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When Jeongguk said that he’d only get mated if an alpha showed up at his doorstep, he didn’t actually mean it.

It was a joke told between friends during his birthday last year, he was almost half-drunk and carefree for the only time in the year. But well, apparently the universe likes to take his jokes seriously and there’s a very much sleeping alpha in front of the gates of his small house. Of course, being an omega himself he’s able to identify if the other person is an omega, beta, or alpha just by their smell. And that wolf in front of him is very much an alpha.

His smell is strong and makes Jeongguk’s nose tickle, and if he were to be an annoying individual, Jeongguk would say that the wolf either hasn’t showered for a week or it comes from a strong pack of alphas — or maybe just both his parents are alphas. Or maybe it's the fact that doesn't have any alphas around him to compare.

Jeongguk looks around in the empty street as if the lampposts are going to give him the answer of why that wolf is sleeping there, on top of his Welcome carpet which has a small grey bunny stamped on it that he bought when he went to Seoul a few months ago. It was an expensive carpet, and Jeongguk has an emotional connection to everything he has in his house. So, he blinks his eyes, noticing that neither the pavement nor the wires hanging on the lampposts are going to give him an answer.

The wolf snores, and Jeongguk snorts, placing the plastic bags on the floor next to his feet. He crouches down and eyes the wolf, scanning the black fur and using his right hand to touch the sleeping animal. But Jeongguk gasps in surprise after he notices how sticky the fur is under his fingertips, and as soon as he turns his hand over to identify the fluid in it, he smells blood and sees how his fingers are stained red.

He takes a deep breath. Jeongguk isn’t a bad person, so he wouldn’t be crazy to leave a hurting wolf alone, especially when the said wolf is in front of his house. One of its hind legs is dangling from slight spasms, so Jeongguk imagines that the injury isn't pretty and the alpha must be in huge distress, but from the position the wolf is lying on, he cannot identify where it is injured, just the way it is still bleeding and dirtying the entire sidewalk in red.

And if Jeongguk has been honest, he doesn’t have an idea of what to do. He’s neither a nurse nor a doctor, he just has common knowledge of how to take care of his wounds and does a good job at it, and if that wolf has gotten shot by a hunter or was injured by another alpha, Jeongguk will have a hard time dealing with it. But he doesn’t want to have problems with the police nor have to explain why he’s taking an unknown bleeding alpha to the hospital.

So he does the least smart thing in his mind: gathers up all of his strength and picks up the sleeping wolf in his arms. Jeongguk is strong, his body is well-built and his natural wolf strength helps him when he needs it, but the weight of the adult alpha wolf makes him stumble on his feet at times, especially when he’s opening the gate and the front door. At first, Jeongguk thinks that the wolf might wake up as he places him on his living room floor with a sigh, but it is still passed out and only rolls on the cold marbles after Jeongguk gets up.

All of his clothes are stained and he smells like alpha now, which makes him roll his eyes and glance at the open door. He rushes back to the sidewalk, picking up all of his grocery shopping, and then he goes back to his house, leaving everything on the kitchen table, and walks back to the living room, hearing the wolf whimpering almost silently.

Jeongguk knows that he needs to do something quickly. He can’t have the wolf dying in his presence, so Jeongguk heads to the bathroom, trying to find a few old towels inside his cabinets, while a basin is being filled with warm water from the shower. The weather is hot outside, but since the wolf is hurting and bleeding, it wouldn’t be nice to have him shivering because of cold water.

After getting rid of his shoes, Jeongguk changes out of his bloody clothes, he chooses an old sleeveless shirt and shorts and then moves back to the living room, bringing the basin and a couple of white towels with him. The wolf is still sleeping when he sits next to it, and Jeongguk swallows down as he wets the edge of the towel and brushes it against the sleeping animal, trying to clean the wolf in the best way possible so that he can find where the wound is.

With the warm water and Jeongguk’s soft touches, the wolf stops whimpering and calms down and it makes Jeongguk breathe out in relief, thinking that it might not be something as serious as he thought it was. He shifts his neck, continuing to clean his fur, and watches his towel being painted with blood; his mind is slightly fuzzy in confusion. Jeongguk wants to help the wolf and make it feel better, but at the same time he's wondering what the hell is he doing having an alpha inside his house. The wolf isn’t going to stay a wolf forever. And Jeongguk knows how grateful his kind is, and it gets worse when someone takes care of them when they’re hurt and vulnerable in their wolf form.

He hopes that he won’t be stuck with that wolf forever. And, no, Jeongguk doesn't believe that the universe is sending him signs.

It takes him a while to find where the wolf is injured, but Jeongguk bites his lower lip at the sight of an open wound on the wolf’s belly. It’s not big, but it's bleeding and full of grass, which makes Jeongguk think that it is obviously a new injury and that the wolf is probably all dirty with blood because it was running through the forest.

Then, Jeongguk hops off the floor and goes to the bathroom to search for his first aid kit and alcohol to clean the wound. He always has all kinds of products to take care of an injury at home, Jeongguk likes to be one step ahead of everything, and sometimes he goes running in the forest near his house and ends up getting hurt on the sharp trees and small stones on the ground. And he's not a big fan of going to hospitals for silly reasons.

The wolf is still lost in its slumber when Jeongguk starts to clean the wound with a piece of cotton, saline, and alcohol to get rid of any type of bacteria that may have come in contact with the injury. The wolf grumbles now and then, wagging its long tail and twitching its ears, and Jeongguk sighs, wishing the poor alpha is not in pain. As soon as he is done, Jeongguk covers the visible wound with gauze and a piece of body tape. He squats down, standing on his feet and he makes a little effort to turn him on his side and try to find out if there are any more injuries to the unconscious wolf and, as Jeongguk imagined, he finds three other wounds just like the one he treated a few minutes ago.

Taking a deep breath, Jeongguk repeats the same procedure he did before, cleaning its fur with the wet towel and then the wounds, covering them carefully as he wipes off the sweat from his forehead with the back of his left hand. He’s surprised by the fact that the alpha is still sleeping, but after seeing how deep and inflamed his wounds were, Jeongguk imagines he must have passed out from exhaustion and the blood loss. Usually, adult wolves heal faster, but whoever harmed that alpha must've used something that can be deadly for them.

And then, Jeongguk remembers that the sidewalk in front of his house is covered in blood. He lets out a curse and gets up with the first aid kit in his hands. In addition to having stained the living room of his house, Jeongguk will have to clean the sidewalk and all the places where the wolf's blood fell while he tried to bring it inside. Unless Jeongguk wants his neighbors and the police to start thinking that he is a murderer — and they already think he’s a little bit weird for living alone and just going out to shop at the grocery store, and well, when he’s obliged to go to Seoul to resolve issues with his publisher and agent. As if e-mails do not exist.

