him close, calming him down.

“Hey buddy, you back with me yet?”

“Mmm,” Jungwoo hummed in response, burying his head into Sicheng’s neck, trying his best not to think about what just happened. 

“You scared me there for a sec, bb,” Sicheng said, hands still stroking Jungwoo’s hair, and rubbing his back, the calming motion keeping him grounded. “You wanna tell me what happened?”

Jungwoo heaved a big sigh, “I was just thinking that Jaehyun could be lying and he just could be tricking me because you know the center said...and with dinner with Kun...and he’s a doctor... and I’ve been so bad lately and…” Jungwoo trailed off as he choked on a sob. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I was scared too in the beginning that it was all too good to be true, but Yuta actually just turned out to be a good alpha and I think Jaehyun is the same. I wouldn’t leave you alone with someone that I thought would hurt you, okay? And I know you hate doctors, but I promise Kun isn’t the same, he’s actually a good guy, yeah?”

“Okay.” Jungwoo muttered. “I trust you.” He somehow managed to get even closer to  Sicheng, buried his head even further into his scent gland. And Jungwoo knew it couldn’t be very comfortable for Sicheng to have someone as big as Jungwoo pressed up against him, but the other omega didn’t seem to care, and just tightened his hold around Jungwoo. 

 

They stayed like that for the rest of the day, only finally exiting the room when it was time for Sicheng to go home. They didn’t even leave to eat lunch, Jungwoo not wanting to move yet and Jaehyun too scared by the lingering scent of distress to bother Sicheng and Jungwoo to tell them to eat. 

 

Notes:

i'm really sorry for the long wait, i work at a grocery store and between work, school, and track every weekday was 13+ hrs away from home, but now i just have work and unofficially track, so i should be able to update more, although i must say ppl rlly just need to chill, like the store is more busy than thanksgiving or christmas

pls leave a comment!! i absolutely love reading them! and also follow me on twitter!

Chapter 17

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

Jungwoo watched numbly as Sicheng prepared to leave with Yuta. He really didn’t want Sicheng to go home, to leave him all alone, but Yuta had come home from work looking absolutely exhausted and definitely not in the mood for Sicheng’s stubbornness. 

So Jungwoo had simply forced a smile onto his face and assured Sicheng that he would be fine for dinner even though his stomach felt as if it had been scooped out like a pumpkin on Halloween. 

However, Sicheng seemed to be blissfully ignorant of Jungwoo’s inner turmoil. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? And I promise that Kun is actually a really great person, just give him a chance.” the other omega said, hugging Jungwoo before he left.

The door closed behind Sicheng and Yuta with a heavy thump and Jungwoo realized that he and his shaking hands were now alone in the apartment with Jaehyun. Kun would be over in a little over an hour and Jungwoo was still wearing sweatpants with absolutely no plans for dinner. This was about to be a trainwreck.

 

In the hallway, Yuta turned to Sicheng and smirked, “You tell Jungwoo how great Kun is, but you didn’t like him at first either. I seem to remember someone running away and hiding under the bed at just the very mention of a doctor.”

“I wasn’t about to scare Jungwoo,” Sicheng defended, pouting softly at Yuta’s words, “Kun really isn’t that bad once you get over the fact that he’s a doctor.” 

“So we’ll just ignore the fact that you ran away from him at first sight?” The minute the words left Yuta’s mouth, he worried that he had gone too far. He and Sicheng never really joked around that much. Yuta tended to save his sarcasm for his other friends, afraid to hurt Sicheng’s feelings and make him even more afraid of alphas.

However, Sicheng responded almost immediately to Yuta’s quip: “I got the shots eventually, no?” a small smile graced Sicheng’s face as he spoke, causing Yuta’s face to absolutely light up. He was smiling so hard that he thought his face was about to break.

Sicheng had never been this brave, this outgoing before. He would usually just curl up at the slightest hint of anything going wrong, of him doing anything wrong. But this was different, Jungwoo brought out another side of Sicheng that Yuta absolutely loved, maybe all Sichneg had needed was someone else who was as scared as he was to help him realize that maybe alphas weren’t that bad, maybe Yuta wasn’t that bad.

“Yeah, you did get the shots eventually and I’m proud of you for that,” Yuta responded awkwardly, a second too late due to his internal monologue. 

Sicheng still blushed at his words and fidgeted with his hands, letting out a soft “thanks” that made Yuta’s heart melt. He was definitely going to spoil Sicheng tonight, make dinner for him, the whole nine yards. Sicheng deserved it after putting up with Yuta’s dumb alphaness for so long. 

 

“So, uh, what do you want to do for dinner?” Jaehyun asked, running his hand through his hair, glancing at Jungwoo who was still standing awkwardly at the door. “I mean I don’t want to make you do all of the work, but I can’t really stand and walk around in the kitchen, but Kun will shame me for ordering out because he’s a doctor and all, and...yeah,” Jaehyun ran a hand through his hair yet again as he racked his brain for a solution to his dilemma.

“I can just make dinner. I know how to,” Jungwoo offered. Cooking really wasn’t that big of a deal, they’d had lessons on it all the time at the center and he was confident that he could cook a decent meal with whatever ingredients Jaehyun had in his pantry. 

“But I feel bad just watching you cook without helping you out.” Jaehyun flopped dramatically back onto the couch and rubbed a hand over his face as if he was contemplating an end to world hunger or something equally as serious. Jungwoo did not think that the matter of cooking dinner was that serious. 

Jungwoo shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. Why was this so hard for Jaehyun to figure out? Omegas were supposed to cook dinner for their alphas. It was a simple fact of life. So why did Jaehyun seem to be so troubled over it? Did he not want to eat Jungwoo’s food? Did he think that Jungwoo was a bad cook? Was this some sort of alpha superiority thing? A test?

“Wait, I have a solution!” Jaehyun suddenly yelled, jolting up from the couch, wincing as he hit his ankle in the process. 

Jungwoo flinched at the loud noise that Jaehyun made and inadvertently took a step backwards, stumbling into the door, the handle poking uncomfortably into his back. 

“Oh, sorry,” Jaehyun muttered, voice dropping back down to a reasonable level. “I just realized that I could sit at the kitchen counter and help you out by cutting vegetables and stuff.”

Jungwoo eyed Jaehyun warrily and nodded.

“Cool! I’ll pull up a chair.” Jaehyun was off of the couch and dragging a chair over to the kitchen counter before Jungwoo could protest, already sitting by the time that Jungwoo processed what was happening. 

“So I definitely have rice, but I really don’t know what else. Are there still eggs left over from this morning? Maybe we could make bibimbap.”

Jungwoo just stared at Jaehyun who was now sitting in the kitchen, digging around in the cabinets that he could reach from his chair before he produced a knife and a cutting board. “I’m all ready, just give me things to chop up!” 

Jungwoo decided that Jaehyun was way too enthusiastic about this whole thing as he made his way over to the kitchen and pulled out a carrot, red bell pepper, spinach, and soybean sprouts for Jaehyun to chop up and otherwise prepare. “Oh wait, do we also have some chicken or beef or something? I’ll cut that up too.”

Jungwoo paused at Jaehyun’s words for a couple of reasons. First of all how did he not know what was in his own fridge? And second of all, Jaehyun had said ‘do we have’. We. As in him and Jungwoo. As in after like a week Jaehyun was already referring to things as theirs as if Jungwoo had any say in anything, as if Jungwoo somehow shared ownership of things, was a kind of equal. Omegas weren’t equals to alphas though and Jungwoo would never truly own anything of his own, so why had Jaehyun said ‘we’? Was it a slip of the tongue? Or did he actually mean it? Actually think of Jungwoo as a sort of partner, an equal?

Jungwoo’s train of thought was stopped as he actually got a good look at the inside of Jaehyun’s fridge and he suddenly realized why Jaehyun had no clue what was in it. The whole thing looked like a science experiment: there were opened cans and half eaten meals all over the place. Jungwoo had no clue how Sicheng had navigated this mess in order to find the eggs they had used this morning. 

“Oh yeah, I haven’t really cleaned that out in a while.” Jaehyun awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, having the audacity to look sheepish at the horrendous state of his fridge.

Jungwoo bit back the urge to reply with a sarcastic ‘oh really? I couldn’t tell,’ and just pursed his lips and nodded instead as he continued to rummage through Jaehyun’s fridge until he pulled out the carton of eggs and a package of beef he found in the freezer. Jaehyun really needed to a) clean out his fridge and b) go shopping. This state of affairs was quite pathetic.

Jungwoo didn’t say any of that, of course, terrified of the consequences. Instead, he worked on defrosting the beef and boiling the soybean sprouts, only god knew how old those were. 

While those were cooking, Jungwoo dug through Jaehyun’s cabinets until he found gochujang, but then again Jaehyun would be a horrible Korean if he didn’t even have gochujang. Jungwoo also found some sugar and salt, but no sesame oil. It’s not like it really mattered anyways, a perfectly fine sauce could be made with just gochujang, sugar, and water. 

The timer went off on the stove and Jungwoo took the boiling soy bean sprouts off the stove and put the beef onto it. Now, he just had to see how much time was left on the rice cooker, flip over the beef and he would be done as soon as he fried an egg. 

Jungwoo glanced around, wondering where he put the rice cooker when it hit him: he hadn’t started the rice cooker. 

This threw his whole timing off, dinner wasn’t going to be ready for Kun. Rice was the basis for the whole dish, how could he forget the most essential food? Such a stupid mistake. Jaehyun was going to be so mad when he found out that Jungwoo had messed up the timing for everything now. 

“Uh, Jungwoo? Is everything okay?” Jaehyun asked hesitatingly, confused by the way that Jungwoo had just frozen in the middle of his wild tirade of the kitchen, moving body suddenly stock still. 

“Rice,” Jungwoo muttered in response.

“Oh! I have that right here. The rice cooker and rice was in my reach so I decided to just go for it, if that’s okay? I think I made enough, but I’m absolutely horrible at these kinds of things.”

Jungwoo slowly pivoted on his heel, turning to stare at Jaehyun. “Rice?” he repeated, confused by the gentle way that Jaehyun talked to him, how he asked Jungwoo for permission, openly admitted his shortcomings. It was strange. Jaehyun was strange.

“Yes, rice!” Jaehyun held up the rice cooker as if it was his most prized possession.

“Oh,” Jungwoo was still trying to comprehend Jaehyun’s words and actions, when the stove timer went off once again forcing Jungwoo to spring into action to make sure that nothing burned. 

 

Jungwoo was just finishing up frying the last egg when the doorbell rang. 

“I’ll get it,” Jaehyun called, starting to get up from his stool. “Oh wait, no I won’t,” he realized, foot poised to touch down on the floor, comically frozen in midair. 

Jungwoo rolled his eyes where Jaehyun couldn’t see him and deposited the egg onto the final bowl of bibimbap before wiping off his hands on his pants and walking to the door, pretending that he was confident enough to properly greet Kun like an omega should.

“Hello Doctor Kun, how are you doing this evening?” Jungwoo asked as he peeled open the door to reveal the figure of Dr. Kun, Jungwoo’s voice only shaking a little. 

“I’m doing pretty okay, although the day at the office was a little long. So many people have been careless lately, leading to stupid injures, kind of like Jaehyun over here.”

“Hey! I can hear you,” Jaehyun whined, confined to his chair, not wanting to be yelled at by Kun for walking on his injured ankle. 

“Good,” Kun called back, walking into the kitchen. His face brightened as he saw the bibimbap still steaming on the kitchen counter. “Did you make this Jungwoo? It looks really good!”

“Jaehyun helped,” Jungwoo muttered at the same time Jaehyun exclaimed, “Yeah he did! He’s such a good cook, I could never. I didn’t even know I had these ingredients in my fridge!”

Kun shared a long look with Jaehyun that involved lots of head shaking and nodding and eyebrow movements that Jungwoo didn’t understand, but also didn’t try to, knowing that it wasn’t his place, and mostly just happy that the attention wasn’t on him anymore. 

Being with Kun was stressful. There were no other omegas to show Jungwoo how to compose himself and in a way this was truly the first guest that Jaehyun had entertained and Jungwoo had no clue how he was supposed to act. 

At the center, Jungwoo had been taught strict guidelines for these types of scenarios, but Jaehyun had been breaking the center’s rules left and right all week, not to mention the fact that Jungwoo had already broken at least three rules in the past five minutes: not setting the table, speaking over an alpha, not grabbing Kun’s bag for him at the door. Jungwoo felt his heart rate slowly accelerate as he realized just how many things he had messed up in such a short amount of time. What if Jaehyun expected him to behave better in front of Kun? He was a doctor after all. 

Jungwoo’s throat ran dry as the possibility of a punishment after Kun left washed over him. He was just going to have to try and be better for the remainder of Kun’s visit and hope that Jaehyun wasn't allowed to walk on his ankle afterwards. 

“I think that we should eat first and then I’ll look at your ankle, Jaehyun, if that’s alright? I’m just starving,” Kun stated smiling at Jungwoo after they were done talking. 

“That sounds good.” Jaehyun hopped off of the stool, balancing on his uninjured leg. He started to hop towards the table, but Kun stopped him with a pointed sigh. “My lord, it seems as if you want to get injured yet again. Do you really think hopping on one leg is the safest way to get around?”

Jaehyun stopped his slow progression, hand grasping the counter for balance, looking sheepishly back at Kun who just sighed once more before wrapping his arm around Jaehyun’s waist and helping the taller over to the table. 

Jungwoo grabbed two bowls and two pairs of chopsticks and followed Kun and Jaehyun, a healthy distance between him and the other two. He set the bowl on the table with a soft clang, eyes trained downwards to study the grains of the table rather than the two people who were seated. “Do you guys need anything else?” Jungwoo asked, gaze not moving from the table despite the fact that he knew he was supposed to look at the person he was addressing. Not in the eyes of course, that was just asking for a fight, but he was supposed to have his gaze on their clothes, chin, shoes, anything that was below eye level, but still clearly respectful. 

Neither person mentioned Jungwoo’s faux pas and instead said that they were both good and didn’t need anything else. Jungwoo took that as his cue to leave and headed back to the kitchen where he started to eat his bibimbap. 

“Jungwoo!” Jaehyun suddenly exclaimed, causing one of the chopsticks to slip out of Jungwoo’s hand and clatter to the floor. “What are you doing?”

“Eating?” Jungwoo answered quietly, frozen with fear. What had he done wrong? Was this bowl not for him? Was he not supposed to be eating it? He’d thought that Jaehyun’d said to make three bowls, one of them for him, but Jungwoo could’ve been mistaken.

 “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know that—I didn’t mean to—” Jungwoo started to babble, backing away from the bowl of food. “Please don’t—I’m so sorry—I—”

He should have known better, should have waited for Jaehyun and Dr. Kun to be done eating before he started to. Omegas just got leftovers and Jungwoo knew that. It was just with how Jaehyun had seemed to want Jungwoo to eat more and how chill he had been Jungwoo thought it was okay, had thought that the bowl was for him. But it hadn’t been. It hadn’t been okay and Jungwoo had just messed up in front of a guest, a doctor nonetheless. He was so screwed, in so much trouble. This kind of thing wasn’t easily overlooked, he’d been beaten almost bloody in the center for far less.

Jungwoo was dimly aware of the fact that he was now curled in on himself in the corner of the kitchen, breath coming far too fast, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. The prospect of being punished was overshadowing everything else, the only thing that Jungwoo could think about. It hurt less when Jungwoo wasn’t entirely in his body, when he let himself feel floaty, detached from the rest of the world, so he leaned into the feeling, let his thoughts consume him until there was nothing left but numbness. 

Far, far away, someone was calling his name, doubtlessly trying to reason with him, trying to trick him into doing something that would just make everything so much worse. The handlers liked to play games, liked to try and make Jungwoo do things to “get him out of trouble” but in the end, they only made things worse, made him suffer for twice as long. So Jungwoo had learned just to shut down, that if everyone was dead set on punishing him that it would happen whether or not he cooperated, whether or not he moved where they wanted him to. The handlers were perfectly capable of dragging his skinny body wherever they wanted. 

But then a soft blanket was draped over Jungwoo’s body, smelling of Sicheng and Ten and Taeil. Jungwoo dimly realized that they must have gotten this from his nest, must’ve gone into his room, his supposedly safe space to get this, but those thoughts were put on the back burned as Jungwoo breathed in the sweet and calming scent of his friends.

The blanket felt like a comforting hug and Jungwoo couldn’t help but draw it closer to his body, bury his nose in the fabric. 

Slowly Jungwoo became aware of Jaehyun’s voice, “It’s okay, buddy I’m not actually mad at you or anything, I was just suprised that you were eating in the kitchen; I assumed that you would eat at the table with us, but that was a stupid assumption to make and I should have just told you to eat at the table with us like a normal person would instead of being so loud. I’m sorry, I messed up.”

“‘m sorry too,” Jungwoo muttered into his blanket, “shouldn’t ‘ave o’erreacted,”

“No, no it’s not your fault, I promise. I’m just an idiot who has no volume control.”

Jungwoo almost smiled at that, hiding his face in the blanket to cover his reaction. Then, Jungwoo came to the realization that Jaehyun was in the kitchen, a decent distance for him to have traveled on his injured ankle. Not having the energy to articulate his full worries, Jungwoo just muttered a simple “Your ankle?” in hopes that Jaehyun would understand what he meant.

Luckily, Jaehyun wasn’t a total dunce. “Kun helped me over here, he figured you’d calm down better in response to someone you know.”

Jungwoo nodded and pulled his blanket closer to his body, wrapping himself in its comforting scent. After freaking out, he felt tired and sluggish, ready to just sleep.

“Hey Jungwoo?” Kun said and Jungwoo blinked up sleepily at him, “I really want you to finish your food if possible, it’s not good for you to be skipping meals. Do you want to eat here or at the table with Jaehyun and I?”

Jungwoo shrugged, he really didn’t want to eat. He had lost his appetite. But going to sleep hadn’t been an option. “Table,” he muttered into his blanket. It seemed like the safest choice, that’s what Jaehyun had originally wanted anyways.

