Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There is one universal truth in the universe; there are alphas and there are omegas, and they are a part of one whole. 

The moon calls to them both and they run free, together, underneath it.

The first time Bang Chan heard that wishy-washy ‘part of one whole’ crap was at a bonding ceremony, and he found it quite romantic. 

And very untrue. 

Alphas and omegas are inherently different. 

The moon affects them differently. Alphas hunt. Omegas get caught. Alphas are aggressive. Omegas are docile and compliant. 

And they are not equals. Not legally. 

Omegas don’t have full rights. The official reasoning is that it’s for their own safety. The unpredictable heats and promiscuous nature of the omega would have you believe their virtue is under constant threat. Omegas easily change partners unless bonded, sometimes even several times per day. They’re less prone to diseases, and have a crazy sexual appetite. But they are much more sensitive to scent shifts, liable for the alpha’s mercy. 

That’s why an omega’s rights belong to their parents until they’re bonded, or until another alpha is willing to take them under their wing. The only exception to this is if they become a Luna. An omega with no master — a right that needs to be earned . 

Alphas on the other hand, don’t need to earn their status in society. It’s there from the moment they present. But so is the struggle for power. It’s a never ending competition to find out who is the smartest. Who is the strongest. Who is fastest. Who beds more omegas.

Alphas typically can’t get along between themselves and have territorial disputes over everything, big or small. Family or pack bonds may tie them — but are never a guarantee. Even when alphas bend under another alpha to form a pack, they’re demoted in title. Only one can be alpha. The rest are betas. Inferior to the leader. The Alpha’s word is last. Even in a pack there’s a constant pull and push between the betas and the alpha on the leadership of a pack — show weakness, and you end up as the beta. 

Polite company requires alphas to be disciplined. In control of their emotions. In control of their body. Their short tempers and general disdain toward one another cannot be blatant. 

That’s why the Rules exist. To accommodate alphas. They lack control and have short tempers. They have a problem sharing — especially when it comes to omegas. They’re ready to go to war for them. So the better you play by the Rules, the higher your status in society becomes.

“So that’s it? You’re really going?”

“Yup.” Chan pats Felix’s back when he rubs his face on his shirt one last time, before skidding back after Changbin, who's waiting for him by the main hall entrance. 

It’s recess, warm early spring, and the entire school went out into the courtyard to enjoy the sun, even though most of them are still wearing their coats. 

“Get out of here, man! Feels weird when you’re coming to visit us at school! What is everyone going to think? ” Changbin half-yells at him, like everybody magically forgot who Chan is in the 10 months since his graduation. Their highschool is the only one in town, and although it’s relatively big, since some nearby villages and towns send their kids here, it’s still the type of place where everyone just knows each other. And everybody knew Bang Chan.

If only from the fact that he presented early. Earlier than his peers by far. 

It made him an instant celebrity overnight. Senior omegas would be strolling by his classroom to have a look at him, or giggle when he was passing by them in the hall, and all his classmates would want to be him so they can go on a Spring Run.

He was a straight As student. Captain of the swimming team. And also a literary and music genius — thus a romantic at heart. An omega’s wet dream.

“Still your alpha!” Chan reminds. 

“Not anymore!” Changbin sing-songs, waving him off. “I’m a free wolf, now.” Felix bumps into him, and immediately interlocks hands with him. 

Chan can’t hear what they’re chatting about, but they seem cozy again. Last week he was sure they were going to break up seriously. 

Jisung turns back to him, in his best attempt to look supportive despite his frown.

“But a whole year? When are you coming back for a visit?”

“I probably won’t. But fingers crossed they’ll let me off early. I heard that’s possible.” 

“Damn, that’s harsh.” Jisung rubs his head, awkward.

Now that Chan thinks about it, they’ve never been apart for that long. Maybe a couple of months, once or twice. Jisung’s the only one who's around his age range in his dad’s pack — so it felt natural that he became a part of Chan’s pack when he formed one. They were always close. From diapers, probably. Feels strange that Chan won’t have him readily available, just a phone call away.

“What about Spring Run?” 

Chan rolls his eyes; “You know what I think about that stupid primitive tradition, Jisung.” Now it’s Jisung’s turn to roll his eyes, as if he heard it a million times now. “You know in the city omegas aren’t even required to attend?” 

Jisung mouths the last bit of the sentence as if he heard it already a million times, even though Chan is pretty sure he didn’t tell him that before. He only found out recently himself. 

Every year, on the last spring full moon, they go on a run. 

For alphas it’s optional — but for omegas, it’s mandatory.

It’s what decides their fate. 

And they all have to treat it like a game. Spring Festival starts as early as noon, and has a lot of activities for children, food stalls, free drinks, and fireworks — but the main show of the event is the run. Once it grows darker, everybody gathers around the wooden terraces to watch them sound the horn and watch them all run into the forest. Omegas first, typically an hour before the moon is up — and then the alphas. 

A game of chase for the alphas, where the prize is shoving their cock into the first pussy they find. A treasure hunt for the omegas — where all the stakes are raised against them, where they have to remain hidden and unmated despite tens of alphas on their tails whose senses are much more heightened due to the moon, where they have to find all the milestones in the correct order before they head to the last landmark — only so they could have the right to govern themselves for the next year. And then, repeat the same thing next year. 

Chan did attend. Twice. 

He attended once before he knew better — back when he had only presented.

Chan’s parents were a bit iffy about letting him attend, considering his mindset wasn’t exactly adult just yet, but they couldn’t really have much of a say in it. Legally, he was an adult, and he could make his own decisions.

Needless to say he had missed out the next year and the year after that. The next time he attended was last year, as a senior himself, and by then, it was more of a social construct, because everybody else was attending and he didn’t want to be left out. And honestly, it was even worse than he remembered it. Classmates who he considered friends, actively sought him out in the forest to tear him apart, and although the omega he caught was lovely, she made him go four rounds in a row, on the forest floor, with leaves and sand and ants sticking to his butt. Not his best mating. 

“Honestly, it’s not as bad as you make it sound. Some omegas actually like getting laid. Me. I’m those omegas. I’m sorry there’s not enough pussy variety here for you — but there’s plenty of dicks to go around and I, for one, would like to enjoy my youth with a fat, juicy one while I can before I’m knocked up.” 

“Oh god, every day you sound more and more like—” 

“Jisung, are you coming? Recess is almost over.”

Speak of the antichrist, and so shall he appear. In flesh. 

The minute his gaze meets Lee Minho’s, they both narrow their eyes — like they’re in a western movie faceoff, about to draw their guns. 

It’s been a couple of months since Chan saw him last — but nothing really changed, he’s still wearing his uniform like he’s perpetually in gym class, hoodie underneath his school button up. Nose stuck up high. Another alpha at his disposal, bidding his every whim.

Most unholy. 

Serpent of the deep. 

The very bane of Chan’s existence upon this earth. 

“Yes, hyung!” Jisung’s automatic response comes; “Be right there — So you’re all set to go?”

“Pretty much, yeah.” Chan replies, but doesn’t look back at Jisung until Minho turns to talk to his buddy, and rubs his cheek with his middle finger. Funny how now he’s a senior at highschool and he’s still not below that sort of shit. Chan snorts. 

“Just need to pack a bag and I’m all done.”

“Excited?” 

“Nervous, mostly.” 

He signed in for his Alpha Year still in the last months of highschool and was approved for the next spring right away. He’s pretty much the only alpha out of his graduating class whose heading to serve so early — but he won’t be eligible to move out of town without it, and he’s in a rush to escape this town. No time to waste. 

Chan probably read all the information available about AY, twice . Both in the library and online. He visited forums and asked people who had been, just to make sure he knew what to expect. And he feels pretty ready. The way he sees it, it’s going to be a breeze for him. 

He never had problems with discipline or control, and he’s pretty good playing nice with other alphas. He’s one of the only alphas who were able to establish a pack still in high-school, while everybody is still in the midst of the post-puberty hormone high. It wasn’t a real , registered pack or anything. More like make-belief. Scenting only. And it felt real enough for them, so that was enough. Everyone knows highschool packs don’t last. So it counts. Especially now that Seungmin has also presented as an Alpha. 

He’s going to do well. He just knows it.

“When are you leaving?” 

“In two weeks. We’re still on Friday night, don’t worry. And for the annual bonfire, next week — are you still friends with that snake?” 

“Yes, I’m still friends with that snake. Snake is my best friend.”

“I’m your best friend.” 

“I can have two best friends. Also Changbin is my best friends. And Felix. Not Seungmin, he left chalk marks on my sweater on purpose so he is dead to me. But I have a lot of love to give.”

“If I did stay,” Chan threatens emptily; “And did become your official alpha — my first thing on the agenda is making sure you’re not friends with him.” 

“Isn’t that a little primitive of you… deciding who I can be friends with?” 

“Ooff,” Chan grins; “Feeding my own words to me? Touche.” 

Jisung bows, as if he had performed before a crowd, which makes Chan laugh — that is, until a ball hits him square on the face. 

And not just a thump — it feels like an actual punch. He loses his footing, and catches himself right before he stumbles down. 

He grabs onto his jaw, groaning. This is going to leave a mark. 

Minho catches the ball that bounces off his face.

“It appears I’ve squashed a bug,” He says gently, looking down at Chan smugly. “Nevermind. I think it looked like this before, too.” 

Chan spits on the floor, because he feels blood in his mouth, probably because he bit his cheek. 

“Are you coming or not? Recess is almost over.”

“Dude, I haven't seen him since last week. Remember what Felix taught you? Have courage and be kind . Like in Cinderella.” 

“Kindness is for pussies.” Minho gives Chan a quick once over; “Also cockroaches don’t deserve kindness. They deserve getting squashed.” 

He almost throws the ball at him again, but he’s absolutely shit with anything relating to balls so Chan catches it easily. 

There’s still no color on his uniform. Green, like Jisung is wearing, is for Omegas. Red, like the alpha standing behind him, is for Alphas. Chan eyes the guy too, for good measure. He looks away, uneasy. Fucker. He’s the one that threw the ball, probably. With Minho’s instruction’s in his ear. 

He dribbles it on the floor; “No color yet, huh? You’re almost done with school, too — must be a real embarrassment.” 

Jisung is rubbing his eyes, as if they’re both paining him by talking. 

“More embarrassing than presenting at 15? I think not.” 

“Or maybe you did present, and don’t want anybody to find out. Seems like something that’s pretty on-brand for you. Being the special little snowflake.” 

Minho snorts; “That’s rich coming from you, dude. I’m a city boy in a little town’s body, ” He mocks Chan’s voice from some song Chan composed with Changbin a few years back. Chan would be offended and hella embarrassed if this was the first time he used it against him, but Lee Minho made it his life mission to play that track over and over again, to the entire school body. 

Changbin didn’t mind, he honestly still thinks the song they made was good — and Minho wasn’t bullying him, he was targeting Chan and Chan’s lyrics, that he wrote right when he was in the middle of his angsty teenager period. It was vile. 

But everything about Minho was vile. 

He was the reason Chan wanted to get the fuck away from this town. 

He just outgrew it. 

He’s not going to stay in this musty little town. He’s not going to inherit his dad’s convenience store. He’s not going to knock up an omega fresh out of highschool. His idea of fun is not going to be getting into fistfights with other alphas because somebody looked at his omega all wrong . 

He’s not in touch with his wolf, whatever the fuck that means. He never even saw his wolf as a separate entity. He wasn’t a fan of transforming full wolf — and stopped going on full moon runs with his pack back when he was, like, 14, at best. It was never a spiritual experience to him. He doesn’t need to stay in town for the forests or the ambience . He fucking hates it here.

So he knew for a fact, he’s going to thrive in the city. He’s eligible for a scholarship in one of the best university in the city. He’s going to land a good job. And he’s going to be someone . Be someone everywhere else but here. 

“Why are you here, even? I bet you missed all the omegas fawning over you. Must be hard to be a narcissist when the attention isn’t on you anymore.” Minho gestures his chin back at the little crowd that’s gathered near the main hall entrance, glancing their way, and trying to appear nonchalant. 

“I came to take my diploma,” Chan waves the paper in his head; “Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Your voice is so unpleasant,” Minho shoves his pinky into his ear. “I always forget. When did you say you’re leaving again? Now?” 

Chan takes a deep, pained inhale. 

“Two weeks, and then you two won’t have to see each other ever , again.” Jisung finally says; “So be civil.” 

“I’m super civil. Your Hyung’s a weirdo standing next to highschool in running shorts, with his dick hanging out.” 

Chan looks down, just to check — but obviously, nothing is hanging out . 

“Perv.” 

He decided to jog to school, so he wore shorts. It was sunny today. It really isn’t that deep. 

“Should probably call the Committee on you.”  He continues; “I’m sure the people at alpha year would love to hear all about your indecent exposure crimes.”

He’ll do it, too, no doubt — Chan learned that the hard way. 

Despite the fact that Minho’s voice is pretty gentle, and words can sound sweet and coy when he speaks them — Minho very rarely leaves his promises unkempt. If he says he’ll do it — he’ll do it. 

Chan was constantly flabbergasted by how far he can take shit, without mercy.

He stares at him for a long while in silence, and Minho straightens visibly. 

He’s not uncomfortable, exactly. Just conscious. 

“Well, let’s just call it quits—” Jisung starts, but Chan cuts him off;

“I can’t wait for you to present.” He says and he means it. He’s been dreaming about pressing his face to the damp forest floor. Deep into the mud where he belongs. “Let’s see you working your mouth then.” 

Minho moves his weight from one leg to another, and swallows — and Chan smells it, the scent of fresh nectar —of sweet, sweet fear. It’s not every day he can get Minho to squirm — but when he does, it always smells like a juicy pear.

“Are you threatening me…?” Minho’s voice is ridiculously controlled, despite the way he smells. 

Chan shrugs. “Just saying. Nobody and nothing is going to save you when I find you.” 

Perhaps he’s playing with fire. 

“Please,” Minho waves his hand dismissively; “You couldn’t find your brother during Autumn Fest. Thank god, I was there and bought him candy, so he won’t freak out—”

“No, I’ll find you,” He assures him; “I’ll find you in that forest easily. I’ll find you in hell, if I have to. Just to shove your face in the mud.” 

“Uh,” Jisung pats Chan; “Slow down there, buddy.”

Minho calls out to his friend, and tells Jisung that he’s hanging out with an uncivilized brute that’s probably going to end up in a Committee Jail for the rest of his life. Then gives him one last sneer at him, like the possibility of Chan finding him is extremely low. 

It doesn’t matter if it’s zero. Chan would beat the odds. 

.

He’s wrong about breezing through Alpha Year. 

Nobody can breeze through Alpha Year. Nothing he had ever read online and no preparatory lectures he attended had prepared him for it. 

On paper, Alpha Year is the year alphas prove themselves disciplined. They serve the country, and the country thanks them with a honorary badge in the form of full rights. 

Now they can get higher education, move out of their town, form an official pack, start a business. All they have to do is to withhold one year among their alpha peers. 

But the sheer reality of it all is that it’s a prison camp. They perform free manual labor for the government, in the most grueling environment, side by side with actual prisoners.

And the purpose of it all was pretty obvious from the moment Chan arrived; misbehave and this is what’s waiting for you. 

He was surrounded by strangers with headache-inducing scents, each trying to out-pheromone the other. Every day they were tasked with doing some manual, physical task, like building rail-roads or digging, which was exhausting to the bone. He’s sore for all 12 months. 

After the first six months, they can be promoted to Wardens if they suck up to their superior, and get to lord over a small unit of prisoners. Chan found himself sick to his stomach at the taught, and tried to keep a low profile just to get through it. 

He didn’t meet any friends. And they were not allowed to form packs. They were constantly pitted against each other for better food and better sleeping quarters, and teams had high turn-over, just so they don’t get used to each other. 

He’s allowed to call home only once a week. It’s scheduled and if he misses it due to schedule conflicts, he has to wait for next week.

He misses his mom. He misses her cooking. He misses his pack. He misses Felix’s hugs, and Jisung’s jokes, and Changbin’s competitiveness over literally anything, and Seungmin’s long lectures about some video game they’re all playing that make everybody groan. He’d actually give it all to just go back to that. It made him realize the connection he made with Seungmin and Changbin wasn’t easy — it’s rare .

When he’s back home, it’s spring again, and it feels like time has stood still. His sister is still annoying, his brother is still tiny, his parent’s alpha is still nagging Chan about doing the right thing for the pack, even though Chan didn’t intend to stay and was not going to some tech or business related subject only because he’s asking. His room feels childish, filled with swimming medals and rock band posters. His bed — although bigger than his bunk bed in the tiny room he shared with 3 other guys — feels small. Like for a kid. His pokemon bed sheets don’t help. When he sleeps in it for the first time after returning home, he magically hopes he’s going to return to the guy he was before.

No wonder everybody constantly told him about how AY changed them — He’s completely empty inside, like a hallowed out pod person. 

Jisung, Felix, and Seungmin are finishing highschool in a couple of weeks. 

To nobody’s surprise, Changbin and Felix broke up, but stayed good friends. They just didn’t work out that way. Felix dated a couple of other guys, and when meeting them all while heading to hang out in the lake, it seemed like Felix was now into Seungmin, who was too busy with school to think about mating. He has to do a lot of extra curricular work for his scholarship now that he’s finished with his finals, and Chan is a bit upset that he wasn't there to help him with that burden.  

And also , Lee Minho presented as an omega. 

Chan bursts out laughing when Changbin blurts that out, most nonchalantly, like it’s not a big deal. 

It's a joke. It has to be. 

Changbin isn’t laughing. 

He didn’t even present. Technically, that’s something that normally happens with alphas when their scent changes overnight, but nowadays, that’s what they call omegas’ first heat, too. Minho didn’t even get that. He never got his heat, nor did his scent change so his parents took him to a pheromone clinic after he finished school. Apparently, that’s not uncommon in omega children with two alpha parents, like Minho’s. 

The unspeakable terror of his highschool life. Scourge of the earth. An omega. 

Chan has already been with several omegas — even just before he came to Changbin’s that day — and associating Minho with them feels unnatural . 

Omegas had a way about them. A sensuality. An innate urge to mate. They’re always itching for it. Unless bonded they’re desperate for it, and aren’t always looking to actually bond or form a relationship. Just to get off with the nearest dick they find. Alphas take time to recover from intercourse, sharing a scent with a new mate and getting used to their scent takes them a moment. But Chan wasn’t particularly possessive. Back in school he got bored quickly with dating, especially when Minho did everything in his power to sabotage him in some way. 

God, he hated his guts.

The kind of hatred that cuts deep. Right past the veins, straight to the bone. 

Jisung likes to remind Chan that they had gotten along when he first introduced them. Chan doesn’t remember it — and even if he does remember something vague, it was such a fleeting period, that doesn’t felt real. Minho had spent the better part of the time they were familiar with each other making Chan’s life in school a living, breathing hell. 

Whether it’s sabotaging his perfect As score (which he desperately needed for a scholarship in the city), or snitching to the teachers that Chan was making out with the teacher’s assistant. Snotty, spoiled brat. 

It was hard to set Chan off, but occasionally Minho would rub him off right over the edge. And retaliation had to be subtle at best; Chan was already considered an adult by law, and Minho a minor. If he punch him straight on his pointy snotty little brat nose, he’d get in trouble with the Committee — And they already got 4 warnings because of Minho on his record. 

He might have done some things he wasn’t proud of — but a lot of the time he felt so helpless about the situation, that it was practically bullying .

So when he shows up to the Spring Run that year, right before heading to college, it’s just because he’s petty.

It isn’t a spur of the moment type of thing.

No. From the moment Changbin mentioned him, Chan contemplated it — and it didn’t take him very long to make a decision. 

Minho always made this horrible, vindictive side of him to come out. And just this once, he wanted to rain down absolute terror upon the guy. 

See him squirming. 

His entire body feels tingly with the thought. He has some hesitance there — he hates the Run and what it represents — but the idea of seeing Minho squirming in his thoughts triumphs any doubt. 

Spring Fest is the biggest event of the year. Bigger than Yule or Last Harvest.

The big venue is right outside of town, between the forest and the farming fields. There’s a lot of activities for children and adults, a lot of food stalls, and a live local band with some dancing.

Even before he heads to the grounds of the Run, the tension is high with the moon so close to rising. It’s the one night per year, every Alpha gets to do whatever the fuck they want. Beat the crap out of each other with no repercussions and mate with the first omega they catch. 

It’s a pheromone-induced, moon craze. 

The run itself starts on the amphitheater they built into the drop that leads into the forest. 

The omegas are all standing on the lower terrace, and they get a headstart of around an hour or exactly 69 minutes — the alphas are above them, on the balcony, and the rest are either on the terrace above them, or near the entrance. 

There’s flowers everywhere, probably a poor attempt to mask all so many alpha scents on a full moon. This is worse than the Common room in the facility he was stationed in Alpha Year, and the scents lingering sickens him to the bone. 

Despite it, because of the full moon, his nose and fangs itch, claws ready to come out. 

He’s ready for a fight. 

All the omegas are dolled up. Wearing their best clothes — or just brilliant white. They wear flower wreathes so they’re even more easily found in the darkness. 

Even Jisung. 

He wears his one counterfeit supreme shirt, which he wears everywhere that means something. This is a peak effort for Han Jisung. 

Whatever progress the city makes about omega rights bears absolutely no meaning in town.

The omegas here don’t find it demeaning that they are forced to be hunted and stripped of rights. They want to be found and get mated — in fact, omegas that are left unmated by dawn get sneered upon. Finding a mate is all an omega should care about. 

Chan wants to cover his nose from the stench of pheromones in the air as he wants to above where Jisung is. There’s already two alphas, pushing at each other from being directly behind him, but Chan easily oversteps them. 

They seize him up as do everybody in here, even if they know each other since infancy. No alpha friendship can withstand the moon. 

The younger ones are still discussing strategies, because they still didn’t learn that once they’re out there, it’s each wolf on his own. Some are hyping up their boyfriends downstairs, or catcalling. Jisung is standing right next to Minho, and another, taller, omega friend. Felix is standing on their right, discussing something animatedly.

Unlike the three of them, who were dressed to impress — Minho is wearing a simple black henley and dark gray sweatpants that have a couple of paint stains on them.

It clicks better now that he sees him down there, next to other omegas. 

It made more sense why he was easy friends with Jisung and Felix. It’s Chan that didn’t catch on in time. He remembers how some of the senior alphas were looking after him when he passed by them in the hall, how all he had to do was bat his bright doe eyes at them, and all was forgiven.

Maybe Chan expected it to be another trick.

It’s not. 

Actually he prefers it like this. 

It’s probably a little bit silly, having to come all the way here just to see for himself if he’s actually an omega. 

He stands there for a while, just watching him go.

The pull of the full moon grows stronger. It’s almost time for the omegas to go. 

With the scent of pheromones and a new year in his nose — Chan’s head is all foggy with thoughts. He’s not going to do anything, really. Maybe just to spook him, somehow.

The staff of the municipality announce that it’s almost time. The sun has set.

The omegas all get ready.

“Hey, Lee Minho,” He calls out.

Minho turns around and Chan can see the way the color drains his face.

Out there, there's a matter of etiquette and the Alpha-Omega Committee protecting him from harm.

But in there — in the forest, until dawn — everything is fair game.

And Minho knows that. 

And Chan did promise to find him if he presents, didn’t he? 

“Good luck.” His lips stretch into a grin, albeit one that doesn’t bode well for Minho.

He turns back around hurriedly, as if he didn’t see Chan, finally no brilliant comeback and no smart retort out of his mouth. Clearly alarmed. The spike of fright in his scent is so delicious, Chan feels it in his crotch. 

It was worth coming here, just for that.

There’s a surge in his body — like right before they blow the whistle during a swimming competition. 

They sound the horn.

The omegas all start running, as does Minho. He turns around right at the tree line, and it’s obvious he’s checking to see if Chan is still looking his way, and he is. Elbow prepped on the banister, face in his hand. He’s definitely waiting for his own horn. 

He disappears in the trees with the others.

When they let them out, Chan isn’t in a hurry like the others and he’d rather avoid the initial brawls that happen shortly after the horn. 

He can trace Minho’s scent fairly easily. He learned to find it in a crowd, just because he knew Minho won’t let him hook up in peace. 

He finds a couple of other omegas simply by stumbling upon them since they didn’t make it very far from the start. 

They change the Last landmark and the milestones every year — last time he participated it was an old tree in a forest clearing. Unless you frequent the forest with runs during full moons, it’s hard to find every milestone and still stay undetected.

Chan has no idea what this year’s target is and doesn’t care to know. He picks up when he understands his pace isn’t fast enough.

Somebody else is tracing Minho, following Chan’s steps. Chan has a good look at him as he runs past him, clearly trying to get to him first.

He waits until he thinks the poor guy has the upper hand before slamming him into a tree. He catches him by the hair to have a good look at him. 

Just a kid. Probably his first run. He’s half-transformed, shaking from adrenaline. 

Chan is glad he didn’t hurt him too much. 

His face is scraped and eyebrow’s bleeding. Nothing else seems broken or dislocated. He lets go of him; “Find another scent. This one is mine.”

The guy doesn’t reply, but doesn’t get up either — knowing when to accept defeat. 

Alpha wounds heal fast, he’ll be fine. 

Chan could’ve done worse for much less.

Chan finds him near a creek, sipping on some water. 

For somebody whose so flexible and athletic, Minho has shit stamina, and stops to rest. 

He’s a bit red from running, and his heartbeat is rabbiting in Chan’s ears. You could probably hear it miles away. 

He clearly knows where he’s going, too. Probably planned ahead. It’s obvious that he doesn’t want to get mated. 

He smells a little nervous. After all, it’s his first run. 

He flinches when he hears a bird. 

Then raises his chin, trying to detect scents in the air — but he’s an omega, so the moon effects him less. His sense are a little bit sharper than usual, but not like Chan’s. And normally, omegas just feel friskier than usual. 

Not Minho. Little sociopath. 

Minho bends down back underneath a mossy creek bank, and sits on a log and washes his nape. 

Chan wishes he could get closer, but he doesn’t want to risk being seen or smelled. Not yet. 

Minho takes off the tiny fanny pack he had on his torso, and takes out a little yogurt.

Chan bites his lip, trying not to laugh. 

Is he seriously eating in the middle of the run?

Should he just jump him? What is he going to do when he does? He didn’t actually think this through — nor did he consider he’d find him an hour or two into the Run. 

Minho never notices him, and continues running once he eats and rests. 

On his second break, Chan almost chants for him to start moving, because he smells another Alpha on their tracks.

He waits until Minho disappears, before eliminating the next alpha, too.

The third one Chan knows.

He’s a bit older.

A senior from school. He obviously harbored some crush on Minho, because he was clearly looking for him specifically.

So it’s a little awkward that Chan has to slam his face against a rock to finish the fight.

For his defense, the senior kicked him first. Nearly broke his leg.

When Chan finds him again, he’s at his fourth milestone, looking stupidly smug about his accomplishments — so he decides to see if he’ll actually find all 6 of them. He does. 

He makes it to the finish line in 6 hours and 23 minutes, breaking the record of another omega from a decade ago.

A pretty ample feat, especially for a first time omega. 

Chan isn’t sure why he feels like he really did something there. Minho didn’t even notice him around. Nobody did. Maybe that one senior did — but it’s not like he’s going to go around and tell everybody that Chan fucked him up in the forest. 

But somehow this is enough. 

He doesn’t actually meet Minho for the rest of his stay, and when summer starts, he heads to college with his conscious clear and his heart content.

.

The city is exactly as he imaged it. 

A jungle of cement and glass. 

Not a tree in sight. 

Coffee shops and bars and restaurants and karaoke places, opened all night. The city is alive just like it is on TV shows or movies. There’s non-stop traffic, and crowded sidewalks that make it hard to move. The campus of his university is so big, it almost feels like a small town, too.

It takes him around a month or so to realize, he’s waiting for stress and abuse that won’t come— he gets along well with everybody, just like he did in school. He’s good with people. He can find an approach with every person he meets. 

(Not Lee Minho, but you can argue Lee Minho isn’t a person , so there’s that.)

Everything is horribly easy. 

His classes are a piece of cake. 

He loves his major. 

His professors think he’s a genius. 

He’s known to be a fairly good lay, too, and omegas on campus are pretty bullshit free. His cock is always warm. Nobody is looking to pop out pups.

Sure, there’s perpetual hostility and competitiveness among alphas — and yes, it is a bit harder than highschool. Scent wars over fucking chairs in the auditurium. Needless ego games. Tiny square dorm room to call a territory. And no support over then his mom calling to check up on him. 

But after his Alpha Year, it feels relatively docile. 

During Alpha Year, the others would pick a scapegoat, usually the weakest alpha in the bunch, and pick on him until he broke down or quit. Sometimes they’d bully somebody they just didn’t like. Beat him up during recess and he’d be forced to say that he fell down the stairs, because if they know there was a fight, everybody involved will be kicked out. The Committee won’t care who was at fault. Disciplined Alphas control themselves. Undisciplined — don’t.

At university, it was different. Intellectual — stepping on each other’s toes just enough to get the other into a fit of rage. And promptly get expelled because Alphas who lack control don’t belong in higher education. Not everybody could survive the mental burden of that — especially ones that had come from athletic scholarships or backgrounds. But if there was somebody who could, it’s Chan. 

Years of withstanding Lee Minho taught him so much. He practically had all the tools to deal with university before he even started.

He’s doing it. Living the dream — and yet…

He’s not sure if it’s because of the trauma Alpha Year left in him, or perhaps something else.

He can’t really put his finger on it.

It almost always feels like he’s missing something. 

He realizes that one day while doing the laundry under the dorms. He’s all alone there — and it’s too easy. Like somebody turned off the difficulty. 

.

Chan comes back for Spring Break with no intention of participating in the Spring Run.

Perhaps there’s truth in that saying. Too Much of a Good Thing .

He spent almost an entire year in some omega’s ass. He’s bored. 

He’s seeing someone. An alpha. They’re in that stage where they’re already exclusive, but not yet dating. Chan isn’t sure if he needs to pop the question, first. For it to be official. Or if it has to be some magical requirement that comes into place. She keeps him on a tight leash, and Chan likes her. He needs somebody strong-headed. 

She made him promise he won’t participate, since they both agreed that it’s barbaric to expect omegas still go through with it in contemporary times. It’s a bit of a test. A test of trust. Maybe after that they can be dating. 

Eitherway, he came back for his highschool pack. 

He missed them so much it’s almost comforting having their scents up his nose again. 

They’re having a meal on Friday evening. 

He’s buying. 

He’s the only one who was able to get out of their town, after all, and his part-time job pays pretty well. 

“He’s only working at the flower shop because he thinks that’s where all the omegas hang out.” Seungmin explains when Chan wonders out loud why Changbin is even working. 

He doesn’t need to. 

His parents are among the richest people in town, but since he had 6 omega sisters who all escaped to the city the moment they had the chance to do so, his parents established a trust-fund for Changbin that has only one condition. He has to stay in town. 

It’s a pretty cruel legal bind.

If Chan’s parents did that to him, he’d flip — but Changbin seems fine with it. He never wanted to head to Alpha Year. He still has no idea what exactly he wants to do with his life, and all the time in the world to figure it out. 

“No, I’m not.” Changbin claims, looking sullen. “Unless your mom is in a frisky mood.” He ducks when Seungmin tries to hit him. “I’m going to try going for Minho this year in the fest, anyway.” Changbin says, grabbing a large chunk of meat from the grill.

Chan is positive it’s another Minho.

Can’t be Lee Minho .

It’s a common enough name. 

He wants to ask, but Jisung cuts in, mouth half-full; “You and the rest of town. I’m surprised this guy isn’t first in line to get his chance.” He points a thumb at Seungmin, and Seungmin obviously kicks him under the table, because Jisung yelps and glares at him. 

Chan looks between them now, obviously left out. 

He’d be mad, but he wasn’t around for a whole year, so it’s to be expected.

There’s really so much they can tell them on the phone. 

He looks toward Felix. He told him in secret last year that he was crushing on Seungmin and when Felix wants something, he usually gets it. 

But he never mentioned them getting together.

Now he’s sitting there in silence, eating and refusing to meet Chan’s gaze — wait, no, they’re all refusing to meet Chan’s gaze, now that he looks around the table.

“What?” He asks, half-laughing. “Am I missing something?”

“Seungmin tried to hook up with Minho.” Jisung fills Chan in, finally. “Like, 2 months ago. It’s all very sad.”

“It’s not sad . Minho is just a gigantic douche. Chan knows that better than the rest of us.” Seungmin nearly stabs his own meat with the chopsticks.

“Minho? Don’t tell me Minho from High School?”

Jisung nods. Felix is the only one decent enough to look up and seem apologetic, even if it’s mid-chew. 

It is that Minho.

He takes a moment to consider it. He vaguely understands they’re all friends now. He also remembers Minho standing between Felix and Jisung during the last Spring Run. He can smell him on them faintly. Odd how he even recognized it after a whole year. 

Jisung had been friends with Minho back in highschool, but Chan always thought he was only friends with him only because of Chan. So he could spread the nastiest gossip, and know where Chan is hanging out so he can go there too. He worked tirelessly to make Chan’s life hell, he’ll give him that. Gotta love persistence. But it’s not that big of a town they live in, and Minho is obviously around their age, so it’s shouldn’t be that much of a shocker.

They’ve just finished highschool, too, so — Seungmin is free to pursue Minho. As does Changbin. 

Not a big deal.

They’re not exactly a pack anymore — not with Chan far away for a second year in a row, back for only a couple days for the holidays. They hadn’t really discussed being a pack, either; both Seungmin and Changbin are alphas, so this would mean they would need to bend under Chan, which might be a bit too much to ask when they’re in their prime. They deserve to have a chance to build their own packs, before they settle.

It’s nice to know they still hang out all together, though.

“Me and him have gotten really close lately.” Changbin says that more quietly, digging at his food.

“Soon you’ll learn he’s treacherous and flippant. But good luck to you. I’m sitting this year out. Just like I did last. These runs are dumb and mean and you participating in it is also dumb. It’s not mandatory for Alphas.” Seungmin takes a haughty little inhale having said that, as if he was preparing this little speech for awhile. Chan can’t believe his own highschool pack would be fighting over Minho, of all people. It’s like somebody transported him into a parallel universe. 

Jisung rolls his eyes back so hard at this, as if they’ve already had this conversation forty times, and maybe they did — sounds like they did. 

When Changbin finally looks up, he meets Chan’s gaze above the grill, cringes and looks down hurriedly.

Chan wonders what sort of look he was wearing on his face. He’s not sure. 

“There’s no way you’re going to find him anyway.” Felix waves his head. “He’s fully intending to go for a Luna, this year, too. He dragged Jeongin by the ear to scope out the forest.”

“Again? I went with him last night. He’s so anal about it — there’s no way he’ll make it. There’s like at least 6 guys who are going after him, that I know for sure. Juyeon, probably. He works with him. He used to run Track in school.”

So did Chan.

Juyeon has zero long term stamina. It’s been a few years, too, so he’s probably out of shape.

“There’s also that older guy that owns the gym on main street.”

Chan liked that gym. Real shame the owner has bad taste.

Minho is way too young for him.

“Don’t forget Mr. Tall-dark-and-handsome over there.” Seungmin gestures with his head to the left. “What’s his name again? He’s from Minho’s former pack.” 

The only other table at the restaurant is a couple; an alpha and omega.

He glances at their table, as if he senses that Chan is staring.

He’s a few years older.

Chan doesn’t recognize him, but he has a sleazy, toothy smile.

No man should have so many teeth in his mouth.

“Man, I hope he’ll leave us some alphas.” Jisung makes a face; “I was looking forward to getting laid finally.”

“You’ll always have the purple dildo Minho and Hyunjin gave you for your birthday—” Seungmin is smirking at his remark, and now Jisung hits him underneath the table.

.

He was going to come to stay for the start of the run just to cheer on his boys.

Changbin promised Jisung and Felix that if nobody chases after them and he can’t find Minho, he will volunteer as a tribute. Jisung declined and promised to bite off Changbin’s dick if it came anywhere near him.

Chan wanted to see that in play.

Next week was already the start of his term, so since he wasn’t going to participate, he was going to have a movie night with his siblings. 

He sees him at the Spring Fest, hours before the Run.

They’re lighting up the bonfire.

There’s music and food. Tons of people. All the town gets together for this— and the celebration continues until dawn. It’s mostly for the children and the bonded folks — Chan remembers it fondly as a kid. The only night per year he was allowed to stay up as long as he wanted.

Minho’s hair is ash-blond, and his lips are full and pink.

He filled out nicely since last year — on his thighs, mostly. And his bottom.

Chan has to walk around to get a better look — then hates himself for doing it and pretends he was just going to get a beer fill-in. 

He refuses to approach. Nothing good will ever go out of interacting with him. 

He doesn’t even want to. 

There’s already a train of alphas walking after him, asking him questions, trying to hold onto his arm when they lean to say something in his ear.

He looks like they’re bothering him — and is constantly trying to get away. Bored. 

He managed to avoid Minho for his entire vacation, though perhaps there was some degree of luck to it. Every time the others implied Chan should invite Minho, Chan didn’t budge. If he wanted to come, he could just show his face. He wasn’t going to specifically extend an invitation to him.

Every time they went to Minho’s, he refused to tag along, too, unless Minho specifically went out of his way to invite Chan. And no, Jisung throwing out a ‘ he did ask about you ’ isn’t going to be enough. He wanted a personal invitation.

Ego games.

Just like at University. He’s gotten pretty good at it.

It’s funny that he has to play them with an omega, but Minho was never really an omega in his head.

Oddly enough, he doesn’t feel any form of animosity towards him now. It’s been too long. And he felt like he fulfilled his anger last year. He sure showed him, then! Helping him get to the finish line without ever showing his face!

Their eyes finally meet when Chan’s taking another swing out of his beer cup.

He keeps his gaze for a second, when another alpha is trying to speak to him over the music, so bursts out laughing.

Now, he’s amused all of the sudden, isn’t he?

Chan can bet his entire school year tuition Minho didn’t hear a single word the alpha said.

Stayed a manipulative little brat, after all. 

Chan doesn’t care. 

The omegas and alphas are called out to come get ready for the Run on the speaker system.

Chan takes a shot with a couple of old classmates at the bar. Liquid luck for them.

He decides to plate some sweet snacks off the tables, so he can feed Changbin before the run. He gets hungry when he’s nervous.

He’s grabbing the last cinnamon bun when somebody else takes it right out of his hand.

“Not participating this year?” Minho changed clothes. Sports wear, this year, too. 

Every alpha relies on something else, some have good hearing, some have good sight. Minho wore forest boots, so he’ll be relatively quiet on the dry leaves, and a dark green shirt. He’ll be practically invisible in the forest — so whoever doesn’t know his scent, won’t be able to find him unless he stumbles right upon him.

“No.” Chan’s answer is more careful than he expected, calculated. His back is tense and straight.

He takes a bite and nods, taking a couple of steps to the left, as he examines all the foods there while he chews. “Ah, right. You have a mate.”

“No, I don’t.” He finds himself saying, and it’s true, she’s not. Not yet. They haven’t been together long enough to be official. He just blurted that out. He probably shouldn’t have. 

“So either I heard wrong, which never happened before,” He takes another bite; “Or, you’re the type of guy that says he’s not actually dating when asked.” He makes a disgusted face; “Yikes.” 

“Why would I be going around telling people I’m not dating?” 

“Fuck knows, maybe you think you’re going to get laid if the other party hears you’re single.” 

Chan snorts; “So let me get this straight. You think I want to fuck you?” 

“I guess.” Minho looks a bit pensive, and takes a deep, dramatic sigh, then puts the bitten off cinnamon bun into his plate. “Well, I’m off now. Hope this year isn’t as weird as last year.” 

“Why was last year weird?” He knows he was baited to ask that the moment it’s out of his mouth, because Minho is putting a swirly straw into his cup.

He makes a dismissive noise, like it’s nothing; “Some weirdo mother-fucker kept hiding in the bushes behind me the entire time.”

They both narrow their eyes at each other. 

“But you’re right. That doesn’t make any sense.” He slurps loudly on his drink as he walks away.

Chan looks after him even when he disappears in the crowd that heads to see the run starting off.

.

“Dude?” Changbin’s voice sounds surprised when Chan shoves the plate at his chest, following Minho as he takes his place between Jisung and Felix. “I thought you’re not participating?”

“I’m just — I need to let out some steam.”

“But your mate—”

“She’s not my mate.”

“Right.” Changbin swallows a whole macaroon.

Felix notices him and waves, a bit awkward and weirded out. Jisung and Minho both turn to look up to see who he’s waving at.

Minho doesn’t seem as surprised as Jisung. Jisung says something, but Chan can’t really hear it over the chatter around them, but it makes Felix laugh.

A younger omega standing next to them notices the exchange, and sees Chan on the balcony next to Changbin, so he raises his voice and asks Chan whose he’s going to chase after.

“Don’t know yet.” Chan answers, trying to be polite. He can’t exactly say he’s not going anybody. And he doesn’t want to blatantly say he’s going after Minho, either. 

She rushes off to her friends, giggling.

“Damn, I knew it.” Changbin says; “You gave me a scary look over dinner the other day.” 

“I don’t know what you mean.” 

“You know exactly what I mean.” Changbin takes a long inhale; “Weirdo. Is this because he put laxatives in your drink that one time in senior year?” 

“ No .” Chan rubs his head; “Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not going after him.” He says and continues to bore a hole into Minho’s neck.

“So, uh, what’s the plan? Claim him or kill him?” Changbin says with full mouth; “You’re fucking scaring me, man.”

“I’m not going to touch him.” Chan finally looks away. “I just need to let off some steam, anyway. It’s been a long while since I went on a proper full moon run.”

Changbin swallows, staring at him, as if trying to analyze what’s going through Chan’s head. Chan has no idea, either. It’s just a whim, really.

“Ugh, wasn’t there any cinnamon buns left? You know I love cinnamon buns.”

“Nope. All gone.”

He ate the one Minho had bitten out of. 

.

Minho keeps low to the ground, and takes off his shoes — he’s even quieter like that. He’s careful and quiet in the woods, often stopping when he hears too many noises. It was hard for Chan to keep up.

But Chan knew his scent pretty well.

Well enough to be able to detect him, at least. Or maybe it’s just the cinnamon bun. Chan isn’t sure.

After a couple of hours out in the woods, of seemingly going in circles, he dips in the water, to further confuse Alphas that went after him. Unless you had his scent or knew it by heart, there was very little you could do to actually find him in the forest.

Too smart for his own good.

The last milestone is a boulder this year, deep in the forest, closer to the mountain range. Minho reaches it first, beating his former record by an hour and 47 minutes. Truly unprecedented. At least in their town.

Chan wasn’t there to see him get there this time.

Jisung and Changbin tell him, when they come to visit him in the hospital.

Changbin got only a scratch on his chin — and a new omega girlfriend. Jisung isn’t very fond of the alpha he mated with (although the guy did like him), so his mom gets his rights for another year. 

“Back to cleaning the floors in the dental clinic for another year. She could at least get me to participate in her teeth surgeries once in a while or something. I’m basically a janitor with extra steps at this point, and not an actual assistant.”

“You could — you know? Try getting a certification or something?” Changbin suggests.

“Fuck no. Every time somebody opens their mouth wide I get the shivers. It’s like looking down at the abyss.”

Chan can’t really laugh, not with his fractured jaw, but he does so anyway.

He also has 4 broken ribs. Multiple claw wounds, some blood loss. The whole shebang.

He remembers visiting his cousin once, after he got scuffed up badly in a Spring Run. He was in shit mood. Didn’t get the omega and also got beaten up. Chan always thought he’d be like him, if he’d get into the hospital. He’s a pretty sore loser.

But he doesn’t consider this as a loss. He wasn’t actually going to actually claim Minho. He was just making sure nobody else did. And nobody did. So mission accomplished. 

He also needs to get into better shape. Clearly his muscles had wasted away in the city. There’s no forests there, beside the reserve. And archaic traditions such as Spring Runs are frowned upon — Alphas who participate in them are considered brutish. Old-fashioned.

Despite that, he’s not the only Alpha that comes back late to the term, with his face all black and blue.

The alpha he’s seeing takes one look at his face, and blocks his phone. 

Chan doesn’t blame her. It was extremely shitty of him. He wishes he could say sorry properly, maybe explain. She doesn’t want to hear anything from him, either way, and Chan never tries to patch things up.

Maybe that’s for the best. 

Chapter Text

Next year, he’s back home for spring break, even though half of it is going to be spent out of town. 

He’s going to hang out with new friends. 

New friends he actually likes. 

It’s been a hot minute, but he finally found the type of people he wanted to surround himself with. The type of people he had always imagined himself surrounded with. 

He doesn’t want to rush things, but from the way they’ve been hanging out lately, all together, it feels like they’re starting to head to a more serious direction.

For now, they’re just exploring their compatibility and dynamic — but Chan had considered it and feels like he wouldn’t mind bending under one of the older alphas in the pack. They don’t feel like a threat and they have yet to berate him or exclude him out of decisions of planning, even though they know each other for longer than they know him. 

It takes time, that kind of stuff.

And Chan likes that they’re moving slowly. 

The camping trip is going to be on the big river — just a three hours car ride from Chan’s hometown. So much closer than the city, and Chan also wants to see his mom. She’s been a bit under the weather lately. They’re going to pick him up, since it’s on the way and another girl from a town over.

They’re renting a proper pack-car. 12 seats. They’re also staying in a really cool camping ground with a nice view, and one of them had her dad rent them a speed boat. It’s going to be amazing. And Chan’s crush is also going. Although originally they weren’t a part of the main circle, Chan had been inviting him out with them a lot, and he befriended the other omegas, so he got invited before Chan even got the chance to invite him too.

He never told anybody in the group of friends that he’s crushing on the guy yet (even though he thinks he’s pretty obvious when he does), but he did tell Changbin.

He didn’t just tell him — he chewed his ears off . Many, many times. And since they’ve decided to go on that trip, he’s been telling Changbin about how much he’s looking forward to it, and actually spend time with the guy without classes or homework being a factor.

That’s why he’s so giddy about meeting Changbin that day, when he comes to pick up the fishing rods. He’s the only one who knows about Chan’s silly little crush.

Except Minho is there.

He doesn’t say Hi, when Chan says Hi. Just gives him a long once-over. Chan can’t tell if he’s checking him out, or if he’d judging him somehow.

Chan and Changbin talk for awhile after hugging, just about how Changbin has been and how’s his family, and Minho stays silent the entire time, leaning on one of the cars in the driveway, as if he’s actively waiting for Chan to go away. Then Changbin heads for the fishing rods, and gives Minho a long, narrowed look, which Minho promptly crosses his hands for.

And just like that, they’re alone in the driveway.

Silent.

He’s wearing a simple shirt without a logo, and a pair of sweats and he’s fresh out of shower — Chan can tell by the way the very ends of his hair are still a little bit damp. His skin smells clean — and that’s enough to trigger some primal response in Chan’s wolf brain. 

Somehow, even with such a simple fit, he manages to look better than nearly all the people Chan had ever known. He’s just stupidly good-looking. Even more so than he was in high-school. And it makes Chan angry that he’s even reacting to it.

Finally, he speaks.

“So,” he starts, “You really beefed up, huh?”

It’s moments like this, Chan truly wallows in self-hatred.

He shouldn’t care what his high-school bully-slash-enemy thinks about him four years after they’ve finished high-school. And he definitely shouldn’t be flattered.

Maybe it’s ingrained in him. Minho is an omega. Chan is an alpha. Minho compliments Chan. Chan instinctively reacts to praise from a potential mate.

But he hates himself for it. Hates that some part of him, even if it’s a primal part, that’s buried deep inside his conciousness and can be hidden — is actively wagging his tail. He already has a crush. And he shouldn’t give a shit about what Minho thinks.

“Yeah, I signed up for the gym under my dorms this year.”

And it was hell.

Too many alphas in one place at the same hours.

Maybe it was just trauma from the hospital last year, but he felt like whatever good physique he received from being swimming team captain in high-school can only get him this far. There will be others; bigger and taller and meaner than him, and he needs to keep up. It wasn’t particularly because of Minho or the Fest. He wasn’t intending to participate this year. Twice is enough. But he did feel like he was unprepared to take down seven people at once, and he didn’t like being unprepared.

“Oh, so it’s on purpose.” Minho makes a oddly surprised face, like he didn’t mean to compliment Chan at all. “Changbin is doing that, too. Obviously he’s doing it in good taste. Not —” He gestures at Chan emptily; “Some people just don’t know when to quit pumping steroids.”

And there it is. Chan runs his tongue into his cheek. He’s not angry about it. He can’t be.

He’s just being petty. It’s kind of laughable.

“You know I can tell, right?”

“Tell what?”

“When you like what you see. I can smell it on you.”

If anything, the delicious scent — of spices and vanilla and drunken cherries — only doubles. It’s mouth-watering. Laced with a little trace of alarm.

He probably didn’t expect Chan to flat out call him out. But Chan isn’t in high-school anymore.

There’s very little Minho can do that would jab at him — and he likes the fact that he can finally jab back.

He expects Minho to back down — but instead of panic, he leans back further on the car, lips stretching to an overconfident little smirk.

“Damn, am I really that obvious?” He runs a hand down his shirt, and Chan follows the movement, but realizes belatedly that he’s just trying to smoothen a crease on his shirt. He looks away hurriedly, moving his weight from one leg to another. “I’m just another townie omega, waiting in line to jump on your dick.”

He places a hand on his heart, apologetic; “Sorry. I’m sort of seeing someone. But I’d totally let you. Hypothetically. Even if I’m convinced you’d kill me in my sleep after we’re done.”

“I would never do such a thing.” Minho seems slightly offended at this, and Chan almost back-tracks, trying to salvage the situation; “Quick deaths are boring. I’d cut off your balls. Shove them up your throat. Watch you choke on them as you bleed out.”

“Ooff.” Chan chuckles, reaching to his own crotch almost automatically, and it’s Minho’s turn to follow the movement.

“But rest assured, it’s just brain chemistry. You’re an unmated alpha. I’m an omega, with a very small pool of potential mates to choose from.”

Of course.

He would never back down or admit it. He’d never live it down, even though Chan didn’t even reject him per se.

“But if you’re ever want a quick ball trim, let me know. Free off charge. I’ll be doing a favor for mankind.”

“So benevolent. Thank you for the offer.”

“You’re welcome.”

They stand there for a moment, in silence. Where the fuck is Changbin? Chan was sure he already had the rods prepared for him, since they discussed it yesterday night.

Why is Minho here, anyway?

Hanging out with alpha alone, like they’re buddies?

He remembers vaguely that last year Changbin said he’d try to find him on the full moon run. He didn’t obviously — but maybe he did end up courting him later. It’s been a year.

Changbin would tell him, though. He would definitely tell him.

Minho snorts, even though Chan didn’t say anything for well over a whole minute of pregnant silence.

Now Chan has to ask. “What?”

“Nothing,” He snorts again; “Just thinking Changbin’s a loser.”

“Why’s that?” He snorts, confused.

“Because he’s letting you use his kindness.” He shrugs, leaning back on the car, as if it’s not a big deal.

“I’m using his kindness? Because I’m borrowing a couple of fishing rods?”

Or is it because Chan rejected him?

Feels like it’s the latter.

So fucking petty.

Chan should’ve known he wouldn’t let it go.

“If it were me, I’d not let you borrow shit. Slam the door right in your smug face. He’s a loser for letting you take stuff so you can go impress your new pack with your cool fishing rods.”

“What—” Chan stops himself, knowing he raised his voice a little there. He can’t help it. Minho just got that knack in him. A knack to grind Chan’s gears. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you’re close to Changbin, now. So close you can actually pass judgment on his relationship with his best friend? Weird how that turned out.”

“Oh, come on, dude.” He snorts, like Chan is telling jokes; “Changbin answers when you call him 2am on a Tuesday to run jokes about some weird insider university college gossip or complain about bad dates —”

“And I would do the same in a heartbeat.”

“Would you, though? When was the last time you called just to ask Changbin about how he is?”

But that’s just how Changbin is. Changbin only talks to Chan when he really has something bothering him — he’s just that type of person. Most of the time Chan needs to squeeze it out of him, and the best way to do that is to open up himself first.

“There’s a familiar pattern I’m seeing.” He’s already pissed off. “Help me out here — first Jisung in high-school, when you told him I’m a toxic alpha. Now Changbin.”

Minho forces out a laughs; “No — you’re right. I became friends with your friends on purpose. Just to fuck up their relationship with you. Obviously that’s the case. This is about you.”

Chan sneers; “See how easy that was to admit it?”

“It’s the fact that you believe that’s actually true, that’s truly beguiling to me. What is my end goal, then, pry tell?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“My guess is that you have your head up your ass.”

Chan takes a moment to think this through, and then snorts; “Not entirely off base.” he admits. He knows how it sounds. He was thinking that last year, too — he just didn’t want to admit it. And now he’s admitting it to Minho, out of all people.

It’s stupid. Maybe he’s just jealous Minho gets to stay here and hang out with his former pack.

When Minho laughs again, it’s genuine. A soft kind of laugh. It runs all the way up Chan’s back.

“Well, whatever. I tried.” He shrugs; “Positive they’re better off without you around, anyway.”

“So what’s in it for you, anyway? Why do you care? It’s between me and Changbin and the pack — unless you’re dating him, and it’s bothering the fuck out of you that I’ll come back and take over the pack.”

Minho wears disbelief on his face, like he can’t believe Chan is speaking these words to him.

Which isn’t a no.

And isn’t a yes.

And Chan probably should’ve asked that so blatantly.

It’s just that he desperately wants to know. Changbin would’ve told him, if he was seeing Minho.

Or maybe he waited until Chan finally returned home, to say it to his face.

Maybe that’s why Minho is there.

Changbin returns with the rods. “The blue one needs a new wire, though, and I can’t find one.” 

“I’ll buy some.” Chan says; “Promise to return them in good condition.” 

“You better. I didn’t ask my old man, since he usually only goes fishing really late summer and probably won’t notice them gone, so this has to return in the same exact condition. Take out the wire, if you must.” 

“Gotcha.” Chan snorts, checking out the green one. These look professional. 

He notices that Minho is giving Changbin a look, and Changbin is giving him a look back and mouths ‘stop’ at him. 

They’re probably seeing each other. 

They share a scent now, like they’re seeing each other almost every day — but so does Jisung or Felix, so Chan isn’t sure.

Finally, Minho speaks for him; “Changbin wanted to ask when you’re coming back, so he can hang with you.” 

“And Changbin couldn’t say this himself?” Chan snorts. 

“No. He’s shy.”

“Can you please stop and go away—” Changbin pushes at Minho; “You don’t get it because you’re not an alpha. Why did you even come over?”

“ You don’t get it because you’re not an alpha ,” Minho mocks him in a childish voice; “You sound like that.”

“You sound like that!” Changbin is red with embarrassment now, pushing him even rougher away.

He’s right. Minho won’t understand.

Friendships between alphas will always be a little bit strained. Alphas are naturally hostile and territorial with each other. He and Changbin grew apart a bit. Chan had been hanging out in the gym at university and swimming at the olympic pool there, too, along with having a new social circle. They haven’t been talking as much as they did last year, that’s for sure. 

But it wasn’t on purpose. 

Changbin is still Chan’s best friend. And Chan won’t trade the friendship with him over anything.

“Alright, alright — I’m leaving.” Minho raises his hands up in the air; “I only came over because I wanted to see Chan’s face when he dumps the lot of you, weirdos, for his new pack — but he’s too busy being worried about whether or not I’m fucking you.”

“I’m not—” Chan stops talking, because he’s about to snap. He can feel it bubbling inside of him. And he knows Minho’s trying to get under his skin.

He snorts, his natural response to stress is to laugh it off — then rubs his eyebrow in an attempt to calm down.

He patiently waits until Minho passes by him and out of the garage. He doesn’t leave further though. His footsteps stop.

“I’ll be back next Friday,” He tells Changbin, finally; “I was planning to invite you all to a beer — Why are you hanging out with this guy again?” 

Changbin looks absolutely miserable; “I don’t know. Sometimes he’s nice to me. Gives me a discount at the bakery.” 

“Felix gives you a discount. I overcharge you.” Minho says somewhere behind him.

Changbin looks tired, which makes Chan laugh.

“Anyway, please don’t listen to his emotional manipulation.” Changbin says; “You can have your own pack, it’s all good. We’ll figure it out.” 

Chan rubs his face in frustration.

Chan didn’t even know this was an issue. He thought Minho was just being nosy and contrary. He was sure all five of them knew whatever happened in high-school was temporary. Most — if not all — packs in high-school are temporary. It’s very hard to form them, and they all grow out of that, anyway.

He never intended to return back to town — and Changbin always knew that.

“I — uh, can we talk about this more seriously when I return?”

He feels like an actual, literal turd.

Especially because even Minho, out of all people, knows something about Changbin that he doesn’t.

Obviously he does. He’s here all year round. Chan isn’t. And no amount of phonecalls and facetimes would change that. Chan shouldn’t feel bad about this — this should be normal, but now he does.

“It’s all good.” Changbin pushes at him, too. “Go. I’ll see you next Friday.”

Chan turns around, but still feels hesitant. He still needs to head to the butcher to buy a bunch of meat for the barbeque.

“Don’t forget about the wire.” Changbin recalls, and Chan nods, he heads past Minho, who is picking his nose with his middle finger, keeping his eyes on him.

Chan shakes his head. This is funny. The guy never grew up. Stayed a petty motherfucker.

Fuck, it’s so easy for him to mess with Chan. It’s like literally nothing has changed since they were young.

“Bon voyage!” Minho calls out; “We wouldn’t want your equally intellectual new pack to wait!”

“Fuck off.” He says, more to himself than to Minho.

He’s already down the little slope that leads to Changbin’s house, when he hears Minho say; “I think you just got your blessing to fuck me. Want to have a go right now?”

He makes a full u-turn, stomping back up.

Minho is hugging Changbin’s arm, and Changbin is sort of amused with him; “What got into you today—” then immediately looks scared when he sees Chan going back.

“You don’t get to take the high moral ground on me — not after you bullied me for years in high-school — you don’t know shit about me, and you don’t know shit about my relationship with Changbin.”

“Bullied you? Man, the world does revolves around you.”

Chan nods; “Gaslighting? That’s a new tactic.”

“You’re a piece of shit with an inflated ego, Chan. Nobody’s trying to gaslight you. You gaslight yourself inside your gigantic head.”

“Right, right — just like how you’re not here to cause a rift between me and Changbin. You’re just went on a walk and came here, even though you admitted that you came here to see me dumping Changbin for my other pack . There is no fucking pack. I’m allowed to hang out with other people, and your constant, ”

“I’m not causing any rift— you’re doing it all on your own, bud. The problem isn’t even with Changbin, you idiot. The guys waited an entire year to hang out with you and you’re leaving for a whole week before they could even meet them— at least have the guts to tell them to their face that you’d rather hang out with a bunch of rich city scumbags instead of with us—”

“Wow. Okay! Okay!” Changbin stands between them. He seems both amused and confused — maybe even slightly scared, too. Like he’s about to see a fist fight. “Um.” He starts saying. “Okay.” He says more calmly, lowering both of his hands slowly; as if he’s trying to calm a cornered animal. 

Chan doesn’t remember the last time he raised his voice like that. Especially on an omega. Chan thinks it was relatively tame, actually. If this was an alpha, he would’ve already threw a punch.

“How about we just calm down, first?”

“No need. I’m leaving.”

“Good fucking riddance.” Minho says after him. “Your alpha stank was ruining my vibe.”

Chan shows him the finger on his way down the slope.

“I’ll talk to you on friday, yeah?” Changbin calls after him.

“Yes! Just don’t bring that fuckface with you!” 

Chan doesn’t turn around this time around, even when he hears Minho saying something else. His pride doesn’t let him.

.

That camping trip is the most miserable time of his life.

He is torn between having fun and feeling guilty about it, even though he knows deep down he shouldn’t.

He wishes Minho wasn’t there, and he wishes Changbin had opened up about this issue sooner, so they could’ve discussed it more calmly before and resolved it somehow.

Toxic little brat.

He is well aware that whatever game Minho was playing, he won. He guilt-tripped him, and now Chan is forced to deal with it with nothing but his own running thoughts. It’s a bad habit, to overthink everything a million times, but sometimes he can’t help it.

There’s no mobile data in the camping grounds beside one small spot on the hill, and honestly, when he called Jisung to complain about it, Jisung totally dismissed it.

It made Chan remember that time when Jisung just presented, and Minho told him that if he doesn’t lock his door at night, the next person Chan will shove his dick into will be him. Jisung took it with a grain of salt, as he does with everything Minho told him, but it’s Chan who was uncomfortable, and felt like he should make Jisung extra comfortable around him so he doesn’t get the wrong idea. And even at the time — it was such an asshole move.

Yes, Chan was sleeping around, but so was the rest of school. There’s just so much you can do in a small town like theirs. Jisung was practically his brother. They grew up together. If it weren’t for Felix, who assured Chan Jisung is fine and doesn’t give a shit about what Minho said — Chan might have went insane.

Now he felt like it was happening all over again with Changbin.

Not only that — with the rest of the pack.

He regrets that he left without discussing it properly. He could’ve stayed for another day and had a talk with them all, and then joined the camping trip a bit later.

But by then it’s too late.

It already affects how he interacts with the people he’s with.

They can tell that he’s rattled, so they’re more cautious with him than usual, and he probably stinks of anxiety and agitation.

He can’t even focus when he has his romantic moment with his crush.

They’re both on the deck of the river, legs in the water, and they discuss some personal issues — and it’s sunset — and it’s the perfect moment to just kiss him and start something new.

It’s literally what Chan wanted.

But he gets so busy talking out his frustrations about the scourge of his existence, Lee Minho, it stops being romantic, and just sounds like he’s on a rant.

Afterwards, when he’s already back in the tent, he realizes what he did there, and hates himself even more. What the fuck is wrong with him?

How the heck can one little omega undermine his entire being in less than 20 minutes? Make him question everything, like an idiot.

He can’t wait to get back home on Friday. He wants to make it right. He counts the hours.

And just then — like divine intervention thought he didn’t suffer enough — it rains hard a day before they have to leave, and his crush’s mom, who owns a resort nearby, invites them all to stay there for the rest of the weekend, or until the flooding stops.

At that point, he’s visibly miserable.

