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yeosang was twenty when he presented as a werewolf. supernaturals weren't unheard of but rare enough that yeosang would be worried what would happen to him if the local group of group of crazies with a grudge and a shotgun found him. he didn't need to be worried, though, because he presented in the middle of the woods during his daily jog through an area of the woods that was apparently owned by a small pack of ragtag supernaturals willing to take in a stubborn, confused, baby werewolf.
hongjoong, a pixie that doesn't look a day over twenty-two, tells him he passed out after the transformation left him exhausted and naked in their back woods ("i'm so sorry." he manages out as the crimson on his cheeks intensify. hongjoong simply grins and waves him off.) there’s another guy asleep in the corner of the room he’s woken up in (“that’s jongho, my useless, uh, second in command that was meant to keep watch. he’s a siren.” hongjoong rolls his eyes fondly.)
later, when yeosang has had a meal and a brief shower, hongjoong asks the newly christened werewolf if he would like to stay with them, with their pack, after learning he has no family anywhere near him, or any that would care if he left anyway. and maybe it's the adrenaline wearing off being replaced by uncertainty that leads him to accept. or maybe it's the cute blonde standing in the doorway.
as the days go on yeosang is introduced to the rest of the pack one by one. first it's the cute blonde - seonghwa- that he learns is a sphinx, one of the rarer supernaturals to exist. then it's a bubbly blue haired witch named yunho that drags him around the house introducing him to his various familiars and his “best friend forver.. literally” mingi, a vampire with a big smile and tiny fangs.
the last ones he meets are what hongjoong has referred to as 'the wonder duo’ consisting of wooyoung and san.
"heads up baby wolf," yunho smirks, "they're not together." and yeosang is confused but yunho's always doing this, giving the werewolf advice on how to smoothly transition into life as a part of the pack. he's a lot less confused when he meets the duo.
he technically sees wooyoung, ("angel." he chirps out before yeosang could even think to ask), first. considering, however, that he’s laying on san, ("demon." he says like its acid on his tongue and burns to say, but there’s a small sad smile on his face like he’s accepted it), when they meet it’s practically a tie for who he met first.
he notices between the two of them there’s such a lack of personal space to be purely platonic, so maybe they're not together, but yeosang feels it in his jellies that they will be eventually if the way san's hand lazily traces shapes onto the fabric on wooyoung's thigh is anything to go by. it's the same day he meets those two that he gets his last bit of newbie advice from yunho.
"baby wolf, i don't know if anyone's told you yet but i wouldn't answer seonghwa's riddles if he asks any." yunho giggles at yeosang's paling face, "unclench. he won't eat any of us for answering wrong but unless you're itching to get swarmed with locusts or an insane rash you'll have to do some annoying favor for him." the witch winces like he has personal experience with it, yeosang nods, and that's the end of that.
so time goes by and yeosang rarely ever answers the riddles, (he accidentally does it his first week there but to be fair “how many of each species did moses take on the ark with him?” was a mean one to use on the new guy. (the answer is none. moses wasn’t on the ark, noah was), but all he had to do was organize the library so it wasn’t as bad as seonghwa literally eating him alive.
but it’s almost two years into yeosang being added to their little home and everyone is settling down slowly. san and wooyoung have stopped tiptoeing around one another and using their clashing natures as an excuse to not be together.
jongho and hongjoong patrol the territory together a lot more, coming back later and later, and sometimes with a leaf or two in hongjoong’s hair. the rest of them don’t take too much notice to it but yeosang's sensitive nose literally can't ignore the smell of so much recent arousal even though he desperately wishes it could.
even mingi and yunho pull their heads out of their asses to notice the heart they make at each other. it may have taken a few burnt cauldrons of truth serums from yunho to work up the courage and a number of odd courting traditions mingi (yeosang can still remember wooyoung’s scream at finding the dead stag in front of yunho’s room one morning) but eventually they fell together smoothly. yeosang kind of wishes they didn’t considering his room is right next to mingi’s.
however, yeosang and seonghwa stayed stagnant.
and yeosang knows seonghwa is way older than his young twenty-three years (he’s narrowed it down to around 4,512 years old if the way hongjoong teasing about the Great Sphinx of Giza being a self portrait held truth to it) but that doesn’t really mean anything to him.
it doesn’t change the way his palms bleed from his claws clenched into them or his throat burns with an unheard growl when he watches seonghwa chat up ignorant humans in the supernaturally owned bar in town to lure into the back ally for his weekly meals.which is stupid because seonghwa’s not even eating them in the sexy way he’s literally eating them, bones and all, less cleanup and no evidence, but they’re closer to seonghwa's mouth than yeosang has ever been.
so maybe he sulks around during his third year in the house trying to figure out how to make seonghwa reciprocate his feelings if it’s the last thing he does. he plots idea and trashes ideas while having the most hectic year of his life. jongho and hongjoong have decided now of all times is the year to get their shit together and get married, leaving yeosang to follow the pair around as an assistant wedding planner.
it's also the year they all discover via a visit from Hell that san’s father is quite literally the devil and he would like his demon of lust (“demon of WHAT?” a hand slaps over mingi’s mouth before he can yelp anything else out) back in his court until further notice. saying no to Satan isn’t something anyone can do much less san and so for weeks at a time they deal with wooyoung’s constant moaning and groaning over how “Satan is so unfair”.
and so to counteract this san has the genius idea of bringing back a hellhound puppy to keep wooyoung company while he’s away. san brings a hellhound puppy into a house with several cat familiars that detest dark energy because he’s smart and romantic like that. added to the frankly annoying repetitive riddles seonghwa has been feeding him for weeks and this is just not yeosang's year.