“Good job for making a choice even though you didn’t want to,” Kun praised, “I’m going to help Jaehyun over to the table, and then if you need help I can help you too, if not, just meet us over there, alright?”

Jungwoo nodded as Jaehyun moaned about how much he hated having to be helped to walk like some sort of baby while Kun just ignored his whining. 

Jungwoo really didn’t need help with walking so he carefully stood up and rearranged his blanket before heading towards the table and sitting down the farest away he could, which only separated him and Jaehyun by one seat, but it was something.

Jaehyun smiled brightly as Jungwoo sat down and Kun stood back up and headed into the kitchen, an action that confused Jungwoo until he saw the doctor returning with his food and a clean pair of chopsticks. “Sorry,” Jungwoo murmed as the food he had forgotten was set in front of him.

“No, you’re good. It’s expected you’d be a little out of it after such a large panic attack.” Kun sat back down in his seat, but his words left Jungwoo reeling. Had he really just had a panic attack? He had heard about them before his time in the center, but wasn’t quite sure what all they entailed, just that they were scary and stuff. 

But would Jaehyun still want him now that he had panic attacks? No one wanted a broken omega. 

“Hey, buddy, whatever you’re thinking, I promise that it’s okay. I’m not mad at you, Kun isn’t mad at you, right now we just want you to eat your food and feel better, yeah?”

Oh, right, Jungwoo was supposed to be eating. He lifted a bite of food to his mouth. Kun and Jaehyun both sent him big smiles before they launched into some talk about some of their friends and work and some other stuff that Jungwoo didn’t really care to listen to. 

Some time later, when Jungwoo had resigned himself to playing with the rest of the food left in his bowl, Kun stood up and grabbed his and Jaehyun’s empty bowls, pausing at Jungwoo’s which was still almost half full. “Are you done?”

“Yeah, sorry.” Jungwoo looked at the table when he spoke, not wanting to see the disappointment and worry that was probably in Kun’s eyes. 

“I’ll have that.” Jaehyun reached towards Jungwoo’s food, but Kun batted his hand away. “Jungwoo, I want you to try and finish this later tonight when you’re hungry, okay? I’ll leave this in the fridge for you and you can warm it up. In fact, I want you to try and eat small portions throughout the day whenever you are hungry, alright? This way you can start to build back up your appetite and get more food. Sound like a plan?”

Jungwoo nodded. He wasn’t about to go digging through the fridge and pantry every two hours or whatever, that was just asking for a punishment, but Kun didn’t need to know that.

“Oh, you can just eat with me! I have snacks often so you and I can just snack whenever!” Jaehyun exclaimed, unreasonably happy by this declaration. “And you are always welcome to any food in the house whenever you want it, you don’t even have to ask me. In fact you can make a list of snacks that you like and I’ll make sure that when I go shopping that I’ll buy them! Imagine all the food!”

Kun laughed and Jungwoo let a small smile grace his face. “Alphas and their food.” Kun shook his head, looking towards Jungwoo as if they were sharing some sort of secret even though Jaehyun was sitting right there and could clearly hear what Kun had said.

Kun went to wash the dishes even though he was the guest and Jungwoo should be the one doing such a thing. However, Jungwoo didn’t have the energy to protest and was perfectly content to just sit at the table wrapped up in his blanket even though he'd probably get yelled at for being lazy later.

“You can go to your room if you want,” Jaehyun suddenly stated. “I mean you look really tired and I feel bad for making you stay out here when you look like all you want to do is sleep.”

Jungwoo perked up at the prospect of being able to go sleep in his room, “Really?”

“Yeah, Kun won’t mind, we’re pretty good friends. In fact he probably would prefer that you be asleep. You know how doctors are.”

“Oh, okay,” Jungwoo muttered, gathering his blanket around him and hurrying towards his room before anyone could change their mind. He really just wanted to sleep and forget the mess that had been Kun’s visit.



Notes:

i saw a tortoise on my run the other day just chilling in the middle of the trail and i really wish i could just chill out like that tortoise was, without a care in the world, not even bothered when i went up right next to him.

basically the world is crazy right now and i hope that everyone is able to take some time to themselves to chill and that you guys aren't all dying of boredom, i luckily have work to keep me plenty busy

stay safe and healthy!! and pls comment!! i love hearing from you guys <3

Chapter 18

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

“So how did it go with Kun yesterday?” Sicheng asked from where he had sprawled himself half on top of Jungwoo in his attempt to wake up the younger. 

“Spectacular,” Jungwoo muttered in response, burying his head back into his pillow, chasing after a couple more minutes of sleep. Yuta’s work started early which resulted in Sicheng coming over at an ungodly hour. 

“Korean isn’t my first language, but even I could tell that was sarcasm. What happened? I swear Kun really is nice.”

“He’s nice,” Jungwoo admitted, face still firmly planted in his pillow. “I’m just stupid.”

“Jungwoo,” Sicheng started to run his hand through Jungwoo’s hair, playing with the strands, knowing that the action always caused Jungwoo to relax, the tension seeping out of his body. “How about you tell me what happened so that I can judge if it was stupid or not?”

“Fine.” Jungwoo flipped over so that he could look Sicheng in the eye as he spoke. “I ate in the kitchen but they wanted me to eat at the table with them and I freaked out. Kun said that I had a panic attack.”

“See? That’s not stupid.”

“Sure.” Jungwoo went back to burying his head in his pillow.

Sicheng was about to continue with his effort to get through to Jungwoo when the door to the room opened and a very peppy Ten entered. 

“Guess what guys? I convinced Johnny to get us some ice cream!”

“What? Why would you—” Sicheng stumbled over his words in shock.

“Because I can! We had to stop at the store before we came and I asked Johnny for ice cream because he was forcing me to go inside and he said yes. So now we have ice cream!”

Sicheng stared at Ten disbelievingly. “Taeil is right, Johnny is whipped ,” he muttered.

“Jungwoo!” Ten leaped onto Jungwoo’s back, ignoring Sicheng’s comment. “I got you mint chocolate ice cream because it’s your favorite. Don’t you want some? We can even split Sicheng’s ice cream because he’s being annoying and judging me for eating ice cream for breakfast.”

“Ugh. Sleep,” Jungwoo groaned, burying his face even farther into his pillow.

“Come on, wake up, have some ice cream, live a little.” Ten shook Jungwoo’s shoulder in an attempt to rouse the younger, but Jungwoo stayed with his head glued to his pillow. 

“Please? When was the last time you had ice cream?

“Hgh,” Jungwoo responded into his pillow.

“Fine, be like that.” Ten flopped backwards on top of Jungwoo, “But know that you brought this upon yourself,” Ten smirked before yelling “Jaehyun! We need your help!”

“Now that was dirty,” Sicheng muttered as the sound of Jaehyun limping around the apartment filled the room.

A knock sounded on the door before it was opened and Jaehyun stuck his head through, still respecting boundaries even though panic bled through his voice: “Is everything all right? I heard Ten called?”

“I just wanted to know if it was okay if Jungwoo ate ice cream for breakfast?” Ten plastered his cutest smile on his face.

“Yeah, of course! Jungwoo can eat ice cream for breakfast everyday if that’s what he wants.” Jaehyun squinted into the room after he was done speaking, as if he had just realized that ice cream for breakfast wasn’t a normal thing. “Is Jungwoo okay? If this is about last night, he really didn’t do anything wrong and Kun said to tell Jungwoo that he is really proud of him, not disappointed at all, and that dinner was delicious and we should do it at his place sometime. Oh and also my ankle is sprained so I have to use crutches for the next couple of days.”

Jungwoo peeked his head out from where it was buried in his pillows and blankets to see Jaehyun and his crutches. “Sorry,” he squeaked out before hiding his face once again. 

“Don't be sorry, I did this all to myself.” Jaehyun said with a big grin on his face. “Now please enjoy the ice cream, you deserve it.” Jaehyun then turned around to crutch away, closing the door behind him with little difficulty. It clearly was not his first time on crutches.

“Now will you eat?” Ten asked Jungwoo the minute Jaehyun left.

Jungwoo pulled down the covers to reveal his face. “Do you think Jaehyun was telling the truth?”

“About what?” Sicheng asked at the same time as Ten shot out a sarcastic “Yes,”

“About him and Kun not being mad at me,” Jungwoo answered, ignoring Ten.

“Of course he’s telling the truth, why would he lie?” Sicheng responded, likewise ignoring the faces Ten was now making.

“To gain my trust so he can break me down again.”

“Where on earth did you get that idea?” Ten butted in before Sicheng could respond.

“From the handlers, they said that alphas were never truly nice and that everything was just a mind game, so that they could test their omegas and mold them to be perfect.”

“Oh that’s just ridiculous,” Ten snorted, “Believe me, Jaehyun is many things, but manipulative is not one of them. He is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. He’s never gotten mad at me, and believe me I have tried it all.”

“I’ve only ever seen him mad once and that was when someone smacked Taeil on the butt when we were shopping at the mall because they apparently hadn’t seen the mating mark on his neck. Taeil probably could’ve handled the situation on his own, but man, Jaehyun just went off. He started yelling at the poor guy about respecting people and omegas and how that was totally unacceptable and how he should call the cops on the guy. It took the combined forces of Yuta and Taeil to calm him down.”

“Damn, I wish I’d been there. I’ve been wanting to see Jaehyun get mad for a while now,” Ten said wistfully. “But then again, that might require me going out and that’s gross.”

Jungwoo finally sat up in his bed, “You really think that Jaehyun is good?” as he spoke, Jungwoo mindlessly accepted the ice cream that Ten handed him, the older taking advantage of Jungwoo’s temporary distractedness. 

“Of course, I would never lie to you,” Sicheng answered. “Plus have you ever seen Jaehyun do anything malicious? Sure, he can be a clumsy fool at times, but he has a heart of gold.”

“I guess not…” Jungwoo took the proffered spoon from Ten who was on cloud 9 that Jungwoo was so close to finally eating his ice cream. “Jaehyun has always tried to be understanding and caring, I suppose.” Jungwoo took a bite of his melty ice cream.

“Finally!” Ten exclaimed. “It only took like 20 minutes to get you to eat that.”

Sicheng hit Ten over the head with a pillow. “It’s okay to be scared and take things slowly, but you also need to learn how to trust people, especially alphas, again and I think Jaehyun is a great way to do that. Especially because he really does care for you and won't get mad at you, you’re way too cute for that.”

Jungwoo’s face turned bright red at Sicheng’s compliment. “You think I’m cute? The handlers always called me ugly because I’m so tall and gangly.”

“How dare they?” Ten gasped. “Excuse me, I have to go fight some bitches for telling my Jungwoo that he’s ugly.” 

Ten got to the door in mock seriousness before Sicheng’s and Jungwoo’s giggles stopped him. “What’s so funny? I really will go fight them.”

“And how will you get there? You refuse to even go outside,” Sicheng laughed, almost knocking over his carton of ice cream.

Ten turned around with a pout on his face, looking as sad and hurt as possible, before giving up when no one paid him any attention and pouncing on top of Sicheng and Jungwoo. “Oh you’re going to regret saying that,” he joked as he started to ruthlessly tickle Sicheng until the younger begged for forgiveness.

 

Soon the tickling dissolved, leaving the three of them breathing heavily on Jungwoo’s bed as they recovered from their bout of laughter.

“You know, I can’t remember the last time I laughed this hard,” Jungwoo said, spooning some more ice cream into his mouth, “it feels good.”

“I’m glad. You deserve this laughter and more. We all do. If you don’t spend your life happy and laughing then you’re doing something wrong.” Ten responded, his carton of ice cream discarded and empty on the floor. 

Sicheng purred happily in agreement, his mouth full of the ice cream he had managed to wrestle from Ten who had quickly changed his tune from ‘you don't deserve this ice cream’ to ‘of course you can have it’ the minute he was pinned to the bed.

“Wait.” Jungwoo turned over to face Sicheng, “You can control your purring? How?”

Ten ruffled Jungwoo’s hair. “Aw, poor baby omega can’t control his purring.”

Sicheng kicked Ten in the shin. “It just takes practice, you’ll get it one day.” He smiled at Jungwoo encouragingly while Ten just let out a purr with an evil smile.

“You know, the more you purr, the better you will get at controlling it,” Sicheng said.

“Oh, I think I like this idea,” Ten responded, “Operation Get Jungwoo to Purr is now commenced.”

“The one time you two can work together,” Jungwoo muttered, but leaned into Ten’s embrace all the same.

Sicheng settled on Jungwoo’s other side and started to run his fingers through Jungwoo’s hair. It felt heavenly, the way Sicheng’s fingers carded through his soft hair in a rhythmic motion, it was enough for the start of a purr to tickle Jungwoo’s throat. Ten then linked his hand together with Jungwoo’s and started to play with his fingers and a low rumble started to come from Jungwoo’s throat, growing louder as his body slowly began to relax, melting into the sheets.

“You’re so cute,” Sicheng smiled, running his hand along Jungwoo’s face, causing his purr to spike in volume. Jungwoo couldn’t help the blush that sprouted on his face, his purring giving away how much he was touch starved from his time at the center.

“It’s okay, it’s nothing to be ashamed of, you should hear Ten when you give him a back massage,” Sicheng said with a small laugh as he ran his index finger down Jungwoo’s face one more.

For once, Ten didn’t say anything, but just snuggled even closer into Jungwoo’s side and let out a soft purr of his own, which definitely did increase in volume when Jungwoo started to gently rub his back.

 Sicheng soon started purring too, as he let his body relax even further into the space beside Jungwoo, his hands still stroking Jungwoo’s hair.

They would have stayed like that forever, purring as they cuddled together, intertwined. But unfortunately all good things have an end as a couple hours later a knock sounded on the door. “Hey guys, I’m sorry to interrupt, but Johnny told me I had to make sure that you guys had lunch so I made some sandwiches and normally I would leave them at the door for you guys, but I couldn’t figure out how to carry the plate with my crutches, so yeah. I mean you can still eat in there and stuff, you just have to go to the kitchen to get your food.”

“That’s okay,” Ten yelled back, “Thank you so much, we’ll be out in just a second.”

“Okay, cool.” Jaehyun’s crutches clanged against the floor as he returned back to the kitchen. Jungwoo had no clue how Jaehyun managed to be so noisy on them, didn’t they have rubber tips?

“Ugh, we should get going,” Sicheng grumbled, sitting up which caused Jungwoo to whine at the loss of contact, the sound forcing its way out of mouth before he even realized what was happening.

“Wait that was so cute,” Ten gushed as he pulled Jungwoo into his lap. “You’re such a baby omega it’s adorable.”

“Except it’s time to eat right now,” Sicheng deadpanned.

“What a party pooper.” Ten dragged Jungwoo to his feet, keeping his arm slung around the taller’s waist the entire time, a gesture that Jungwoo was ever grateful for, not quite ready to lose all points of contact with the others so quickly. 

Sicheng grabbed Jungwoo’s free hand and like that they were off to the kitchen, Jungwoo half stumbling along, still feeling kind of floaty after spending the past few hours blissed out and purring. 

However, when they entered the kitchen where Jaehyun was standing while squeezing mayo onto his sandwich, Jungwoo suddenly felt a lot more awake. 

“Are these ours?” Ten asked, pointing at the three plates of sandwiches and potato chips that sat on the counter.

“Yes! If you need anything more, feel free to help yourselves,” Jaehyun responded, a big smile on his face.

“They look great!” Ten said, grabbing the plates. “I can also put yours on the table if you want?”

“Oh, you would do that? That’d be great! I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to carry it myself.” Jaehyun rubbed his neck as he looked down at his crutches in exasperation. 

A couple of minutes later, Jungwoo found himself sandwiched in between Sicheng and Ten as Jaehyun eagerly ate across the table. After a small nudge from Sciheng, Jungwoo took a bite of his own sandwich. Once the food was in his mouth, Jungwoo realized how hungry he was despite having ice cream for breakfast and quickly took a second bite.

“You know Jaehyun, Sicheng and I weren’t planning on coming over tomorrow so that you and Jungwoo can spend more time together.”

Jungwoo choked on his sandwich, unable to believe what Ten had just said. They wanted to do what?

Apparently Jaehyun was just as surprised as Jungwoo as he coughed back up the sip of water he had just taken at Ten’s words. “You’re doing what?” Jaehyun asked as soon as he got his breath back.

“We’re giving you two time together so that you can bond. You guys do live together and we don’t want Jungwoo to get too reliant on our presence.” Ten explained.

“Oh, um, okay?” 

“We just wanted to give you a little bit of a heads up so you could plan what you wanted to do together,” Sicheng added.

Jungwoo, who had finally finished choking, sent both Sicheng and Ten glares that clearly said that they were going to have to talk about this later, but for the time being, just took another bite of his sandwich.

 

“Why are you leaving me alone tomorrow?” Jungwoo whined once they were back in his room, out of Jaehyun’s hearing. 

“You need to become more comfortable with Jaehyun, you two are living together after all. We can’t be here all the time.” Ten declared, falling back onto Jungwoo’s bed.

“And this way you and Jaehyun can do something fun together and bond. It’ll be good for you, I promise.” Sicheng squeezed Jungwoo’s hand comfortingly and looked up at him with soft, puppy eyes.

“I suppose that kind of makes sense,” Jungwoo muttered.

“Good! Plus, Johnny and Yuta don’t really like us always smelling like Jaehyun since we’re over here all the time and needed a day to ‘reclaim our scents’ or something,” Ten groaned. “I didn’t really understand what Johnny was saying, if I’m completely honest, all I heard was stupid alpha stuff. But I did agree with the fact that you and Jaehyun needed time together.”

“The alphas will help Jaehyun plan something fun. But until we have to go, we can always snuggle more.” Sicheng pulled Jungwoo onto the mountain of pillows on the bed and he relaxed enough to forget his fears about tomorrow.



Notes:

aahhh i'm sorry for the slow update, but wayv's new album is so good and the mv is sooo good and then skz comeback today, they rlly just popped off

please leave a comment i absolutely love reading them
also check out my new CC and follow me on twitter!