Even though he gets his own room, and there’s fancy facilities and even complimentary slippers, he feels like a turd floating in the sewers, waiting to reach the sea — he just lies about having stomach issues, so he can be in his room until it clears out. They’re all super nice about it, but Chan still feels left out and uncomfortable.

He feels like maybe they’re all judging him for even coming.

On the last day there, his crush comes to his room.

It’s already late Saturday, and the weather people said tomorrow it’ll clear up. So Chan has his bag packed and he’s ready to leave.

He asks Chan how he’s feeling and Chan has to gull to say that he’s much better, so the guy just decides to make the first move and kiss Chan before Chan can even think about anything else to say.

And it’s nice.

It really is.

It’s just the two of them, and Chan genuinely likes him — not just because he’s attracted to him, but because of who he is as a person. They have amazing conversations. They’re both like the same things. Literature buffs. He can see himself leading a life with this guy in the city. He can see himself building a pack with him and having a family together. And — it sure helps he’s a great kisser. Slow and careful, but good.

Things get a bit heated — a lot more heated than how Chan would’ve wanted them to progress. He wanted to take it slower. Go on dates. Get drunk on wine, and hold hands. All those silly little romantic things.

He pushes Chan off and climbs further into the bed, runs his hand down his shirt to undo his zipper —

Chan remembers Minho running his hand down his shirt, to smooth out a crease.

He remembers how hot it was in that garage, when he came to ask Changbin for the fishing rods, and Minho walked in after him out of the house.

He remembers his scent.

Damn, am I really that obvious?

“I’m sorry.” He says, after standing there for well over a long minute.

“Is it—” He stops talking for a second and tries to find Chan’s eyes; “Did I move too fast or— did you regret—”

“No, it’s not that. I don’t regret it. I’m— genuinely sorry, I’m in a weird headspace right now.”

They swallow thickly and look away, doing back their pants.

“Okay, then.” They shift on the bed, and sit on the edge of it, refusing to look at Chan.

Chan apologizes, like a million times. Tries to make a conversation. Tries to engage him. But it’s over.

It’s unsalvageable.

It actually was unsalvageable the minute he saw Minho.

He just didn’t realize it until right then and right there.

.

“What’s up, big guy?” Jisung wraps his hands around him heartily. Chan didn’t realize until right then and right there, how much he needed a hug. “Heard you got flooded in during camping trip.”

He returned only last night, and was so anxious to see them, that he asked at midnight if they wanted to hang out in their group chat, and Seungmin reminded him it’s Spring Fest the next day, and everybody went to sleep earlier because they had stuff to do in the morning of.

Chan forgot.

He tried to at least see Seungmin, but he’d been pretty avoidant about meeting him. He actually didn’t come to see him back before the trip either, but he lives across town. Chan really wanted to talk to him about Alpha Year. He had a really rough time there, and wanted to make sure Seungmin’s okay. He did more than enough to warn Seungmin last year, before he went — but was wondering if it was enough. They talked on the phone for well over a couple of hours. Chan felt like he did something by warning him — something nobody did for him.

“Yeah.” He says into his shirt. Jisung’s scent is so comforting to him, that he can almost ignore how intertwined it is with Minho’s.

“Damn, you look like shit.”

“I barely slept.”

“Why?” Jisung snorts; “Please don’t tell me you let Minho get to you.”

Chan isn’t sure what expression he’s wearing, perhaps a bitter smile, but it’s enough of a confirmation.

“Dude, he made Hyunjin leave his mate because the guy broke a plate. He literally told him that ‘it’s a plate today, and tomorrow it’s your face’. They’re finalizing the un-bonding next week.”

“He’s right, though. That’s how abuse starts.” Chan rubs his cheek; “Who is Hyunjin?”

“My new best friend.” Jisung sighs dramatically; “Me and Minho are taking a break. We live together now, so we’re very toxic. He makes me clean my room. You know I hate cleaning my room.”

“That actually sounds like he’s a miracle worker.”

Jisung squints. “I’m giving you a golden opportunity to shit talk about Minho here.”

“Oh, sorry.” Chan laughs, looking around; “I didn’t get it. I honestly don’t want to talk about him.”

“Fair.” Jisung shrugs and takes another long gulp out of his beer. “Just know that when you talked to me on the phone about it, and then asked him — he totally forgot what the argument was about.”

There’s tons of people there today. Chan looks around again, while Jisung finishes his beer cup.

“Are you guys seriously upset about me leaving to hang out with other people?”

“Not really. It’s to be expected. I mean, you still talk to us and all. And I know Felix still calls you when he needs somebody to help him sing the shoe-lace song.”

Chan snorts; “He’s right behind you.”

Jisung turns around hurriedly, and when he sees Felix isn’t there gives Chan a glare.

“Point is — dude, we love you. You know that, right? And we fully support you having your own pack. A little jealous, yes, maybe — but we get it. You don’t live here anymore. And we know your final destination was always the city. Beside, high school packs never last. Everybody know that.”

“Y-yeah.”

“And we’ll always be your friends. And if you ever do come around here more often, you will me always welcomed among us."

Chan scoops him up and squeezes him again.

Jisung hugs back, and pats his back idly.

“We honestly don’t mind. I feel like Minho cares more than us. He never misses an opportunity to bitch about you.”

“Why did you have to be friends with him of all people?”

“Okay, okay. Not too much. I still aim to get laid today.”

“Yeah — sorry.” He a step back.

“And please for the long of god, just — be cool with Minho. He only lashes out, because you do the same. Don’t let him ruffle your feathers or whatever. He’s actually really sweet inside. He likes kitties. You just need to get used to the rough exterior.”

“Sand-paper-like exterior, and I’m allergic to what’s on inside.”

“Fair.”

“Is Changbin fucking him?”

Jisung looks like Chan slapped him on both cheeks. “What?”

“Is he?”

“ No .” He half-laughs, and then makes a weird little movement with his free hand; “You’re barking at the wrong tree — Oh, there he is, light of my life.” Jisung pushes at Chan, so he can bump into another omega.

He’s a taller omega. And pretty.

He’s wearing a sweater, even though the weather is nice. Chan remembers him now. He’s Minho’s friend. He saw them hanging around Jisung at school, too, but back then Hyunjin’s hair was short and naturally black. Now it’s long and blond.

“I’ll just go home,” he says to Jisung, paying no heed to Chan, but Jisung holds onto his arm.

“Please stop making this about you. We went over this. Today is all about me becoming a Luna and achieving my true potential. You have to stop moping and being so depressed. Now, this is Bang Chan— Hyung, this is Hwang Hyunjin. He is recently single.”

“Not yet.” Hyunjin sighs, though seems a bit interested now that he puts a name to Chan.

They shake hands.

“Heard a lot about you.”

“Hopefully not from Minho.”

Hyunjin doesn’t say anything back, and Jisung mouths; ‘Definitely from Minho’ showing cut throat movements.

“I don’t actually have a tumor on my dick.” Chan feels like he should just say that, because that’s usually Minho’s go to.

“I didn’t want to believe him — but he showed me pictures.” Hyunjin admits.

“It’s literally the first image that pops up on google when you search for ‘tumor on a dick’.”

“Damn it. One more town mystery forever ruined.” Hyunjin says; “Now I really want to go home.”

“You are going to stay and you are going to enjoy it, even if my boy, Bang Chan, doesn’t have a tumor on his dick.”

“Where is Lee Minho, by the way?” Hyunjin looks around. “You both just dragged me here even though I’m not participating, and now I’m forced to interact with people.”

“He was just here.” Jisung sighs; “Probably harassing another alpha for daring to ask him out. Let’s go look around for him?”

“Do we have to?” Chan says.

“Yes. I talked with him very sternly.” Jisung promises; “He swore on his grandpa Edward that he won’t gaslight you anymore.” He intertwined his arm with Chan on one side and Hyunjin on another as he heads out of the sitting area they were at.

“What grandpa Edward — he doesn’t have a grandpa named Edward.” Hyunjin mumbles; “You have to stop blindly believing everything he says, he’s a pathological liars.”

That actually actually makes Chan laugh.

They don’t find Minho. They find Changbin and Felix, and Felix’s new boyfriend. Chan doesn’t know him — he’s older than them, from a rural village nearby, but Felix looks happy, so that’s the most important thing. They discuss Jisung’s decision to become a Luna for awhile. Felix’s boyfriend asks about Seungmin, since they’re friends, and that’s when Chan finally finds out.

“Probably running off after Minho,” Felix says, sounding a little bit bitter about it; “He’s heading to college in a month, so it’s now or never.”

Changbin and Jisung immediately turn to Chan, as if this will somehow affect him.

It doesn’t.

Chan doesn’t care.

It sure explains why Seungmin’s been avoiding him. Probably wanted Changbin to land the news on him first. See how he reacts.

Chan honestly didn’t mind. Lee Minho’s omega parts are made from toxic waste, and Seungmin is an adult who finished Alpha year, so it’s up to him to him if he wants to dunk his dick into a vat of acid.

Felix looks like he was planning to do this all along, when he sips from his beer, too, squinting back at Jisung, when he bulges out his eyes at him.

Okay, then.

“So — did you guys do that hike you said you wanted to do before it’s too hot?” Chan changes the subject, and this opens a discussion over who is at fault that they didn’t go eventually, even though they were planning it in the group chat for well over a month.

.

Jisung and Felix eventually leave to change clothes.

And Changbin heads down to see whose participating this year with some other alphas.

Chan catches up with some old classmates. One of them is already bonded with a kid on the way.

Chan feels like he’s eons away from starting a family, especially after what happened with his crush a few days ago — he feels like it will take him awhile to get over himself, and get over how utterly defenseless he was against Minho in that moment — how he let him get in his head.

He’s also surprised how many people he still remember him, whether it’s school, or because they were frequenting the convenience store Chan’s family owns, or just because he’s a friend of a friend.

There’s an odd solace in something like that. Everybody know everybody, here.

You don’t need to reintroduce yourself or prove yourself. Your name comes before you. Everybody already formed an opinion of some kind of you. He doesn’t need to act a certain way or leave a certain impression. People just know who you are — from around .

Back in the city it’s him against the world.

He’s good at networking and getting to know people, but every connection he makes there is almost always new. And no matter how many friends he makes there, he is never “Changbin’s friend” or “Hannah’s brother”. He’s in nobody’s pack. He doesn’t belong anywhere. There’s nothing to connect him to the city, beside his own actions.

Nothing to ground him there.

And perhaps that’s what Chan wanted. It has to be. He has his entire life to figure it out and he’s not in a hurry.

He’s gotten a bit hungry, when they start calling to the omegas.

Moonrise is close.

He can feel it on his skin, now. Like there’s a magnet in the sky pulling his insides out of his body.

It’s not as strong in the city, but it could be because Chan stays in the dorm room during full moons, with his blinds shut, studying with the glow of his purple-blue lava-lamp.

And that’s when Minho’s scent hits his nose. Completely out of the blue. Perhaps it was there before, but his senses heightened with the moon creeping in below the horizon.

He looks around, and sure enough finds him, followed by a man that is not Seungmin.

They head away from the venue of the fest, into a more secluded pathway, where usually couples go to make out.

He takes a bite of the pizza he’s holding, narrowing his eyes at the two of them until they disappear between the trees.

Not his business.

He finishes his pizza.

Okay, maybe a little bit his business.

Chan wanted to have a word with him too. He mustered the courage for it for the entire evening and now he’s ready to speak his truth.

Besides, he wants to confirm it to himself. That Minho is a piece of shit. Hooking up with Seungmin. But now he’s out there, making out with some other dude. Not any different than every townie omega, too.

On his way there, overstepping a couple that couldn’t wait for the actual Run, he already convinces himself that Minho’s scent was agitated. He has absolutely no basis to it. He just caught a whiff of it — and should stay the fuck out of it.

It’s pretty abandoned, right now. All the single omegas are going to the run, so Chan while passing under a low hanging branch, Chan sees them.

“…of the pack.” The guy is telling Minho, clearly upset.

Minho is rolling his eyes so hard, you can see the whites of his eyes; “Be serious. Just because I’m the only omega of the new generation, doesn’t mean I have to mate with one of you.”

“Your parents insist on you mating within the pack—”

“I was a Luna last year, and I will be a Luna this year, too. I get to choose who I mate with. You can take that up with the Committee, if you’re unsatisfied.” He already turns to leave, and notices Chan and furrows his eyebrows — but the guy stops him, putting a hand up.

Minho takes a step back from him and gives him a long tired look.

“What about Jeongin — Jaein, too. You’ll be leaving the two of them behind so easily?”

“Really? You’re guilt-tripping me to bond with that ? Jeongin is out of highschool this year— and Jaein already presented. They’re not babies anymore, they’re adults. They can choose whether they want to stay in the pack or not on their own.”

“But imagine—”

“Honestly the thought of bonding with you makes me sick to my stomach. So no, I don’t want to imagine. Now — can I go or do you want me to explain the committee you made me late on the run.”

Ooff.

Chan presses his lips together.

Damn, Minho destroyed the guy.

He’s a handsome fella. Tall. Dressed with taste. He’d be a hotshot in the city, and Chan wouldn’t even guess he’s from their town, too. He’s older than them by around 10 years give or take, which is probably why Chan isn’t awfully familiar with him.

“Not too long ago, you played along with me.”

“I was young and dumb and wrong.”

“Point is, you’re not truly sick to your stomach. There will come a time you’ll want to settle and I’ll be your best choice. Not only for you — but for the good of the pack.”

“You don’t give a shit about the pack, Jaehyun. You just don’t want Minhyuk to become the next Alpha, because it’ll hurt your ego and you know I’m political leverage. If you want to have a knot measuring contest, do it without involving me.”

Chan has a wild guess what’s this about.

Minho’s pack is an Old Name pack. A traditional, generational pack. There’s very little of them left, even in their rural town. They’re hard to maintain in the long run. They’re not called by their Alpha’s name, but by an ancestor name. The older alpha steps down when it’s time, and the younger alpha inherits everything, including his own parents and uncles and aunts as betas.

Usually one of the omegas in that generation also couples with the new alpha, too.

Minho being the only omega out of a whole generation explains a lot, actually.

“You know, you’re the only omega that allows himself to talk to me like that.”

“Color me surprised. Maybe it’s because you don’t scare me.”

“Or maybe it’s because you couldn’t move past me hooking up with somebody else beside you.”

“I doubt that.” Minho’s answer is very cold calm; “What the fuck do you want?”

His eyes only move to Chan mid-sentence, and it takes Chan a second or two to understand that the last bit was for him.

Chan rubs his hair, and looks around.

The alpha turns to see who Minho is talking to, and Chan can’t really pretend he wasn’t eavesdropping anymore.

“I wanted to — um — speak with you. I wasn’t aware you’re here with someone.”

“About?”

The other Alpha looks like he’s about to snap. He wasn’t done talking, but Minho is — and won’t even look his way. Chan decides to humor Minho, just to see if he will.

“The other day. Before I left.”

“Speak then,” Minho checks his watch. “Interesting how the lot of you have something to say right before my run.”

Jaehyun clicks his tongue and leaves, nearly bumping into Chan’s shoulder.

Chan moves out of his way. He obviously wants to pick a fight. Chan decides not to give him a reason to let it out on him. He’s not jealous of the first alpha that will get in his way, though.

He looks after him for a long moment, just to see if he does actually leave back to the venue. Jaehyun doesn’t turn around, not even once.

Yikes.

“Not a very pleasant dude.”

“You’re not exactly a pleasant sight yourself.”

“Ouch.” Chan laughs; “Okay.”

“Are you here to apologize?”

He finally looks back at him. “ No .” He says; “Maybe.”

“Apology not accepted.” Minho says and passes by him on his way back.

“I didn’t ask for an apology yet. You have to admit you were out of the line, too. Then I’ll apologize.” Chan follows him back onto the path.

“Even if I was, it was out of concern for my dear, beloved friends. The end justifies the means and all that.” He flails his hand dismissively, like he didn’t actually mean it. He probably didn’t.

“You’re not going to admit you lashed out on me without any reason?”

“ You lashed out on me . You raised your voice at me and tried to intimidate me — you’re lucky I didn’t go to the Committee with this.”

Chan rolls his eyes and kills down the urge that wants to say ‘you started it’, and runs a bit ahead of him. “Look, I’m only here once or twice a year,”

“And that’s one or two times too many.” Minho interjects and moves past him again.

“How about a truce, then?” He follows him again; “For Seungmin’s sake.”

Minho turns around abruptly and has a long good look, starting from his boots and ending in his face. It actually makes Chan a little self-conscious.

“Seungmin’s sake?”

“Because you’re hooking up with him, right? At least, that’s what they say.”

“Is that what they say…?” A smile stretches on his lips. “Well, then. If that’s what they say—” He almost turns around, and Chan should let it go, but he doesn’t like the way he makes him feel.

Like there’s more to it, and nobody told him.

“Why? Are you going to deny it?”

“You are here once or twice a year, but every time you’re here, it’s always your business who I’m fucking?”

“It wouldn’t be my business, if it wasn’t always my friends.”

“It’s not your friends — it’s your delusions. You desperately want me to be the villain in your story.”

“That’s because you are —! You always plotting your little weird schemes!” Chan half-laughs, flutters his fingers together; “You’re always putting laxatives into my food, or snitching on me, or finding a way to make me miserable somehow — and you always make sure I know it’s you who did it. And then you invalidate me, and say you weren’t even bullying me!”

“Wow, so much trauma, so much pain. It sounds like your high-school was so hard, Mr. Popularity-Swimming-Team-Captain-Fucked-The-Teacher-Asisstant-And-When-They-Replaced-Her-Fucked-Her-Replacement.”

“You can’t honestly expect me to forget all your pranks just because I was popular?”

“The only thing I’d expect for you is to grow up and stop feeling sorry for yourself. You weren’t a victim. You knew exactly how to fight back—”

“When did I ever—”

“So it wasn’t you who told my parents I was smoking behind the school during recess? How about the time you told Jisung I ditched him, when I was sick.”

“Well, that was all measly compared to what you pulled on me.”

“Admit it. You were looking forward to it — it made your sad, boring, little town life just a little bit more interesting.”

Chan clenches his jaw.

He wants to say it’s not true — but he also can’t deny it.

“So stop feeling sorry for yourself. You’re a hypocrite.”

“If I’m a hypocrite, you’re a narcissist — every conversation I ever have with you, you always manage to convince me that I’m a shit person somehow. It’s actually a talent.”

“What in the world made you think you’re a good person? Have you ever stopped to think that maybe I actually like hanging out with your friends because they’re cool? You keep questioning why I’m hanging out with them, what reason can it possibly be other than you— like you’re the only reason your friends are cool.”

Now, he’s actually angry. Angry and sad that somebody would even assume that, his former pack is all he ever talks about in university; “Leave them the fuck out of this.”

“Or maybe you legitimately just think all of us, damn hillbillies in town, are just some dark past you want to put behind you? I can’t believe the lot of them are eagerly waiting until you call, so they get your advice or talk to you, and you’re literally out there, already making a new pack.”

“Changbin and Seungmin both deserve a chance to form their own packs — and the rest of them, too. If I’m such a shit person, then they deserve better than me as their alpha. You have nothing to get angry about.”

“Damn straight they do. You’re a the biggest piece of shit that this little town ever produced.”

“Fine. Maybe I am. But so are you. I honestly have no idea what Jisung found in you — and how anybody in their right mind would hang out with you out of their own free will.”

“Because I’m honest. I’m the only one who tells you what you are to your face, and it makes you angry.”

“That’s not why!” Chan raises his voice; “I’m not even angry, I’m just in awe of your audacity most of time— and what makes me angry is that every word you ever spoke to me is to manipulate or humiliate me somehow.”

“You’re not a hypocrite — but the truth is humiliating you? Do tell me more how that make sense.”

“You know what — it just occurred to me that it’s impossible to talk sense to you. Fuck you.”

His entire body is irrationally awake — whether because of the moon, or because Minho just triggers a flight or fight response in him. His muscles are tight, his hands are fisted, and he feels like a guitar string that’s about to go off — so the best thing to do is just to walk away.

He turns around and starts walking.

It takes him a moment, but he catches up to him.

“Fuck you, too.” Minho says after him. “And fuck your stupid city, and your stupid new pack, too. Can’t tell a good thing when it’s right in front of your eyes—”

He turns around just to tell him — to tell him — something . Just to shut him up.

If he hears him talking again, he’ll fucking lose it.

He’s not the type of person who would do that — who would kiss somebody out of anger. He’s not the type of alpha. He always considered it so cheesy when it was done in movies. He is not a rash person, either. He always considered himself quite calculated — but Minho brings out a dark, slithering side of him. A side he never thought he has in him.

The kiss is a bit rough.

He grabbed him by neck, holding him in place. Maybe he hurt him — since for a long suspended second there, he’s frozen, and then all at once — he kisses back.

A heat runs through Chan’s body — down his spine and up his arms.

There’s no thoughts in his head.

Just touch and want.

He works his lips with the kind of devouring desperation he didn’t think he ever had. Minho’s hands are on his shoulders and then in his hair, digging into the skin of his head and he knows exactly where to touch him — exactly where it feels good. And it feels good , all of it. So fucking good.

Feels delicious.

Like eating a forbidden fruit.

They startle when they announce the last call for all single omegas.

They push off each other, both wide-eyed. He’s not sure whose more surprised.

Chan’s eyebrows are in his hairline.

The announcement repeats itself.

Minho has to go.

He takes a short breathe in, and another one, and seems to have calm down from the rush. His cheeks are red. His neck is red. His mouth is red — and wet. Because Chan kissed him.

He wipes the corner of it with his finger, and then snorts — as if Chan told a funny joke, and leaves.

.

The omegas already left when Chan arrives to the cheering balcony.

He spent 10 minutes pacing around in the same forest clearing, trying to rationalize what happened, then another 5 minutes, sitting on stump, asking himself if it really happened or he imagined it.

Changbin isn’t in his usual spot and he looks pissed off.

When he sees Chan, he mentions his head toward the left, and Chan finds his eyes land on Jaehyun. He’s there with two buddies, probably his betas. And he looks overly cocky.

“Fucker pushed me out of my spot, while I was talking to Felix and Jisung.”

“Where’s Seungmin? He’s not going to chase after Minho?”

“He’s home, I guess. Said he didn’t feel like coming.” Changbin is all itchy. “Look, I’m sorry — I was going to tell you about it. It’s not even a thing. Minho had been rejecting him for awhile and Seungmin had a really rough time in Alpha Year, and I feel like—”

“It’s fine. I don’t care.”

The moon is on the horizon.

They probably have another 45 minutes, before they let them out.

“And Felix’s boyfriend?”

“I—” Changbin scratches his head; “I think he chickened out.”

“What?”

“I mean, a handful of people didn’t get the memo about Felix having a boyfriend. Well, either that or they got it and didn’t care. So they started a fight over him right in front of us. The committee let them off with just a warning and a one time ban, but I think he realized the scale of how many guys will be after him and just… took off.”

“Maybe he’s just in the bathroom.”

"Maybe. We were just talking about it, and this guy arrives—” He mentions his head. “Pushes me out of my spot, like I’m nothing. I almost punched him. But he looked like he wanted it too much.”

“Yeah, he’s up to no good.”

“Also, Minho arrived all red. Like head to toe. Jisung asked him if he made out with someone, but I think it was like — angry-red.”

Chan nibbles at his lip.

Fuck it.

He jumps over the railing that separates the crowd with the Alpha balcony.

Changbin looks like Chan is testing his patience.

“What are you doing?”

“Participating.”

“I want to introduce a concept to you, that might sound a bit extreme at first — but have you ever heard of Therapy?”

“I just need to blow off some steam.”

“You said that about last year, then ended up in the hospital.”

“Why are you here then?”

“I’m getting laid. That’s the whole point. Are you aware that’s the point?”

“Yes.”

“What about your crush? Are you seriously not going to try and make things right with him?”

Chan runs his hand on his hair.

“I will. After this.”

“Go register. You can still do it, so your claim will be valid, and also—”

“I’m not going to mate with anybody.”

“My sister goes to a really good therapist. In the city. Worked wonders for her anger issues. She stopped coming into my room, knocking something over, and leaving without closing the door. I mean, partly because she moved out, but she also doesn’t do that when she’s visiting. So — all you have to do is just say the word when you’re ready.”

.

This spring run, Chan doesn’t work harder despite having developed a body for it — he works smarter.

Once the moon is up, most of the alphas on the balcony are itching to get out there. Taste some blood, and push their cock into the first thing they find.

Chan just needs to start a fight and run away from it.

Jaehyun will be collateral damage, then. He’s eager for a fight. He’s going to start throwing punches on the first alpha that dares.

He finds a couple of alphas that already have their claws and fangs out, far too ready for a fight, and waits for the horn.

After that it’s pretty easy. He jumps down with the rest of them, pushes at them or punches them out of his way.

They chase after him only momentarily, but they’re already beating up another alpha, when Chan looks back. He reaches the tree line among the first of the alphas.

The ones who make it to the tree line are safe. But they have to run. If they came here for the purpose of chasing after omegas and not just for a fight, they’ll make it with an ease. If they dilly-dally — they will get caught up with it.

Chan’s very first run was just like that.

A couple of feuding older alphas started a fight right on the venue of the Run, and he was badly hurt before he even made it to the tree line. He was in agony the entire time in the forest, and when he did catch an omega, the poor guy called the medical on him once they were through. Very anticlimactic. He was welcomed as a war hero back in class with a couple of broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder, though. And the omega, that was older, who couldn’t lose face with his own peers and say he didn’t get properly mated — was nice enough to tell everybody Chan was an excellent lay despite his wounds. Chan is still thankful for that.

But Jaehyun isn’t like that.

Chan knows the type. Too cocky. And not goal-oriented enough. If Minho was his sole goal, he’d be already at the tree-line, ignoring every punch thrown. But he was waiting for a fight, back there, and thinks he can take them all down at once and still chase after Minho.

Changbin finds Chan approximately half an hour after the horn, and clicks his tongue; “Please tell me this isn’t because he pushed me out of my spot. You know I can fight my own battles right.”

“It’s also because he pushed you out of your spot.” Chan crosses his hands on his chest, waiting for Jaehyun to finally get downed.

There’s not a lot of people standing now, and if he has to, he’ll go there and land the last blow.

He doesn’t have to.

He’s too hurt and bloodied.

He tries to make it to the trees, but he’ll be slow and probably will have to crawl. His eyes cross Chan’s — he didn’t make much of an attempt to hide himself either — and he narrows them.

Chan hitches his chin, and turns around.

But the run isn’t over.

It takes him a moment to find Minho’s scent, but once he finds it — he’s game.

Like a natural GPS.

Even without Jaehyun in the game, Chan still grossly underestimated the amount of Alphas that are out for Minho.

He expected it to be more or less like last year, but not over fifteen — and those are just the ones that are able to follow it. Fuck knows how many of them were lost out in the woods trying to catch a glimpse of him.

Word of him being a Luna for two years in a row probably traveled all around town, and now every Alpha wanted to prove himself the strongest and meanest.

Not on his watch, they don’t.

He runs right past the slow ones or the ones that are hurt too badly for a fight, and avoids the ones who are too close together. They are bound to eventually find each other, understand that they’re following the same scent, and take too long fighting to catch up to Minho.

Chan himself has a hard time keeping up with him.

He only realizes that the other scent he’s smelling is Jisung only midway — after kicking somebody in the face. The third scent must have been Felix, then, but it disappeared somewhere in the middle. They must have separated. It’s not a good idea to be so many omegas in one place. You can miss one omega scent in a lush forest — but an abundance of them moving together is pretty telling.

He grew up with Jisung. Knew his scent from diapers, before he presented as an omega. He could probably tell it apart in a room full of omegas, when he knows what he’s looking for. But he wouldn’t be able to tell straight away it’s him, just from the get-go.

Not when Minho’s scent overpowers Jisung’s and drowns it out, along with everything around him.

He tries to find Felix’s scent, then, for a long moment. He knows his scent pretty well, too. And he knows Felix must be devastated his boyfriend didn’t show up and needs somebody to hug him instead of fucking him — but he’s gone. It’s been miles since he smelled it last, and he cannot trace his steps back, and he doesn’t want to lose Minho and Jisung.

He finds them when they’re already near the very last milestone.

They’re not oblivious to the amount of people on their tails, both red from running.

Minho looks brilliant. He’s sweaty, but he doesn’t look absolutely destroyed from the run, just hot — and the smell of his sweat on a full moon fills Chan’s lungs and goes straight into his cock.

It’s involuntary, really — not after they just made out, hours ago.

He probably leans too close — to get a better whiff — and he’s not careful enough. He steps on something, or hits a branch under his leg, and it snaps so loudly, even some night bird rushes out of its perch, right above Chan.

Minho holds his hand up for Jisung who was talking, when he gets up, eyebrows furrowed.

“What is it, Lassie? What do you smell?” Jisung half-mocks.

“There’s—” Chan cringes when he sees his chest fill with air. He’s too close. Definitely can smell him.

It’s too dark. The moon is hiding behind clouds. It’s going to rain in a moment. There’s no way he’ll see Chan, unless he meets his eyes directly. And he never does.

“Nothing.” He says; “We need to start moving.”

“Did you catch a scent? I don’t smell anything.” Jisung tries sniffing the air, too.

It might be a bit harder for him to detect Chan. Especially because he’s standing much further away — but also because omegas’ senses don’t get an extreme boost with the moon, like Alphas.

There’s also probably the sole fact that Chan smells natural to Jisung. They’ve been raised under the same Alpha, in the same pack household. Jisung’s parents are Chan’s, and Chan’s are Jisung’s.

“No.” It’s a lie. Chan hears it in his voice. But he probably doesn’t want to alarm Jisung.

They continue moving, just when it starts to drizzle.

It’ll be much harder to follow them anywhere now. Even if there’s somebody behind Chan who's running after Minho or Jisung, it’ll be nearly impossible to track them down now. 

He accompanies them in a safe distance, until they reach the last milestone.

They never know he’s there. Nobody really does.

He’s unregistered on this Run, so his name isn’t even on the board. Not that it would matter if it were — nobody knows he participated beside Changbin and the alphas that crossed his path. And Chan’s fine with that.

Chapter Text

“What’s this?” Chan checks what Minho threw at him.

It’s a sweatshirt. 

He arrived right when Chan was loading his suitcase into the truck. His dad and little brother are going to drive him to the train station, the way they do every year.

Minho’s there with another Alpha, who seems a bit meek. Younger than the two of them by at least a couple years. He nods to Chan, respectful. Chan nods back. He’s pretty sure their scents are similar, so he might be Minho’s packmate. 

The fact is much less threatening than what he’d expect. 

He looks back down at the cloth he caught and understands it’s his sweatshirt. 

“You left this at Felix’s.” He explains hurriedly. 

Felix decided he’s too angry to participate mid-run. Minho, the new jesus christ according to Felix, took him to a sheltered rock on a riverbank, told him when it’ll be safe to come out and head home. At that point, Felix didn’t give a shit about his status as an omega, he just wanted to leave so he could call his boyfriend. But the guy never answered.

He also blocked him in some places, and ghosted him in others. Felix was angry for another day or so after the fest, and then he grew incredibly sad. Chan came to console him and chat with him twice.

“He said it’s your favorite and you can’t leave without it.”

It’s not true. Chan forgot he even left it.

“And he couldn’t give it back to me himself?”

“He decided to become a hermit and never leave his dorm room.” Minho sighs. “Don’t worry, his boyfriend has been dealt with.”

“Dealt with - how?”

“He’ll probably need to leave town.” Minho shrugs.

“Hyung put laxatives in his coffee when he came to the bakery.” The alpha next to him tells Chan; “I think he put too much, so the guy just shitted all over himself in front of the whole bakery. Brown stain and everything.”

“I didn’t put too much , I gave him the same dose that was effective for you.” Minho nods toward Chan absently, like that’s something totally normal to know. The dose of his laxatives. “Not my fault the guy is a lightweight.”

“Well, I’m flattered.”

“You should be. You never even get skid marks.” Minho agrees, nodding. “Always made it to the bathroom safely. Truly inspiring. Maybe you can call him and share notes.”

“Okay. Bye, then.” Chan says, smiling despite feeling embarrassed Minho is even talking about this next to an alpha Chan didn’t know. He’s almost in the car, when he turns about; “Take care of them. My hillbillies.”

“Don’t show your face around here anymore, and we’re Gucci.” Minho tells him. “You’re fucking up the vibe of the town with your alpha city stank.” 

“Thanks.” Chan says. “Really needed to hear that.” 

“I'd say 'anytime', but you clearly have a degradation kink and I wouldn’t want you coming back for more.” 

“Yet you still came to see me off.” 

“I wanted to make sure you’re actually leaving. I honestly hoped Mrs. Bang would just tell me you’ve already left. But you’re also a slowpoke. Which shouldn’t surprise me. Somehow predictable. With the whole… slowness theme you have going on.” 

“Keep working your mouth.” Chan nods bitterly, shaking his head. 

“If I don’t, you’ll be placing yours where it definitely doesn’t belong.” 

Chan isn’t sure why that pisses him off. 

He’s not exactly wrong.

Chan is the one who kissed him. 

He shouldn’t have kissed him. 

“Good luck with Seungmin, then. Or one of the 20 other guys who ripped each other apart over you during the run.” 

“Good luck with your new crush. Hopefully they’re a good kisser. The bar has been set so high, I wouldn’t want you to be disappointed.” 

“Not that high.” Chan is lying; “The forked tongue and everything. Fuck knows where it’s been.” 

Minho is about to tell him exactly where to shove his tongue into, but then he notices the alpha next to him, a bit confused about the conversation, and gives Chan a small curt smile. “Fuck off, then.” 

“Gladly.” Chan waves to the other alpha, and then gets into the car and slams the door. 

.

Next spring he’s working on a joint project with his professor, so he comes back home only for a brief week.

It’s a pretty big deal.

The situation with the friend group he went on a camping trip fell through. 

They sort of became less close, and Chan was too busy with his courses and some volunteer project he took up with another friend group. He heard months later that they did indeed decide to take it a step further and become a pack— just… without him. 

It made things a bit awkward, when he was meeting him next time, but Chan was pretty much past it, and a good sport.

He’s pretty sure all the omegas in that pack hated him now, anyway. Although originally his crush wasn’t in that friend group, now he is a part of their pack, and from his perspective, Chan is a dick who was stringing him along for weeks — only to pretend nothing really happened, and stop texting him or calling him as frequently as he did before. 

It’s just that Chan couldn’t.

It wouldn’t be fair to the omega, if he did. 

He wishes he could rationalize it in a way that made sense, but he really couldn’t. 

On paper, he had a pretty good year. He won an internship at a good publishing house. No more domino pizza delivery job. His professors love him. And he was voted for Campus Sweetheart. He was constantly surrounded by new friends and new experiences. 

And yet, it was probably the loneliest year he spent away from home.

Everybody wanted to be his friend, and he was somehow involved in everybody’s business — but he felt like nobody really knew him. Nobody perceived him. 

Not the way he saw himself, anyway. 

A part of him felt unresolved and raw. Maybe he is a shit person, deep down, but he hides it really well. Maybe he does need therapy.

The joint project with his professor — a nonfiction autobiography book on some celebrity — was going to put him on the fast track to a career in the literacy world. 

This was going to turn everything around. 

He was going to have a voice, and speak it. 

So although he’s been anxiously waiting for spring break this year, he didn’t mind cutting it a week short. He’s going to leave a day after the fest. 

And he’s not going to participate. 

He’s not going to show up. 

Changbin invites him to his new flat on the day Chan comes back home, and Chan is dressed in 5 minutes, even though he’s exhausted from the trip back home. It’s a 7 hour bus drive. He should’ve taken the train, but he didn’t order ahead tickets, since he wasn’t sure he was coming back until the very last minute. 

He expects everybody to be there — Minho to be there. 

But it’s just Changbin. 

And a cold beer can. 

“They’re out in the woods, all four of them. Scouring the field. Prepping the ground. With a bunch of other omegas, too. They didn’t even let Jeongin come to their secret little Luna club. And he's a sensitive kid. He was feeling really left out."

“Doesn’t sound like it's a secret.” 

“I mean, we could’ve helped. I know that forest really well. And I could provide insight. Me and Jeongin. We’re both alphas — we can get them into our head. Not that I wanted to come or anything.”

“Kind of sounds like you did want to come after all.” 

“Shut up.” The sip Changbin takes from his beer sounds mildly upset; “He started a whole revolution. You have no idea what it's like.” 

“Somehow that’s not surprising.” 

“Luna three years in a row. Like damn, you can count the omegas in town’s history that were able to do that in one hand.”

“He’s not exactly your typical omega, is he?” 

It’s a rhetorical question. 

Changbin doesn’t answer.

They both don’t say anything for a long moment. 

“I mean, he was never very conventional, even as a teen — but now he’s basically a local celebrity. Other omegas noticed how he gets to not give a shit. He treats alphas like garbage and still gets all the attention, so it’s — impressive, I guess. He’s also free to do as he likes. His parents don’t decide for him, nor does his alpha. So they’re all dying to get it this year. It’s a whole trend. Every omega in town applied to the omega dorms for next year. Hyunjin might not actually get a spot, since he hasn't yet figured out where he’s going to stay.” 

“Omegas should have equal rights by now.” Chan sips from his beer; “They keep on overruling it in the senate because they like the status quo.”

Changbin looks like he wants to say something about that, but decides not to say anything. 

Chan is about to ask — but Changbin hurriedly changes the subject; “Did you — uh, see him?”

“Not yet. Why?” 

“Dyed his hair bright purple. His mom came to talk to me at the shop the other day, thinking I’ll be able to convince him to color it back, since it’ll dwindle down potential mates. I kept telling her she doesn’t understand what she’s talking about. He has more than Felix now. They actually started a facebook group for him, and everything. Came from a neighboring town. Got rooms in the motel near the highway, so they can participate in the Run. Every Alpha out there really thinks this is a challenge they want to take on themselves.”

Chan snorts.

“Good luck to them.”

Changbin’s flat is so big. 

There’s a guest room that’s bigger than Chan’s whole dorm room. And while Chan’s sole window overlooks a brick wall on the other apartment complex, Changbin’s balcony overlooks the town, and the mountains. It’s one of the taller buildings, located right next to the main street. The town seems a bit different than he remembers it in his head. Less dusty. There’s a couple of bars open in main streets, and even some clubs. Music is loud. There’s more shops that he can detect — and on the horizon the mountains and the forest. The air is so insanely fresh that he feels his sinuses clearing up with every single breath. 

He missed the clean air.

But it’s not just clean air he’s taking into his lungs. He can’t help but notice that the entire flat stinks of Minho. He has no idea how he knows, he just does. It’s like Minho rubbed himself into every object and burrowed into every pillow. 

It’s obvious by now that Minho sort of took over his pack. 

They’re now Minho’s pack.

People refer to them like that openly, despite Minho not being an Alpha.

Even Chan’s mom asked him when he was going out if he’s going to hang out with Minho’s pack.

“He also started a go-fund-me for rehabilitating the animal shelter. Tried to convince me to donate like one thousand bucks.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah.”

Chan isn’t jealous.

It’s actually surprising to him, because he worried for a long time he might get jealous if Changbin took over the pack while he was gone and it might sour things between them.

He finds that he doesn’t mind at all, even if it’s Minho, out of all people.

“Did you actually pay?”

“He blackmailed me. Said Jimin just might assume that I want her back if I don’t donate. I spent months getting her off my back after I caught her last spring. It started out well, but she wanted to bond and to buy a house like three months in.” He clicks his tongue; “Honestly I’m terrified of him. If he doesn’t get his way, everybody pays the price. So if he wants a goddamn animal shelter, he’ll get an animal shelter.”

“I bet even the shelter serves some sick agenda of his.” Chan ponders out loud; “That guy isn’t capable of love.”

Changbin hums.

“He’s okay.” Changbin says, after a long silent moment; “I mean, I like him. And so do the guys.”

“My sister already told me that he hooked up with Seungmin.”

“Oh, thank god.” Changbin’s shoulders slack at once; “Seungmin nagged me about preparing you for it, but then I kind of put it off. For a year.” 

Chan snorts; “What? Seriously?” 

“I mean — it was very brief. They were on and off and then on and then off again. Right before the fest happened, they broke it off. Then they got back together for like a week. I think. I don’t know the details. Seungmin never really — talks about it. He’s gone for college a lot, and they’re civil when he’s back — so it seems like they’re okay. Besides, Minho has bigger fish to fry now. He’s hooking up with Juyeon. Well, Juyeon is into him, at least. He’s been twiddling around him for months.” Changbin chuckles; “Brought him flowers to the bakery. Felix was eating my head off about how romantic that is. Minho told him he’s allergic and threw them in the trash. Also kept deleting his number accidentally . If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to live it down, but the guy is obsessed. He was visibly sick to his stomach when I told him you’re coming over for a week.” 

“What?” Chan laughs; “Why?” 

Changbin sips his beer rather slowly, squinting at him, and Chan sits straighter, slightly self-conscious all of the sudden.

“Come on, dude. Juyeon said you smashed his face into a tree. And he also saw you breaking some other guy’s leg. He said you were totally feral out there.”

Chan shrugs.

He takes a sip off his beer.

“Probably wasn’t me.” He’s grinning, though. 

Definitely was him.

Didn’t notice it was Juyeon, though.

He doesn’t remember Juyeon specifically. He smashed a lot of faces that day — but he wanted to hurry up and catch up to Minho, and had no time to inspect them in the darkness or chat with them. He had to be methodical. There were too many of them — and only one of him. 

“You’re really going to lie to my face after 10 years of friendship?” Changbin smirks; “Do better.” 

“I mean — I don’t know. Maybe. There were a lot of them out there.”

“Tell me the truth. Were you or were you not chasing after Minho?” 

“No.” 

“Oh my god, lying again? After I just called you out?” 

Chan laughs.

That’s what he missed. Changbin just knows. He didn’t even have to strain himself to smell the lie on him — he just knows. 

Doesn’t matter what he said back in the city, even if he was full of shit, people would just eat it up. Changbin doesn’t. He knows him too well. 

“I wasn’t chasing after him. I was — keeping an eye. I guess. On all of them.”

It’s a half-truth. 

Changbin still looks like he can smell it on him; “You always had some weird beef with him. When you heard he presented as an omega, you got that glint in your eyes. And nobody caught Minho that year, even though it was his first time. He never stumbled upon anybody, never hid. He said he just breezed through it. I always thought that was strange. You don’t breeze through shit in these fests. That’s not how they go.”

Chan shrugs again.

Changbin gives him a long look; “And I’m not even going to comment on the look you gave me. When I said I was going to chase him. When was this? Two years ago. Fuck, dude, ”

“What look—” 

“You know what look—” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

“Fine. Deny it. But last year, when Jaehyun was there— that was definitely for Minho. Because I spent months being offended at you after you left. I couldn’t believe you’d feel the need to mother-hen me like you did in highschool — when we’re both adults. Like fuck you. I can fight my own battles now. If I wanted to punch Jaehyun, I would’ve punched Jaehyun — But if I take Minho into account, it all makes weird sense. Minho was upset that day, and he arrived right when they blew the horn, and then you arrived.” 

“I told you — it was also because of you. I just wanted to see his face smashed in.”

“Right, right. And after that, what happened then? You never registered. You were just out there, what? Smashing people’s faces? For shits and giggles?”

“Well — I wasn’t chasing him. I’d rather put my own knot on fire.”

“Do you listen to yourself sometimes? When you talk? Do you hear yourself speaking? It’s very contradictory. I’m lost. ”

“I’m not into him.” Chan says that, and it’s the first thing he says that he can get behind. He had a whole year to think about it, and this is the only thing that made sense. “Not after what he put me through.” 

Changbin rubs his temple. “It’s funny how I heard this before. From Minho. ‘What that sleazy bastard put me through’ he says.”

“Sleazy bastard? He said that?” 

“Yes. He said that.” 

“Don’t try to cover for him. Sleazy bastard is rather tame for him. Probably called my mom names.”

“He loves your mom. He’s actually on better terms with her than with my mom. My mom half-hates him since the birthday barbeque incident.” 

Chan cringes and laughs. Last year at the start of the summer term, Changbin called him at 1am to rant about his birthday barbeque. Everything was fine until they started talking about trustfunds, and all that — and he said, right in front of Changbin’s parents’ faces, that only selfish people would imprison their own child. Then he and Changbin’s mom started a back and forth arguing — all without mentioning who they’re talking about. Changbin was standing right there, pretending they weren't talking about him. 

Chan was sure he'd mad as hell while he was telling him all the details, but he was actually relieved. He sounded like he wanted to be angry, but couldn’t muster the actual anger. 

It’s something Changbin’s parents probably needed to hear sooner or later — but from Changbin, not one of his friends, or his pseudo-alpha. 

“And I didn’t do shit to him. He just likes playing the victim.”

“Yes, you did. You got back at him enough, in your own subtle little ways. And he always noticed.” 

“I was civil compared to him. He bullied me. And I couldn’t even punch him for it. I still can’t.”

“Come on, man. It wasn’t that bad — we were kids. He snitched on you once.”

"And spread rumors." 

"But he spread rumors about everyone. Even himself. His facebook profile says 'agent of chaos'."

“Then he told Mina that I have a really bad STD."

“Oh, yeah, and that.”

“And she told all her friends. And then he somehow convinced Mina’s ex that he also got an STD. From Mina. Who got it from me. It only affects Alphas , he told him.”

Changbin laughs. “The guy never stopped to think if itchy balls are normal.” 

“And when we went to the bonfire on the lake during senior year? He put nettle in my swimming trunks. Just to make sure I’m not boning anybody.”

“You don’t know it was him.”

Chan gives him a long look.

“Okay, okay.” Changbin snorts; “That’s his charm — he’s a little menace. And he plays nice with you, honestly. I’ve seen the way this guy takes revenge — remember Felix’s ex?” Changbin makes a hissing sound; “Dude moved 15 hours away, into some desolate village down south. Fuck knows if he’s still alive. Trust me, if he wanted to destroy you — he would’ve.”

“Well, maybe I’m just being petty.” Chan sighs, because he wants this conversation to be over. Out of all the people he knew, he never thought he’d hear Changbin defending Minho. “Just paying back the same energy.”

Changbin gives him another long look and snorts when Chan doesn’t want to elaborate and takes a long sip out of his beer. 

“What exactly is your game here, dude? You’re what? Ruining his chances to get laid during the Spring Run? This isn’t the genius scheme you think it is. He’s thriving as a Luna.”

Chan sets his jaw straighter, looking away from Changbin.

Deep down, he knew that. He just didn’t want to admit it.  It was a very vague concept in his head. He’s taking a petty revenge on Minho, ruining his chances to get a mate. He never even admitted that to himself. 

“Man, you know, when Juyeon told me that it was you, I thought he’s pulling my leg. But now I bet you 100 bucks you’ll participate this year, too.”

“Nah.”

“If I visit you in the hospital again, I’ll make you pay up.”

Chan finishes his beer.

He can’t lose his internship. If he’s late, they’ll take another Alpha without considering his circumstances. The competition is pretty rough between Alpha positions in the city; but because Chan is an overachiever and pretty easy to work with, the professor offered it to him before he considered anybody else. It’s a big honor.

Chan isn’t going to fuck it up.

“Not this year.” He says.

Changbin looks skeptical, but doesn’t argue. 

Perhaps Chan isn’t ready to hear the truth either.

“Jisung is totally shit at the Luna thing, though. Now that he’s living with Minho, his idea of having rights is watching anime all day and pigging out on chips. Having entrepreneur ideas — like he has this big idea of charging the omegas that come along with them to the forest to look at potential milestones? 20 bucks per head. He’s trying to convince Minho to monetize it, while they can.” 

Chan laughs. At least some things never change.

.

He walks into the bakery a couple of days before spring fest.

It’s a small establishment of baked goods with several sitting spots inside and outside, themed pink-and-white. It existed back when he was high-school, too. 

Chan remembers arriving there with his friends after classes to gawk at pretty omegas wearing neat pink aprons.

Now that he’s older, he understands that it’s a genius marketing scheme. It’s why this place is always overfilled with customers from noon till late evening — but now the omegas aren’t some older girls and guys from town, it’s Felix and Minho.

Minho is busy washing the counter, so his greeting comes out automatically, like it would to any other customer, but he jumps up when Chan’s scent reaches his nose.

Chan runs his eyes on him.

His hair is actually purple. Goes well with the cute white beret and pink-ish tight apron that hugs his waist tight, and his hips even tighter.

If he was a looker last year, now he’s drop dead gorgeous.

“Can I get a Latte?” He asks when the moment stretches. 

“Sure.” He rings him up; “That would be three ninty nine.”

His tone isn’t apprehensive, but Chan can smell it on him.

A slight tinge of fear. Curiosity. Excitement.

His scent is overwhelmingly sweet to him. 

Like a ripe fruit.

“Three ninety nine? Is it made with unicorn milk?”

“The owner overcharges when both me and Felix work the same shift. Too many people buying too little and staying for too long.” Minho explains, clicks on the screen.

Chan looks around. He arrived very early, usually the crowds start at noon; “I’m not staying, I just came to drop something off to Felix.” He snorts.

“Then, that would be four ninety nine.” His lips stretch to a small evil smile; “We have a special price for cheapskates that argue.”

Chan returns the smile, nodding. He takes out a five dollar bill out of his pocket and hands it to him, but doesn’t let go when Minho tries to pull it out of his hand, forcing him to look up to his eyes.

“You had a busy year, didn’t you?” It comes out of his lips before he can help himself.

“Busy? How so?”

“First Seungmin, now you’re dating Juyeon.”

Minho makes a nonchalant gesture. “If that’s what you want to call it.”

“What would you call it?”

He shrugs. “Definitely not dating.” He pulls at the bill again, and Chan lets him have it. “If that’s what you call busy, wait until you hear my actual body count.”

Nah. 

He’s far too up his own ass to hook up with just about anybody. A bad liar too. Chan can smell it. He’s just trying to get a rise out of him.

“Yeah? You’re easy to bed?”

“Maybe I am.” Minho shoves the extra dollar into a kitty jar that says ‘Donations for the Kitty Shelter!’ It’s already overfilled with money. “How unfortunate that you’ll never get to find out.”

“Hyung!”

Felix crushes into him.

He’s also wearing the uniform, and he smells just as delicious as Minho, but it’s just not the same. More familiar. Syrupy. 

Chan might not be able to distinguish his scent from Jisung’s.

Minho just smells different. Intoxicating. If he was his omega, he’d scent him all over.

He realizes he’s staring — they both are — Minho looks away. 

His scent smells even sharper now, and he’s no longer smiling, pressing on the machine to make him the coffee.

Felix relieves Chan off the bag he brought to check out the clothes he brought him.

He holds out the sweatshirt. It’s dark green in color.

“What do you think, Minho?” Felix asks.

“It’s great.” He says, mildly distracted. “Probably still smells like him, too. Will throw the alphas off your scent.” He glances his way — and then averts his gaze away hurriedly when he realizes Chan is still watching him. “But I think it’ll be baggy, so it might be hard to run in it. It’s bigger than Changbin’s.”

“But the color’s good.”

“Yeah. But Changbin’s actual camouflage. Changbin’s clothes are much better quality anyway.” 

“Gosh darn, I’m too poor for good clothes, huh?” 

“You said it, not me.” Minho shrugs; “You should look into an internalized complex.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Felix clicks his tongue, patting Chan’s shoulder. He’s checking the pants, too, from both sides and nods approvingly. “Thank you, Hyung.” Felix gives him another hug. “Are you going to participate this year?”

“Hmm. No.” He ruffles Felix’s hair; “Not this year. The omegas in this town are a bit too loose for my liking.” Felix looks somewhat insulted by this, so Chan adds hurriedly; “Not you, you’re good. Just — other omegas.”

“Here’s your coffee.” Minho places it on the counter, but before Chan can take it, he pulls it back; “Hold on, almost forgot the special ingredient…” He gurgles his spit, summoning it from the very bottom of his throat.

“Hyung…” Felix scolds, looking at the back hurriedly, where the other staff are.

Minho pays him no heed, eyes keeping contact with Chan. He doesn’t spit it all out, though — he decides he’s being polite by letting out a long, but thin trail of spit. “There you go.” He places the lid on top of it as if to seal it up for him.

Chan hates that this behavior amuses him. 

It shouldn’t. 

He should call out to their manager and complain. Get Minho’s balls real sweaty about his employment. But instead he picks up the cup, meets his gaze, and takes a long sip.

Minho almost smiles. He doesn’t — but you could tell by the way his lips move. He presses his lips together and turns away to tend to something, as if he’s busy. 

“A bit nutty. What is it? Cyanide?”

“Saved some under my tongue, after sucking alpha cocks all morning.”

“Aw, so you could put it in my coffee? You must have been so excited to meet me after Felix told you I’m coming.” 

“I still have some left. Want me to spit on your face?”

“Kinky.” Chan snorts.

Felix looks unsure. Like his brain cannot comprehend Minho and Chan interacting. 

Chan can’t help but relate to that sentiment. 

“Well, I gotta get going.” He ruffles Felix’s hair and heads for the door. 

Felix runs his hand on his hair, upset Chan messed up his hairdo; “Are you coming to Changbin’s?”

“Yup. On friday. Beer’s on me.” 

He gives Minho one last look as he pushes the door with his back and sips from the coffee again.

.

He expects Minho to be there. 

But he’s busy . 

That’s what Jeongin says. Chan vaguely remembers him, since he’s the alpha that accompanied Minho last year to see him off. He’s a good kid. He’s not sure if he wants to head to alpha year, yet. A bit nervous about it. 

Hyunjin is there, too, openly judging Jisung for eating egg salad.

Apparently, all four of the omegas are joined at the hip. They are always at Minho's flat all together. No wonder Changbin feels excluded. He’s so used to being where all the pack action is, and now he lives in his own flat. Far away from the omega dorms. 

Chan expected some other friends to come over, but he didn’t exactly go out of his way to invite anybody and Changbin didn’t do it either. It’s better like this. More intimate. He gets to talk to everybody, and not just scream at a handful of people and hope they heard him because the music is too loud. It’s been awhile since he was invited into somebody’s home, only with a handful of friends. 

Chan and Changbin grill some meat on the balcony. 

They eat like actual savages, though. There’s only the sound of quiet, frantic chewing for 5 minutes, and then, it’s all gone, and they’re still hungry. 

Chan grills more meat. 

Minho face-times Hyunjin just when they’re done eating the second portion. 

He looks freshly showered. 

He bickers with Seungmin for a moment. He has a free weekend off college — but overall, they do seem pretty civil for exes. 

Then Hyunjin shows him the food. 

“I’ll bring you some leftovers. You sound hangry.” 

Minho is squinting at the phone, disgusted; “Leftovers from what exactly? The bubonic plague?”

Ah, nothing humbles you more than a Lee Minho insult. 

Hyunjin bursts into laughter. 

“Don’t be a hater, Hyung. It’s amazing, and you’re just angry you’re not getting any.” Jisung tells him, still chewing, before heading back to the living room because Changbin turned on the karaoke system.

“What the fuck is that, though? A skunk?” Minho asks, still squinting. 

Hyunjin doubles down laughing. 

“Why would it be a skunk…?” Chan pushes in front of Hyunjin’s phone; “It’s chicken. And I’m not letting Hyunjin take anything to you, don’t worry.” 

“Okay, but how long was this chicken dead?”

“How the fuck am I supposed how long? I picked it up at the butcher’s—” 

“I can recognize charred roadkill when I see it.”

Chan rolls his eyes. “If you can do better, come over and do it yourself next time.” 

“I will. Clearly you can’t even provide and cook for a pack. Some alpha, you are.”

“Hyung, don’t be cruel.” Hyunjin tells him. “Be nice, you promised to Jisung you’ll be nice.”

“I was super nice and respectful just now. Did you pick up Jeongin?” 

“Yes.” Hyunjin shows the room.

“Oh, thank god, I didn’t come. Kim Seungmin singing is the last thing I need on my plate.”

“Keep telling that to yourself.” Hyunjin dismisses him. 

Changbin raps to a song and then calls out to Hyunjin mid-rap — and Hyunjin hands the phone to Chan.

Chan is in the middle of flipping a patty, so he clutches onto it, thinking he just wants to hold it for a moment — but Hyunjin just runs off to the living room and takes the mic out of Seungmin’s hand to rap back at him.

Chan is standing there with a pair of tongs and Minho on facetime. 

“Uh,” Chan says, a bit dumbfounded. “I think you just got ditched.” 

“That’s fine. Make sure you pack your roadkill, though. I’m going to shove it up his butt for a week.” 

Chan snorts, and nibbles at his lip. 

Well, this is awkward. 

Minho doesn’t hang up. 

Courtesy says that Chan should tell him goodnight and hang up, probably. Say bye politely. 

But the truth is he was expecting Minho to walk in through the door any moment the entire time — it’s still 10pm, so he can still come, but if Hyunjin called him and he’s still at home — he’s not coming. Definitively. 

“Next time make sure to check with me what you’re buying, since you obviously can’t pick the correct chunks.” 

“Seriously?” 

“You get them for one night, and I’ll have to deal with the food poisoning for the rest of the week.” 

Chan snorts; “I wasn’t aware we’re having a shared custody.” 

“If anything, you’re a deadbeat dad that can see them once a year, when the parole officer allows it, and you only do it because it will reduce your sentence for good behavior.”

“That’s pretty grim.” Chan laughs; “In your little fantasy, what exactly am I in jail for?”

“Probably something lame,” Minho takes a moment to think about it. “Dangled your dick in a public park, trying to scare swans, or something.” 

“Yeah, that sounds like something I’d totally do.” Chan bites his lip; “So how come you’re not here?” 

“Busy.” He sighs dramatically. “Couldn’t make time in my schedule, because I have all those dick appointments.”

“Not even for your friends that you love to hang out with so much?” 

“I’m just so horny all the time,” He shakes his head, feigning grief; “I can barely last a whole hour without it.” 

“What do you do at work then?” 

“Fuck my manager. Obviously.” He snorts, like Chan is stupid for asking. “He’s been so kind helping me fill the gaping hole that’s my asshole.” 

Chan should stop entertaining this. 

It’s not even funny anymore, it just makes him upset. 

And he’s not even sure why. 

He spent an unnatural amount of time this year trying to reason why he kissed Minho in those woods behind the venue. That doesn't surprise him. He's a worrywart. He overthinks everything. 

But he usually has some kind of conclusion he comes to. An ending. Nothing is easy with Minho, though — so why would thinking about him be easy?

He hates this dude. He fucking detests him. He has no idea how anybody else in his friend group even likes him. Those are the same feelings he had toward him back when he was in high-school — nothing really changed in that aspect.

What changed is… well, Minho. Minho’s body. The way he smells. The way his body moves. It has to be that.

He was attracted to him — just like any alpha would be attracted to any omega.

But he did not enjoy being attracted to him.

It gave him the absolute creeps.

It’s not something he can control. It’s not something he can extinguish or cancel. It has to be just pure, primal wolf instincts.

It’s not him.

It’s the other guy.

It’s the other guy, that Chan can’t really control.

And maybe Minho isn’t any different than any other omega out there. Maybe Chan had been with enough omegas to instinctively put them in a certain box in his head. Not because he wants to — because he’s attracted to them. For the treacherous wolf inside his brain, all omegas are potential mates. Even this godless, wicked creature whose tongue drips with poison. To top it off with the fact that Minho drives him completely off the rails in a way nobody else ever did, and it’s like an almost perfect concoction to lose control and self-destruct.

And not to overdramatize the whole thing, but his wolf and the antichrist made a pact against him.

And now his wolf is upset — because Minho is out there, insinuating that Chan's not as special as he thought he is. Others are touching what could be his. 

Why did he kiss back, then? Did he not hate Chan as much as Chan hates him? Why did he kiss back and proceeded to talk about dicks that are not Chan’s dick?

Even thinking that made no sense. It was like some foreign person was broadcasting thoughts inside Chan’s brain, because these did not feel like his own thoughts.

“Stick a buttplug in, or something. That should quench your thirst for a couple of hours.”

“You think a buttplug is kinky? Really? You know what, scratch that, you want me to come over there with a buttplug in?”

Chan needs a second to process the idea of it. A second too long, really, considering the thought immediately runs down to his crotch.

He clears his throat; “Just trying to help considering your circumstances.”

He slumps on the armchair heavily.

“Thank you for the offer. But unless there’s an alpha willing to take one for the team and breed me right then and there, it just won’t cut it.”

Chan narrows his eyes at the screen.

He’s not sure what exactly he’s getting at — he obviously should read between the lines, there, because everything Minho ever says has double meaning or an intention of some kind, but he cannot phantom what.

“Should I call Juyeon, then? I’m sure he’ll be here in less than 5 minutes if—”

“God, you’re such a bore.” He rolls his eyes.

“Because I don’t play along with you?”

“Because you take 3 minutes to come up with an answer.”

“I’m sorry I’m a bit rusty speaking Lizard, so it takes a while to translate.”

“Or the little gears in your head are grinding themselves to death in there. I can see smoke coming out of your ears.”

“Right, I really have to consider my answers. Because you’re such a brilliant conversationalist.”

“Because I’m the only omega that doesn’t spoon feed you the answers.”

Somebody calls out to Minho. A woman’s distant voice, probably his mom’s. He tells her he’ll be right there, and then rubs his face.

He doesn’t end the call though, and Chan wonders if he should even answer that last bit.

“It’s just some pack issues,” He says, finally, after another small snort and when Chan doesn’t reply.

He instantly feels his cheeks color slightly for even trying to make sense of this shit, when he fully knows Minho was not having dick appointments. Not even Juyeon. He doesn’t smell like any other new wolf that Chan didn’t smell before. He refuses to believe he wouldn’t be able to detect Juyeon’s smell on him — an alpha with a large pack would definitely leave a mark.

“With that guy? The one you were talking to… back then. Last year. Seemed like trouble.” He rushes to add to the sentence, before Minho can remember what back then ensues.

But it’s too late.

Chan can tell by how Minho’s expression grows just a tad more careful than a moment ago.

He shouldn’t even ask that — it's none of his business . Minho needs to go.

“Who? Jaehyun?" He asks, then waves dismissively; “No. I think he’s too busy with his own pack right now— it’s my former pack. They’re really testy about Jeongin right now. They’re upset he’s hanging out with us, when we’re all older. He recently told them he wants to go to college, so he'll have to go through Alpha Year, and they blame the pack for putting thoughts in his head — so I’m trying to damage control before things get out of hands.”