However, Jeongguk likes to think that he’s a good person. So, he shuts his mouth and lets the wolf rest while he’s cleaning the sidewalk. As he mops the floor with a brush, the smell of chlorine and washing powder impregnating his nostrils, Jeongguk thinks of the structure of a story for a new adventure book instead of being able to find a way for his main character to come out of the clutches of the vampire who had made her hostage, swearing she was the answer to the cure for vampirism just because she is from the same lineage of witches who created his species.

It is the last book in the series of five books and he was in the middle of writer’s block, unable to find the answer to the main plot of that book. His editor wants him to make her fall in love with the vampire, and Jeongguk hates when everything is solved with love and soulmates, and true pairs, and anything else that doesn’t happen in real life.

Love doesn’t make everything right, especially when kidnapping is involved. So, Jeongguk takes a deep breath and closes the gate, turning to his plants in the front yard just waiting for him to water them.

“Hi,” Jeongguk smiles, green watering can in his hands as he starts with the flowers, eyes glowing at the sight of the tiger flowers starting to bloom. “You guys are growing so beautifully.”

Some may say that Jeongguk is a lone wolf, living alone in the countryside, having only his plants and laptop as a company, but he doesn't like to think this way. He enjoys being just by himself in his small, one-bedroom house with his plants in the front yard and decorating all the rooms. The city is cozy and calm, his neighbors don't bother him and he has enough time to write his novels — or at least think about writing them. Even if his friends are back in Seoul, busy with their own lives and mates, Jeongguk can just text them anytime he wants to or visit if he feels like it.

What else would he need?

A mate, it echoes on his ears, making him peek at the gates to see if the ghost of his friends is chasing him — but they're not, it's just the memory of him saying that he'd only get an alpha for himself if one showed up at his doorstep. And now there's one of them laying in his living room. Jeongguk hisses alone, moving back to hum a lullaby to his succulents as he waters them.

Jeongguk doesn't understand why society puts so much pressure into finding someone to spend the rest of his life with. Sure, he's an omega, but he doesn't need a mate to be happy, he doesn't need an alpha to feel complete. Jeongguk isn't a part of something, he's a whole person, he's his wolf and a great writer who's good at his job, and that sometimes gets in trouble with finding the right path for his characters, so he doesn't need someone by his side. And he doesn't feel lonely.

Indeed, he never gave too much thought about alphas in his life, not even when he was a teenager finding out about the world and his species. His writing and studies always came first, and it continued like that when he enrolled in college. Of course, he dated a few of them, broke a couple of hearts, and had his heartbroken some others, but it was never the end of the world and, eventually, he moved on — he didn't cry nor got into a bad slump like in the movies. And it didn't change when his friends got mated.

So, yeah. Jeongguk won't start thinking about mating an unknown wolf whose face he hasn't even seen yet just because he has helped him with his injuries. He doesn't need a mate, he doesn't want a mate, and if it happens, it's pure destiny acting by itself. And his plants agree with him, even when he's lost in thought and waters them too much.

Once he notices that the night is falling and the sky is getting darker, Jeongguk gets inside and decides to take a warm shower and find something to eat before dealing with the unfinished file of his book. Jeongguk is sure that his agent is probably calling him non-stop to ask about the development of his book because it is getting close to the deadline and Jeongguk hasn’t been updating him on his progress on the story. But, Jeongguk doesn’t have anything to update him with, and his phone is on silent mode, so he’s just pretending that nothing is happening while slurping a bowl of spicy ramen as he walks to his office, which is just his bedroom with a comfortable swivel chair.

His laptop is open on his book’s file, and Jeongguk sighs, resting his elbows on the wooden desk as he stares at the written words. He needs to figure out something that makes sense alongside his storyline and not just word-vomit random scenes and forced dialogues — it’s his job, after all, and he needs to take this seriously because he doesn’t want to mess it up. So, after finishing his ramen and placing the bowl aside, he opens another file with the description of all of his characters and reads over everyone in the last book.

One of his tricks to try to come out of an awful writer’s block is trying to put himself in his character’s shoes and think about what they would do in that situation. It’s easier when he’s not writing about fictional beings, but he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, imagining all the scenarios and people he created with his mind, he tries to remember everything that happened since the first scene from the first book, and what happened for them to end up in that situation.

However, on that day, all that Jeongguk does is fall into his slumber with his forehead resting on his arms and his laptop still on in front of him. He dreams about vampires, witches, and a black red-eyed wolf staring at him while he’s running away from hunters. The wolf is big, and he’s everywhere Jeongguk looks, but he doesn’t seem to be running like Jeongguk’s wolf is. The forest is wide and larger than the one in the city he lives in, and the vampires are straight out just helping him in his escapade.

And he wakes up, startled and with his chest heaving as he finds out that he’s just in his bedroom and not in the middle of the forest getting caught by hunters. Jeongguk blinks heavily, looking around and rubbing his eyes as he yawns. He wasn’t even tired, to begin with, probably just bored and lost in his thoughts and ended up falling asleep. His back crackles when he leans against the swivel chair and Jeongguk whines, cursing at himself as he massages his neck.

The open window on the opposite side of the room shows that it’s dark outside, and Jeongguk checks the time on his laptop, frowning his brows. It’s past 4 am and he has slept for almost eight hours while sitting at his desk, but he’s still sleepy and not in the mood to spend the rest of the night writing. He sighs, getting up and crawling into his bed after closing the laptop. Jeongguk hugs his second pillow, closing his eyes as he tucks himself underneath his blanket. The window is left open because of the hot weather and the nice breeze coming in, so it doesn’t take him a long time to fall back asleep.

A few hours later, Jeongguk wakes up with his body heating up from the sun hitting on his face and opens his eyes immediately. He sits on the bed and licks over his lips, almost as if a light has been kindled in his mind. He leaps off the bed, letting his blanket fall to the floor, and rushes back to his laptop. The file is still open and Jeongguk starts typing without even reading what he’s doing, but he has a scene in mind that will last for about five pages and he knows that if he doesn’t write them in one go he won’t be able to remember it later.

So, he moves his fingers and focuses his eyes on the laptop screen as he pulls the chair closer to the table. It’s not an answer to his problem with the main plot of the book, but it’s one more scene telling about the back-story of an important character that will appear in the next scene, which is already planned, and how that character has a connection with his main character. Sometimes, Jeongguk finds it funny how he ends up writing nothing for several days and then goes on a writing sprint, typing almost ten thousand words in less than two hours and without even noticing his stomach rumbling because he is hungry or the way that your room is stuffy.

Of course, it gives him an awful pain in his fingers at the end of the day, but for Jeongguk it is worth the suffering and he always manages to write his best scenes at those times. It's good character development, and he thanks the universe for finally having an answer to give to his annoying agent who keeps making his phone flash next to him.