Chapter 19

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

”So, uh, what do you want to do today?” Jaehyun asked, standing awkwardly in the doorway to Jungwoo’s room. 

Jungwoo’s plan had been to pretend to sleep for the full day , but apparently Jaehyun thought that he should be awake at 11 am. It was something about Jungwoo having gone to bed at 9:00 and Kun saying that he shouldn’t let Jungwoo sleep too much. 

“We could watch a movie? Or a tv show? I bet there’s a lot you missed while in the center.” Jaehyun suddenly stopped. “Wait am I supposed to mention the center or is that a forbidden topic like Taeil in college?”

“It doesn’t really matter,” Jungwoo muttered into his pillow. He really didn’t feel like having a heart to heart with Jaehyun about his time spent in the center, especially because just thinking about it made his heart race and breathing quicken. But now he had something to ask Taeil about. Or maybe ask Ten about since apparently Taeil didn’t like to talk about it. 

“We could play video games or go to the park, but do you feel like going outside? If not that’s fine, I know Ten still hates going out and Sicheng almost refuses to leave his apartment, but there’s plenty of other things to do.”

Jungwoo was amazed by how much Jaehyun could talk, awkwardly propped up on his crutches in the doorway as he rambled on about all the possibilities for the day.

 But even more notable had been his phrasing: ‘Sicheng’s apartment’. It was a simple thing, but it showed that maybe Ten was right and Jaehyun was different from the alphas Jungwoo had learned about in the center. Maybe Jaehyun really did see omegas as human. Maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t all some sort of elaborate prank. 

“Wait, you need to eat before we do anything, you just woke up and I’ve been told by several people that you need to have at least three meals a day. What would you like to eat? We could do takeout if you liked, or I could make something. There’s honestly not a ton of food in the fridge, I really do need to go shopping, but I could figure something out.”

Jaehyun stared at Jungwoo expectantly and Jungwoo realized that there was a question he had to answer. “Uh, takeout?”

“Cool, what do you want?”

“Um...”

“Does pizza sound all right?” Jaehyun asked after noticing Jungwoo’s hesitation.

Jungwoo simply nodded in response, glad that he didn’t have to worry about picking something that Jaehyun didn’t like. 

“Okay, I’ll go place the order and you can get dressed.” Jaehyun gave him a very awkward thumbs up before crutching away, the door slamming shut behind him. Jungwoo couldn’t help but flinch at the loud noise, but not even two seconds later, Jaehyun sheepishly said through the door, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.”

Jungwoo felt a small smile tug at the corners of his lips as he browsed through his clothes, looking for something to wear. Jaehyun really was just a big, clumsy dork at times. 

Feeling more confident than usual, Jungwoo put on the pair of skinny jeans and sweater that Jaehyun had praised at the mall and headed out of his room.

Jaehyun looked up from where he was sitting and his face slackened. “Oh, that looks good. Your outfit, I mean. It looks really nice.” He closed his mouth and blinked several times as if he was trying to clear his head.

Jungwoo really had no idea that his clothes would elicit such a reaction. Sure, it was a big change from the comfy oversized clothes he had been wearing recently, but it wasn’t like he was wearing a tank top or something that showed off a lot of skin.

“Oh, thank you,” Jungwoo muttered, his voice barely over a whisper.

Jaehyun somehow managed to hear him, though, because he responded with a quick “You’re welcome,” scratching the back of his neck before he continued talking. “So, uh, I just realized that you never got decorations for your room, would you like to do that today after we eat lunch?”

“Sure.”

“Great!” Jaehyun made a move to stand up, belatedly realizing that his ankle was still healing. He fell back onto the couch with a soft “oof” 

After a minute of struggling to grab his crutches, Jaehyun gave up and looked over to Jungwoo sheepishly, “So, uh, could you please grab my laptop for me? It’s just on the desk in my room.”

Jungwoo nodded quickly and practically ran to the door of Jaehyun’s room. However, once he got there, he just stopped and stared. Jaehyun’s smell was prominent even through the door and it was making his whole body tense up. The strong scent of alpha made Jungwoo practically quake, he wanted to run away so badly, go back to his room and take cover underneath his blankets.

However, Jaehyun had given him very clear directions to follow out, so he took a deep breath and slowly pushed open the door, revealing Jaehyun’s room. The bed was under the window, unmade, the sheets askew. His room wasn’t horribly messy, but it wasn't exactly clean either. The bookshelf squeezed in by the foot of the bed was organized, but there was a small pile of clothes by the closet and there were several papers strewn over his desk.

Jungwoo focused his attention on the desk and spotted Jaehyun’s computer sitting in the middle. Thankful that he didn’t have to search for the device, Jungwoo grabbed it and scurried out of Jaehyun’s room. Even though he had permission, it had still felt wrong to stand in an alpha’s space. 

Jungwoo returned to find Jaehyun sitting at the table instead of the chair that he had previously been occupying.

“I figured this would be easier.” Jaehyun smiled and beckoned Jungwoo over.

Jungwoo handed the laptop to Jaehyun and gingerly slid into the chair next to him at Jaehyun’s gesture.

“Okay so what kind of style were you thinking of?” Jaehyun asked as he typed on the keyboard, eyes not leaving his computer screen.

“Um, I’m not quite sure. What do I need to get?”

“Well right now you only have a bed and dresser in your room, so maybe a chair or desk or something? You could also get some decorations for the walls so they aren’t blank. Also, I was thinking of getting you a soft rug and more blankets because I know you curl up with Ten, Taeil, and Sicheng on the floor a lot. Is there any particular theme or aesthetic you want to go with?”

A part of Jungwoo wished that Jaehyun would just pick out all of the decorations and stuff for him because he had no clue what he wanted his room to look like. Maybe he could just ask Jaehyun what kind of stuff he preferred and go off of that. “Uh, I don’t know, what do you like?”

Jaehyun’s face scrunched up at Jungwoo’s question and Jungwoo sunk into his chair, trying to make himself seem smaller. Apparently that wasn’t the right thing to ask.

Jaehyun took a deep breath before speaking. “Jungwoo, it doesn’t matter what I like. I want you to pick out what you want, don’t worry about what I think. This is your room.”

Jungwoo wrung his fingers together, he really had no clue what to pick. The last time he had a room of his own was before the center and for the most part his parents had chosen his decor.

“I have an idea, what if I pull up Pinterest rooms on my phone and you can choose which ones you like and we can then go off of that?” Jaehyun suggested, already handing his phone to Jungwoo, the screen full of differently styled rooms. “You can just screenshot the ones that you like.”

“How do I do that?” The phone that Jaehyun handed Jungwoo looked nothing like the phones that he remembered. It was supposedly an iPhone, but there was no home button on the bottom, the front almost all screen except for the camera on top.

“Sorry, phones look a lot different now than they did 5 years ago. To take a screenshot you press the side power button and the volume up. Like this.” Jaehyun reached over to show Jungwoo what he meant, but Jungwoo flinched back from the hands suddenly near him, almost falling out of his chair. 

“Sorry,” Jungwoo ducked his head, refusing to look at Jaehyun after his gross overreaction.

“Why are you apologizing? I’m the one who’s sorry for scaring you. I should have known better than to reach into your space without warning you. Ten has slapped me for less.”

Jungwoo smiled at that, quickly covering his mouth so that Jaehyun wouldn’t notice and take offense.

But of course Jaehyun saw the action. “Don’t cover your smile, it’s so pretty,” he whined, “You can laugh at me anytime you want, especially if I deserve it, which I did.”

Jungwoo’s face flushed a bright red, but he put his hand down so that Jaehyun could see his smile.

“That’s much better,” Jaehyun said with a smile of his own, his brown eyes twinkling in the light.

Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door, surprising both Jungwoo and Jaehyun.

“Crap, I almost forgot about the pizza. Can you please grab that for me? It’s already paid for.”

Jungwoo nodded and returned with a box of hot pizza a minute later.

“It smells so good.” Jaehyun pushed his laptop to the side and grabbed a slice of the pepperoni pizza, devouring it at an almost inhuman speed. Jungwoo couldn’t help but stare in awe as Jaehyun downed three slices with barely even a break. 

After downing his fourth slice, Jaehyun came up for a breath of air and looked at Jungwoo strangely. “Is that your first piece?” He gestured to the half-eaten slice of pizza in Jungwoo’s hand.

“Yes?” Jungwoo answered, not quite sure where Jaehyun was going with his question.

“You need to eat more!” he exclaimed, piling three more slices onto Jungwoo’s plate. “There, now you can have four slices and I can have six. Is that okay? Or do you want five slices?” He paused for a moment as if he was thinking. “Maybe I should give you five, you’re almost as tall as me and you didn’t eat breakfast.”

“It’s okay, I don’t need five slices,” Jungwoo cut in before Jaehyun could pile another piece onto his plate. “I mean honestly, four is probably too much, so you can have another one of mine if you want.”

Jaehyun looked almost insulted by Jungwoo’s words and he wished more than anything that he could just take back what he had said. He really didn’t want Jaehyun to be angry at him. What if Jaehyun took away all of his food as a punishment for speaking back?

With that thought in mind, Jungwoo shoved the rest of his pizza slice into his mouth, hoping to eat as much as possible before he was cut off for who knows how long.

His hand was on a second slice when Jaehyun called out for him to stop. “Wait Jungwoo, I didn’t mean for you to eat faster. Please slow down, you’ll make yourself sick.” Jungwoo barely paid Jaehyun any mind, halfway done with his second piece.

“I just wanted to make sure you got enough, it’s okay if you can’t eat all four slices, you can just have them for dinner or lunch tomorrow or something.” 

Jungwoo was done with his second slice and he was starting to feel kind of queasy. He reached for a third slice, but a hand on his stopped him. Jungwoo jerked back in surprise, holding the hand that Jaehyun had touched to his chest. This was it, Jaehyun was going to take away his food. 

“I’m really sorry Jungwoo,” Jaehyun said, his eyes looking genuine, “but you need to slow down. You still haven’t been eating very much and at this pace you’ll make yourself sick. I promise you can have all the pizza you want, but I need you to take a couple of deep breaths for me first, okay?”

“You’re not going to take the food away?” Jungwoo asked, his voice barely over a whisper.

Jaehyun’s face softened. “Jungwoo, I will never starve you. You can eat anytime you want to as long as you don’t make yourself sick, yeah? The pantry and fridge are open to you anytime you want.”

“Anytime? Even late at night?”

Jaehyun let out a small smile. “Yes even late at night.” He picked up his fifth slice of pizza. “It’s okay for you to eat more if your stomach feels okay. If not, you can always eat it later and look at Pinterest in the meantime. My phone password is 966966.”

Jungwoo nodded and reached for Jaehyun’s phone, his stomach not feeling the best after inhaling a slice and a half of pizza.

The next few minutes were filled with the sound of Jaehyun eating two more slices of pizza and the small ‘click’ sound that the phone made whenever Jungwoo took a screenshot of room decorations he particularly liked. 

The rooms he liked were mostly full of fuzzy blankets, pops of color, and plants. Basically the exact opposite of the dark, drab center. 

Jungwoo was so caught up in looking at pictures, mind absorbed in decorating his room, that he didn’t even notice that Jaehyun was looking over his shoulder, noting what Jungwoo liked and pulling up similar things on his computer.

“Jungwoo, do you want to look through these webpages and pick out what you like? I sorted based on the pictures you liked.” Jaehyun slid his computer over to Jungwoo, the screen full of fuzzy blankets. Jaehyun clicked through the tabs, showing Jungwoo how the next one was full of bed sheets, one with rugs, another with pillows. 

“And while you’re going through that, do you want to watch a movie? What is the last Marvel movie you watched?”

“Um, I’m not sure. It had Captain America in it?” Jungwoo answered. The last time he’d seen a Marvel movie was five years ago and he really couldn’t remember anything about it.

“Have you seen Thor?”

“I don’t know?”

Jaehyun seemed to sense Jungwoo’s distress as his next words were gentle. “That’s alright, we can just start with the first Thor movie as a refresher. Thor is my favorite. Last Halloween I even dressed up as him.”

Jungwoo nodded as Jaehyun slid a DVD into the TV, Thor clearly was his favorite if he even had the DVD.

The movie started and Jungwoo realized that he had already watched it, he vaguely remembered the scenes, but at least that made it easier to shop and watch the movie at the same time.

The rest of the day continued in much the same way and by the end of it Jungwoo had seen four more Marvel movies and had ordered decorations for his room that included a big, fluffy rug that he was particularly excited about.



Notes:

i know the wait is too long when i'm trying to write the next chapter and i forgot what had happened. thankfully ctrl f exists

Chapter 20

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

Jaehyun was cleared by Kun to walk without his crutches several days later. Jungwoo was instantly made aware of the occasion by a very dramatic Jaehyun dropping his crutches and running a lap around the apartment cheering.

Jungwoo could hear Kun’s sigh through the speaker of Jaehyun’s phone from where he was sitting on the couch. He was reading a book that Taeil had recommended that featured an omega who strained against the constraints put upon her second gender. Jungwoo could see why Taeil liked it so much. 

“Jungwoo, do you want to go to the park today?” Jaehyun asked, slightly out of breath from all of his running around, but his smile beaming bigger than ever.

“Um,”

“It’ll be so much fun! We can rent bikes and walk along the river and have a picnic!” Jungwoo was truthfully terrified of going outside after the fiasco at the mall, but Jaehyun was smiling so widely that Jungwoo couldn’t find it in his heart to say no, even if his heart started to pound at the mere thought of leaving Jaehyun’s apartment.

“Sure, we can go,” Jungwoo said, regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth. If only he had the courage to actually speak his mind, instead of just going along with what Jaehyun said, terrified of what would happen if he disagreed.

“Great! I’ll pack a picnic basket, you can keep reading your book.” And with that Jaehyun was off, his sock clad feet slipping on the tile as he ran to his room.

Every day it was becoming more and more obvious to him why Ten called Jaehyun an overexcitable puppy. His energy seemed to be endless.

Several chapters of Jungwoo’s book later, Jaehyun was ready, a backpack that was presumably full of food slung over his shoulder. 

“Uh, there’s just one thing we need to do before we go out.” Jaehyun rubbed the back of his neck and Jungwoo felt a twinge of panic shoot through his body. Had he done something wrong? Was this a punishment? Jungwoo hadn’t helped Jaehyun pack, but he thought that it was okay because Jaehyun had told him to read. Maybe that was a test of some sort?

“You, uh, have to put on a collar. It’s not something I believe in at all, but all omegas have to have one on when they go outside otherwise they’ll be labeled as a stray and I’m really sorry about this, but Taeil said it was important especially because you don’t know how to defend yourself, and, yeah.”

Jungwoo felt a sense of relief at Jaehyun’s words. The center had prepared him for collars, this was something he could easily do. “It’s okay Jaehyun, the center told us about this. Wearing a collar isn’t a problem.”

Jaehyun cringed at that, “It’s just so archaic and I feel like I’m claiming you, but you’re your own person and yeah. I got you a small one though,” He pulled a thin strip of fabric out of his bag that was more a choker than a collar with a tiny tag on the front and font so small you practically needed a magnifying glass to read Jaehyun’s phone number.

“I hope it’s alright, it’s the smallest one I could find and it has lots of the loops things so you can make it really loose.” He handed the collar to Jungwoo to put on.

Jungwoo fastened it somewhat loosely around his neck, “It’s good,” he said with a sheepish smile.

Jaehyun looked like he was going to protest, but instead replied, “I’m glad. Now let’s get going, I’m so excited to walk around without those stupid crutches!”

 

When they exited the apartment, Jungwoo paused. The sun felt great warming his skin for the first time in several years. He was too out of it to truly appreciate the sun when he first left the center and when he and Jaehyun had gone to the mall, the day was cloudy, about to rain, so the last time Jungwoo had truly felt the sun on his skin like this was before the center. Maybe going outside wouldn’t be all that bad.

“It feels good, doesn’t it?” Jaehyun asked, smiling fondly at Jungwoo who just quietly nodded in response, embarrassed at being caught enjoying such a simple thing.

“I, too, love the sun. We can start going out more if you’d like?”

Jungwoo just shrugged in response. It depended on how today went. Sure, the sun felt great, but if this outing turned out anything like the last then it wasn’t worth it. Jungwoo could learn to be happy just always staying inside Jaehyun’s apartment. His room at least had a window. 

Belatedly, Jungwoo realized he had just shrugged in response to an alpha: something that would have cost him in the center.

Jaehyun, however, hadn’t seemed to mind and had just continued walking as if nothing had happened. A part of Jungwoo wanted to push Jaehyun until he was at his limits, until he snapped, just to see how much wiggle room he really had. 

But then Jungwoo looked at Jaehyun and his biceps and thought about how much it would hurt to be struck by someone so muscular, and decided he was fine with not exactly knowing where the line was. 

“So what do you want to do first?” Jaehyun asked, “The picnic, bikes, or walk?”

“Uh,” Jungwoo really hated making decisions, he always felt like he was going to make the wrong one and then Jaehyun would be mad at him. “Whatever you want works for me.”

“Oh.” A look of pity flashed across Jaehyun’s face before it was replaced with his normal smile. “We can have lunch first then! I’m pretty hungry.”

Jungwoo released a small sigh of relief; he would’ve picked the walk first and Jaehyun would’ve been upset because he wanted to eat. Even if it made Jaehyun look at him with pity, having the alpha pick was always the best way to go—that way no one was disappointed. 

 

The rest of their walk to the river was full of Jaehyun’s chattering, but to be honest, Jungwoo wasn’t really paying attention to what Jaehyun was saying. Instead, he was hyper focused on everyone passing by. Jungwoo didn’t want to be caught off guard by some alpha sneaking up on him again, so he watched everyone passing by through lowered eyelashes, and whenever someone’s gaze lingered on him for too long, Jungwoo would angle himself towards Jaehyun, trying his best to make it obvious that he was claimed. 

Everything was going decently well until someone cut between Jaehyun and Jungwoo. Jungwoo wasn’t walking particularly close to Jaehyun and the streets were crowded so it was something that was probably bound to happen, but it didn’t make Jungwoo panic any less.