Chan takes that information in.

Minho scratches his hair, seemingly giving a double take for even speaking to Chan about this issue.

“He’s an adult — and it’s not just some other pack, it’s your pack. You’re going to be there. They should be relieved.” Chan assures. 

Minho snorts, as if Chan made a joke. “Yeah, not really. My former pack is too conservative. They think being a Luna is shameful. Not only that, but I’ve already moved out, and made my own pack without bending under an alpha and without their blessing — taking Jeongin with me is like the one last indignity I brought upon the pack.”

Chan considers this for a second; “Just tell them Changbin’s the alpha for now—”

Minho straightens his jaw. He didn’t like that suggestion. “Because there can’t be a pack with a Luna on top of the silly little pack hierarchy that alphas made up for themselves?”

“No, because that’ll calm them down—”

“I know it’s easier in the city, where omegas can do whatever the fuck they want, but here we don’t have that luxury. I had to fight my way every step of the way.” He takes a deep sigh; “I'm going to miss this freedom.”

“Had? You’re planning not to go for a Luna this year?”

“No, I’m definitely planning for a Luna, alright — I just know when it’s futile.”

“Why’s that?”

Minho looks back at the phone, as if he’s unsure if Chan’s asking that for real or to mess with him; “There is no fucking way I’m making it to the last milestone this time. Not with a bunch of professional Luna Hunters that came to town for me and motherfucking — Juyeon, ” He huffs, rolling his eyes; “Thinking that catching me is exactly what I need to change my mind. Seungmin said he talked his entire pack into—”

Minho’s mom opens the door somewhere in the room and tells him he needs to head downstairs if he wants to catch the alpha, and Minho gets up begrudgingly, telling her he’s coming, before turning back to Chan.

“Anyway, I know you prepared enough skunk for an army, so box it up for— um, Hyunjin. He’s very tall and very hungry. I have to go.”

Chan opens his mouth to say something, but he hangs up before he says anything else.

It shouldn’t worry him.

He shouldn’t give two shits about what happens to Lee Minho.

In fact, Lee Minho deserves being caught. He needs to get off his high horse once and for all. Be humbled.

Except it inevitably also affects the rest of them.

He watches the pack dancing around the room to the rhythm of some old disco song, Seungmin standing on the coffee table, singing, while Jisung is overusing the tambourines. 

Surely, they’ll figure it out. 

They have to.

Chapter Text

He comes late to the Spring Run.

The pull of the moon feels stronger than ever. 

He’s already up on the balcony when they sound the first horn for the omegas. 

But it’s not Felix wearing his hoodie among the running, giggling omega crowd — no, he wore Changbin’s Camo jacket after all, because it’s less baggy on him — it’s Minho. 

Seems like it’s not too poor of quality for him, after all. 

Changbin is eating chips and extends his hand blindly to Chan without even greeting him. “Pay up.”

“I didn’t end up in the hospital yet. And I’m not here for Minho.”

“Of course, you’re not.” 

He’s not. He made a decision. He’s here for his former high school pack. Yes, it’s meddling into issues he shouldn’t be meddling with. Honestly, if he explained it to Changbin, he might’ve gotten angry at Chan for even sticking his nose into it. 

So he can’t outright say it. 

He has a fair experience by now on how to throw everybody off of the omegas. 

“You’re going to get through all of these.” He mentions his head toward his left.

The first thing Chan notices is the stretching Alphas in the matching red shirts, that say ‘Luna Hunters - SPRING ‘22’ and names of targets on their back. Lee Minho is on top of each and one of those shirts. Alphas aren’t allowed to take gear into the forest on a run, so most of them have belt and harnesses that carry water bottles, or spare shoes. 

Fucking spectacle they are. 

Most of them are big and bulky, and look like they’re been through a fight or two — but past their prime. They’re around their late 30s to late 40s, unbonded, omega haters with nothing else to do other than preying on young Lunas.

They make Chan sick to the stomach.

But it’s not even who Changbin nodded toward. 

Right behind them is Juyeon.

With his pack.

He brought all unbonded betas that could participate. He glances at him very briefly, before turning back to them, discussing something  in hushed voices. Clearly discussing Chan, because the rest of them keep glancing at him periodically. 

When Juyeon finally catches his eyes, Chan gives him a courtesy nod and when Juyeon nods back, eyebrows furrowed, slow and cautious, Chan bursts out laughing. 

He lived two houses down from the convenience store Chan’s dad owns and they used to be good friends. For a time, Chan thought he might join his pack. He taught him how to backstroke when he wanted to try out for the swimming team. 

If he really thinks he can get Lee Minho out there, he can try his best.

“Keep snickering to yourself. It’s your funeral. I’m not helping you like his betas help him — I’m a free agent, here to empty my balls.” Changbin threatens. Chan wasn’t particularly hoping for his assistance.

He’s one year smarter, and one year older. Minho did most of the work for him. 

Not only did he mask his scent with Chan’s — but he also made half of the town’s omegas wear darker clothes. Everybody wanted to be Luna, this year. It’ll be hard to detect them in the forest. and considering those Luna hunters didn’t know Minho’s scent at all, nor the woods of their town. They’re already at a disadvantage. Chan just has to play his cards right.

Juyeon’s pack would be trickier. 

When they sound the horn for the Alphas, Chan walks down the stairs, hands in the pockets of his jeans.

Changbin waits for him at the tree line, looking annoyed.

Most of the others leaped down the balcony after the omegas and into the forest like brutes, half transformed already.

There is no fucking way they’re going to detect Minho’s scent easily, though, even if they try. Not with Chan’s scent around it.

“I’m seriously not going to help.” He says, half expecting Chan to argue and force him into it.

But Chan doesn’t really have the authority over him. Unlike Juyeon and his betas, Changbin has no affliction with him.

They’re just friends.

There’s something lingering, like a feeling of belonging, of family , from when they used to be a pack. But now Changbin smells more like Minho than Chan.

He gives him a single hard pat on the back; “Go. I’ll be okay.”

Changbin clicks his tongue, slightly disappointed, eyebrows furrowed, and runs off. 

Chan knows he has a limited amount of energy and a limited amount of health, so he uses it smartly. Mostly leading alphas that are already berserk with maulling whatever comes into their site into groups of Alpha Hunters, who don’t refuse a fight. It’s a matter of honor for them. Showing they can still do it. 

They can’t really. 

Chan finishes the one who come out victorious among them, but leaves the rest to their roaming. If they take out one of Juyeon’s pack or another Luna hunter — they already did pretty well. 

The scent of blood and alpha sweat mixed with the full moon raising above eventually affects him, and when he meets with Changbin, again, they’re both half-transformed. They stare at each other for a long moment in the darkness. 

Changbin wipes the blood off his mouth. 

“I bit off somebody’s ear.” 

“Was it a Luna Hunter?” 

“Probably.” 

“Good.” Chan lets go of the limp body in his hands. 

He realizes he’s never actually hunted with Changbin — the one time they went together as a pack, Changbin immediately went after Felix, since they were dating then. And Chan’s classmates were out for his blood. 

He is not aware you can just be civil in this situation. 

“I promised your mom.” He follows Chan as he steers through the forest. 

“What did you promise her?” 

“To keep you out of trouble.”

“I’m not in trouble.”

“Do you even know where you’re going? The milestones are leading west.”

“Yeah, but Minho went that way.”

“How can you tell?” Changbin tries to sniff the air. He can’t seem to detect anything, really. Maybe the faint smell of omegas, who passed through.

Chan can smell it too. There’s at least a couple of them, mixed up with his own scent. It’s almost like he’s already walked here, his own scent leading him down a familiar path. Bread crumbs.

It doesn’t take very long until they find Minho. He’s having a mud fight with the rest of his omegas on the river bank. 

Changbin grumbles about his favorite camo jacket. 

“I’ve lost all respect for them, now. Bunch of toddlers. God damn. From how they made it sound, I thought they’re hiding inside bushes, shaking from fear.”

“They’re masking their scents, though. Unless one of them is close to his heat — I doubt they’ll be found by scent alone.”

“So — they’re good? Do they even need us?”

“Not really? If he’s doing what I think he’s doing, he’ll lead them through the milestones, a few hours later. When all of the alphas are exhausted, and most of them have already caught an omega.”

“Then why the hell did you drag me here?”

“I didn’t?” Chan laughs. “You said you promised my mom.” 

Changbin looks contrary. He waits out for another 15 minutes, restless because of the full moon, then finally scurries off, after Chan convinces him that if he’ll stay, he won’t get to empty his balls and maybe even avoid all the action. 

Most of the night is pretty uneventful. 

Chan loiters at a good distance, lies low and quiet. 

He is upset about not being able to participate in the conversation, but he tunes out for most of it. 

They move only when they dry up, so their clothes won’t be too noisy. They’re extra careful where they step and steer away from noises of mating, screams, or powerful scents.

There will be nobody after them at this point, not so close to dawn — until they stumble upon a pack of Alpha hunters that was left behind. 

It’s at a distance, and they’re already pretty badly hurt. Chan lets the omegas turn tail before finally intervening, and finishing them off.

It’s not even a fight. They’re already tired and hurt. He feels bad for them. 

He smells Minho right as he’s done, then strains to hear them run past him. Did they circle back? 

Minho separates from them and comes back, slower — cautious, and for a moment, Chan thinks to hide, but then the moment is over, and he’s already coming out of a thicket. 

He stumbles backwards when he sees Chan, and lands on his butt. 

Chan gets off his knees into standing, fingers bloodied. 

He’s sure Minho will run away. He should. 

Chan is an unbonded alpha, and he is an unbonded omega. The only conventional thing that can happen between them under the full moon is mating. 

“Damn, you’re ugly half transformed.” He says, finally. “I mean, you are normally, as well. But this is definitely a face only a mother can love.” 

Chan would say something, but his scent so close to him is overpowering his senses. He can’t move.

He gets off the forest floor, brushing his legs off dirt. “I thought I smelled rotten eggs, so I came to see if there’s a corpse or something, but it ended up just being you.” 

“You’re wearing the same scent on your body, shouldn’t that bother you more?” 

“Should it?” He sniffs his shirt without looking away from Chan. Probably trying to prove it no longer smells like Chan, now that he bathed and dirtied it with clay and leaves from the forest floor. Chan could still detect his own scent, easily. And Minho’s, too.

The way it mingles together — it’s all in the air all around him. He takes another sniff, and it reaches down to his balls — so he starts off his place, almost automatically. He catches himself pretty fast, though.

Minho takes an immediate step back.

“What are you doing?” 

“What are you doing?” Chan asks; “Talking to an alpha in the middle of a spring run.”

Minho raises his chin slightly, smug for no reason other than his own stupidity, and hums. “Wouldn’t that mean that you’re attracted to me? And we wouldn’t want that? You’re already making a fool out of yourself showing up here every year, without claiming anybody.”

Chan knows it’s a trap — and still shrugs, like a child chasing after candy; “Last year, I didn’t.”

“Of course, you did.”

“Wasn’t on the lists, though.” So he can’t prove it.

One of the alphas on the ground groans, not really awake — just in pain. They both pay him no heed.

“I don’t care about any list. Your potent stench was literally half a mile behind us the entire time.”

“Could’ve been any other alpha, with a similar scent.” He huffs; “You’re stupid for not running away.”

“No, I’m pretty sure it was you. Just like it was the year before that — and the one before that — and… huh? This year too?”

“Maybe it’s you who’s so aware of my scent, that you’re imagining things that never—” He turns to the left, and for a moment, he doesn’t smell anything, but if he really strains himself, he can hear Jisung complaining about how Minho is ditching them. They really masked their scents well this time.

“Your omegas are looking for you.”

“Nobody is going to be behind us at this point, so go in the front. We’ll follow your lead.”

Fucking bossy little bitch. Now Chan doesn’t want to do it.

“I’m not here for you.” Chan says, furrowing his eyebrows further. “If anything I’m here for the pack. And for Jeongin.”

They both watch as the alpha groaning tries to get to his knees, but to no avail.

“Oh my god, you would use any excuse — how long have you known Jeongin? 5 hours tops. You are so easy to bait, it’s fucking insane you lived into adulthood—”

“So — the phone call was a trick, then? All that conservative family and Jeongin needing your help bullshit—”

“No, that part was true. But honestly, my plan was pretty foolproof this time—”

“It better be. Make sure my sweatshirt goes through 3 rounds of laundry—”

“—Only thing I am concerned for is… well, Juyeon. Because he knows I’m going to play dirty and wants to prove himself worthy. That’s where I needed a guarantee.”

And Chan was the guarantee. Minho was playing chess all along. Just moving pieces on a board to get what he wants.

“So you’re using me.”

“You into me, anyway. I’m giving you an easy win.”

“I’m not into you any more than I am into any omega in town, Minho. Or in the city.” Chan finally kicks the alpha on the floor one last time so he stays down, because he keeps distracting him; “You smell good just like the rest of them — so yeah, maybe I am into you on some instinctive level, but tricking me into doing something for people I actually like doesn’t make you special in any way. I still don’t like you.”

He believes it when he says it.

Minho nods his head, smiling. But it’s not a kind smile — or one that accepts what Chan says. It’s bitter. Evil. Chan doesn’t like it. But he also can’t take back what he said. 

“They’re going to hear us, if you don’t go.” He urges him.

Minho starts taking off his sweater.

“What are you doing?” Chan says, upset, because Minho’s wearing nothing but a white shirt underneath it, and it’s also wet, almost sheer actually, clinging to his body for dear life.

“Giving you back your sweater.”

“I don’t need it right now — Minho — put it back on. You’ll freeze.” He looks away.

Minho’s scent underneath the sweater is mixed with his in the sweetest way and it makes his insides coil together like a snake. Chan can rationalize this all he wants, but his body concept of right and wrong is very different under the full moon.

“It’s the start of the summer, I’ll be fine.” He throws it at him, and it makes a wet splat on Chan’s chest, so Chan looks — automatically, recklessly, and then he can’t look away.

Even in the moonlight, under a shirt, his nipples are dark pink.

Minho immediately covers them, feigning a gasp. “Get back to telling me I’m not special.”

“You’re doing it on purpose.”

“Of course, I’m doing it on purpose. Circle us and go in the front, and maybe I’ll let you suck on my toe or something. I heard city folk are into feet these days.”

Chan makes an aborted jump at Minho — and he immediately runs away, bursting into a short laugh.

Fucker.

Chan is mostly just clearing the path, though.

The first few milestones are pretty uneventful, in that regard, beside Chan stumbling on a couple of alphas that are immediately triggered to fight, already bloodied or battered, rage and adrenaline coursing through their body. It’s not an actual fight.

All the alphas that came out of town for Minho had very little going for them. They didn’t know where the milestones were, and they didn’t know these woods. These are Chan’s childhood woods. He used to run here with his dad’s pack, and then with his own. During nights like this, where the moon is hidden by clouds. He meets one of two Luna hunters, but most of them are gone.

But he still feels restless. Unsatisfied.

Either because of Minho, or because he didn’t even get to fight anybody — thankfully, the challenge finally comes.

He smells them before he sees them, the stench of a pack is pretty distinguishable in the woods. That’s their disadvantage — there’s too many of them, and their scent is mixed and loud. Noticeable. But their advantage is their numbers if they keep close. If they catch a single whiff of an omega, they’ll come after them.

Chan claps, until it scares a couple of nightbirds.

Minho is about a mile away, maybe a bit less. He could probably smell Chan, if he really focused — but it’s possible his own scent mixed with Chan’s is clouding his judgment. He knows he’s up ahead, so maybe this will get his attention.

They have only one milestones to pass.

Chan goes along with them, as they change course, following their scent, and the scent of the pack. There’s 4 of them. Can’t be Juyeon’s pack, there’s much more of them — but it’s better if Chan will be a buffer between them and Minho.

Just another alpha scent. Nothing to see here. Unless you want a fight.

He’s distracted by what he thinks is a downed Alpha — the guy is still healing from his previous fight, clearly in pain, but still packs a mean punch, before fainting. Probably just instincts.

But that’s when he gets hit — slammed into a tree.

There’s two of them, from Juyeon’s pack — and they were quiet. And wet.

Guess Minho isn’t the only one who thought of the water trick to mask scents.

Chan was hoping to at least get into a proper fight. It was humiliating to get out of a Spring Run without at least a couple of slashes, so thank god for that.

Now he can finally test his whole grains and protein diet against last year’s performance.

They’re both half-transformed, but not agile enough to deal with him, so a few ducks, and he’s already has one of them on the ground, and breaks the arm of another. Not too hard. He remembers this guy from high-school. He’s attacked by another from the back, with something blunt.

Another two. Chan doesn’t see faces, it’s mostly a blur, but one of them gets him good in the jaw, before they pin him to a dead broken tree, holding him by the hair and arms, so he’ll bare his throat to Juyeon.

Juyeon gets a good look at him in the darkness.

“Check the perimeter.” He tells the other one; “If he’s here, so is Minho. Somewhere around. He kept close to him last year.”

“Damn, dude. You really thought this through. Bond villain shit.” He spits the blood in his mouth, smiling. “Need your betas to keep me locked in place because you can’t deal with me on your own?”

“Hyung, he broke my arm!” One of them yells from the floor.

There’s blood pooling in Chan’s mouth, probably a punctured cheek.

Chan needs them to hurt him more, though. Hurt him good — so Minho will hear his screams, and steer the fuck away.

He lunges forward, hitting his forehead on Juyeon's forehead while he’s distracted with his beta.

Juyeon came too close. Which is pretty dumb. 

It hurts him more than it does Chan. 

Chan has a thick skull. He’ll live.

He kicks the guy on the left, but lets the right guy to slash his shirt open — cut his belly. That will probably leave a scar. But as long as his guts aren’t spilling out, he’ll be good.

He howls, a long, mournful howl — one that would definitely reach Minho’s ears.

If there ever was a time to run fast, now was it.

Juyeon comes at him next, claws out, and Chan pushes him toward the other guy, before kicking them both to the ground.

They reiterate, although haphazardly, out of turn. He bashes Juyeon’s face into a tree trunk (again), stepping onto him so he can duck the other guy’s swing.

The one guy is older than Juyeon — and meaner, too. Claws big. Chan is sure he’s the one who broke his jaw, but he doesn’t remember his name. 

Even bigger guys like him have a weakness. Chan kicks him on the balls, and he goes down backward like a big immobile log, puffing his cheeks in pain.

Juyeon is holding onto his shoulder, contempt on his face. Chan didn’t break it — maybe dislocated it, when he stepped on it mid-fight.

Now it’s Chan’s turn to hold him by the hair.

He grunts in pain.

“Next year I’ll be less forgiving. This is just courtesy.”

He wipes the blood running off his face; “Why? — you’re not even here all year round? Why go this far for an omega you’re clearly not fucking?”

Chan thinks about it, and it comes out of him out of him before he has control over it.

“This is the one night a year he doesn’t get to decide. So I make the decision for him.” Chan spits the blood pooling out of his mouth. His jaw feels slack. He’s probably going to need stitches. “Stop pursuing him.” He lets go of his hair, and he falls limply to the ground. “Nice trick though. With the bait smaller pack moving around. I’ll have to remember that.”

Juyeon snorts, shaking his head, but doesn’t look his way.

.

Minho and Jisung make it to the finish line, even though they all split up while running, Felix is caught. Hyunjin too, and by the looks of it, he’s really upset about it.

Chan gets couple of stitches on his cheek and he’s forced on a liquid diet, so he doesn’t move his jaw, but the silver lining is he probably won’t scar — the 23 stitches on his torso, though, will most definitely scar. He’ll need to get a couple of extra check ins, but he’ll probably do it in the city, at his usual clinic. 

Changbin comes to take him home with his car, laughing his ass off, and Chan begrudgingly opens his wallet and slaps 100 bill into his opened palm.

His professor gives him a stink eye for the stitches and the bandages but doesn’t comment on it.

Chan heals up real quick.

It’s all good. 

.

He decides not to come next spring.

He’s too busy.

He’s freshly graduated.

With the help of his internship, he immediately landed a job as an editor for a popular publication house.

He’s doing good. Probably better than he expected.

Getting his name out there.

He also can’t technically take and stuff and leave — he’s hosting Seungmin for spring.

He finishing up with some exams for his major that need governmental stamps. Accounting things. Chan doesn’t get most of it, so he barely helps. He was good with math back in high school, but literature isn’t exactly an exact science. Although he needs to keep his music down, and tip toe around Seungmin when he’s studying, it’s been the best thing that had happened to him probably — in forever .

Chan doesn’t remember the last time he was this happy sharing space with another alpha — and although at first Seungmin was a bit awkward, since it’s been awhile, they easily picked up exactly where they left off.

Chan missed his annoying humor. The lazy way he whines when Chan makes him do something he doesn’t want to do. He missed having somebody around.

He moved to his flat before he graduated, and it felt like a dream come true.

It was a big flat. No way as big as Changbin’s, but pretty big for city standards. He has a smaller extra room that Chan reverted into a study, and a wide living room that can host a good party.

There was big windows in every room, overlooking a small park, and behind it the multi-level highway of the city, and even some of downtown.

And it’s then that it felt like tightening noose around Chan’s neck.

It was the coldest place he had ever lived in.

He was so alone in it that it felt like the walls were constantly closing in on him, like rooms were shrinking in size. There wasn’t any friends or acquaintances in his floor — or even the entire building. His closest friend was nearly a 20 minute drive away, and if Chan wanted to meet him, he’d have to schedule.

So Seungmin being there, sharing a space with him, is god sent.

He hears all kinds of news.

Jeongin did go to his Alpha Year. Minho insisted on it, and eventually his former pack just gave in.

And he also finally hears the full story of how Changbin and Hyunjin got together.

It’s kind of funny, because for him it was truly out of nowhere.

The first time he got to hear of it was when Changbin called him during autumn and told him he hooked up with Hyunjin in the most nonchalant way possible. Kind of like a by the way thing. Just something that happened. Like Minho becoming an omega. When Chan pushed him to tell him more, he just dismissed him, then said it’s not going anywhere, and they’re not that interested in each other.

Next time he called for Chan’s birthday and stayed on the line for well over an hour, totally heartbroken.

He told Chan how miserable he is, and how he’s going to die if he and Hyunjin don’t end up together. Very dramatic. Chan was actually concerned.

So imagine Chan’s surprise when he called during Halloween, and Changbin told him that he’s done with Hyunjin and doesn’t care anymore.

When Chan called again during Christmas, since he wasn’t coming home that year, either, but his parents were heading out to see his flat and for his graduation — Changbin just said “Oh, didn’t I tell you? We’re dating now. Like, since last month.”

Very anticlimactic.

Seungmin’s explains things in detail, with elaborations, though. Hyunjin didn’t want to date anybody since he bonded with his first boyfriend and needed some time to heal, so he didn’t want anything serious. Then his mom, his former alpha, heard that he’s hooking up with some dude and set him up with some other guy, since she didn’t want him to get snatched by the first townie he meets again. This went on for a couple of months, with her sabotaging them constantly — until Minho told her who Changbin is, exactly.

She immediately changed her mind.

Changbin comes from money, and is going to inherit his parents’ real estate agency, which is the biggest in town.

Speaking of Minho.

He was quite the busy bee that year.

He wrote a book.

Not just a book. A book that tops the The Best Sellers Lists for 18 weeks, and is still top 3 for the rest of the year. It’s mostly self-biography — he’s a Luna 4 years in a row, which technically is quite an achievement on its own — but it’s also a thought experiment that questions the current status quo about Omega Rights.

And he did all that without busting his ass in college, working part-time and interning, and juggling with a first draft.

He just wrote a book. Just like that. And it was an instant success.

It’s just such a Minho thing to do.

To just rub Chan’s face into something.

It’s not even Chan’s issue with the book. The book is brilliant. It’s witty, sharp, and charming. It’s Minho, but on page. He gets why it’s popular.

Chan’s issue with the book is that he isn’t in it.

He isn’t in it, even if the book starts with the line; “There is nothing that screams of hypocrisy better than an Alpha who constantly frets about omega rights but turns up to a spring run every time without fail.”

God, Chan can still remember how his blood boiled when he picked it up in a store.

He remembers the first time he read it, still in the middle of his thesis during autumn, red with anger.

Minho describes all four of his Spring Runs in great detail. He talks about the preparations he took, how he hid, about dipping in freezing cold water in cold spring nights, smearing fellow omegas with dirt and grime, the terror of the Luna Hunters placing a target on his back, the excruciating fear and worry of being caught as he, Jisung, Felix and afterward, Hyunjin traversed through the woods. So much at stake, there. Not only for him, but for his omega friends. The grand climax is him running through the last two milestone, now alone, since they’ve been separated when they realized they are being chased — a lone, foreboding howl echoing behind them in the night forest.

He knew it was Chan’s howl. He told Chan where to position himself, so he can be aware of what lies ahead. He knew to run. But that part was omitted — replaced by an exaggeration of how the dawn was creeping in on him, how fast the clock was ticking against him.

It wasn’t luck or skills that brought him to that finish line. It was Chan. Or his manipulation of Chan.

Chan had kept close, eliminated all the alphas on his path for years and made sure he went through all the milestones, and made it to the finish-line.

And there’s nothing Chan can do about it. He can’t even claim that it’s him — because it’s against the Rules, and he’ll probably get written up by the Committee. Not that he was going to do that, either way — but Chan expected at least something. Anything .

Instead he is reduced to is a nameless alpha who catcalls him from the balcony. And then a disembodied howl in the distance.

Every other alpha is mentioned. Seungmin. Changbin. Jeongin. Chan easily recognizes each of them although there’s a placeholder name for each of them to protect their privacy. His parents. His other alpha friends. Even fucking Juyeon appears in the book, by alias. The Alpha who seeks to prove himself worthy in Minho’s eyes, when all he needed is to take ‘no’ for an answer.

When Chan heads online to see the discussion about it, he understands that Juyeon had became the love interest in the story — and how refreshing it is when the omega and the alpha don’t actually find each other in the run after all.

It takes him hours to calm down after reading all that bullshit on twitter.

He’s so fucking bitter about it.

He feels the anger in his bones.

So this year — this year, he decides to give Minho his own thought experiment. Let’s see how well he’ll do this year, when Chan isn’t there.

He regrets it when the day of the Spring Fest comes.

Seungmin is looking at him funny, but doesn’t ask. Seungmin doesn’t frequent the Spring Fest, and for him it’s just another full moon day.

So Chan being jittery and slightly testy can be reasoned with that.

But then the night actually comes.

And he can’t sleep.

He’s anxious as hell.

The images running in his head are ridiculous. He’s already has trouble sleeping — but that night he’s wide awake, window opened wide, welcoming the moon.

He exercises to let off some needed steam. Showers twice. Tries to finish his writing goal. Then he lies there, refreshing the live updates of the Municipality of his Town. Usually they congratulate the Lunas that arrive.

Minho’s name isn’t the first Luna name for the very first year.

Not even the second.

He’s definitely caught. There’s no doubt about it. There’s probably a gazillion alphas on his case, this year, too.

Not the third. Not the fourth. Not the fifth.

Not the sixth, either.

Number 34 at the finish line is Han Jisung, and Chan feels the tension all over. Next should definitely be Minho.

It’s not. Number 35 is Hyunjin.

Didn’t Changbin catch him? Maybe Changbin was helping them.

Felix is dating someone, so he’s probably caught, but Minho should be next.

It’s almost dawn.

Minho is not next. 

Number 40 and 41 are familiar names, but Chan can’t put faces to people anymore.

There’s much more Luna this year than usual. Last year there was only 20.

It’s either the milestones were rather easy this year, or the omegas came well prepared. Probably the latter. Jisung told him they’re paying 70 bucks per head, and omegas from other counties came to take their ‘Luna 101 Crush Course’, now that Minho became a published author.

He has work in a couple of hours. 

He’s in the bathroom for awhile, brushing his teeth, too exhausted to brush them properly — and when he emerges, the sun is up. It’s done.

He checks the updates, his heart pounding his ears.

There’s 56 omegas that year.

Minho is number 55. Came one before last.

He topples down on his bed, relieved, and then calls in sick. 

Kind of feels like it ended being a self-goal, but he’ll take it. 

Chapter Text

Chan takes Seungmin to the train station and makes him promise to visit.

He never says when and Chan feels it’d be really desperate and weird of him to beg, so he doesn’t prod it further. Seungmin’s busy enough with his studies as it is, and the last thing Chan wants to do is to pressure him to visit him because he’s lonely. 

The moment he waves him off — his summer stretches indefinitely. 

The city is sticky hot during the summer. Feels like the inside of a working microwave. No gust of crisp wind from the mountains in the mornings. No cool evenings near the lake. 

Chan slowly starts to loath everything about it, clinging to the memory of Seungmin in the apartment. 

It’s odd how quickly he got used to him just being there and how hard he misses him when he’s gone.

The kind of connection he has with Seungmin — with his entire former pack — is just different. He’s not even sugarcoating it. It’s just nothing he experienced before, and he’s starting to believe he might never be able to experience it again. 

At least not here, in the city.

With no reason to be at home, he throws himself fully into work. 

So at least that’s going well.

He has more projects than his seniors, and he’s not afraid to sign himself up for more. Every book he edits, becomes a bestseller and his manager adores him, and keeps flaunting how productive the past couple of months were. He’s booked until late autumn, so he can’t even get a proper vacation to go home.

They let him write a series of articles for a popular media outlet. His opinions are relevant and fresh. He’s an outsider fitting into the city, and everybody loves a cinderella. 

He looks good at publishing events, too, so he’s his manager’s first pick, much to the dismay of his co-workers. He’s young, always dresses with taste, never takes away from the spotlight of the event, and represents the company well. Says all the right words to a nosy journalist. Makes all the omegas swoon. 

He ever lived under the pretense that editors make big money, but he’s doing pretty well for his position. Probably doing better than anybody in his major. 

The original plan was to already be a published author, and apply for pedagogy school — so he has multiple streams of income.

But Chan feels stagnant like a swamp.

He always thought he’d be published by the time he’ll be applying. He’d be teaching his experience with literature. His love for literature. And on one hand, it’s happening. His dream. He’s putting himself out there. He’s doing it. He’s in it. Everything he dreamed of. A big apartment, in a nice location. Friends. Publishing events. Headlines. His articles get a shitload of views. The whole shebang. 

Except — the whole… writing thing. 

Which was the original plan.

He doesn’t even want to write a book anymore. He doesn’t want to teach that much, either. And he’s definitely not into sharing his love for literature.

Lee Minho killed his spark. 

It took him years to finish a single draft. He started writing what would be his debut book before he even started college. But now it feels childish. Immature. A little too cocky. A silly little action-packed sci-fi any other privileged alpha would write. So they move between worlds via magical doors. So what. Murder mysteries and mistaken identities and horribly written smut. It’s too many genres at once. Nothing in is thought-provoking. Nothing in it doubles in meaning to the real world. Nothing in it matters the way Minho’s novel mattered. Nothing in it will leave a lasting impression the way Minho’s book did.

If Chan were to publish something, it’d have to do a one up on Minho’s book — and he honestly doesn’t know what will.

Minho’s book is brilliant. Chan re-reads it without bias or anger during the long weekend, with the window opened wide and the sounds of the city accompanying him, and it is perfect. 

It’s such a Minho thing to do. 

To write the perfect book. 

He probably wrote it all in one sitting. Just decided to fart out something on page and do some easy money. 

Chan starts writing new drafts multiple times during the course of that summer, but ends up ditching all ideas simply because they’re just… not good enough. 

He doesn’t like them.

He doesn’t like literature as much as he did before.

He doesn’t like anything about his adult life. 

The shiny dream of living in the city and working as a publisher had become a nightmare he couldn’t escape. His days were spent behind a screen, long hours of fixing dull autobiographies of people who have no business writing autobiographies and professors who write mediocre non-fiction about the state of society, when the only society they had ever seen is the one in the city.

Chan feels like he’s in prison. 

Doing time for a sin he has yet to have discovered. 

Most of his university friends have all moved back to their hometowns, because they couldn’t find a job or couldn’t make the bills. The ones that didn’t live far away, and don’t have much time to hang out. And if they do, it’s always to ask Chan for favors, since he’s the one who “ made ” it. And the ones that don’t use Chan for favors and are genuinely just friendly — all have their packs to return to at the end of the day.

Chan knows that he’s the problem.

Chan closed himself off. 

He couldn’t connect with the people he met — although they connected with him. He’s easy to talk to. He’s always fun. He’s always game. He gets excited about new ideas. He’s always available to hang out and to talk, even if there’s work tomorrow. He takes the initiative every time. Makes plans. Helps. Always walks the extra mile. Smiles even when he’s stressed and tired. He never has a single negative emotion happening to him somehow, so his life should be perfect.

Except, they’re not. 

People don’t really know him. They don’t really perceive him, either. He walks as a ghost between them, visible on the outside, but invisible on the inside. 

It’s such an odd existence to experience. 

He’s disconnected with everything around him — and sometimes the only thing that keeps him going is when Jisung texts him an update of the one toenail he keeps growing out (8 months now). 

And he knows it’s because his old pack reminds him a time of when things were easy — but he can’t shake off the feeling that he went wrong somewhere. That he took the wrong turn, and now there’s no way back. 

Therapy starts looking like a good idea then. 

.

At the end of the summer, he finally finishes a big gig.

He’s an editor and co-writer for an autobiography of a popular omega actress-turned-director. It’s highly publicized. 

She’s older than him in more than a decade and obsessed with creating noise around her, even if it’s the cheap tabloid kind. On top of it all, she’s releasing a self-directed Yuletide themed movie for winter with her as a heroine, calling it her comeback to the big stage, and the autobiography is just promotion for that.

A way for people to get interested in her again.

So the book just needs to do fine. The first draft she submits is below highschool essay levl, with only 4k words, and expects them to just miraculously fix it into a book, so Chan fixes it for her — and by fixing it, he means that he rewrites the entire thing himself, in less than a month. Once he got a hold of her as a person, she was pretty predictable to nail down in a book. Victimized, dramatized exaggeration of a pretty easy, laid back life in the spotlight. He made it focus on omega issues, like aging out of Running age as an actress and its implications on her career as an actress.

He submits the second draft right before September hits. If it goes through a speedy review process, it might hit the shelves as soon as october, months before the original release plan, while she gets to create a scandal around him. 

It was obvious she didn’t pick him for his talent, when she came to discuss business in the company’s offices. Chan was a young unbonded alpha that had no pack and looked good. Every time he’d ask to meet to get some clarification or a better idea of his information, it’d always be somewhere public or racy — where they can be seen together. On the one time she agreed to meet at her villa to discuss some changes he made to the draft, she goes down stairs in a bikini and isn’t interested in the book at all. 

She gets him to rub some sunscreen on her back, after he refuses to get into the pool with her and the very next day the pictures from it are all over the internet.

Changbin face-times him while he, Felix, and Jisung watch one of her musical movies on the highest volume possible, asking him if he wants to tell them something or share his experiences from the city with them.

It was actually kind of funny. In a Lee-Minho kind of way. They purposely don’t mention her, but it’s obvious that this is exactly why they’re calling.

Chan explains he didn’t hook up with her, but they all have the same shit-eating grin on their face like they know he's lying. 

But it’s the truth. 

Chan could’ve indulged her. He was tempted. She was older by more than a decade but still insanely hot.

However, his therapist said that perhaps he should attempt to build an actual emotional relationship before he sleeps with his next partner, just for the sake of experimentation, and Chan found that he was not interested in having any type of relationship with this omega. Emotional or not. He was just lonely. And she was using him to make headlines until the next best thing came her way. 

At the launch event of the book, she insists on arriving with him and hooking her arm around his. She knows how it’ll look, and Chan is fine with that. 

He’s even fine with her calling him her “eye candy for the season” while answering some questions to the reporters— but he’s surprised when the questions turn to him. 

They ask about his future projects. Ask if he’s planning to embark on his own literacy journey soon. And then, they ask him where he’s from. 

“Isn’t it the same town as the author of ‘Where The Nightbirds Cry at Dawn’?” 

Chan snorts.

His first reaction is to snort, because he is suddenly aware of how fucking pretentious Minho’s book title is when it’s said out loud — and it’s almost like he’s instantly transported back to someplace else, where he doesn’t have to be this pod person, standing there with some older omega holding onto his hand. 

“Uh… yes?” He answers, catching himself, because there’s cameras in his face and he needs to act accordingly.

“Why did you laugh just now?” One of them asks him, smiling, as if it’s just a conversation between friends, but if he says the wrong thing now, especially about another popular omega, it’s going to be the talk of town.

“Sorry, I just — no reason. I read it recently.” He smiles curtly. “A very good book.”

“So is it safe to assume you know Lee Minho? Small town and all?”

If he says no - he doesn’t, but that’s not the truth.

If he says yes, he does, and there will be more follow-up questions.

“A little. Just from around town.”

That still prompts more questions; “Just from around?” and “How familiar are you with him?” and “Do you agree with his opinions about omega rights?” or “How was he as a child?” to which Chan is almost tempted to answer ‘a menace to humanity’ but is immediately ushered away by the omega pulling at his hand. 

She did not like that he’s being asked about another omega in her presence, which is fair. Today is all about her.

And frankly, Chan is almost too glad he didn’t have to answer anything.

He googles Minho’s name later and finds out what prompted the questions — he was in the same venue just yesterday.

He was talking at an Omega Rights convention last week, and tomorrow he’s been invited to a peaceful rally.

He didn’t even contact him.

Not that Chan expected him to.

He thought maybe Jisung might drop a hint or something if he’d be in the city again, like last time.

It’s not like Chan was going to give him a courtesy visit, either. They’re not friends. A heads up would’ve been nice though. 

That he’s located in the same place Minho is located. 

That they’re sharing the same air. That he might potentially run into him at some point. 

He hasn’t seen or heard of Minho for more than a year now — so his head is all jumbled up the minute he starts thinking about him. So he tries not to think about him. Problem solved.

Except, not really, because Lee Minho is everywhere. 

He’s a guest at a literary talk show Chan watches every saturday morning, even though he barely talks — they don’t let him talk, because it’s very scripted, the way all of these talk shows are. He has to recite things out of a list of checked and approved answers. He may look blank, but Chan can tell by the downturned lips, and the way his eyelids look heavy, that he’s about to unleash hell’s fury on somebody’s head.

His agent is probably going to go home crying today. Yikes. Most entertaining talk show he’s seen in a long while.

Then he goes viral for attending a red carpet. He looks like an actor, all dolled up, but unlike the rest of the celebrities there, who arrived wearing bright neon tuxedos or extravagant gowns, he stands out because he wore a simple black jacket on top of a simple white tee. He makes them all look like fools. Pretty on brand.

One time Chan stops on his tracks next to a stall on the street, because Minho’s on the cover of the ‘Omegas Only’ magazine.

Hair messy, body long, bare feet, hugging one of his knees. 

He knows it’s not that kind of magazine. It’s a magazine for omegas by omegas. They wanted a successful individual, and he is exactly that. An author on the cover. But it feels like spank bank material. 

Fuck, he’s a looker — and every time Chan sees him he hates him a little more for it. 

He feels like buying all the magazines off the rack so nobody else buys them. 

There’s three more pictures inside. 

One of him looking bored, one with him holding onto his book, another one with him sitting cross legged and looking into the camera. He stares at it, until the store clerk finally tells him he can buy it if he wants. 

Chan talks with his therapist about the magazine for 45 minutes straight. 

His therapist looks somewhat distraught the entire time. He doesn’t let her fit a word in, because he has so much to say. 

The interview with Minho is so very funny. 

The interviewer is obviously flirting.

Chan doesn’t buy a copy. He finds it on twitter. Why should he buy something that has Minho’s face on it?

He doesn’t even care. 

He’s downright a celebrity, all of the sudden.

He’s everywhere. 

There’s a rumor he’ll be in a political commercial next year, because it’s election year, and every candidate wants to get that omega crowd on their side.

Everybody who's somebody wants to get him into their party, or to get in contact with him — even Chan’s boss.

He’s asked about him repeatedly. His fucking manager. 

Chan insists that he barely knows him. And no, he doesn’t have his number. Why the fuck would he have Lee Minho’s number?

He has Jisung’s number and he can ask, but he’s not going to do that.

Minho is his highschool bully. Just strutting around the city. Being a celebrity.

The city is big anyway, there’s no reason for them to meet. 

Unless they’re like in some publishing event by accident.

Which they shouldn’t be.

He can’t tell her how Minho wronged him, how he tricked him — then he’d have to explain to her that he was doing something against The Rules during the spring run — but that’s not the point anyway, the point is that Chan wouldn’t even care if they would end up meeting in some publishing event, because he’d ignore him. 

Right after he gets that last bit out, he feels suddenly empty. Like he puked out something vile out of his body. 

It’s a straight up lie. 

He is not going to ignore him. He won’t be able to do that. 

The therapist nods, finally, when she realizes that he’s done ranting; “We’re going to need to unpack this next week, because we’re all out of time for today… but… I want you to keep holding onto that feeling. Strangely enough that felt like the most healthy thing you’ve said to me.” 

Chan spends his weekend hating himself for spending a grossly expensive 45 minute therapy session raving about Minho. 

He feels so embarrassed he doesn’t want to go back to the same therapist - but he also understands what she means, too. 

Talking about Minho — talking about his life back home — felt palpable. Like something you can grasp upon and hold in your hand. While everything around him felt like a movie that’s playing - Minho made him feel alive . 

That’s a scary thought to process. 

.

When Chan’s dad calls him to say his mom got hospitalized, Chan is a little worried, but doesn’t grasp the severity of the situation. 

She’s been sick on and off for over a year by then, and now they finally got a diagnosis, so that means she’s finally getting treatment. That’s good news. 

He talks with her on the phone and she tells him she’s perfectly fine and that she doesn’t need him to come home for this. It’s temporary, and she’ll be home by the weekend.

Google seems to paint the prognosis in a good light with the correct treatment, and Chan makes sure his dad is aware that he’s willing to participate in the cost of any treatment she has to go through — but he doesn’t expect it to be that much.

He keeps wanting to ask his dad about whether their alpha is chipping into the cost of the treatment, but keeps deciding against it when he hears his dad’s crushed voice on the phone. 

It’s probably also rude to ask. Chan isn’t a part of his dad’s pack anymore. 

And he’s making okay money, anyway, even though his job isn’t the most profitable. 

He asks for an advance for the next month, just in case, and his boss doesn’t hesitate to give it to him. With how much he’s being promoted with the autobiography, he’s the face of the company. Losing him right now would be losing an asset. Chan knows he’ll probably get promoted to an associate by the end of the year, he just has to suck it up right now. 

It’s still early autumn. 

He’s swamped with projects.

He has events to attend. And his contract forces him to go to every promotional or author signing event for the autobiography until the end of November, so she can play-pretend that he’s her new boyfriend.

His understanding of the situation starts to sink in when his mom doesn’t leave the hospital next week. Or the week after that.  And when she is home, it’s briefly — before she has another relapse and she has to go back to treatment almost right away. 

Corrective treatments and low blood pressure. Nothing to worry about. She’s feeling much better.

Jeongin’s mom is one of her nurses. He calls a couple of times just to discuss treatments and ask about some details and she is incredibly nice and professional, and it seems like her prognosis is positive, too. He couldn’t really understand anything from his dad — frankly, he seemed to have been hit by his mom’s sickness much worse than his mom. He also gets to ask about Jeongin. He’ll be returning from Alpha Year soon only in March, after the Seedening. They did not reduce his service, even though they were hoping for it since he’s so young. Chan doesn’t tell her that he was younger when he went — it’s something all parents hope for their children, he supposes.

The moment it really hits him is when he’s back with some groceries for the weekend, and his sister calls him. 

His sister never calls him. 

She asks him if he’s making a lot of money, first. And if he can buy her a Playstation for Yuletide. He tells her she literally just got an xbox for her birthday and what happened with that. She keeps on talking about things that he can do to help when he comes home for Yuletide, and for a moment there he’s about to tell her he’s not going to come — but then the list keeps getting bigger and bigger. She’s not asking him if he’ll come. She needs him to come home. 

She used to lord over being the favorite sibling now that her overachieving big brother is gone, but there’s none of that in her voice now. She wants him home. She needs help. 

When he asks her why dad isn’t doing all of that, she just answers that “He’s in the hospital. With mom. All day, every day. He even forgot about Lucas’ parents-teacher conference last night.”

The crushes any semblance of normality in his head.

His mom isn’t okay.

And dad isn’t okay.

Their convenience store hasn’t been open for weeks, since his dad spends all his time with her in the hospital.

So he packs a bag and heads to his hometown for a weekend. To visit. 

And Hannah was right. 

His mom is sick. 

He heads to the hospital to see her before even putting his bags back at home, and for a moment, he doesn’t recognize her. 

It’s his mom, but not his mom. 

She looks like she aged in 20 years since he last saw her properly back when they came to see his apartment. She is barely able to move. 

Her skin is extremely yellow under the fluorescent hospital light, her eyes puffy and red, barely opened. She’s frail and small. There’s all those machines around her, plugged into her, helping her breath, monitoring her blood flow. 

She tells him she’s fine, just like she did every time he facetimed her since she started the treatment, but she’s not, and Chan has no idea why he believed her in the first place. He’s angry at himself that it took him so long — that it took his 15 year old sister to demand him to come home to realize it.

Sure, she didn’t lose any hair, and kept flaunting that she lost some weight and can fit into an old dress from back when she was young. She was talking and standing and complaining about dad being too overbearing. But she was still sick, and it was easier to ignore while he wasn’t there. Busy with his job, and his city goals and his expensive 45 minute therapy sessions. 

But now that he actually saw her — the truth is that she is sick. Really sick. 

His dad is beside himself with grief. 

Chan is incredibly frustrated with him when they come back home. 

The house is a mess. There’s trash that’s two months old. It’s obvious Jisung and his parents were helping a little, because there’s food, and bills are all paid, but Hannah and Lucas are both just left at home to their own devices the entire day. The next day he goes down to peek at the shop, and it’s in poor condition. A lot of the produce has spoiled, and nobody cleaned it up or bothered to check for expiry dates. Everything is just sitting there, as if in wait. 

His dad, who he had considered the most diligent and practical person he has ever known just can’t function. And after a moment of staying at home with him, Chan can see that it’s not because of incompetence — he just can’t . He’s confused about menial tasks around the house, he’s unsure how to proceed. He’s constantly angry with himself, too. Angry that he can’t cope with the situation. Chan has never seen him like that. Broken .

Chan always knew that his parents were true mates . He knows it’s rare, and The Rules and the Committee forbid speaking of it, because most people never meet their true mate — but he was pretty positive looking at them just growing up. His mom would always tell him that the moment she met his dad during a run, she immediately knew she would spend her entire life with him. 

Even as wolves they were inseparable. And he always wanted that kind connection with his mate.

But now that he sees his dad and how he’s dealing with the situation, he’s not that sure. 

His first priority is her — it was always her, in a way, Chan just never noticed it before, because they dealt with everything together. They are connected like that. And if she’s unwell, so is he. 

So he stays there for another week. 

Just to help clean the house and the shop. 

His siblings are old enough to understand what’s going on, but too young to have the tools to deal with the situation. They have their own issues; school, friends, puberty. Chan remembers what that was like. On top of it, both of their parents just — stopped being there. In the hospital all day long. Chan can understand what was going through their heads, and the last thing they’re thinking about is their dad’s shop standing closed.

Neither of them presented yet, but the big age difference between them and the fact that Chan had never bent beneath another Alpha, makes them a bit easier to handle. They just follow his word, even if they’re not happy about it. 

He visits Felix, and then also comes over to Changbin’s on Friday. 

Changbin is a changed man. He says dating Hyunjin matured him. Chan thinks he had regressed into early childhood. He constantly baby talks to Hyunjin, and opens his mouth so Hyunjin will spoon feed him. Or talks in a shrill voice when he wants something so Hyunjin will give it to him. Hyunjin bullies him a little for it, especially in front of Chan, but Chan has a hunch he actually doesn’t mind it in private. It’s all very uncomfortable to watch. 

Felix is dating a fellow omega. Chan doesn’t particularly like the guy upon first impression. Neither do Changbin and Hyunjin from the way they regard him. He’s a little bit too honest, and a little bit too mean. But Felix seems happy with him, and that’s all that matters.

And then there’s a week until Yulitude, and he decides not to go back to the city just yet. Wait out the holidays. Stay with his mom a little. Stay with his friends. 

He actually feels a little better at home. 

A little more grounded.

.

Chan always praised his self-control when it came to other alphas.

He knew when to stand down and to play nice — and a large part of this self-restraint he could thank Minho for, actually. As a young adult alpha, he had to physically bite his lip and suck it up, no matter what Minho cooked up for him in his vile, sadistic little head. 

But he didn’t let people walk all over him either. 

That’s a part of the reason he got along with everyone. Most of the time, he was harmless, but if you underestimate him or cross him — you’re finished. People understood that very well from the get go. Chan gave them boundaries, and stuck to them. 

He didn’t have a single fist fight with another alpha under his record in college, which is a pretty amazing feat. Especially considering he came from a rural era, where the most volatile alphas would come from. 

So although he hasn’t been going for very long, he does think therapy helped him.

First of all, because he started seeing the positive instead of the negatives in his life. 

He started to feel more comfortable with himself. More confident. 

Not by a lot, but at least he wasn’t scared of staying alone in his own apartment anymore. Or shared some things that bothered him with a close friend from work. And it felt nice.

It all went sour when Minho came into the picture, though.

His therapist was convinced that Chan had spent all this time convincing himself that his life didn’t revolve around Minho, that he incidentally created the opposite effect — which isn’t true at all. 

Firstly, although she tries to validate things from Chan’s perspective , she does make him read what bullying means out loud. She reminds him that Chan was already a status as an adult, respected alpha even in highschool. He was a lot of things, but vulnerable was not one of them. He was popular, had his own pack, and was on top both academically and athletically. Minho did not have that luxury. Omegas who do not receive their heats on time, are considered minors by law, and are therefore excluded from a lot of the young adult activities and experiences that the rest of their peers get to enjoy. If anything, it was Minho’s way to get others’ attention despite his status in school. 

Secondly, Chan can’t tell her everything. He’s not even sure how much he can share with her before she gets The Committee involved. Technically, Chan had done some illegal things. Helping omegas during Runs is strictly forbidden. And if he does say so himself, Minho had done quite a few questionable things too. Especially when it came to scenting. For example, wearing another alpha’s clothes without their explicit consent is against the law. So he can’t even explain to her how Minho provokes him.

So he gives her a very watered down, censored version of things. From his perspective. 

And perhaps when both of those things are combined, it does make Chan sound like the obsessed one. 

But he could never make people fully grasp what kind of evil Lee Minho is, and Chan honestly doesn’t expect her to. Nobody will ever understand — not even a therapist. Chan comes to term to this very fast. 

They just don't know Minho like Chan does. They don’t see him like he does, because he’s not like that with other people. He fucked with his brain for years in highschool. He knows Chan like the back of his palm and uses it against him in the most manipulative way every time. 

It’s almost like everything he does is to get back at Chan for something. 

Even his pretentious book title. 

The other day, Hyunjin told him that while Minho was writing his book, he kept calling Jisung and asking him if it sounded like something Chan would read . Chan took that more personally than expected, because both Changbin and Hyunjin promptly stopped laughing at it after seeing his expression. Somehow the book title being pretentious had turned out like that because Minho thinks Chan is pretentious , and apparently so do his friends now. 

Little fucker. 

And he’s always like that. 

Always trying to step on his toes. 

By their last appointment, right before Chan abruptly left, they'd been talking about Minho for three sessions straight and it was starting to frustrate him. She had got him to admit out loud that he is attracted to him, which isn’t that much of a big deal — but she somehow concluded that the reason Chan couldn’t commit fully with previous partners is because they didn’t challenge him enough.

She called it a break-through. 

She made it sound like some kind of a revelation.

Chan begged to differ.

He felt like it opened a can of worms he preferred not to touch on. 

He had a type in his head. Kind, well-read, tactful and diplomatic, and hopelessly romantic, just like he was. He was looking for his second part. He would usually stay away from fickle and petty people, he disliked people who were intense and would run for the hills at the first sign of jealousy because he didn’t like feeling restrained.

He always imagined himself having an instant connection with the person who will be his mate, because they’d be so alike. 

With his mom and dad setting the bar for him, he always thought he’d just know. And it'll be smooth sailing from the moment it’ll happen. They’ll never fight. They’ll never disagree. They’ll just be right for each other. They’ll vibe together in all the right ways. Complete each other. 

Obviously, as an adult, he realizes that was delusional and skewed.

That sort of thing happens in books. It even had a trope name. Insta-love. 

But that doesn’t mean in any shape or form that what he wants or needs in his life is another Lee Minho . That Chan had been looking for the wrong thing in the wrong people all along. That he was a toxic individual who required an equally toxic individual to share his life with. Not just physically — but mentally, too. 

He just couldn’t agree with her on that.

It’s been awhile since his last session, now, though. His life felt like it had been flipped upside down. 

These past few weeks were a rollercoaster ride. 

He can’t say that he had gotten used to the new situation just yet. If anything, he feels like there’s a lot more changes and decisions on the horizon, and he doesn’t want to face them yet.

For now everything is paused. 

He’s not studying or running after some scholarship or some extra credit. He’s also not working, and he’s not fully submerged into some stranger’s book. 

He just — exists. 

His childhood room is now Lucas’s room, so he sleeps on the couch in a cluttered living-room, staring at an all-too-familiar ceiling fan. 

Most of the time he’s trying to get the store back into shape, so it can open. Cleaning, moping, dusting shelves and moving cartons. Helps his siblings with their homework. Makes food they complain about (apparently he doesn’t season it enough, and then he seasons it too much). Drives his father back home from the hospital, when he forgets to take the last bus home. Meeting his friends. 

He feels like he’s on a vacation, even though he rarely has a dull moment. It’s much less tense than him being back for holidays. He doesn’t feel the dread of returning to the city, because he doesn’t feel like he has to come back for a long while. 

So he has to time to think. About all kids of things. Things he usually doesn’t think about, or gets an existential crisis thinking about. Things about the city. Things about Town. Things his therapist said.

And sometimes, at the dead of the night — her words resonate inside his head louder and louder. 

It’s true. He knows it’s true. 

He was bored with all the omegas he dated. 

Not because they were boring, but because they were a little too safe.

They were exactly what he pictured himself dating when he was 16. They were the type of omegas alpha heroes would date in popular franchises on TV. He never stopped to ask himself if he even liked dating that type of person. Just like he never stopped to ask himself if he is the type of person like the hero in these franchises. Just like he never stopped to ask himself if he even liked living in the city. 

He just wanted these things, because he wanted it as a kid. And then it was happening and he was rolling with it, never taking a moment to understand if he was enjoying it.

Chan was not a hopeless romantic with his previous partners. And he was quite petty, too, when it came down to it. And all of his partner saw that he was a bit of a flight risk, and that’s why they’d get insecure and jealous easily. That’s why all the people he had dated were so easy to figure out, but could never figure Chan out. He was never truly engaged, beyond the initial thrill of the chase. He was just there for the ride. He loves the idea of love, like in the movies — but he never loved like in the movies. Never fell in love like his parents did.

He finished school. Went to Alpha Year. Started University. Dated anybody that fit his criteria of ‘perfect mate’. Got a job. Just ticking off things off a checklist. Like he’s on autopilot.

And he was miserable in the city. 

He didn’t like it there. 

He didn’t like living in a tiny space. He didn’t like getting lost inside a supermarket. He didn’t want to embrace his solitude and to come to terms with it. He was a people person — he always knew he was a people person.

He always knew he was going to have a small pack, made out of people who he valued as friends and equals.

He never liked his dad’s pack. Especially his alpha. 

Chan never got along with him, even as a child. And he kept questioning his behavior a lot as a teen, especially after he became an alpha himself. But he also didn’t have much connection with the man, either, so his childhood was happy. His parents were best friends with Jisung’s parents, who had a barber’s shop next door, and that was his family unit, who he loved dearly and grew up within. There were a few other adults from his childhood pack who he had respected and idolized, but most of them he didn’t even know by name. 

Their pack was massive, held together by their economic situation and not much more. None of the betas owned farming land in a town focused mainly on agriculture. Most of the betas owned small businesses around town or were working in the small industrial zone half an hour away. Being in a pack gives economic and social benefits to everybody involved, and allows for an easier life, especially if you’re low income in a small town, and have small children to feed — so as an adult, Chan had understood the necessity of it. 

He had always thought that he had formed his highschool pack because he wanted his dad’s alpha to stop breathing down his back, but now that he thinks about it, he genuinely liked the prospect of a small group of friends, bound together by their connection and their scent, not just economic or social reasons.

He remembers that time during university when he was almost a part of a pack. Remembers how excited he was for it. It was the only thing that had ever come close to his highschool pack — and although it fell through, Chan remembered it fondly.

It didn’t fall through because they were incompatible, though, it fell through because he stepped down and stopped spending time with them.

He wants to blame Minho for it. He did for a long while, in his head. It took him 10 minutes to flip his world upside down and lose all interest for the omega he was crushing on. But the truth is that Chan let him. Chan always allowed him to get under his skin, to drag him down into the same childish level.

He hasn’t seen Minho for well over a year now and the prospect of meeting him while he’s still here in town runs a chill down his spine. He feels something bubbling inside of him at the thought, even at 2am in the morning. 

Right now Minho’s back in the city with Jisung, performing his celebrity author duties.

A part of him hopes he’ll be well gone by the time Minho returns to town; just avoid him for a couple of years. Get him completely out of his system. And another part of him is anxiously hoping Jisung will text that they’re back in town in the next five minutes, just so he can meet him and have his big ‘aha!’ moment.

That moment where he proves the world therapy helped and he’s over Minho. That he matured and nothing doesn’t bother him anymore.

Jisung doesn’t text the next morning. 

He doesn’t even text the next day. 

They’re back on the day right before Yuletide and Chan doesn’t get to see them because he’s busy with his own family. His mom is going to come home for the weekend of Yuletide, and he is more than happy to stay with her and help around to prepare the house for the longest night of the year. 

Besides, it’s a pack holiday — so the pack spends it all together, in Minho’s flat. 

Changbin and Hyunjin had already tried to invite him during that last week when they learned he’ll stay for the holiday, and so did Felix. In fact, Felix is sent to invite him not once, not twice, but three times, because they all think that with enough persuasion from him, Chan will agree. He doesn’t (he wavers there, when Felix curls his lip at him once or twice).

If Minho would’ve asked him, maybe Chan would’ve considered it.

But because Minho didn’t, and Chan didn’t know how he felt about him barging in on a pack holiday, he decides he’s best not to show up out of the blue. 

When he asked the rest of them, they all wave their hands dismissively.

If Minho were an alpha, and the others would just randomly invite their former alpha to their pack holiday, he’d feel rather scorned. 

Besides, he’s there temporarily. For his mom, mostly. And that’s the excuse he goes with. 

.

It starts snowing on the third day of Yuletide, the day of the log burning, so they all go together to watch. 

It’s a much longer ritual than Chan remembered it to be, and his dad decided to take his mom back home, because it’s freezing and she has to go back to the hospital tomorrow. 

Besides, they deserve some alone time without being in the hospital or surrounded by their kids. His siblings scatter about to their friends, probably eager to see the sacrifice — and Chan easily spots Hyunjin’s bright blond head sticking out of the crowd. 

He only realizes they’re in the midst of an argument, when he’s already there. 

“— prefer if everybody just stayed out of it. He’ll just calm down on his own, the way he always does.”
“We have been all staying out of it for a while now, dude.” Jisung is saying; “And it’s starting to get unbearable. He is not calming down.”

“I hate to agree with Jisung, but if you would just let me—”

“No. I said no. And you pinky promised to stay out of it. You swore on your knot. Nobody needs to get hurt. Especially not you.” Hyunjin shoves a finger at Changbin who immediately raises both of his hands, almost in defeat. 

“Fine,” Jisung looks annoyed, but also frustrated with this; “We’ll just have to wait until Minho—
Oh, hey! Look who's here!” He notices Chan standing there mid sentence and immediately throws his arms around him. “I haven’t seen you since, like — I don’t know? Last year?” He attempts to squeeze him a little; “You’re even wider this year — and hard as a cement wall…” he feels up his muscles. “Wait, is this even a muscle…? Can you have muscles in this area of your back?” He feels up Chan’s trapezius, like he’s never felt a muscle there before. 

Chan pats his back a little, laughing.

Changbin and Hyunjin both avoid looking at each other and at him.

“What’s up?” He asks, carefully, and Jisung takes a step back, but doesn’t say anything. 

“Nothing.” Hyunjin finally says; “Just — everybody loves making a big deal out of nothing.” He gives Jisung one last long look, then sighs, fixing Changbin’s scarf; “Let’s go get some mulled wine, I’m cold.” 

Changbin nods, clearly disheartened. 

“Do you want some, Hyung?” Hyunjin asks. 

“Sure, I’ll have some.” Chan nods. 

Hyunjin nods back, and turns to make himself space between people. Changbin follows suit, mouthing to Chan that they’ll be right back. 

Chan turns to Jisung.

Jisung finishes his own cup and dumps it somewhere, then gives him a little smile; “Now that I’ve spent some time in the city, I feel like a new man.” He tells him. “I’m ready for my 30s.” 

“You’re 24.” 

“All the more reason to be ready. I can be sophisticated now. Demand to be taken to wine tastings and I don’t know, staring out of the window menacingly and judging everybody.” 

“Is that what you think people in the city do for fun?” 

“Yes?” Jisung squints at him. “I got a bunch of room service and got laid a lot, so that’s pretty much all I’ve done in the city. Oh, and I had to do some stuff for Minho. I actually got paid for it. I didn’t do shit. Personal assistant. That’s like a thing. I wonder if it could be a career choice. You stand there, and maybe bring Minho some sprite. Oh and, like, learn his schedule and shit. Minho tried to get me to — like, what’s it called? Sight seeing ? Why the fuck would I want to walk around for? It’s cold. And they bring me free food to my room. And honestly, I didn’t think I would ever say this, but god damn do they work hard for my ass in the city. Who would’ve thought?” 

Chan rubs his face when he laughs. 