Jeongguk lets out a dreamy sigh, staring at the fifteen newly written pages in front of him. He smiles, feeling proud of himself as he grabs his phone, noticing that it's almost out of battery, and scans over the room to look for his charger. The chapter isn’t finished yet, but Jeongguk knows where he wants his characters to go in the next few pages, so he doesn’t worry about that and plugs his phone on the charger before walking out of his bedroom with the ramen bowl in his hands.

And Jeongguk stops in the middle of the kitchen, an apple on his mouth and his eyes staring at the kettle in his hands. The house is too silent and didn’t see the wolf lying on his floor. He remembers that he locked all doors and the gates, and there aren’t any signs of someone trying to break out of there – Jeongguk would’ve listened even if he was asleep. So, after turning on the stove, Jeongguk raises one of his brows and turns around, finding it extremely weird.

Where would a hurt wolf go when it’s in a comfortable house with someone who took care of it?

The apple falls on the door and Jeongguk chokes on what he was chewing. There’s a naked man in front of him. There’s a very naked and beautiful man in front of him, staring at Jeongguk’s face with puffy eyes and messy black hair hanging on his forehead. Jeongguk’s eyes get wide-open, peeking over at his tanned body and confused gaze. The alpha is probably the same height as him but has wider shoulders and fewer bulging muscles than Jeongguk, his fingers are long and bony, and he’s also barefoot. He tries not to look down, but it’s impossible when the man is naked, inside of his house and standing right where his eyes can see. Of course, he notices his pudgy belly and how his wounds aren’t bleeding anymore, but that’s not where his gaze stops.

It doesn’t take Jeongguk another second to realize that the man is the wolf he brought home. His hurt belly and detached gauze hanging on his golden skin make that obvious, but, somehow, his scent is even stronger in his human form, and he bats his eyes for just a moment, Jeongguk catches the color of his irises changing from a dark-brown to red and then going back to brown.

Jeongguk should think about something else, but all that floats inside of his head is the fact that there’s a naked alpha in his kitchen. A beautiful, naked alpha staring into his eyes and rubbing his puffy, sleepy face. His hair color is in the same raven shade of black as his wolf’s fur, and it matches with the golden tone of his skin and dark eyes. He’s furrowing his brows and looks down to the fallen apple by Jeongguk’s feet.

Sure, Jeongguk is an adult omega. One that has seen other alpha’s private parts and knows that’s just the human body, but it doesn’t stop him from turning around and feeling his flushed cheeks getting even hotter than before — and it’s not because of the hot weather outside.

“Why are you naked?” Jeongguk almost stutters, wanting to hit his forehead on the cabinets. The omega inside of him is practically dancing and giggling at Jeongguk’s shame and how he’s making that situation even weirder. It’s obvious why the wolf isn’t wearing any clothes: he has shifted back into his human form, and he didn’t bring any clothes with him.

Sure, Jeongguk should’ve thought that the wolf could turn back to human at any minute; he should’ve brought him clothes after locking himself into his office slash bedroom to write. But, no, that didn’t even go through his mind and now he’s thinking about the very much naked alpha just behind him.

The alpha clears his throat, and Jeongguk can notice that he’s moving around behind him, probably looking at his own bare body before answering back at him. It’s an awkward situation that Jeongguk didn’t want to go through, but it’s not like he has a choice whatsoever – the wolf is already there, in the way that he came to the world and staring at the back of his neck.

“I don’t have any clothes with me,” his voice is deep and raspy, and Jeongguk can hear him scratching his head.

Jeongguk closes his eyes and hands into a first, and stares back at the cabinet in front of him, “Right,” he swallows down, still not looking at the wolf. “The bathroom is the first door on the right. Go there. I’ll give you some clothes.”

There’s a minute of silence between them, and Jeongguk can feel that the alpha is hesitant in that situation, and, sure, Jeongguk himself would be feeling slightly wobbly if he were to be in that wolf’s shoes. Naked, in an unknown house with an unknown omega showing off his back at him. It can’t be a pleasant situation.

He hears him gulp, “Okay.”

Despite knowing that the wolf had given him a positive answer, Jeongguk still waits a few more seconds with his eyes closed and barely breathing right before turning around again. He stares at the empty kitchen and sighs, swallowing and feeling a lump in his throat.

Giving his clothes to an alpha doesn't seem like a good idea, Jeongguk knows that. He’s an omega, and the black-haired wolf is an alpha, their scents get stuck in everything they have, especially when they don't use scent and heat suppressants. And Jeongguk does not believe in such things, he prefers to remain in his natural self, with no pills to suppress something natural of his kind. And he also has no new clothes, all of which he had were worn in the past few days. So he will just have to risk giving his clothes from his wardrobe to the naked alpha in his bathroom because showing off his private parts to whoever passes by the windows isn’t the best choice.

And Jeongguk doesn’t want to keep looking at another man’s penis.

He wants to run out of his house, but he still walks of his bedroom and heads to the bathroom and knocks on the door, the clothes hanging on his forearm as he wolf opens the door slightly and only shows his head to him, but Jeongguk doesn’t look into his eyes, “So, there are towels in the cabinets there, and the soap is in the shower stall. You can take a shower and then change into these clothes.”

The alpha’s eyes go down to his hands, and he grabs the shirt and pants Jeongguk is giving to him, “They’re mine. I hope it won’t bother you.”

It takes him a moment to look up to Jeongguk’s eyes, and the alpha smiles without showing his teeth, “It’s okay. They’re still clothes.”

And Jeongguk flinches, watching him close the door after he doesn’t answer. The alpha doesn’t talk much, Jeongguk realizes that soon, but he needs answers since the man is staying at his house and he has treated his wounds. And, of course, he found him lying in front of his house, bleeding out on the sidewalk and dirtying everything there.

Jeongguk doesn't realize it at first, but he stares at the closed door like a fool before rolling his eyes, slapping his cheeks to wake up, and walks back to the kitchen. The water must have completely evaporated and he will be without his precious morning coffee. While preparing coffee with what was left of the water in the kettle, Jeongguk faces the window and the blue sky shining outside his house, he is in an awkward situation, most wouldn’t have someone they don’t know inside their houses. But he’s doing better than the alpha, and even though he does not like to put things on a scale of those who are doing worse, Jeongguk continues to prepare breakfast for two and pretends he has seen nothing.

He doesn’t know what the other wolf likes, but he won’t go bother him during his shower just to ask him what he wants to eat —  assuming that he’s hungry and wants to eat whatever Jeongguk has at home. So, he puts on the table and stares at the mug in his hand as he sips on his hot coffee, sitting on a chair as he glances at the window again, thinking that it would be a nice day for a run in the forest.