For the brief moment that Jungwoo lost sight of Jaehyun, he felt his heart jump in his chest. What if he lost Jaehyun? What if someone grabbed him and Jaehyun didn’t see? Jungwoo didn't know this part of the city and while he was fairly confident that he could find his way back to Jaehyun’s apartment, he had no way to get inside the building. 

Someone else cut in front of Jungwoo, just a little too close for his liking and Jungwoo found himself unable to draw in enough air.

Everything seemed to be spinning around him. There were too many people and he couldn’t see Jaehyun. Where was Jaehyun? 

Jungwoo frantically scanned the top of the crowd, trying to find Jaehyun to no avail. He shouldn’t have agreed to go outside. There was a reason why Ten and Sicheng hated leaving their apartments so much. 

Jungwoo hadn’t learned from his last experience out of the apartment and now the world was spinning around him, colors and sounds blending together in one big mess. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t get enough air into his lungs. 

Jungwoo felt like his world was ending, like his chest was going to split open. Why did he let himself get seperated from Jaehyun?

Everything was spinning and Jungwoo couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe. His breaths were too shallow, too quick, air wasn’t reaching his lungs. Why couldn’t he breathe?

The world was crashing down around Jungwoo and all he could do was stand there and watch as if he was some sort of outsider to his own body, a prisoner to his own panic. He was so stupid to agree to go outside. What was he thinking? He had resisted for so long, panicked at the thought of leaving the apartment. Why had he said yes this time?

Someone grabbed Jungwoo’s arm and white hot fiery panic shot through his veins. He didn’t even know a person could feel this afraid.

Jungwoo struggled wildy against the hand that held him. He couldn’t let an alpha take him away, couldn't let himself be kidnapped. Jungwoo flailed his limbs and twisted in his attacker’s grasp, but they held on strong. 

“Jungwoo.” Somewhere far off, Jungwoo heard his name being called, but all he could think about at the moment was his panic, his need to get away from whoever was holding him. 

“Jungwoo, it’s Jaehyun.” The name made Jungwoo pause. Jaehyun? 

Jungwoo stopped fighting, and his eyes focused just enough to see Jaehyun standing in front of him, looking worried out of his mind.

“Oh my gosh Jungwoo, are you okay? I’m so sorry, I should have kept a closer eye on you. This is all my fault.”

Jungwoo looked at Jaehyun, chest heaving, and he let himself sink to the ground, his legs too shaky to support his weight. His mind felt numb, unable to process what was happening anymore. 

Jungwoo no longer felt like he was in his body, no longer felt like he was on planet Earth. He was somewhere high above it all, floating in outer space. His brain felt fuzzy, as if it was stuffed with cotton, as if it was a TV full of static unable to get a signal.

 

The next thing Jungwoo remembered was sitting on the couch at Jaehyun’s apartment, wrapped in blankets, but still trembling like a leaf.

Jaehyun handed him a mug full of a steaming beverage and Jungwoo mindlessly took a sip, barely feeling the way the hot liquid burned the roof of his mouth. 

“Taeil is coming over soon, Yuta and Johnny are at work right now, but Ten and Sicheng might come over later,” Jaehyun continued to talk, but Jungwoo couldn’t understand the words. He felt as if he was melting, sinking further and further into the cushions until he became one with the couch.

The world was moving too fast and too slow at the same time. Jungwoo wasn’t sure what time was anymore. Time was such a strange concept, who determined the length of a second? Why 60 seconds to a minute? Why 60 minutes to an hour? 60. What a strange number to choose. It wasn’t nice at all. 

 

“Jungwoo, how are you feeling?”

Jungwoo blinked. Taeil was in front of him. When did he get there?

Taeil said something, but comprehending words took too much effort, so Jungwoo just sat there and stared somewhere over Taeil’s shoulder, brain somewhere far away. 

Suddenly, Taeil was grabbing Jungwoo’s arm and leading him to his room. Jungwoo wasn’t quite sure why, the couch was plenty comfortable. 

A liquid sloshed onto Jungwoo’s hands and he realized the mug was still in his grasp. He wondered if it was still hot. He took a sip. It was tea, slightly fruity and lukewarm. He took another sip, but the taste had disappeared, returning to the wash of gray that everything seemed to be at the moment.  

 

Then Jungwoo was laying in his nest with Taeil, the older gently stroking his hair and his mug of tea nowhere to be seen.

“You scared poor Jaehyun witless, but honestly, I don’t know what he expected walking to the park, he should have driven, even if it’s a short distance. The streets are always so crowded and it’s crazy easy to get separated, especially since he was probably trying to give you your space.”

“Hmm,” Jungwoo hummed. He wanted to say more, but the words got caught in his throat. It was too hard to form the words, move his lips and tongue to say the words. Instead, he just curled up further next to Taeil and closed his eyes, hoping he would feel better soon.

 

Sicheng and Ten were there. Jungwoo wasn’t sure when they had arrived. 

In fact, he didn’t even remember waking up after he fell asleep next to Taeil. Something nagged at the back of Jungwoo’s mind, telling him that something wasn’t right, but he was too tired to care. 

Jungwoo was comfortably snuggled between Ten, Sicheng, and Taeil and that was all that mattered for the moment. 

 

“You need to eat, Jungwoo.” Taeil was holding a fork full of food to Jungwoo’s mouth. He obediently opened to accept the food and almost immediately regretted it. The food tasted like ash in his mouth. It was disgusting.

However, Sicheng looked so happy that Jungwoo had accepted the food that he felt obligated to finish the bite. 

When Ten lifted another bite of food up to his mouth, Jungwoo buried his head in Sicheng’s chest. He didn’t feel like eating. He just wanted to sleep, drift away on a cloud of unconsciousness, make all of his problems disappear. 

“Jungwoo, you didn’t eat lunch, you need to have dinner,” Sicheng said while stroking Jungwoo’s hair.

“Mmm,” Jungwoo replied. He would eat later. Maybe tomorrow or something. It was too much work for right now. 

The world felt too light, too insubstantial for things like eating. Nothing quite felt real, his brain was full of static. The rest of the world was operating behind a veil that Jungwoo could only sometimes see through. A part of his brain felt panicked by this, but Jungwoo felt too floaty to really care. Maybe it would matter in the morning. 

 

The next thing Junwoo knew, he was cracking open his eyes and light was streaming through the window. He turned to see Taeil entering his room with a plate of food.

“Oh good, you're up. Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah,” Jungwoo looked around his room. “Weren’t Ten and Sicheng here?”

“They were, but they couldn’t spend the night, do you not remember?”

“I, uh, guess not. Yesterday is fuzzy. My memories get all weird after leaving with Jaehyun for the park and I still feel a little disconnected.”

“Here, eat.” Taeil pushed the plate to Jungwoo. “You were really out of it yesterday, I’m not surprised your memories are fuzzy. From what Jaehyun said, you had a pretty bad panic attack.”

Jungwoo stopped mid bite. “Is he mad at me?”

“Jaehyun?” Taeil laughed, “I don’t think he could ever be mad at you. He blames himself more than anything and I mean he’s not wrong. He knew his responsibilities and he pushed your boundaries and you both paid for it.”

“It’s not his fault. I said yes.” Jungwoo twirled the spoon in his hand. Yesterday was his fault, no matter what Taeil said.

“You said yes because you thought you had no other choice. Jaehyun knew you didn’t really want to go outside, he let his excitement cloud his judgement.”

“But—”

Taeil waved Jungwoo off. “Finish your food, then we can talk. You didn’t eat enough yesterday.”

Jungwoo obediently bit into his breakfast, the food making him realize just how hungry he really was. Within minutes the whole plate was gone. 

When Jungwoo finally came up for air, Taeil was smiling fondly at him. “A little hungry?” 

Jungwoo just shrugged sheepishly in response.

“C’mon, there’s more food in the kitchen and you and Jaehyun need to talk.” Taeil stood up and held out a hand for Jungwoo.

“What if I don’t want to talk to him yet? I can just stay in here.”

“Nope.” Taeil grabbed Jungwoo’s arm and hauled him to his feet. “Your days of avoiding Jaehyun on my watch are over. Let’s go.”

And with that Jungwoo was half dragged into the kitchen where Jaehyun was making eggs.

Taeil loudly cleared his throat and Jaehyun turned around, features morphing into an expression of worry when he saw Jungwoo. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you to go outside with me when I knew you weren’t comfortable. This is all my fault. I really didn’t mean to push you too far, but I should have known better. Please forgive me.”

“I—” Jungwoo found himself at a loss for words and he looked helplessly at Taeil who just gave him an encouraging nod, his ‘proud parent’ look plastered on his face. 

“I, uh, forgive you. But I mean it’s not your fault, I should have stayed closer to you and—ah!” Taeil had pinched him.

“Stop apologizing,” the smaller omega hissed into Jungwoo’s ear.

“I mean, uh, thank you for your apology? We will both have to be more mindful in the future?” Taeil didn’t seem completely pleased by Jungwoo’s words, but he also didn’t pinch him this time, so Jungwoo considered that a success. 

“Yeah! Taeil already gave me the talk, but I will definitely try to think things through. Taeil says that I act without thinking too often.” Jaehyun dished the eggs out of the pan and onto a plate.

Jungwoo, on the other hand, was left astounded by Taeil’s boldness. He couldn’t imagine speaking to an alpha like that, telling him that he didn’t think enough, especially since Jaehyun was twice Taeil’s size. 

But then again, Jaehyun had actually listened to Taeil, accepted criticism from an omega. It was enough to make Jungwoo’s head spin. Nothing was adding up the way the center said it would. 

Jaehyun was too nice, too caring. He hadn't wanted to put a collar on Jungwoo, didn’t make him cook and clean all day, didn’t scream, didn’t hit when Jungwoo did things wrong. It didn’t make any sense. 

Taeil nudged Jungwoo in the side, breaking him out of his thoughts. “C’mon I know you’re still hungry, so eat.”

Jungwoo realized that there were two fried eggs sitting on the plate in front of him, courtesy of Jaehyun. He cut into one and watched the yellow yolk ooze out. 

He’d have to figure out Jaehyun another time, right now he needed to eat.

Notes:

my google doc is officially over 100 pages for this fic...

Chapter 21

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

A month passed by, Jungwoo’s room decoration having arrived a couple of weeks ago and already making his room look better than ever. His rug made cuddling on the floor comfortable and Ten, Sicheng, and Taeil appreciated it just as much as Jungwoo did.

Jaehyun was back to work which meant that Jungwoo was home alone for most of the day unless one of the other omegas were dropped off at Jaehyun’s house before their alphas also had to go to work. 

However these days, the alphas seemed to be more stressed than ever with work which meant that they usually didn’t have the time to drop off Ten or Sicheng. 

Jaehyun would leave in the morning long before Jungwoo would even think about being awake and get back late at night. Every night he would apologize and promise that it would only be like this for a little bit longer, that the customer had moved up the date they wanted the project done so they all had to work overtime to meet the deadline. 

At first Jungwoo hadn’t minded, less time with Jaehyun meant less time to mess up in front of the alpha. He could clean and cook during the day in peace and Jaehyun never complained when dinner was waiting for him on the table when he came home. 

And in the beginning, Ten or Sicheng would often be dropped off in the morning which meant that Jungwoo wasn’t alone the whole day. Every once in a while Taeil would come over as well, but Jaehyun said that he had his own job so he would mainly only come on the weekends. Jungwoo wasn’t quite sure what kind of job an omega was allowed to have, but he was too afraid to ask. 

However, after a week or so Ten and Sicheng stopped coming over. Apparently Johnny and Yuta were taking the subway to work instead of driving since it was slightly quicker and they could take a quick nap on the way there. 

After a week of being home completely alone, Jungwoo started to get bored. There was only so much he could clean, only so long it took to cook dinner, only so many shows to watch on Netflix. It was nothing compared to the long, endlessly lonely days in the center, but Jungwoo still found himself feeling restless and lonely.

 

Jungwoo woke up at 1:14 pm and the minute he opened his eyes, he wished he could just go back to sleep. He had around 7 hours to fill before Jaehyun came home and making dinner only took two hours even if he really stretched things out. 

Jungwoo sighed and buried his face in his pillow. At least he had a pillow, a comfortable bed, a TV to watch shows on. He even had other omegas that would visit on the weekends.

He had so much more than he did in the center, so many more things to do, but he was still bored, still lonely. No one had told him that it would be this hard to be all by himself, alone with his thoughts. It was pure torture.

Jungwoo just wanted to do something, to talk to someone, but he was stuck alone in the apartment. 

Well, not exactly stuck.

There was nothing preventing Jungwoo from unlocking the front door and leaving. But what would he do out of the apartment? Jungwoo hadn’t even been able to go to the park with Jaehyun, he would be a mess outside on his own.

With a heavy sigh, Jungwoo grabbed a stuffed bear and pulled it closer to his chest. Maybe if he just tried to sleep the day away things would be more bearable. 

Jungwoo probably needed a hobby or something else to fill his days alone, but didn’t want to bother Jaehyun by asking for something since the alpha was so busy recently. However, sleeping all day was definitely not the best thing for Jungwoo to fill his days with. But then again, all Jungwoo really had to do was watch TV and just watching episode after episode got boring after a couple of weeks.

Jungwoo closed his eyes and hoped to not wake up for the next couple of hours. Right before he fell asleep, he idly wondered what Sicheng and Ten were up to. 

 

———————————————-

 

Sicheng was used to Yuta being gone all day for work, but this was excessive. Yuta was gone for almost the full day, leaving Sicheng home alone for over 12 hours. And to be honest, Sicheng wasn’t that used to being alone for so long. He found himself spending the long days missing his friends.

When Yuta first brought him home, Sicheng had refused to leave the apartment and Ten wasn’t much better. However, Ten had been forced to go to Yuta’s apartment because everyone else had work and he wasn’t trusted to be left alone yet. 

The minute Ten walked through the door, he took one look at Sicheng and informed him that they weren’t going to be friends. Sicheng had promptly burst into tears and hid under Yuta’s bed for the next three hours while Yuta and Johnny begged him to come out to no avail. 

Honestly, the two alphas were trying to help, but they only made matters worse by reaching under the bed and trying to crawl under, terrifying Sicheng even further. 

Finally, Ten had marched in, called Johnny stupid, refused to make eye contact with Yuta and scurried under the bed with Sicheng.

Reluctantly, the alphas left them alone and Ten showed Sicheng the drawing he had spent the past three hours making. “It’s for you.”

It was hard to see exactly what the picture was with the shadow of the bed looming over them, but Sicheng loved it nonetheless.

“I’m sorry,” Ten said, “I thought you were like Taeil, but you’re from a center, aren’t you? You’re scared of alphas.”

“Yes, alphas bad,” Sicheng confirmed in his broken Korean. He only knew the basics from the handlers as it hadn’t been long before Yuta bought him.

“You’re not from here either? I’m from Thailand.”

“China,” Sicheng confirmed.

“I can teach you Korean!” Ten sounded excited for the first time since Sicheng had met him. “You’ll have to come out from under the bed, though.”

“Out?”

“I know it’s scary, but I’ll protect you. I’m not scared of anything.” 

Sicheng later learned that Ten was lying through his teeth that day. Alphas scared him just as much as they did Sicheng, especially if said alpha was Yuta. 

However, Ten always put up a brave face around Sicheng, staring Johnny in the face and daring him to disagree with anything he had said. Johnny always caved, it didn’t take a genius to realize that he liked Ten.

Johnny would tell Ten that they had to go home, Ten would demand ten more minutes and Johnny would agree in a heartbeat. It was honestly impressive. 

At first Sicheng wished he could be as brave as Ten, but after a couple of weeks he realized that Ten’s bravery was a facade. 

One day when Ten came over for Sicheng’s daily Korean lesson, he seemed off, more skittish than usual. Johnny dropped him off and Ten practically ran past Yuta to Sicheng’s room. 

“Are you okay?” Sicheng had asked, trailing behind Ten.

“Yeah, I’m fine, why do you ask?” Ten kept his eyes trained on the computer screen as he booted up the program they used. 

“I don’t know. You are…” Sicheng searched for the word, “you are weird today.”

“I’m fine.” 

Sicheng got closer to Ten and saw his red-rimmed eyes, indicative of the fact that Ten had been crying. But Ten clearly didn’t want to talk about it and Sicheng kept quiet and started on his Korean exercises, pretending not to notice how Ten would reach up to wipe the occasional tear from his cheek.

Halfway through the lesson, Ten suddenly spoke. “Do you ever miss your family?” 

“Yes, my mom,” Sicheng didn’t know enough words to elaborate further, so he just left it at that.

“I miss my family too. They’re probably back in Thailand now, but I don’t think I’ll ever know for sure.” 

Sicheng put his arm around Ten, “Hard,”

Ten sniffled, “Yeah, it is really hard, but you’ll stay with me, right Sicheng? You won’t leave me? I feel like you and Taeil are the only people I have left in this world.”

“Yes, I’ll stay.”

Ten hugged Sicheng and buried his face in his shoulder. “For the first time in a long time I feel like I have something to live for.”

 

The days started to blend together and at some point Ten stopped coming over every single day. Yuta told Sicheng that it was because Ten could be trusted on his own now, but Sicheng didn’t understand what he meant at the time. 

On the days that Ten wasn’t there, Sicheng would practice his Korean on his own and he even started to dance in the privacy of his room. No one knew of his dancing and he wanted it to stay that way.

Dancing was Sicheng’s way to escape the world. It was his passion before he presented and now it was how he forgot about all of his problems.

When he danced, the rest of the world seemed to fade away. It was just Sicheng and the music, his movements more choppy than usual, due to his lack of practice, but still beautiful nonetheless. 

Dancing is what made Sicheng feel alive.

So whenever Sicheng was alone in the apartment, he would start up his music, stretch, and start to dance. 

Maybe one day he would share his dances with someone else, let them see into the world he created for himself through the movements, but for now it was his private thing. 

 

So when Yuta started to work long hours and Sicheng didn’t have Ten, Taeil, or Jungwoo over to keep him company, Sicheng danced. 