“It is challenging to have so many suitors at once, dude. I mean, you know me, I never say no to a good dick, but honestly, after the first two weeks it’s just tasking. And Minho, that prude — didn’t get laid even once the entire month we were there. And I begged him. I pleaded. But he prefers to have a stick up there, so he can be uptight and angry all the time. Made his agent cry once.”

Chan isn’t surprised by that last bit, but prefers not to hear about Minho’s sexscapedes in the city (or the lack thereof). He looks around automatically, uncomfortable. 

“Don’t worry, he’s not here.” Jisung pats his chest; “He went right back. On the first train yesterday. To be honest, I don’t know how much longer he’s going to continue to play pretend, but he’s making pretty decent money, so…”

“He should be raking in it, by now.” Chan notes. Considering the amount of books he sold, and his time on the bestseller list, he should be pretty much settled for the next few years. 

Jisung rubs his cheek, but doesn’t say anything.

“Uh, what was that, by the way? With Hyunjin?”

“Hyunjin’s ex.” Jisung grunts like it should be obvious by now, though he immediately changes his attitude and grabs him by the coat, closer to the fire, where there’s more crowd. 

He cranes his head above Chan’s shoulder, trying to detect if Hyunjin and Changbin are far enough, and then takes a deep inhale. “Basically, Hyunjin bonded with some ass straight out of highschool. They broke it off — and he decided to completely shun Hyunjin off his pack. Guess they thought Hyunjin would just come to his senses or something, but then he never did, because he met us, and we’re like — literally the coolest pack in this god forsaken town. I mean he didn’t meet us, he was friends with Minho from back before, but like — Minho took him in and we accepted him as one of our own. Like our long lost son. I didn’t think it was because at the time that he was just planning to get Changbin to park his car in his garage, if you know what I mean.” He raises his eyebrows at Chan.

When Chan does reply he iterates; “Put the sausage in the bun—”

“I know what that means Jisung— What’s going on with his ex?”

“I’m getting there— So things were fine for a bit. And then the whole thing with Changbin started getting serious. Which Hyunjin didn’t want. He told him upfront he doesn’t want to get into a relationship, but then, you know. He did . We only found out about the ex thing when it all went to shit — but basically his ex kept on sending him messages and trying to come over ‘to talk’. So when somebody saw Hyunjin with Changbin and it was obvious that Hyunjin moved on… shit really hit the fan. Minho intervened and talked with his alpha, so it got quiet for a few months. But now that Minho’s in the city, the dude’s being a creepy turd again. For like the third time, now. He stands outside the omega dorms with his buds, waiting for Hyunjin or one of us to come out. Today for example, Felix was late because he had a fight with his boyfriend, and 3 dudes blocked him and tried to make him call Hyunjin. So he just went back to the dorms and decided not to come because he’s already in a bad mood—”

“And you’re not calling the Committee - why? This is exactly why The Rules exist—”

“Because it’s really political, dude!” Jisung rubs his hair. “They’re a big, young pack. Some of them are kids of other people from around town. Seungmin technically never agreed to be a part of the pack and he lives at his college dorms a few towns over. With Jeongin around, they usually bother us less, because he comes from a generation pack — but he’s in alpha year. There’s only Changbin, and the four of us. We already look bad since we’re not registered anywhere. We might as well be free agents. If we report them to the committee, we’ll have to be prepared for the consequences of that. It’s not like in the city; everybody knows everybody here, and nobody wants to sell an apartment to the person who ratted their kid to the Committee. Last thing we need is people holding a grudge against us.”

Chan can understand that. 

He remembers how that works, although vaguely. Just one more pro he listed to himself when he left for the city. 

“Look, our hands are kind of tied about this right now. Hyunjin doesn’t want to involve Minho, because we all need the money. To be fair, he tried telling him on Yuletide, but then they both started making out and—”

“With Changbin?”

“No, with Minho.”

“Wait — Jisung — what? Who started making out with who?”

“Minho and Hyunjin started making out. They were tipsy and they decided to play spin the bottle on their own.”

Chan rubs his face, somehow even more frustrated than before he started this conversation; “And Changbin said nothing?” 

“I think he thought it’s hot for like a minute, then he got upset. He and Hyunjin both like to create drama. It’s really insane. They always act like they don’t want drama but they are, quite literally, the drama . Anyway, the point is that I already tried to put a rest to this. Because they’re a big pack with a lot of alphas, some of the omegas in the dorm are like actively after Hyunjin and Felix, thinking this would up their chances to get mated or something. They stole their clothes from the shower once. Oh, and also wrote some shit on Hyunjin’s door. Like ‘Knot-hole’? Are we back in highschool or what? And when Felix went to complain, the dorm master was like ‘you’re adults… figure it out’. So I did the ‘figuring out’ the way Minho taught me back in highschool.” 

Chan cringes. 

“Don’t worry, I just punched one of the omegas. I don’t know, he seemed like he was the main initiator, anyway. His mom’s a dentist, so he’s fine— I broke one tooth. It hurt my fist much worse than he hurt him, he has, like, a… steel jaw. I don’t know why he doubled down and started sobbing uncontrollably like a freaking baby. He’s taller than Hyunjin. Methinks if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. But I got in trouble for it. They wrote me up for 4 strikes in the committee for violence against fellow omega,” He rolls his eyes; “If I get one more strike, I can’t participate in the Run, which would make me an omega by default. So my hands are tied.”

“And Changbin?”
“I mean, he tried.” Jisung shrugs; “But every time, Hyunjin intervenes and calls him off. He doesn’t want anybody to get hurt. And he doesn’t want Changbin to be written off by the Committee,  since the rules are against him in cases like this. And I don’t know if you noticed, but Changbin’s totally gaga for him. He made him promise on his knot, that’s some progressive simping right there. He’s probably going to get Changbin to not tell you or something — but listen, you’re good at this. I mean, you always play super nice with other alphas. They listen to you. Just talk to the dude. He’s a little bit older than you - but maybe you know him? Just tell him Hyunjin’s omega parts are not the droids he’s looking for or— okay, they’re coming back and Hyunjin doesn’t know that I can only keep a secret for exactly 6.3 hours, so act innocent.” Jisung swipes some snow off of Chan’s shoulder; “Hey, you’re back! Where’s my drink?” 

“You didn’t ask for any.” Hyunjin gives a cup to Chan, who immediately accepts it, his fingers freezing in the cold. 

“You can take mine.” Changbin is sulking when he offers his drink to Jisung, obviously scolded within every inch of his life off of telling anything to Chan. “I’m driving home, anyway.”

Hyunjin takes a deep inhale; "Anyway, want to go see the sacrifices? I heard they're actually going to butcher something this year."

"They say this every single year, and they never do." Jisung sighs; "Everybody in this town are so blood thirsty. Now that I've spent one month in the city, I know better. I'm very sophisticated."

"Yes, speak it into existence, king. Maybe it'll work." Hyunjin pats his back.

"Fuck off." Jisung elbows him.

"You fuck off." Hyunjin elbows him back. 

They start slapping each other hands almost comically. 

Chan turns to Changbin, who shrugs; "This is very normal. They resolve this on their own. I just prefer to spectate." 

"Yeah, I heard all about that." Chan sips from his wine. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Changbin squints at him; "Did Jisung tell you about Hyunjin and Minho making out? For fuck's sake, now everybody know!" 

Chapter Text

When Chan gets invited again to celebrate the New Year day with Minho’s pack, he doesn’t refuse. 

Mostly because New Years is usually celebrated by the younger folks near the lake, where you can see the fireworks best — but also because the discomfort of his parents’ house is starting to get to him.

He doesn’t have much privacy in the house; he sleeps and works remote from the living room, which gives him siblings all sorts of excuses to cause noise — and on top of it all, his father’s invades the house, and breathes down his neck about the store being closed and his father being in the hospital, like Chan can control him. 

The other betas have been eyeing each other about Chan the entire holiday season. 

He was staying at his dad’s place for a long time now, and was asking all these uncomfortable questions nobody wanted to answer. Like how come nobody helped his dad while he was obviously struggling, beside Jisung’s family. Nobody was sent to look after the store. Nobody was going over taxes or property or his kids. The Alpha didn’t even offer to help with his mom’s hospital bills.

Nobody will tell him anything, because by now, Chan is just some outsider from the city, being nosy. It’s pack issues — pack issues even dad avoids talking to him — and Chan should just shut up. 

Jisung’s mom had already tried to mend things, but Chan’s body was itching all over in the last week or so, his pheromones surging up and down frantically and he could barely control himself.

Besides, he’ll need to tolerate Minho for only a couple of hours — he heard that he’ll be back only on the day of, and then he needs to head back because of some schedule conflicts he can’t cancel in the city, and honestly, so does Chan.

With New Years over, he’ll be out of excuses to stay. 

He’s barely able to get any work done, and although he did work more than his fair share for the advance he took back when his mom just got hospitalized — his boss is still anxious about his return, and Chan doesn’t blame him. He’s the face of the company and he takes a lot of the workload on his shoulders, so replacing him would take effort.

But Chan shrinks from the sole thought of going back.

Last three days before new years, he’s even itchier than usual.

It’s almost like an invisible rash all over his body, like when the wolf hair starts growing out underneath the skin right before he transforms. It’s been awhile since he transformed.

He stays awake and finds himself overthinking every possible scenario of meeting Minho and it gets progressively worse as the days go by. His therapist is going to be disappointed when he tells her about this. 

On the day of new years, he’s a bundle of nerves and hormones.

He spends most of the day trying to deal with store related issues; taxes, suppliers — everything he can schedule ahead to open the store soon after the holidays are over. He wants to give his dad a head start before he leaves. 

They all agreed that his dads needs to step up, and that his mom is in good hands, with nurses who are her friends.

By the time he’s finished, his sister has the bathroom and won’t come out until it’s pretty late, just so Chan can stew in his own nervous energy some more.

He contemplates on what he’s going to wear for far longer than needed.

It’s not like he was going to get invited to head over to the after party.

Right?

If there will be an after party.

He never celebrated new years in Town as an adult, so he didn’t really know what people were doing after the fireworks were all over.

He doubts he’d be able to even tolerate Minho for long enough to go with his former pack to a second location.

Maybe he will.

Maybe he’s all over him now.

Maybe they’ll just be cool and civil. It’s been so long since they saw each other. 

He finally decides that no matter how he is with Minho, Chan desperately wants to spend some more time with the pack before he goes back to the city, and won’t let Minho take that away from him. And it’s not like they’re going to start a fist fight the moment they’ll meet each other. They’re adults. It’s fine. He can do this.

He borrows one of his dad’s black button ups, just in case. Simply because he didn’t bring anything nice to wear.

Not a big deal. He’ll be in his coat the entire time anyway.

Right.

He’s vibrating on the way to the omega dorms.

“You’re going to have the best time, dude.” Jisung informs him after his hug; “Your nemesis couldn’t make it and Felix baked brownies.”

“Magic brownies.” Hyunjin winks.

“And we’re going to the boulder down the other side of the lake for the fireworks later. The one we went to in high school. It has the best views. It’s going to be amazing. You’re going to love it.” Felix assures him.

Chan doesn’t know what to feel for long minutes as he gets into Changbin’s car.

Seungmin couldn’t make it either, because he has a final, and Hyunjin automatically pushes him to the front seat next to Changbin, who then spends the entire time going there telling him how New Years is more for younger packs, so it’s going to be a bloody mess and they haven’t been staying past the early festivities because it always ends in pack fights and Committee involvement.

Chan snaps out of it only when they arrive at the venue and understand that he feels upset.

He’s upset Minho didn’t come.

He wanted to see him.

Plain as that. He can’t reason just yet why — but he was excited to see him.

He’s been back in town for more than a month, and it’s the one month that Minho avoided town completely. On purpose? Not on purpose? Chan has no idea, but they missed each other the two times Minho was back.

It made his entire body cold, like somebody just spilled a bucket full of ice on top of him.

There’s too many people, and too many scents all around him at once, and he’s disoriented and agitated.

“—You okay, dude?” Jisung asks him when they’re coming back to the group after heading to the car to get Felix his cardigan.

He whined about leaving it in the car because he was hot and wanted to be only in his coat, but now he was cold again, and his boyfriend, who had joined them in the middle, told him he should’ve thought about it sooner.

Chan snapped at him. He didn’t mean to — he just didn’t like the way he was talking to Felix. And he immediately felt bad about it, and volunteered to go get Felix his cardigan.

Jisung joined him.

“I just don’t get what Felix finds in him.”

“In who?”

“The omega he’s dating—”

“Not that — honestly, it’s fine. He had it coming. I think he hangs out with us because his own pack tells him to go take a walk and air himself. Hyunjin already snapped at him back at Yuletide, you should’ve seen it — What I mean, this is the third time you mentioned Minho. It’s the weather, dude, I told you. If he could’ve made it, he would’ve, but there’s like this big ass storm over the city, and they delayed all trains. Honestly, he’s spent half an hour on the phone with me, he’s really upset he couldn’t come. It’s definitely not you, so don’t take this personally. I mean, I think the reason he’s so upset is because he is really looking forward to rubbing it in your face that he’s a published author. It’s all he talks about.” 

Chan lets out a helpless bark of uncontrolled laughter. 

Because of course, he does. 

Of course. 

He might as well have written a book just to taunt him. 

But then he feels dizzy. He rubs his face and sits down on the first bench he sees empty.

“I’m losing it.” 

“Only a little, dude. You’re fine. Also — not to say that there’s an underlying issue here, but uh, dude, you smell like you presented yesterday . Hyunjin said you smell like you bathed in pheromones when you left home a few days ago, but me and Changbin told him he's being delusional. Do you know how hard it’s going to hurt my ego admitting he was right? You smell like you’re about to overthrow the government. Honestly, I’ve seen some Committee officers looking our way, I’m scared for your well being.” 

“Oh — uh,” Chan rubs his face, grunting and then starts laughing, because now Jisung made it funny.  “I don’t know. I have issues.” 

“No shit.” Jisung gives him a long look and then crouches beside him so he can look at his face when they talk; “What’s going on? Talk to me.” 

“It’s… just. I don’t know. The usual stuff. I just honestly don’t want to get back to the city and it’s setting me on edge.” 

“Then don’t.”

“I can’t do that, Jisung— I built a life there, and I’m slowly trying to reclaim it.”

“Fuck the city. That place is a shithole. It also smells like alpha sweat and the sewers, because there’s not a god damn green plant miles— and no, cactuses are not fucking green plants. I don’t know how city folk got that notion, but they are literally everywhere. People are rude, and not even to your face. They’re fake nice. That’s the worst. And fuck all the alphas who make such a big chore out of making a move at me — seriously, the prolonged courting does nobody favors. Either stick your dick into me or just don’t.”

Chan snorts and leans back, taking a long inhale.

“And don’t get me wrong,” Jisung crouches beside him so he can see his face; “It’s not better here. This place is even a bigger shithole. You’re stuck trying to work it out with these people for life. It’s literally the middle of fucking nowhere. And people here have a stupidly long memory, so everything you do follows you forever. So fuck everybody here, too.”

“So what should I do? What would you do?”

“I don’t fucking know, dude. I’m just saying no place is better. Everywhere you go will be fucked in some way or another.”

Chan grunts; “And dad’s pack is constantly down my—”

“Fuck our childhood pack, too. Why’d you think I stopped coming over for holidays? They’re just a bunch of old, bitter, greedy fucks. Act like me being a Luna is disgraceful, then give me surprised pikachu faces because I stopped coming around.”

“So fuck everything?” Chan asks; “That’s your solution?”

“Yeah. Fuck everything. You’re too nice. You always try to fix yourself around things — Stick your dick into every wet crevice you see, man. Fix the world around you and not the other way around. You’re a fucking alpha — you can literally do that.” He gets up abruptly. “Damn, my legs fell asleep.”

Chan doesn’t know how to make sense of his head. He feels like he’s walking through a fog, most of the time — and today was overall weird. He wasn’t going to admit to Jisung that he’s about to have a mental breakdown because Minho couldn’t make it, but he was now admitting it to himself.

“Let’s go back, Felix will freeze his little omega dick off, and then we won’t hear the end of it— oh, fuck.” Jisung stops talking, looking straight behind Chan, just as Chan is getting up. 

By the time Chan is fully up, his expression changes; “Oh wait, never mind.”

“What?” Chan is about to turn around but Jisung hits his arm, so he doesn’t.

“Doesn’t matter. Hyunjin’s stupid ex. He was going to come over, but I think he changed his mind when he saw you— hey, stop looking over.”

Chan looks over, anyway.

There’s a lot of people around, including a bunch of running children. They’re just on the outskirts of the main area, though — so the place is closer to the parking lot, than to the lake.

There’s old lighting poles that lead to the pier of the lake, a couple of old metal containers, probably brought over for the sake of the event or food stalls.

“The guy by the pole.” Jisung directs his gaze, since he’s already looking.

He’s taking a smoke, looking away on purpose.

Chan recognizes him. He’s older than him by 3 or 4 years. Used to play some sport in highschool. His omega brother was in the swimming club with Chan for a year. Kim Daesoo? Kim Dongsoo? Chan can’t recall his name. 

“Let’s go have a talk with him.” Chan decides this with zero plan in his head. He just wants to see what’s his deal.

“Uh, no? Let’s not? Or did you miss the part where I said we have already tried to talk with him and he doesn’t listen.”

“I’ll have a talk with him, then.”

“Come on, dude — now?” He checks his watch; “We’re kinda done here, to be honest, fireworks start in half an hour. I don’t want to deal with this shithead now.”

“I won’t be long.” Chan promises, already walking toward him.

Jisung looks absolutely exasperated with this.

“Hey,” Chan greets before he’s even close enough to start a conversation, jogging toward him because a small cart with supplies is moving right past him, and barely avoids giggling kids that run past him.

It’s a little noisy so he might have not heard him but he definitely perceived him.

“Bang Chan, right?” At least he’s fairly polite to a fellow Alpha. 

Chan doesn’t remember his name though. 

He nods though.

“Can I have one?” He gestures his chin toward the cigarette box the guy was about to put back into his coat.

He nods, and gives him a cigarette .

Chan hasn't smoked since his first year in college. He tried for a bit, because it was cool , but the stopped and never intended to pick it up again — but he wanted to see if the Alpha would share. And he does, even if just for the sake of being polite.

Even lights it up wordlessly.

“See you hanging out with your old highschool pack again.”

“Yeah. I’m back in town for a bit.”

“Good.” Is all he says.

Jisung makes a whole show of looking at his watch and then crossing his hands on his chest, hugging Felix’s sweater to himself.

“Maybe you’ll put some sense in them. They need a stern hand.” 

“Why’s that?”

“You probably heard from them already.”

“I heard some stuff. But these are pack issues. I’m not exactly pack.”

“Right.” He squints, looking suspicious. “You want my side of things, right?”

Chan shrugs.

He’s abrasive. But it’s fine. They’re just talking. He’s not going to pull anything in such a public place — he wouldn’t dare. Especially on Chan. He’s from the city, so he got through Alpha Year, and he’s younger.

With Changbin it’d look worse — Changbin is Hyunjin’s new partner. He didn’t go through Alpha year. Chan is just a friend. The rules are on Chan’s side and he knows it, if a push comes to shove.

“My mate just upped and left one day, with zero warning. Then demanded we undo our bond. No closure, no nothing. Didn’t even get to discuss it properly with him. Now he also found some new alpha to fuck, and I have to act like I don’t get any say in it.”

Chan nods. Seems fairly simple from his perspective, except it’s a little skewed.

“He’s not in your pack and he’s no longer bonded to you — so you really don’t have a say in what he does anymore.” He corrects him.

The guy rubs his nose with his thumb. Obviously what Chan says isn’t pleasant to his ears, but it’s the truth.

And he should start facing it sooner or later.

“But if it weren’t for that bitch, Lee Minho —” He spits on the floor, and Chan stares at the spot where the spit landed. The ground beneath them is muddy snow, and the light of the pole isn’t bright enough to really detect it. “He convinced him I’m abusive. But I would never hurt Hyunjin. It’s not my fault he’s so fucking spineless. Sometimes an omega should know their place. Besides, I never so much as lifted a finger on him. I knew he’d understand that sooner or later — but then that meddling effete promptly found him a new dick to sit on…” He shakes his head, half-laughing like it’s unbelievable.

Chan’s eyebrows raise up. He didn’t hear that word since high school — used between other alphas on omegas who used suppressants. God forbid omegas want to focus on their studies, instead of having heats. How dare they be infertile? How dare they not present their ass for fucking?

In the city, most omegas use suppressants. Heats tend to sync, and getting them in the middle of an exam period is a huge inconvenience.

Calling Minho an effete sends Chan into a doozy, though.

Nobody dared to call him names during high-school. Not just because he’s a minor, but because messing with him meant committing a social suicide — Minho knew exactly how to land a blow below the belt, and in a way that would never tie him to it.

“Of course, Hyunjin’s mom was all over him. Some rich alpha from a good family. I know he’s your friend and all, but I’m sure you’ll agree with me that Minho has them all dancing to the sound of his drum. All this Luna crap is just a fad. Once he’s done playing the non-conformist, he’ll stick his ass up to find the first dick he’ll catch, like all omegas do.”

Chan takes a deep inhale of his cig, then catches the guy by the neck and slams his face right into the pole.

He doesn’t even understand what happened for a second when blood gushes out of his nose.

Doesn’t look like he broke it, though, so Chan does it again, just to make sure. 

His confused sputtered cry of pain is a little louder than Chan expected. Sounds like a toddler who tripped and fell.

He looks back, just to see if somebody witnessed it, and doesn’t seem like anybody noticed or heard just yet. 

Except Jisung. He’s standing there, frozen, eyes wide like plates, Felix’s cardigan falling from his hands. 

Chan shifts the guy up before he can properly react, lifting him up to standing and keeping his face away from the crowd and pushes him forward.

It’s against the rules to hold another alpha by the neck, but the last thing Chan needs is him yelling or starting a scene in public. Once they’re behind the containers, Chan throws him down to let him collect himself.

He’s obviously rattled, in a lot of pain, and out of practice, because he lands on his knees, grunting, and immediately lunges toward him.

Chan punches him, then slams his cheek to the container. He tries to claw at him, but Chan easily dodges and ignores his hand trying to claw at his coat.

He takes a drag out of his cig.

“Humiliating, right?” He tells him. “When you find out you ain’t shit.” He pushes him further into the metal. It’s probably freezing this time of the year, and the warmth of the guy’s cheek makes his skin stick to it. “Changbin’s hands are tied and Minho is out of town, so you think you can bully the omegas until you get what you want? How’s that working for you now that you’ve picked a fight with somebody your own size?”

He spits on Chan — lands right on his coat. Chan clicks his tongue, and moves his free hand behind his back, because his hand is starting to transform. “I’ll report you, you fucktard— I’ll fucking end your life—”

“Go ahead.” Chan tells him. “Or… which will be a much better option for you in the long run, you’ll leave Hyunjin and Minho’s pack alone.”

“Why the fuck would I do that?!”

“Because the last thing you want is for me to be back to this town indefinitely.” Chan removes the hand that holds the guy’s face so he could put out the cigarette right next to his face.“Fuck knows what I’ll do with you, then. For reporting me and ruining my life and all.”

The guy finally unsticks himself, a small piece of his skin torn off his cheek, screaming now, and Chan loosens his grip — letting him take a few steps away from him, then collapsing back on his knees.

He can already see the wound healing back up, but it must be painful.

“Are we done here?” He looks up, scorn and anger in his eyes. Chan can’t actually see the rest of his expression, because it’s rather dark behind the containers, and his face is bloodied.

“Yeah, we’re done.” Chan says; “As long as we understand each other.”

He spits the blood pooling in his mouth, and Chan realizes he must have broken a tooth or two, too.

“Heard one of the omegas you sent after Hyunjin has good dental care, so better look into it.”

“Fuck off.”

“Okay.”

He rubs his hair, then goes back to Jisung in a light jog. If anything, he feels so much better.

“Dude.” Is all Jisung says.

“No, we came to an understanding.” Chan assures. “He’ll try to stay out of your hair.”

“Dude, you smashed his face in.” Jisung looks around, though now his voice sounds slightly in awe, using the back of his hand to remove the blood out of Chan’s coat.

“He’ll be fine. I’m reserving the right to keep a secret for 6.3 hours.”

“I mean, I’ll get in trouble if this goes out, man — I saw this and didn’t report it. Committee will jail me too.”

“All the better.” Chan relieves him off of Felix’s shirt. “Shall we?”

“I can’t believe you did that. What happened to taking the diplomatic way out? Weren’t you, like, the poster boy for that? Man, I kept giving you as a Gentle Alphalinity for Jeongin.” 

.

Chan eats 7 wolfsbane brownies, and gets so high that for a long hour, he’s on another plane of existence.

They lay there, all together on the boulder overlooking the lake, in a pile, just like they did when they were in high-school. Instead of Seungmin, there’s now Hyunjin — but Chan can still feel the lack of Seungmin, even though it’s lighter than before. He’s not exactly pack, either. The lack of Jeongin and Minho is felt much stronger — he feels it resonating between them. Like a vibration in the air.

He’s not sure if it’s just the wolfsbane coursing through him — but it’s the first time in a long while when he feels accepted.

Whole.

He has no idea what they talk about, but they stay there until 4am, each talking in turns when the starry skies get blocked by clouds. It starts to lighten slowly, the sun creeping closer to break through the horizon — and slow, light snow starts falling again. Everything is washed a deep blue color then.

They sluggishly pack it all up into Changbin’s car, half passed out, and Chan feels warm all over, like he’s had a spiritual awakening.

He sleeps for 12 hours.

Spends one last evening with his family, and by noon of the next day, he’s back on the train home.

.

He’s back in the city for two weeks, but it’s a long two weeks.

It’s cold. His mood is shit. And on top of it, the thing he prides himself most on is absolutely gone — his mild scent that he used to pride himself on is replaced by rampant pheromones. That means that he’s rather short with other alphas and unpleasant to work with.

Google says it’s a Pheromone Surge.

And so does the Alpha Doctor he goes to see.

She prescribes him a Scent Muzzler, like they would to a 19 year old before his Alpha Year. It’s pretty humiliating to buy it in the pharmacy. 

But there’s not much else he can do about it. It’s like getting the common cold, except the symptoms may come and go, and nobody can predict when it’ll stop.

His doctor says, when he’s leaving, clearly disgruntled; “Maybe it’s time to settle down. Find an omega. Sometimes that helps.”

Considering he’s 26 years old and never properly bonded or mated, he gets where his doctor is coming from, but not his therapist, when she encourages that.

Dating is the last thing on his mind — and when she questions why, he has a million of excuses on his tongue, but the one thing in the very front of his head is that he wants to see Minho.

He’s not sure why and how he got that idea.

Maybe while he was high out of his mind, on that rock, back near the lake — but somehow he’s convinced all of his issues will be instantly cured once he sees Minho. Because he’ll know he moved past him — he left it all behind.

When he admits it to his therapist she tells him to just call him and meet him. Face his fear.

Chan laughs in her face.

He is not going to call Lee Minho. No way in hell.

He’d rather eat a slug right then and right there.

She seems a little bit cross and arbitrary with him for a second, but lets it go.

Chan decided to head back home for a weekend — that stretches into a full week.

When he’s heading back to the city, he gets the brilliant idea that temporarily , he’ll just do week at town, week at home. His manager is pretty reluctant to agree, but Chan is his most effective worker, and he understands the situation at home, so he gives him the okay.

It seems like an amazing idea, at first, but by mid February, Chan is tired of it all. It feels like every time he needs to come back to the city, he’s an anxious mess. 

On top of it, living in the city becomes unnecessarily costly, when he’s doing it only part-time.

He also spends a lot more money on train tickets. His laundry schedule is all fucked. He’s constantly tired beyond reasonable capacity.

“What exactly do you keep coming back for?”

Chan opens his mouth to answer, but nothing comes out.

It’s 7pm, on a Wednesday when his therapist asks him that. 

He’s sitting in her office, and he’s a little bit hungry and a little bit hot, and he was just giving himself a mental note of checking in with Seungmin about what day he comes back for his weekend, so they can hang out properly.

“Well, my job is…” He trails off for a moment and then finishes with; “Here.”

“You didn’t get promoted, like you were expecting to, either. Did you at least get a raise?”

“No. To be fair, I was a bit unreasonable as of late.”

“The job just doesn’t suit your current circumstances.” His therapist re-iterates for him, and she’s right. “You have plenty of options to still work at it, both remotely and as a freelancer. You might actually be able to regulate it better once you’re fully in charge of your own schedule. So — let’s take your job out of the equation. What else do you keep coming back for?”

Chan can’t come up with a single more thing to say to her, and when he comes back next week from town, and walks into his manager’s room, his manager almost expects it. He’s seen it coming. And he’s sad to see him go.

In his head this is temporary. He wants his family to get back on track. He wants to be with people who actually want him around. It feels like he’s healing when he’s back with them.

And then, once he recollects himself — he can still return. 

He sells most of his furniture — which gives him a big surplus for that month, along with a large bonus his boss gives him as a departing gift, so he’s good for a month or so.

Felix and Jisung come to help him pack, just the way they helped him pack when he left for the city after Alpha Year.

Back then there was one box, and a large duffle bag.

Now there’s 5 boxes, a comfy computer table, a chair, and a full-sized bed with a mattress. Not as much as you’d expect, considering he’s leaving behind a little more than 6 years behind him. It’s all packed up and disassembled in less than 3 hours.

Chan actually cancels the moving company. Somehow he thought he was going to need a full truck. Changbin drove the guys here because of some awards show for Minho, and this morning Changbin and Hyunjin went to some lunch with him — so Chan can hitch a ride with them, since Changbin’s new car is fully equipped for a 8-member pack, like most pack-cars are and it can all fit at the back, if they lower some of the seats. 

It’s around a 5 hour drive.

Chan can tell right away that Minho had been in the car with them on the way to the city, because his scent is overwhelming.

His ears are ringing for the first hour or so, and his brain can’t function from the strength of it.

He literally could’ve seen him. They were all with him yesterday, went to see him getting some literature award. It wasn’t filmed or something, so Chan didn’t see it, but Hyunjin told him it was boring, and Minho and Jisung kept chatting the entire time and getting shushed by everybody else, which is pretty much how all morning assemblies in highschool went, anyway. 

It used to aggravate Chan that Jisung even interacts with Minho so much, since he’s not in their pack.

Jisung falls asleep, though, using the curled bit of the mattress as a makeshift bed.

Felix and Hyunjin talk in hushed voices about dorm issues, until Hyunjin pushes his fingers into Changbin’s side.

“Umm,” Changbin says, clearing his throat. “So, um, how did your therapist react to you leaving?”

“She told me not to stay a stranger, and update her now and then.”

“So like, are you all healed now?”

Chan laughs. “I am better. Somewhat. Still feel like shit most of the time. But I guess I’ll learn to live with it.”

“Wait, why are you feeling like shit? Maybe the therapist was a scammer. You know, my sister has a friend who went to—” Hyunjin slaps him from behind, which makes Changbin curse under his breath. “Anyway, it’s good you went. I’m proud of you, bud. Even if the therapist is faulty. The first step to good mental health.”

Hyunjin slaps him again.

“—Jesus, I’m getting to it.”

“What’s this about?” Chan snorts.

“Me and Hyunjin were thinking—”

“ No ,” Hyunjin cuts him off.

Changbin looks like he’s getting annoyed, but restarts; “ I was thinking that — I mean, I know you hate living at your dad’s. And there’s no room for you there. And I know you’ve been struggling a lot. And you know I have a free room in my flat, right?” He glances at him, when Chan doesn’t say anything.

Chan doesn’t know what expression to wear.

Chan doesn’t even know what to answer.

“Just temporarily, of course.” He adds; “Until you figure it out. I mean, if you move in with your dad, your former alpha will give you shit. And I live pretty close to your house, so you can still hang out there and then come hang out with us. And besides, you need a place to store your stuff. And I’ve kind of been hoping you’ll come back to town some day. I always wanted to share a little alpha cave with you.”

“I reserve the right to use this in an argument later.”

“That’s not fair.” Changbin turns back; “You literally spent the entire ride here encouraging me about it!”

“But now you made it sound romantic.”

“I did not make it sound romantic!” Changbin half-laughs. 

“Felix, did it sound romantic?”

“Not a lot — but like… ‘sharing a little alpha cave’ was adorable.” 

He makes it sound so nonchalant. 

Like it’s not a big deal. 

It is a big deal. Especially between Alphas.

Chan doesn’t want to get emotional — he promised himself he won’t, when he decided to leave the city. And so far, it’s been fairly easy. None of it felt like he was leaving behind a big childhood dream. He was just stepping into a different phase in his life. Just a matter of perspective.

But Changbin offering up his spare room gets him to the brink of tears — because he could’ve offered it up to any other friends in town up until now. He has a gazillion of them. Instead he chose to offer it to Chan. 

“Please don’t cry.” Changbin says when he glances back from the argument in a choked up shrill voice, then makes a half snort-half panicked groan.

“Just know that I’ll be there.” Hyunjin fits his face between the seats, so he can look at Chan; “A lot. So I’ll be monitoring you both for good behavior. Because this dick is all mine.” He dramatically clutches onto Changbin’s body, and Changbin laughs, stupidly proud of that. 

Hyunjin signals both of his eyes and points at him, as if he has his eyes on Chan.

“And I’ll be there. Also because Changbin got hot new alpha friends to introduce to me.” He flutters his fingers together, pretending to be evil, but instead the car grows quiet.

Hyunjin speaks first; “Uh, excuse me, what? You’re single?”

“Since when?” Changbin glances back briefly.

Felix starts waving his hands, understanding that he blurted out the wrong thing at the wrong moment.

“I was pretending to be asleep to not get swept away by all the emotion and cringe — but seriously since when? You went on a date on thursday!” Jisung doesn’t even open his eyes.

“First of all, good riddance.” Chan says, sniffing, but his voice breaks a little, which makes Hyunjin blurt out a snort.

“Everybody was having their moment and I didn’t want to like — I mean it’s not a big deal.”

“Wait, how did it happen, though?”

“Mutually. Totally. I told him I’m reconsidering the relationship, and he told me he’s already kind of seeing someone else. I got even more upset, and then he said he wanted to be honest and just tell me the truth, even if I won’t be able to take it, so that was that.”

“Yeah, no, he just said that because he’s a fucking jerk.” Jisung takes Felix’s hand and put it under his own, as if for protection, still not removing the sleep mask he put on, or moving out of the vertical position he’s lying on. “He ain’t seeing shit. Beside the snot of his own pointy ass snob nose.”

“That’s fucking right.”

“Yeah, he was an insufferable dude.”

“You’re a saint for putting up with him for as long as you did. I would’ve slapped him on both cheeks several times.”

Felix makes a small giggle from the back of his throat; “So literally everybody hated him? Everybody?”

They all nod in turn.

Chan nibbles at his lip, and feels like is the best time to talk about it as in; “Since we’re all confessing, I kind of broke Hyunjin’s ex’s nose on new years.”

It’s quiet again, but then the entire car erupts into loud chatter, including Jisung, who actually sits up and removes his sleeping mask. Chan can't hear a thing they’re saying, because they’re all screaming. 

The only thing he makes out is Jisung yelling on top of his lungs that he doesn’t want to go to omega jail.

Changbin also almost strays out of his lane while yelling, so Chan straightens his wheel before they crash, and then everybody is screaming about him keeping eyes on the road. 

It’s a very long 5 hour ride. 

.

There’s an obvious shift in the pack when he moves in with Changbin. 

Chan doesn’t intend for that to happen — he doesn’t want to barge in on Minho’s pack, and they did talk about his presence being temporary. 

In the eyes of the Rules, Minho’s pack isn’t a pack yet.

There’s all those conditions you have to meet. 

You need to be registered as a pack in the municipality. Have a main packhouse that has enough rooms to accommodate all omegas since by law, every omega deserves their own nesting room. You also need to have an alpha everybody agrees to bend underneath. 

Biologically speaking, for a pack to become a pack, there needs to be an alpha. It’s a chemical process. Two omegas cannot be bonded biologically, just like a pack cannot be binded by an omega. Scent binding is something only an alpha can do — much like how only omegas can nest. 

Since the new Rules, things are improving a bit for omegas. Two omegas can be legally registered in a bond in the municipality. And a Luna can own a pack, even though they cannot make an actual bind — but this kind of practices were much more common in the city. Not here.

They’d give Minho hell for even trying to register at the municipality with two alphas bending under him, so he never even tried. He also keeps on telling Changbin that he doesn’t have to bend under no one, which strokes Changbin’s ego — even if it’s obvious he’d follow Minho’s word without hesitation. 

But the old ways had no laws or rules to them — a pack can be a pack by just sharing a scent. And that’s exactly how Minho’s pack operates. And maybe that’s why Chan’s presence is able to tip the balance so easily. 

It takes exactly one week before the entire apartment smells like Chan.

He can’t be on a Scent Muzzler 24/7, and the pharmacies around town also don’t have the brand for his age and size. Chan needs to order them online, and it’ll take another week or so for them to arrive.

They all tease him about it. Jisung keeps telling him how he needs to get laid, and keeps raising his eyebrows suggestively at Chan whenever an omega passes by them. It’s always in the most obvious way, too, so the omega always notices and gives them a curious look back.

But he doesn’t need Jisung’s help. His pheromones are so potent, he once made a group of omegas stop to sniff and look at him as he was jogging. And another time, while at the fish market with Hyunjin and Felix, he almost started a fight, because an unbonded couple walked by him, and the omega looked after Chan in interest.

Even his sister’s friends run away giggling one morning he answers he might go to the Seedening. Jeongin’s mom invited him since they’re short on one with her son being in Alpha Year. His sister gives him an earful about how he’s ruining her life when she’s back from school. It’s very dramatic. Chan decides that if he has pups, they will not become teenagers, because that’s a lot to deal with. 

Changbin walks around him with his nose closed, trying to seem enraged and scandalized by the situation. Chan hopes it’s for comical reasons. If he was really bothered, he’d kick him out. He even warns him off of Hyunjin as a joke one night, and then they’re all addressing the problem. Which Chan is having. Which is already embarrassing enough as it is, without their inputs. 

He’s just glad Minho isn’t there. He knows that nothing they say can be equated to what Minho would’ve said. He’d annihilate his ego in one punch, and he wouldn’t even break a sweat while doing so.

But it’s — nice. 

Yes, they’re clowning him a little — but it’s never mean or degrading. And it’s nice not to deal with something on his own for once. 

Besides, it also makes him feel a bit better, because his scent is so oppressive. They let him have the last word on everything, unless Minho said otherwise. 

It actually catches him off guard sometimes, when they all look up to him, like lost bunnies, waiting for him to make a decision for them. What kind of take out they’re ordering. Where they’re going to hang out.  Chan just came back from a light job from around town, when he’s asked what flavor of cake is going to be the best flavor for Jeongin’s Welcome Back party. His entire body is bubbling with a large intake of pure, unfiltered, fresh oxygen and exercising. He was just sipping out of a bottle, when he realizes all four of them are staring at him with the most serious expression, like there’s a right answer and a wrong answer. 

“Uh, what — what type of cake does he like?”

“He likes cheesecake and chocolate cake.”

“So… get him one of those?” 

“Okay, I see how it is.” Felix is nodding his head in disappointment, since he is in charge of the party planning committee; “I’m working with amateurs here. I’ll call Minho. None of you can be trusted.” He points his pen at everyone, and Hyunjin has the decency to look mildly offended at this, then goes after him saying there can just be two cakes and Felix is making a big deal. 

To be honest, Chan doesn’t care about the cake. The party is going to happen right there, in Changbin’s apartment. Where Chan lives. And nobody is even inviting him, they assume he’s going to be there, and he’s already in charge of bringing over the extra table from his dad’s. 

So Chan is going to be there. 

And Minho is going to be there. He would never miss Jeongin’s party, he loves the kid.

They are both going to be in the same space at the same point in time. 

Which means they’re most likely going to meet.

Ever since he was told about that party and who's coming, Chan felt like a donkey who had a carrot dangled right in front of him, to keep him going. 

He can now see the finish line. 

All he needs to do is to wait it out. 

He already picked an outfit. Two outfits. The one he’ll wear to the party, which is just a sweater and jeans, and a casual one, in case Minho comes beforehand to help with the party. He might. Jisung said he might. He has no idea why he needed to have a plan to wear a hoodie and sweatpants, but he wanted to be prepared, just in case. 

He made a word document with all the possible things he can start a conversation with. And all possible ways he can deflect allegations, accusations, and any sort of toxic trump card Minho might throw at him. He googled ‘how to talk to a toxic person’ and listed some pointers in the document, too. Then he deleted that doc, because that seemed overly involved. He’s not overly involved.

He’s going to be super chill about this. 

Months of therapy prepared him for this. And now it’s going to happen. Yes, he would like to be prepared — but he doesn’t want to make this too much of a big deal. Because it’s totally not. All it will prove is that he’s cured. Well — not exactly cured. But over him. Over the pettiness. Over the insecurity. Over whatever the hell made him so ridiculously entrapped in Minho’s hold for all this time. He came to an understanding that he might have not talked about Minho enough. That he should’ve continued to press the subject until it popped out like a zit. 

He already checked the train schedules, so he knows approximately when Minho will arrive on Monday. Changbin was going to get him. 

The Seedening was going to happen at the end of the week, and Jeongin’s scheduled to be home somewhere midweek after that. Jisung said Minho will definitely miss the Seedening since he hated it the last few years. But probably after that. 

He just wanted to know when to expect him. He wanted to be prepared for everything, so he could meet Minho on his own terms.

But just like everything with Minho goes, Chan has no such luck.

He’s restocking batteries near the register in the shop, when another omega walks in to try her luck. 

She’s the second one today, and the 9th one since the start of the week. Rumors about him being a dutiful city alpha who came running when his poor omega mom fell sick already spread through the entire town like wildfire. And here he is, working in his dad’s shop — exactly where he can’t escape or avoid them. So they bring along cookies. And pie. And fresh vegetables or fruits, because it’s winter and they want him to get that vitamin c. And they all ask him if he’s coming to Seedening.

Like a new toy nobody played around with yet. 

He’s flattered, he really is. 

It’s just that he can’t think about omegas right now, his entire brain activity is focused on Minho. He didn’t even take potential offers for editing or answered any emails. He was waiting until he meets Minho. 

He just wants to close that chapter of his life so he can move on. 

Yesterday the most popular omega from his graduating year came by to ask him how he is and how’s his mom, swirling her hair between her fingers. During his senior year, Chan tried courting her but she was into some college guy with such serious intentions, you’d think they’d be bonded with three pups by now. Guess that didn’t work out. Chan is tempted for a second or two. Reliving a silly little teenage fantasy. Then she stuck her tongue down his throat, and he found out that no, he is not really that interested, after all — and by the time she was trying to unbuckle the belt off his jeans, he was downright put off. He apologized, of course. Tried to be graceful about it. But she still left scorned.

Oh, well. 

This omega is slightly older, and even bolder. Maybe they share tips on what works between themselves. She asks him if he’s alone. Offers her condolences. Chan assures her that his mom isn’t dead yet. She is a little caught off guard by that, but that doesn’t stop her from continuing to flirt. 

Chan likes her better. At least she’s honest about her intentions.

He makes sure he doesn’t send any mixed messages when he rings her up, but she still runs a cheeky finger on his cheek. 

When she’s leaving, Lee Minho holds the door open for her, jaw tight. Once the door is closed for her, he turns his gaze to Chan and lowers his sunglasses, as if he can see him in natural lighting. 

Chan doesn’t move. 

He stands right there, hand still on the register. 

Paralyzed to his spot. 

He can actually feel the goosebumps form on the tops of his skin.

Minho pushes his sunglasses back on his nose with a finger and trudges inside without a hello, chin high.

Chan doesn’t think his brain comprehends the information his eyes are sending.

He barely slept today. He struggled to fall asleep. He finished reading a book. Exercised. Then got up early to open up the shop and figure out why his brother’s bike is broken — so it is fairly possible he imagined it. 

The store is so quiet. 

But then Minho’s scent hits his nose, and it’s like his entire body is not his own. 

He might have not smelled Minho in person for more than a year, but his scent lingered around town like a ghost. At times he had prepared himself for it, like when he needed to help Jisung to move something in their apartment — and it was fine. It didn’t trigger anything new or unfamiliar to him — but sometimes, he’d be jogging around town and he’d get a whiff of it in the air around a corner. He’d stop on his tracks, just to catch another flutter, another trial. But it’s probably just a jumbled collection of forest notes with warm spices that reminds him of Minho’s scent. And now it’s all here. Mouthwatering. Chan can feel the drool starting to collect in his mouth, just like it would before a meal. 

Fruity, juicy, vanilla spice. 

He wants it right up his nose — right in his mouth.

There’s no doubt about it. It’s definitely him. He wasn’t delusional. He didn’t mistake him for somebody else. 

He straightens his back — but can’t bring himself to move. He wants to. He wants to go between the aisles, just so he can face him already, but he doesn’t. 

He waited until now, didn’t he? 

So he stands right there. Tensed up, like he’s getting ready for battle. 

Minho takes his time around the store, and when Chan strains himself to listen, he hears him opening and closing the beer refrigerator, three times, before finally deciding against it.  

When he’s finally back in sight, Chan makes no effort to look away. 

He watches him all the way until he reaches the counter. 

Minho drops the items on the counter.

One pudding and a lollipop. 

He obviously didn’t come here to shop. His and Jisung’s apartment is on the other part of town — closer to the lake. He came here for Chan.

No ‘hello’. No ‘how are you’. No interest in him whatsoever. 

Just an arch of a brow when Chan refuses to move. Chan tries not to smile when he finally picks up the lollipop to ring him up. 

Minho lowers his sunglasses and gives him a long once over, like he’s staring at a piece of gum that got stuck to the sole of his shoe. 

Chan decides that he’s going to just say hi after he rings him up, but Minho takes that away from him; “Seems like you’re putting your Bachelor’s degree to work, aren’t you?”

“Ooff.” Chan grunts, feigning hurt on his chest; “That would be 4,500 won.”

“Then again, you did study a useless degree. I mean, what are your career options with Philosophy?” He gives him the exact sum, placing it on the counter, just so - god forbid - they don’t touch. 

“Literature.” Chan corrects, opening the register to put the money in. “But you already knew that. You’re just here to rub it in.” 

“Don’t flatter yourself, you’re just another alpha to me.” He flutters his hand dismissively; “If I remember any detail about you, it’s probably because of some instinctive reaction.”

He might be wrong, but this is exactly what he told him when they met during the last Spring Run.

“You waited two years to throw that back at me, huh?”

He shrugs nonchalantly.

“Kim Seungmin is getting himself a proper alpha degree, so he can provide for his future pups.” He slips his hand behind the register so he could see what book Chan is reading. 

Some old classic. 

He instantly falters when he sees it’s not his book, since it also has a dark blue cover. Chan still catches his wrist and doesn’t let him go until his eyes turn back on him; “Why don’t you let me worry about the future of my pups?” 

Minho weasels his hand out of his grip easily, raising his chin again. “I’m sure you’ll get real busy with that, now that you’re bedding every omega in town. We’re all out of older rich ladies you can ghostwrite for, though. That’s more of a city thing.” 

Chan takes a moment to consider what he said, and then snorts; “How did you know I ghost-wrote for her?” 

Even Jisung and Changbin didn’t know. He’s pretty sure he never told his mom. He didn’t want that to be his debut novel.

Minho looks like he’s backtracking for a second, and then clears his throat; “I mean, I didn’t know. Jisung said something like that. Besides,” He takes one of the  free spoons that his dad has situated at the main counter and opens his pudding; “She can’t string together a plausible script for her movie but uses the phrases ‘The fact of the matter is’ and ‘If I may say so myself’? I mean, she’s old — but she’s not that old. That’s a thing only a pretentious alpha dickhead can say. Funny how that turned out, though.” He chews on his little pudding for a moment, then gestures the spoon at Chan emptily. “I’m the one who wrote a book, and you’re a convenience store clerk.” He explains. 

He’s trying so hard to get under his skin. 

He’s giving it all he’s got. 

It’s unbelievably petty. 

But he actually read an autobiography of some starlet because he heard Chan helped to write it just so he can have one on him and Chan just can’t look past that, be it as small of a win as it is. 

Chan is absolutely elated.

He thought he wanted his initial reaction to Minho to be indifferent, and maybe even a little bored. Just to prove himself he’s done with whatever chokehold this omega had on him.

Instead his entire body feels new and tight. He feels renewed. 

He feels like a wrong has been corrected. 

Like somebody had fixed an upside down picture the right way. 

He presses his lips together, to prevent a grin from coming out, and rubs his forehead. “So what do you want, Minho? Or did you come here to suck your own dick about how you’re an author and I’m not?” 

He shrugs again. “Nah, lording over you isn’t as fun as it used to be, when you’re actually a loser.”

“And yet, here you are.”

“Here I am.” He takes his time chewing on another spoonful, but doesn’t move from his spot near the counter for a moment, then waves the spoon Chan’s way, as if he remembered something he wanted to discuss after all; “Oh, that’s right. I was going to tell you to stay the fuck out of my pack’s business, but I’m too late for that.” 

Yeah. He expected them to tell him eventually, but he hoped it’ll be after Jeongin’s party. There’s no freaking way this sort of thing will be a secret for longer than a couple of days. Especially not in town.

“Look, I didn’t want to fight with that guy but he really —” He stops to burst into laughter when he remembers mashing his face to a cold container; “forced my hand into his face.”

He kind of did, though. He was distraught that day. Not only because of his mom, but just — everything. Minho not coming to new years was the cherry on top. He felt like fucking someone up, and gave in to the instinct. Besides, he’s sure that by now the guy is fine. Alphas heal quickly. 

He’s not the type to resort to violence. He never was. The reason all his professors liked him so much, and why he got along with everybody in school was because he was pliant and favorable. It’s just that he couldn’t listen to that guy going off. 

Not about Hyunjin. And definitely not about Minho. It hit a raw nerve. 

“If anything, I can just claim I acted out on my own accord.” He suggests, almost immediately before Minho can react; “I’m not a part of your pack and I can stand my own ground, if that guy’s feeling vindictive. But from what I understand he hasn't shown his face for a while now. So at least there’s that.”

Minho slurps on another spoonful, but doesn’t say anything for a long time, just chews, in the favor of staring at him. 

And it’s a really mean stare. 

Chan feels so self-conscious under his gaze, he changes his weight from one foot to another. 

Minho inhales; “You are literally the most infuriating , oblivious idiot I have ever met, and by god, I’ve met quite a few of them around these parts — but you, you truly take the cake.” Minho pushes at his chest, when Chan can’t hold back the grin; “And wipe that stupid fucking smile off your face — you strut around like you care about all the woodland critters around you, but you don’t give two shits about anybody else’s misery besides your own. Of course he didn’t show his face, you dumb fuck , his Alpha is a lawyer who already has a raging hate-boner for you — they are probably planning the best way to put you down for good as we speak. Along with Changbin, who had a target on his back from the moment he hooked up with Hyunjin. Why did you think I was avoiding confrontations? Do I look like the type to avoid confrontations?”

Damn. Chan hadn’t been scolded like that since he was 17. He’s not even raising his voice at him, which makes it all the scarier. He rubs his face; “To be fair, it doesn’t have to be this political — if he wants to duke it out with me, he can. There’s no need to involve anybody in this.” 

“Duke it out with you? Duke it out with you?” Minho uses different intonations to repeat after him, which makes it all the more funnier. 

“And if his alpha has problems and wants to settle them, he knows where to find me. I’m not officially a part of your pack—”
“Unless you’ve failed to notice, we are not exactly an official pack . We don’t have an alpha. I have spent two years validating our existence as a pack — getting the other packs to treat us as one, too. We share a scent, we make decisions together, we’re a pack. Period. By the rules, nobody can’t dispute us — and along comes you. 150 pounds of audacity. Not a care in the world. You already hung out with the boys enough to smell like them, and now you just agreed to move in with Changbin without even considering the consequences? If you would’ve left back to your stupid city for another couple of stupid years, sure. Fine. Beat up everybody in your vicinity, especially that douchebag, Dongsoo.” He pushes at him again; “But now who the fuck is going to believe you were acting on your own damn accord when you live with us and share our scent?”

“To be fair, I didn’t plan on coming back.” Chan argues back, finally, looking down. He doesn’t want to excuse his actions, and when Minho puts it like that, he’s right — he really didn’t think this through when it was happening. “I didn’t plan for any of this. It just happened. It’s just how it all turned out.” He doesn’t want to blame his mom or anybody else for that matter. He wanted to come back, too. He was the one who made the decision and he does not regret it. “And if I have to take the fall for this, I’ll take it. Committee Trial and everything.”

Minho simmers down and rolls his eyes, running his hand on his hair, before finally taking back another spoonful. 

“If they had something solid, they’d already make a move by now, but I highly doubt this will stay the case for much longer. So — and I know this is going to be a very large task for you — think before you say or do anything, and maybe don’t fuck everything that moves on two legs.”

Chan nibbles at his lower lip for a second, trying to find Minho’s eyes again; “Seems oddly specific. That last part. What’s that have to do with anything?”

Minho finishes chewing, and from his gaze, he’s about to say something unpleasant. 

Chan jerks away when he makes a move, even though all he does is stir the last bits of his pudding in the cup. “Do you know anybody from his pack? By face? By names? Scents? Jaehyun’s pack has, give or take, around 20 betas. There’s no official number of omegas, yet, since they change frequently — but that’s more than 30 people you don’t even know. So how about you don’t fuck somebody who was sent there to find some leverage over you for the Committee?”

Chan rubs his head, this time clearly dejected, because he has a point there. “Wait, Jaehyun—? Your former packmate? What’s he have to do with it…?” 

Minho looks downright enraged, which makes Chan actually laugh when he connects the dots. No wonder the alpha has a raging hate boner for him — Jaehyun probably held some grudge about the whole Spring Fest thing Chan pulled on him a few years back. “You didn’t even know whose beta you’re roughing up? Fuck me… Well, at least you’re entertained.” He nods, his eyebrows flying up in half-disappointment. He drops his spoon into the pudding, and collects the lollipop off the counter. “I don’t know why I bothered coming here to lecture you. This isn’t a big deal to you because in a couple of months, once you’re done mooching off of Changbin and your mom feels better — you’ll pack your bags and head back to the city and forget about all of this. So whatever.” He turns to leave. 

Chan almost stays there — for a millisecond, he does — but he uproots himself off the counter and catches up to him, standing between him and the door.

“I am deeply sorry.”

“No, you’re not.” 

“I am.” 

“Then the apology is not accepted.” 

“I’m not planning on leaving any time soon.” He admits suddenly; “I decided I want to be here. For the foreseeable future, at least.”

Minho doesn’t have anything to say to that, but he does search for his eyes when Chan raises them off the floor, after taking a long inhale. 

Chan has no idea what he’s looking for in his face, but he never actually looked at Minho until right then and right there. Really looked at him up close. 

And his eyelashes are long. 

Chan can smell his shampoo now, when he’s standing so close. Laundry. Clean. Minho rarely uses pheromones or perfumes. He doesn’t need it, he’s the first thing any alpha will look at when he comes into the room, anyway. There’s just something delicious about the way he smells — which is why Chan is able to remember his scent even after a couple of years have gone by. 

He’s ripe all over, like a juicy fruit. 

“I’m sorry for laughing — it’s seriously not the gravity of the situation, it’s…” He trails off, because the next thing out of his mouth is ‘you’. “And I’ll try to be more aware and tactful.”

“Right.” He doesn’t seem to believe him. 

“I didn’t mean to barge in on your pack. I wasn’t trying to. But now that it happened — you said it yourself. We share a scent. And… I do want to be there for a pack. So, truce?” He offers his hand. 

Minho stares at his hand, then crosses his hands on his chest. 

“Don’t act cozy with me. That’s gross.” 

“Come on, dude—”

“And don’t call me dude. I’m not your friend. You actively blindsided me from a pack issue—” 

“Blindsided you?!”

“Not even once did any of you, dunces, raise their dumb smartphone to explain that there’s something going on! What would you call this, if you were me?” 

“I thought they’re filling you in on stuff. Periodically. That you’re on top of things.”

“Yes, well, obviously, I wasn’t. Because they have you now, don’t they? The sun shines straight out of your ass, simply because you swooped in with your mighty alpha pheromones. Your word is now law. Who am I, a measly omega, to say otherwise?” 

“I can’t do much about the pheromone surge but I’m not trying to blindside you or take over the pack. That was never my intention. You were the original decision maker — so whatever you say or decide — still goes.”

Minho looks skeptical. 

“We don’t have to be friends. We’ll probably never see eye to eye or agree on anything. We don’t like each other and chances are the pack really is too small for the both of us — and I’m still figuring it all out. Heck, maybe I’ll leave at some point, and stay out of your hair. But we both can agree that we have the good of the pack in mind — So, if I can fix something I caused, I’ll do it.”

Chan wasn’t expecting a round of applause from Minho, but his eyes seem to harden even further from what he said. Something in that last bit crossed him, and he’s not sure what. 

He tries to back track for a moment, go over his own words, but Minho questions him; “You’ll do whatever I say?”

“Yes.”

“Even if it’s bending under another alpha?” 

“Under Changbin, you mean?” 

“No, not under Changbin. He’ll drop on his knees and give you a rimjob, right in front of Hyunjin’s face, if you so much as hint at it.”

“Oh, come on—”

“You know it’s true.” Minho clicks his tongue; “If it all goes to the shitter, which it inevitably will, it might do well, if we… bend under another, more established, pack for the time being.”

Chan straightens his back. 

“Like Juyeon’s pack.” He adds, even though Chan didn’t ask. “Most of us are on friendly terms anyway. And he’ll forgive and forget everything with the right incentive.” 

“No.” The word is out of Chan’s lips before he can even form an answer in his head. 

“No?” Minho repeats after him. 

“You mean yourself as an incentive. So no.” 

“If it means it’ll stop the Committee from dispersing our pack, it’s an option, yes. If we stay together under another alpha, we at least stay together.”

“You don’t even like him.” 

“He’s okay.” Minho shrugs, and sighs dramatically. “And here I thought we were on the same page about having the good of the pack.”

“We both know you’re not fucking Juyeon.” If Chan was in good humor while getting scolded, now he’s spiraling . He feels his blood getting hot. 

“Says who?” 

“Says me. Right now. I’m saying it. Can you see my mouth move as I speak?” Chan points to his mouth. “You’re not going to whore yourself to Juyeon. Not just because I said so, even though I literally just said so, my mouth moved and spoke words into existence — but because you’re not interested in him. You’re just trying to get under my skin and you know what works best.” 

“So I get to decide what to do, as long as you like the plan — as long as you stay on top of the food chain. And you get to stay on top of the food chain until you decide to leave and let me wipe your mess. Great to know. ” 

“This was never the plan in the first place! What does me leaving have to do with any of this, right now? You know, I have years of experience with you. Years . I went to therapy because of you. By now, I can smell your little manipulations a mile away, Minho. Why were you trying to achieve? What will this prove? That I’m a fucking asshole? Okay then. I’m an asshole. I’ll look bad, if I don’t agree to bend under Juyeon after you offer your butt as a sacrifice. But you were never intending to do that anyway — so what was the fucking point?” He raises both of his hands together and lets them fall.

Minho raises and lowers his eyebrows exactly once, and whistles, shoving his sunglasses back up his nose. “The point was to get your attention. Oddly specific what kind of topic gets through to you, huh?” 

Chan opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. 

Even though he knows he fucked up with the pack, it never got him as upset. Because he knows no matter what it is, he will have their back. He’s not scared for the pack. He’s not insecure about them. He will do whatever it takes. 

What made him spiral out of control is the prospect of Minho being with somebody else. Fuck . 

Minho bends around him and opens the door; “I just can’t help myself sometimes. With all my manipulations. Making you look bad is all I ever think about. It’s always all about you, you see.” 

“Well, that’s sure as fuck how you make it look.”

Minho starts unwrapping his lollipop; “I’d apologize, but it won’t be sincere. Old habits die hard and all that. If you’re going to be back in town, might as well make your life a little bit harder. At least until you decide to bail again.”

Chan turns around to face him. “I’m not going anywhere .” 

They stare at each other for a moment, and Minho shoves the lollipop in his mouth; “You know what? Maybe I should get myself a mate this year, just so you and him can duke it out. Might get you to leave faster.”

Again with throwing Chan’s words back at him.

“Right.” Chan snorts, shaking his head. “All that effort. Just to get under my skin. You have to admit you sound obsessed.” 

“And maybe it should be Juyeon. Let’s see how that plays out.”

“You’d suck Juyeon’s dick in public just to spite me.”

“I’d gurgle his cum before swallowing it just to spite you.” Minho admits; “After all, I am a petty, wee omega that can’t make decisions that you’ll agree on.”

“I never said I wasn’t going to agree on your decisions—” 

He slams the door shut so hard, the entire store shakes, and cringes and closes his eyes for a second, trying to find his inner happy place. 

This is it. 

This is what he was anxiously waiting for. 

He’s not even disappointed that it ended the exact same way, it always does. 

Minho found a way to provoke him. Minho always finds a way to provoke him.

He’s not sure what he thought that meeting Minho will prove — but it proved the exact opposite. 

Chan isn’t cured. 

He’s not instantly better. 

He cannot be cured of Minho.

No therapy can ever help with that. 

And it’s not because he likes toxic people — it’s because he likes the specific-Minho brand of toxic. 

He was so excited to finally meet him to prove himself that he’s a changed man, but he has spent so much time being excited and nervous that he didn’t realize he was excited and nervous because he desperately wanted to see him. 

He desperately wanted to see him for months. Even back before he decided to move back. Back when he found out he’s doing work in the city. 

Chan barks out a laugh. 

Minho infuriates him. God, he antagonizes him on purpose — and Chan knows it’s on purpose — and he still succeeds to get to him, by pulling the right string. Chan hates him. 

And he hates that this whole exchange made him hard. 

He feels his crotch for a second just to make sure— and yeah. 

He opens the door.

Minho is down the street, already, hugging his coat to himself, because it’s chilly. 

It’s a sunny day, but the cold is harsh on his face and neck, biting instantly on his skin. 

“Over my dead body you’re getting a mate — or gurgling Juyeon’s cum— or anybody’s for that matter!” Chan raises his voice, so he’ll hear him, but it comes out a bit like a scream. 

Minho almost drops his lollipop, when he turns around, then looks toward two omegas with strollers that stop on their tracks upon hearing what Chan yelled. 