His name. Jeongguk didn’t even ask his name before lending him his clothes. He always knew that he’s a dumbass, but he didn’t think it was that much. And then, Jeongguk remembers that the alpha can’t keep wearing his clothes and that he’ll probably have to buy him some more. He almost burns his tongue, he hadn’t even mentioned staying there with him and Jeongguk is already thinking about buying him clothes.

A whole new level of dumbass, Jeongguk guesses by himself, and shakes his head, gulping more of his coffee as he hears steps approaching the kitchen. He looks up, finding the alpha’s eyes in front of him, he’s drying his hair with a towel and wearing Jeongguk’s clothes, which make their scents get mixed up in the air. And that feels funny to Jeongguk, he was never that sure of how he smells like, his old boyfriends never bothered to tell him, but he thinks that's something between fresh-baked chocolate cookies and hot chocolate. And that alpha smells like cinnamon fresh from the tree, wet because he has just gotten out of the shower, but it’s addicting.

“Hi,” the alpha starts, putting down the towel and lowering his head a bit to show that he’s not a threat. Not that Jeongguk would think that he is, he could’ve easily ripped out his throat when he was cleaning his wounds with alcohol, but he didn’t even wake up. “I’m Kim Taehyung. Alpha.”

Finally, a name to add to the face. Jeongguk places his mug on the table and knits his brows. Does he think that Jeongguk hasn’t noticed that he’s very much an alpha? Or maybe that’s just a formal way of introducing yourself that Jeongguk doesn’t know of, which may probably be true. It doesn’t make sense for him to tell his secondary gender like that.

“Jeon Jeongguk,” he follows, blinking slowly in his direction. “The omega whose door you were sleeping in front of.”

Taehyung coughs embarrassed for a moment, leaving the towel on the same chair he sits, “I’m sorry for that. I passed out on your doorstep and didn’t even realize that. Thank you for taking care of my wounds, I appreciated that a lot.”

Jeongguk hums, squinting at him as he takes another sip of his coffee, “You can have breakfast with me, you lost too much blood and you’re probably hungry.”

“Thank you,” Taehyung mumbles under his breath, scanning over the table as he pushes the chair closer.

Questioning people isn’t one of Jeongguk’s favorite things, solving a mystery is. He’s a writer, he likes to discover about his characters as he types about them, getting excited over every little detail as he adds them to his secondary file with the list of characters and their personalities. It’s Jeongguk’s guilty pleasure as a writer, and he will never let his agent know about that because he’s annoying and will be after his ass for not building his characters first and then adding them to the story, but it’s simply how Jeongguk likes to work and he won’t change.

However, he can’t keep housing someone he doesn’t know, and he needs to find the right words to ask the wolf about what happened and how he ended up at his doorstep. Jeongguk knows that hunters are practically nonexistent these days. The population of wolves has taken over the world and humans have been threatened with extinction since the beginning of the days. Wolves are less likely to get sick, are stronger and if a wolf and a human have a baby together the chances of their kid being a wolf is 97%. Wolves’ genes are strong, and Jeongguk doesn’t remember the last time he saw a human – or if he has ever seen one.

So, the likelihood of Taehyung being attacked by one of those is zero. And Jeongguk needs to know. He feels sort of responsible for him even though the wolf in front of him, eating strawberry jam with bread, is probably his age or older, and is capable of standing up for himself. Sure, the alpha doesn’t owe him anything for Jeongguk having saved him and treated his wounds, nor Jeongguk wants something in return. He’s just curious about the man having breakfast with him.

“What happened?” Jeongguk asks out of nowhere, making Taehyung raise one of his brows as he bites on his bread, confusion taking over his face. “I mean, how did you end up injured and in front of my house? This never happens here. And you were shaking, I was worried.”

“Oh, right,” Taehyung gasps, placing his hands down and taking a sip of the juice to gulp his food. He doesn’t say anything at first, and Jeongguk wonders if he’s going to tell him the truth “I’m from a pack in the North, I don’t know if you have heard of it. We have these… competitions over the placement of pack Leader. All alphas have to participate whenever the old Leader dies, it’s not like in other packs that the position is handed over to their children. Whoever doesn’t get injured gets the position. Our leader died last week and the members of the government settled the competition.”

“Those were marks of silver arrows,” Jeongguk stares at him, catching how he nods slightly. “Isn’t it a wolves’ competition?”

“We get to choose how we want to say, human or wolf,” he explains calmly. “But I already wanted to run away from there, live in the city with other wolves, and leave the forest. So, they saw me as an easy target and I got hurt. I ran during the whole night, got rid of the arrows, and reached the city, and then everything else is a blur in my head.”

Of course, that Jeongguk knows that there are still a bunch of traditional packs inside their forests and that they live happily until this day. He, himself, has come from a pack in Busan that lives near the sea, and only left the forest when he moved to Seoul to go to college and started engaging in the city. He wouldn’t say that he prefers one over the other, there were houses and schools back in his pack, and he didn’t find a lot of difference from the life in the forest for the one in the city, he just had to travel a bit to shift between the trees and not in the middle of avenues. So, these competitions over the place of Alpha Leader aren’t news to him – even though his one had the good and old father-son government.

He’s rather surprised that Taehyung ended up in that small city and not in downtown Jeju or in Seoul, which is where wolves go to find housing and jobs whenever they leave their packs, but the alpha was injured and probably lost its strength as he found Jeongguk’s fluffy carpet, which is still stained and he’ll have a hard time cleaning it.

But then, as he stares at Taehyung’s face, watching as he eats the bread as if he hasn’t eaten for over a day, he understands that the alpha doesn’t have anywhere else to go. And he surely doesn’t have the guts of telling him to leave his house. No, Jeongguk couldn’t be mean to a soul, and much less to a hurt wolf that has just left his pack.

Jeongguk scrunches his nose, noticing that his coffee is already cold and tasteless, so he decides to put it aside and looks back to Taehyung, “Are you planning on staying?”

Taehyung peers at him, chewing on another slice of bread as if he’s asking if Jeongguk means staying here, at his house, or in the city. But his vague questioning was purposeful.  Jeongguk isn’t sure if he wants to keep a stranger in his house, he’s not afraid of alphas or anything, but he doesn’t know anything about the man who’s under his roof and eating from his food. And Jeongguk pretends not to see that he doesn’t have a mating mark on his neck, which means that he’s probably single – even wolves that are dating leave marks on their partner’s neck, temporary marks, but still.

And before Taehyung could even answer that, he starts coughing and almost chokes on his food, which is left back on the table as he moves his hands to hold something that it’s not visible to Jeongguk’s eyes. The omega blinks and leaps off his chair to check what is happening, and he sighs when he sees the shirt bleeding and dirtying Taehyung’s hand.