His movements were a lot more fluid than when he had first started back up, his body had regained its previous strength and flexibility. These days, dancing felt like flying, felt like hope that Sicheng hadn’t had in a while. 

At first, dancing had been an escape for Sicheng, a way to forget the pains of the world, even if it was just for a little bit. But now it was more than that. Sicheng no longer felt helpless, no longer felt scared. Sicheng had found himself being strong for Jungwoo, standing up to Yuta. And Yuta hadn’t yelled at him. No, instead, he had praised Sicheng one they were home, telling him to always stand up for himself and Jungwoo. 

It gave Sicheng hope for the future. 

So on the days that Yuta had work, Sicheng worked on a routine. A routine that he hoped to maybe show off one day. 

 

——————————————

 

Ten was bored. And not in a good way.

He had already gone through two shows on Netflix and had drawn more than he ever had in his life. In fact his tablet had so many new drawings stored on it, that Ten was forgetting what each one actually was. Sometimes he would scroll through them and not even recognize the art as his own. 

He mostly filled his days by lounging around and annoying Taeil since Jungwoo and Sicheng didn’t have phones. 

However, Taeil was always working on his stupid plans and architecture and whatnot. Of course everything was done under Taeyong’s name since no one would ever trust an omega, but it still kept Taeil busy. 

Ten wished he could be like Taeil, have actually gone to college, basically gotten a degree, had work to do. 

But the universe was never fair and Ten had never gotten the chance to even finish high school, let alone even think about college. He probably would’ve gone to college to get some sort of art degree that would have disappointed his parents, but it hurt that the opportunity was ripped away from him. 

Ten felt the familiar ache bloom in his chest that appeared whenever he thought about home and his family. 

But before he could spiral further down that path, Ten grabbed his tablet and opened up a new drawing, pouring his emotions into his work. 

When he finished, several hours had passed by without Ten even noticing. He glanced down at his work, full of thick, dark lines, and sharp angles. It was somewhat of a monstrosity, but in a good way. It was in the way that meant that Ten was pouring out all of his negative emotion into his art instead of bottling them up. It was a process that he had perfected over the year of therapy Johnny had forced him to go to. 

Ten glanced at the clock, speaking of Johnny,  he was going to be home soon. Ten should get started on dinner.

Making dinner was something that Ten usually didn’t do, he didn't tend to enjoy the process and Johnny was a much better cook, but Ten felt bad for Johnny with how many hours he had to work lately. 

Plus. Ten needed Johnny in a good mood for what he was planning on asking him. 

 

An hour later Ten was setting dinner on the table just as Johnny entered through the door. “It smells good. What did you make?”

“I made spicy noodles. I found the recipe online, but I changed some things to make it more like my mom’s.”

Johnny opened up his arms and Ten accepted the hug, burying his face in Johnny’s chest. “Thank you for making dinner. I had a rough day today and it means a lot, especially since you made something that reminds you of home.”

Ten nodded and guided Johnny to the table, hoping that his noodles tasted alright. He really did suck at cooking, but this time he had really tried, not at all like when he had first come home with Johnny and did everything in his power to sabotage dinner. 

Johnny picked up his chopsticks and took a big bite of the noodles, while Ten studied his face to gauge his reaction. Why Johnny always went for such a big first bite was beyond Ten, especially since he had let the other down so many times in the past. 

“Wow Ten, this is actually really good!” Johnny exclaimed, his mouth still full of food.

“Really?” Ten asked, tentatively taking his first bite. Flavor exploded in his mouth, reminding him of home. Some of the spices were slightly off, not as vibrant as he remembered, but it tasted like home nonetheless. 

Tears started to form in Ten’s eyes as he thought of the way his mom would stand in the kitchen, hand on her hip as she cooked, looking as if she was judging every ingredient that was put into the pan. 

Ten’s sister, Tern, would always help while Ten would just watch, usually doing his homework at the kitchen table. Tern always finished her homework first, she was much smarter than Ten who preferred to spend his days doodling in his notebook rather than actually taking notes. 

Now, Ten wished that he had paid more attention in class, had tried harder at his homework. If he had done that then he would’ve had more time with his mom and sister, more time to learn how to cook, to learn all of their recipes. 

Now that memories were all that Ten had left, he wished more than anything that he had paid more attention, had done more things with his family. He wished that he had been less contrary, had spent less time in his room and more time with his family. 

When Ten had entered his teen years, he had spent his time practicing dance at school until late into the night and what little time he had spent cooking with his mom had disappeared. He now wished that he had spent less time dedicated to dance and more time with his family. 

Ten had thought that dancing was his future, so he slaved away at, practicing every chance he got, but ever since he had presented and been taken away from his family, Ten had stopped. The spark was no longer there. 

Dance had been his happy place for so many years and without his family, without his old life, dancing was just a painful memory, something that Ten wished he could return to, but couldn’t quite bring himself to do.

 

“Ten,” Johnny sounded concerned.

Ten looked up at the other and realized he was looking through a veil of tears. He hadn’t even really realized he had started crying. “I just miss home,” Ten choked out.

Johnny had an indescribable look of pity on his face. “Let me know what I can do to help.”

“Can we get a cat?” This wasn’t exactly how Ten had planned on asking Johnny, but it seemed like a good enough time as any.

Johnny choked on his water. “A what?”

“A cat. I love cats and we had several when I was younger. Imagine how cute a kitty would be.”

“We don’t have enough time to take care of a cat.”

“No, you don’t have enough time to take care of a cat. I’m home all day. Plus I get so lonely. You're so busy these days and I only have myself for entertainment since you can’t drop me off at Jungwoo’s or Sicheng’s these days. I’ve thought it all out. We could go to the shelter together this weekend.”

“Wait,” Johnny sat back in his chair, looking surprised. “You’re willing to go to the shelter? As in, wear a collar and go outside where there are other people?”

“Yes?” Ten thought that was fairly obvious. “I want a kitty,” 

“But what about a litter box and toys and stuff?”

“Then we’ll have to go to the pet store to get that stuff. We can do that before we go to the shelter.”

Johnny stared at Ten in disbelief. “You’re willing to go to the pet store too? I thought you hated going outside. You said you hate how people look at you like you’re a thing.”

“I do.” Ten didn’t understand what Johnny was so hung up on. “But I hate being bored at home alone more than I hate going outside and if that’s what is needed in order to get a cat, then so be it. So, are we going to go this weekend?”

“Uh, yeah, we can go on Saturday.”

Ten screeched in joy and jumped up to hug Johnny. “Thank you so much! You’re amazing!”

Johnny laughed. “I wouldn’t quite say that. I’ve been leaving you home alone too much lately, anyone would be lonely and bored out of their mind. Getting you a kitty is the least I can do, especially because I know how much you love animals. You never stopped talking about Kun’s cat after we went over to his house.” 

“That’s because he’s adorable. I love kitties.” Ten realized he was still practically in Johnny’s lap, arms wrapped around the other and quickly headed back to his chair.

Johnny looked slightly saddened by the action, but didn’t say anything. 

The rest of dinner was filled with Ten’s happy chatter about kitties and all of the things he wanted to get for the cat, including the colors of the food and water bowls, and the kitty toys that Ten wanted to make himself since it would give him even more things to do during the day. 

 

The next two days passed slowly. Ten couldn’t wait for Saturday, he was like a little kid counting down the days until Christmas.  

Friday night, Ten was so excited that he forced Johnny to play several rounds of Uno with him until the other looked about ready to fall asleep at the table.

After Johnny went to bed, Ten stayed up late on the phone with Taeil, practically screaming to the other in excitement. Ten wasn't entirely sure why Taril was up so late, but it didn't matter to him because it meant he got to share his excitement with someone, instead of letting it simmer under his skin, begging to be set free. 

“Do you think it’s time to tell him?” Ten asked, twirling the string of his pyjama pants around his finger.

“Are you ready?” Taeil asked. “It’s definitely been long enough and I would tell you if it was a bad idea.”

“I think I’m ready. I’ve been feeling this way for a while and I’m definitely comfortable enough around him. I feel as if I could definitely tell him.”

“Well if you do tell him, you’ll have to tell me what he says right away!”

“Of course, you're my best friend. I wouldn’t leave you in the dark like that.”

Ten and Taeil talked for some time longer, Ten finally falling asleep late at night. The next morning, however, he was up with the sun and was already in the kitchen, cooking breakfast by the time Johnny woke up. 

“Wow, a little excited?” Johnny joked.

“Just a little,” Ten was practically jumping up and down with excitement, bouncing on the soles of his feet as he gave Johnny some toast he had made for breakfast.

However, once they had finished eating, Ten’s mood was dampened slightly when Johnny handed him his collar to put on.

“I hate this,” Ten complained as he clipped the wretched thing around his neck.

“I know,” Johnny sympathized, “but it’s just until we get the supplies and kitty, then you can take it off the minute we get home and not wear it for as long as you want.”

Ten sighed. “It makes me feel as if I’m some sort of animal instead of a person.”

Johnny didn’t respond and instead held the apartment door open for Ten as if he was testing if he would actually leave to go shopping of his own volition. 

But Ten walked through the doorway without complaint and was halfway down the hallway in an instant, walking as fast as his short legs could carry him. 

“The plan is the pet shop first and then we’ll go to the shelter,” Ten reminded Johnny as they got into the car. “I don’t want the kitty to have to stay in the car any longer than needed.”

Johnny nodded his understanding, as if Ten hadn’t been repeating the plan for the past two days. 

“And some things we need are food, bowls, a litter box, litter, toys, a cat tower, a collar, tags, and blankets.”

“And anything else that catches your eye,” Johnny said goodnaturedly, knowing how these things always went with Ten.

“Naturally. Our kitty has to be well taken care of.”

“With you as its owner, there is no doubt in my mind that this will be the most spoiled cat on planet Earth.”

 

When they entered the pet store, Ten threaded his hand in with Johnny’s, taking the alpha slightly by surprise. But when Johnny looked at Ten’s face and saw the way he was biting his lower lip, his eyes darting around, Johnny realized that Ten was nervous. He really did hate going outside. 

Johnny ran his thumb over Ten’s hand in comforting circles as they headed to the cat section of the store and once they entered the empty aisle, Ten seemed to relax slightly, but kept his hand in Johnny’s. 

Of course, that meant that Johnny was dragged around the store as the basket he held slowly became more and more full with supplies for the cat. 

Ten was standing in front of the collars, debating between a pink one and a baby blue one, when someone walked behind them and smirked. “You should get a black one so your omega and cat can match.”

Ten visibly deflated at the words, sinking into Johnny’s side. “I hate people like that.” He threw the blue collar into the basket. “Can we just go to the shelter now?”

“Of course,” Johnny gave Ten’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “I think we have everything.”

Ten stayed glued to Johnny's side as they checked out, but the cashier hardly even looked at them, clearly done with their job. 

On the drive to the shelter Johnny glanced over at Ten. “I’m proud of you.”

“Why?” Ten’s voice was small, that random person’s comment must have affected him more than he wanted to show. Ten hated collars with vehemence. 

“Because you still want to go to the shelter after what happened and didn’t freak out over that person’s comment.”

“I’m freaking out internally,” Ten muttered.

“But not as bad as it once would have been.”

“I s’pose. I just really hate alphas. They’re so stupid.”

“No arguments there,” Johnny hummed as he pulled into the parking lot for the animal shelter. “I bet a cute kitty will cheer you up, though.”

“Yes,” Ten’s face brightened at the thought, and he grabbed Johny’s hand to lead him into the shelter and straight to the rooms with the kitties. 

One of the workers let them in, with a smile on her face. “Have fun with the kitties, they’re definitely my favorite.”

Johnny smiled and thanked her while Ten instantly sat down on the floor and started playing with all of the kitties around him. Within a minute he had one scrambling up his shirt, another in his lap, and a third chasing after the toy Ten was moving around. 

Johnny watched fondly from the corner as Ten collected kitty after kitty, the biggest smile ever on his face. 

One of the cats started to purr in Ten’s lap and Ten looked down at them, letting out a small rumbling purr of his own. “Johnny, the kitties are so cute! I want to get them all.”

Johnny nodded at Ten’s words, still shocked at the fact that Ten had purred. That was the first time that Johnny had heard Ten do so and he felt like his heart was melting. Omegas only purred when they were truly happy and comfortable and Ten was probably just reacting to the kitty, but the fact that Ten felt comfortable enough to purr in front of Johnny made his insides feel gooey.

In fact, watching Ten interact with the kitties made Johnny realize that there were few things in the world he wouldn’t do for the small man in front of him. Taeil was right, he really was whipped for Ten. 

After this, Johnny decided he would treat Ten to dinner, takeout of course. Ten would hate going to a sit down restaurant, plus then they’d have to leave the kitty at home alone and that seemed like a recipe for disaster. 

A little while later, Ten was thrusting a kitty into Johnny’s hands. “How do you like him?”

Johnny looked down at the little kitty, squirming in his hands. It was white with a gray face and paws. “He’s cute.”

“Great! Because he’s going to be the new addition to our family. How do you like the name Louis?”

“It’s good,” Johnny said, mind reeling at the fact that Ten had called them a family. A family . He, Ten, and Louis were a family

“If you don’t like it, we can always change his name.” Ten was looking at Johnny questioningly.

“No, no it’s a good name. I like Louis. It’s like the kings in France” Johnny lifted up the kitty and kissed the top of its head. “Did you mean what you said about him being the newest addition to our family?”

“Yeah of course! Louis is so cute and playful. He hasn’t left my side this whole time, it’s like we’re meant to be.”

“I mean us being a family. Did you mean that?”

Ten looked slightly taken aback by the question. “Uh, I mean yes?” He took Louis back from Johnny to cuddle the kitty to his chest. “We’re going to be living together for like the rest of forever because you own me so we’re like a family.” Ten giggled as Louis pawed at his face. “Just don’t overthink it.” 

But overthink it Johnny did. He thought about it the entire time he was filling out the paperwork to adopt Louis and on the entire ride home with Ten cuddling Louis in his lap.

Did Ten really mean what he said? Or was it just an expression? Did he really feel that close to Johnny, that comfortable with Johnny? Did he return Johnny’s romantic feelings? Or did he still see Johnny as a big, threatening alpha? Would Ten ever actually want to be with Johnny? Or would a piece of him always yearn for home, for his old life back?

“Ten, are you happy here?”

Ten looked up from where he was playing with Louis in surprise. “Uh, I mean yes? Louis is so cute and fluffy.”

“No, I meant with me. Like in general.”

Ten started to stroke Louis’s fur. “It’s a lot better than I thought it was going to be. You’re a lot nicer than how most alphas here are and you actually care for me. I get bored at times, sure, but I have friends who I love and care about. Plus, I have Louis here who I can already tell is going to be my best friend. So, yeah I am happy here even if I do miss home at times. But you can’t change the past so I have to make do with the cards I was dealt.”

“I guess that’s a good way to look at it.”

“Johnny, I really am happy here. I mean it. And I like you. You’re a great person, you haven’t raised your voice at me once, even though I’ve tried to goad you into it so many times. Plus, you got me the help I needed when I was at my lowest. Not to mention your muscles are to die for.”

Johnny sputtered and coughed while Ten giggled as if he knew exactly what effect his words had on Johnny.

Luckily, they had arrived back at the apartment so Johnny was spared having to respond to Ten’s comment. 

Unloading the car was interesting to say the least. Interesting in the way that Johnny ended up carrying everything into the house while Ten just carried Louis claiming that he couldn’t possibly carry a bag in when he was holding a kitty. 

That made absolutely no sense, but it’s not like Johnny was about to argue with Ten, who was quite possibly the happiest that Johnny had ever seen him. 

Once they finally made it into the apartment, Johnny somehow managing not to drop any of the stuff piled in his arms, Ten got straight to work organizing all of Louis’s things while said kitty started exploring his new home. 

Johnny sat on the couch, noticing that Ten had already taken his collar off and discarded it on the kitchen counter, probably having ripped it off and thrown it there. Ten’s collars had an easy release clasp that came off with a simple tug after someone had once walked up behind Ten and grabbed him by the collar. It had taken all of Johnny’s willpower not to just attack that alpha then and there, but Ten needed him more. 

After that fiasco, Johnny made sure that all of Ten’s collars had the easy release feature in case some asshole decided to do that again. Plus, it made it easy for Ten to put on and take off his collar by himself so that he didn’t have to allow Johnny so close to his neck. 

“Is this a good place for the bowls and litter box?” Ten asked.

Johnny glanced up to see that the bowls were by the end of the kitchen counter while the litter box was by the hallway in the living room. “Looks great.”

“Perfect,” Ten scooped up Louis and went to sit next to Johnny on the couch, sitting so close to the other that their thighs practically touched. 

“Thank you for getting me a cat, and for comforting me at the store.” Ten set Louis down draped over one of his and one of Johnny’s legs so that they both could pet him.

“Yeah, anytime.” Johnny said.

Then Ten leaned his head against Johnny’s shoulder and Johnny swore his heart stopped for a second. Sure, Ten had leaned against him at the pet store, but that was different, Ten was trying to get away from the asshole alpha.

Now, Ten wasn’t looking for protection and Johnny thought his brain was actually going to short circuit. 

On their laps, Louis started to purr happily and Ten responded with a purr of his own and Johnny could no longer think straight. He could feel Ten’s rumbling against his shoulder and it was pure bliss. If Johnny could keep this feeling and bottle it, it would sell for millions on the black market.

Johnny tentatively reached up his hand to stroke Ten's hair, ready to stop the movement at the slightest hint of Ten’s discomfort; however, Ten leaned into Johnny’s hand and his purr amplified in volume.

Johnny was actually in heaven. Every part of his skin that was in contact with Ten’s, even through their clothes, tingled. He could feel each of Ten’s breaths, the rumbling of his purrs. Johnny wondered if Ten felt the same way that he did.

Ten and Louis both eventually fell asleep on Johnny. Honestly, it was so cute, he couldn’t bring himself to care, even if his laptop was on the coffee table and he didn’t move to get it lest he woke up Ten and Louis.

A little while later, Ten began to stir, nuzzling his nose into Johnny’s shoulder with a soft groan. “Why’d you let me sleep for so long? That couldn't have been comfortable.”