Chan can’t hear exactly what he says, something about a mental asylum. 

The omegas both nob, a little shocked, and another passerby comes closer to listen, so Chan yells; “He’s lying! He’s obsessed with me!” 

“Suck my fucking balls!” Minho returns, blowing his cover, which makes Chan burst into laughter.

“Not if you suck mine first!”

Minho briskly walks out of view, embarrassed.

Back to second grade insults. Very mature. 

Chapter Text

Minho is there first thing in the morning. 

Chan doesn’t even realize it’s him until his scent assaults his nose the minute he opens the door of his room. And then it’s a lot like smelling his favorite dish on the stove when he’s downright hungry. 

He stops talking at once, clearly in the process of scolding Changbin, to give Chan a look of disdain; “You let him have the guest room?”

“Where else would you have me put him? In the balcony?” 

“Well, he’s going to have to move when I’ll need to stay overnight, I don’t care.” Minho rules out, hitching his chin.

“You never stayed overnight in this apartment. Ever. Even when Jisung decided to sleep on the couch.” Changbin looks extremely tired, and Chan realizes that it’s because this conversation must have been going on for well over an hour, while he was finishing Hyunjin’s breakfast.

Chan nibbles at his lip, trying to hide his smile, while he heads for the kitchen, where they’re arguing. Changbin nods to him, and Chan nods back, but then cringes when he sees the stink eye Minho is giving this exchange, and goes back to making his morning shake. 

“Well, maybe now I will, since obviously the lot of you would backstab me for his piece of crap in a blink of an eye.” 

“Can you not?” Hyunjin says from the door of Changbin’s room; “I told you, I was going to tell you once you returned. ”

“ I was going to tell you once you returned .” Minho mocks his voice in the most childish way possible, like the 25 year old adult he is.

Hyunjin rolls his eyes. “Fine then, be like that. I’ll wait until you’re done acting like a scorned 14 year old and want to talk about it. Changbin, I can’t find my fancy jacket.” 

He has an interview in one of the companies situated in the industrial zone, to work on some design sketches. It’d be a pretty good stable job if he actually lands it, and he’s been looking for something more stable than the art studio for awhile now.

For more than a couple of months now they’ve been threatening to permanently close it. 

Changbin immediately jumps on the opportunity to get away from Minho; “It’s not on your side of the closet? I ironed it last night for you.” 

Hyunjin answers something but Chan is mildly distracted from making his morning shake and half-listening because Minho’s eyes are running down his body. 

He looks away, albeit slowly, when he notices Chan is staring back. 

“What?” 

“I don’t know why I expected you to have basic decency when you have an omega practically living with you.” 

“Hyunjin’s fine with it. So since I pay my rent fair and square, I can decide not to wear a shirt in the morning in my apartment.” 

“It’s not your apartment. It’s Changbin’s.” 

“I don’t own it, you’re right, but I pay rent, which means I live here, too.”

“And Changbin has a pack consisting of omegas who are constantly over and about. I guess the whole ‘I’ll be more aware’ speech was just for show.” 

“Why is this an issue, again? Nobody ever complained, and I’ve been staying here for a couple of weeks now.” 

“Just because they’re not rude about it, doesn’t mean they deserve to see your steroid pumped muscles.”

“Didn’t know the Committee appointed you to the resident Decency officer. Want to write me up a ticket?” He shakes his bottle while raising his eyebrows. 

“Wipe that smirk off your face.” 

“Or what?”

“Hyung I know you have to open the store — but can you take me to the interview?” Hyunjin comes out of the room, wearing a gray jacket now, Changbin fussing after him with his portfolio. 

“Why? What’s wrong with Changbin’s car?” 

“Somebody cut my tires.” 

“What?” Both Chan and Minho say that at the same time, though with different intonations. 

“And also stuffed his gas pump with rags. I want him to wait for the tow truck and take it to a proper garage so they’ll take a better look and make sure everything’s okay with it.” 

“It’s probably just some bored highschoolers.” Changbin reassures.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that…?” Chan isn’t sure why it’s formed as a question when it’s out of his mouth. 

“It’s a nice car. And it’s pretty close to the city center. I should’ve parked inside.” Changbin argues back. “I wanted to get Hyunjin his favorite coffee before his interview in the morning, so imagine how bummed up I was.” He makes a small whiny sound.

“It’s okay, baby. It’s the thought that counts. Thank you.” Hyunjin leans down to reward him with a kiss, and he immediately flourishes from the attention, proud of himself. 

Chan looks back at Minho, who doesn’t seem to agree on that either, just rubs the spot above his eyebrow. 

“Give me ten minutes.” Chan slurps from his shake; “Somebody here is salty about my abs, so I’d like to make myself presentable for him.”

Hyunjin and Changbin both wordlessly look at Minho. 

“Fuck off.” Minho bites back, but there’s no strength to it, ears a little red.

.

Back when he was 15 his dad’s pickup was old.

Now it’s ancient by definition.

Chan got his license as soon as he was allowed to, an adult at 15, and would constantly take it without asking because he had a nonexistent sense of responsibility back then.

He beat it up badly ( twice ) and made it go through some shit cars that old should not be going through. At some point they had driven off from a scuffle with a couple of packs, and came back with one of the doors completely missing. Chan is pretty sure it’s still out there in the forest somewhere, probably corroded and piled up with pine leaves. 

His dad found it a little funny, but his mom less so — and his dad’s alpha gave him enough shit for three people combined. He had to pay for it from his own pocket, which hurt because it was expensive and he was saving money for university. He still couldn’t afford the original replacement, so one of the doors is a different color of blue than the rest of the car. 

It’s also pretty small when it comes to modern cars around town; just 5 seats, and it’s pretty cramped at the back. It’s the type of car that he’d see more in the city — but quite inconvenient in Town, where most cars are made with a small pack in mind. 

He’s surprised his dad’s alpha never bothered to replace the thing, even though his dad obviously used it only for his business. 

The first 4 minutes of the car ride are pretty silent, simply because a certain Lee Minho opens the door to the back seats and climbs in without asking, just after Hyunjin waved Changbin off.

Chan tries to open the radio, but Minho tells him to turn it down, since he ‘ can’t give them the silence treatment, when there’s music playing ’. 

Chan wishes this type of behavior wouldn’t amuse him. It really shouldn’t. If this was some omega he was dating, Chan would actually break up with them over this type of shit. In fact, if this was even two years ago, Chan would’ve been pissed off — Even now, he has no idea how the pack tolerates him. But instead he finds that brattiness almost amusing. 

Finally, when they’re out of town, Hyunjin can’t help himself; “Can we talk now?”

“Not with him in the car, no.” 

Chan presses his lips together. Damn . 

“I don’t want to go into the interview knowing you’re mad at me.” Hyunjin continues. 

“What is this interview, anyway? Why didn’t I hear about it?” 

“It just came up. Like on monday. Some old classmate of Chan’s said he was looking for a product design team.”

“Some friend of Chan’s?”

“Former classmate. He was going to go with me to the city in university, but he knocked up his omega, so he ultimately decided not to go. It’s a good position. And he said it’ll pay well.”

“I don’t recall asking for your opinion about good jobs. What useless degree did you major in, again? Astrology?”

“Literature.” Hyunjin fills him in, not realizing that Minho is very well aware of Chan’s degree. 

“Well, I bet there’s more money in Astrology than in literature, anyway. At least that can provide for a family. How much did they offer you?”

“They didn’t offer anything yet. I think they probably will after the initial interview.”

“Don’t agree right away. Tell them you still have to think about it and also take the contract with you for further viewing and make Kim Seungmin have a look at it. He’s good at all the big city words they usually put in contracts.”

“Either Way, money’s not important here, I just want to find something more stable than the studio.”

“You’re just saying that because the kids at the studio constantly bully you.” Minho dismisses him. “It’s good practice before you have some of your own.”

“I won’t have any of my own if the municipality shuts down the studio, because I won’t be able to afford one.” Hyunjin sighs, turning away from Minho back to the front. 

“Isn’t Changbin’s trust fund enough of an income, though? He already has a pretty big sum he saved up. In case you’re planning on kids.” Chan almost immediately regrets saying that when he notices Hyunjin visibly tensing up from the side of his eye. 

It’s probably a bit too early to talk about that — especially considering his history.

For most couples a year is enough before bonding, but Hyunjin is definitely more cautious after his first bond went awry and Chan doesn’t blame him. He also noticed that he holds himself back from Changbin at times — like he doesn’t want to show too much affection or rely on him too much. He’s not sure why, though. It could be just because he’s scared of showing too much, but Chan’s been a bit worried that Hyunjin sees Changbin as a rebound. Maybe his intentions aren’t as serious as Changbin’s. Maybe that’s why he was desperately looking for a new job.

“What I hear is that you’re a slacker and you support unemployment and mooching off of other people. Now I know where Changbin and Jisung get their slacker tendencies from. Jisung is blameless, of course. He is a victim of circumstances. Thank god at least Felix turned up like the hard working boy he is and didn’t let your influence affect him.”

“Oh my god, you’re insufferable.” Chan says this while half-laughing, because not for the first time Minho acts like Chan is their deadbeat dad.

“Aren’t I? Maybe you can fuck off back to the city faster, where I can’t bother you.”

Hyunjin snorts; “Give him a break, Hyung. Why’d you join in the ride, if you’re upset with both of us?”

“He’s not upset with me. This is how we usually communicate.” Chan explains He can also smell it on him. When he’s upset — like he was yesterday in the store, Chan could almost taste it on the tip of his tongue. 

Now he’s mostly calm. Sweet, sweet vanilla spice in the air. He completely drowns out Hyunjin’s scent. Chan would’ve usually opened a window if one of the omega is close to their heat cycle, but he’s not sure if Minho is close to his. It’s just how he smells like, normally, but now they’re in an enclosed space together, and Chan doesn’t mind it one bit. 

“Oh my, we have a mind reader in our midst. Obviously he knows I’m not upset with him, he’s so good at knowing what I think or feel. Pray tell, what am I feeling right now?” 

“Well, I don’t know anything about feelings. I heard lizard people don’t experience emotions like humans—”

“So funny, just like the seventy first time you told this joke about me!” Minho rolls his eyes. Hyunjin looks tempted to laugh, but bites his lip. 

“—But you’re definitely thinking that I should go fuck myself.”

Minho makes a choked surprised sound, like he can’t believe Chan is right, which tips Hyunjin off enough to burst into a short laughter. 

They’re out on the highway now, so the road is clear and long — lush forest from both sides. Chan allows himself to step on the gas. Not too much, of course — he’s afraid that if he actually speeds, the car will start losing part along the way. 

The silence stretches for a long moment between them, and finally, Hyunjin speaks. 

“So what is the beef between the two of you anyway? I remember you hated each other’s guts in highschool, but I never really understood why.” 

Chan isn’t sure what to answer. 

He can’t pinpoint it to a certain moment to be the start of it all. 

When Jisung first introduced Minho to him, for a moment they got along extremely well. Maybe a whole month. There was so much teenage drama happening constantly, followed by a shift of dynamic in the entire school body whenever somebody presented, that every day seemed to stretch an eternity. A month felt like a long time, too.

Jisung had this picture in his head of the perfect pack. They were both pretty miserable in their childhood pack, and he would dream out loud about having their own pack to be a part of. He kept insisting Minho would be the perfect fit— even though Chan couldn’t really add him to a pack. Minho was still a minor. And minors can’t join packs. They belong to their childhood packs. In that hot minute Minho thrived under Chan’s attention. He’d want Chan to help him study, to come with him to buy bread, and always have some water bottle for Chan to open. Big glistering doe eyes and almost a baby-like attitude. Then, like somebody turned on the lights, he changed almost overnight. He had a snide remark for anything Chan said. Then he also snitched on him. And beat up some alpha during recess. Broke the poor guy’s nose and got away with only detention, because he’s a minor. Gloated about it loudly to Jisung, while Chan was there. 

He was probably manipulating Chan to get his way, and when he understood Chan’s hands were tied because he’s a minor, he just decided to show his real colors.

He glances at the rearview to see Minho looks a bit uncomfortable with the question, too. Chan wonders if he’s trying to remember what was it that caused the initial cog between them.

Thing is — Chan remembers it fondly now. Maybe because when he tries to summon the same hatred that used to come up before, the only thing that comes up is Minho ( cutely ) stomping away in rage from the store yesterday.

“Minho’s obsessed with—” He decides to go with what worked yesterday, just to see him squirm again. 

“Shut the fuck up.” He cuts him off, now geninuely scandalized.

“—He wrote that entire book just to fuck with me.”

“I did not!”

“You kind of did, though.” Hyunjin says, in a small voice; “You told me and Changbin that if you’re going to get a Pulitzer, you’ll thank Bang Chan in your speech.”

Chan glances at Minho’s face very briefly because the rearview mirror can’t cut it, he needs to see it. His ears are red .

“Did you now?”

“I only did it because you’ve inspired me, Hyung . You made it look so hard , I had to try for myself. Credit where it’s due.”

Ooff. The looks he gives him through the rearview mirror runs a chill up his back — and straight to his balls. 

Hyung . 

Wow.

Now that’s something he doesn’t hear coming out of Minho’s mouth often. 

“Didn’t you also call Changbin to ask what type of omegas Ch—” Hyunjin starts again, but Minho cuts him off, too; “Maybe I should call Changbin right now and tell him about the cute little nickname you gave him before you got together.”

“You wouldn’t .”

“I’m in a sharing mood, since you’re in a sharing mood."

Hyunjin squints at Minho and Minho squints at Hyunjin and Hyunjin relents, putting his palms together and bowing. “Fine.”

“Can I know the nickname?” Chan can’t help himself, a little too nosy. “Cross my heart, I won’t tell.” 

“No—”

“ Alpha Chode .” Minho speaks over him. 

“Hyung!”

They both speak over each other, and then start arguing, and Chan almost doubles down laughing.

.

As he’s parking his car in the small parking lot next to a small unsuspecting office building, he’s still snickering a little — but Hyunjin and Minho look instantly fine with each other and Minho even gets out of the car to help him fix his jacket.

Chan opens the window and leans closer to wish him luck, and off he goes.

Minho doesn’t climb in until the secretary accepts him at the front desk and he heads to the elevators.

“Are you sure it’s the right address?”

“Yup.”

“The building looks small and old.”

“All the buildings here look small and old.” Chan admits, and starts off his place.

The car already moves, when Minho says; “And where the hell do you think you’re going?”

“What do you mean? Back to town. I’ll drop you off at your house, if you want.”

“No — we’re waiting here until he’s done with his interview.”

“Why? I mean, he’s a big boy, he can take the bus. Worst case scenario, he can call me and I’ll pick him up.”

“Oh please, is your shop the hub of the city? It can wait for another hour.”

“What if he’s there for two hours? Or three? What if they decide to give him some testing or give him a tour?”

“What if he’ll get in and understand it’s actually porn auditions and they don’t let him leave? He’s too pretty for his own good.”

Chan snorts at that, but backs the car back into its spot. “How would you sitting in the car waiting for him help in that scenario?”

Minho doesn’t answer and doesn’t need to — the damage is done, and now Chan’s a little paranoid about leaving Hyunjin here alone, especially since the bus from here to town usually arrives every 3-4 hours — usually more frequently in early morning and late evenings, where people from town head to work and back home.

These are blue collar factory workers, who usually work in textiles or operating machinery. The area does look a bit better than Chan remembers it. Some buildings look like they’ve been renovated, and there’s a small square with a couple of shops.

There used to be a couple of popular resorts down by the other side of the lake a few decades ago, and people would pass through this zone while heading there. The big parking lot next to the rest spot had been turned into a juice factory, and the small shopping area that used to be filled with closed or rundown shops, had been replaced by restaurants and food stalls, and trees. It just looks greener overall.

Chan turns off the engine, sighs, and turns back to Minho.

It’s weird to have the Lee Minho , in flesh, in his car.

If before, it had been like having Satan himself sitting at his back seat — now it’s because all he’s seen of Minho the past year or so, was on the screen of his TV or in elusive little news snippets that kept popping up on the feed of his phone. It would take everything in him not to click just to read what he was up to or who he was seen with — and he never had good self control when it came to Minho.

He might not be the most popular omega celebrity in the city right now, but he’s fairly talked about. Book authors normally don’t count as celebrities — but his looks paired up with his attitude and the topic he brings to the table, sort of forced him into a celebrity spot.

But right now he’s wearing a simple sweater and a winter coat, paired up with baggy old jeans. Usually his hair is styled tastefully to the side, but now it’s freshly washed, and a little too trimmed — and Chan just wants to… he's not sure exactly what. Ruffle his hair. Shake him. Ruin him in some kind of way. Something inside of him is just howling at the fact that he’s sitting there, too comfortable, inside a territory that is predominantly Chan’s.

Minho sneers at him, eyebrows furrowed.

“So what do you want to do? Since we’re waiting.” Chan clears his throat. It’s not that he was staring, it’s just that it’s unusual. To have him there.

He relaxes even further into the seat, but looks like inside his head, he’s imagining Chan’s face is on fire, then, without even looking down, he clicks on his smartphone, until the screen flares to light and illuminates his chin.

He waits for another moment, then looks down on his smartphone and starts scrolling through notifications.

Chan snorts, turning back to the wheel.

Very performative. Okay then.

“What did you think we were going to do? Make out?”

“See — you make it weird by saying shit like that. And you constantly say shit like that.”

“Did I also made it weird when you were looking at me like I’m a piece of meat?”

“No, that I did on my own.” Chan laughs.

Although the expression on Minho’s face doesn’t change, Chan can tell from his features softened slightly. It’s still a little weird. He’s alone with an alpha in a car, pretty far off from the main town area — you’d think he’d be more on guard with Chan’s admission.

Chan wants to follow that up with something, but can’t find the right topic.

Which makes it awkward.

Chan rubs his nape for a moment. Looks out of the window. It’s already late morning, so there’s not much going on outside, besides vendors opening up their stalls for noon, and maybe a few occasional workers who jumped out for coffee. Chan preps his elbow on the car’s door, and leans his cheek on it. Then drums his fingers on the wheel.

Then watches Minho through the rearview mirror.

He doesn’t seem to mind the silence. He’s busy with his phone.

Chan should also take out his phone.

Maybe play something. He has tons of games to play. He also wanted to view a couple of interesting emails regarding editing jobs he was scoping for.

Minho shifts a bit to the left, so he could lift one of his knees on the seat next to him.

He lifts his eyes up to the rearview and catches Chan watching him, so Chan looks away.

“Go wait outside the car. You’re annoying me with your nervous energy.”

“It’s my car. If I’m annoying you by not doing anything, you can do the same.”

“Just a reminder that yesterday you were earnestly promising me that you’ll follow my lead and do as I say.”

“Considering you stormed out in a rush, I thought it was safe to say I don’t have to do that.”

Chan is just trying to annoy him, and it’s working, because he’s about to produce a death beam straight out of his eyes.

“I didn’t storm out, I just realized you don’t give a shit about the pack — therefore it was useless to even come and try talking to you about it.”

Chan turns to him so he can see his face; “Because if I cared about it enough, I’d be okay with letting you whore yourself to Juyeon?”

Minho rolls his eyes, head limply following them, as if what Chan said was so mentally tasking for his brain, it resulted in an aneurysm. So dramatic. Chan laughs.

It’s day and night with his mysterious author persona he has as a celebrity; chic and rather reserved.

“If you truly cared about the pack, then you’d care about the consequences of what you’re doing. The same way you care about your stupid ego with Juyeon. But you don’t. You’re not even planning to stay here for very long so…”

“I’m going to be very real with you right now, I think we’re just arguing out of habit, because otherwise I have no idea what the argument is about. I am a part of the pack, even if you didn’t give your okay on it, and I apologize that this is how it turned out. I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I do care about the pack and I do want to make it right but— what?” He realizes mid-sentence that Minho didn't stop talking because he trailed off for the sake of the argument, but rather, he stopped talking because his eyes are focused on something in the distance.

When Chan looks where he’s squinting at, all he sees is cars. There’s a car that just parked,

“So who’s this friend? That found Hyunjin a job? You cozy with him?” Minho turns his gaze back to Chan.

Chan rubs his hair, then sighs; “Is this again about me blindsiding you? It honestly happened days ago. I gave him a call, he said they’re still hiring, and that’s about it— If I’d know it’d be a big deal, I’d tell you.”

“How did the conversation start? Did he just randomly start talking about it?”

Chan rubs his head. It did seem a little random at the time. “He started talking about how they desperately need one… and asked if I know somebody with art skills from around town, in a by the way kind of way.”

“Knowing that you now live with Changbin.” Minho says this as a statement but still seeks the confirmation on Chan’s face, which he gets. “What’s his name?”

“Do Taechul.”

Minho shuts his eyes fast as if he’s expecting a punch. “Jaehyun’s pack.”

“I’m not trying to disagree here — but he’s one of the best friends I’ve had in my class. Are you sure it’s not a little paranoid to assume that he’s trying to get to Hyunjin through him and then me?”

“In high-school . Now you’re the perfect person to throw under the bus to improve his position in the pack. White car that just parked — that’s Jaehyun’s.”

“And there’s no reason for him to be here mid-day?”

“Nope. He works for the District. He’s usually in the office the entire day. He has no reason to be here. And Changbin’s tires were cut in the morning.”

Begrudgingly, that’s one too many coincidences in one day, even for Chan. Sudden job option in a small town. Changbin’s cut tires. And Jaehyun arrives just in time for Chan to hurry back to open the store.

Minho is already calling Hyunjin, but he gets to voicemail after three rings. Minho tries again, then shifts to the left, hiding himself behind the seat in front of his.

Jaehyun bends a little, just enough until he actually sees Chan and Chan sees him.

He doesn’t nod, not even to acknowledge that their eyes met — but there’s the kind of expression on his face that he’s already won the battle. He puts a bag under his armpit, and presses on his car keys before heading into the same building as Hyunjin walked into.

Chan watches him from the side mirror, but Minho does so from the rear window, hiding behind the car seat headrest — but he doesn’t need to because Jaehyun never looks back. Neither of them talks until he’s gone from sight.

Minho immediately climbs over to the front seat, and stares at him, for a second, as if he half expects Chan to talk first.

“This is uh — weird? What exactly are they planning to do here? Kidnap Hyunjin? In broad day light?”

“Fuck knows. Probably some legal issue he can get behind.”

“But why?”

“I told my parents I’ll be back only after the Seedening, he probably doesn’t expect me here. If something happens to Hyunjin — Changbin will explode. I think that’s his angle.”

“But this is so out of pocket — why go through the effort?”

“He likes playing the long game. Since we were kids. He knows once I’ll be here, I’d post bail on Hyunjin immediately, and then all the charges will be dropped. It’s probably just to get the Committee on our case, since there’s no good reason to look into us just yet.”

Chan rubs his face, a bit shocked somebody would pull such a stunt. Then again, that’s how he remembers his dad’s pack. Nibbling at each other to better their status in the hierarchy.

University life was starkly different for Chan. You just had to persevere and know when to back down. But these kind of transparent bullshit would stink a mile away, and was normally frowned upon. You’d need to be pretty subtle and deadly, if you want to have one up on a fellow alpha.

Minho looks around, and opens the glove compartment, and takes out a couple of papers; “Go there, and pretend Hyunjin forgot his CV.” He shoves them at Chan. “Then get him out of there. Just don’t throw punches.”

“Uh — don’t take this the wrong way, but the way he looked at me just now? He totally wanted me to get suspicious.”

“Doesn’t matter right now. Probably wants you to make a scene. Don’t make a scene.” He’s already putting the phone to his ear, and pushing him out. “Give me 5 minutes. I’ll call Changbin and my mom.”

All the way to the front desk, Chan is thinking about why Minho needs to call his mom right now of all times.

The lady at the desk looks very inclined to help him, until Chan mentions that Hyunjin is the tall blond omega that walked in around 15 minutes ago.

She sits back down on her chair and says; “I’m very sorry, sir — I can’t let strangers in. Ask him to come down, if it’s important.” and gets busy with her computer, no longer interested in him.

It’s a little bit frustrating, but thankfully Chan doesn’t need to beg with her further, because the elevator comes down, with Jaehyun and Hyunjin, and building security.

Jaehyun is holding onto Hyunjin’s nape, too, and Hyunjin is holding something to his nose. 

Chan’s adrenalin skyrockets upon realizing it’s a bloodied napkin.

“What’s going on?” He rushes to Hyunjin and smacks Jaehyun’s hand off him, before the  security guard puts his hands up.

“Sorry, man.” Jaehyun tells him, but doesn’t put his hand back onto Hyunjin’s nape; “He’s waiting for a Committee Car.”

Committee means he went against The Rules, which is shit. He’s far too smug about this. This all went much better than his plan.

“Based on what charges?”

“Bullshit charges.” Hyunjin says.

“Stalking and assaulting his ex’s new omega.”

“Ex’s?” Chan and Hyunjin both say this at the same time.

“Kang Jimin is Kim Dongsoo’s mate. Which you obviously knew when you came here.”

Hyunjin eye twitches; “Give me a fucking break, if they are dating — which I doubt — they won’t last until the Seedening. She’s been obsessed with Changbin for years now and needs to sit her hoe ass down.”

“What happened, exactly?” Chan asks, because 

“She also came to have an interview here, what a fucking coincidence! That sniveling cunt started offering me friendly tips on how to please my alpha. She dated him for three months, and she was giving me tips? I slapped her across her shit-eating dick-shaped face.”

So much for restraining himself off Changbin.

Chan takes back on thinking that Hyunjin sees Changbin as a rebound.

Chan vaguely remembers Jimin, too. She was following Changbin around, a few years back. Everywhere Changbin went, she’d turn up too. Remembers how the whole pack was giggling about it.

“Well, I’m sure the Committee officers would love to hear all about it, too.” Jaehyun shrugs, and puts the phone to his ear. 

Hyunjin holds his nose up, lifting the napkin and Chan hands him the napkins off the reception table.

Security tries to stop him for a second, but Chan gives him a long look, and the man allows him, clearly too underpaid to get between them.

Chan helps Hyunjin hold his head up, as he holds the napkin to his nose. “Broken?” He asks gently.

“I don’t think so.” He says.

“So what did she look like?”

Hyunjin makes a weird noise; “Dumb bitch packs a punch. Threw me across the fucking room.”

“Ooff.” Chan snorts; “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. Minho will be disappointed.”

“Jisung is already his favorite child, anyway.” Hyunjin sniffs again. “But yes, please don’t tell him that.” 

The elevator arrives again and out of it come out some company HR staff member and a Committee official. Chan recognizes the green and red and white pin on her stern black business suit. 

She’s a higher up, quite clearly, since she’s not even in uniform. 

How weird that she was there, in this very same building, exactly during the time of Hyunjin’s interview.

They both immediately turn to Jaehyun, considering he’s the biggest fish of the bunch, to hear his recounting of the issue. 

Hyunjin attacked an omega who was just there for an interview. His ex’s new mate. He’s been stalking her for months now, according to him.

“That’s a little too convenient, isn’t it? Also I’m confused on how this is a Committee issue worthy of arrest?” He turns back to them, still nursing Hyunjin’s nose; “And having the DA involved is a bit excessive, isn’t it? How exactly was he able to come here so far to assist on the issue.”

“I came here to support my omega’s interview and witnessed a second assault against my omegas by their pack.” Jaehyun explains to the Committee officer.

“Considering it’s your omegas that keep harassing—”

“You don’t have proof of that. While this is the second time one of your omegas was caught throwing the first punch. Either you have something against my pack, or you’re a bunch of unhinged omegas that have no business staying together.”

Jaehyun is a lawyer. He probably went through Alpha Year, and then went to university, just like Chan. Maybe even a prestigious university, considering his high position. He knows how to play the alpha game.

But so does Chan, and he has nothing to lose.

“Hey — I remember you.” He smiles; “Weren’t you one of the alphas that couldn’t make it to the forest line a few years back?”

Jaehyun's smug expression is immediately replaced with one of contained anger.

They didn’t spoke since, but he remembered Chan well enough to have a hate-boner for him (according to Minho) — Chan however, wasn’t here for years. He can act a fool.

“Must be mistaking me for somebody else.” He looks away to check his watch.

“No… I’m pretty sure it was you. That neck scar and all.”

Now everybody noticed it, despite the tall collar Jaehyun was wearing.

Scars are already pretty humiliating on their own. They’re a show of lack of self-control. But now the entire room knows that Jaehyun isn’t a cool headed disciplined alpha he wants them all to think he is. Even the secretary at the front desk cranes her neck to see it, and when Jaehyun glances at her, she quickly looks away to her computer, pretending to be busy.

The committee officer noticed, too, but she still turns to Chan and then to Hyunjin.

“Good to see you up on your legs.” Chan gives Jaehyun a pat on the arm. He ignores the way Jaehyun is looking at him; “They did a pretty bad one on you, didn’t they?”

“Well,” The committee officer gets impatient; “This will need to be looked into, considering it’s a second, open assault.”

“Hyunjin came here for a scheduled interview.” Chan tells her. “The secretary here can confirm it. And he had no idea that this is his ex’s new mate — if anything, he knows her from around as his mate’s stalker.”

“Well, isn’t that convenient?” Jaehyun smirks, because he knows how that sounds. He planned for it.

“I’m also pretty sure if you can check for it, you won’t find Choi Jimin registered under Jaehyun’s pack. Which means Hyunjin didn’t know she’s in Jaehyun’s pack or dating Dongsoo.”

“Not yet— but she will be.” Jaehyun immediately jumps up to confirm it.

“It’s a misunderstanding at best.” Chan agrees.

“This man isn’t even a part of their pack — if you could call them so. They’re just a bunch of strays banding together. Not even registered.”

“Jimin not being an official pack member of your pack doesn’t stop you from calling her your omega, does it? We’re a pack like any pack.”

“A pack led by a Luna.” Jaehyun chuckles, making an easy joke out of it.

Committee officers need to take special chemicals to remove any scents or pheromones off of them. For them to be judges and observers, they have to be elevated from the rest of them. Genderless. 

But Chan can tell by how the committee officer gaze straightens on Jaehyun, that she is an omega herself. Even if she doesn’t agree with the sentiment, she is not amused by the joke. By the rules a Luna can lead a pack, even if it’s unheard of in these parts. 

“I see.” The woman looks at Chan. She must have thought he’s the alpha. “Unregistered omega with no alpha speaking over him — he will be detained for questioning and written up.”

“This is bullshit!” Hyunjin says behind him.

“The rules are against you.” She tells him; “You need to be questioned.” 

It’s one thing when Jisung, a completely unrelated omega beats up another omega — but it’s another when past partners are involved. Even if it’ll be checked, whatever Jimin and Changbin had was years and years ago, while Hyunjin’s unbonding happened two summers ago.

“I will back him.” Chan says. His record is clean. He’s from the city and served Alpha Year. If he takes responsibility, they’ll lessen whatever charges they put against Hyunjin. If Changbin takes responsibility, it’ll look even worse since he’s Hyunjin’s new partner. 

“You can’t just take responsibility for him, you’re not his mate. And—” Jaehyun is already opening his mouth to add something to it, when his face completely pales.

Chan looks behind him, and sees Minho arriving at the door.

“Why is my omega hurt and not tended to?” Is the first words out of his mouth, when he beelines to Hyunjin, taking the tissue off his nose to see the damage. Hyunjin almost whines at his rough handling; “I’m fine, I’m fine— ow!”

Minho shoves the napkin back into his nose.

“Obviously you’re not. I will contact my agent, back in the city. Let’s see what he says against discriminatory behavior against Lunas.” Minho shoves the napkin back into his nose, and Hyunjin grunts in pain. 

“Surely you’re not serious,” The HR staff member laughs, and then turns to the secretary who immediately starts rummaging for a first aid kit. “He’ll be tended to in a moment once we settle this.” 

“Settle what, exactly?”

“Hyunjin slapped Jimin.” Chan half snorts when he explains this, because it’s funny; “So now they’re taking him into Committee Detainment for questioning.” 

“Jimin — Changbin’s ex?”

“Dongsoo’s new mate, Kang Jimin, yes.” Juyeon reminds, quickly glancing at the Committee Officer.

“Dongsoo’s?” Minho is the one laughing now. “This is delusional. And you’re taking Hyunjin into detainment for that?” Although he’s saying that to the officer, he’s staring at Jaehyun who looks incredibly uncomfortable with Minho being there. “Let’s hope that the media doesn’t hear about this nifty little trick.”

The officer looks like she’s getting very tired from this. “Luna Lee Minho, I presume? Your name precedes you.”

“As it should.”

“Is this omega under your care?”

“Yes, he is.”

“This is a second assault under your pack name. Regardless of the circumstances, the rules demand consequences.” 

“Second—” Minho looks at Chan, but before Chan can oppose, Hyunjin clears his throat loudly, even though they all can clearly hear him saying; “Han Jisung.” 

Minho clicks his tongue and takes a deep inhale; “Alright, I’ll take responsibility.” 

“Hyung, no.” Hyunjin pulls at his coat. “It’s fine.” 

They’ll strip Minho out of his Luna status. Make an example of him. Chan catches Minho’s eyes for a moment. 

“I’ll take responsibility.” Chan says to Minho first, and when he doesn’t oppose, he turns to the officer. This is the best way they’ll come out of this with as few consequences as possible, and he knows it. 

“Do you name him your alpha?” The officer asks Hyunjin.

“Yes.” Minho answers for him, and Hyunjin nods in turn, though a little hesitant.

“He is unregistered — they are an unregistered pack.” Jaehyun shakes his head.

“So is the omega that is under your care.” The officer reminds Jaehyun again. 

The Committee car stops right at the entrance of the building, and the officer nods at the guard to lead Hyunjin into it, then nods to Chan too. 

He loiters a little with Minho, then turns to him and reaches his hand out with his keys; “Can you get Han Jisung to open the store for me? He’s probably still sleeping.” He hands him the keys. 

Their hands touch when Minho takes it. 

He nods slowly, eyes big, and lower lip sucked in. Chan can’t tell if he’s angry or just surprised. 

He’s also looking into his eyes as if he’s looking to find somewhere there, like traces of deceit. 

“Tomorrow they’ll name somebody else, this is prosperous.” Jaehyun is telling the officer, and they’re both distracted by it momentarily, before Chan is pushed by one of the uniformed officers into the car, next to Hyunjin. 

.

To be fair, he’s back home before 6pm.

Hyunjin is immediately inside the refrigerator because all they gave him is stale cookies and coffee — Chan heads to the store, without even changing his clothes, even though he feels a little disgusting after getting all sweaty during the two hour questioning.

He half expects Jisung to be there, but it’s actually Minho, sitting on the counter, reading out loud to his little brother, who is writing down notes.

Chan remembers he promised he’ll sit with him on his literature homework.

After answering that he did, in fact, get arrested, but no, they did not cuff him or push him into the car, nor did they shine a light into his face while asking him questions — his brother heads inside to find him some left over food that Minho made them for lunch, since Chan is starving.

“You told my 12 year old brother I got arrested?” Chan questions it; “I’m trying to set a good example here.”

“That train already passed.” Minho jumps off the counter; “Better they hear it from me and from you, then some classmate tomorrow. And trust me, by noon, some hussy already came in to ask if you’ve actually been detained or if it’s just rumors. News travels fast around here.”

“ Hussy .” Chan repeats after him and peels the coat off of himself.

He desperately just wants to shower and sleep it off. He’s surprised they even let them out easily, usually detainment means a couple of days.

“Your dad’s alpha also came around an hour ago to snoop on what happened to you.”

“What’s you tell him?” Chan goes behind the counter, just to check on the scheduling. He’s surprised to find out that Minho was able to receive all the shipments that came in today, too.

“To politely fuck off.”

“Politely?” Chan looks up from the papers.

Minho leans back on the counter he was just sitting at, uncrossing his hands from his chest. “I can be polite. When I want to be.”

Chan realizes that they’re a lot closer than what he’d normally allow himself. In each other’s space.

He doesn’t smell as clean as he smelled in the morning. There’s a slight scent of sweat on him, heightened by the scent of spices and overly sticky vanilla, and his own scent — marred with the green employee vest, the one Chan has been wearing for weeks now without washing.

And yet Chan wants to ruin him all the same. Rub himself all over him — no, even that won’t be enough. Even with the sweet collision of their scents in his nose, he wants to just spoil him in some way. Leave a mark. He wants to be inside of him.

Minho looks away first, and nods toward the papers in Chan’s hand. “Your sister helped me out with some stuff, I wasn’t sure about — but I marked with a red pen a couple of things both me and her didn’t know. Also noted down everything in the bookkeeping-book-thing .” He taps the small notebook Chan keeps for tracking down all the shipments.

“Thank you.” He makes sure to catch Minho’s eyes when he says that, just because he truly wants to express his sincerity.

Minho nods slowly, pursing his lips, before pushing away from the counter; “So — what’s the damage?”

Chan rubs his cheek. “Hyunjin is stripped of his Luna status. I was fined for both cases of violence, an account of unregistered pack keeping, and they also threw in Unsolicited Presenting into my record, because why the hell not.”

“Yikes. So what are you looking at?”

“8 thousand bucks for damages. I’m pretty sure Jaehyun asked for more — but because I was cooperative and signed all their forms and agreed to all their terms… they let me off easy. I also got 4 months on probation, since it’s my first offense. And 6 months stripped out of Full Alpha Rights.”

That last one is probably the worst blow out of everything. Hyunjin would be able to regain Luna status in a couple of months, but you can’t regain Alpha Rights. He won’t be able to travel out of town, not even if he’d get a tourist permit. He won’t be able to start a business and his freelancing options would be only within the county. They also won’t be able to register as pack, with him as the alpha, nor would he be able to register a bond — not that this was what he was anticipating in the near future. There’s also another million of other nuances to it, but those were probably the worst ones. Chan was dead weight on the pack like this. Lower in position than an Omega.

Yet he still considered it a pretty easy sentence. They could’ve just as easily stripped him off these rights for a year or two. 

“I’ll pay—”

“It’s fine, I’ve actually saved up a little—”

“We’re a pack.” Minho cuts him off. “And you took the fall for my unruly omegas. I’m paying.”

Chan still feels a bit unpleasant about it. “We can split.”

Minho sighs, but doesn’t say anything, just walks out of the counter, unbuttoning the vest. “You should close up early and head to shower. You stink like Committee Jail, and you need to be presentable tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow—” Chan pauses; “For the Seedening…? Is it a good idea for me to come at this point?”

“Jeongin’s family is short on one, and you already promised. So yes.” Nothing passes by him, that’s for sure. “It’ll also look good if we’re all there. Politically. People will see you’re not detained and we were not dissipated as a pack.”

Chan nods absently, a bit nervous.

He takes off his vest and puts it next to Chan’s coat, then starts rummaging inside Chan’s coat.

“Besides, I’ve had enough of your crap. From now on, you’re not moving a muscle before explicitly telling me where you’re going, who you’re going with, and what words you’re speaking to them. I don’t care if it’s even suppliers. You’re exposed to too many people, and you’re a huge liability.” He finally fishes out Chan’s phone, then shoves it into Chan’s face, until the face recognition feature unlocks it, then pulls it back so he can scroll around.

“Damn.” Chan snorts, but doesn’t even try to get it from him. It’s not like there’s something in there that he wants to hide. “Am I grounded?”

“I can’t have you acting like a tactless toddler with both the Committee and Jaehyun breathing down our neck, so yes. In a way, you are.”

Chan grunts; “I’m just — that was totally my fault. Today. God. I fucked up bad .” He buries his face into his hands; “Jesus, at some point he was almost part of the pack. Taechul, I mean — I just didn’t expect him to pull that sort of shit on me. He’s fathering two kids, for god’s sake. It feels almost juvenile to set us up like that.”

He’s not sure why he’s so devastated and so exhausted all of the sudden — and why in front of Minho, out of all people. 

For the entire questioning, he was pretty agreeable and easy going. It’s not like there was much he could do at this point, besides tell the truth how he knew it. It’s not like the officers would be impressed if he was stressed and crying the entire time. 

Now though, he wants to cry. Just out of mental tiredness, if not anything else. 

He rubs his face a little too hard until he notices that Minho is watching above the phone. That makes him recollect himself pretty fast.

“It’s just how it works around here.” Minho says that carefully, slowly. “And I don’t have the time to wait around until you do better.”

Chan nods. “I’m a fast learner — and I did agree to do as you say.”

“You did.” He puts his phone on the counter, having seen what he needed to see, then reaches out and runs a hand on Chan’s cheek.

It’s incredibly soft and sudden, and perhaps out of force of habit, Chan catches onto it.

They stare at each other for a moment. 

“Shave." Minho tells him, before pulling his hand out of his grip. “That five o’clock shadow is embarrassing.”

“I feel like you’re trying to say something nice, but you’re missing the spot.”

“I’m not trying to be nice. Rest assured.”

“Even though I did something nice by taking responsibility?”

“You’ve been nothing but a pain in my butt for years, you should be thankful I don’t spit in your face.”

“Maybe you should. For the sake of transparency, and getting old grudges go.”

Minho squints at him. 

“No. I’m getting the feeling like you’d enjoy that, which will ruin it for me.” He takes his coat off the hanger near the door.

Chan laughs then bids him goodbye, although Minho doesn’t repay the courtesy.

When he unlocks his phone, just to see that Minho added his phone number, so the very first thing Chan reports to him is that the stir-fried he cooked for lunch is delicious.

He leaves him on seen.

Chan also reports to him that he made it back home in one piece and he didn’t speak with anybody on the way.

Still no reply, but his message becomes seen after a moment. 

Chan is so tempted to send him more reports, just to see what will trigger a response but decides ultimately against it — he still keeps staring at the opened chatroom for a while, although Minho didn’t send back a single word back yet.

.

Wolves love the spring. 

It’s the time when the forest awakens out of its long cold slumber. Winter coats come off, pheromones surge, and couples find each other. It’s a time of Renewal. No wonder their year doesn’t really start until spring. 

He can almost smell the change when he heads down a jog early in the morning. The sun is erupting out of the horizon, hot pink and warm. This time of the morning, the city would be dead, but in town, it’s usually when the farmers head to the fields, so Chan always meets people. 

Not today, though. Today is the first new moon of March. The very start of spring. Seedening. 

Chan hadn’t been on the day of the Seedening in town since High School. He’d come to town during the winter holidays, now and then, but usually the Seedening was right before his exams. The city doesn’t celebrate it either. There’s no fields to plow and no winter crop to remove off the ground. 

The streets are empty of people. The cars are all in the driveways. It rained just a tad during the night, but everything still smells damp. 

He jogs all the way up the hill of town for some reason, liking the emptiness of the streets, and right at the corner turn, there’s a row of run down buildings nobody lives in, and dirt road leading the the forest. 

Chan isn’t sure what takes over him. He already runs past the dirt road, when he makes a U-turn in the middle of the road. 

It’s been awhile since he’s been in an actual forest. 

He rests his hands on his knees, having a breather, then takes in the scent of the forest.

He feels like his lungs are washed from every single dirty particle. 

His eyes almost close in on themselves as he breathes in again. 

He feels it in his bloodstream too, now. 

It’s a rush decision. 

Chan hasn’t fully transformed in years.

Last he did, he was a junior at university. He was never that inclined for Forest Runs, either way. He didn’t like his appearance as a wolf. But he was terribly homesick that year, so he decided to do it on a full moon, once. 

There’s not that many places to run in the city. It’s also considered wayward to roam the streets transformed, so pretty much everybody heads down to the Preserve.

Chan didn’t like it there. It’s not a preserve, exactly, it’s a park . Lawn grass that’s been freshly mowed under his paws, and trimmed trees, and every step he takes, there’s another wolf, or a bunch of alphas raising up in alert when they see him, ready to attack, despite the fact that Chan didn’t pose any threat other than his appearance.

Chan never came back.

He takes off his hoodie in a rush, and then his running shorts, before he unbecomes. 

It all happens so fast, and he immediately goes into a sprint. 

He has no idea where he’s running — but he runs. 

His joints feel a little weak at first. It’s a given. They haven’t been used properly for years — but he gets the hang of it pretty fast. His body remembers. 

He stops in the middle of the forest, and he hears everything and smells everything. 

A bunch of talkative crows above him. A bunny burrowing somewhere around. Insects. Fungi. A million types of plants and trees, all interconnected together into a web right below him. Shaking off the last frosts, and waking up. All around him everywhere. 

Everything is alive. And so is he. 

.

When he’s back home Hyunjin is already putting sunscreen on Changbin’s neck, questioning why he took so long. 

Chan has no idea. The last hours feel like a fever dream, and his body is still buzzing with new energy — one he hadn’t felt for awhile. 

He shaves. 

Texts Minho he shaved. 

Then he has a quick shower. 

Texts Minho he showered. 

Then he pees. 

And texts Minho that the color of his pee is pale yellow. 

Finally a reply comes along. 

“ I see now why this was a bad idea .” Is what Minho texts back, and it makes Chan grin all the way to the fields in the car. 

His dad’s alpha owns two small motels, both of which are the only accommodations in town that aren’t the rentals up next to the lake, so he’s a pretty well respected and known alpha. All the betas in the pack have some minor businesses around the area or work in the factories — nothing that would potentially in any way put them into a higher position than him. Having a beta with actual land will always put him in a potential disadvantage, so Chan never actually experienced a proper seedening, like how it was supposed to happen. 

He went to help for a couple of hours in late afternoon with some classmates during his senior year of highschool, but most of the time they fucked around. After that he had a pack, and none of them had lands either. 

Now that he’s an adult, he doesn’t mind the physical labor. In fact, he feels overly excited from the moment they arrive. Especially after the high boost from his run in the morning. Not sure if it’s because he actually wants to work, or if he’s excited for Minho to judge his fresh shave. Maybe touch his cheek or something. Like he did last night. 

“You have less hair than a lab rat, and this is your best effort at shaving.” Is what Minho says when Chan just climbs out of the car. He probably means where Chan nicked himself on the chin. Chan was sure it already healed on the way there. He touches it, and it’s already just a pink tissue. Moments before disappearing. “Should probably focus on that more than choosing the right pantone for the color of your pee.” 

What Chan hears is that he got noticed and greeted first. His efforts were seen and noted. He grins, even if Minho hitches his chin up and immediately heads over to fuss over Hyunjin’s nose. It looks a bit bloated, but that’s pretty much it. 

Minho immediately squirts half a bottle of sunscreen on it, despite Hyunjin’s protests. 

He came to work, so he’s clad in a simple black shirt and a pair of old pants and big rubber boots. Felix and Jisung, too, always following his example.

They’re just a bit late. Hyunjin thankfully doesn’t say that it’s because Chan took his sweet time.  Felix is already all creamed up, blond hair tied up into a bun on top of his head. Jisung looks like he wants to be anywhere other than exactly there. He’s wearing his sweatshirt backwards. Most likely been dragged by his hair out of his bed, since he did not bother to comb it.

Jeongin’s alpha mom is there, and she seems like a stern hard boiled lady. She owns most of the lands in the pack and manages her brother, the alpha’s, lands too. A few other adults from Minho’s pack are there too. All alphas. They all squint at Chan when he introduces himself. 

Jeongin’s two brothers, one older and one younger, both look at him up to down, like their opinion of him is extremely low, and after nodding immediately turn to suck up to Minho, touching his nape and his arm and telling him it's been long since they last saw him. 

Chan runs a hand in his hair, a bit nervous.

He’s not sure if he should’ve offered to shake hands or something. 

But when they unload a bunch of tools off the cart with Changbin he assures him. “Their entire litter is just alphas. Minho is the only omega.” He shrugs; “Look at that. No wonder he is the way he is. He probably can get away with murder.” 

Chan turns around to witness three other alphas flocking around Minho, one of them fitting the bucket hat back onto Minho’s head, telling him he looks cute. It’s obvious they didn’t know he’s coming or even in town. Minho slaps his hand off, rolling his eyes, before he puts his sunglasses back on making the others burst out laughing. 

“That’s for sure.” Chan dumps a couple of tools at Changbin, perhaps a bit too strongly, because he also topples over, and glares at him. 

“Slow down, for crying out loud. How in the world are you this energetic after jogging all morning?” He complains. 

Assignments are done quickly and efficiently. Jeongin’s mom doesn’t waste time. 

They’re done with their very first plot by 10 o’clock. 

The soil is either gooey mud or hardened by the winter, so it’s not exactly a piece of cake, but they make quick work of it. 

Jeongin’s mom looks a bit impressed with them, and gives them one more plot to work on, this one is much closer to the forest, where the ground is much more stiff. It’s obvious this is where the snow receded last, because the ground feels like stone. They all help out together at first, but then Jisung finds he can nap at the back of Chan’s pickup. And Felix and Hyunjin and Minho decide to help with the winter crop. 

It’s hot before noon hits, despite it being early march.

He’s sweaty, dirty, and sticky everywhere. Now there’s more people in the fields with them. Lee Minhyuk, yet another alpha from Minho’s childhood pack. He’s the only one who so far shook Chan’s hand and seemed friendly with him, so Chan likes him. He’s also a doctor in the local hospital, so  only finished his overnight shift at the hospital, helps them with the field, chatting animatedly with Felix and Changbin as they go. 

That’s when the first omega catches him by the truck with a cup of water. To quench his thirst. 

There’s a group of giggling omegas behind her. 

And when Chan thanks her, she turns to Changbin, who is about to take it and then gets a “I don’t think so!” from Hyunjin off the field. “If you want water, come here, and I’ll spit into your mouth, babe!”

“Thank you, babe!” Changbin replies loudly back, his expression somewhere between annoyed and flattered. He nods to the omega, and apologizes and she seems a bit off put by this and runs back to her friends. 

The second one is upon him right as he takes off his hoodie, asking him if he’s any good with a shovel, and if he can show him some techniques. 

Ah, right. Chan forgot about that part. Most single omegas and alphas of running age find that it’s the perfect time to meet potential mates before the big Run in late Spring. Alpha-omega etiquette forbids alphas from approaching omegas, unless on social events and even then, there’s strict rules about what’s allowed and what isn’t. You’d have to mind the rules, too. In the city, omegas wouldn’t be caught dead approaching alphas, either. They’re not desperate for a mate or affections. But here, in his tiny rural town, they don’t seem to give a crap.

If they like you, they will try their luck.

And Chan probably smells like he’s looking for it, too. 

“The only shoveling technique he knows about is getting a face full of shovel when he accidentally steps on one.” Minho comments loudly, and hands the hoodie back to Chan. 

He is technically right and Chan has no problem to admit that. He considers himself more of a city boy, by now. “Yeah, I’m not exactly a plowing expert.” Apparently not knowing how to plow is a turn off. Chan wasn’t aware. Maybe it’s the euphemism.

It makes Minho snort. So it’s a win. 

Once he’s further away, Minho turns back to him. Looks pointedly at the hoodie, then pointedly at Chan. “You have five seconds to wear that back, or else you head back home and lock yourself in for the rest of the day.” 

“Why? I’m hot.” 

“Four.” 

“Are you serious?”

“Three.” 

“Is it because it’s a sleeveless or—”

“Two.” 

Chan begrudgingly wears the hoodie back, even though it’s a bit sweaty by now, half-laughing at himself for even listening.

Minho applies some more sunscreen on his nose, seemingly disinterested now that Chan is back in his hoodie, but when another omega comes around, Minho embarks out of the greenhouse nearby with a few winter crop cabbages and furrowed eyebrows; “Oh my god, Tiffany, do you really want another round of Chlamydia? You don’t know what kind of STD he caught in the city.”

That makes Chan laugh, but also earns them both a glare and a dramatic storm off.

Anybody who even comes close to Chan henceforth is dismissed, humiliated, or convinced that Chan can’t have children because his balls somehow got cut off in a freak accident. 

Even when Chan is convinced he’s further away, he somehow appears, like out of a porthole and finds a way to fit himself into conversation in the pettiest way.

A grown ass adult. Who is a published author, with a critically acclaimed, highly awarded book. 

Orbiting around him like a fly over dung. 

The last omega that approaches Chan waits for him politely to finish loading the tools back onto the pickup, so he could talk to him. He’s clearly on the shier side. 

It’s nearing midnoon and they’re done with the plot. Chan sweated through his hoodie, at the end Minho also threw a cabbage at his face so he landed inside a muddy patch, and now he can feel the dirt all over him. 

Minho just finished nagging the pack about reapplying sunscreen, and for a moment, Chan thinks he’s not going to tell him anything, since he got sick of it, but 

“See that rash he has happening on his face?” Minho tells him, gesturing toward Chan with his face, while applying sunscreen on Changbin’s neck aggressively because the poor guy refused to do so himself; “Poor thing is allergic to omega slick but just wouldn’t stop gobbling that shit up. Just wait until it bakes in the sun. It’ll swell into big blisters. Quite a look.”

The guy looks shell-shocked.

“Oh, I’m not — not his mate or anything, don’t worry. He just really likes eating ass, so sometimes I just indulge him. He’s not very good at it, either. Feel free to take him off my hands.”

Chan is shocked, too. He’s literally standing right there. 

Changbin is pressing his lips together, so he doesn’t burst into laughter.

“My face is red because you threw a cauliflower into it!” He’s not sure if he should be scandalized or amused.

“I already apologized, didn’t I?” He dismisses him, then turns back to the omega. “I keep forgetting his reflexes are all dulled from studying literature in the big city.” He makes literature sound like garbage . 

Chan can’t help but snort, shaking his head in disbelief, as he picks the last armful and lifts it up on the pickup. “And trust me, if I was eating you out, the last you’d want is to gloat about it.”

“Why’s that?” 

“Because the second rule of Gaslight Gatekeep Omegaboss is gatekeep.”

Minho rolls his eyes, and wipes both of his hands on Changbin’s black shirt, which makes Changbin raise his voice at him, saying how hard it is to get sunscreen off black cotton shirts.  The omega disappears when Jisung brings him a spare shirt to wipe his face from sweat. 

Chan kind of gets him — he could’ve at any point, at least acknowledged his presence by the truck but instead he was talking directly at Minho. 

It’s not on purpose, it’s just that he’s genuinely interested in what Minho will reply to — what his reaction will be. 

The more he thinks about it, the more he realizes this isn’t new. He was like this during highschool, too. No wonder Minho was leashing out on him. Chan was actively pushing all his attention on him, singling him out constantly. 

It wasn’t Jisung and Minho who started a fight with a bunch of omega from another pack. It was Minho. Always putting sticks in his wheel. Minho, who actively spreads rumors about him. Minho who constantly talks back, even when Chan is his senior. 

No wonder the guy would retaliate. And then it’s just negative feedback on a loop. 

He gives Minho another look, when he’s on top of the truck, making space so he could close it before they go. He’s retelling the others about something in the city and they all burst out laughing when he deadpans. 

A few alphas tried helping them out on the field in an attempt to talk to Felix here and there, and whenever they do Minho disappears in the greenhouse or behind the car, making himself scarce, unless he knows them. Apparently last year he was mobbed by fans and anti-fans alike. Even a few government and municipality officials came to speak with him and the image he’s giving to town. That’s why he’s wearing baggy clothes, hat and sunglasses, even though, if you knew him even a little, you’d immediately know it’s him from just the way he walks. 

Maybe that’s just Chan, though. 

They head to the main dirt road of the fields, only to be met with large crowds, and small visibility.

Changbin can’t even drive through because there’s so many people on the dirt road leading back. Some are actually here to help out, some are dolled up. Lots of children. 

Changbin curses silently, because he needs to wait until people pass by so he can turn away from the main road to lead back to the fields closer to the fields Minho’s pack owns. At least it looks less crowded there, though still busier than it was during the morning, wether it’s omegas with water bottles, or alphas ground around with tools or hauling winter crops around. 

Minho is talking on the phone with one of the Alphas from his childhood pack, whose waiting on them with the tools, when Chan detects his old classmate in the crowd. 

He’s looking to the back of the pickup. Felix is there, along with Minhyuk and his friend — animatedly chatting — and when he looks into the window, he catches Chan’s stare. 

He probably wouldn’t even noticed him if the car was moving. 

It’s not like Chan was going to get out of the car and confront him — they both know Chan isn’t very volatile — but he immediately loses eye contact and bolts out of his spot, running down the dirt road they’re about to turn to. 

Chan was already having an iffy feeling, and although he wasn’t particularly bothered by seeing him around the main ground, he was more unsettled by the direction to which he ran to. 

“God damn it, reception is shit out here. What the hell is his problem?” Minho hangs up again.

“Just stop answering him.” Hyunjin says; “What does he even want?” 

“No idea. Maybe they’re out of tools?” 

Changbin starts off his place, sighing, when Chan tells him to stop the car. 

He looks back at Minho; “Let me guess. The person who’s calling is on friendly terms with Jaehyun.” 

“I guess.” Minho narrows his eyes. “Why?”

“Just saw Do Taechul running up the road. They want us to head back so they can make a scene.” 

“What the fuck for?” Changbin says. 

“Can’t he just take yesterday’s win and leave?” Hyunjin rubs his face.

“Will we be forced to interact with their pack? Because I might have said some stuff...” Jisung trails off, fully ignoring how Minho whips his head to him. 

“What stuff?” 

“First of all, they were bullying Hyunjin. And Felix. And Felix is an innocent soul. He never did anything bad ever in his life. Look at that angelic face.” Jisung looks back. “Somebody had to stand up for his right— and Hyunjin’s.”

Minhyuk notices they’re talking about them and pushes the window that leads to the back of the pickup; “Why are we stopping? You need directions?”

“No.” Minho sighs, rubbing his face.  

“We’re thinking Jaehyun and his pack are waiting for us where Auntie is.” Hyunjin informs him instead.

“That’s great.” Minhyuk doesn’t seem to be mind; “You’ll be there all together, a united front. And I’ll be there too. There’s very little he can say or do unless he wants to start an ugly fight right then and there. ” 

“That’s exactly what he wants, though.” Chan returns; “It’ll be incredibly public. Right in the middle of Minho’s pack. I don’t particularly know the guy, but he wouldn’t be there, unless he already cooked up something.”

“We’re heading home.” Minho decides. “I’ll drive the truck back to Auntie tomorrow morning.” 

“Are you serious?” Minhyuk frowns. “This is the perfect time to show that you’re not scared of him.”

“I’d rather pick my battles, then head straight for a needless one.” Minho decides.

“If you want to make a good political stance against him, now would be the perfect time to show up. Although most of the adults might stand back on this, the litter will all have your back as will I.” He turns to talk to Chan for this, when he sees Minho isn’t looking back at him. “Alphas understand power. This is a perfect chance to exhibit it.” 

Chan knows why he turned to him to say this. Because he knows that Chan would agree. After spending the entire day yesterday in the Committee Investigation room, Chan wants nothing but to fight back somehow. 

Minho is carefully looking at Chan, too. Almost as if he wants to hear his opinion. 

He hesitates for a millisecond. 

He’s been wrong one time too many, and he did promise Minho he’ll do what he’ll say. And to be fair, he himself has a bad gut feeling.

“He’s calling the shots. We’re going home.”

Minhyuk sighs, a bit disappointed, but taps on the roof. “Then we’ll get down. Still need to show my face there, otherwise Auntie will kick my ass.” 

“Will you be fine walking all the way there, though?” Felix asks. “It’s a pretty long walk.”

“I bet we can hitch with somebody driving by.” Minhyuk is already dropping off the car, followed by his alpha friend, who is saying something to him Chan can no longer hear with all the commotion and people outside the car. 

“Can you reverse without driving over people?” 

“I can try.” Changbin says. 

“Buckle up — and maybe get Felix in here, I feel like it’s going to be a bumpy ride.” 

“Hey — I said I can try!” 

Felix giggles when he slips into the car via the opened window, making everybody complain. Jisung also gets a face full of knee which makes him scream, but he settles down eventually, half on top of Jisung, with one of his legs draped over Minho's lap, since there's not enough space for all four of them back there. As they finally make it out of the main road, Chan catches Minho eyes in the rear mirror and he looks pleased with him, before turning to tell Hyunjin something else. 

Chan bites the inside of his cheek.

Chapter Text

Jeongin returns on a Wednesday, but Chan only sees him on Friday, when he comes over to help out with his own surprise party.

Apparently, Jisung, who volunteered to keep him away at all costs, blurted something out that made him suspect they’re doing something, and then he just cornered Felix, who gives in under pressure. But apparently any excuse is a good excuse to leave the house on a friday.

Chan also gets a small hug, last in turn after Hyunjin.

He’s grown bigger than Chan remembers him. He remembered him as a slight boy, trailing after Minho when the latter came to give Chan his jacket back a few years back. Now his shoulders broadened, and he grew another inch or two.

Chan thinks it might be a bit awkward that he’s there, some guy Jeongin is barely familiar with — but it’s anything but.

Jeongin spends the entire day by his side, whether it’s heading out to get the extra table from his dad’s place, or helping him prepare enough food. 

Jeongin is shit in the kitchen, can barely hold a knife correctly. It’s pretty surprising considering Minho is the exact opposite, and moves around them with the kind of speed and accuracy a master chef in his element would. Minho give Chan two narrowed looks after the guy almost nicks himself, but on the third time, he pretends to help them with something, just to lean down Chan’s ear and say “If he cuts off one of his fingers, I will shove it so far down your ass it will come out of your mouth.” so Chan generally tries to keep him away from sharp tools, at least until Minho finally leaves to do a couple more errands before the actual party. 

Jisung always jokes around about how much Minho dotes on Jeongin or one of his brothers. Minho used to babysit them, until they turned into adults and he didn’t — so there’s probably some kind of underlining issue there, on top of not having any other sibling other the rest of the litter in his house. It’s truly fascinating to see him go about it.

Minho treats Jeongin, the way he would an actual child, although he’s only four years younger. He coos at every little thing Jeongin does successfully, even if it’s getting the shells off the eggs. And it’s not that Chan is chasing after validation from Minho, but it’d be nice to get something other than a scold, an eye roll, or an incredibly condescending remark about how much space Chan is occupying in the kitchen (at some point, he even pretends he mistook Chan for an additional refrigerator. Very hilarious.)

Jeongin is extremely oblivious to anything or anybody around him, except Chan at that point, though. It’s extremely obvious that he needs to speak with somebody about Alpha year, and Chan is the only one there who had been through the same experience around him that is willing to lend an ear. 

What he went through is still incredibly fresh and new. Changbin never went, and Seungmin couldn’t make it because of the end of his semester. And although he could probably talk to Minho or Jisung about it, he somehow prefers Chan, since Chan knows . 