“Let me see,” Jeongguk murmurs, squatting down in front of the alpha, who seems to be in pain again and almost reluctant to let the omega see his wounds again. “C’mon, I’ve seen you naked. This is nothing.”

He knows how proud alphas can be and never admit to being hurt to strangers, but Taehyung seems more interested in not feeling any more pain, so he moves his hand to the side and Jeongguk pulls the hem of his shirt up, noting that one of the wounds started to bleed again. He glances at Taehyung, asking with his eyes to hold the shirt while he goes to the living room to get the first aid kit.

“I should’ve known that you wouldn’t heal properly since it was silver arrows,” Jeongguk mumbles, letting both of his knees touch the ground as he sits on his heels, he holds a piece of cotton against the wound so that the blood stops staining the clean shirt. “It will take probably a week.”

Jeongguk feels Taehyung’s strong gaze on him, and the omega peeps at him momentarily before moving back to pay attention to what he’s doing. He’s not gasping anymore, so Jeongguk guesses that the burn must be less now, but even so, he searches for a painkiller inside the small plastic box, and some anti-inflammatory in the middle of the mess of medicines and gauze.

“Here, take it,” he says, shifting his weight to his other leg as he hands Taehyung both pills. “It will lessen the pain and luckily make you bleed less. Do these competitions involve poisoned arrows? ‘Cause if so, I’ll have to take you to the hospital.”

The alpha shakes his head in denial, using his juice to gulp down the meds. “It’s probably because I got hurt as a wolf and shifted back into my human form while I was sleeping. It’s forbidden to use anything deadly.”

“Oh, good,” Jeongguk shakes his head, forcing himself to smile. “That’s good.  Since silver arrows hurt, but they don’t kill alone, you die from bleeding out, and then you’ll probably be all healed up in a week or so.”

Taehyung hums in agreement, and he tries to peek at what Jeongguk is putting on his belly, “You seem to know a lot about injuries and silver. Are you a nurse?”

“No,” Jeongguk chuckles, feeling his lashes touching his cheekbones before meeting Taehyung’s eyes on him. “I also come from a traditional pack, my parents were the doctors there and I learned a lot of things from them before moving out. I’m also a writer, so I have to keep researching a lot of things, and that includes injuries, surgeries, and sometimes deadly weapons. And since I live alone, I have to take care of my wounds if I happen to get hurt in the forest whenever I shift.”

“Oh,” Taehyung has a surprised look on his face, and Jeongguk gets up after finishing closing all of the alpha’s wounds. “That’s interesting. I wouldn’t picture you as a writer. A personal trainer or a florist, maybe? But not a writer.”

“Well, I like to be a little box full of surprises,” Jeongguk wiggles his eyebrows, closing the first aid kit and placing it on the sink behind him. And he sure knows why Taehyung thought that his house makes that a little obvious.

Now, there’s a genuine smile between Jeongguk’s lips, and he sits back on his chair, hearing Taehyung thanking him for taking care of his wounds, and asking how he could pay him back for his services as he pours orange juice in a clean glass.

“Just get better, I guess?” he answers, eyes glistening at the thought, and Taehyung chuckles, moving back to his strawberry jam.

At the end of the day, Taehyung doesn’t answer his questions, but he stays anyway. Jeongguk gives him a new pillow and a soft blanket, telling him that he doesn’t have a spare room since it has always been him and his plants in that house. And, when Taehyung says that he can just sleep in his wolf form, Jeongguk is quick to deny — he doesn’t want to deal with a naked alpha in his living room every single day.

He doesn’t even know if Taehyung is actually staying for every single day. Jeongguk just thinks that he’s living a huge dream and that once he wakes up from it, he won’t have a tall alpha sleeping on his couch.

But Jeongguk never wakes up from that. And there’s a very much alpha sleeping on his couch on the following day, and the next few ones. Taehyung is mostly a silent person, he doesn’t make a mess in Jeongguk’s house, and he even waters his plants whenever the omega forgets about them.

Taehyung doesn’t ask when Jeongguk locks himself in his bedroom again, trying to write more of that damn chapter that he’s stuck in, but all he can think of is about the alpha lying on his couch and watching silly cartoons on the TV. Not that Jeongguk has left his bedroom to look at him from time to time instead of paying attention to what he has to do.

It is a frustrating day and staring at his laptop is even more frustrating, so Jeongguk decides to hit his head on the wooden for a good two minutes and closes the file of his book, deciding to open his social media to check if his friends have been posting anything cool or just to find inspiration to write something. He checks his email, and replies to his agent for the first time in the month, giving him feedback about how his story is going and telling him about his new idea — a florist fairy falling in love with a human that works in the building in front of his flower shop.

And once he grabs his phone, throwing himself on his bed, he notices that he hasn’t talked in his friends’ group chat for a while — not that they find it weird, Jeongguk is always disappearing out of nowhere and showing up when no one expects him to. But, he bites his lower lip and realizes that he hasn’t told anyone about Taehyung. It’s almost as if he’s a secret kept between Jeongguk and his plants, but Jeongguk needs to vent to someone.

Mated omegas (and Jeongguk)

Jeongguk [1:13 pm]:

You guys haven’t changed the group chat's name?

I hate every single one of you

Why am I friends with you

Namjoon hyung [1:14 pm]:

You love us

And no, we will never change that

But there’s nothing wrong with you being unmated bub

Jeongguk [1:15 pm]:

As if I don’t know that

Yoongi hyung [1:15 pm]:

you’re such a brat, jeongguk

you disappear for a week and that’s how you come back

Jimin hyung [1:16 pm]:

Nah, we’re already used to him

What goes on this time

Is it your agent?

Did you hit your head on a tree when you were shifting?

Jeongguk [1:16 pm]:

No?? I’m always careful when I shift

And I just ignore my agent when he’s being a pain in the ass

Jeongguk [1:17 pm]:

I have other problems

Namjoon hyung [1:17 pm]:

I should’ve known

Jeongguk [1:18 pm]:

So hm

Do you guys remember my birthday last year?

When we threw a party at Jimin hyung’s house?

And I said that I’d only get mated to an alpha if one showed up at my doorstep?

Yoongi hyung [1:19 pm]:

Yes

And Jimin’s mate thinks that you hate alphas until today

Jimin hyung [1:19 pm]:

Poor Hoseokie, he was traumatized

Do you guys believe that we went to the orphanage last week to visit little Hyun that we’re going to adopt, and he came to me and said “Jiminie, what if he turns out to be an alpha and your friend won’t show up at our house anymore because there are two alphas here?”

Jeongguk [1:20 pm]

WTF I don’t hate alphas

Your mate is ????

AND you all are missing the point here

Which is

An alpha showed up at my doorstep three days ago

And he’s still sleeping on my couch

And I don’t know what to do ?????