“Yeah, but you were too cute to move.” Johnny carded his hand through Ten’s hair, letting the silky black locks run over his fingers. “You probably need a haircut soon.”

“Hmm, maybe I like my long hair.”

“Do you like your long hair or do you dislike getting it cut?”

“Both.” Ten leaned further into Johnny, “I like it when you run your hands through it though. It feels good.”

Johnny realized that Ten very well might be the death of him.

“And I like it when you’re happy, so I guess that works out.”

Ten smiled and scooped up Louis so he could sit in Johnny’s lap. “I like cuddling with you, you’re comfortable.”

Johnny couldn’t breathe with how much his heart felt like it had expanded. “Are you sure it’s just not withdrawal from not seeing Jungwoo, Sicheng, and Taeil in so long?”

“No, you’re just big and warm and I like you.”

Johnny actually stopped breathing for a second. “You like me?”

“Of course I do, and I know you like me too. Taeil has been telling me that from literally week one.”

Johnny had thought he’d been keeping his crush low key, but he was apparently very wrong.

“I think I’m ready to try and be a little bit more, though.”

“More? You’re not just saying this because I got you a cat, right? Because you really don’t have to thank me like this, my feelings don’t matter if you don’t feel comfortable or something. I want you to put yourself first and not worry about me because I will truly be fine if you don’t like me romantically, like that is totally okay.” 

“Don’t worry,” Ten laughed. “I have thought this out and had many phone calls with Taeil about this. I’m ready. But I want to take things slow and there’s no labels for now. We’re just trying this whole romance thing out, okay?” Ten pulled back to look Johnny in the eye.

“I agree. We will go whatever pace you want and I will still let you initiate all contact.”

“Perfect,” Ten relaxed back against Johnny’s chest. “You’re amazing Johnny, truly. Honestly, you’re just a gentle giant.”

“Thank you.” Johnny could feel his face heating up. He was so bad at taking compliments, especially when they were from Ten. “I was thinking about ordering dinner tonight? To celebrate?”

“That sounds great.” Ten lifted up Louis who mewed softly at the action. “We have to celebrate our family.”

“Yeah, we do,” Johnny brought Ten and Louis into a hug, his heart bursting.



Notes:

what?? another chapter already? who would have guessed?

also this was like my first time ever writing romance so pls let me know how it is!!

Chapter 22

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

The next day, everyone came over to Johnny and Ten’s house to see the kitty. The omegas all gathered in Ten’s room, sitting in a circle with the kitty between them. 

“Guess what guys?” Ten asked, passing a purring Louis to Sicheng who cooed sweetly. “And Taeil you can’t answer because I told you last night.”

“Wait why does Taeil get to know before us?” Jungwoo pouted looking at Ten with big imploring eyes.

“If you and Sicheng would get a phone then you guys would know too,” Taeil said while Ten ruffled Jungwoo’s hair.

“I don’t even know how to use phones these days. Jaehyun handed me his once and I couldn’t even get to the home screen. I’m not smart enough to figure all of that out.”

“Jungwoo,” Ten and Taeil warned, speaking at the same time. “You are perfectly smart and capable of learning and Ten and I can help you.”

Jungwoo opened his mouth to protest, but Taeil cut him off before he could say anything. “I went to college to major in architecture and I had a 3.9 GPA before I was kicked out so don’t even give me that ‘omegas aren’t as smart as alphas’ bullshit.”

“And I can operate a phone just fine and spent three years in the center, so you can learn too.” Ten pulled Jungwoo into a side hug, Taeil leaning in from the other side so he was cocooned between the two. “So you’re not going to argue when we tell Jaehyun to get you a phone?”

“No,” Jungwoo sighed, “But what about Sicheng?” If he was going down, he was bringing Sicheng with him.

“Me?” Sicheng looked up from where he was playing with Louis, purposely ignoring their conversation. “I have no need for a phone.”

“Really? What if there’s an emergency and you’re home alone? That could be dangerous. You’d have to wait for Yuta to come home before you got any help.”

Jungwoo snuggled farther into Ten’s side, happy the focus was no longer on him. Taeil was on a rampage today. 

Sicheng shrugged. “That would be unfortunate.”

Jungwoo decided to take over because Taeil looked like he was about to burst. “Sicheng, if you got a phone we could learn to use them together. Wouldn’t that be fun? Then I would have something to do when I’m home alone instead of just sleeping all day.”

Taeil sighed, “Jaehyun and I have a lot to talk about, I might have to make a list,” he muttered.

Sicheng, however, looked at Jungwoo with a smile. “If it makes you happy and gives you something to do, I’ll ask Yuta for a phone.”

Jungwoo squealed and detached himself from Ten to hug Sicheng. “Yes! You’re amazing, thank you!”

Sicheng laughed in response and returned Jungwoo’s hug. When they finally broke away from each other, Jungwoo grabbed Louis out of Sicheng’s lap. It was his turn with the kitty.

 

When it was time for lunch, the omegas reluctantly left Ten’s room, Ten holding Louis cuddled to his chest as they walked to the table where the alphas were already sitting. 

Ten sat down with Louis still in his lap and moved to pick up his food, but Taeil stopped him. “Ten I swear to god, if you eat dinner with the cat in your lap, we will no longer be friends. You can’t teach Louis bad habits.”

Ten sulked and set Louis on the ground. “Johnny doesn’t care,” he muttered, earning himself a glare from Taeil.

“I’m the only reasonable person in this friend group,” Taeil sighed, earning a squawk of indignation from Taeyong.

“Babe, what about me?” 

“Most of the time? No. Especially not when you pick up too many projects at work and then we have to stay up the whole night to finish them.”

“But you love having work to do.”

Taeil’s eyes softened, “Yeah I do,”

Jungwoo watched as Taeil and Taeyong continued to flirt with one another and realized he hadn’t seen much of their dynamic before. He knew they had gone to college together, had mated, both wore gold bands on their ring finger, looked at each other as if the world was in the other’s eyes, but for the most part, Jungwoo avoided the alphas so he had never seen them blatantly flirt like this before. 

Taeyong and Taeil seemed to mesh perfectly together, but it wasn’t in the typical alpha-omega way. Taeil took the lead, teased Taeyong, never seemed to fear that he went too far. 

But then again, Taeyong was the most motherly alpha Jungwoo had ever met. In a strange sort of way, Taeyong made Jungwoo feel comfortable. Maybe it was the way the alpha’s eyes were always big and soft or how when he spoke it was always quietly. However, everyone always listened.

Taeyong was the alpha that Jungwoo felt the most comfortable with. He wasn't sure if it was because Taeyong was Taeil’s mate or if it was his disposition, but something about Taeyong put Jungwoo slightly more at ease. 

Jungwoo was jerked out of his train of thought by Sicheng nudging his lips with chopsticks laden with food. Jungwoo accepted the bite and Sicheng hummed happily. “You need to eat more, I don’t think you’re gaining enough weight. It’s been over a month and you’re still way too skinny.”

“Oh,” Jungwoo looked at his lap. “That’s probably because I sometimes forget to eat lunch.”

“You don’t eat lunch?” Jaehyun repeated loudly. Jungwoo cringed, he hadn’t meant to speak loud enough for Jaehyun to hear. “Do you not like the food at home? Do I need to buy different groceries? You know you’re welcome to any of the food in the house at any time, right?”

Taeyong looked at Jungwoo with his big caring eyes, having heard Jaehyun’s words. “If you don’t like cooking, I’m sure we can make some stuff for you or you can order out. Jaehyun won’t mind. It’s really important that you eat Jungwoo.” 

Ten, on the other hand, wasn’t quite as tactful. “Jungwoo what do you mean you don't eat lunch? I will literally come over everyday to make sure that you eat. Is it a problem with taking food from an alpha? Because I’m sure Jaehyun will text you permission everyday if that’s what it takes.”

Everyone was now looking at Jungwoo, expectantly. “I just...forget. I sleep most of the day anyways, so it doesn’t really matter.” Jungwoo spoke looking down at his lap, not wanting to see the worry on everyone’s faces. 

“Jungwoo,” The exasperation was clear in Taeil’s voice. “You sleep all day because your body doesn’t get enough nutrients.”

Jungwoo shrugged. “There’s nothing for me to do when I’m awake so I might as well sleep.”

Everyone’s focus suddenly turned to Jaehyun who looked sheepish under everyone’s gaze. “I thought Netflix was enough?”

Taeil sighed in the way that meant he was preparing to put an alpha in their place. 

Jungwoo slumped into Sicheng, happy that no one was looking at him anymore as Taeil started scolding Jaehyun, probably about way more things than Jungwoo thought were necessary.

So instead of worrying about whatever Taeil was saying, Jungwoo rested his head on Sicheng’s shoulder and nudged Sicheng’s hand signifying that he wanted head pets. But Sicheng didn’t comply with Jungwoo’s wishes, instead holding up more food to Jungwoo’s mouth. Jungwoo whined his complaint, but Sicheng ignored him. 

“Food first,” Sicheng softly insisted.

Jungwoo rolled his eyes, but accepted the bite, knowing that Sicheng was not above making a scene, or more likely, saying something to Ten who would make a scene. 

By the time Jungwoo and Sicheng had finished their food, Taeil was done chewing out Jaehyun and had moved onto Yuta who was practically begging Sicheng to help him. However, Sicheng refused to look in Yuta’s direction, instead giving Jungwoo the head pets he so desired. 

At some point, Taeil had stopped yelling at the alphas long enough to eat because the next thing Jungwoo knew, they were clearing the dishes from the table. 

“Do you guys want to play a game?” Taeyong asked after putting his dishes in the sink, looking over to where Jungwoo and Sicheng were still seated at the table. Jungwoo’d had his head buried in Sicheng’s neck and had no clue who had bussed his plates for him.

“A game would be fun!” Ten responded, “We have Jenga!”

And so they played Jenga, Jungwoo and Sicheng flinching whenever the blocks tumbled down. But other than the loudness of the blocks clattering against the table as they fell, the game was fun. 

One of the alphas lost more often than not, usually because they were trying some trick like pulling out the only brick in a row. Apparently, Johnny had succeeded once which made him think that he could do it every time. He very much could not. 

Ten was the best at the game and he claimed it was because he had steady hands from drawing, but Jungwoo was pretty sure he cheated.

 

After a couple of rounds of Jenga, Yuta looked at his watch. “Well I think it’s time I headed home. I still need to do laundry tonight.” 

Jaehyun also stood up. “Jungwoo and I will be going as well. Thank you Johnny and Ten for having us over.”

Jungwoo hugged Ten, Taeil, and Sicheng goodbye and scooped Louis into his arms one last time. “I’m going to miss you the most,” he muttered into the kitty’s fur. 

 

When they got back to Jaehyun’s apartment, Jungwoo tried to flee to his room in order to avoid the awkward conversation that was bound to come, but Jaehyun stopped him with a “wait a second Jungwoo, we have some things we need to talk about.”

Jungwoo sighed and slumped onto the couch.

“So, Taeil said you’ve been really bored at home alone and you’ve just been sleeping and not eating?”

Jungwoo just shrugged in response.

“If you needed more things to do, you could’ve just asked. You know you can talk to me about anything right? I promise I won’t get mad.”

Jungwoo shrugged again. 

Jaehyun sighed. “So Taeil said to get you a phone, which I’ll order when we’re done talking, is there anything else you want to keep you busy? Books? Art supplies?”

“A pet,” 

“A pet?”

“Yeah, Ten has a kitty and that keeps him busy all day.”

“I don’t really like cats.”

“A dog then, you like dogs.”

Jaehyun looked at Jungwoo, his eyes wide in shock. “You really want a dog?”

“Yes?” Jungwoo thought that he had been quite clear.

“But you’d have to take the dog on walks outside everyday and we’d have to go to the shelter and pet store together in order to adopt a puppy.” 

“I can do it,” Jungwoo answered confidently even though the idea of going outside again made his hands slick with sweat. Last time had turned out horribly and Jungwoo really didn’t need a repeat. 

If Jaehyun noticed Jungwoo’s discomfort, he didn’t comment on it. “We can go to the shelter tomorrow then if that’s what you want?”

“Really?” Jungwoo was surprised that Jaehyun was actually going along with what he thought was a far-fetched plan.

“Uh, yeah. If you’re serious then I don’t see why not. I don’t want you to be bored alone all day long.”

“I can get a puppy?” Jungwoo was practically bouncing on the couch in excitement. “We’re really going tomorrow?”

“Yes? I really don’t see why not.”

Jungwoo squealed and ran over to Jaehyun, wrapping his arms around him in a brief hug. “Thank you so much!”

Jungwoo ran to the kitchen to get a pencil and paper. “I’m going to start making a list of everything we need to buy.”

Jaehyun nodded, still trying to process the fact that Jungwoo had touched him of his own volition. Not just that—Jungwoo had hugged him. The hug had lasted not even a second, but to Jaehyun it felt like a lifetime. Johnny was right when he said getting a pet was the way to an omega’s heart. 

“Do you need any help making that list?” Jaehyun asked, having finally gotten over the fact that Jungwoo had hugged him. 

“Nope, we had a dog when I was little and I’m pretty sure I remember everything we had.” 

“Nice.”

There was an awkward silence as Jungwoo continued to make his list and Jaehyun tried to think of something else to say.

“You’re sure about being able to take the dog out on walks and stuff, right?”

Jungwoo stopped writing. “You keep asking that. We could go to the park right now if you really wanted.”

“Then let’s go,” Jaehyun said, sure that Jungwoo was about to back out, but instead Jungwoo stood up. “Okay then, let’s go.”

Jungwoo was already at the door, putting on his collar by the time Jaehyun processed that this was actually happening. 

“Are you sure? Things didn’t exactly go well last time.”

“That was over a month ago. I’m a lot better now. I mean I even hugged you today.”

Jaehyun sighed and put on his shoes. Jungwoo spoke with such determination in his voice that Jaehyun knew that there was no arguing. 

Jungwoo opened up the door and smiled at Jaehyun. “Don’t worry, I got this.”

 

After being outside for about two minutes Jungwoo could feel his palms become slick with sweat as people walked by them on the streets, several of them letting their gazes linger on Jungwoo’s body, making him feel self conscious. But he had told Jaehyun that he could do it, so he was going to. There was no way he was going to let himself freak out and prove Jaehyun right. No, they were going to go to the shelter tomorrow and come home with a puppy and Jungwoo was going to walk said puppy every day. 

Jungwoo squared his shoulders with newfound determination and continued to follow Jaehyun, avoiding eye contact with everyone they passed.

He could do this. It was just a simple walk, he would be fine. 

But Jungwoo could feel his heart pounding in his chest, could feel the anxiety pooling in his stomach. He couldn’t let himself panic, prove Jaehyun right. If he just focused on putting one foot into front of the other, on staying close to Jaehyun, he could do it. Jaehyun had said that the park wasn’t far, he could make it. He could do this.

“I got this,” Jungwoo muttered under his breath, hardening with resolve.

His anxiety was still there, simmering under the surface, but Jungwoo continued to chant “I got this” in his head, determined to at least make it to the park. He wasn’t going to have a panic attack like last time. He could do this.

 

Before Jungwoo knew it, they were at the park and the people were no longer crowded together. Jungwoo felt as if he could finally breathe. 

It had been so long since Jungwoo had seen grass, had seen trees, that he couldn’t help but stop and stare at all of the green ahead of him. He just wanted to run free, take off his shoes, play in the grass, climb the trees. 

Jungwoo remembered coming to the park after school with his friends, playing soccer in the grass, hanging upside down from the trees.

“Jaehyun,” Jungwoo suddenly called out, before sprinting off into the grass with a giggle.

“Wait—Jungwoo! Are you okay? Where are you going?” Jaehyun yelled as he started to run after Jungwoo.

Jungwoo looked over his shoulder and smiled at Jaehyun in response, happy to feel the wind in his hair as he ran, his legs feeling powerful as he bounded across the grass.

Jungwoo reached a tree and jumped up to grab the lowest branch and swung his legs up, using his momentum to help. It was a bit of a struggle to get on top of the branch, years in the center making Jungwoo weak. But by the time Jaehyun had reached the tree, gasping for air, Jungwoo was starting to climb higher.

“Jungwoo, what are you doing?” Jaehyun panted as he pulled himself onto the first branch, struggling a lot less than Jungwoo had. 

“I’m climbing,” Jungwoo responded, enjoying the view of the Han river from where he was perched high in the tree. 

“So you’re not scared and running away?” Jaehyun stopped a branch below Jungwoo.

“Oh, sorry,” Jungwoo said sheepishly, “I didn’t mean to worry you. I saw all of the green and got excited because I hadn’t seen grass and trees since before the center.”

“Just please warn me before you take off running. You’re really fast. Also, please don’t fall out of the tree. Taeil would kill me if you got hurt. Actually, how about we get down now and enjoy the park from the ground?” Jaehyun started to climb down after he spoke and after one last glance at the river, Jungwoo followed.

However, Jungwoo stopped when he reached the lowest branch, it was a lot higher off the ground than he remembered and his arms were tired from climbing. Jungwoo sat on the branch and looked down at Jaehyun who had easily jumped to the ground.

“Can you get down?” Jaehyun asked.

“In a second.”

Jaehyun sighed. “Just jump and I’ll catch you.”

“Mmm, I think I’ll just sit here for a second and rest my arms.”

Jaehyun leaned against the tree trunk. “Let me know when you’re ready to come down. I’ll just be right here, ready to catch.”

Five minutes later, Jungwoo was ready to try getting down. He put his chest on the branch and dangled his legs over the edge, then realized that he wasn’t sure how to get any farther without his arms giving out on him.

“Are you stuck?” Jaehyun asked.

“Maybe.”

“I’m going to touch your legs now, okay?”

“Okay.” Jungwoo had accepted that he wasn’t getting down without Jaehyun’s help. 

Jaehyun put a steadying hand on Jungwoo’s legs. “Now just shift your weight to me and let go of the branch. I promise I’ll catch you.”

Jungwoo took a deep breath and slowly started to shift his weight backwards.