Chan is actually happy that he’s there, at the right time in the right place.

He remembers going over the same thing with Seungmin. He stayed up talking to him on the phone until 2am the day he returned from alpha year, just listening.

His dad never went to Alpha Year, and Chan was never given time to process what he went through. When he desperately needed someone to listen — nobody was around, because he immediately uprooted himself out of his entire support system straight to University. So now, if anybody around him ever needs to listen, he wants to be there.

When Minho comes back from his errands, he arrives with Jeongin’s brothers, so they could help out, although at that point, there’s already too many people helping out. They blow up too many balloons, and then, there’s not enough space to walk, and people keep tripping on them. 

Most of them just sit there, act noisy and constantly try to snack. There’s also a bubble machine that Hyunjin had borrowed from a friend and Minho and Changbin argue about how to make it work for over an hour.

Felix made a two tier chocolate cheese cake, and also a handful of creamy cupcakes with little fox shaped chocolates. 

They decorated everything in blue and orange, and even bought the staple ‘Alpha Year Graduate’ sign off the gift shop. It’s pretty nice.

The party is pretty big and there’s a very large turn out. Probably a bit more than expected.

A bunch of Jeongin’s classmates show up, two friendly packs, only one of which Chan is well familiar with, and a handful of other friends. On top of it, there’s some neighbors, and a couple of people who nobody recalls inviting. Some are definitely there for Minho, and not for Jeongin in the slightest. Whether it’s to get an autograph or to just talk to him. Even Juyeon is there with two of his betas, and an omega date. He gives a nod to Chan, and Chan gives a nod to him, and then tries his best not to grin about this. He’s not sure if he should apologize and offer his friendship, but the entire thing is comical, and he has enough on his place as it is, since there’s enough omegas trying to talk to him, or food that needs to get on the table. 

There’s so many people, that most of them are actually standing with their beer or wine cups, and each of them brings more food or more alcohol, since it’s customary to arrive with something for the host, so at least nobody’s hungry and thirsty — but Chan is now old, so the only thing he thinks about is the trash accumulating in the apartment as the minutes go by and move people are piling in, and how somebody already threw up in the bathtub.

Whenever he glances at Jeongin though, he’s surprised to find him pretty meek and reserved with the people around him. He had been talking non-stop the entire day with Chan, but now he is emptied out, as if he squeezed out all his juices at once.

He doesn’t look like he wants to be there. Seems to be juggling between talking to Jisung, his brothers, or just sitting on the couch with a beer and talking to nobody at all.

Chan feels like maybe a party is the last thing he needed. 

People start leaving next to midnight, and it’s then when Minho and Changbin finally figure out the bubble machine, and it works for 15 minutes, much to Felix’s planning dismay, because every food that touches the bubbles tastes like soap, so Minho makes the executive decision to shut the entire operation down. 

Unfortunately for Chan, this leaves Minho bored.

Bored Minho passes judgment on all the food that Chan made, loudly and obnoxiously.

He thinks the fried chicken bits are a bit too salty. Why’d Chan prepare only one sauce bowl for them? Doesn’t he know it’s unsanitary for everybody to dip into the same sauce? The mini salmon sandwiches that Chan was famous for in every party on Chan’s faculty are “a little disappointing despite the presentation”. He spits out the egg salad into the napkin and hums, as if he’s some kind of a food critic, and if that’s not enough he also puts the dirty napkin into Chan’s hand wordlessly, so Chan can dispose of it. 

At that point, Chan runs his tongue into his cheek, because the temptation to bark something back had been itching on his insides the entire day. 

When Minho’s about to say that the fruit salad is too sweet, he finds out that Chan had only cut the fruits and Felix was in charge of everything else.

“No, it tastes great actually,” He assures Felix, who tuned in for his criticism, and then makes a series of small noises with his tongue, as if he re-tastes it on his tongue; “I guess maybe the fruits are chopped up a bit too chunky.”

And wow.

Wow .

It’s an actual talent. 

You can’t even make this up. The guy is actually, genuinely, outstandingly good at getting on Chan’s last nerve. On purpose.

Especially because he saw him sneaking 7 chicken nuggets in a row — on the seventh one, their eyes actually cross and Minho squints at him, chewing slowly, as if what he has in his mouth was pure poison.

When it empties out almost completely, he loads up the first batch of dishes, and sits with Changbin out in the balcony for one last beer. 

Truth to be told he was a little nervous about this party.

This was the first proper party their pack had — and he wasn’t sure how well he’d fit in. He knew some of the pack’s friends, but he felt like it’d be awkward for them to actually see Chan there, back, after he disappeared in the city and kind of tied all connections with everyone in town except a select few. He tried busying himself in the kitchen, at first, unsure about mingling, but eventually relaxed, especially when he understood he knew and grew up with most of them, and they were curious about the city or his education and work. 

Changbin agrees to drive some omegas to the omega dorms when Hyunjin asks, and Chan stays there for another second, just enjoying the chill of the evening and trying to decompress. The moon isn’t full anymore. The night is clear and the air is cool and crisp.

Minho slumps into Changbin’s seat.

He offers beer and beer opener to Chan and Chan takes it from him wordlessly and only then realizes he was just tasked with opening it. He snorts, shaking his head.

“Would be nice to get a verbal indication of what is it that you want.”

“You have only yourself to blame.” He relieves Chan off the bottle the minute Chan forces the cap off, with no thank you. “You’re the one always claiming to know exactly what’s going through my mind, so there. Letting you take the lead.”

“Thanks for that.” Chan drops the bottle opener and the cap of the beer on the little stand on the balcony and leans back on the armchair.

They sit there for a couple of seconds in silence.

Minho’s scent is impossibly pleasant in his nose. Chan can’t really tell what they’re talking about right now in the living room, it’s mostly muted. Chatter and laughter as they pile out of the door.

It’s been a long while since he felt this calm in a social setting.

“The chicken was okay. Actually.”

“I know the chicken was okay, you ate 11 nuggets, and there is none left, even though I made 3 batches.”

“I did get an egg shell in the egg salad, though. You’ll have to do better on that.”

Chan sips from his beer, smiling; “I’ll try to remember you have impossibly high standards from now on.”

“I’m sorry that you feel like shells inside an egg salad are impossibly high standards. That’s the bare minimum in an egg salad.”

“And I’m sorry that you feel like you need to pass judgment on me so you could feel a sense of superiority. Says a lot more about you than it does about me.”

“It does say a little about you, too.”

“How exactly?”

“Because you’re enjoying it.”

Chan looks away hurriedly from Minho’s face.

He’s not sure what to answer to that. It’s not like Minho’s wrong about it. Chan knew that he was doing it on purpose. Singling him out. Trying to rile him up. And he found it a little endearing. Like a kitten dropping stuff off a shelf for attention.

“I was waiting for you to snap, but then I figured you must be into it. You like the attention.”

“ I like the attention?” Chan laughs; “You’re the one making damn sure I don’t shift it somewhere else.”

“Imagine if you’d ignore me, though.” Minho gives him an odd look; “I’d get bored and move on. I bet that option never occurred to you.”

“Remember how I moved away and like — didn’t know you existed for years? And you ended up infiltrating my pack and writing a book just to spite me?”

“Well, if you want to go down memory lane, Mr. Didn’t-know-you-existed — Remember how you’ve been following me around during every spring run for 4 years straight?”

“I keep telling you, you have it wrong. It wasn’t me.”

“I can smell your stench 30 miles away. I can practically tell when you’re in town by the stench alone.”

Chan squints at him and Minho squints back.

“Now I’m going to be around for a very, very, very long while, and I’m going to be constantly in your company. Every inhale you take through your cute little nose, that stench is going to travel deep inside your lungs and from there into every cell in your body. So you better start fucking enjoying it, because that stench isn’t going anywhere.”

Minho’s eyebrows are a little raised when Chan is done, but he doesn’t seem awfully phased. He sips from his beer. “That was the most self-masturbatory speech I’ve ever heard.”

“Fuck off.”

“Did that make you hard? Thinking about me inhaling your scent?” He actually leans down on his elbow to see Chan’s crotch, but Chan pushes at him back, barking out a laugh and closes his thighs together. He didn’t actually get hard, but he still feels self-conscious with Minho looking — enough to maybe get hard. Which is all the more confusing.

“Testy. Okay.” He seems a bit disappointed with Chan’s reaction, even going as far as rolling his eyes with his eyebrows raised, as if it’s not normal to push him away from looking at his crotch; “I’m sure I’m not the first person who sees your dick hard. Don’t make such a big deal out of it.”

“We both had enough to drink. Please don’t try to gaslight me into showing you my dick.”

“Every time words come out of my mouth, you claim I am gaslighting you.”

“That’s because you are. If you want to see my dick, you’re going to ask for it politely.”

Minho sips from his beer.

“Whatever. I saw you looking at my ass when I was picking up cauliflowers in the field.”

“What does that have to do—” Chan rubs his face. He feels his entire face reddening at this point. And he wasn’t staring, he just zoned out for a moment. And Minho’s ass was right in front of him, near the green houses, and it was round. And he totally looked away the minute Minho straightened. 

“You can look at my ass without permission, but I have to ask to look at your dick. Sounds to me like it’s discriminatory behavior against Lunas.”

“I’ll be sure to phone the Committee tomorrow morning and turn myself in.”

“I should do it for you. I feel like you’d forget.”

“Thank you for constantly testing my boundaries and bettering me as a human being.”

“Anytime.” Minho clinks his beer with Chan’s, as if he made a toast.

He takes a long sip, too.

Chan watches the way his Adam's apple bobs twice before finally looking away, rubbing at the side of his face and mouth.

Minho puts his beer bottle on the stand, and turns to him. “Be honest with me, did you agree with Minhyuk? In the car? During the Seedening?”

Chan takes a deep inhale. Although he welcomes the topic change — even if he’s not entirely sure what was it that they were even discussing previously — he’s unsure if he’s okay with the current topic.

He rubs the top of the bottle in his hand on his head. “Yes and no.”

“So yes.” Minho sinks down into his seat, dejected.

“To be fair, I did agree with Minhyuk. What he said made sense. And we could’ve taken a calculated risk with him there. It was also something you previously mentioned; how it’ll look like a good political stance. So if this was me alone there, maybe a week ago. I would’ve agreed. But I had the worst gut feeling when I saw Do Taechul. Not just because I wanted to punch him — but because something felt off. And honestly, when I looked at you this feeling was confirmed.”

Minho doesn’t answer, but doesn’t turn to him from the balcony either; “But it wasn’t the right decision and you knew that. You went along with me, because I made you promise—”

“That’s not why I went along with you.” Chan cuts him off; “If I thought at any point in time you were making a mistake, I’d be the first one to call you out on it, rest assured.”

Minho finds that funny because he pulls his lips together. He doesn’t smile though.

“I went along with you, because even if I thought what Minhyuk said made sense, I also had a bad gut feeling about it, and it still feels like it was the right decision for the pack. Are you having doubts about it?”

“At first, I wasn’t. But then some time passed, and I started thinking if it was cowardly. I think sometimes what the other omegas are feeling passes through me and makes the decision for me.”

It’s true that omegas pick up on the state of the pack before Alphas do. This is why a balanced pack is important, because omegas can bounce off each other easily. One unscheduled heat, usually ends in a cascade of heats in the pack. One doubt in the alpha, can cause an uproar, and eventually a challenge.

“All the more why it was a better decision to leave if the rest were nervous.”

Although Minho doesn’t perk up per se, he does seem a little less dejected by this, even glances at him hurriedly, before looking back away.

Chan sips from his beer.

Then it’s silent again.

“Chan, Minho — we’re doing one last round of shots for Jeongin’s honor, do you want some?” Felix calls out from the living room.

“No, we’re good!” They both turn around and say that at the same time, and then turn to look at each other, frowning —Felix looks a bit taken aback for a second — just because the response was sudden and united, before bursting into laughter with Jisung in the living-room.

“Would you look at that,” Chan says; “It seems like we can, in fact, agree on some things after all.”

“Don’t let it get to your head.” Minho tells him; “You might think I actually like you or something.” He gets off his seat; “I changed my mind!” He tells Felix; “Make one for me too!” 

.

Minho has conspired to drive Chan absolutely insane after that, Chan is sure. 

He starts arguments about nothing. Sometimes it’s just because he wants to be contrary. It’s not even hostile, most of the time, but at some point Chan legitimately questions if he’s pissed off or if that’s how he makes conversation with him, out of habit. Keeping up with him is constantly being on edge.

Sometimes, though… he’s pleasant. Almost sickeningly compliant. He can laugh at his jokes. Touch his arm as he walks around him in the kitchen of the apartment. Chan always tries not to pay too much attention to it, but it’s absolutely impossible.

He can appear in the store without warning, just to cause some chaos. Tell him he’s useless even as a clerk. Band with Hannah over annoying the fuck out of him, when she’s at home. The other day he promised to help Chan rearrange some shelves, since he was overbooked with suppliers. When Chan checked at the end of the day, he put all the front row products upside down, though. Just to fuck with him.

Every time he’s up and about, heading to meet somebody, Minho is there, too. Without invitation. When he is scheduled to have a morning jog with Jeongin, Jeongin arrives with Minho. Minho doesn’t like working up a sweat, though. He has good endurance — even better than Jeongin’s, but he acts like a spoiled brat, deciding he has contracted bronchitis from breathing in so much cold air at once and then pretending to breath heavily because he notices it annoys Chan.

On Thursday, they’re finally premiering the movie with the actress whose biography he wrote in town. He gets a special invitation from the Municipality, and free tickets, so he asks if anybody from the pack wants to go with him. Nobody is too enthusiastic about it, since they already saw the pirated version at home and it wasn’t very good. Felix agrees to come with him, because he likes going to the theater and Hyunjin comes for the popcorn and the excuse to dress nicely. Minho doesn’t even grace him with a response, but then arrives with the other omegas to the movie theater, dressed nicely and freshly showered and gives him a mock-offended attitude for not getting him a free ticket.

God forbid Chan wants to hang out with Changbin alone, or something. Then it’s discrimination against Lunas and omegas and what not.

And if he can’t come, he makes darn sure, nobody else can make it either.

And Chan fucking loves it.

He gets so easily drunk interacting with him. Like every new interaction they have, every new touch, every glance, sends a flood of dopamine through his brain — one very much unlike the other. Minho keeps him on his toes, because he doesn’t know what to expect from him — and instead of relaxing when he’s finally not around, Chan obsessively annoys him with texts so he could get his next fix.

He is constantly around. In his business. 

And when he’s not, Chan wants him to be.

Hyunjin’s birthday’s flies by, mostly uncelebrated. There’s a small fair happening in the next town over, and Minho and Felix plan to head over there.

Chan wasn’t allowed to leave town, so it had to happen in the down low. No pictures on social media. No telling anybody where they went. And there’s also the risk somebody in the actual fair might check their IDs. He said a million times he’d opt out or sit this one out, but Hyunjin insisted that he wanted to celebrate all together — either way, none of it comes to fruitarian anyway, because Hyunjin gets his heat unexpectedly, a couple of days before his birthday.

Normally, Chan wouldn’t have minded.

Hyunjin has frequent, relatively unpredictable heats, just like any mated but unbonded omega — he had one shortly after Chan moved in, too, and Chan had been absolutely fine with it.

Obviously it makes him a little on edge, and constantly aroused, but Chan is a grown adult, who has lived in university dorms. It shouldn’t be a big deal.

Except it is — but for a whole other reason.

On the day before Hyunjin’s heat, Chan can’t even make a morning shake because Minho and Hyunjin are discussing something in the livingroom. He feels like somebody had put a haze over his head, and he’s stumbling about the room. He can’t make sense of right and left. He’s in a fog. He knows something’s off but he has no idea why. Hyunjin goes into heat that night and even then Chan doesn’t suspect anything until Minho is there first thing in the morning to make Hyunjin some food.

Chan’s entire body develops a rash.

An actual rash . He’s instantly itchy as fuck, as if somebody put hot cream all over him.

He hurries out of the apartment with nothing but a piece of bread in his mouth and by the time he’s in the store, his neck and arms are red from scratching. It simmers down in the evening.

This happens the next day, too, when Minho arrives in the evening to check up on Hyunjin and Changbin. He tries to develop a conversation with him, washing the dish he brought food in, so he can take it back with him, explaining to him how the heat cascaded to Jisung, since he rarely uses suppressants — and now Felix also got it, because he sleeps with Jisung on the same bed, every time he’s over. 

Chan stands there, shell shocked. Can’t comprehend a single word out of Minho’s mouth. He feels like his skin is peeling off — it physically hurts. He makes up some excuse about his mom and leaves in a rush. By the time he’s outside, his eyes are stinging, and feel like somebody swatted him with poison ivy all over his face and body. 

His body had never experienced such a strong, strange reaction before. It wasn’t even inherently sexual, it almost felt like it was medically induced. He wonders if it’s some type of mental repulsion, the unholy union of Lee Minho and a sexual situation. 

Why did it never happen on a run, then?

It has to be something else and he’s honestly too embarrassed to ask. His pheromone surge is embarrassing enough, god forbid he developed yet another type of condition. He’ll never live it down.

Chan doesn’t see Minho for two days after that, and next time he sees him, they’re a bit weird and awkward at first — but mostly they pick off exactly where they left before, and Chan wonders if he perhaps exaggerated it in his head.

The more he thinks about it, the stranger it gets. How could his body absolutely reject Minho’s presence one day, out of the blue? In contrast, the minute he sees him helping Hyunjin rearrange a small painting corner near the balcony window, crouching by a carton until his jeans are all tight around his thighs — he wants nothing else but to shove his nose between his buttcheeks. 

Thing is he doesn’t have a moment to really digest any of that, or even find a moment to talk to Minho about it, because next day, the hospital decided to discharge his mom out of the blue.

She’s been in a small remission for a couple of weeks now. His sister told him this had happened before twice, and she was worse after every time — but she was never in such a positive remission before, so Chan is cautious but hopeful. When he sees her in the hospital, she’s off the usual devices that pump and clean her blood off the bad pheromones.

She even got a bit of the normal rosiness on her cheeks.

Chan spends the first few days at home, sleeping on the couch, just in case his parents need something.

The second evening at home is the worst, and he feels like everybody in the house are awake with her. She’s coughing and keeps sending dad to go bring her some water to drink or help her up to the toilet.

In the morning, Chan is nearly passed out from exhaustion, but Minho comes over to sit on the counter, dangling his legs as he judges Chan when he restocks the cleaning supply section.

“You look like a garbage truck ran over you twice, damn.”

“Why are you even here?”

“What do you mean why am I here? Where should I be? I don’t have a job. I’m an author.”

That makes Chan laugh. Because he somehow makes a celebrity author title sound despicable and jobless.

“So does Jisung. And you don’t see him hanging around here and bothering me.”

“That’s because he’s scared you’re going to make him do something around the store. Also — I’d hang out with him, but he’s extra busy these days. He’s never at home. And Felix has an actual day job, unlike the rest of us. Dude is going to be a pastry chef. And I don’t hang out with Hyunjin anymore. All he wants to talk about is Changbin’s dick. That guy never heard about the Bechdel Test.”

Chan actually pauses to throw his head back to laugh at that.

“How’s your mom, by the way? It was her second day at home. Is she sleeping well?”

“Yeah… Not really. Nobody slept tonight.” Chan rubs his face; “She’s been coughing the entire night and was in a lot of pain. Me and dad tried to convince her at 4am to go back to the hospital, but she just wouldn’t listen. She convinced herself it’s because the air is musty and dry. We didn’t air the house properly, the way she did, so now there’s mold in the walls. She had a whole lecture about it prepared at 4am. I seriously wanted to cry at that point. She only fell asleep at 7am. Lucas couldn’t even keep his head off the table, so I let him stay at home. Had to write a text to Lucas’s teacher. Did you know Mr. Choi is still teaching?” 

“Yeah.” Minho makes a face; “I know he jokes about being alive during the time of the first wolves, but I’m starting to think that’s actually the truth.”

Chan snorts and glances at his watch; “By the way, can you stay here for a bit? I’ll wanted to jump by the electronics store and buy mom a humidifier—”

“I can go bring mine.” He jumps off the counter.

“It’s fine — we should have one around the house anyway.”

“We both know the electronics store has refurbished humidifiers from 30 years ago, and they do jack shit. Going to make her worse. I have a fancy medical grade one.”

Chan already opens his mouth to refuse again, when Minho cuts him off by clicking his tongue; “It’s fine. You’re pack."

Chan isn’t sure why that does something inside the bottom of his abdomen.

“Besides…” He immediately follows that up with that. “You’ll owe me one.”

“That sounds dangerous.” Chan says slowly, narrowing his eyes at Minho, tempted to smile.

Minho pushes the store’s door with his back, as he heads out, an evil smile on his face, as if he wants to make sure Chan knows he’s up to no good.

Chan hits his forehead on the shelf seven times, just to shake off the intense elation.

That had to come off as flirty, right?

Fuck.

.

The humidifier Minho brings a few hours later is big, medical grade, high tech machine, with several modes and special types of flow adjustments. It even has its own remote control.

He really is a go-big-or-go-home type of guy. Chan respects that.

It takes both Chan and Changbin to get it to his mom’s room from the car, since his dad stepped out to get his mom’s daily meds. 

When he wonders out loud how Changbin got to the car from Minho’s place, when he lives on the third floor without any elevator, Changbin informs him that conveniently enough, some younger pack lives downstairs from Minho were all readily available to help.

Changbin then promptly leaves to go drive Hyunjin home from work (even though Chan nearly begs him to stay), so Chan is forced to stand there, hands in his pockets, as Minho chats with his mom.

He has no idea why it makes him nervous. Almost like he brought his first boyfriend to meet his mom. 

His mom literally knows Minho since he was a child. There were enough times his mom came to school to meet Minho’s dad at the gates, so they can both deal with whatever mess Chan and Minho were up to.

He’s been Jisung’s best friend for years, so she kept seeing him around even when Chan wasn’t even in town.

It’s probably because he never actually introduced his parents and family to anybody he had interest in. Every person he dated, even if it felt serious at the time, was pretty fleeting. So nobody he ever dated, or even had a long standing crush on had ever visited his house before. And it’s not like whatever he has with Minho is any serious — nothing is actually happening between them, but maybe he is — in some twisted turn of fate, crushing on him.

Minho’s incredibly respectful, polite, and friendly with his mom. She coos over him being such 

Wolf in sheep’s clothing.

He has a mini existential crisis, frozen to his spot. He feels his palms getting moist inside the pocket of his jeans out of nervousness.

He has to thankfully slip away because there’s a customer at the store.

He tries not to acts weird and awkward when Minho finally comes down, Chan’s father on his tow, thanking him for the humidifier and asking if he wants Chan to drive him, but Minho still gives him an odd look when he blurts something weird out, and a raise of an eyebrow when he leaves.

It’s not like it’s a big revelation, he already kind of knew that.

He rubs his face in frustration.

That night is relatively better than the previous night. Chan still stays up, but at least his siblings sleep well and look more cheered up in the morning.

She is bed-ridden for the rest of the week, and his dad refuses to leave her side, often sitting by her and just reading her news article off his tablet. Chan doesn’t want to rush either of them to get back into house chores, or even shop things — they need some time to settle back and have new routines. 

His dad looks like he aged more than his mom during this year. He has long streaks of gray hair, and white patches in his beard. Mom keeps telling him to shave it off, because he looks unkempt.

He tells her he’ll shave it off when she’ll start walking again, and they argue about this back and forth.

By next week, his mom is walking around the house. She surprises them by just walking out as he helps Lucas with some homework. They immediately help her onto the couch, and she drinks her tea there, watching TV, as she did every night before the sickness.

Even his dad is surprised when he returns home from the monthly beta meeting of his pack.

She can do this only for short periods of time, and she still needs to hold onto somebody or steady herself with the wall as she makes her way — just like she did for a few long periods in the hospital, but it’s a huge improvement than her being totally bed-ridden.

She also starts slapping father’s hands when he tries to help her, saying she can do it herself. That forces him to constantly stand back and monitor her — or even walk after her slowly, half upset, half concerned.

Chan finds it a bit funny, how helpless he is.

.

With mom being relatively better, his dad is more down the shop, trying to be useful again.

It gives Chan whiplash.

He feels like he’s back to his teens.

Generally, he and his dad get along well. His dad had supported a lot of his decisions and gave him a lot of free reign when he became an adult at an early age — but he is reminded why Chan’s worst nightmare was to inherit the shop.

Apparently, all the bookkeeping Chan did was incorrect. Now his dad will have to re-do everything, by hand. He also shouldn’t arrange things via label, but by kinds. And, how could Chan forget, you can’t just haphazardly put fruits and veggies on the shelf. They need to be arranged diagonally.

He doesn’t greet customers well, either. He should always call out with a smile, even if said customer came in just as his father was nagging his ear off.

Chan knows he means well, he wants to teach him how to do his craft correctly, and it irks him that Chan isn’t willing to learn or correct his ways— and it’s not that he demands appreciation for his efforts, but it would’ve been nice if he was a little nicer, since Chan was looking after the store, alone, with zero pay.

On top of it, his dad’s asshole alpha already told him all about Chan’s wrongdoings, painting him in the worst light possible. Caught by the Committee for unspeakable crimes that no adult alpha should ever do. Tsk tsk tsk. 

It drives his dad insane that Chan refuses to put any gravity into it, either, despite the fact Chan only took responsibility. It’s useless to even explain it to him, though, because his mind has already been made. He’s not only back in town with his tail between his legs, but also stripped of rights and jobless, vouching for a pack that doesn't even have a proper alpha.

God damn, when he puts it like that, it doesn’t sound like Chan’s life had made a free dive into abyss.

He keeps giving Chan the disappointed eyebrows whenever he finds another mess-up, like his firstborn son who had so many hopes for had amounted to absolutely nothing.

On top of that, Changbin had casually fit into conversation in the morning, how it might be nice if they all go on a run together. As a pack.

Chan isn’t sure what kind of expression he was making when he asked it, because he immediately backtracked; “Not today, obviously . I just heard Jisung and Minho discussing it. So I thought it might be nice to suggest. But definitely later some time. In the summer.”

Chan had regretted not asking him what exactly Jisung and Minho were discussing, the entire day.

It’s not that he feels pressured into it.

It’s just that in the city, going to run together was a commitment. It’s an intimate thing, to see somebody transform. A familial thing. He hadn’t been on a proper run with a pack for eons, so he does feel like it should be properly discussed and addressed while they’re all together.

In town it’s much less of a big deal, probably. Chan is just overthinking it all into a grind. Being insecure.

He drives past the usual exit, into an empty abandoned construction site, leaves his clothes in the pickup, rolls his head from side to side, before allowing it to happen.

Last day of april, a full moon — last one before the Spring Fest moon.

It has to be a decision — then it’s a shiver, and finally, a shift of bones.

Whenever he’d transform after jogging, it’d happen all at once, but now it’s slower, almost as if every bit of his body is committing to the act. The moon wants to see.

His muscles tighten, his skin stretches. He falls on all fours in a couple of seconds, waiting for a couple of heartbeats until everything goes into place, until the fuzz on his body grows longer, before kicking his hind legs off the ground.

He’s not alone in the forest today.

He can hear others.

Packs. Couples.

They’re a long distance away, though. It’s very unlikely for Chan to meet another wolf in the forest, unless he seeks them out — families and packs with children tend to run closer to town, in case the kids get tired or want to transform back. Bigger packs are slower and have too many people to accommodate sprinting far off the way Chan does. Common courtesy is to stay off of each other’s path. The forest is big enough for all of them to never meet if they keep to themselves while running.

He slows down when he meets the riverbed, trotting down the shoreline easily, soft round pebbles replacing the crunchy leaves of the forest. He hadn’t realized he had made it this far out. Another or so out, and he’s next in the mountains. He’s almost half way there. He must have been running for well over an hour.

The air here is different. So far off from civilization. He is the only wolf in the world. The sole king of the forest. An almighty predator. Absolutely free and utterly alive. So alive, he feels the blood pumping — the air shifting as he runs through it. What an exhilaration. Some part of him almost feels sad that he needs to return.

The night is dark. It’s a bit overcast, and the moon is only out periodically, but Chan can still feel it all over his body, pulling at him.

He’s much slower on the way back. His wolf had gotten too comfortable now. His thoughts are muddled by instincts.

He follows the trail of a fox that passed by for a bit, then finds a firefly he wants to eat.

Why shouldn’t he run with others? Why shouldn’t he run with his pack? He should. His mom is better now. His pack comes first, now. He needs to plan for his pack. And for his mate. It’s his time now.

He prances around from paw to paw when he decides it, tail wildly wagging when he thinks about Minho and his pack.

He knows that he’s closer to town when he smells a scent on the trees. A pack moved through here, a couple hours back. They’re long gone.

He’s pretty close to the edge of the forest - but on the other part of town. He can smell the fields. A smell of ozone and dirt. Of growth. He has no idea how he got here. Must have swallowed one firefly too many.

The forest feels mostly unfamiliar. He’s been exploring it, but it still feels like it’s not enough. He wants to know it like the palm of his hand.

He stops at a small cliff end. There’s another mile or so of trees— and then, fields for as long as they eye can see. Some are already green. Some have yet to have sprouted. Distant and dim lights of a lonely farmhouse and even more in the distance, a twinkling, far away highway, leading away from town. Just one car passes by.

He remembers seeing the highway, and wanting nothing but to be on it, on the way to leave the town behind him.

Now it doesn’t evoke any kind of emotion in him.

He doesn’t want to be on it, in a way to a new place.

The forest is his place.

The pack is waiting for him to probably come home.

He sent Hyunjin a text before he transformed, saying he might be later, but he hopes he and Changbin aren’t too worried. 

He already heads closer, when he stops on his tracks. Ears alert, legs outstretched.

There’s a familiar scent here.

He follows it, until he meets a freshly marked tree.

He wasn’t wrong. He’s never wrong when it comes to Minho. He could actually find him in hell, if he has to.

He sniffs the forest floor and the fallen tree where the scent is most strong to his location. He passed through here. Went up the cliff from below the ridge of the forest.

Minho had been here. He’s positive. He can tell.

It’s not just any other omega — it’s Minho. 

Much sweeter, and ripe for him. Chan’s tongue lulls.

He follows the scent, tail wagging wildly at the notion of meeting him in the forest.

Would he recognize him?

What does he look like?

He doesn’t smell another wolf with him.

No Jisung? No Felix? No Jeongin? Alone?

He hurries after the scent, circling town on the little cliff ridge by the fields.

It’s getting late, so it’s possible Minho has already shifted back and went home. Why would he roam the woods alone?

Then it leads away from the ridge. To the forest. Chan follows it for a while. Finds a milestone that looks like it’s been used in the previous Spring Run or a few years before it. Red ribbons on a rock. They didn’t age well, the elements have either tore most of them down or they were barely hanging, so it gives him an eerie feeling. If Minho had been here, he hasn’t stopped for long. 

Chan continues, passing by another milestone, this time a pillar. Is he scoping for the Run?

The trail is at least an hour old by the time he finds it — and it leads away from town — so when he finds a fresh scent trail, he immediately darts after it. Minho had just passed by the same location, probably heading back to town. But the scent is overwhelming and strong. Fresh. Minho is still here. In the forest. With him.

Chan howls.

The forest resonates with him. It’s past midnight.

He shouldn’t be following a lone omega, like that. It’s probably against the rules. He doesn’t remember the specific rules about lone running, he just remembers it’s rude to follow other wolves — but this isn’t just some omega.

His chest almost rumbles in excitement as he dashes through the forest, narrowly avoiding running into logs or tree trunks, wet leaves flying out of his way.

He can tell that Minho has picked up his pace, because his scent becomes harder to detect.

He either picked Chan up on his trail or heard his howl and didn’t want to bump into another wolf. It’s possible he also recognized him and just didn’t want to meet him - he did say he could smell Chan’s scent. Chan still doubts that. Sometimes he just says stuff to piss him off. And he’s following Minho, not the other way around. The wind should be on side.

He’s up on a hill when he sees him.

They’re close by the lake, and Minho’s a silver arrow through the forest; quiet and quick.

Chan doesn’t descend down after him, closer to the shoreline. Instead decides to skip on the boulders to catch up to him.

It’s hard to keep up with him — The air here is colder. Nighttime at the lake is always cold. But now that the target is right there, whatever tiredness Chan’s body was starting to feel is absolutely gone. His body is filled with harsh wolf adrenaline. His thoughts aren’t logical anymore. They’re wolf thoughts. He’s hunting. Prey. Omega. Mate.

Minho makes a mistake by turning into clearing, that leads down to a sandy beach.

It might be because his stamina is lower — or maybe because he thought he lost Chan. But Chan takes his chances, and pounces off the boulder, straight at him.

They roll down into the sand, landing in a tumble, Minho barking and snarling.

He jumps away from him, huffing, his ears sent back. Alert. Maybe even a little bit scared.

He definitely didn’t recognize him.

Chan’s lying on his back, paws in the air, because Minho landed on top after they rolled down from the clearing, but he gets up hurriedly, ears sloped down.

You can’t judge a wolf by the human.

During Spring Runs, they’re not allowed to transform exactly for that reason. Being half-transformed changes some parts of their bodies, but strength and bite size, they are pretty much the same.

This cannot be said for when they are humans, or when they are wolves.

Chan as a human looks pretty harmless. He seems laid back and kind, maybe a little bit impressionable. He can easily fit into any crowd, and make people like him, even if they originally didn’t.

His wolf is the exact opposite of that. Full wolf Chan has a large advantage. He’s massive in size, fully black in color, and his eyes are red. Most alphas have red eyes, anyway, but against his big dark mane, he looks intimidating. He’s also a curly long coat, so he looks even bigger than he really is.

He remembers when his growth spurt had finally kicked in and how it affected the dynamic in his childhood pack. The rest of his litter, except Jisung, had been much older than him, or much younger. The moment Chan got bigger than them, they’d just refuse to play with him while he’s transformed. He hadn’t even presented yet, but they’d all ostracized him because he was bigger and looked intimidating. Some wolves are sensitive about that. He remembers his dad giving him a pep talk about it. Jisung didn’t get it, but he was never really concerned about fitting in with the rest of the pack. While transformed, all he wanted was to roll around in dirt and leaves and eat butterflies and pounce on Chan from a nearby bush. He wonders if that’s why he never liked transforming, or doing runs with his pack.

Minho murmurs, clearly upset. He smells more angered, rather than scared though, which perks Chan’s ears right up. He circles him once, before bumping his snout into his nape a few times, as if snapping at him, but without teeth — and then bumps it below Chan’s, so he lifts his face, as he brushes around him, like a cat demanding attention.

Chan licks at him, tail wagging. Not scared and touchy. All good signs by his book.

Minho retreats, murmuring again, as he circles him once more before heading away from the clearing in a light jog.

He’s pretty.

Of course, he is.

Chan isn’t even surprised. Unlike him, He looks exactly how he imagined him in his head. His coat is gray, all over. And although that’s not uncommon, Chan has never seen something quite like it. It’s whiter in the ends, and darker insider — so whenever he moves, the color shifts like silver in the dim light of the moon. Snout slightly longer than Chan’s, and ears big and straight, eyes an incredible green color. He looks majestic. Like the wolves in the slides they showed during biology class in third grade, explaining the transformation to them.

Chan follows, eager to do more scenting and rubbing. Minho shakes the sand off him, and Chan follows suit, tongue lulling — so ripe. Delicious, delicious omega.

He trots along him, but they don’t get very far from the lake for the longest time, because Chan can’t stop from rubbing his snout all over him, putting his head over his nape, licking and nipping lightly, until Minho snaps. They keep circling each other and brushing at each other. Minho stops every now and then to bite back at him, and then gets a bit too excited about playfighting.

It’s just been very long since Chan had been on a run with another wolf — and all the more because he actually likes him. Because he’s excited to spend some more time with him.

It’s exhilarating.

The full moon quietens, and it’s all Minho now. The pull he has on him is incredible. He’s intoxicating. Chan doesn’t walk in front of him, just so he could constantly see him and sniff or lick at his behinds.

Minho’s tail is mostly tucked and Chan wants to constantly snout at it — Minho kicks him in the face twice for it, though, and when they reach the event grounds, even speeds up a little to get away from him.

This is where most of the folks in town come during a full moon. If you’re a big pack, especially with children, it’s a nice place to start.

There’s several facilities, including transformation booths down the road, and lockers for clothes. Most big packs, especially ones with children, book in advance the hour so they don’t meet each other.

There’s also police and some committee officers stationed there until dawn, in case there are trouble, although that’s pretty rare.

But as a result of that, there’s too many pack scents here, and also the sound of wolves nearby, since most of them keep close by. Chan doesn’t like this place at all, it feels too public. But Minho did transform here. It’s probably more dangerous for an omega to transform just down an abandoned construction site, than it is to an Alpha.

Minho looks up, and Chan follows his gaze. The moon is heading down.

He sits, his tail swishing nervously, as Chan’s paws and licks at his face, orbiting around him just as nervously, then headbutts him.

Chan doesn’t want to go.

He wants to stay just like this a little longer. They haven’t even been together for very long. Probably around an hour or so until they made it there. That’s so incredibly short. They can stay up a little longer. They can have a proper run, maybe.

Minho allows him to lick at him again, and to sniffing at the side of his neck, before shoving his snout into him and pushing him.

Okay, okay. Chan gets the message. Loud and clear. He needs to fuck off.

He paces away for a moment, before glancing back.

Minho huffs and starts murmuring, and Chan finally heads away, deeper into the forest. He picks up the pace only a bit later, and by the time he’s by his pickup, he’s grinning before he’s even fully transformed back.

His car is unlocked, with all his shit and clothes inside — he didn’t think he’d be out this long.

The Chan that had run into the forest isn’t the same one that returned.

He wears his clothes in the slowest way possible, stopping to think every time.

To be fair, Minho could have mistook him.

He never saw Chan transformed.

Could’ve been any alpha from town. And Chan still isn’t sure if he could actually distinguish Chan’s scent from others. It’s possible, of course — just like Chan knows his.

But he wouldn’t be that cozy with any other alpha in town, could he?

Technically, he wouldn’t be that cozy with Chan, either.

It’s not that his behavior was awfully affectionate either. 

Maybe he mistook him for Changbin.

Chan nibbles at his lip.

When he’s back home, the house is quiet, and smells of sex, despite all the windows being open.

Changbin and Hyunjin probably celebrated his absence on the full moon to the best of their ability — it’s then when he finally checks his phone.

He did get several messages from both of them. Including one from Felix.

He also got a text from Minho, though.

Sent 7 minutes ago.

It’s a picture of a big black eldritch horror, with tentacles coming out of it, and anime eyes.

It’s actually kind of cute.

Chan bites his lip.

“ Is that supposed to be me? ” He answers instantly, unsure if he should be offended or not.

“ Next time you jump me like that, I’ll show you true horror. ”

“ Why’d you run away, then? ” Chan nibbles at his lip, before sending an additional text; “ You know Alphas have poor control over predator instincts on full moon. ” As if that could somehow excuse him. He hates making excuses. 

“ Why’d you even try to find me, in the first place? I was minding my business. ” Comes the reply.

“ Why’d you rub yourself all over me? Could’ve ignored me and went your way. ” Chan would’ve died if he would’ve ignored him, but fact still stands. 

“ Why’d you try to mount me? ”

Chan sputters out loud, scandalized. 

He already writes ‘ First of all, I didn’t ’ and then deletes it. Then he writes ‘ I didn’t, I was just sniffing ’ and realizes the end of his sentence isn’t much worse than admitting he was trying to mount him. 

Then he writes a paragraph explaining how alpha instincts work, but that isn’t true either. He could’ve controlled himself. He wasn’t completely feral out there. He had enough human thoughts to just — not do it. But he wanted to. 

It’s extremely evident what he wanted. It’s just that his wolf has less mental barriers than his human. Chan’s wolf is more honest. That’s all.

By the time he conjures a proper message, where he explains in a painstakingly entangled way that he might be attracted to him, it is 3:30am, and Chan is too chicken to send it. 

It’s been hours since Minho sent his message. He’s probably asleep. 

He can just answer tomorrow. When he’ll be of clear mind.

.

.

Chapter Text

When he is of clear mind, he does not want to send the text.

He scrapes it. 

If he ends up saying it, he’d rather it’d be upfront. Face to face. Not via a text.

Minho isn’t there the next day, though. Jisung waves his hand and says “omega problems” when he comes over with Jeongin and Felix in the afternoon. Chan wonders if he had gotten his heat, since the other week Hyunjin and the rest of them had it. 

By the next day, he’s no longer sure if he wants to tell him. 

He’s nervous as hell when Hyunjin tells him he’s about to come over, and runs to the shop earlier than usual just so he could avoid him. 

It takes him another day or so before he finally dares to send him a text, and it’s about the Felix bringing up that it might be nice to have a party for Seungmin when he’s back.

At the end of may, he’ll be done with all his tests and evaluation, so he’ll back in town for the unforeseeable future, and although this hasn’t been actually discussed, the consensus in the pack is that if he’s back, he’s back straight into the pack, just like Chan was. 

Minho answers, business as usual.

“Nah, I think it’ll be fine.” is his exact answer to when Chan asks Minho about Seungmin coming back and being a part of the pack, and if he wants to discuss it. 

Chan overthinks himself into a an actual meltdown. 

Is he trying to be short with him? Doesn’t seem like he’s trying to be short with him. He used ‘Nah’ instead of ‘No’. He could’ve used ‘Nope’, too. Maybe he’s upset Chan never answered his text. Maybe he doesn’t care. Maybe he’s actively trying to pretend he doesn’t care, but he does care, and therefore Chan should address it first. 

He uses so much of his brain power trying to decipher Minho’s message as if it was written in code, and then obsessively trying to summon the courage to send a text back, that eventually he snaps. 

Not at Minho, though. 

At his dad. 

Just when he’s scolding him about rearranging the soy sauce by labels. Apparently the only correct way to do this is via type. Low-sodium Soy shouldn’t be next to normal soy. Chan should’ve known that by now. He’s been working there for enough time on his own, and he should know by now something as simple as that.

So he tells his dad that maybe it’s time he takes over the shop. Chan was helping temporarily, anyway.

He doesn’t mean for it to sound harsh or cruel, and after a loud silent 5 seconds, he regrets saying it. It’s too early for his dad to return to work full time. He’s still with his mom half of the time, and runs to her, whenever she needs something, customers be damned — so Chan backtracks, and explains that he’ll still work whenever his dad needs him — but he also needs to find an actual job. 

He has a pack now. None of the money he made in the shop was going to his account, but rather going right out into paying for mom’s treatments or some bogus pack taxes that his dad’s alpha invented. 

His dad seems insulted by this, though, and Chan knows he’s been frustrated with him for a couple of weeks now, because what he does next is questioning whether Chan can afford it considering his current pack status, and then also adds, much to Chan’s dismay that it would be better, at least for the time being , if Chan returns to his childhood pack. He even offers to smooth things up with his alpha.

Chan felt like this was on his tongue since he heard about Chan being stripped off of alpha rights. He’s not sure if it’s his dads idea, or his alphas, and he knows he means well and wants to have the ability to baby him — but Chan would hear none of that.

He comes back home beyond annoyed, and immediately opens the internet to see what kind of editorial jobs he could take in the county.

An agriculture magazine editing job, on the other side of the mountains. They require attendance though, and Chan can’t leave town unless he asks for special permissions, but maybe they need somebody urgently and are fine with remote work for the moment. Chan applies.

He gets a speedy email back the next morning, explaining to him that they do require a clean committee record, and that’s pretty much it as far as editing jobs go.

The only publishing company at the county isn't awfully eager to hear from him either, and Chan honestly isn’t eager to hear back from them. Last he heard they had an omega discrimination scandal. There’s no big city inside his county. Just sleepy farming towns and small industrial zones. This isn’t exactly a hotspot for literature or publishing.

He keeps getting insistent emails about new freelancing opportunities in the city, they don’t give a rat’s ass about his records, they need an editor, and they know Chan’s good. It’ll be a risk to take a city job, even if it’s remote — he already reread the verdict a couple of times, trying to find loopholes. There was none. Physically, he has to be located within the town’s borders. He can work remotely, as long as the business has a local address, which means only county addresses apply. He’d rather not get into more trouble, in case some over diligent committee worker chooses to check up on him. And Chan is sure some diligent committee worker does do the checkups on him, just because Jaehyun wants him too. He’s actually surprised he’s being so quiet since the Seedening. Probably planning something. 

Eitherway, if he’s being absolutely honest with himself, he doesn’t want to make a career out of editing . That was never what he was passionate about — and he never particularly enjoyed the job, either, even when he was making good money in the city and being the star of the show.

But he does need a job.

A proper one.

He could probably wait his sentence out, if he’s more frugal. With the last bonus from his boss and his savings and current royalties, he could definitely spend a few more months just minding his own business. Living in town is also much cheaper compared to the city. They don’t have the abundance of products — but they do have a lot of cheap fresh produce from the fields.

But his dad is right about that one thing — his pack status. What Chan does and how he behaves and acts — will ultimately reflect on his pack now. He never had to worry about this before, because back in the city, it was always him against the world. Now it feels like the world is constantly against his pack. Although he’s not the alpha of the pack, and is actually quite new to having a pack to call his own, people are now associating him with them. He’s been in town for months. He’s played the role of the good son, and now he also got committee-panelized. Whatever he does next matters, because it might tip the scale, not just for how people view him in town, but how people view the pack.

He desperately wants somebody to just tell him what’s the right choice to make. Ultimately, he knows this is only his choice to make, but it’s much more frightening when it’s no longer the right choice to make for him — but for them, as a pack. 

.

When Changbin’s mom calls to see if Changbin’s still alive, Chan — very carefully — asks her about whether they’re still looking for workers for the construction site on the other side of the lake. 

She literally sends him an interview invite the morning after to the same day. Chan had always been scared of her, there’s a reason why Changbin’s mom is the alpha of the wealthiest packs in the area — she makes things happen. 

It’s also why Jaehyun or Dongsoo would never publicly come after Changbin specifically. They’d wake up in a pile of shit on the landfill after Changbin’s mom is done with them, no matter how big their pack is. 

The town isn’t big, and a lot of areas of it are depleted and pretty much abandoned — yet the municipality doesn’t want to remodel or put in effort into anything. They keep trying to bait young packs to move to town by signing and creating new projects with more “modern” and “urban” vibes. It almost always backfires. 

When Chan was a teen, they made a whole new neighborhood from scratch, closer to the industrial zone on the other side of the highway, but low demand had kept them from building all the proper facilities that they promised to do, such as a new school or new big supermarkets. Prices on the pack houses there are dirt cheap, but it’s far off the town’s center and too close to the factories. On top of it, with half of the neighborhood just abandoned when it’s still in the foundation stage, you don’t exactly get a nice view from your windows. 

This project is down the other side of the lake instead, and Changbin’s mom is the one pushing it, so it might actually work out. Maybe the proximity to the lake would make it more desirable. 

The guy just looks him over, asks him if he has any experience. Chan answers no. He asks if Chan is clumsy. Chan answers sometimes. Then he asks if he’s lifted weights before. To that, he can finally answer with yes. The man makes a dismissive hand gesture, sighs, and tells him ‘you’ll do’. 

They’re extremely understaffed, he figures. Less than 40 people overall. Someone as agile and well-built like Chan must be a god sent. 

Nobody checks his records, and if they did, they didn’t mention it — Chan isn’t sure if it’s because of Changbin’s mom pulling strings, or because they’re truly desperate. Probably the latter. He actually starts working on the day he gets his interview. 

He thinks the guy is just giving him a tour, and a small safety briefing — but once he’s done, Chan is paired up with a senior constructor, older than him by a decade or so, and is sent straight to work.

Chan is exhausted when he comes home, muscles sore, but unexpectedly, somewhat pleased with himself. He enjoys manual labor; it distracts him from having thoughts. 

There’s no numbers for him to calculate. Nothing to remember. No headspace to reach. No shoes to fill as he edits. Just work.

He gets told to haul a bunch of planks to the second floor and he does, and then he gets shown to mix concrete, the types of concretes to use for different parts of the house, the types of plaster and the type of insulating foams they use, then he gets to slap together a couple of mixtures. He comes home covered in a sheen of gray dust, and a smile — but it fades away when his eyes narrow in at Minho, right there, on the couch. Felix is half on his lap, playing a video game with Changbin and Jeongin.

Chan’s initial thought is to just turn back and wait outside until they leave, but it dawns on him that it might look incredibly dumb of him after he already turned up at the door. Also Minho’s eyes were trained on the door the moment he walked in, like he heard him in the elevator.

Then Felix chirps a small hello, and Changbin leans down Jeongin’s lap to see who it is, and now there’s no escaping it.

He probably looks like shit. He still hasn't figured out what to tell Minho when he’ll meet him and it frustrates him to no end that he just turns up in his house. Granted, Minho had been turning up to this apartment to hang out with Changbin before Chan, and there shouldn’t be a reason for him to stop only because Chan is there, but for occasions like that he’d prefer to have some kind of a warning. 

As if on cue, Hyunjin’s face turns up from the corner turn, spoon in his mouth; “How did the job interview go? You were gone for the entire day.” Chan lets the door close behind him and puts his keys on the stand by the door, trying to ignore how weak his knees feel under Minho’s gaze.

“Uh, they actually — gave me the job on the spot. So I just started working, right away.”

“That’s… good?” Felix put down the controller; “Do you actually want to work there?”

“Yeah, it was okay today.”

“Okay, then good!” He immediately perks up, and comes to hug him if Chan being okay with it means he should be okay with it, too. “Oooh, that thick alpha aroma.” He sniffs at him fondly and squeezes his butt before skipping to the kitchen.

“What do you have to do? Is it like putting bricks together? Or cutting wood?” Jeongin seems interested. 

“You’ll get splinters. Your fingers are very delicate.” Minho warns Jeongin, but his eyes are narrowed at Minho, and Chan can’t look away, paralyzed, like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Do you want some fried kimchi rice? Hyunjin is just reheating some.” Changbin asks, putting Felix’s controller back into the charger.

“No, I’m good. One of the guys at work’s omega mate brought over a bunch of food.”

“And you just ate it?” Minho immediately questions it, upset.

“Everybody else was and they gave me some too.” Chan defends, even though he has no idea why he needs to explain himself over it.

“What if it had cyanide in it?”

“Why would they put cyanide in it?”

“I’d poison you, if I had the chance.” Minho shrugs, like it’s the most normal thing to say ever.

Chan isn’t sure if this is a good sign or a bad sign.

“I need to shower.” He finally says, because that seems like the best comeback to that, and promptly heads to his room.

“Good call. You stink.” Minho calls after him, and Chan is extremely tempted to answer something but decides not to.

He should figure himself out first before he faces Minho. He can’t hear anything besides the sound of his heart in the room for a long minute.

He doesn’t come out until he hears the rest of them leaving an hour later.

When Changbin asks, he says he fell asleep.

The fried rice is really good, though.

No cyanide yet. 

.

The next week is incredibly humid and hot.

When it’s overcast, it feels like the inside of a greenhouse, with a periodic spring rain relief. When it’s sunny, it feels like it’s summer already, with the sun baking the ground.

One day he actually comes back home sunburned to hell and back, and Hyunjin and Felix take pictures with the sunburn lines under his shirt and on his nape, like it’s the funniest thing ever.

Hyunjin gives him some aloe vera cream ‘from Minho’, the night after that, and also relays the message that if he ‘gets skin cancer, nobody’s in the pack will pay for his treatment bills’. 

Chan is tempted to text him, then. 

But then decides against him, because he still hasn't decided what to do. 

He also doesn’t have time. He’s either in the construction site, or in his dad’s store.

He’s basically working two jobs. 

His dad has started demanding he leaves the car with him so he can run errands in the morning, even though he never drives it, even when Chan does leave it there. It is being used by other pack members, now, though — because it’s actually driveable. 

It was pretty rundown, and Chan had put in a new pump and renewed  the wheels. Nobody thanked him for that either. 

Their town isn’t big — but the space that it takes is big, since there’s not many high-rise building in town. Having no car in such a place, simply put, sucks . He has a suspicion it’s all suggestions coming down from the alpha, having convinced his dad what’s best for Chan, and his dad, having had enough to deal with his mom’s sickness and being absent for as long as he was, agrees. 

Chan wouldn’t have even minded the car situation — if not the fact that he knows it makes his co-workers uncomfortable. They literally draw sticks on who gets to drive Chan and babysit him the next day. They’re not trying to be mean about it or even treat him unwell, it’s just that the hotter it gets, the worst Chan’s pheromones misbehave, to the point where he has to pop two Scent Muzzlers in the morning to even be able to go through the day properly.

Most of his co-workers are pretty cool about it. Most of them are bonded with long time partners and children, and the ones who aren’t, try to understand. One of them has a weekend trip in the city with the kids, and gets Chan a Scent Muzzler XL with EXTRA STRONG PHEROMONE BLOCK , which Chan had ordered online weeks ago, and has yet to arrive. It helps with the scent.

But not with the rest of it.

He constantly feels sticky all over. There’s an insistent itch on his body and in his crotch. His cock is full and heavy. On particular days, he has to jerk himself off before he goes to work.

It wasn’t this bad before. He feels like he can’t control his body.

It has to be the season, though. Spring and summer time is pup making season. The pollen in the air and the warmth after a long winter shake things up in every sleepy town. Even the pack is overly active in that front. Chan isn’t sure if he bleeds into them or they bleed onto him, but they’re all restless and touchy. Felix’s tiny hands are all over him when he hugs him as they watch some late night tv, and after a day, he accuses Hyunjin for hogging Changbin all to himself. 

To be fair, this is the first time Felix didn’t have a partner for months , since high school, probably. 

And it’s not just him. 

Jisung is constantly absent when the pack hangs out at their house. And when Chan finally sees him, he smells of sex.

On one occasion Chan has seen a bite on his lower neck— a mosquito bite, when asked. Apparently the mosquitos in town have human jaws. Chan has no idea who he’s seeing, though. He doesn’t smell like a new wolf. 

Jisung also doesn’t date long or takes commitment too seriously. Even at school, Chan remembers he had to warn Alphas to back off after he slept with them and lost interest. He needs to learn to build deeper connections, but he’s too lazy to do so.

And the worst part of it all is Changbin and Hyunjin. They have sex everywhere. On every surface of the apartment. Chan has lost count how many times he walked in on them. Hyunjin even started acting like it’s not a big deal anymore, since ‘he already saw everything anyway’. 

Everything starts smelling of Hyunjin’s slick at some point. 

Even Minho comes over and complains about it, bless his soul. Chan doesn’t get to agree with him on that, he’s hiding in his room until he leaves, but he agrees with him in spirit. 

He actually gets really good at hiding. 

He has a million excuses ready. 

None of it is graceful. He lost all grace. He’d say anything to get away from him, or work extra hours until midnight, when he’s 100% positive Minho went back home.

The last time he sees him, the rash and mind-numbing haze returns, and he feels like somebody switched his brain off. Minho is complaining to him about how his landlord is giving him shit, and how he decided not to renew the lease on his and Jisung’s apartment, and Chan just tells him “Gotta go, feed the fishes .” 

Minho blocks his way, looking far too amused and asks him “What fishes?” which might as well been a “ are you avoiding me? ” question, and Chan can’t answer that. Chan squints at him and he squints back, and Chan has to physically trick him by trying at another angle of escaping, but eventually slipping right underneath his arm in the less guarded corner.

It’s embarrassing to boot.

He hears his snort when he’s next to the elevator, itching his chest with his claws out. 

When he comes home from the construction site, Hyunjin isn’t home, and Changbin’s littermate from his and Seungmin’s former pack is over. 

He makes darn sure not to make eye contact with Chan, bids his goodbyes hurriedly, and leaves, before Chan can even ask him how he is. 

“What’s that all about?” Chan says when he hears the elevator move down.

Changbin huffs, putting dishes away passive-aggressively. “We got into an argument, so that’s the last I see of him, probably.”

“What about?”

“His new pack is cozying up with Jaehyun’s pack and thinking about joining them.”

“Ergh.” Chan expresses his disdain as he fills a cup with some water. He’s perched and incredibly horny. He scratches at his crotch.

“I told him — this type of pack never works out long term. His pack is already massive. He’s what? 20? 30 betas big now? It looks good for now, but long term, it’s a miserable decision and the only one who are going to be getting anything out of it, is Jaehyun and his most trusted betas.”

That’s true.

Although Chan’s childhood pack was never this big, the closest betas and the alphas were the ones controlling the money and getting all the favors. Betas on the upper tiers would constantly try to up their place on the ladder, so they’d constantly try to cozy up to the betas closer to the alpha and the alpha itself. The betas in the lower tier, would more often than not, be overlooked and constantly struggle between each other. His dad and the childhood alpha were somewhat close, and although he wasn't an inner circle, his presence in the pack was felt, because he was considered one of the better positioned betas. 

With his dad so concerned with his mom’s sickness, it was evident why nobody bothered to help or assist beside Jisung’s parents on occasion. The worst off his dad’s store gets, the worst off his dad’s position in the pack gets, and they were all making it a stepping stone to get higher on their little ladder, and their alpha was enjoying the benefits. 

Chan cannot even comprehend how treacherous the situation in a pack with more than 20 betas is. They probably sell each other off for pennies, and throw one another under the bus for a single word of praise from the alpha.

“He wouldn’t even hear me out,” Changbin points a fork at Chan; “And he said what happened with Hyunjin was unfortunate, but nobody’s fault. Over my dead body—” Changbin stops talking, and puts his hands on his hips; “Okay, hyung, I love you, but you need to get laid. Stop pawing at your dick, that’s just bad manners.”

Chan drops his hand off his crotch and whines, rubbing his nose and then his face in frustration instead. “Was Minho in here?” 

“Yeah, he took Hyunjin and Felix out on a romantic dinner together, which is code for doing weird omega shit and I’m not invited — what’s he have to do with it?”

“He makes my pheromones flare up, and I’m already all itchy all over. When I smell his scent changing, I get an actual rash.” Chan heads for the couch. 

“Are you going to — try catching him this year?” Changbin asks that so gently, Chan actually turns to look at his expression. 

“I’m fucked up, but not suicidal, man.”

That makes him laugh.

“Then just go get laid. There’s enough willing parties around you.”

He slumps on the couch, face first. “This is exactly what the doctor suggested. At this point, I’m ready to get a pheromone gland reduction or something. There’s no way this is normal. So instead, he prescribed me to go get laid. He wrote it down on a piece of paper. He didn’t even give me any meds. He was like; go find an omega you like, and if they like you too, put your penis in them .”

Changbin laughs and sits on his armchair next to the couch; “Sounds like good advice to me, dude. This isn’t rocket science.”

“It is to me. It’s complicated.” He whines into the leather.

“Why, though? Why is it complicated? Explain to me in a way I can understand.”

“I don’t know.” Chan says. “Minho-adjacent reasons.”

“Did he actually give you the ‘Don’t fuck anybody off the streets because of political reasons’ speech? He was all whiny about it when you first arrived but I thought it’s just so I will talk to you about it. Which I never did. You wouldn’t fuck anybody while he’s around anyway, just in the wild case Minho might volunteer his own omega parts.”

Chan turns his head to glare at him, but he’s not wrong. He wriggles a little until he’s on his back and hugs a pillow.

“Do it anyway. During Spring Fest. There’s plenty of them that still go home disappointed nobody caught them. And in the full moon, it won’t even matter who it is. If Minho nags about it, say the doctor prescribed it. Show him the paper.”

Chan sighs loudly. “I can’t. I’ll imagine him the entire time.”

“Then don’t imagine him. Trust me, he won’t be anywhere near the start point, standing over you and judging your performance.”

“That’s not—” Chan shoves the pillow on his face for the longest moment, before finally saying; “I’ll imagine him under me . And I don’t think any omega would appreciate that.” It comes off a bit muffled, but he’s sure Changbin heard him, because he whistles .

“Damn, are we finally at the acceptance stage? It’s been years!” Changbin reaches out to the beer bottle he didn’t finish on the coffee table. “I’ve lost hope that it’ll click in your head.”

Chan makes a small noise from the back of his throat.

“I still don’t like him. As a person. Sometimes. And sometimes he just makes me so—” Chan makes a general movement in his hands.

“Horny?” Changbin completes.

Chan grunts and turns about until he's on the back of the couch. Then also itches his crotch again.

“It’s not even that. I’m not even horny. Well, most of the time, I am — point is sometimes he just comes over and the gears in my head stop turning. I’m totally brain dead. All I feel is — itchiness, and my eyes are burning. ” 

“Yeah, that doesn't sound very normal to me. Maybe you’re allergic to something? Does he use a new perfume? I noticed he smells herby at times, but it’s extremely subtle.” 

Chan sits up, pillow in his hands, feeling validated for the first time in months. “Thank god — I thought I’m the only one smelling it. I thought I was going insane.” 

“Do you want me to talk to him about his perfume?” 

“Yes — no. I don’t know. Maybe I need the excuse to avoid him for a bit longer.”

“Is that why you’re texting me every night to ask if he’s in here?” 

“Yes.”

Changbin narrows his eyes, and waits for Chan to elaborate, and when he doesn’t he finally says; “What did you do?”

“It’s not what I did — it’s what I didn’t do, actually.” Chan takes a deep long inhale. “I need to just tell him I’m attracted to him. And I don’t want to.”

Changbin is looking at him like he’s crazy. “Don’t take this the wrong way — but why do you feel like you need to do that if you keep saying you don’t actually like him as a person?” 

“Because — just — I don’t know. Sometimes he’s okay. I don’t totally hate him anymore.” 

“So does not totally hating him anymore translate to you wanting to date him?” 

“No.” Chan isn’t sure why he sounds so offended. 

Changbin looks like Chan is giving him a migraine.

“Do you want to sleep with him?” 

“No.” Chan hugs the pillow closer. “ Yes . But for psychological reasons. What if I just — what if it heals my trauma?”

Changbin laughs at this. 

Chan scrunches his nose. 

“The only trauma you’ll be healing is years of unresolved sexual depravity. How long was it since your last time? Would you even know how to operate your knot? I heard you have to re-learn it after awhile?” 

Chan slides down back to lie on the sofa. 