I SAW HIM NAKED

Namjoon hyung [1:20 pm]:

What the actual fuck

Jimin hyung [1:20 pm]:

Are you joking right?

Namjoon hyung [1:21 pm]:

I don’t think he’s joking Jiminie

Jeongguk [1:22 pm]:

I’m not joking

He’s literally on my couch rn

And he’s an unmated alpha, he was in his wolf form, sleeping in front of my house

He was hurt when I found him, I took care of his wounds and let him sleep on the floor,

But then when I woke up on the following day there was this naked man standing in front of me instead of the wolf,

and he was still hurt and had nowhere else to go. He told me that he left his old pack to try living in the city

What could I have done w?????

Yoongi hyung [1:23 pm]:

sorry junghwa started crying and seokjin isn’t at home

and I was cracking up while holding her

she’s still here in my arms I can’t stop laughing

Jeongguk [1:25 pm]:

Your baby is cute

I love her, send pics later

But YOU'RE NOT HELPING HYUNG

Yoongi hyung [1:26 pm]:

dfkgsogfinhjgfpobknsopkjdfoijgfg

Jimin hyung [1:26 pm]:

Wait, Jeonggukie

Wait, from what I remember, both of us have our heats during the same time of the year

And mine’s due at the end of next month.

What are you going to do with an unmated alpha in your house?

It’s worse when there’s an alpha around, especially when both of you aren’t mated

Jeongguk [1:27 pm]:

For fuck’s sake

I forgot about that

Yoongi hyung [1:27 pm]:

great timing to mate him, jeonggukie

you said you’d only get a mate if he shows up at your doorstep

this alpha shows up at your doorstep next to your heat = fate

is he pretty? show us a pic

Namjoon hyung [1:28 pm]:

Wait

I got an idea

How old is he?

Jeongguk [1:28 pm]:

Same age as Jimin hyung, two years older than me

And I’m ignoring you, Yoongi hyung

Namjoon hyung [1:28 pm]:

Thirty-five, then?

He must have done something in his life in the past

Did you ask him that?

Yoongi hyung [1:29 pm]:

you’re no fun, jeongguk

Jeongguk [1:29 pm]:

Uh

I might have forgotten about that part

I have no idea what he did

And he’s so shy around me??? He barely talks and doesn’t even look me in the eye most of the time

Jimin hyung [1:30 pm]:

He’s probably embarrassed??

Like, I’d be embarrassed if I were him

He’s got nowhere else to go and is living under the roof of an unknown omega

Jeongguk [1:30 pm]:

You’re probably right

Namjoon hyung [1:30]:

Back to my idea: You could try to help him settle down in the city before next month is over. Like, finding a job and a house or an apartment to rent.

Maybe he’ll even find someone to date or something

Jeongguk [1:31 pm]:

Why are the three of you so obsessed with dating

Yoongi hyung [1:32 pm]:

well, just because you don’t think about spending the rest of your life with someone, it doesn’t mean that he couldn’t think about it, jeonggukie.

 like, you don’t even know him properly, he doesn’t have a mate, sure, but what’s stopping him from having someone back home? someone that’s waiting for him to settle down in the city and pick them up?

Jimin hyung [1:33 pm]:

Yoongi hyung is right, Ggukie, and if you feel like you want to help him

Well, to both get rid of him and help him at the same time,

You should do it

Jeongguk takes a deep breath, putting his phone aside and he stares at the ceiling. He knows that’s not his job to help an adult alpha to come back on his feet, and Jeongguk can’t help but feel like he should be there for him after finding him bleeding out in front of his house. And he can’t keep having him in his house forever, he doesn’t have a spare room, and sleeping on the couch isn’t comfortable.

Snorting at himself, Jeongguk rolls out of the bed after making a decision. He’s not that intimate with Taehyung, but he knows two things:

1. The alpha needs new clothes since Jeongguk’s scent is stuck on his skin and they’re doubtlessly not dating;
2. He can’t have Taehyung around when his heat hits;
3. He really needs to finish his book;

So Jeongguk decides to focus on what he can control: getting Taehyung new clothes, a job, and finding him a place to stay. He decides to put in his brain that it will be the easiest part of his journey, even though he is in a city in the interior of the island of Jeju, there are always shops needing helpers and someone who needs a job does not let any options pass.

He looks at his reflection in the mirror, and then at the clothes, he is wearing, noticing a hole or other in his shirt and the way his shorts are stained because he mixed them with clothes of other colors when he went to wash. His hair is pointing all over the place and his face is scrunched up because he woke up late.

Jeongguk is the very definition of the tired writer stereotype. And he is tired, he is a lot tired and annoyed of walking in circles and not finding a solution for his book. So Jeongguk shakes his hair and runs his fingers through his strands in an attempt to fix it before heading to his wardrobe. He chooses a black overall and white shirt, changes out of his shitty clothes, and then finds a few pieces that he wears when he’s going to Seoul and has to look presentable — a blue dress shirt and social pants, which seems to be the type of clothes that Taehyung likes.

The alpha is lucky, he’s so lucky to wear the same sizes as Jeongguk. Well, Jeongguk doesn’t know if Taehyung is indeed lucky, or if it’s himself that’s unlucky. But he walks out of his bedroom, barefoot, and tiptoes his way to the living room, resting his forearm on the headboard of the couch as he finds Taehyung looking up to him.

“We’re going out,” Jeongguk says, leaving the clothes on the arms of the couch as Taehyung sits, frowning at him. “There are shoes in the cabinet inside the bathroom, you can choose one for yourself.”

“Where are we going?” Taehyung asks, a hint of curiosity hanging on his mouth as he eyes Jeongguk smiling suspiciously at him.

“Buying you clothes,” he wiggles his eyebrows, finding a pair of red Converse High next to the door. “You can’t keep having omega smell all over you when we’re not mates. And, by the way, what did you do back in your pack? Like, all wolves have roles, right? It shouldn’t be different from one pack to another pack.”

Taehyung stares at him, confused, and almost not blinking his eyes as he follows Jeongguk in his actions of almost falling on the floor while he tries to put on his shoes without sitting. The alpha has the shirt in his hands, but he doesn’t know exactly what to do with it while Jeongguk is right in front of him.

“I was a teacher,” Taehyung explains, and Jeongguk ohs, mouth gaping in surprise. “Elementary school teacher. I never got the original copy of my degree from SNU, but I have one.”

Still open-mouthed, Jeongguk smiles, “This is great!”, he places both of his feet on the ground again. “Kim Taehyung, I’m going to help you build your life here. Starting with clothes.”

“Uh? What?”

“Exactly what you heard,” he continues, closing the zipper on the right side of his body. “I’ll go brush my teeth and you can change out of these clothes, we’ll leave when I come back.”