“what is mine but only you can have?” seonghwa asks him over their dinner one night while the rest of the pack is out patrolling or looking at cake options.
“i couldn't tell you but i can tell you what i want is one of yunho's secret ice cream bars, think you know where they are?” he asks, eyebrows arched and oblivious to the minuscule slump in the other's shoulders. seonghwa sighs and leads him to the bars and that's the end of that.
it's two weeks later before he asks another riddle.
“what three words are said too much, yet not enough?” seonghwa inquires softly as they're folding wedding invitations, listening to the wonder duo cackle from the living room. yeosang huffs and replies loud enough for the others to hear.
“i’m sure they’re 'shut up woyoung'.” yeosang expects the pillow thrown his way but not the angel attached and that's the end of that.
“i can't be bought, but i can be stolen with a glance. i'm worthless to one, but priceless to two. what am i?” seonghwa asks during a silent period after the ceremony. it's only him and seonghwa sat at a table in the back away from hongjoong’s elf friends leading a dance circle around him (park chanyeol, leader of the elven territory, is surprisingly rhythmic for being so lanky).
yeosang sighs, “seonghwa you’ve been asking riddles for weeks can’t you let up just for this?”
seonghwa stills and opens his mouth, “they’re no—“
“listen i’m gonna go join san by the bar. see you for the best men speeches.” and he thinks that's the end of that.
half an hour later when everyone’s thoroughly danced out and smiling through a thin sheen of sweat the speeches start. Wooyoung and san go first, all basically finishing each other’s sentences and telling the wedded pair they’ll definitely be the godparents of Philim the hellhound (jongho definitely Does Not cry).
yeosang goes next telling them how proud he is of both of them and how much they mean to him for giving him not only a safe place but a family that loves and supports him unconditionally and who he returns that for. (hongjoong definitely Does Not cry.)
seonghwa goes last, sharing a heavy look with the couple that gives more weight to the moment and it’s only now that yeosang can finally give his sole attention to him that he notices how pale and tired seonghwa looks. hongjoong nods faintly and seonghwa clears his throat to start his speech. “i met hongjoong when i was a relatively young sphinx and jongho came not too long after. they were my only two companions, my only family, for decades. we know each other better than anyone else in the world and i love them more than words can say,” yeosang hears san coo, “but they give shit advice.” yeosang coughs because what.
“for the past two years i’ve been going through a question i’ve never been able to solve for myself, and as a sphinx you can probably imagine how frustrating that is, but i have never in all my centuries had to question what it was like to fall in love, little by little,” the crowd lets out a sympathetic sigh and yeosang’s blood runs ice cold,
“a few months ago, in the middle of picking out which napkins looked the best with these two absolute fools, hongjoong gave me an idea that i actually had faith in at the time,” the room is quiet and bordering between the amused looks on hongjoong and jongho and the tense ones on supernatural guests (the banshe from seventeen’s land, seokmin, looks like he might cry),
“so ‘joong told me to try flirting? maybe try some pick up lines that humans are always using. we’re ancient okay, and we never had to use those so how was i supposed to know how they worked. the only thing i know how to ask are riddles and that’s where my messages got mixed up. so, uh, hongjoong and jongho are my best friends, my brothers, but don’t ever take their advice.”
seonghwa turns towards yeosang’s side of the room to finish. “i haven’t eaten in a while because every time i used a riddle, every time i thought about getting anywhere near a human that wasn’t the baby werewolf with big eyes back at home, i felt sick. i talked to hongjoong and jongho before the speeches, and i didn’t ask them for advice this time, i asked them for permission,” he pauses, “permission to do this.” he inhales deeply like he can’t get enough oxygen to save him, and turns his head directly at yeosang.
“hey yeosang,” his shoulders snap stiff at his name as his eyes bore into seonghwa’s gold tinted ones, “what grows old but never dies?”
yeosang gapes and seonghwa mouth quirks, “i’ll answer it for you, sweetheart. what grows old but never dies? my love.”
his chest feels like there’s no air and he just knows his ears are red but he’s never been this happy. “your love?” he can’t quite manage to keep the hopeful tone out of his words and from the way seonghwa’s smile widens, he hears it too.
“yeah 'sangie, my love. for you specifically to be clear. i’ve been trying to tell you for weeks but i thought maybe i was bad at flirting? or maybe you didn’t feel the same? even though everyone in the house said you did, y’know. i didn’t realize you thought i was trying to feed you stupid riddles the whole time.” he steps closer to yeosang with his next sentences.
“what is mine but only you can have, yeosang? my heart.”
a step.
“what three words are said too much, yet not enough? i love you.”
another step.
“i can’t be bought, but i can be stolen with a glance. i’m worthless to one, but priceless to two. what am i? love.”
he’s in front of yeosang, close enough to feel his breath.
“what grows old but never dies, yeosang?” he sucks a breath and — “my love for you, seonghwa.”
they kiss lightly to the sounds of clapping and yunho’s sniffling behind them (he denies this but san has the video). hongjoong and jongho cheer and whistle, not upset by the fact that their wedding just got hijacked by a sphinx and his werewolf boyfriend, after all it was their idea for seonghwa to confess in the first place.
and if years later, after yeosang walks down a path behind an overly large black dog carrying a basket with two silver rings, seonghwa asks a riddle - “what grows old but never dies?” - at least yeosang knows the answer. “our love.”