“Listen, either way, I think, at least until you figure it out — you should catch an omega. If this really is a pheromone imbalance, and your doctor’s right — it can’t possibly be that bad. This pack is hanging by a thread as it is. Last thing we need is the two of you duking it out because you messed around and it didn’t work out. Do you know how long it took him and Seungmin to stop being hostile with each other? Besides, think about it. If you catch an omega on the Spring Fest, it’s a done deal. It’ll be over in ten-twenty minutes, tops. They’ll thank you, you thank them, both of you go your merry way. Then you’ll have all this free time to tail Minho the entire fest, just like you did all the fests before it.” Changbin gets up to put away his beer bottle too.

It isn’t a bad idea per se.

And fuck it, maybe this year he won’t be tailing Minho. He was fine last year, despite his celebrity status.

He probably has a plan.

They’ve been getting along lately. Maybe he can just — go for it. Maybe Minho will understand. Maybe Chan can prepare him for it, too.

Chan can hear his thoughts almost out loud for a moment, until Changbin sighs. 

“So do you guys — err, need help? At the construction site?”

Chan lifts his head up; “Yeah. Why?”

“Well, my mom’s been nagging about it. About how much your boss praises you. And why I’m not like you. And all that. I thought I might give it a try.”

Chan knew the guy liked him, since Chan made quick work of simple tasks. He wasn’t very wordy, though. He’d just pat on Chan’s back and leave it there. Nice to know that he had at least told Changbin’s mom that he’s doing well, though.

“Your mom’s been trying to get you into construction or real estate for years. Since you finished highschool, practically. What changed?”

Changbin is hesitant for a moment, clinking away in the kitchen with some dishes, and then he turns to Chan, lips puckered up into a childish frown. “I keep hearing Hyunjin and Felix talking about your sexy alpha musk. And when I confronted Hyunjin about it, get this — Hyunjin told me he’s just looking . He even gave the example that he lets Minho and Felix and Jisung look at me , because it’s allowed as long as it’s within the pack. Well, I’ll give him something to look at.”

Chan laughs.

Of course, that was the reason. 

“They’re both ogling you or chittering about it whenever you finally disappear to go bath. Felix even tried to convince Minho to cook with him so they can visit you at the construction site, because that’s where all the hot single guys who are Chan’s friends hang out.” 

“What did Minho say?”

Chan cringes at himself only when Changbin gives him a frustrated look. 

Yes, that was his only take away from Changbin’s entire rant, because his brain refuses to focus on anything else if it’s somehow connected to Minho.

“Told him he has better things to do than to humor you and your alpha work buddies. Which isn’t the point. Please focus on the point.”

“I’m sorry.” Chan lifts his hands up; “The point, yes. I’m listening to the point.”

“I was the cool single hot alpha around these parts. Me . Now you come along, and you’re like…” He gestures at Chan emptily; “Glistering from sweat like Edward Cullen.”

To be fair all that sweat is buried under copious amounts of cement that are hard to wash off. Especially from under his nails. He has to half-transform to get it all out properly. All things considered, with Chan gone, Changbin didn’t have much to compete with, which is natural between alphas.

Even Seungmin was away for studies.

Jeongin was around, but Chan never really knew how that dynamic worked out, since he was gone for most of it, but he does feel like he was regarded more as a baby than an alpha to compete with.

And here’s Felix, who is still technically his ex, even though they parted ways mutually, and Hyunjin, his current mate, also Minho, who he kind of liked at some point too, and Jisung — just omegas, all around him. It’s been awhile since he needed to flex to get somebody’s attention. He can see why Chan’s arrival would stir the pot for him.

“You still are the cooler one — I’m like… the city weirdo that can’t really control his pheromones and forces everybody to bear with it. But — imagine how much cooler you’d look glistering , with cement in your hair.”

Changbin narrows his eyes at him and turns back to the dishes; “You’re probably just saying this because you’ll have a ride in the morning.”

The only reason Changbin had ever worked part time was to meet omegas; he worked in a flower shop and a hardware shop — but none of that really stuck for more than a couple of months. He Keeps coming back to music. He DJs at one of the clubs some fridays and saturdays, and does remixes and helps record fun songs for birthday parties — but it doesn’t feel like he’s terribly passionate about that either. It just comes easiest to him, because he’s good at it. If he truly liked it, he would’ve pursued it as stubbornly as he did Hyunjin.

Maybe it would be a good push to try something new again.

“Yes. And also I won’t be the youngest one anymore. I feel like an actual toddler there.”

Changbin loves being babied, though. That’s how usually selling things to him works.

“Being the youngest comes with its perks."

There.

Mission accomplished. 

“7am sharp, and wear old gym clothes.”

.

Last week of May, his mom makes a meal.

Chan and Lucas help her a little. 

She is definitely nowhere near healed, but it feels like progress.

She’s back in the hospital the next day, like after every step forward, they have to take two steps back, but she’s released the next day, and she walks out of the hospital, instead of being wheeled out on her chair, like she did so far. 

The doctor reminds them it’ll be a slow. 

But so far nothing looks gravid. 

He’s so out of it when he heads home finally, sweaty and disgusting, both after working a shift and making sure his dad is all ready for the supplier tomorrow — that it’s a total surprise to him when Seungmin is right there, in the living room.

He met Jisung and Jeongin in the parking lot, and didn’t suspect a thing, even though they both were red faced and in a rush.

He gets one good squeeze on Seungmin before he is swatted away with a pillow. He’s smelly and forgot all about Seungmin being a clean freak.

The party is all set up, actually.

It’s nothing as big as Jeongin’s. There’s much fewer balloons. And Seungmin is vocally complaining about the party even happening, because he didn’t want one. Minho is telling Hyunjin to hurry up since Jeongin and Jisung are god knows where. Felix is whining about a piping on a cupcake turning out wonky, so Chan swipes from the top so he could taste the frosting. When he gets glared at, he tells Felix he can now start over now, and escapes to the bathroom before the guy can land a punch.

Hyunjin is just finishing blow-drying his hair, Changbin comes in after Chan to ask if he can help with the meat after he’s done with the shower.

Then Jeongin and Jisung return and get scolded for every inch of their life for taking their sweet time, when they were literally outside for 10 minutes tops.

Felix screams when Seungmin ruins his cupcakes by over sprinkling them with chocolate, while Chan is shampooing himself and it actually makes Chan laugh out loud in the shower. 

When he’s back in the room, he immediately gets assaulted with Minho’s scent.

It feels like an actual punch in the gut for a moment.

He pauses on his tracks. 

Minho’s scent in the apartment is not that hard to imagine — to be fair, Chan had never been in the apartment without his scent in it. By the time he had visited in for the first time, Minho had been in this apartment enough times for it to smell of him.

But he’s never been in Chan’s room since Chan’s room had become his.

There’s some Rules against scenting issues. It’s an obvious territory breach. Entering a den, especially of an unmated alpha, is looking for trouble.

Minho loves looking for trouble though, that much he knows.

He was by his bookshelf.

And also by his desk.

And on the bed, he left some clean clothes out.

Chan rubs the clean shirt all over himself, even though the traces of Minho’s scent are mostly gone — and for some reason feel dulled.

He’s going to be forced to interact with him today, whether he wants it or not.

.

It’s a small gathering.

Around 10 people turned up, although there were obviously more invited.

Hongjoong’s pack is on a trip before spring fest, which Chan knows is annual, so at least they have a good excuse. Some were busy . Some said they'd come and didn’t, otherwise they wouldn’t make so much food. (At least, he thinks that, until Jisung informs that they are moving back to the omega dorms, and Minho decided to empty out their entire pantry, since the dorms have small kitchens, so he made enough food for a nuclear winter.)

Nobody from Seungmin and Changbin’s littermates was over, for obvious reasons. They’re joining Jaehyun’s pack, so they need to make an obvious stance against them. 

Chan knows Seungmin isn’t very close to them, either way. Not like Changbin is. His parents had left the pack a couple of years ago due to clash of interests. He overall looks absolutely elated there’s much less people. It seems like everybody that he wanted to show up — did show up, and that’s all that matters.

Chan decides not to think about that, then, too. As long as he’s having fun. 

Seungmin gets absolutely smashed for all the right reasons.

He looked like he needed it, though.

He cozies up on the corner of the couch with a pillow, mouth opened, dead asleep, before people even start leaving.

Minho puts a blanket over him, including his face, like how’d you cover a body, and says “Rest in peace” which causes a riot in the room, but Seungmin doesn’t even stirs.

Before they know it, there’s only the pack around, and not even all of them. He’s collecting trash off the table, when Felix turns to leave.

It’s still pretty early for a Friday night. Two days before the full moon.

It started raining earlier, but the presence of the moon can still be felt. Wolves get a little crazy on a full moon. Better not to put yourself into harm's way with wolves that aren’t pack. Not that they get dangerous or anything, just — unpredictable. Logic makes less sense on nights like these. Besides, it’s possible outsiders notice the odd restless energy of the pack more than insiders.

“Changbin, go drive Felix home.” Minho pushes Changbin out of the kitchen.

Chan is picking up another half finished dish off the table. He would’ve drove him if he had the car, but he left it at his dad’s for the weekend.

“No, it’s fine.” Felix waves his hands, and then stumbles a little, unsteady. Thank god the wall is there. “I brought an umbrella.”

“Dude, you’re drunk. The umbrella won’t save you.” Hyunjin agrees.

“I know karate. I’ll be fine.” Felix waves his shoe at them, like he’s doing karate chop, which convinces everybody beyond doubt that he is indeed very drunk. 

“I can drive him.” Chan volunteers.

“Nah, it’s fine, you had shots.” Changbin says; “I had exactly two beers, because my omega complains about the taste of the merchandise.”

Both Felix and Minho make ‘ ohhh ’ sounds at the same time, while looking forward to Hyunjin, who was trying to see if Seungmin is breathing without actually waking him. He lifts his face, and looks a bit surprised he’s being judged.

“You know I’m a picky eater.” He explains himself nonchalantly; “He’s not dead yet.” He announces, sitting back on the sofa, on the other side.

“Where’s Jisung and Jeongin, by the way? I could drive all of you at once.”

“We’re not sure yet.” Hyunjin replies.

“You’re not sure yet?” Chan questions. 

“We suspect he might have convinced Jeongin to go beat up his hot date.”

“What date?” Chan starts fitting the contents of the chopped veggies they set up into a container, but Minho steals a baby carrot right out of it.

“I don’t know. Said he’s finally bringing over the hot date he’s been hooking up with, then he didn’t. And he seemed kind of upset the entire evening.”

“He told me he’s not seeing anybody, though.” Felix says, looking somewhat confused, as Changbin helps him get his shoe back on.

“As if he’d tell you he has something serious going on. He’s the most unserious person ever. The concept of commitment totally flew over his head.”

“Be nice.” Minho says; “Maybe he actually likes this one.”

“We both know he doesn’t, he just likes new dick.”

“Like you don’t.”

“I never said I don’t. But I already got the best dick in town, so his search is truly futile.”

Felix giggles and snorts at this, but Changbin runs his teeth on his lower lip, far too proud to hear this from his mate’s mouth.

Minho makes a patronizing hum, because he’s an asshole, and Chan lets him steal another cucumber before finally sealing the container, and heading for the salads. “Sounds like a hyperbole, but sure.”

“Hey!” Both Changbin and Hyunjin protest together, as if they co-own said dick.

“Hey yourselves.” Minho relieves Chan off the wooden spoon he’s holding with the salad.

He made so much food, they’ll have food for weeks now. Pretty complex traditional stuff. Usually the type of things his mom would only make for special occasions.

Changbin and Hyunjin discuss this actively, as Felix struggles with his other shoe.

Minho puts on a couple of lid covers in silence, working alongside him during the entire exchange. He’s still chewing on the cucumber noisily.

He puts some stuff he brought in the refrigerator, behind Chan. Opens drawers, looking for something. Moves the trashcan to the counter with his leg, and pushes a few plastic dishes Chan left on the counter near the sink into it, before wiping the counter with a paper towel.

Chan is so highly attuned to him all around him, little busy bee he is, that he ends up closing one of the lids on his fingers.

He immediately puts his finger in his mouth, doesn’t feel like it’ll swell or anything, but Minho pulls it out by his hand to have a look at it, swallowing his cucumber, then looks up at Chan, clicking his tongue and moving away.

Chan puts it back in his mouth and looks at him as he busies himself over the sink for another minute or so, before turning back to the rest of them, now helping Felix put on his other shoe.

He clears his throat, trying to empty his head; “So why’d you think Jeongin went with him, though?” 

He’s just making conversation. 

He’s seen so little of Jisung this past couple of weeks, he really has no clue. If Jisung is there, though, so is Jeongin.

“Jeongin has this strange habit of following Jisung around. Since he was a baby. Whenever he’d come along to hang out when I’d babysit him and his brothers, he’d let Jisung convince him to do the dumbest shit, I swear —” Minho snorts, as if the memory of it amuses him. “I think he used to be a bit gullible as a kid — and then it just got stuck for Jisung.” 

“He falls for every single trap Jisung sets for him. He always gets him trouble too.” Hyunjin agrees; “Remember a few years back he was convinced the clay up the stream has some healing properties? Wanted to sell it online.” Hyunjin tells Felix specifically, while tying his shoes. 

Felix doubles down laughing; “Oh god, yes!” 

Changbin also remembers, because he’s smiling.

“He and Jeongin went down the stream to collect heaps of it. They come back dirty and muddy. With like — seven buckets of that stuff. I have no idea how they carried that shit all the way to town.”

“And?” Chan asks, feeling a bit left out. 

He must have been gone during that time. He knows Jisung absolutely loves the idea of getting rich fast. His parents have already decided they’re leaving everything to Jisung’s older brother, when he was still pretty young.  He was never pushed to pursue higher education, either, since he’s an omega. This isn’t very unusual — but Chan did feel like it’s not very fair toward him, because it forced him to bond with an alpha to actually have something to his name. Every time Chan would call him while in university, he’d be fully invested into some new wild idea, and when Chan texts him back, less than a month later, he wouldn’t even remember what Chan is talking about.

“And nothing.” Minho replies for Hyunjin. “They’re still standing in the closet room of our apartment. Because he needs to get them tested, and it costs a shit ton of money to just send it to a proper laboratory. Then he needs to get approval from the health ministry to sell and distribute it. Which, news flash, also costs money.”

Chan laughs.

“Then he also needs to get small containers, have them labeled, make a full on company name and register it in the municipality. More money. Which is what I explained to him when they returned from the forest with twigs in their hair and dirt all over their clothes. He kept saying he’ll get to it, and start sending the samples.”

“Yeah, no he totally forgot about it. We used to do mud masks every time I’d come over, but now we don’t even do that.” Felix says, hugging Hyunjin back, when they hug for goodbyes. “I was going to be his mud model.” 

“Is the mud actually good, though?” Chan asks, curious.

“Fuck knows. I mean Felix’s skin naturally looks like that. I think it's a false advertisement.” Hyunjin pushes Felix’s cheeks together until his lips pucker up.

“It’s good, it’s good!” Felix tries to claim through his squeezed face. “I haven't gotten zits since I’ve used it.”

“When was the last time you’ve used it?” 

“Two years ago.” 

Chan snorts at this. 

“And last year Jeongin was dating this girl, and Jisung went and told her he taught Jeongin how to kiss. So she should thank him. He really thought he did something there.”

“Oh, man — he was high as kite that day.” 

“He was so convinced, too.” Minho shakes his head; “He swore on his grandmother’s grave it happened. When Jeongin just presented.” 

“She slapped the daylights out of Jeongin in the middle of the bonfire. You had to be there.” Hyunjin sighs fondly. “He was so confused.” 

Chan imagines it and cringes. 

“To be fair, when he’s that high, he says all sorts of shit. Remember when he decided to give us all a token of his appreciation? He gave me his vibrating cock ring. I have felt more appreciated since. Granted, he also took it back when he sobered up, but still.”

“I got his favorite ring. It’s my most prized possession.” Felix is obviously proud of this. 

“I got his fake supreme shirt.” Hyunjin says, much less proud; “It smelled like it wasn’t in the laundry for a couple of months. 

“I got a penny.” Changbin looks somewhat upset. “I guess I am not that important.” 

“At least you got something.” Chan complains, trying not to feel too left out. 

“No, he sent you his favorite dick pic. He used to collect all the alpha dick pics he receives and he sent you the best one.”

Chan remembers getting a dick pic from Jisung with zero explanation at 2am on a friday three years ago. He knew for a fact it wasn’t Jisung’s dick, simply because it was half knotted. 

When he sent him a ‘?’ back, finding this absolutely hilarious — Jisung told him he sent it by mistake the next morning. 

“I feel better receiving just a penny.” Changbin reflects, laughing. 

Felix also finds this funny, but almost falls on his ass from laughing. Both Hyunjin and Changbin stabilize him.

“Yeah, I don’t think this guy’s finding his dorm room.” 

“I’ll get him there. You both live on the second floor right?”

“On the third.” Hyunjin corrects; “And honestly, I don’t think they’d let you escort him in, since he’s drunk and you’re not registered as pack or mate.” He takes his jacket off the hanger.

“Hey — are you also leaving with them?” Chan cranes his neck over the kitchen aisle, to look specifically at Hyunjin, but all three of them are staring back at him. “All together?” He adds, voice smaller.

Chan isn’t sure why the nervousness in the pit of his stomach returns at once.

He shouldn’t even be nervous. They were civil during the entire party. They’re fine.

Minho never once made him uncomfortable and showed no signs that he remembered or cared about whatever happened when they ran together. It was all Chan. In his head. And it’s been so long since that it felt like water under the bridge.

“Yeah.” Hyunjin says, the beginning of a sly smile spreading on his face. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“Fuck off already~” Minho sing-songs, crouched down to reach one last container from bottom of the counter shelf.

“Besides, you guys have Seungmin to keep you company.” Hyunjin assures; “Bye!”

“Please don’t murder each other in the kitchen! Blood can stain the wood!” Changbin calls out from the hallway, and then the door is closed.

Chan can still hear them snickering and talking near the elevator, though he can’t hear what, because his ears are selectively choosing Minho at the moment, since he’s close.

He starts cleaning the counters of the kitchen aisle off of any crumbs and dirt with a paper towel, brisk quick moves. Then stops right beside Chan, forcing him to lift up the container he’s been holding for well over a minute, so he can clean underneath it, too.

He tries to smell something on him — wondering if he had planned this all along, but nothing really comes up in his nose, beside a small prickly smell of herbs that lays on top of him — and how it sends an itch down his arms.

Well, at least, that’s one mystery solved.

He knows what it is now.

Minho’s usual scent is all playful spices and sweet vanilla. Ripe fruits. But now it’s drowned out with the scent of medical, aromatic herbs that make him itchy. Chan had ultimately considered it being an actual allergy to a new perfume to maybe a traditional tea. He googled it once a few nights ago, and found there are some teas being used by omegas for centuries to urge alphas off an omega.

But it’s neither. It’s not on top of his skin, like a perfume and not below it, like a body odor resulting from something he consumed. It’s more like a cover — a blanket. And below it a stronger note. Dulled down. Quiet.

Heat suppressants.

It must have been a few days since he used it last, since it’s making him much less hazy. If they had met today, Chan’s reaction would’ve been volatile again. He must have caught it right when it was leaving his system.

He’s just unsure why the reaction in his body is so gravid. He smelled suppressants on others, and he’d even smell the heat below them, but it had never caused any kind of reaction from him.

Maybe it was a special, strong kind that didn’t settle well with Chan’s pheromone surge. It’s the 3rd or 4th time that he’s had his heat in the last two months since he came back. Which is simply improbable in such a small time window.

Unless he’s seeing somebody.

He doesn’t smell of it.

But Chan hadn’t been around a lot this month, and it could be just somebody who already shares his scent. Maybe a littermate. 

He watches Minho’s nape for a moment as he puts the last of the containers into the fridge.

“You know how Ostriches stick their heads in the sand when there’s predators nearby? That’s actually a myth.” Minho is already on the other side of the counter, where they’ve laid out the food and drinks buffet initially, cleaning off a sticky sauce spill.

“Yeah?” Chan decides to humor him, because that’s a really random way to break the ice, but he’s ultimately thankful, because he didn’t know how to start a conversation.

“Yeah. They actually just put their heads down on the ground so they look less tall, and hope they’ll become less of a target.”

Chan squints because from Minho’s slightly low intonation, he already knows it’s actually a jab at him.

He licks his lips, trying not to smile; “Well, years of evolution proved the big bird thrives using that technique, since it’s still around.”

“It is the biggest bird on the planet. Very hard to miss.”

“But it works.” He shrugs, which seems to annoy Minho.

“What saves it is its giant ass legs and the fact it can run very fast. Not the stupid camouflage technique.”

“So in this metaphor you’re trying to teach me, am I the giant ass legs that save my butt every time or the failing camouflage technique?”

Minho stops cleaning, obviously pissed off now; “You’re the revelation that the myth of ostriches being stupid motherfuckers is actually them being stupid motherfuckers for different reasons.”

“All I’m going to say is that sometimes being a stupid motherfucker works out for you.”

“So then, pry tell, what did you achieve by avoiding me? Since you say things work out.”

“Absolutely nothing. I am even more confused than before.” Chan admits, smiling.

Minho has to look away, upset that Chan is trying to make him smile.

“I couldn’t stand being in the same room with you. I’d get actual brain fog and rashes all over my body. I thought it’s psychological.” Chan takes the last few plates off the coffee table, and only when he returns, he understands Minho’s staring at him frowning, waiting for him to elaborate.

He rubs his cheek for a moment, a bit embarrassed; “It’s uh — your suppressants. I’m probably allergic or something.”

“Allergic. To suppressants.” Minho nods, but there’s open disbelief in his features.

“Yeah — well either that, or I don’t know how to explain it.”

“And you couldn’t say something, right?”

“It’s not exactly the easiest conversation to have, is it? What’d you want me to do, walk up to you and ask about your brand of suppressants?”

“Jisung uses the same brand, and somehow you never had an issue with his suppressants.”

“I barely saw Jisung this month. He’s always out somewhere. So even if he was on them, I didn’t feel it. On top of it, I just figured it out. Literally right now. Because it mellowed down in you.”

Minho looks like he believes him a little more this time; “How very odd.” Is all he says before resuming cleaning.

He just drops it. 

Just like that. 

Okay, then.

Chan nibbles at his lip. He’s not sure if Minho is trying to gaslight him or if it is indeed extremely contorted. “It’s the truth. If I had a nickel for every time things go batshit crazy with you, whether it’s my body, or just my head, I’d be a rich man.”

He’s not sure why’d that admission comes out of him like a bullet — but then settles down onto him like dread.

Minho tears off another paper towel, while looking straight at him. “Huh. I wonder why. Maybe I’ve cast an evil spell on you. I tend to do that, being the scourge of town.” He opens his eyes wide, trying to look more frightening than he is.

Chan knows that he walked right into that one.

He rubs his face. It’s not like there’s any point in denying it further — it’s obvious. “Fine. Yes.” He says with an air of finality to it. “I am stupidly attracted to you for reasons that absolutely escape me.”

Minho stares at him for a long moment, unmoving. “So, I’m not just another townie omega after all?”

“Thank you for being an asshole about it. I really needed that.” Chan half-laughs, unsure what he was expecting.

Guess some part of him hoped that it would be mutual.

“I’m the one being an asshole? I’m not the one who stringed ‘stupidly’ and ‘attracted to you’ into the same sentence. Not to mention ‘ reasons that absolutely escape me ’.” He looks away from Chan, shaking his head; “Maybe you were looking for a cave troll to suit your aesthetic. So sorry I don’t fit the template.”

Chan takes a deep inhale, tired. “You know that’s not what I mean.”

“What do you mean, then? Because you’re making this sound like I’m at fault for something I definitely didn’t do.” Minho drops some trash in the bag before walking across the room to the balcony.

“I’m not trying to pin this on you.” Chan follows him. “I know it’s a ‘me’ problem. But it’d be nice if you were — aware . That’s all.” He rubs his nape.

Changbin was right.

He should’ve listened to him. The way Minho’s spiralling and trying to put this out of context means this made him mad as hell and Chan should’ve just kept his big mouth close. 

He just has no idea why. 

Minho picks up the two empty beer bottles and one half eaten cupcake off the little garden table at the balcony, while staring right at Chan, who is standing in the entryway of the opened window, feeling unsure if to laugh or to get angry. 

“This isn’t high school. You don’t need to confess your undying attraction to me. You make it very obvious.”

“Why’d you—” Chan bursts into laughter; “Why’d you make it sound like that?”

“Make it sound like what?”

“Like me being attracted to you is an insult.”

“Well, let’s just say that if I had a nickel for every time I professed attraction to an alpha, I’d be a rich man.” He walks past Chan back into the living room.

Chan runs his tongue on his cheek, before turning around after him. “So what I’m getting is — you can correct me if I’m wrong — that you’re upset because it's just attraction and not something else.”

Minho is chewing on a bit off the half-eaten cupcake, and he has a little cute crease between his eyebrows; “I’m not upset that it’s just attraction. Just unsure what you want me to do with this information. Like what is that you’re making me aware of that I wasn’t aware of before?” He tears out another piece of the cupcake and shoves it into his mouth.

Chan can’t pinpoint what it is exactly, maybe just the way he chews on the cupcake for a long few seconds, but he it makes him snort. 

“Maybe I should go down on my knees and cry in thankfulness? Or better yet — how about I just let you fuck me. Since you did confess your attraction after all.”

“I don’t want you to do anything with this information, Minho — we weren’t even — we were discussing the fucking ostriches and me avoiding you problems, so I decided to tell you why I’m avoiding you and be done with that.”

“Okay. Great.” He says with a full mouth and continues fiddling with the glass bottle recycling so all the bottles can fit in there.

“Generally speaking, if you are aware — and you don’t want to do anything about it — maybe don’t come into my room and touch my things, too.”

Now he lifts his head up and his eyes narrow at Chan. Oh, Chan fucked up. He even stops chewing and makes a small suction noise with his tongue as if he’s cleaning his teeth off the cupcake.

“It just — you know I have a pheromone imbalance. And you know how easily scenting a den can fuck an alpha up.” He tries to salvage himself somehow, trying not to laugh. 

“So I should be mindful of your situation. That was your angle. I need to tiptoe around you.”

“That was not my angle — I don’t have an angle! Fuck!” He finally bursts into laughter, unable to hold it in. “I’m just saying — that it drives me absolutely fucking wild. You — your scent. I can’t produce coherent words. And I ran out of my own house just to avoid itching all over when you come strutting in here while in heat. So imagine how crazy my head swims when I find your scent in my room. There’s a reason there’s Rules for that. And I’m not saying you have to tiptoe around me, just sometimes you can — Stay at home when you’re in heat like any other omega. Especially if it’s frequent. And yes, I know this is a my problem .” Chan corrects himself because Minho already opens his mouth to cut him off. “I am asking you nicely to please consider some aspects of what you’re doing. I’m not trying to control or manipulate, I’m just saying that it directly affects me, and I bleed back into the pack, so me being restless and horny ends up with all of them being restless and horny, because they’re always here.”

“You’re right.” He says, finally, after a long consideration and takes a long deep inhale. “And I am sorry about the whole heat thing. I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately.” He seems to know exactly what’s wrong with him, but Chan decides not to comment on it. He refuses to dig his own grave further. 

Minho doesn’t say anything either. 

He picks up the glass recycling box, but it’s heavy, so Chan helps him from the other side. They put it closer to the door.

Minho proceeds to look at the apartment, as if trying to find if there’s something else to tidy up, but it looks pretty good, by now. Chan just needs to get the folding table back to his parents — even though it’s been here since Jeongin came back. They’re not exactly anxiously waiting for their picnic table back.

“I guess maybe it is time for me to find a mate after all. I’m not getting any younger.” He puts his hands on his hips, accomplished. “Good thing spring fest is coming up.” He adds, as an afterthought and heads to relax on the couch. 

This gives Chan an aneurysm. 

His fingers literally contort when he tries to bring them to his face into fists and he needs to take several breaths to calm himself down before he can talk. “Are you fucking with me, Minho?”

“What?” He was just taking out his phone, seemingly oblivious. 

“You’re just fucking with me at this point, right?”

He shrugs nonchalantly, eyes skirting back to his phone, but Chan still catches the smug look on his face.

He takes away his phone.

“You can’t possibly think that I’d be okay with that.”

“So what — I should practice abstinence until you find somebody else to be attracted to?”

“I didn’t say that, I’m saying you’re dumping this on me on purpose. You don’t want to find a mate. You want to drive me to the brink of insanity.”

“I heard you’re also looking for a mate at this fest, anyway.”

“Is that what you heard?” Chan doesn’t like standing over him like that. It feels dangerous. 

“Yeah. Hyunjin told me, because Changbin told him.”

“What if I catch you during the run? You know I’m attracted to you, now. There’s not a single rule protecting you out there. You’re basically giving me your consent.”

“You’d have to find me first.”

“You doubt that I’d be able to find you?” Chan snorts, because that’s a good joke, and offers him his phone back.

“Let me reiterate that.” Minho takes it, a small smirk on his lips; “You’d have to find me first among the rest.”

Chan has done that before.

But Minho’s calm certainty undermines Chan’s confidence about finding him again. He wasn’t there last year. And Minho’s an actual celebrity now. And what if he uses his heat suppressants. He’s spiteful enough to do that. 

He doesn’t get to reply because next thing he knows Jisung is at the door; “Damn, where is everybody? ” He says, after giving the living room exactly one look. “No beer left?” He heads straight to the refrigerator.

Jeongin comes in right after him, hair wild, nose red.

They’re both soaked, meaning they got caught in the down pour. 

“We rushed back for nothing.” Jeongin says, disappointed.

“Where were you?” Minho immediately investigates. “Please tell me you didn’t beat up anybody. This is the last thing this pack needs.”

“No, we went to get some ice-cream. I’m still hungry, though.” He pets his belly; “Is there any leftovers?”

“What happened to the guy you were bringing over?” Minho says after Jisung, but he just shrugs.

“Made me make my double cheese lasagna for nothing.” Minho scolds under his breath, and gets off the couch, shoving Chan out of his way. 

“Am I not worthy of the Mighty Cheese Lasagna? I love your lasagna, too.” Jeongin complains, and gets a different container into his hand, which he immediately opens and shoves a spoon into.

“No, you’re okay, baby. You can have as much lasagna as you want.” He finds the lasagna container, but before he offers it to Jeongin he waits until he looks up after settling into the chair; “Look me in the eyes and say you didn’t beat somebody up. Last time he made you punch the alpha factory worker that was hitting on him. If there’s a body to clean up, let me know now, while it’s still dark.” 

“I didn’t this time!” Jeongin raises his hands. “And that lady was suspicious!”

“We went over this — all she wanted is to give you a check for the last job you did there.”

“Well, she had a suspicious way of showing it. Who texts people every day at 7am?” Jisung defends himself and Jeongin. “I am but a wee omega. I have enough on my plate.” 

“My poor wee omega that broke somebody's teeth on a toilet seat and now me and Chan have to pay damages. Yes.” Minho pats Jisung's hair like he's a cat. 

“What?” Jeongin’s eyes open wide; “When did that happen?!” 

“No body. Scout’s honor.” Jisung changes the subject hurriedly. 

“Who did you beat up?” Jeongin’s voice comes out a bit muffled, since he already shoveled lasagna into his mouth, after Minho gives him the container. 

“And I’m insulted you’d think I wouldn’t be able to hide a body by myself, to be honest." Jisung turns the tables on Minho, and Minho looks like a wine mom, clutching onto her pearls when her children accuse her of neglect.

Minho sighs in admission eventually, disappointed in himself. “That’s true. You are my best disciple. I apologize for doubting your body hiding skills. I know you'd do better than me, if given the opportunity.”

“It’s the fact that you’re not scolding them for murdering somebody that should be more concerning than body hiding skills.” Chan comes a little closer, and then tries to fish himself a small part of lasagna, too. 

“Sometimes murder is okay.” 

“ No .” Chan disagrees.

Seungmin sits up. The white sheet that Minho brought over to cover him falls off his face. His eyes are bloodshot. Jisung screams, which makes Jeongin start laughing. 

“Where is this? Where am I?” He asks, looking around.

“You’re at Changbin’s.” Minho instructs. “You fell asleep on the couch.”

"Oh." He nods, although he doesn't look like he actively understands where that is and why. "Okay, then. Your voice is like chalk grating on a black board.”

He settles back down, hugging his pillow.

“This,” Minho turns to Chan; “Is the main reason murder should be okay.” 

Chapter Text

Minho ignores his text the next day, when he asks him about how he’s settling into the dorms. 

He even replies with a laughing emoji to some meme Changbin sent in the groupchat Hyunjin made for them, just so Chan knows he is ignoring him. 

Okay, then. 

Chan takes a detour twice to walk or ride his car along the omega dorms, just so he can accidentally meet him somewhere in the street — and on the second time, he actually parks, as if in waiting— it’s then that it hits him that he is acting crazy. 

They left the conversation in a strange place and Chan couldn’t help but overthink it in his head. 

The first thing he’s done wrong is not to correct Minho’s mistake. The second is just blindly reacting to him. He keeps doing that. It’s like he can’t control himself. 

If he could just talk to him, properly — 

By the time Jisung comes over to eat leftovers, Chan is already on edge.

To his surprise, Jisung is the exact opposite of him. He trudges over, looking extremely languid. He has no energy to unpack and he overall just wants to eat himself to sleep, so he could replenish the energy for tomorrow. 

Chan asks him what about the fest and he makes the most nonchalant, dismissive hand move, like he doesn’t give a shit. “I think Minho has it covered. I wasn’t that involved this year. Too busy.”

Chan has to leave, since he promised his dad he’ll be in the store while he takes his mom to the hospital for a routine check-up, but the thought doesn’t leave his head.

Last year, they were in the forest for weeks prior to the fest. He remembers his phone calls wouldn’t go through to any of the omegas because they were constantly in a no-reception zone.

On top of it, when he mentions it to Hannah, when she comes to lord over him about something, she starts raving about how insane it was last year. There were crowds of people in town, fans and anti-fans, alike. Media outlets were chasing after Minho everywhere. He even stayed right there, in Chan’s childhood house. Slept on the same sofa Chan had slept in a few months ago.

His mom invited him, after he got caught leaving Jisung’s. And nobody ever felt like Chan might want to know this piece of information at any point. No wonder Minho was all cozied up with his mom a few weeks ago, when he came over with the humidifier. 

By the time he comes home, he is on edge and Hyunjin is working on a commission in the living-room. 

“Nah, it’ll be fine.” He assures him when he asks, not looking away from the aisle. “I mean, at least better than last year. The amount of new people in town ruffled some feathers in more ways than one. Whole packs came here from the city. Not to mention reporters. I’d walk out of the omega dorms, and they’d spring up at me from a bush, asking me about him, or the book. Getting him to the Fest on that same day was impossible. Reporters kept mobbing the car to get a picture of him. This year Minhyuk and the other betas from his childhood pack will drive him, and he’s staying at Minhyuk’s house, so that’s already one thing less to worry about.”

Chan’s jaw tightens.

It’s somewhat humiliating to hear that his childhood pack has to drive him. Minho has his own pack, and there’s Chan and Changbin, Seungmin and Jeongin — who would have no problem to push people out of his way, had he asked.

Granted they had never discussed Seungmin joining the pack. Nor did they really discuss much of anything really. They haven’t even properly discussed Chan, yet. He just turned up there and became pack. In a very vague way, the consensus was that there is a pack. Which they are a part of. And Minho was - most often than not - making the calls for it, despite claiming that they make decisions together and nobody’s the main alpha.

It’s annoying that he didn’t even ask. Maybe consulted with Chan about whether this is a good or a bad move. Last time he seemed concerned with his opinion. Maybe he didn’t trust that they would be able to fend off the mobs, or maybe he wanted to have an actual pack with a reputation behind him. 

Either option didn’t sit well with Chan.

“And there’s much less people around, this time, though.” Changbin fills in from the couch. He’s been starfishing after shower, half passed out. It was an extremely hot and humid day today, and he’s probably exhausted from work. “I mean, sure — the motels are overbooked, and there’s like a whole ass campground near the lake for people who just came for the fest— Last time, it was a bloodbath. They had to ask the county and the city for extra security, because the alphas kept getting into fights right down the street.”

Hyunjin nods, agreeing. 

And Chan could let it go at that. Nothing to worry about. 

Minho is in good hands. 

“But — what about the Run itself…?” He lets anxiety get the best of him.

“What about it?” 

“What is the plan for after they sound the horn — like…” Chan struggles; “Do you have a place to meet up… or…?” He tries to trail off, waiting for Hyunjin to pick it up from him and say something, but he doesn’t.

He skirts his eyes to him for only a millisecond, as if to see his expression, and then does his best attempt to hide a crooked smile; “Wouldn’t you like to know?” 

Chan rubs his face, understanding that yes, what happens after the omega horn is none of his concern. 

“He is right, though.” Chan peeks out of the couch; “I haven’t seen you doing anything, really, this year. Last year you were barely home. And Jisung was — doing actual math. You know he flunked math twice.” 

“It wasn’t because he was bad at it, though. It was because he talked back at the teacher and kept correcting him.” Chan reminds. 

“Point is, he hates math.” Changbin says; “But he actually sat down and timed running speeds, and scrunched up the probabilities. You guys also teamed up with Jihyo’s omegas — and Hongjoong’s. And you had running teams, according to fitness ranges. And a whole ass schedule—”

“And what happened with that?” Hyunjin clicks his tongue; “It all went to shit the minute we turned up in there. Somebody snitched, so a reporter had tweeted our ‘plan’ to his 30k followers. Well, parts of it, at least. And we still have no idea who it was by the way.” Hyunjin gestures toward Chan the hand he’s holding the sponge in, as if he’s talking to him, but he keeps his eyes on the aisle. 

“We had to split up because people were following us around and wouldn’t leave. It was insane. Minho himself barely made it himself. It was a fucking shit show, that’s what it was. ” From Hyunjin’s tone, it sounds like even remembering it makes him cringe.

“So this year… you’re just winging it?” Chan assumes. 

“I don’t really know.” He shrugs. “We tried asking him, but he’s acting real dodgy and dismissive about it.”

Chan takes a deep inhale, and nibbles at his lower lip for a moment before finally asking; “What if there’s no plan? What if he’s planning to actually get caught this time?”

Hyunjin finally looks up from his painting at Chan properly. 

As if he’s trying to make sure if Chan’s joking. 

“No way.” He finally answers, but there’s no hesitation in his voice; “If he was planning that, he’d tell us up front. I mean, Jisung’s pretty smart. I think he’d make it on his own somehow, now that he has enough experience. But Felix got caught last year, and chances are, with the amount of people after him, he’s bound to get caught again. He has a really sweet almondy scent — he’s practically alpha bait out there. Even me. My legs are pretty long, but I’m not the best runner out there. If Changbin wasn’t there last ti—”

Changbin starts singing the national anthem loudly, and forces Hyunjin to pause, snorting as he gives a small affectionate gaze toward the couch.

He obviously helped him reach the finish line last year. 

Chan didn’t doubt that for a second. It’s against the rules. Probably would land him straight in jail. But Changbin already witnessed Chan doing it year after year and not getting caught, so why wouldn’t he do the same for his mate? 

“Point is,” Hyunjin reiterates. “I think what we took away from last year is that in the forest, everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. No calculation or planning can save you from that. Too many unaccounted factors. So I think he’s being so secretive about it because there’s not much of a plan. So no — there’s no meeting place we’re going to, and we have no timing schedule or an alliance with other packs. We’ll improvise as we go.”

“Wait… what do you mean we ?” Changbin sits up, and snorts, as if Hyunjin is making a joke. “ We ,” he mentions between himself and Hyunjin to mark who the ‘we’ in this context symbolizes; “Agreed about something else this year.”

“ We ,” Hyunjin mimics the way he said it, and returns to his painting; “Didn’t agree on anything. You agreed on it, and I disagreed, and then we didn’t revisit the conversation.”

“Are you serious right now?” Changbin sits up even straighter. Now his entire face can be seen from the couch, and he doesn’t look like it’s funny anymore. 

“Pretty serious, yes.”

“And you didn’t think I should know this? When were you planning to tell me?”

Hyunjin shrugs in a lazy way, shaking his head, like he didn’t even think about it; “I didn’t think it’d matter.”

“Didn’t think— Hyunjin, we’ve been dating for nearly two years.”

Chan had never seen so much emotion on Changbin’s face at once.

He looks genuinely upset. Not angry, not sad — but both at the same time. Usually whenever some mishaps occur, the first thing he does is raise his voice. 

But this isn’t the case right now. In fact, his voice is extremely leveled, even like glass.

“So what?” Hyunjin returns as if he doesn’t like what Changbin threw at him; “You get to have me every day, and a little paper that says that you fucked me on this one particular day of the year won’t change a thing.”

“It might not change a thing for us, but in the eyes of the law, we’ll be able to confirm our relationship, you know — in the wild case we’ll want to get bonded sometimes and have pups, like we talked about literally last night.”

“We both don’t have stable jobs, and our pack isn’t well-established. Pups need security and safety. I don’t want them to be raised in the bachelor pad you share with Chan, where you both go around stinking up the place with your big alpha dick energy— no offense.” He turns to Chan, as if this was directed at him. 

“None taken.” Chan pips back, regretting even raising the subject. He feels like a kid witnessing his parents fighting.

“Fine,” Changbin stands up, throwing the pillow at the couch; “No idea why you keep talking about pups with me when you have no intention of having any.” He heads straight to his room.

Hyunjin is right on his tow, though, closing the door after him. 

Chan puts all the dirty dishes in the sink, even though it isn’t his turn today.

He tries watching some movie on his laptop, but at some point, their voices raise louder than what his earphones can block out. 

Hyunjin is claiming that Changbin is overreacting over something small. That they can always ask for special permissions from the municipality, if they do decide to bond. Changbin questions this and asks if Hyunjin has never seen him as anything other than a rebound, and if that’s why he doesn’t want to fully commit.

Hyunjin leaves with a loud door slam that makes Chan jump in his spot on the bed.

After that it’s quiet for long minutes.

Chan hears Changbin in the living room, stomping around. He gives him a moment, but when the cluttering doesn’t stop and peeks out of his room.

His shoulders are slumped, but he’s still cleaning up Hyunjin’s painting corner.

“Hey.” He starts, hands in the pocket of his jeans as he comes a bit closer.

He doesn’t really know how to start a conversation, but he also feels that if Changbin wanted to be alone, he’d stay in his room.

“Hey,” He answers, then hurriedly, as if he needed to reason himself, adds; “He’s going to get upset that he left all his paints open.”

He picks up another paint tube and screws back  the cap, before dumping it into the big paint bag Hyunjin had opened, then takes another one, this one green in color.

“I’m really sorry for bringing up the subject.” He finally pushes it out, feelings guilty. “I should’ve—”

“It’s fine. You’re not to blame.” Changbin cut him off, dumping the green tube into the bag too; “To be honest, I’m glad it happened now, and not tomorrow. I would’ve probably freaked out and made a scene.”

He dunks the paintbrush into the water cup and shakes it off access water, before taking a long deep inhale.

“It’s just… I don’t know why I’m like this. I get why he’s upset. I’d be hesitant too, if I bonded with some miserable douchebag straight out of high school.” He takes the water cup to the sink and flushes it out before putting it on the drying rack. “I don’t know why I’m pushing this agenda so hard. He keeps thinking I’m concerned about what people think of me. How we’re dating for so long and still not bonded, and how it looks bad for me and my reputation, and how he doesn’t want to be responsible for that— and I seriously don’t give a shit?” He finally turns to Chan, as if expecting Chan to have an instant answer. He doesn’t.

It’s true that they’re taking it incredibly slow.

The longest unbonded relationship Chan had heard about lasted two years, and they broke it off after hitting that mark. Wolves are either a match, or not. Most omegas know within a couple of months if the person they’re mating with is a match for them. Some wait until the spring fest, to be positive in their decision. Others wait until spring fest, just for the paper slip that rules them as mates in the eyes of law. But either way, June is the number one month of bonding rituals in town, simply because it’s immediately after the fest. 

Omegas are discouraged from bonding early, because their frontal cortex isn’t fully developed yet, and they cannot know what is good and what is bad. From what he understands, Hyunjin’s last relationship wasn’t just a mismatch — it was abusive, too. So it’s only right that he takes a while to heal from that. 

“What I want is certainty. Knowing that he’s — with me on this. That he’s not throwing stuff up in the air. And knowing he gives me the opportunity to do right by him.”

“Did you tell that to him, instead of screaming that you’re just a rebound to him and nothing else?” 

Changbin furrows his eyebrows at Chan; “Hyunjin told me you do this, but I didn’t believe him. What did he call it— Libra logic ? or something like that? Minho just calls it ‘preachy’ .” 

Chan laughs at that, and Changbin just dumps himself on the couch, head directed to the ceiling. “I always lose my cool when we start fighting, lately. I don’t know why.” 

“Just talk to him tomorrow, when you’ve both calmed down.” Chan assures, sitting down on the other side of the couch; “I think deep down, he knows you’re right, and you have to decide if you make it or break it — he’s just probably… not in place to make a decision, yet.”

“Yeah.” Changbin agrees, shoulders slumping. He turns to face him fully; “You know, the very first time we talked was in high school?”

Chan isn’t sure why Changbin finds that detail so surprising. Although he didn’t know Hyunjin that well, he knew that he was Minho’s friend. And he knew his parents. If Chan knew him, although he had no interest in him — so should Changbin. 

“I mean, I knew him from around. I knew his name, and what class he was in.” Changbin reassures; “I knew he was Minho’s friend and I knew he’s gorgeous, but I never actually talked to him until right then. We both got detention together, by a fluke. Had to staple together over 6 thousand flyers for Harvest Day. I don’t even remember what I did to get detention — but I remember that he ditched his biology class, because his mate wanted to hang out. He spent half of time upset at himself for believing that he wouldn’t get in trouble over that. But then — I made him laugh. And he was so easy to talk to. I even took him home, because my house was on the way—”

“No, it’s not. Hyunjin’s pack house is on the other side of—” Changbin shoves a pillow into his face, which makes Chan burst into laughter.

“Anyway,” he clears his throat; “We said goodbyes, and the entire way home, all I thought about was ‘damn shame he got a mate’. I wish I had the courage to just shoot my shot, instead. I wish I got there first, so that I could just save us both the heartache.”

“But you can’t really control things like that, can you?” Chan leans his cheek into his hand. “You can control how you deal with this now, though.”

Changbin nods absently, and rubs his cheek; “It’s just that when I’m with him, I suddenly want to do everything right. By the book. I want him to know that he can have the best life possible with me. I’ll provide for him and keep him happy for as long as he wants me to. I don’t think this has ever happened with an omega for me. Even when I wanted to be serious, it just wouldn’t feel right. But this feels right. But if it doesn’t feel right to him…” Changbin takes another deep inhale. “I guess there’s not much I can do about that. If he doesn’t feel the same way.” He looks down, and starts scratching at a little stain on the couch’s fabric, even though it's the kind of stain that’s probably there for life.

Chan feels a bit helpless, because ultimately he doesn’t know how Hyunjin feels deep inside, and even if he did, he’s not the person who Changbin should hear it from.

“I know I made it sound on the phone like I’m getting all the bitches now that you’re gone to university, but the truth is, I spent most of my time being absolutely disinterested with the omegas here — my last long term experience was with Kang Jimin, and although officially we were together for seven months, I wanted out on the fourth, she just would use any excuse in the book to make sure I don’t end things.”

Chan chuckles.

“Can you believe she started telling people that she thinks we bonded on accident and now I’m avoiding her? She was about to get me into hot water with the committee, and insinuating we’re—” He glances at the door, as if there’s a committee member eavesdropping with a cup to the door, waiting for him to say a forbidden word. “ True mates .” 

“You should’ve seen Hyunjin though. That day when he slapped her.” Chan leans back, trying to restrain his laugh; “Called her a ‘sniveling cunt’. Said he slapped her across her dick-shaped face . He got so upset, he turned into a Lee Minho . I’ve never seen him angry before, and I saw Jisung spilling wine all over his white jeans.”

Changbin purses his lips together, attempting to stop the smile, but Chan could tell he’s flattered. “Yeah? He never told me that part.”

Chan waits for a beat or two, nibbling at his lip, until he finally asks it. “Do you think… Hyunjin’s it, though? Your true mate?”

“Dude…!” Changbin opens his eyes like Chan just asked him the worst thing he could’ve possibly asked him, though the corners of his mouth stay turned up. “ No .” He clarifies. “And there’s no such thing.”

“Oh, come on.” Chan pushes at him; “We’re alone here!”

“There really isn’t!” Changbin insists, snickering as Chan pushes him; “The way I see it, it’s more of a scale. Sometimes pheromones are more compatible, and sometimes less. I don’t think it’s black and white. Like either you are, or you aren’t. Like who’d you explain Felix getting along with so many alphas? He just has a really docile, sunny personality, so his pheromones are easy on the nose for almost every alpha around him.”

Chan hums. He never thought about it like that, but he also never spoke about this with anybody else. He’s never been close enough with somebody to feel comfortable to bring it up. He’s not sure if he agrees. It might be a myth, and if there is any research about true mates, it’s behind governmental locks.

Changbin glances at him hurriedly, before leaning a bit closer; “Sometimes though… I can tell when he’s in the mood. Even when I’m miles away. For example on Thursday, when I was at work, I felt a weird hot wave on my body and I immediately went for my phone and look and behold, a second later, he texts me and asks me if I want to catch lunch together.”

“Hold on — this Thursday? Dude, I was wondering why you left in a hurry for lunch and didn’t even invite me! You also took your sweet time!”

“Well, I had to reward him for taking initiative.” Changbin defends himself.

“With a knot.” Chan laughs, and Changbin throws another pillow at him, giggling at himself.

“But that’s pretty cool—” Chan hugs the pillow to himself, instead of throwing it back at Changbin. “It’s like a superpower, of sorts. Knowing when your mate is in the mood.”

Changbin makes a childish noise, and hits his arm, giggling— but it hurts a lot more than it should, so Chan grunts and pats the place where he hit.

They talk a bit more after that, though mostly about co-workers from the construction site, and then about Seungmin’s return.

It’s oddly calm, despite the fact that it’s nearly a full moon and they’re both alphas. They should be itching to have a go at each other face with their claws— but instead they part ways each to his own room pretty late, somewhere around 2am.

Chan feels complacent when he heads to bed.

.

Spring Fest Morning starts in a downpour that continues until early afternoon, when he and Changbin finally decide to file out.

Felix texts them with question marks and tells them to come to the events, since they’ve finished eating lunch together there. 

Usually Hyunjin updates Changbin when they’re heading out and they drive them, but after their argument last night, Hyunjin hasn’t answered a single text Changbin sent him, which left Changbin an anxious, agitated mess. He even lets Chan drive, even though Chan, too, had been a little too restless since morning. Full moon jitters. 

Perhaps they were bleeding off on each other, too. 

It’s humid and sticky.

It’s still overcast and every bug in town seems to have taken up to the air once the rain stopped, and has ended up on his car’s windshield.

There’s a huge ass traffic jam before they even make it out of town. Tons of people have already left their cars on the side ditches and in the streets closer to the road, some even parking illegally, just because they were too impatient to wait it out. They have to go through two Committee checkpoints, which is insane, considering the last time Chan saw Committee checkpoints was in the entrance to the city.

One of the nearby fields has been converted into a temporary parking lot, too. New white gravel laid out on soggy mud for cars to park.

They need to state their purpose with a committee officer before they can even be let in, and when they say they’re here to participate in the Run, he takes their IDs and signs them in for it on his tablet, and then marks them with a red stamp on the wrist, marking them as a participating Alphas.

Apparently there’s a quota of Alphas that can participate, and they almost didn’t make it.

Chan thinks this is insane. 

The amount of people there is insane.

There’s around a dozen media outlet vans lined up near the main event.

The event grounds have been expanded into what used to be previously the original parking lot.

There’s tons of food booths from different parts of the county, and even some big names from the city. He sees a lot of people in shirts that have the artwork of Minho’s book on them, mostly teens that are there with their parents or in a group all together. Chan even spots a couple of guys wearing red bands on their wrists, there to silently support conservative party views.

There’s even a red carpet area, except the carpet is purple for some reason, and a large sign that says ‘Spring Festival at Town’ in bright purple, along with a heart logo you can take pictures with.

Right after he and Changbin come in, some celebrity arrives and gets mobbed by reporters, too.

It’s a fucking spectacle.

Spring Fest but on steroids. 

Chan expected bigger crowds than ever before, but he didn’t expect anything of this sort. It wouldn’t pale in comparison to a City Festival; high security, big effort. The town’s municipality is probably racking in money, all because Minho wrote a book. They should be kissing his feet right now.

Changbin and Chan head to the free booze section almost immediately, simply because they both spent over an hour - probably closer to two hours - in the car together, both on edge. They fought twice , started cursing people out of their windows, and honked at every passer by. It’s already late afternoon, by then, they’re both starved and need to get something in their system, two shots of wolf-apple liquor and they’re good as new. Chan doesn’t get his third, because Felix knocks the air out of him when he bumps into him and squeezes his pecs, the way he would a woman’s boobies, so his drink spills, but it’s fine. 

He’s not much of a drinker, anyway.

Felix proceeds to hug Changbin as well, and Hyunjin hugs Chan, but avoids looking into Changbin’s direction while he asks them where Seungmin is.

This obviously rubs Changbin wrong.

Hyunjin doesn’t smell like another wolf to Chan. He smells just like them. But to Changbin, he smells distinctively of another alpha — of an alpha that isn’t him, and he immediately calls him out on it. Hyunjin tells him he’s delusional. 

This starts an argument.

Chan points out that he really can’t smell it, and he wonders if it’s because of the moon or maybe all the smells around him. Felix smells around the same as Hyunjin to him — with differing notes, maybe less of Changbin than Hyunjin normally does — but this doesn’t really stop them. Changbin asks Felix who they were with before the fest and Felix tells him no one, beside Minho and Jisung. They didn’t even see Jeongin, yet. 

Hyunjin asks if Changbin is seriously thinking that he’s cheating on him, right now 

If he was aiming to avoid making a scene during the fest, the option is now out of the window. Not only do they make a scene, they have a full on screaming match, and make people stop whatever they’re doing, and look their way. And it’s about the exact thing as yesterday, except this time, to add a flare of drama, Hyunjin also slaps Changbin and walks away, with Changbin on his tail.

Chan gets real uncomfortable about it when he detects Jaehyun’s smug face in the crowd, discussing this with one of his betas. They probably hurried there when they heard the commotion.

Chan looks away hurriedly, before Jaehyun can even detect him or cross his eyes with his — he knows that meeting him right now is going to be an extremely bad move for him. It’s bad enough he’s got a committee record on him now, but he also was forced to pay damages for something absolutely stupid. 

It’d probably take less than one look to set Chan off, fist straight into that man’s face right now.

Chan decides to distract himself with the next best thing. 

“Don’t worry, Hyung, I trust Minho-hyung with my life.” Felix links their arms, as they walk away from the booze stand. “He knows what he’s doing.”

“Does he…? Did you talk to him about it properly?”

“I pestered him about it, yes. Me more so than Jisung. He shrugged his shoulders and said ‘I don’t know’ and ‘we’ll see’.”

“That doesn’t sound like a plan to me…! How are you all this relaxed, if you don’t want to get caught?!” 

Felix pats his bicep; “It’s going to be okay, Hyung. You’ll see. Last year, we had to separate because a large crowd of omegas just followed us around. I think most of them wanted to see him in action or wanted to be a part of the thrill. We tried explaining to them that if there’s a bunch of us omegas all together, we’d be glaring obvious in the forest, but they just wouldn’t listen to reason. So we ended up separating into groups and mine stumbled upon an alpha pack. My ex was with me for a moment, and then he wasn’t, and I ended up getting caught— and to be fair my ex was — well… not good at giving dick. I was mostly in charge of the dickening in our relationship.” 

Chan barks out an unexpected laugh.

“So I was a little disappointed, but at least I got good dick, you know. Minho was devastated though. He got so upset when he understood I didn’t make it, I honestly thought he’ll start crying. His face got all red. He spent most of the fest just helping people reach the Last Mark until dawn hit — and here is one of his best friends, who didn’t make it. I think he took it worse than I did. He promised me that I’m going to make it no matter what, this year. And I believe him. He probably has a big plan going on, just prefers to not tell us yet.”

Chan furrows his eyebrows when a couple of alphas walk by them, eyeing Felix rudely. It’s absolutely disturbing that they’re doing this openly, in the middle of the fest.

It’s one thing if they do it discreetly, or at least not when another wolf is walking along with the omega.

Chan realizes he needs to get some water on his face, because the tension is getting to him. He’s fidgety and gets more unsettled by the minute, ready to blow like a cocked gun.

Felix explains some more about the last run, saying how last year the municipality wasn’t expecting such large crowds, and they fumbled with all the preparations, and how several celebrities that were listed in the county came over by surprise to join the silent omega protest. It’s not like in the city anybody would care if they’re a Luna or an Omega.

Just then one of Jeongin’s brothers parks right next to the red carpet, and Minho and Jisung file out of it, arguing about something.

Jisung huffs, and then collects Jeongin by the shirt, who looks like he just woke up. 

The reporters and fans mob Minho almost immediately, though, without Chan even getting a good look at him or being able to interact with him.

Only when Felix pulls at his arm gently, patting his forearm to calm down, does Chan realize his claws had extended out of his fingers. He even feels his fangs with his teeth, before he’s able to compose himself.

He already got other people driving him, and now the thought of somebody else getting first to him and not Chan is infuriating .

The full moon lulling below the horizon, his unstable pheromones and all these strange wolves around him with their scents — and the cherry on top, Minho . Like somebody dialed up the pressure on his brain by ten folds. 

Jisung and Jeongin beeline around the crowd, and to them, when Felix waves and calls to them— This is all his. Territory. Like Felix, Jisung is one of his omegas, and so is Jeongin. Not his beta, per se — but he smells familiar and harmless, when he bumps his shoulder into Chan’s for a greeting, before greeting Felix with a hug. If anybody else did it, Chan would’ve probably tore their neck off. 

Whatever feral sense that came over his brain dulls after a moment. 

“You good?” Jisung asks after finishing hugging him. 

“Yeah. Good.” It was a blatant lie. He was about to go berserk and he has no idea why. The loss of control over his own brain lays onto him like a heavy blanket of dread.

“We’re cutting Minho out of the pack. The piss got to his head.” Jisung announces, chin raised high.

“Minho didn’t allow him to do product placement.” Jeongin explains, smile wide and foxy.

“I am an honest man, trying to make an honest living. He obviously doesn’t support my newest invention.” Jisung lifts up a small spray bottle from the dollar store. It’s filled with a yellowish, unappealing liquid. It says ‘Alpha-Away’ in a comics sans font, along with his phone number right below it, and also a bad photoshop cutout of Jisung’s face winking. 

“He was going to hold the bottle right behind Minho’s head when they filmed him for the news.” Jeongin explains. “I tried telling him it’s not going to work.”

“What is it?” Chan opens the bottle and without even sniffing at it, closes it and hands it over to Felix.

He gags, and turns away, feeling a slight heartburn coming up his throat. He doesn’t puke, but he comes near damn close. 

“Alpha Away!” Jisung introduces; “The Spray to make Alphas go away!”

“Jisung and my grandma connected on a deeper level a few days ago so she told him her family recipe tea to fend off bad suitors.” Jeongin explains, rubbing his hair. “He sprayed it into my face to test it and I lost my sense of smell.”

“And I already apologized.” Jisung mentions, nodding, as if this is the most important part of the story. “Probably best not to spray straight at the face though. In version 2.1, I’ll redesign the label with a warning.”

“Isn’t it illegal to use substances like that on yourself during the Run, though?”

“No, I checked. It’s actually what they use to wake up Alphas from unconsciousness? Makes them puke.” Jisung waves his hand.

“It just smells like rotten eggs to me. Sulphuric.” Felix scrunches his nose, but doesn’t seem too bothered.”

“That’s the beauty of it all. It’s totally safe for omega. I mean, it smells bad, but we’re not going to lose our nose for it — I already apologized.” Jisung reminds Jeongin, who rolls his eyes, dismissive, but still smiling. To be fair, if he’s planning to participate in the Run now, he’ll be in trouble. Being without a nose, when it’s pitch dark in the forest, is like losing your sight and your ears. 

But Jeongin doesn’t seem very interested in omegas. Well, at least, omegas that aren’t from their pack.

“Besides, if you spray it on you, you’re all anybody’s going to smell in the forest? It’s so potent, it’s like giving them GPS directions to your location. Yes, it smells bad, but it’s a spring run, and you’re giving away your location. It’ll probably mess with the scanner thingie that reads the milestone scents. And I would never sell anything that is good for only one day a year. This is a year-round solution for the Alpha Absolution — oh my god, that was the perfect catch phrase—” He takes out his phone to write it down.

Jeongin rubs his eyes, trying not to laugh. 

Chan looks back at the spray as Felix hands it back. 

It makes him queasy — but in a very different way than Minho’s suppressants. Nauseous. His belly cannot tolerate it. He glances at the crowd still mobbing Minho, eyebrows furrowed. He feels uneasy that he has to stand alone and deal with it alone. 

“He’s going to be fine.” Jisung pats Chan, moving him away. “He actually told us to scram — and get this, make ourselves as sparse as possible until the actual run.” 

“He also said not to hang out too closely.” Jeongin adds. 

Chan glances at Felix and Felix glances back. “So wait — did he actually give you guys instructions? Do we need to separate? What for?” 

Jeongin shrugs. “He didn’t say.” 

“I told you he has a plan.” Felix elbows him lightly, looking incredibly smug. 

Chan gives one last look at the crowds, trying to find Minho’s face. 

He also feels unsure about separating. His own emotions and pheromones are running rampant. But if it’ll help the omegas in any way, he should do it. 

“Let’s do what he wants, then.” Chan nods; “Communicate via phones only, or where people can’t see you.” 

.

Chan is jittery for the rest of the hour before the run.

His muscles feel tense with anticipation. His throat is dry. He feels like somebody is pulling him by the ears toward the horizon. He’s itchy too, and keeps trying to find a moment to speak alone with Minho, constantly strolling by him or around him, hoping for at least some eye contact.

He gives two long interviews for major national media outlets. After that he signs autographs on his book and takes selfies, before the governor’s Personal Assistant ushers him to get pictures. Then every municipality official gets their dirty paws on him.