“You got this, just keep going. I’ll catch you,” Jaehyun praised as Jungwoo continued to slowly slide his weight off the branch, his arms shaking with the effort of pushing himself off.

Suddenly, about halfway off, Jungwoo lost his grip and started to slide faster. “Jaehyun!” he yelled as he fell off of the branch. 

Luckily Jaehyun easily caught Jungwoo in his arms, just as he had promised, holding Jungwoo bridal style while Jungwoo gasped for breath, the adrenaline from falling rushing through his veins. 

“I told you that I would catch you,” Jaehyun said as he set Jungwoo on his two unsteady feet.

“Thanks.” Jungwoo pressed a hand to his beating chest. “Please don’t tell anyone that happened, I’d never hear the end of it.”

“Believe me, I won’t. I don’t feel like being scolded for letting you climb a tree.”

Jungwoo sat down on the grass. “Taeil would ban us from the park,” he laughed. “I can just imagine the look on his face. He’d be like ‘And in what world was that a good idea?’” 

Jaehyun sat down next to Jungwoo and laughed, “You sound just like him.”

“‘It’s great that you went outside Jungwoo, but did you really have to get stuck in a tree?’”

Jaehyun clutched his sides and he laughed even harder, eyes crinkling as he looked at Jungwoo. “You’re really funny,” 

“Thanks,” Jungwoo muttered, laying down in the grass. He always used to joke around with Donghyuck, Mark, and Xiaojun like this, continuing his imitations until the three of them were rolling on the floor with laughter. Jungwoo missed those days, missed the simpler times when he was unpresented, hopeful for his future. 

Now, Jungwoo wasn’t sure of the last time he had felt hope, probably before he had presented. The center had sucked all hope out of Jungwoo the minute he had stepped inside its concrete walls. But now Jungwoo wasn’t sure. 

Jungwoo had things to look forward to for the first time in forever. He was excited for the future, excited for tomorrow when they would go to the shelter to look at the puppies. And maybe, just maybe, he was hopeful for what the future had in store for him.

 Maybe Jungwoo was starting to believe that things would get better.

It was a dangerous thought, one that could get him hurt, but Jungwoo had it all the same.

So Jungwoo laid on the grass, looking up at the sky streaked with pink from the setting sun and let himself feel hope. 

 

Notes:

like jungwoo, i am really good at climbing up things, but horrible at climbing down lol

Chapter 23

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

Jungwoo woke up early the following morning, too excited to sleep. Unfortunately, when he padded out of his room, Jaehyun’s door was still closed, signifying that he was still asleep. 

Jungwoo walked to the kitchen and as he started to pull out pans and bowls to make breakfast he realized that this was the first time that he had woken up before Jaehyun. Usually the alpha was up for at least an hour before Jungwoo, and even if Jungwoo did wake up early, he normally didn’t leave his room until at least 10 am. 

This morning, however, the clock read 8:23 am and Jungwoo was wide awake, cracking eggs into a pan on the stove with the coffee brewing in the pot. Jungwoo had watched Jaehyun make his coffee enough times that he was fairly certain that he could do it himself. It was pretty simple: black with a shot of creamer. Jungwoo doubted that he could mess that up.

Jungwoo was just finishing up with the last fried egg when Jaehyun stumbled out of his room, hair sticking up everywhere and eyes half closed as he shuffled into the kitchen. But the minute that Jaehyun saw Jungwoo his eyes widened and he ran his hands through his hair, trying to make it lay flat. 

“You’re awake? Already? Is everything okay?” 

“Yeah, of course everything is fine. I just woke up early because I was excited.”  Jungwoo handed Jaehyun the cup of coffee that he had made.

Jaehyun looked around the kitchen as he sipped his coffee. “You made breakfast too? You really didn’t have to do that.”

Jungwoo subconsciously took a step back, “Are you mad at me?”

“What? No! Of course not! I just don’t want you to feel like you have to cook and stuff just because you’re an omega and it’s your ‘job’ or whatever.”

“And if I did it because I wanted to? And also it meant that we’d go to the shelter sooner?” The words burst out of Jungwoo’s mouth before he realized what he was saying.

Jaehyun held up his hands and took a step back “That’s perfectly okay. I didn’t mean to insinuate that it wasn’t. You can make and eat food whenever you want, Jungwoo. I just don’t want you to feel like you have to for whatever reason.” 

Jungwoo let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding at Jaehyun’s words and he felt the tension seep out of his shoulders.

“Let’s start eating so we can go to the shelter sooner, yeah?” Jaehyun grabbed the plate with less food on it and headed to the table. 

Jungwoo grabbed the other plate and sat across from Jaehyun, trying to think of ways to discreetly slide two of his eggs onto Jaehyun’s plate. Jungwoo knew that Jaehyun did it on purpose, but there was no way that he was going to finish all four eggs on this plate, especially when he knew that Jaehyun only had two. 

“So how long is the drive to the shelter?” Jungwoo asked.

“Um, I’m not quite sure, let me check.” Jaehyun pulled out his phone and in the moment that he was looking down, Jungwoo reached over and slid two of his eggs onto Jaehyun’s plate. 

“It’s about a 15 minute drive.” Jaehyun looked down at his plate, brows furrowing when he saw the extra eggs and then finally widening in realization. “Nope, you’re eating at least one of these.” 

Jaehyun reached across the table and Jungwoo flinched back, but all Jaehyun did was slide one of the eggs back onto his plate. “There, now we both have three and it’s fair.”

Jungwoo had many protests to that statement; however, he was pretty sure that Jaehyun didn’t want to hear them, so he sucked it up and ate the additional egg. To be honest, the way Jaehyun beamed at Jungwoo as he ate made it all worth it. 

An hour later Jungwoo and Jaehyun were pulling up to the shelter.

“Just let me know the minute you feel uncomfortable and we can come back to the car to take a quick break, okay?”

“Yeah,” Jungwoo responded, already halfway out of the car door. He was pretty sure that Jaehyun sighed at that, but he was too excited to care, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited for Jaehyun to lock the car. 

When they entered the shelter, Jungwoo headed straight towards the kennels, ignoring whatever the person at the front desk had said. Jaehyun caught up to Jungwoo a few seconds later, he had actually stopped to listen to whatever the lady had to say. 

“She gave me some treats to give the dogs. And you could have some too if you didn’t charge ahead.”

Jungwoo was too busy scratching a golden retriever’s back to care that he didn’t get any treats for the dogs, plus Jaehyun would undoubtedly cave and share the treats with him the minute Jungwoo asked for some. 

“I thought you wanted a puppy? The chart says that this dog is 5 years old.”

“I do want a puppy, but I have to meet all the dogs at the shelter. They deserve love too.” 

Jaehyun sighed, but Jungwoo noticed how several minutes later he was kennel flirting with the chihuahua in the kennel next to where Jungwoo was. Jaehyun liked to act tough, but he was really just a softy.

Jungwoo turned his attention back to the golden retriever whose whole body was shaking with the force that she was wagging her tail. It made Jungwoo smile. 

Eventually, Jungwoo moved onto the next dog, his heart breaking when the golden retriever stopped wagging her tail as he left. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I would adopt you, but Jaehyun’s apartment doesn’t allow big dogs.”

The next dog was small and brown, a mixture of breeds that Jungwoo couldn’t identify. He was curled up in the corner and snarled when Jungwoo crouched in front of his kennel, not moving from his bed. 

“Are you scared? Honestly, I was too. I used to be in a cage just like you, with no hope for my future, but then I got bought, just like you will one day. And it was really scary at first, but then it gets better. One day you’ll have a loving family and this will all just be a distant memory.” The center wasn’t truthfully a distant memory for Jungwoo, more like a scar that would never stop hurting, but he figured the dog’s memory was much poorer than his.

 

After petting every dog in the shelter, they finally reached the puppies. And if Jaehyun thought that seeing Jungwoo play with the dogs was cute, seeing him with the puppies was even cuter.

Jaehyun had asked a worker to let them in with the puppies, so Jungwoo was currently sitting on the ground, the puppies crawling all over his lap, biting at his clothes, chewing on his fingers. Jungwoo didn’t seem to mind, though. In fact, he had the biggest smile on his face that Jaehyun had ever seen and Jungwoo even laughed as one of the puppies tugged particularly hard on his shirt. Honestly, if getting a puppy was all it took to see Jungwoo genuinely happy and laughing, then Jaehyun should have gone to the shelter much sooner. 

“Jaehyun, come pet the puppies. It’s no fun if you just stand there.”

Jaehyun tentatively sat down on the ground next to Jungwoo who thrust a wiggling puppy into his arms. The puppy instantly started to chew at Jaehyun’s fingers, her dark brown eyes looking up at Jaehyun’s adorably. 

“I like this one,” Jaehyun said, stroking the puppy’s soft ears.

“Yeah, she’s really cute. She looks like a beagle so she might howl and stuff, beagles are a loud breed. They’re no husky of course, but they still are quite talkative.” Jungwoo didn’t look at Jaehyun when he spoke, his eyes focused on the puppies in his lap. 

“You’ll be home all day, so it doesn’t matter if she’s loud, you’ll keep her occupied.”

Jungwoo nodded as he removed one of the puppies from chewing at his shirt.

“Also, how do you know so much about different dog breeds? You seem to know everything.” 

Jungwoo shrugged. “Before I wanted to be a nurse I wanted to be a vet so I googled a bunch of stuff about dogs and I even had a huge book of dog breeds and their characteristics. Beagles are hunting dogs and generally make great pets. She would want to play a lot and that would definitely keep me busy.” 

Jungwoo smiled and reached over to Jaehyun’s lap to pet the puppy in this lap. Jaehyun went still at the action, not wanting to move too suddenly and spook Jungwoo. He was surprised that Jungwoo was willingly reaching into an alpha’s personal space, but then again, puppies seemed to make Jungwoo more confident, more comfortable. 

Jungwoo seemed hardly aware of what he was doing as he continued to pet and play with the puppy in Jaehyun’s lap. “What do you think of Bella for a name?”

Jaehyun blinked in surprise. “For this puppy?” He gestured to the beagle in his lap. 

“Do you not like the name? You can always pick one. I really don’t mind. It was only an idea.” Jungwoo’s hand was back in his lap, stroking a puppy that had settled there as he looked at Jaehyun with wide eyes. 

“No, no. Bella is the perfect name. I love it.”

A hint of a smile came over Jungwoo’s face. “Thanks,” he muttered, ducking his head. 

Jaehyun stood up, wrapping Bella in his arms. “Are you ready to go sign the papers?”

Jungwoo nodded and carefully shooed the puppies off his lap, having to detach yet another one from his shirt. 

Once they were let out of the kennel by a worker, Jungwoo reached out his arms towards Bella, and Jaehyun easily transferred the wiggling puppy to Jungwoo who cooed over her and somehow managed to calm her instantly. Jaehyun couldn’t even find it in him to be jealous, he was just impressed by how much Jungwoo seemed to connect with all the dogs. 

Jungwoo stayed silent the entire time Jaehyun was going through the adoption process, not looking up from where Bella was in his lap once. 

Just as Jaehyun was finishing up signing the papers, the worker asked, “So you’re getting a puppy for your omega? Is he a particularly good investment and you thought you’d reward him? Has he been a big help around the house? Or maybe in the bedroom?” 

Jungwoo flinched, but didn’t look up, instead burying his face in Bella’s fur, the puppy looking surprised by the action, but didn’t protest. 

The worker’s words, however, made Jaehyun furious. He took a deep breath and tried not to let his anger leak into his voice. “I got a puppy because Jungwoo wanted one. Nothing more. He’s a person not an object.” 

The worker rolled their eyes, but handed Jaehyun the finalized papers and within a couple of minutes they were back in the car, Jungwoo still not looking up from his lap. 

Jaehyun sighed, “You know that I don’t agree with what the worker said, right? When I said that you’re a person, not an object or slave I meant it.”

Jungwoo nodded, but still kept his eyes firmly trained on Bella in his lap.

“Are you still up for going to the pet store today?” Jaehyun asked as he started the car. “It’s okay to say no, I can always drop you off at home and I can go by myself if you aren’t feeling up for it.”

“I can go,” Jungwoo muttered. 

Jaehyun nodded and pulled out of the parking lot, doubting that Jungwoo actually wanted to go to the pet store right now, but not wanting to protest Jungwoo’s decision. 

 

The trip to the pet store went just about how Jaehyun thought it would. Jungwoo clutched Bella to his chest the whole time and rarely looked up from the ground. He just pointed to the things on the shelf that he wanted and Jaehyun would put them in the cart, while trying to make small talk to no avail. 

“You can put Bella in the cart if your arms are getting tired from carrying her,” Jaehyun offered, but Jungwoo just shook his head and clutched Bella even closer to his chest. The puppy must’ve sensed Jungwoo’s stress because she didn’t wiggle at all or try to escape from Jungwoo’s arms. 

Jaehyun didn’t try to get Jungwoo to set Bella down after that and just accepted that Jungwoo was going to silently suffer through this shopping trip, eyes wide, and flinching everytime they passed another person in the store. 

When they were finally ready to checkout, Jungwoo did his best to hide behind Jaehyun, not even looking up from the floor once. The cashier was blissfully silent, her only remark being that Bella was cute. 

Back in the car, Jaehyun let out a small sigh of relief. How Jungwoo had made it through that trip was a mystery, but Jaehyun was grateful that he hadn’t had another panic attack. 

Bella must’ve helped in that aspect; the puppy was now asleep in Jungwoo’s lap, with Jungwoo slowly stroking her fur. The tension was finally gone from Jungwoo’s shoulders and he looked relaxed for the first time since they left the shelter. 

Jaehyun was happy that at least this trip had gone much better than the first and this time he most likely wouldn’t have to call Ten to come coax Jungwoo out of the car. And now they had a cute new puppy, that made Jungwoo happy, so Jaehyun considered that a success. 

 

Jungwoo honestly only vaguely remembered going to the pet store. There were colors and the feeling of Bella in his arms, but no concrete memories, only flashes of feelings and impressions. 

After the worker at the shelter had spoken, Jungwoo had zoned out. It was too close to what the handlers had spat at him everyday at the shelter, how he had felt during those horrible years. 

The worker spoke those words and Jungwoo’s world went out of focus, everything felt out of reach. He was touching things, but they weren’t real, nothing was. He was only dimly aware of his own body as he followed Jaehyun to the car and then throughout the pet store. The only things that had seemed concrete to Jungwoo was Bella, the little mass of fur in his arms the only thing he could feel, the only thing keeping him tied to earth. 

Now, everything was starting to come back into focus, the fog clearing from Jungwoo’s mind. 

He was sitting on the couch in Jaehyun’s apartment, Bella’s small body curled up in his lap, sleeping. Her adorable face scrunched slightly as she slept and one white paw twitched. Jungwoo couldn’t help but hum and run his hands through her soft, black, white, and brown fur. 

Jaehyun then appeared, sitting down on the couch a healthy distance away from Jungwoo. “I put her bed and toys over in that corner, the water and food bowls by the kitchen, and her collar and leash are by the door. Feel free to move anything however you like, okay?”

Jungwoo nodded, he’d mess around with stuff while Jaehyun was at work tomorrow. 

“And as for a feeding schedule, I figured that I could feed her in the morning since I always wake up first anyways and you could feed her at night? Just so we don’t have any confusion.”

Jungwoo nodded again.

“As for walks, I figure that you don’t want to go outside by yourself?”

“No,” Jungwoo said with a shake of his head.

“So I’ll take her for a quick walk in the morning so that she can go to the bathroom and we can take a longer walk together at night. Maybe Ten or Taeil can over some days to give her a mid-day walk with you? At least until you can get comfortable doing it by yourself.”

Jungwoo was pretty sure he was never going to be able to leave the apartment by himself, but he still responded with a “Sure.”

“Great! I’ll get started on lunch and you get Bella settled in, alright?”

Bella was already asleep, so Jungwoo wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to get her “settled in”, but he didn’t say anything in response and instead opted to shift himself so he was laying down on the couch, curled around Bella. 

 

Jungwoo woke up to Bella licking his face and pawing at his arm. He sat up and she jumped off of the couch to run around and explore the apartment. Bella must’ve found Jaehyun, because pretty soon he was walking into the living room, Bella at his heels.

“Are you hungry? There's a sandwich in the fridge for you, I didn't want to wake you up.”

“Thanks,” Jungwoo muttered, stretching out his stiff muscles.

“Also, everyone wants to come over tonight to meet Bella, but I wanted to check if it was okay with you first.”

Jungwoo was confused why Jaehyun was asking him for permission. It was Jaehyun’s apartment, not Jungwoo’s. “Uh, yeah. They can come over.”

“Great! I’ll text the group chat. Don’t forget to eat lunch.” And then Jaehyun was disappearing back into his room, probably to write some emails or something. He never seemed to stop working, but always claimed that he would have more free time as soon as they finished the project that they were working on. 

To be honest, Jungwoo didn’t really mind that Jaehyun was always busy, especially now that he had Bella to keep him company. Jaehyun being busy meant that there were less awkward moments and Jungwoo didn’t have to be constantly aware. 

 

The rest of the day passed without consequence until dinner time when Ten came bursting through the door, closely followed by Sicheng. “Where’s the puppy?” 

Jungwoo scooped Bella into his arms and Ten and Sicheng were by his side in an instant, rubbing Bella’s ears and cooing over how cute she was while the puppy soaked up all the attention, her tail wagging so hard her whole body was moving. 

The three of them had already transitioned to Jungwoo’s room by the time Johnny and Yuta finally got to the apartment, out of breath from trying to chase after Ten and Sicheng. 

Taeil arrived several minutes later. The fact that he and Taeyong were on time for once spoke mountains to how much they wanted to meet Bella.

Taeil entered Jungwoo’s room holding a stuffed duck squeaky toy that he must have snagged from the living room. At the first squeak of the toy, Bella abandoned her game of tug-a-war with Sicheng and ran over to Taeil who handed her the duck and scooped her up into his arms. “She’s adorable. What do you want to bet that Taeyong will be begging for a puppy after this?”

Ten smirked. “Definitely. Good luck with that.”