Jeongguk doesn’t give him a chance to answer, he just hushes back to the small hallway to find his toothbrush in his bedroom. He doesn’t know why he hadn’t thought of that already. Taehyung’s wound is getting better, Jeongguk doesn’t mind spending a little bit more money if it means that he’s helping someone get back on their feet, and Taehyung being a teacher brings so much more possibilities into their situation that it makes Jeongguk open a silly smile between his lips.

Of course, he’s excited about that, and at the same time, he wonders if Taehyung wants to go through that. But, honestly, who wants to spend the rest of their lives living with someone they don’t even know? So, Jeongguk holds on to that thought and brushes his teeth, finding Taehyung sneaking into the bathroom to find a pair of shoes, his brown eyes staring in the omega’s direction as he takes a step aside to let him open the cabinet.

And Jeongguk isn’t blunt. Undeniably, he has two working eyes and a nice brain that, sometimes, doesn’t work in his favor, but he can’t help but stare at how nice Taehyung looks in his clothes — the shirt gets slightly tighter on his shoulders, clutching on the upper side of his body and falling beautifully on the rest of his torso. The black pants are glued to his legs, and Jeongguk wonders how those pants ever fit him inside.

When the omega glances at the mirror, the first thing that goes on inside his mind is that he’s the one that looks like a kids’ teacher and Taehyung looks like the writer. It brings out a chuckle from his throat, and Taehyung side-eyes him. Of course, the alpha thinks he’s weird. Everyone does.

Jeongguk hums, looking at him from head to toe, and then he clicks his tongue on the roof of his mouth after Taehyung finishes putting the shoes on, “Let me do something here, real quick.”

“Okay,” Taehyung murmurs back, but it’s almost like a question other than a proper yes.

And all that Jeongguk does is fix the collar of the dress shirt down and put the hem inside the waistband of his pants. He looks back at him for a second, analyzing all of Taehyung’s hand-made face and then his eyes go down to his neck, and he opens two buttons, leaving a part of his chest bare. And then, Jeongguk smiles, signaling for Taehyung to look at himself in the mirror.

“Better now, huh?” Jeongguk smiles, and Taehyung raises one of his brows, scanning himself for a moment before glancing at the omega by his side as they walk out of the bathroom. “You’re really beautiful, hyung. You should wear clothes that suit you, and not what I like to wear, so, let’s go. Also, do you have an email? Or your access to your account on SNU’s website? Something that we can get your degree printed?”

“I do have an email account, and I have a copy of my degree on a flash drive on a backpack that I left somewhere inside the forest,” Taehyung clears his throat, and Jeongguk licks over his lips. “I don’t know where it fell, and I was thinking about going back there to search for it. Since I also left some of my belongings there.”

“Oh, right,” Jeongguk blinks sharply, grabbing his house keys and leaving them in his front pockets. “We can go there tomorrow. There’s no way I’m leaving you there while you’re still hurt.”

Ever since he was a child, Taehyung believed in destiny. His parents and grandparents were always telling him stories about if you ask something to the moon, during a full moon, your wish will come true. After he grew older, he started to think that it might be just gibberish and stories to make a child happy, but he didn’t stop believing in it. And there is no way that meeting Jeongguk like that was nothing but destiny. No, he didn’t ask the moon for a mate or to meet an unmated omega for him to date. But he can’t be sure that Jeongguk didn’t ask for that.

However, there is something about the way that Jeongguk looks at him as if Taehyung has shown up out of nowhere after him being caught doing something, or desiring something, that he shouldn’t. So, Taehyung can’t help but think that he is, somehow, the mate that Jeongguk desired to show up at his doorstep.

Sure, there is the fact that both of them are two adult wolves that happen to be unmated and currently living under the same roof, Jeongguk is just two years younger than him and it isn’t that common for wolves to be unmated and without a family when they’re past thirty. Completely bullshit, if you ask Taehyung. He doesn’t believe in marrying early, not in having a family in his twenties, but he does believe that when he finds his true mate, he’ll simply know if that’s the case.

But he doesn’t know if Jeongguk is his. It makes no sense for Jeongguk to be that helpful and nice to Taehyung if the omega hasn’t done anything to meet him and is trying to woo him. He doesn’t know if Jeongguk believes in those things — they don’t talk much, Taehyung is more of an analyzer than a talker, and Jeongguk is the complete opposite of that.

Of course, there’s the option that Jeongguk might just be a good person, but Taehyung doesn’t know him well enough to be sure of that yet. And, no, Taehyung isn’t shy, he’s just trying to figure out what the hell is happening in his life after running away from his pack and having gotten hurt while doing it. No, he’s not feeling weird from being saved by an omega — that didn’t even occur to him. He was raised and still believes that all wolves are equal, and his pack was pretty much open-minded for a traditional one.

Jeongguk is enthusiastic about buying him clothes, he sings by himself melodies that others don’t know and gets shy whenever anyone catches him mouthing a song under his breath as he looks out for clothes. And Taehyung just stares at him with the corner of his eyes, trying to imagine a life by Jeongguk’s side and completely missing the point of why they’re out of the writer’s house on that afternoon.

Taehyung thinks that he’s ridiculous and that the silver in those arrows is getting to his brain when the clerk from the clothing store gets near them, asking if they need any help and Jeongguk just smiles, mentioning that they’re okay for now. He doesn’t even know if Jeongguk is single. He remembers that when he was in Seoul for college, a lot of omegas mentioned to him that they don’t believe in mating. Jeongguk could be one of those omegas, and his alpha could wear scent suppressants.

Or he might not even have an alpha as a mate, but another omega or even a beta. Who knows? Not Taehyung, of course, they’re not intimate and he has no idea of what Jeongguk does inside of his room besides writing his book. Not that it’s any of his business.

A romantic song starts playing in the background and Taehyung chokes on his saliva. He’s staring at Jeongguk too much, and probably the clerk of the store noticed — of course, they did, why else would they change a bubblegum pop song to a romantic one? And Taehyung quickly moves his eyes back to the clothes, but his coughing has been enough for Jeongguk to notice his apparent non-well-being.

“Hyung?” Jeongguk bats his lashes, shifting the basket from one arm to the other to caress his back. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes,” Taehyung gulps, looking at him with the corner of his eyes. “I just breathed the wrong way.”

Jeongguk doesn’t seem to buy that excuse, but he shrugs his shoulders, squinting his eyes at the alpha, and goes back to searching through the pieces of clothing to find something nice to buy Taehyung.

The alpha scoffs at himself. That was the worst thing he could ever have said. Who the hell breathes in the wrong way? But there’s no way back now, so he just takes a deep breath and follows Jeongguk around the corridors of the store.