It’s just a PR event. He made a brand of himself, and has a reputation he needs to uphold. Chan gets it. But at the same time it irks him, and scratches below his skin. Who is this polite, reserved pod person? He’s extremely professional with everyone, using honorifics, smiling the same curt, small smile. This isn’t Lee Minho at all — not his Minho, at least. And it makes him uneasy.

And when he is uneasy, he eats.

He’s on his third bowl of fish and chips, when he finally spots Changbin, pushing his way through the crowd to the nearest booze booth. He orders three shots, and downs them all, one after another.

Uh-oh.

They’ve been texting both him and Hyunjin, trying to get one of them to reply since they disappeared somewhere and weren’t in on the plan, but so far, been getting a lot of ‘seen’ and no reply. Chan was wondering if they just made up and were making out some place — but it’s definitely backwards, if Changbin is back alone, ready to drown himself in alcohol.

He’s just about to text Felix that he has his eyes on Changbin and it’s not looking good, when Felix texts him that Changbin and Hyunjin had another fight near the parking lot, and that he and Seungmin (Chan didn’t know Seungmin was coming) are behind some booths with Hyunjin, consoling him.

Changbin is on his fifth shot, when Chan moves the glass away from him and gives him a long look.

Changbin furrows his eyebrows. “We broke up.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, we did. I mean, I think we did. Finally . Fuck it.” He takes the glass back and downs it, face screwed up from the liquid burning his way down his throat.

By the smell of it, he ordered something strong.

“Do you seriously want to get drunk before the run?”

“Yes. It’s not like I have an omega to catch.”

“Dude.”

“He doesn’t want me to catch him. Period. Nothing I can fucking do about that.”

“You’d let him get caught by somebody else, then?”

Changbin runs his tongue on his cheek and looks away from Chan, then takes another shot. Before banging on the bar, to get the clerks to give him another fill.

“I don’t know. Maybe he just doesn’t trust me to protect him.”

“Now you’re just self-sabotaging your—” Before he can even finish a word, the Public Address for the Omegas goes off. People abruptly hurry off to get the best seats and the best views of the starting point.

They repeat their announcement again, and Chan hears every word ringing in his ears. They have ten minutes at best, before they have to show up. Chan has the hunch that this time around, they will definitely disqualify latecomers from coming onto the alpha balcony, as the rules say, considering the high security event this is.

Chan has no idea how he has it in him to even pep-talk Changbin up, when he’s tense as a guitar string, stretched to the very limit — but he does. Because Changbin needs to hear somebody say it.

They end up convincing the last clerk at the booth to give him one last round, and the guy ends up drinking a shot with them, before taking off the apron and shucking it onto the stand and hurrying off himself after his buddies.

It’s starting to empty out by then, people trickling out of the event grounds toward the starting point gallery.

He has his hand draped around Changbin’s shoulders, and he seems to have calmed down a little when he talks, although Chan can generally feel he’s devastated and angry.

Somebody brushes by his left side, and considering they’re walking in a large crowd, Chan wouldn’t have automatically turned to look — but he does this time, and is surprised to find that it’s Minho. Just wearing a cap now, and having changed his clothes.

He’s wearing full on white. White loose pants. And a white sheer button up, which is opened and exposing something black behind it. 

Minho’s eyes don’t stay on Chan though, as if he saw right through him. He doesn’t even say hello, just moves past him and Changbin.

Chan catches onto his hand, forcing him to look back.

Minho furrows his eyebrows; “What is it? I have a run to catch.”

“I wasn’t aware of how busy your schedule is.” Chan returns almost automatically, eyes running down his body.

At first he thinks he imagines it, but then it dawns on him what it is he’s smelling and seeing. 

Below the white button up, the sleeveless black shirt he’s wearing, that looks slightly loose on him, is definitely Chan’s. 

“Are these my clothes?” He cannot even mask the amused outrage in his voice.

It’s not just some sleeveless shirt that belongs to Chan— it’s the shirt he slept in for at least a day or two. It’s the shirt he wore when he rutted into the mattress because he couldn’t fall asleep until he jerked himself off, having been incredibly horny for the week coming up to the fest.

The cap on his head is also his. He’d wear it on sunny days at the construction site. It still has the scent of his sweat.

Chan even knows when he took this. He was in his room two days ago, during Seungmin’s party. He puts out clothes for him to wear. Because there is no fucking way Chan would’ve agreed to let him take his worn clothes. Chan even remembers, belatedly, looking for his pajamas that night, and then simply shrugging it off, because he probably left them in the laundry basket in the morning.

“You’re clearly mistaken. Probably from the heat. And the alcohol.” He glances at Changbin, obviously displeased that he drank. 

Chan frowns, because he talks to him like they barely know each other. 

He’s also giving the kind of look he’d give to a gum stuck to the back of his shoe, the way he would right before he’d blurt out something so horrible about Chan, it’d make his ears turn red with outrage. 

It sends an alarming feeling on Chan’s back. He tries to back track — to their conversation and the party two days ago, wondering if he had said something or done something that Minho might have misinterpreted in a way he didn’t intend— other than the obvious .

When Changbin returned to drive the lot of them home, this time leaving behind Hyunjin because he was sleepy, he didn’t seem hostile or upset when Chan went down with them to the car.

He doesn’t even smell hostile now. He doesn’t smell upset . Chan would know how he’d smell upset.

He smells… nervous, maybe. Chan can’t really figure it out with some many people around them. Their scents mixed together clouds his judgment fully, he can’t think about anything else but that, actually.

“Minho, you have to talk to Hyunjin before the ru—” Changbin starts but Minho lifts his hand up to stop him. 

“This can wait until the end of the Spring Run.”

“No, it can’t. He wouldn’t even listen to me, and now he’s—”

“It will wait.” Minho cuts him off again, this time meaning it.

Changbin frowns at him, and Chan tries to find something on his face — though he’s not sure what he’s looking for. Minho makes an impatient click of tongue and skirts his eyes away. “Are we done here? I need to go.”

“We’re not done until you tell me what’s going on, if you want my help this time.”

Minho tears his arm out of his grip.

“I don’t need your help.” He says that loudly, making a few people turn their heads to them as they’re passing. “And I would appreciate you stop orbiting around me, like you did the entire night and mind your own damn business.”

He doesn’t wait for his response, and immediately walks away.

Chan glances at Changbin, who looks just as confused— but somebody pushes right between them.

“Trouble in paradise?” Jaehyun says, turning after them, giving them both a long look, but only snorting at Changbin, as if he’s already been dealt with.

He continues walking though, and Chan stops Changbin from following him, by placing a hand on his chest.

All 10 of his betas pass by them, sneering and smirking.

How fun. Chan is actually surprised there’s so little of them. Maybe it’s the ones who are single.

They’re an intimidating bunch, that’s for sure, especially when together.

“That piece of shit — of course he was right behind us — and of course he already knows Hyunjin and me broke up.”

Chan waits for a moment until he sees all his betas gone and looks behind them just in case, although he’s not entirely sure who from the crowd is his betas — just knows they will be looking their way, if they were.

Nobody seems to pay them any heed as far as he can see, so he just continues walking, draping his arm back around Changbin.

“That conspiring son of a bitch. I bet he’s already calling Dongsoo to announce the good news.”

“Dude, Hyunjin never said he’s breaking up with you. You are having a rough patch and you are going to figure it out. Breath.”

“I can’t — breathe ?! How are you so calm?” Changbin stops walking, now seemingly angry at Chan. “The timing of this is just — fucked. Fuck!” Now Changbin is the cause of people looking. They’re literally right next to the line to the alpha balcony, though, by then. “They’re going to target Hyunjin now — I’m sure of it. What are we going to do?”

Minho has safely joined into the omega line, down below. 

Jaehyun seems to have been wanted to catch up to him, because he stares at him going to. The omega line moves quickly, and more take place after him, so he lost his opportunity. Chan hates that Minho was alone all night — hates that it gave Jaehyun the hope of catching him alone with his betas, when there weren’t any fans or reporters to witness him. 

Minho’s little bag is checked and he has to give away his electronics and get his nape scanned by a scanner, so his exact scent composition can be recorded before the fest. They also pat him down, like they would when you board a flight, and open his little pouch. Take away his store bought pudding cup. Chan feels like going down there and sorting this out with the clerk.

He is pushed away and another omega is patted down and scanned and Chan can’t see him. 

Jaehyun and his betas push the line way back closer to the stairs, and other alphas let them. There’s a lot of them, and nobody from town would dare to tell them no. 

“Don’t worry about them right now. It’ll be fine.” Chan assures, and ushers Changbin toward the line. It’s long, but it’s moving fast, since a couple of committee members are situated at the front, checking everybody by ID.

“What the fuck do you mean don’t worry about them right now?! He is literally having his little villain moment — and where’s that slimeball, Dongsoo, why isn’t he—”

Chan cuts him off with a look, looking toward the alpha in front of them.

She turns back hurriedly, pretending to have not been blatantly listening to them.

Chan can literally feel the rage coming off of Changbin as the line moves forward. He’s standing right in front of him, and won’t turn around, but his ears and nape are red in color. He’s practically steaming in his own skin, and Chan knows he’s going to snap like a kettle reaching a boiling point.

Their IDs are checked in and they are both given a second stamp, this time a black one, then a bracelet. It has one green beeping dot in the middle. 

If they leave forest grounds, they are disqualified and must return bracelets to Committee staff by next week, otherwise they’ll be charged for it. 

If they fully transform, they will be disqualified and removed from the fest by force and put into Committee custody. 

If they are not out of the forest by dawn, Teams will be dispatched to their location. 

The officer asks him if he understands, and Chan nods.

They go through a metal detector, and are then told to empty their bags and pockets for anything sharp or potentially harmful. Changbin’s earphone cords are confiscated, because they can be used for choking. It’s ridiculous. And before they are even able to protest, they are pushed away to the stairs, and then ushered by another officer to keep moving, so the line doesn’t stop. 

Once they’re up, Chan's nose twitches and he covers it, even though he knows it’s probably rude.

The balcony is crowded to the brink of collapse. The boards sink under their weight and squeak, as they try to head through the people, closer to the other corner.

This is too much alphas for one run. Chan even detects a couple of terrified faces, below, on the omega deck. Chan wonders if they had lied about the quota and just let anybody in. Or maybe they didn’t realize how big the quota is for such a small town? 

Right after they find a spot that seems a bit less crowded, they announce the last call for omegas and alphas, reminding everybody that anybody tardy will be disqualified on the spot.

The moon is so close.

It’s hot and humid, so everybody is sweating buckets atop the stench of alpha pheromones. The crowds above them, and by the fences are noisy as hell. Chan is so overwhelmed, he wants to scream. He is tempted to lift his shirt over his nose, just to get through people because it’s making him dizzy.

He’s able to detect Minho, because every now and then, some of the younger omegas he can see would stand on their toes or walk out of line to catch a glimpse of someone down the line.

He stands on the tips of his toes to see Minho. 

He easily detects Jisung from there, because he’s standing closer, And then Hyunjin, because he’s taller.

There’s people between the two of them down the line and then Felix, who is one person away from Minho.

It doesn’t even look like they came as a pack, like this.

Minho is wearing all white, just like most omegas. His hair is styled. He looks nice . He had never dolled up for the Run, before. Maybe it’s because of the interviews, though. He had a role to play.

There’s so many people right behind Minho, it’d be insane to even try and reach there. There’s already a fight a few steps away from them — the alphas are pushing at each other and onto Chan, laughing and mocking. It’s just a matter of time before the Committee will intervene.

Chan taps Changbin, who is still trying to push through and nods his head backwards. 

Changbin’s expression is questioning, but he doesn’t attempts to ask what’s going on, because Chan wouldn’t hear it. It’s too loud. They’d had to be closer to interact, but when Chan nods again, trying to gesture toward Hyunjin, he seems to catch on, and immediately starts squeezing back where they came from.

Chan calls out to him, wondering if it’s a bad idea to interact right now, but he’s not exactly sober and logical right now. 

By the time Chan makes it to him, he understands Jeongin was there the entire time, right above Jisung and Hyunjin, and they missed him when they were passing through the first time. There’s just too many people here. Chan places a hand on his nape, just for a greeting, the way he would to Jisung or Felix, and even Hyunjin lately — but belatedly realizes that Jeongin isn’t an omega. It might seem rude to do so for another alpha — he only ever did it once with Seungmin, and he’s not sure if he ever did with Changbin. 

Jeongin doesn’t seem to mind it, offering back a smile then leaning down his ear to tell him that Changbin is ruining the plan .

Chan returns that he’s a little too tipsy to care about a plan right now. 

He pushes at another person so he could be behind Changbin 

Jisung waves when he sees Chan.

Now that he’s closer, Hyunjin looks upset and disheveled. His eyebrows are furrowed and he is crossing his hands on his chest, when he actively ignores Changbin, standing with his back to the alpha balcony, looking straight ahead.

He’s thumping his foot at the floor though, obviously bothered. 

“—you seriously don’t trust me to protect you, do you? Is that it? Hey!” Changbin throws something at him, in an almost comical way, getting angry for being ignored, after spilling all of his emotions at Hyunjin from the balcony at once. 

Chan isn’t sure what it is, some kind of a pamphlet that he crumpled into a ball, since they kept trying to shove some promotional flyers at them while they were standing in line.

Hyunjin bends down, picks up the paper, turns around, looking like he's gonna crawl up the balcony and shove that pamphlet so deep into Changbin’s throat he’s going to choke on it.

“Have you ever thought that maybe it’s because you behave like an actual man child?” He throws the paper back, and Changbin, dumbfounded that he finally got a reply back, doesn’t dodge, and the paper hits him straight on the face. Bouncing off it back downwards.

This erupts in chatter and laughter around them. There’s too many people, and not everybody was looking their way, but the ones that did tune in, found it funny.

Even Jeongin starts laughing.

Changbin turns around to him, eyebrows furrowed and lip curled. It’s almost comical.

“He doesn’t sound that mad.” Chan says it a bit loudly, over the chatter and risks extending a hand over his back, gently rubbing Changbin’s back.

His shoulders slump, but he doesn’t lifts his gaze off the floor. 

Chan hesitates, not because he’s another alpha and it’s close to the full moon, but rather because Changbin smells angry and upset. It makes him uneasy. He wants to make it go away, but doesn’t know how. And he feels like the right thing would be touch, but he’s not positive. His own brain feels not like his own right now. Like there’s somebody else holding the reins. His thoughts don’t feel complex but rather reliant on stimulus from around him, and there’s so much going on that he instinctively just focuses on the familiar. Jeongin and Changbin. His pack. They’re bleeding into him and he feeds back. Each of their emotions passes through him, and what he tries to loop back is assurance, but he’s not sure how well this works.

Changbin lets him rub his back for a long minute before finally shaking his hand off, and setting Chan up with a glare; “At least he knows I won’t leave him to the sharks. This can’t be said for you and Minho, who just decided it will be okay—”

“It will. It’s all—” Chan pauses, looking around just to make sure nobody is actively listening to them in the crowd, but still leans closer and lowers his voice; “He did that on purpose. He knew they were coming directly behind him. He bumped into us so we could distract Jaehyun and make a spectacle. He told Jisung and Jeongin earlier to separate, too. I think we’re playing pretend.”

Jeongin leans closer when Chan is mid sentence, so he can hear what’s being said. 

“So you think the plan is what — to get everyone to think we’re no longer a pack?”

“Seems like it.”

Changbin is shaking his head; “This is the worst time to play these tricks. Today should’ve been a day we could’ve shown how united we are.”

“I trust him.” Chan says after a moment of deliberation. He agrees with Changbin on this, but he also trusts that Minho had weighed all the options before deciding for the best route to play, like he has before. He wants to be fully behind any decision Minho makes.

He glances at him, just as Minho adjusts the cap on his head and nods toward him; “He wore white to blend in with the other omegas— since when does Minho do anything to blend in?” He’s just guessing. He has no idea. 

People keep looking his way, trying to understand if it’s him or not — even some of the omegas. 

Changbin glances too, narrowing his eyes. “The first thing he always tells omegas is to not wear white.” 

“So that’s the plan?” Jeongin asks, and if Chan wasn’t looking at his way he might have missed it over somebody shouting to their left. “To throw everyone off Minho’s scent?”

“I don’t think that’s the full plan, but that’s definitely part of it..” Chan rubs his head. He’s positive that if his brain was fully functioning right now, he might have actually been able to understand what’s going on, but instead he feels like he’s under a fog, trying to feel something that constantly escapes him at the nick of time.

“Jisung started getting anxious 15 minutes before the omegas got called — I think it finally dawned on him that Minho didn’t share any details of the plan. He started freaking out.” Jeongin looks a bit concerned; “He started saying that if they’re all caught, he’ll be forced to move in with his parents, because there’s no way they’ll pay for a whole year in the omega dorms.”

“It’ll be fine.” Chan pats his back. “Let’s just — trust Minho on this for now?” Honestly, he has no idea why Jeongin is participating. He is standing right above Hyunjin and Jisung, and isn’t exactly scoping for omegas to catch. He also doesn’t look that interested in fighting. Maybe Chan doesn’t know him all that well, and maybe Jisung roped him into helping somehow, if he was freaking out.

“You are both a little too calm about this, I simply can’t—” Changbin is shaking his head, but he is cut off by Seungmin getting squeezed out between two burly alphas. He almost stumbles on Jeongin, but catches himself just in time. 

They stare at him and he stares at them. 

“There you are.” He puts his hands in his pocket, seemingly satisfied to have found them.

“What the hell?” Changbin says, punching onto “What happened to ‘ I don’t participate in Spring Runs, they are below me ’?”

“You use that against me, and not him? I mean, he’s a serial offender, at this point.” Seungmin mentions his head at Chan, which makes Chan bark out an outraged laugh. He moves Changbin out of his way to the banister; “Hey, Hwang Hyunjin!” He calls out.

Hyunjin turns around, apprehensive, but when he spots Seungmin, he actually smiles goofily and waves.

Seungmin waves back.

Hyunjin gives a small look at Changbin and turns back, chin high, saying something to Jisung.

“What the fuck was that?” Changbin pushes at Seungmin, voice turned completely shrill at this point. Chan almost braces himself to hold Changbin back from actually attacking him, but Seungmin laughs it off, patting Changbin back.

“Well, I’m not suicidal enough to go after Lee Minho.” He shrugs; “And I did hear Hyunjin is single now."

He can’t tell if Seungmin’s being serious or not. You could never tell with him. Most of the time he just enjoys stirring the pot to see what will happen.

He definitely has that in common with Minho. 

“I’m just making a point.” Seungmin says before Changbin jumps him; “If I heard it, so did everybody else.”

Changbin's jaw sets straight and he gives Chan another long look, as if this somehow proves his point that Hyunjin is in imminent danger.

“And he is the most good looking omega in town.”

“It’s Felix, actually.” Jeongin says, and when they turn to him he rubs his nape; “They still keep a score on the alpha bathrooms in the third floor of school, and my little brother was shocked to find all 4 of our pack’s omegas in the top ten.”

“I can’t believe that gross score still exists.” Changbin scrunches his nose in disgust.

Chan also thought it’s gross, and refused to put his own “ scores ” on that board. They erase it every spring, when school closes for holidays, and then the score starts anew, and all omegas in town are fair game. Even bonded ones.

He remembers scribbling out Jisung’s name with a marker, despite it having a very high score back when they were in school. How nobody would dare to put Felix’s name in there, because Changbin would find them and make them wipe it off with their face. He remembers how even some omegas had waited until after school to get into the alpha bathrooms and write their own names in there, and pretend to get high scores overnight.

Minho was never on that scoreboard, too. He was a minor, and Chan would bet, even if they all thought he’s attractive, nobody expected him to be an omega. 

“Even Han Jisung? In top ten? I’d put him below number 17 somewhere. Maybe like 19— ow!”

He moves away from the banister, rubbing his side.

Jisung climbed up on the banister, and bit Seungmin. “Fuck yeah, I’m top 10, bitch.” 

“If I don’t humble you, who will, love?” Seungmin waves his hand dismissively at him, which makes Chan rub his face in frustration and laughter.

He forgot how the dynamic changes when Seungmin is around, playing the antagonist. 

“Get down, before you get caught and get disqualified.” Hyunjin tells Jisung looking down the line, to see if there’s a committee member looking they’re way. 

Felix is looking their way, looking extremely left out now, wanting to come over and see what’s going on, but not budging from his spot. 

“What the fuck are you even doing here? Didn’t they have a quota? How did they let you in?” Jisung asks.

“I stood in line, like a good boy, and when they were disqualifying the late-comers, they let some of us come in their place. How’d the toddler get in?” He ruffles Jeongin’s hair, and Jeongin half-frowns-half-laughs at this.

“He signed up when we arrived with Minho, while we were still in the car. They made us wait for over 2 hours before we could even come in.” Jisung fills in for him before Jeongin can even speak; “You should really rethink this, dude. They’re going to break your scrawny ass into two, like a twig. At least the toddler can pack a punch. What are you going to do, make them calculate their taxes?”

“Calculators can be really heavy.” Seungmin shrugs; “It’s basically like lifting deadweights.”

“Did you talk to Minho?” Jisung completely ignores him; “Do we know what the plan is?”

“No.” They all answer in unison.

“Is there a plan?” Seungmin asks, directly looking at Chan.

Chan doesn’t know how to answer that. Yes. Probably, yes. Hopefully, yes. Otherwise the omegas are screwed.

“Get down. Immediately .” Hyunjin says urgently and tugs at Jisung’s pants, so he clicks his tongue and jumps down.

Chan follows Hyunjin’s gaze and thinks he might spot a committee member coming their way, but instead he sees Minho turn the crowd above him. Be it the alpha balcony, or above it, the actual crowds. Flashes of cameras keep going off for him, now that he turned back. He clears his throat, too, obviously about to say something and the crowd slowly quietens. There’s still mild chatter, but people want to hear if he’s going to say something. 

Imagine that — one omega silencing an entire balcony of alphas. Chan is tempted to shake his head in disbelief. 

He gives a long look over the faces above him. If he recognizes Chan’s face among the rest, he doesn’t pause on it. 

“I’ve been a Luna for 5 years straight, now.” Minho raises his voice only slightly when he speaks, and this immediately ends the last of the chatter. Somebody even screams for everybody to shut up, so they can hear what he says. There’s a few more flashes. “And I decided that maybe it’s time to settle down and find myself a mate this year.”

This is met with gasps and renewed chatter from the rest of the crowd. Chan glances only momentarily toward Jisung and apparently Felix has done the same, because he and Jisung are now exchanging worried looks.

“However, I’m not going to be an easy target out there. So I wish you all the very best of luck.” He ends that with a small, mean smile.  

“Carry on.” He turns on his heel without waiting for any response, and there’s an immediate one, of a couple of alpha directly above him.

There’s a couple of more camera flashes, and then almost as if on cue, they start the horn for the omegas.

Minho just starts walking . Not running. Not trying to make it to the tree line. 

Just walking — in the most casual way he can walk. 

There’s a couple of omegas who were intending to follow him — because they all try to stand behind them, before finally clicking their tongue and running past him, realizing he is not going to be any help. 

Minho doesn’t look at the omegas — not even when Felix calls out to him. 

The three of them, now among the last on the omega deck below, look hesitant, and exchange looks among each other, before looking back at the alpha balcony. 

Chan signals to Jisung to run, so Jisung starts running first, and Hyunjin and Felix follow him.

They disappear in the tree line before Minho even reaches it, and all glance at him as they run past him.

This is a fucking mess.

Everybody on the balcony would now be after him, just for the sake of bragging rights.

Changbin the first one that turns to him after Minho disappears finally, the last of all omegas from the finish line; “And we’re sure there’s a plan?”

.

It takes Chan about 15 minutes past the omegas horn to get over the initial shock and his own racing thoughts.

And another 10 to decide what to do, all while there’s a commotion everywhere around him.

The crowds are cheering, excited to see alphas set off into the forest. It’s going to be a bloodbath before they reach the tree line. There’s too much of them, and they’re all riled up — now even more so after Minho dropped a bomb on them. Even if some of them were just slightly interested but knew they didn’t stand a chance, now Minho gave them hope. If they try hard enough, they might actually catch him.

Even his own pack is arguing; Jeongin thinks it’s planned, Changbin thinks Minho is unhinged and maybe the piss got to his head. Seungmin takes turns playing the devil’s advocate, whenever the other one makes a good point.

He finally cuts them all off, just because he has no idea what’s going on himself and the pressing matter right now will be avoiding the initial bloodbath. They need to make it to the tree line, before they decide what to do.

They head to the entrance of the balcony, by the stairs, one by one, with an interval of a few minutes.

It’s right by the stairway, and there’s less people loitering around, because whoever came up the stairs went straight into the crowd, trying to spot the omegas they are after.

It’s also the closest to the tree line.

Heading there alone is just a precaution, though, in case somebody from Jaehyun’s pack lays their eyes on them.

Changbin heads first.

Chan goes last. He hates squeezing past people, all that pheromone stink all over him. 

He spots Jaehyun in the crowd, but Jaehyun is languid, drunk on his own luck. Everything turned out exactly like he wanted it. He is surrounded by betas. There’s very little that can happen to him right now. Nobody would dare, unless they are out of town, and stupid enough to not notice how many betas have his back. He got what he wanted. 

Chan thinks, while looking away from him, that people like Jaehyun — people that are used to get everything they want — tend to suffer from hubris. If Chan were to meet him out there, on his own, on a night like this, with all his pheromones tickled and turned against him, he’d skin him alive.

By the time he makes it back to the guys, he is agitated and their tension adding up to his feels like pressure behind his head.

The moon is up. 

They can’t see it behind the mountains, and once they will, they’ll sound the horns, but Chan can feel its glow pulling at him. 

His claws extend, and he feels his face itching. Blood coming close to the surface to make his jaw widen and nose elongate so the fangs can grow out. He tries to stop the transformation — it works somewhat, but his face itches terribly. 

Chan rubs his nose. Decides to share some more advice from past Runs. 

“Wait fifteen to thirty seconds after they play the horn and run as quickly as you can. Don’t look back. Don’t shout. Don’t talk to each other. If you get punched or kicked, disengage, get up and continue running. Do not fight back. Run sideways — so you don’t run in a beeline so you don’t bump into each other. Do not run behind anybody. Once we’re in the tree line, follow each other’s scents. We’ll regroup, then.”

Jeongin nods. Changbin nods too, a bit less enthusiastically.

“Damn,” Seungmin says, obviously now nervous himself. This is the second time he participated in a run, ever. His last time was all together, when they were a pack, back in high school. Chan would’ve been hella nervous, too, if it was him. “Okay.” He agrees finally, as if it takes him a moment to take everything Chan told him; “Anything else?”

“If you pause before the tree line, you’re out.”

Chan doesn’t need to explain himself.

With such a big amount of alphas participating, they will definitely start a mob. Whoever gets caught up with it, will most likely barely make it back, so there’s no use going back out of the tree line to help each other.

Chan feels a loud ringing in his head, before he hears the sound of the horn. There’s a hot white flash before his eyes, like he closed his eyes to a lighting. 

The moon is up.

He feels his fangs on his tongue, and can no longer stop the slight transformation on his face. 

He has never half-transformed unwillingly, before. The helplessness makes him want to whine. 

Might have been the stress, or his pheromone surge to blame, but he is totally out of control and it’s terrifying.

None of them moves.

Chan feels the pressure of the deck reliving underneath his feet as Alphas jump or climb down into the ground. They wait a little more. 

Jeongin counts. The second he gets to 15, Changbin springs down the balcony. Jeongin follows him. Seungmin hesitates, and gives him one last look. Chan nods, encouraging him, so he’s the next one to jump down. Chan is directly behind him.

The first wave of hits has already been exchanged, and now, whoever was on the ground ground or hit is getting up or gearing for another attack. This is exactly why Chan wanted to wait a couple of beat before heading down.

Chan throws some guy straight out of his way, without a second thought, simply because he is running too slow, he throws a punch next, because somebody was marching straight into him, mouth opened, fangs flared. 

Changbin made it, and so did Seungmin, but Jeongin was hit, and Chan is upon the back of the alpha that got to him in a second.

Jeongin doesn’t look back to see if it’s Chan helping him, he scrambles to his feet and runs away, just like Chan instructed. Good boy.

Now it’s Chan that paused, and got caught. 

He realizes it a second too late. 

He avoids a face scratch, and bangs his head on the alpha that comes up to his left, before leaping away and making it to the tree line.

That was insanely close, and he knows he is behind the rest, so he finds Jeongin’s scent first.

It is vague, a bit like his own, just younger. Smells a bit tangy, too. Like dough. And cocoa. He follows it for a second, before finding his own scent — and it hits him on the face, like a brick, and he’s not himself anymore. At least not in his head.

He runs. And can’t stop. He runs past Jeongin, who stopped to take a piss.

Jeongin calls out to him, half-laughing, but Chan won’t slow.

He can’t. He wants to. 

He makes no note of his surroundings, he might as well not be in the forest. 

He’s following a scent, now.

He stops on his tracks when he knows he’s no longer just following, but actually smells himself. His own smell had been here just now. Moments ago. He can feel it down the creek running to his left. 

There’s the sound of a small waterfall. And Jisung.

“… my omega parts are still shaking!” he is saying.

Definitely Jisung. 

Chan doesn’t mask his scent when he comes closer — there’s not much he can do anyway in his condition — so he comes  out of the bushes, trying to appear as less intimidating as possible. Even as far as putting his transformed claws inside his pockets — and for a second there, he’s not sure who startles first, the omegas or him.

He is sure he is looking at himself from the back. 

Minho turns around, though, not looking awfully surprised — and clicks his tongue. 

He must have discarded his white clothes somewhere.

He’s in Chan’s cap, his sleeveless tee and Chan’s black shorts that he uses as pajamas. He probably wore it before too, underneath his white trousers. They look like a pair of boxers on him, because his thighs are slightly thicker.

“Hyung?” Jisung is the one standing closest to him, soaking wet, but he sounds unsure. 

It’s dark. He is an alpha with red eyes, appearing out of the bushes — he knows how it looks. 

“Uh… Hi? Chan-hyung?” Jisung tries again, this time more confidently.

Chan sits down and crosses his legs, trying to appear less intimidating. He isn’t going to hunt them or mark them. “Hey,” He says. “Don’t mind me.”

Hyunjin directs his weird, wide-eyed look from Jisung to Minho.

“How’d he find us so fast?” Felix asks Minho quietly. 

“I wore his clothes. He followed his own scent.” Minho waves his hand dismissively. 

“You are way too composed about this, aren’t you? Scenting will give you 5 years in Committee jail. And — if somebody knows we’re sitting here, vibing with an alpha for protection during a run? That’s what? Two years in jail for each of us?” Hyunjin asks, even though they know he’s correct. 

“Who's going to report me? You?” Minho continues rubbing dirt on his arm.

“Careful with the shirt, it’s 100% cotton.” Chan instructs, not sure if he wants to be mad or not. He wants to be behind Minho on this, but also feels puppeteered. “I want it dry cleaned.”

Minho ignores him. 

“Hyung… you can’t be here.” Hyunjin tries to get through to him, instead of through to Minho. “I get that you want to help, but this is too much trouble.”

Chan doesn’t reply. 

He has no idea why he got out into the clear. He just feels played with, like a puppet on strings. He doesn’t want to be upset, but he is, and he can’t control himself. He wants to be somewhere where he can physically smell and see Minho and make sure no one comes close, and this is the closest spot. 

Hyunjin exchanges looks with Jisung and Jisung comes a bit closer, rubbing his eyebrow; “Bud,” He lowers his voice; “Did you, uh — forgot how these runs go or something?”

“No.”

“I mean, maybe in the city — they’re just — I don’t know, frolic around all together and sing kumbaya—”

“Frolic?” Felix laughs.

“But here, you’re supposed to chase after us. Well, not us, maybe try — err… other omegas. Unless—” Jisung turns around and Hyunjin immediately looks away and Felix raises his hands, like he’s not it. 

When his gaze finally falls on Minho, Minho stops scooping up more mud; “What?” 

Jisung clicks his tongue, and looks back to Chan; “Basically — what I’m trying to say — this is against the rules. What Minho did is also against the rules, boo Minho, boo —” He even shows Minho the thumbs down; “But you coming to vibe here is majorly against the rules. We’ll all get in trouble. Jail. Not good. Very bad.” 

“Why are you talking to him like he’s dumb?” Felix snorts. 

“I don’t know. When I transform I lose all sense of humanity, and want to lick my dick in public because it’s itchy — how does it work for alphas?” 

“It’s not a full transformation, dumbass.” Hyunjin tells him. “He can talk to you just fine.”

Jisung takes another step, probably to sit with him, but Chan growls at him. They’re practically like brothers, anyway, but Chan still doesn’t want to risk him getting too close.

It’s a low, short growl, but Jisung immediately puts his hands up in the air and takes a couple steps back. “Alright, okay, message received. Leaving you alone.”

“The worst isn’t behind us.” Minho says; “Might as well let him stick around. For now. For the extra protection. Just don’t come close to him, if you share his scent rubs off on you, they might disqualify you.” 

“The only reason we need extra protection is because you might as well flashed your naked butt at every alpha in the fest with that announcement.”

“What was that?” Minho sharply turns to Hyunjin and squints at him, and Hyunjin bites himself back, wide-eyed, as if he’s not the one who talked.

Minho clicks his tongue, then throws some mud at him, which starts a whole mud fight. Even Chan gets a face full of mud from Felix, when Jisung ducks.

It drives them both wild with laughter, even Minho laughs. 

Chan rubs his face with the back of his hand, but they all stop laughing abruptly. When he finally is able to open one eye, he understands they all halted in their places, not moving. 

Somebody is close by. 

He hears a twig snap, and a distant complaint traveling through the trees — but the scents in his nose got too close without alerting him, so it’s familiar. Friends. Pack.

Changbin runs out of the bushes, not even a moment later; “Hyung, you seriously didn’t have to run so fast, you know I’m more of a weight-lifting than running type— oh.” 

Seungmin comes right after him and bumps into him, followed by Jeongin, who was putting his hair up into a bun, so it won’t fall into his eyes. They’re all a bit sweaty. 

“Great.” Hyunjin throws his hands up dramatically; “Now we’re all going to jail. All eight of us.” Hyunjin nods his head, taking a long annoyed inhale.

“We could uh…hide?” Seungmin suggests; “And pretend this never happened…? We were never here!” He makes dramatic hand movements, like he’s attempting to do a magic trick and walks back into the bushes, then shoves his face out of them; “No?” 

They’re sitting in the shadow of a small cliff that leads into the forest. The waterfall is nothing but a particular loud forest brook that leads out of the forest. It will most likely dry up in the summer, but right now it created a small pool — big enough to reach to somebody’s knees. 

They’re close to the edge of the forest — Chan can smell the fields beyond it. 

Minho is still sitting on a rock, legs in the water, and Chan isn’t sure if it’s a good idea to come closer to him — but the alternative is to come closer to Felix, and he desperately needs to wash his face from the mud. 

“Yes.” Hyunjin nods, agreeing as he’s getting up, pushing at Changbin who was inching closer to him.“ Yes . This never happened. Go.” 

Jeongin also moves to head to the bushes, somewhat amused by what’s happening. 

“Oh, now you want to play by the rules? As if you didn’t get Changbin to do this last year?” Jisung opposes; “Meanwhile some of us—” he wildly mentions himself and Felix; “—Got caught, and some of us nearly pissed our pants and got bitten by malaria mosquitos and almost died.” 

“Oh my god, you hid under a rock for 3 hours, you didn’t ‘ almost die ’, Jisung.” Hyunjin leans back on the rock bed, near the waterfall. 

“It’s one thing when it was just me and him — it’s another thing when it’s the entire pack!”

“This could be a good thing.” Felix agrees; “I mean — we’re not attacking each other. We can be civil. We’re pack. And it beats covering each other with mud.”

“Is that what you do during fests? Just throw mud at each other?” Seungmin judges, trudging closer, again; “I mean, my expectations were already low from you guys… but god damn.” 

“Minho ditched his clothes, and chased us around, pretending he was Chan. I honestly knew the scent’s familiar, but I couldn’t tell who it was, and it was actively chasing me—” Felix explains, shaking his head. “So that was fun. Jisung pooped himself.”

“I did not poop myself, I fell into the mud, and he fell right on top of me. It was almost romantic. They should make a movie about us, man.” 

“Honestly, I don’t know why you got so scared.” When Chan finally looks up to Minho, he is looking down on him, eyes glazed over and legs spread where he sits on the rock. Chan dries his face with his shirt. 

This was a stupid, stupid idea to come closer to him. 

His wolf is rampant, and he doesn’t trust himself to hold his own control. 

His grip on his shirt tightens. “Look at him.” Minho pushes at Chan’s shoulder with his foot. “He’s as harmless as you can get, red eyes and everything.” 

Chan pretends to snap his teeth at his foot and he immediately retrieves it back under him, laughing. 

Chan looks back at his hand. His claws went back a little. And his face isn’t that itchy to transform.

It could be just the cool mountain water — or maybe even the pack and all the familiar scents around him — but he feels like somebody had lifted a boulder off his shoulders. 

Chan looks back at Minho, and understands Minho is still staring at him.

All his brain functions stop at once. Just the pit of his abdomen is present, stirring warmth spreading into his limbs. 

“Maybe we could follow behind. I did this last fest until you all scattered around.” Changbin is saying somewhere behind him. Hyunjin must have given him an exasperated look, because he immediately follows up with what; “What— everybody already knows because you told them about it last year…!” 

“Let’s just do that — just separate for now, and the alphas can follow us.” 

Minho finally clicks his tongue and looks away from Chan, breaking the trance; “We won’t be able to communicate well like that, and honestly — so far, so good, right? All the alphas agree to play nice?”

“Define nice.” Seungmin replies, but the rest of them nod out of turn. 

“It’ll be fine.” Minho repeats himself; “We’re already all together. Might as well use it to our advantage.”

“Did you— oh my god, was this the plan all along? To meet up with the alphas? Did you guys plan this?” He looks between Chan and Minho. “Is that why you were asking questions last night?”

“Yes.” Minho says, no hesitation in his voice, but Chan raises his hands in opposition. “ I planned this.” Minho clarifies. “He’s not intelligent enough to do so much thinking.”

Chan runs his tongue on the inside of his cheek. He vaguely suspected something of the sort when he caught Minho wearing his used shirt, but it’s nothing he didn’t do before. What changed this year is that Chan is out of the bushes, in the clear. And the fact that Minho planned that, too, seems a bit impossible, because it was impulsive on his part.

“I was asking questions because I was genuinely worried you guys have no plan and he—” he gestures at Minho’s general direction, refusing to look his way while he’s wet and looking at him like that; “ baited me.” 

Minho’s gaze snaps back at him, eyebrows furrowed; “I didn’t bait you. You’re thicker than a stone brick. The only way to bait you would be with a neon sign that has exact instructions.” 

“So what were you doing then — saying how you want to find a mate this year? Laying it on me right after we talked about how Changbin told Hyunjin and Hyunjin told you how I might try to find an omega during the run? And then also following up on that with your silly little announcement back there? What was that?”

“No, because how was that, in any shape or form, a bait for you? Maybe I do still want to get a mate. And you can be my fucking guest and stick your dick into any omega around you that you’re attracted to. I’m sure there’s plenty to go around town— since you’re not anymore attracted to me to any other townie omega.”

The word attracted is pronounced so strongly in Minho’s sentences, that Hyunjin mouths ‘attracted?’ to Jisung, who rolls his eyes. 

Chan decides to de-escalate this before they both get angry, because Minho already seems on the verge. He doesn’t like to be cornered, and this isn’t what this is about. 

“I just don’t get why you couldn’t — for once — share your plan with me.”

“It wasn’t going to work if you were all in the loop.” Minho explains, walking out of the water and wearing his shoes.  “Your surprised and outraged faces are what sold it to the rest of town, and it’ll probably not work a second time. You’re welcome.” He tells the omegas, who look somewhat exasperated and disgruntled by this, too, before turning back to Chan; “The only thing I didn’t calculate is that your dumb ass is going to walk out of the fucking bushes, so all the omegas can see you.”

“Great, good — so we agree? All of this could’ve been avoided if you had just explained to me what’s going on and how I can help. It irks me that you act on your own and keep relying on other packs and other alphas’ help.”

“It irks you? It irks ~ you? Oh gee, I am so sorry you are irked by my planning.” The way he keeps repeating that word in a sing-song way, like he’s repeating it for a toddler, makes Chan’s blood pressure go up. “I’ll be sure to run everything I do by you from now on — considering how eager you are to fuck back off to the city.” 

“I am not eager to fuck back off into the city, Minho.” He raises his voice slightly, already upset; “I don’t know how many times I need to repeat that for it to get through your head. I’ve done everything you asked and stood behind you on every decision you made since you came back from the city. I don’t know what else I can do to make you trust me.”

“I’m not forcing you to listen to me. I’m not forcing anybody to do anything . We make decisions together as a pack, and sometimes I have to make a decision because that decision will have the best outcome for me and my friends. And—  it irks me that you do this only to gain my favor and not because you actually agree with me.” 

Jisung sighs and mentions something about having a highschool deja vu, and Chan can’t help but feel awkward that the entire pack has to witness this stupid argument, he can see that it’s childish and stupid but at the same time, he refuses to back down and refuses to let it slide.

“I didn’t say I don’t agree with you! I am only saying that you keep provoking me and stepping all over my toes, and then asking for my opinion subsequently . I don’t know what to do to make you trust me and not some dude that drives around a BMW—”

“Oh my god, do you mean Jeongin’s brother— is that what your dumb knot in a twist? God, you are pissing your pants because you’re terrified I might actually get snagged by some other alpha that you can’t even control your gigantic ego for one night to help the pack—”

“I am helping the pack — we are your pack! I am your pack! Me! Not Jeongin’s brother! Not Minhyuk! Me! And you can keep the ‘we make decisions together ’ bullshit to yourself, I am not buying that anymore. You puppeteer not only me, but everybody in the pack to get what you want! That is what this argument is about— not me having an ego trip, not me looking for some omega to fuck.”

“I keep telling you that the reason I didn’t tell you was because it wouldn’t have worked if I did! Even if you kept your mouth shut, you’d give off a confident vibe, and bleed into the others.” 

“Then we could’ve come up with something else together that didn’t have to involve you sleeping in some other alpha’s house—”

“Why the fuck do I need to come up with something else together with you, huh? You weren’t here last year. I did what I needed to do to survive, while you were out there banging actresses — now you’re back and I’m expected to accommodate you and your massive ego?”

“That’s funny, because your entire plan this year — just like all the years before it when I was in town— relies on me being your invisible guardian angel that you keep conveniently leaving out of your little book. So yeah, I do expect some degree of accommodation.” 

“Wait is that how—” Felix finally connects the dots. “For — how long?” 

“From his first run.” Changbin says that through closed teeth, as if he doesn’t want to be caught saying it, even though they all hear him.

Jeongin’s mouth drops open.

“Yeah, so this is fucked. We’re fucked.” Hyunjin tells them. “My mom is a city council member and when this gets out —”

“Well, now we’re all accomplices.” Minho cuts him off; “Thanks to your favorite Hyung, Bang Chan. Who thinks only about himself and can’t keep a secret.” 

“Thanks to me—?” Chan is speechless at this accusation. “You really want to act like you played no part in this?”

“I didn’t exactly have a choice, did I? You didn’t give me any choice. You just trailed me like a sniff dog against my will. What did you expect me to write in my book? Led the committee right up to my ass?” Minho argues back, raising his voice. “And then also told Juyeon— what was it that you told him? That this is the one night a year you get to make the choices for me ? Like the benevolent god , you are. Thank you so much for giving a guy who I’ve rejected multiple times enough ammunition to open an investigation against me in the committee, while you fucked off to your stupid fucking city .”

“Is there popcorn in your pouch?” Jisung opens the pouch on Jeongin’s chest. “Oh! Kit-kat. My hero.”

Chan stands there speechless for a second, simply because it never dawned on him that Juyeon might actually rat them out. 

He looks at the faces of the pack, and they all look somewhere between shell-shocked, and mildly intrigued to hear all the tea being spilled. Felix is actually pressing his lips together, and Chan can’t tell if he’s nervous that they’re fighting or if he’s going to burst out laughing. Probably a little of both.

Jisung struggles with the kitkat, making a lot of needless noise, and hands it to Jeongin after a moment, finally looking up to his face; “Don’t worry, Juyeon didn’t rat you out. He’d go down on all fours for another chance to get into Minho’s pants.” He assures Chan, as Jeongin pries the chocolate packet open for him.

Chan turns to Minho, now actually pissed off. 

“But he could’ve— he can do it even now!” Minho defends himself, pointing a finger.

“Every fucking time — every single fucking time! You would say anything to be the winning side in an argument, including to chew your own hand off and blame it on me. Or the fucking city . Everybody is to blame beside you!” 

“I’m growing impatient with this argument. We are out of time, and need to move before we’re detected.” He decides. 

“Of course, we do.” Chan shakes his head. “Now you’re losing the argument, so now we have to move.” 

Minho doesn’t even smell angry — Chan was so busy being angry himself, he didn’t notice it.

Chan hates how unserious this argument was — and how normal this is becoming. Almost like a routine. And every time, he needs to do mental gymnastics to even make sense of it. Minho snapped and wrapped him around his little finger until he was so twisted up in the argument, not unlike he’d play him back in highschool.

It’ll probably take him days to process this. He’ll keep running this conversation in his head, trying to figure out how he would have answered correctly. 

“What can I say? We’re on a tight schedule.” Minho claps his hands together, like a dance teacher urging the children to hurry up; “Come on now, Chop-chop. On your feet, everyone.”

“Wait, so what are we… doing… exactly?” Changbin looks away from Hyunjin only in the middle of that sentence, as if he couldn’t tear his eyes again. “Are we leaving?”

“We can’t stay together.” Hyunjin rules out, nodding. “We’re going to have to separate, or at least be at a distance.”

“We’d be able to mask your scents much better, if we keep close.” Chan argues, even though the real reason is that he wants to have his eyes on Minho and be able to help directly. “You already washed off the sweat or nervousness. We’d be the first thing people would smell from a distance. A pack of alphas.”

“If we move slowly without working up a sweat, yes. And the dirt will dry up and give us more time.” Minho agrees.

“And nobody in the right mind will come marching on a pack of alphas roaming together.” Chan adds.

“I don’t think the two of you understand — if we get caught, all of us together, we’re going to jail. They’re not just going to flick us on the wrist and remove some of our rights until next year — they’re going to flat out put us in cells.” Seungmin explains. 

“Also unless you’ve noticed, they are pulling shit out of their asses to ensure nobody’s cheating. Even these—” Hyunjin lifts Changbin’s arm, to show off the beeping digital bracelet; “Extra measures. They’re not playing around this year. They’ll be looking into any suspicion, as little as possible.” 

Minho sighs; “I know that. But I also know that the first that’s waiting for you once we’re up this ridge is Kim Dongsoo’s dick in your face. Did you forget what was one of Jaehyun’s demands when he took you in? To look into your un-bonding. Make sure you aren't coerced . Nothing will prove this to the committee better than Dongsoo catching you, instead of Changbin.”

Hyunjin looks down, upset.

“Our best chance to get to the Last Mark this year — is together.”

“I don’t know about this — I didn’t exactly sign up for this.” Seungmin says; “And I do agree with Hyunjin. If we get caught, it’s game over.”

“We could separate, and move in smaller groups. Maybe in pairs? This will most likely lower the possibility of getting caught all together.” Felix suggests. 

“I thought about that option. But they’ll look into us as a pack. We will have no means of communicating with each other, in case there’s danger — and it will raise the chance of somebody seeing us by four. A bigger pack of alphas moving together — is a force to be reckoned with. One that even Jaehyun wouldn’t actively go after.”

“This puts all of us at risk. Both alphas and omegas.” Seungmin says, then finally sighs. “What was the original plan you had? For the omegas after you caught them.” 

Minho rubs his hair. 

“Dude,” Jisung says; “You had a plan, right?” 

“The plan was to have a plan once we’re all together, so now this is the plan. We make do with what we have.” 

“I knew it.” Seungmin rolls his eyes; “He’s Jack Sparrowing this.”

“What was I supposed to do, then, huh? They changed the milestones last minute, changed colors to purple for the milestones, fully knowing purple is hard to see in the dark — even the location. Anything to ensure this Luna trend never resurfaces in town again.”

Chan suspected as much.

This is ridiculous.

From a certain stand point, the Committee has Minho’s back because they upkeep the rules — and if Minho is a Luna, they are forced to give him the same rights they would give any alpha. He earned them fair and square. 

But this isn’t the city. 

The government is still made up of traditional, conservative alphas, who probably see Minho as a threat to the old traditions. Especially in a small town like this, where the municipality is made out of old farts constantly battling for status — as long as Minho keeps winning and his following grows, they look bad. 

“Chan should decide.” Minho says, finally. 

“What—?” Chan deadpans when they all look back at him.

“It’s the one night a year when I’m just an omega. And everybody seems to know better than me—”

“Nobody is saying that, Hyung,” Jeongin is quick to reiterate.

“No, but you’re all thinking that—”

“Can you admit your plan is extremely volatile?” Seungmin tells him; “You didn’t share or warn anybody about what to expect, so it’s normal that people have doubts.”

“If Chan suggested it, you would all follow it wordlessly.”

“That’s not true.” Seungmin replies. “Changbin always covers your messed up ass, even when you fuck up. So does Jeongin.”

“Now, when it actually matters, would’ve been a great time to have my back, yet here you all are, standing there in silence and ganging up on me.” 

“We’re not ganging up on you, Hyung— okay?” Jisung looks around, as if he needs to make sure on everybody’s face that this is indeed not what’s happening. “Let’s all calm down. None of us planned anything, either, so we're not exactly in a place to pass judgement."

“We are calm.” Seungmin crosses his hands on his chest; “And don’t dare to defend him. He had no plan. It was all up in the air inside his head and he went with it, despite the fact that everybody have more to lose than him. Now he needs to own up to it, and he won’t, and you all will just forgive him and go with it. This is exactly why we broke up—”

“I do have a plan, asshole. And you can walk away. Nobody’s keeping you here against your will. The only reason you don’t support me is because you’d all rather just listen to Chan—”

“Okay, enough.” Chan takes a step closer, rubbing his face; “We’re not playing woulda, coulda, shoulda right now, and we’re also not going to stand here and discuss who plays alpha better. You wanted to get moving — and you’re right. It’s been an hour since they sounded the horn. We have 8 hours till dawn. You got all the omegas to the waterfall. I got the rest of us here. What comes next in your plan?”

Minho looks pissed off for another second, but when Chan lifts his eyebrows at him, he makes an annoyed sigh and bends down. He puts a pebble on a small leaf pile by the creek. “First milestone is the stepping stones, down by Purple creek.” He puts another pebble, closer to the river bed. Then picks up a couple more pebbles and lines them all down. “Second, third, fourth, fifth — and last.” He puts the biggest darkest pebble on the riverbed. “Last Mark.” He points; “Purple bridge, down by the mountain side.”

“They’re all lined up?”

“It’s on purpose. They did this last year, too, except they did it on the other side of the lake and they zig-zagged them.” Jisung mentions a zig zag on the air. “This year they’re almost straight — around 2 miles away from each other, give or take, but even further away. To get to the first one, there’s a long run. Enough to tire anybody who's on foot.”

“Tired, sweaty omegas stink. Even more so, when they panic because the milestone is so far away, and they’re scared to get caught. Hence…” Minho mentions the entire leaf pile. “A bigger, easier hunting ground for a large amount of alphas.”

“And where are we right now?”

“Here.” Minho points to the very left of the leaf pile.

“So we’re in the opposite direction…? Please tell me it wasn’t just because of the waterfall because there are enough waterfalls in the forest—” Seungmin says, but gets cut off.

“It wasn’t. Well, technically also because of the waterfall, but mostly for the reason there’s a waterfall in the first place.” He mentions his head to the cliff ledge. “This cliffside goes all the way across the edge of the forest.” He points on the outskirts of the leaf pile.

“It’ll take us hours to get there. We’re basically taking the longest route we could possibly take.” Hyunjin’s hands are on his waist, and his eyebrows are furrowed, but he doesn’t seem too opposed, like he wants to be convinced a bit more this is correct.

“We won’t be first on the board, that’s correct — but we will be the smartest. We’ll be avoiding all of this.” Minho moves the leaf pile out of its place with his leg. “And our scents will be protected by the cliff — both by sound traveling in the forest, and by the wind carrying our scents.”

“And by time we get back into the forest,” Chan adds, understanding the plan much better now; “We’ll get the leftovers. Tired Alphas who have been running for hours, and ones that are downed and easy to avoid.”

“Yes. Exactly.” Minho stands up.

Chan watches him dusting his hands off as he does, and fitting back his cap on his slightly damp hair.

“How long do you think it’ll take us to go through each of the milestones?” Changbin asks.

“Two hours, maybe less if we pick up the pace — and hopefully your scent and the fact we’re freshly showered and smell like dirt and clay will do the trick.”

“But the journey there? On the bottom of the cliff?” Jisung asks, worried.

“3 hours. 4 and a half if we move slowly and try not to work up a sweat. Which is the better option.”

Jisung hisses lightly; “That’s a tight time window.”

Chan is nibbling at his lip when he looks up and realizes Seungmin, Hyunjin, Felix and Changbin are all staring at him, as if his word will come last.

“It’s a good plan.” Is all he says. 

.

Chapter Text

The wind picks up as they walk. 

They’re right at the edge of the forest — you could actually see the fields beyond it. 

Minho walks ahead, leading the way. 

The rest of them walk after him, in a neat row, with Chan last, because he’s ‘ the stinkiest ’. First the omegas, and then the alphas, at a distance of a few paces away. They’re not taking any chances with accidental scentings. 

They keep as close to the cliff-edge as possible, enough for Chan to extend his hand and reach a protruding rock or a hanging root, and walk in relative silence.

As relative as the eight of them can get.

The first hour, Changbin keeps trying to close the gap, to talk to Hyunjin again, but Hyunjin keeps ignoring him — or worse, asking Seungmin something about his university or his major. 

Jisung keeps trying to start a singing train, or play a game. Like ‘I Spy’. He always spies plants because that’s all they can see really.

Chan only vaguely understands where they are when he spots the tree Minho had marked during the last full moon, when they ran together. Chan even remembers the view off the cliff — except this time, he’s on the bottom. 

This is what he was doing in the forest alone. God knows how long he was out there alone in the forest. He must have sniffed out every corner of the forest. Every nook and cranny. Every possible milestone location. 

They also figure out why Felix and Hyunjin smell like another alpha — and why Chan didn’t catch it. They smell like Chan. Specifically. Minho rubbed their napes with what they thought was a towel, but was actually Chan’s used shirt, which he then wore. The only way for Minho to catch them in the forest without it raising alpha pheromone levels in the scent scanner — is if it already existed in their nape a small amount. After that, and an additional bath in the little waterfall, the pheromone levels would be approximately the same — or at least, close to undetectable in the scanner. 

There’s an exact science to this, apparently. Minho had to get the scanner in secret to test out how to layer pheromone levels before it’s critical. 

It must have taken Minho months to come up with all of this. He eliminated all surprises, so he can plan on the go. 

He nibbles his lower lip as he stares at his nape from afar in the darkness. 

Minho is the most unserious person he knows on paper — but at the same time, he is the exact opposite of it. His intensity and how sincerely he took this job on himself, is… almost terrifying. But at the same time, he forgot to think about anybody beside himself in this situation. And Chan has yet to have decided how to feel about any of this, and especially how he reacted to it. Like somebody threw a match next to a firecracker. 

Jisung starts singing again. He gets louder and louder until everyone starts shushing him and telling him to shut the hell up. 

Chan snorts. He can’t believe this is his Spring Run, but at the same time — wouldn’t want to spend it anywhere else, doing anything else — if anything he feels right to be there with his pack on a full moon. This feels right to him. He feels like he belongs right there, walking after the seven of them more than he had ever felt in the city. It feels like a thing now, despite them never opening a conversation about it. Something tangible. Not just some adjective Minho is throwing around — but a real pack.   

Minho stops before a collapsed cliff side, checks a broken branch he must have marked a few weeks ago, and nods, before turning back to them. “We’ll start heading up here.” He instructs; “Just be careful and quiet. No need to keep distance as much, there would be less wind inside the forest. So keep closer.”
He’s right. Right as the edge of the forest disappears behind their backs, wind moves slowly. 

It smells different there. Strong ozone. Leaves. Moss. Bugs. It’s still damp, although it hasn't rained since early noon. Humid hot night turning into a cold morning.

Chan knows it’s different for each alpha, but he relies solely on his nose. His chest feels so full in a scent-rich environment, but at the same time not as assaulted and overwhelmed as it did back in the event grounds. He’s scared he might miss a scent, especially if it’s an Alpha who is good at masking his presence. But it’s so quiet in the forest, Chan thinks he might be able to hear a branch breaking miles away. 

More than before, they’re incredibly quiet. It takes them an hour to reach the very first milestone, and they do so with only basic communication. Which is much more than what they anticipated — it’s just that they walk in circles or move very slowly, bent with the low ferns and bushes. They steer away from mating couples, or sharp scents. Especially the scent of blood, that litters some of the way to the first milestone. Sometimes even inconspicuous smells raise Chan’s alarm bells and he stops everybody and walks the other way. 

No surprises. Just like Minho wanted. At least not until they reach the milestones. 

The stepping stones on Purple creek are just stones situated on a fast moving creek, so people can pass without getting wet.
Nothing in this location would tell him this is a milestone of any kind. 

Chan was never much of a forest guy — so if he was told that specific phrase, he’d never be able to find it. He didn’t even know Purple Creek was running through their forest. He didn’t know the specific names of each creek or stream, just knew they all ended up in the lake by the town. A low tree on the other side is marked with a bright purple ribbon, and below it there’s a small purple pouch. He remembers in past years they used bright red or bright orange and yellow — colors that would be much easier visible in the dark — but despite how bright the purple is, it is still very easily missed, especially from afar. Now the purple theme in the event makes sense.

It’s obvious the difficulty of the Run this year had been raised ten fold. All odds stacked up against the omegas. If you didn’t know what you’re getting into, you’d have no chance to win a Luna title. 

Chan was never close enough to see omegas interact with the milestones. 

Each of them takes turns rubbing the pouch on their nape. 

The only way for them to prove they have been in all the milestones in a correct order would be if all the scents layered correctly on top of each other. 

If Chan was forced to rub a foreign scent on his nape, he’d probably have a full on meltdown. The omegas don’t seem too bothered, though. Chan is the one to get extra itchy when he walks closer to Minho, leading their way up the creek. They keep to the left of the water, but further in the forest, just so they’re not easily spotted, and the sound of the water doesn’t deafen their ears. 

An easy conversation lulls behind them. Their moods are high. The worst is behind them. 

Chan waits until they burst out laughing about something, and takes a couple of brisk steps to catch up to Minho, who was just scoping the view down the creek with eyebrows furrowed. 

“You should start an acting career.” Chan tells him, after what seems to be an entirety of silence of him just following closely after Minho, and Minho refusing to start a conversation. 

“Well, you do seem to know a lot about actors, having been inside of them so many times.” 

“God— I did not sleep with that actress lady, it was just promotional tricks—” Chan hates that he blurts that out almost automatically, not just because that’s the truth, but because his first instinct is to first defend his own actions and explain himself to Minho although it’s none of his business.

Minho doesn’t answer, just continues walking. 

“I just meant that you seem natural at that. Acting. You’d be great at delivering believable lines. You had me totally sure that I’m wrong there. I am still questioning if I am, actually.”

“Wait until you hear me fake an orgasm. You’ll nominate me for the Oscars, then.” 

It takes Chan a moment to process this. Minho doesn’t even look back to see his expression, just continues walking.

Chan catches up to him hurriedly. “Is this — something that you can foresee in my future?” He asks it carefully, trying not to sound too eager. 

“Of course. When I get a proper mate after I get all the boys to the Last Mark, I’m going to make it everybody’s problem. Yours especially.”

Chan rolls his eyes; “Seriously?”

No answer again.

“Can you just—” Chan pauses, because he doesn’t even know what to finish that sentence with. ' Stop ’ felt like it’s befitting at first, then it didn’t. “There is no mate. You were never going to get one. You were just saying that to fuck with me. Like you are right now. Because you are pissed off, and I have no idea why, and honestly, I am tired of trying to figure you out.”

“Then don’t try to figure me out.” He jumps over a dead tree trunk on their way. “It’ll be better like that.” He gives him a long look, as if making sure his words last, then heads out again. 

Chan follows him, overpassing the log. “What is it about me that sets you off like that? Like back there at the waterfall— why did you react like that?”

Minho doesn’t answer for a long second, putting all his efforts on climbing up a small hill.

It’s only after he casts a look back and understands Chan is right behind him that he finally sighs and says; “I don’t know. Moon, probably.”

“I don’t believe that.” Chan replies almost immediately, because he knew Minho would find a way to blame it on something external. 

This, too, sets him off. He clicks his tongue; “Do you want to start another argument?”

“No.”

“Then shut up.”

“It just— it would be nice to resolve an argument for once. Like civil adults.” Chan says, and then struggles not to laugh at the situation — asking Minho to act civil during the only time in a month where wolves are allowed to be feral. “Without you gaslighting me every step of the way.”

Minho doesn’t reply again for a long few seconds, but Chan can tell that his stance is tenser. Now, he’s angry. 

He realizes the rest aren’t behind them and looks back.

Seungmin and Hyunjin were walking together, discussing something, and Changbin wedged himself between them, pushing Seungmin out of the way.

Now the three of them are all standing there asking Changbin what's his problem, as if it’s not obvious. Felix tries to mediate. He is a very bad mediator, really, because he finds the situation hilarious. 

Chan looks at his watch, sighs, and looks back at Minho that seems to have already moderately distanced himself from both Chan and the pack.

It takes him a moment to run up to him, but before he can even open his mouth to try another conversation, Minho spins to him, eyebrows furrowed and sticks a finger into his chest. “What is it that you want from me, huh? Were itching all over to see me finally fuck up so you can relish in the aftermath?” He doesn’t raise his voice. But he turned a slightly pink color, especially in the ears. Chan can see it even in the darkness. He’s practically fuming. Damn. Now Chan can say with a certainty that he also smells of it. His usually sweet scent is now mixed with herbs and ground — but there’s also something sharp to it, like a sourness. 

Chan hates it.