“What about you, Sicheng?” Jungwoo asked, laying his head in the other’s lap.

“What about me?”

“Do you want a pet?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t really want to bother Yuta with it, I can keep myself occupied at home well enough.” 

Sicheng started to card his fingers through Jungwoo’s hair and Jungwoo hummed in appreciation.

Ten groaned at Sicheng’s statement.

“You know you can ask Yuta for stuff and he won’t get mad or think that you’re being selfish or whatever, right?” Taeil looked up from where he was playing with Bella. Jungwoo swore Taeil had a sixth sense or something. 

“I know,” Sicheng said. “And I ask him for things when it’s important. We get along well.”

“I have his phone number, you know.” 

Sicheng scoffed. “We really do talk every night which is more than Jungwoo and Jaehyun do.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know that we went to the park together last night and I even let Jaehyun catch me when I couldn’t get out of the tree.” Jungwoo winced the minute that the words left his mouth and he quickly sat up.

“Why were you in a tree?” Taeil dropped the dog toy in his hand to turn his full attention to Jungwoo. 

“I got excited and then climbed a tree and then I got stuck and Jaehyun helped me get down.”

Taeil sighed. “I feel like I have six kids. You are all adults, why can’t you use your reasoning skills?”

“Six kids? Why are you counting Johnny and I? We have our shit together.” 

“Barely.” Taeil scooped Bella into his arms and she tried to lick his face. “Sometimes I wonder how you all can be such big disasters. When I became friends with Taeyong, Jaehyun, and Johnny in college I had no clue that it would lead to this.”

“I’m cute though,” Jungwoo pouted and poked his cheek, causing Ten to choke and Sicheng to hit his shoulder.

Taeil looked up to the ceiling. “I can feel myself losing brain cells.” 

A knock sounded on Jungwoo’s door, interrupting Taeil’s crisis. “Jungwoo, can I please meet Bella? Jaehyun has been showing us pictures and she looks so cute.” Taeyong’s tentative voice sounded through the door.

Jungwoo picked up the puppy and headed to the door of his room. The instant the door swung open, Taeyong gasped. “Aw, she’s adorable.”

“You can hold her.” Jungwoo carefully transferred Bella into Taeyong’s arms and Taeyong looked like he was about to die of happiness. 

“Do you guys want to come out so we can eat dinner and play with Bella together?”

Ah, that was the real reason Taeyong knocked on the door, he was the representative alpha designated with the task of getting them out of Jungwoo’s room. But Taeyong looked so hopeful and Taeil was nudging Jungwoo’s side, so he had no choice but to agree.

Taeyong’s smile got impossibly bigger and Jungwoo couldn't help but smile back as they all headed to the living room and sat in a loose circle on the rug while Bella ran around from person to person looking like she was having the time of her life. 

For once Jungwoo didn’t feel nervous in the presence of the alphas, in fact his face hurt from how much he had been smiling. Maybe things really were going to be okay. 



Notes:

wow, there's only one more chapter and then this fic is done...

Chapter 24

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

A year later found Jungwoo and Jaehyun in the park walking Bella. The sun was setting, sending streaks of pink and red across the sky and a stiff wind rustled the yellow and orange leaves on the trees. Fall was upon them and Jungwoo did not appreciate the colder weather that the change of the seasons ensued. 

“Do you want my coat?” Jaehyun offered, noticing the way that Jungwoo shivered, drawing his own coat closer around him. 

“No, if I take your coat then you’ll be cold.” Jungwoo protested to no avail, Jaehyun was already  draping the coat over Jungwoo’s shoulders.

“I’ll be fine. I don’t get cold.”

Jungwoo rolled his eyes. He remembered last winter when they brought Bella out to play in the fresh snow when she was still a puppy and Jaehyun had forgotten gloves and neglected to wear his winter coat. When they had gotten home Jaehyun had sat in front of the oven for an hour trying to warm back up. 

But Jungwoo was cold so he slid his arms into Jaehyun’s jacket and tucked his hands into the pockets. 

Bella tugged at her leash, excitedly nosing at a pile of leaves near the edge of the sidewalk. Jungwoo had an urge to make a leaf pile and jump into it, just like he would when he was a kid, but they were going over to Ten and Johnny’s after this to celebrate their one year anniversary of dating and Jungwoo didn’t think that having leaves stuck in his hair was the right look for the event. 

So much had happened in the past year: getting Bella, Jungwoo gaining the confidence to leave the house to take Bella on walks by himself, Yuta and Sicheng started dating finally, and so much more that made Jungwoo smile thinking about it. 

Like the time they had all gone to Jeju for vacation and buried Taeyong so deep in the sand that he couldn’t get out by himself and Johnny had to help free him while Taeil laid on the ground laughing at his mate’s plight. 

Or when Yuta had finally confessed to Sicheng, which had prompted the omega to lock himself in his room and scream on the phone to Jungwoo all night. Ten had gotten involved at some point and the whole thing had ended with Sicheng making dinner for Yuta as a way to say that he returned the other’s feelings. Despite Jungwoo’s coaching, the dinner had been inedible and they had ended up ordering out. It was an interesting start to their relationship, but honestly, Jungwoo expected nothing less. 

Now, Sicheng always had an easy smile around Yuta, leaned into his side, welcoming the hand holding and small touches. It was the most relaxed that Jungwoo had seen his friend around any alpha. 

And Sicheng wasn’t the only one who had changed. Yuta was more aware of his actions, didn’t do things without thinking, was calmer, his smile warmer when he looked at Sicheng. It warmed Jungwoo’s heart to see how genuinely happy the two of them were together. 

When Jungwoo was in the center, he thought that he would never feel love and happiness again, but then Jaehyun bought him and he met Ten and Taeil and Sicheng. And Jungwoo smiled when he was with them, formed friendships. Then there was Jaehyun, Johnny, Yuta, and Taeyong. Jungwoo was terrified of them at first, he wouldn't even look them in the eyes. But now, Jungwoo could talk to them easily, felt comfortable in their presence, could be himself in front of them without worry.

 If someone had told Jungwoo that he would someday trust the alpha that had brought him home from the shelter, he would have laughed at them, disbelieving of the fact that he could ever trust an alpha. But here he was, over a year later, smiling over at Jaehyun who was chasing after Bella, yelling at her to drop the piece of trash in her mouth.

“Bella, no! Drop that. You don’t even know where that has been.” 

As Jaehyun walked towards Bella, she doubled down on her efforts to consume whatever was in her mouth. 

“No, Bella, you can’t eat that.” Jaehyun pried open Bella’s mouth and threw the chewed up glob to the side. 

Jungwoo snickered and Jaehyun turned to  glare at him. “You could have helped me,” he whined.

“Yeah, but I thought you had it under control,” Jungwoo said with a lilting smile, reaching out to intertwine his fingers with Jaehyun’s.

“Your hands are so cold, you should have brought gloves.” 

Jungwoo shrugged. “I forgot.”

“Let me help you out then.” Jaehyun reached out to grab Jungwoo’s other hand and rubbed Jungwoo’s hands in between his own, blowing warm air on them to warm them up. 

“Thanks,” Jungwoo smiled. 

“Of course.” Jaehyun let go of one of Jungwoo’s hands, but kept the other wrapped in his own, raising a questioning eyebrow at Jungwoo to ask if it was okay.

Jungwoo nodded in response and knocked their shoulders together as they turned around to walk back to the apartment.

“We should go for a walk here tomorrow and play in the leaves.”

Jaehyun looked at Jungwoo in surprise. “What’s stopping you from playing in the leaves right now? Bella was having a blast earlier.” 

“Because I don’t feel like changing before we go to Ten and Johnny’s. And leaves would be so hard to get out of this sweater.”

“That’s what the washing machine is for.” Jaehyun gave Jungwoo a shove, which caused Jungwoo to lose his balance and head shoulder first into a pile of leaves that had gathered near the edge of the walkway. 

“Jaehyun,” Jungwoo gasped, aghast at the blatant betrayal. 

At the last second, Jaehyun hauled Jungwoo up to his feet with the hand that was still firmly in his own. “The look on your face was priceless,” Jaehyun laughed, “You didn’t think I was that mean, did you?” 

“You’re so mean, my heart is still racing.” Jungwoo playfully punched Jaehyun in the shoulder. “You even got Bella all upset.” Jungwoo gestured to the beagle who was whining and tugging at Jaehyun’s pant leg. 

Jaehyun knelt down to pet Bella’s raised fur. “It’s okay little girl, see Jungwoo is fine.”

Jungwoo held out his hand and Bella ran straight to him.

“It’s not fair that she likes you more.”

“I do spend the whole day with her.” Jungwoo rubbed behind Bella’s ear, her tail thumping against his leg at the action. 

“I still think that I should be the favorite.”

“Of course you do.”

 

—————————————————————-

 

Ten greeted them with a smirk as he opened the door. “What did Jaehyun do this time to make you guys late?”

“He pretended to shove me into a pile of leaves.”

Ten nodded understandingly. “So you shoved him back?”

“No?”

“No? Johnny would have been in the leaves before he could blink.”

Jungwoo laughed and slung his arm around Ten’s shoulders. “You’re like half his size, I’d like to see that.”

“I wouldn't underestimate him,” Johnny called from the kitchen. “Ten can be ruthless. He scares me sometimes.”

Ten cackled and led Jungwoo over to the couch to plop down next to Sicheng who was stroking a very happy Louis.

“Do I scare you, Sicheng?”

“Do I have to answer that?” Sicheng transferred Louis to Jungwoo’s lap. 

“Ten scares me,” Taeyong announced as he entered the apartment, hand clasped in Taeil’s.

Johnny reached out his hand to high five Taeyong. “We should make a club.”

Taeil sighed and slapped Taeyong’s ass before plopping onto the couch on top of Ten.

“Ten doesn’t scare me,” he announced.

“Really?” Ten shoved Taeil to the ground. “I seem to remember you being scared of me when I was on the roof.”

“I was scared for you. There’s a difference.” 

Ten smirked, “So you’ve never been scared of me?”

“Why should I be scared of you? I survived the majority of college on my own, I fear nothing after that.”

“Really?” Ten launched himself at Taeil, but Jungwoo and Sicheng both managed to get a grip on his shirtsleeves, holding him back. 

“Johnny, come get you man!” Taeil called. 

Ten slumped back into Sicheng and Jungwoo and started to tickle Jungwoo, Louis having fled the moment Ten jumped up from the couch. 

“No, no, please stop!” Jungwoo gasped, writhing around on the couch. But Sicheng grabbed his shoulders and held Jungwoo captive for Ten, probably just happy that it wasn't him who was being targeted. 

“Johnny, Jaehyun, help me!”

“Why didn’t you ask me for help?” Taeil asked, reaching over to tickle Jungwoo’s stomach, Ten scooching back to make room for him. Jungwoo was laughing so hard he could hardly breathe. 

“Mercy, mercy!”

“Sorry, Korean isn’t my first language, I don’t know what that means,” Ten said as he doubled down on his efforts to torture Jungwoo. 

Jungwoo wildly kicked at his legs and twisted, trying to get Ten off of him to no avail. 

“Yuta, Taeyong, I need help!” 

“Dinner’s ready,” Johnny announced, setting the last napkin on the table. 

Suddenly, the weight was gone, off of Jungwoo and his friends were seated at the table, leaving him gasping for air on the couch. Jungwoo didn’t even have enough air left anymore to protest the fact that no one had come to his aid. 

When Jungwoo finally made it to the table, Ten winked at him. “After dinner we’ll get Jaehyun.”

 

After dinner, they did not get Jaehyun because the minute Sicheng finished the last bite of his food, Johnny was pulling out a small box with a red bow on it from under his chair. He handed the box to Ten with a smile. “Happy anniversary.”

“I thought we said no gifts.” 

“This is the exception,” Johnny said with a wink.

Ten gave Johnny the side eye, but gently removed the top from the small red box. The minute Ten’s gaze fell on whatever was in the present, his eyes widened. Ten lifted his small collar out of the box, the black fabric snapped in half.

“Tonight?” he asked looking at Johnny, “You’ll give me the bite tonight?”

“Of course I will.” Johnny came around the table to pick up Ten, easily hoisting the smaller into his arms.

“And that’s our cue to go.” Taeil stood up and grabbed Sicheng’s arm to drag him out of Ten and Johnny’s apartment, everyone else following close behind. 

“They’re going to have fun tonight,” Yuta said with a smirk, earning himself a swat on the arm from Taeil.

“It’s true! They’ll be mates by morning.”

“Don’t say it like that,” Sicehng hissed and Yuta’s mouth snapped shut. “Sorry,” he muttered.

Simp , Taeyong mouthed to Jungwoo with a slight smile. 

Jungwoo returned Taeyong’s smile and leaned into Jaehyun’s side, the hallway was cold and Jaehyun’s body was warm.

Jaehyun looked down at Jungwoo fondly and wrapped his arm around Jungwoo’s shoulders before turning to everyone else. “We need to get home to Bella, but see you guys Monday?” 

“Yeah of course, get home to Bella before she pees all over the rug again,” Yuta said.

Both Jungwoo and Jaehyun cringed at the memory, remembering the time that they had stayed over at Sicheng and Yuta’s apartment for too long. Coming home to that mess was never fun. 

 

But then again, going for a walk with Bella at night in the cold wasn’t particularly fun either. They were back at the apartment and Jaehyun was pulling out Jungwoo’s winter coat from the coat closet while Jungwoo sat on the floor pouting. 

“Do I really have to go outside right now?”

“Of course, you need to protect me from all of the scary people outside.”

Jungwoo climbed to his feet and let Jaehyun help him into the coat. “But you’re a big scary alpha, you don’t need my help.”

“Maybe I’m scared of the dark.” Jaehyun handed Jungwoo his collar and then a scarf to wrap over it.

“How did you survive without me?”

“It was difficult.” Jaehyun forced a hat onto Jungwoo’s head and Jungwoo let out a sound of protest as it messed up his hair. 

“You know that took me 20 minutes to curl!”

“It’s dark outside, no one will see your hair.”

Jungwoo pouted and messed with his hat until he deemed his hair somewhat presentable. “I’m ready to go now!”

“You don’t have shoes on,” Jaehyun sighed, not even looking up from where he was trying to clip a leash onto a very excited Bella.

Jungwoo forced his feet into his boots, too lazy to properly unlace them. “I’m actually ready this time,” he declared.

Jaehyun silently handed Jungwoo a pair of gloves.

Once they were outside, Jungwoo was glad for the gloves, Jaehyun could only hold one of his hands at a time and Jungwoo had to hold Bella’s leash for the first half of the walk. 

When they reached the park, Jaehyun sat down on one of the benches by the river.

“What are you doing? It’s so cold outside.” Jungwoo complained, standing next to where Jaehyun was seated. 

“But the river is so pretty at night.”

Jungwoo turned to look at the river that was, admittedly, very pretty with the lights from the buildings reflecting off of its water. However Jungwoo was too cold to care and he told Jaehyun as much.  

“Then sit in my lap,” Jaehyun said, pulling Jungwoo down onto his legs.

Jungwoo instinctually nestled into Jaehyun’s warmth and when he looked up, he realized how close together their faces were. 

But neither of them pulled away, Jungwoo’s gaze dropping to Jaehyun’s lips. They were plump and red from the cold. Jungwoo felt himself lean in slightly to close the gap in between them. “Is it okay if I kiss you?” Jaehyun whispered, his hand coming up to thumb at Jungwoo’s cheek.

Instead of answering, Jungwoo pressed his lips against Jaehyun’s.

Jaehyun kissed Jungwoo back with fervor, his hand slipping back to knot in Jungwoo’s hair. When they finally broke apart, they were gasping for air, chests heaving as they stared into each other's eyes. 

“I’ve been waiting so long to do that,” Jaehyun gasped out, his breath making little puffs of white in the cold air. 

“Yeah?” Jungwoo hummed in response, burying his head into Jaehyun’s chest. “Does this mean that we have the same anniversary as Ten and Johnny?”

Jaehyun’s hands stilled from where he was fixing Jungwoo’s beanie. “If you want? Nothing is technically official yet.”

“Then take me out for a date and make it official.”

“I will, but first we have to get home before you freeze.” Jaehyun lifted Jungwoo off of his lap, and took Bella’s leash from his hand.

Before Jungwoo knew it, he was sitting on the couch with Bella on his lap, cradled with blankets, and snuggled up to Jaehyun’s side. 

 

——————————————————

 

The following week found Jungwoo seated on a blanket in the park, having a picnic with Jaehyun. 

There had been a break in the cold weather and Jaehyun had taken advantage of it, waking up Jungwoo at noon with a smile and a picnic basket in his hand. 

The sun had shone brightly down on them as Jungwoo skipped to the park with Bella, Jaehyun who was lugging the basket full of food trailing behind them. While Jaehyun set up the blanket and food, Jungwoo took Bella to play in the leaves, leaving Jaehyun to just sigh and shake his head at the leaves and twigs stuck in Jungwoo’s hair when he finally sat down to eat lunch. 

“You still have a leaf in your hair,” Jaehyun complained.

“Then get it out for me,” Jungwoo replied, tilting his head towards Jaehyun. 

Jaehyun sighed at the action, but did as Jungwoo requested and helped him to pick out the stray bits of leaves in his hair as Jungwoo continued to eat his sandwich. 

“Thank you,” Jungwoo smiled, tilting his head in the way that he knew Jaehyun couldn't resist. 

Jaehyun reached over to draw Jungwoo into his arms and lifted a piece of chocolate to his lips. “So now are we official?” Jungwoo asked.

“Yes, now we’re official,” Jaehyun replied with a quick peck to Jungwoo’s lips. 

“Good,” Jungwoo leaned his head back against Jaehyun’s shoulder to gaze up at the cloudless blue sky, feeling happier than he had in a long time.

Notes:

i can't believe it's finally over! Huge thanks to @CallisaRose for being my beta!!

 

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Notes:

Shout out to the amazing @CallisaRose for helping me edit and keep these chapters typo free!!

Please tell me what you think and follow me on Instagram @intricate_6 and Twitter! CC