He believes that he has gone through enough awkward situations for a lifetime during the past week. He doesn’t need any more of them for a good couple of months, but the universe is apparently against Kim Taehyung’s well-being and, the moment they step in front of the cashier, she smiles at them.

“You two are such a cute couple,” she murmurs, making Taehyung’s soul leave his body. He catches when Jeongguk’s cheeks blush, and he leaves the basket in front of her.

“No, no, we’re not together,” Jeongguk replies quickly, shaking his head along with his words. “We— No. Me. I’m single. Single. Yes.”

His stuttered words don’t give the cashier a lot of reliability on what he’s trying to say, but Taehyung keeps his face straight and nods, pointing at his chest with his index finger, “I’m single too, we’re just… friends? New friends?”

“Yes, exactly,” Jeongguk completes, eyeing him slightly and smiling shortly as if he’s thanking Taehyung for agreeing with him. “We’re just friends.”

The cashier seems to be embarrassed, with her eyes wide open and mouth hanging open, “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” the omega takes out a few pieces of clothes from the basket, “it happens.”

But still, both the cashier and Taehyung are embarrassed. But Taehyung should’ve figured that it would eventually happen. Jeongguk’s smell is all over his body because of his clothes and they’re together — people will surely stare and think that they’re a couple. And it doesn’t happen only in that clothing store.

However, Taehyung still isn’t able to unravel the unknown that Jeon Jeongguk is. He can’t see past the smiley face, his bubbly personality, and his love for plants. Taehyung was even surprised when Jeongguk mentioned that he could use the space in his wardrobe to keep his clothes while he’s still at his house, which means Taehyung walking in and out of his bedroom.

His bedroom. A person’s most private and intimate place, which is kept closed by a lock and no one else should get in without being invited — well, unless you’re one of those parents of teenagers who like to fiddle with their kids’ stuff when they’re not around. Taehyung would never do that to a pup of his. And Taehyung doesn’t know why he’s thinking about having teenager pups. He doesn’t even have a mate, to begin with.

But going back to his actual state: Taehyung is an alpha just walking in and out of an omega’s bedroom. Jeongguk is putting too much of his trust in Taehyung. And that is extremely weird in Taehyung’s eyes, starting from the fact that he’s already sort of living with him. And the situation only gets weirder when, three days later, he’s in the shower and hears Jeongguk shouting something about going to the grocery store because he’s out of milk.

Taehyung doesn’t understand at first, but once he’s out of the bathroom, wearing only a towel around his waist and with his wet hair falling on his forehead, he notices that he is left alone inside the house for the first time and he doesn’t know how to feel about it.

He’s not going to make a big deal of it, so he just shakes his head and walks to Jeongguk’s bathroom. Taehyung has had enough of Jeongguk seeing him naked from the day they saw each other for the first time. Not that Taehyung has a problem with nudity, but Jeongguk probably doesn’t like seeing naked strangers in the middle of his kitchen.

At first, Taehyung tries to pretend that he didn’t see. He focuses on putting on his clothes and on dry his hair with his already used towel, and on the fact that he’ll have to go to the forest with Jeongguk on the following day to look out for his lost backpack, but it’s impossible to not notice how there’s an open file on his very much open and turned on the laptop.

And it’s there staring at Taehyung.

He scratches the back of his neck, glancing at the open door and window. He gulps, biting his lower lip trying to stop himself. The empty bedroom is peering at him, almost as if it’s questioning whether Taehyung will or will not do what his gut is telling him to do. Taehyung is a curious person, and he knows that Jeongguk is a writer, but he has never seen any books of his in the house — he doesn’t even have a private library, and what kind of writer doesn’t have free copies of his books?

So, when Taehyung realizes, he’s already seated on the swivel chair, with his towel lying on his lap and his eyes focused on the first page of that file. He doesn’t want to nose into Jeongguk’s business, but his writing is captivating and he can’t bring himself to stop reading all of those words and scrolling down the available pages.

There are not several pages available, and Jeongguk had stopped in the middle of an action scene between two city-leading vampires in which the story took place, but it is enough for Taehyung to be immersed in the events and curious about what would happen after all that he has read. There’s the thrill of reading something new, Taehyung has never been a fan of fantasy books, he likes more stuff about their society and philosophy books, but Jeongguk’s writing is elegant, and his characters are so well-made that Taehyung feels like he knows every single part of them even though he figures that this book probably has a few prequels and a lot of backstories.

And it was also enough time for Jeongguk to come back from the grocery shop and find Taehyung in front of his laptop, butting into his book. He stops at the entrance, crossing his arms in front of his chest and staring at the shameless alpha who twirls on the chair, almost jumping off it when his sight meets Jeongguk narrowing his eyes at him.

“What the hell are you doing?” Jeongguk asks, his voice doesn’t sound mad, but Taehyung lowers his shoulders like a little wolf who has just been scolded.

“Your writing…” Taehyung starts, swallowing dry and pointing at the screen, the gooseflesh of being caught doing something he shouldn’t still burning through his skin. “Your writing is so good, Jeonggukie.”

Jeongguk sighs, hands rolling down to touch his waist, “You didn’t answer my question.”

And the alpha remains silent, chewing on his lower lip under Jeongguk’s strong gaze, “I’m sorry. I—” he stutters, arising from the chair while clutching onto the black towel, “I shouldn’t have read that. It was wrong of me to read something of yours and I shouldn’t have done that, it’s impolite.”

The omega hums, walking towards him and closing his laptop after squinting his eyes at Taehyung by his side, “Don’t do that again.”

“I won’t,” Taehyung blinks, turning his head to face Jeongguk taking out the black mask from his face. “But…”

“What?”

“Sohyun is going to die, right?” Taehyung questions, glimpsing at the closed laptop beside them. “Wooyoung is going to kill her because he thinks that she’ll save his coven. And he has everything ready to make the ritual, but it won’t work, she doesn’t have her grandma’s powers and the book with the secret of the witches is long-gone, no one has it. And the only person who can save her, Joonyoung, was hurt by a hunter and is being taken care of by the wolves. She won’t make it on time to save her girlfriend.”

Jeongguk just stares at him with a blank face, not getting the excitement in Taehyung’s tone, his hands fall on the sides of his body and he tries to read the glow in Taehyung’s eyes.

“It’s the only answer,” Taehyung continues, touching the towel now on his shoulder. “Unless the werewolves have the book. If so, Joonyoung will go after her lover and end up killing all the vampires with the book, since she’s a witch and Sohyun’s soulmate.”

“How…” Jeongguk is lost at words. “How do you know? How do you know that Joonyoung and Sohyun are soulmates?”

Taehyung furrows his brows, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, “It’s pretty obvious from the way that Joonyoung talks about her. And a soulmate story with an unhappy ending? Incredible.”

And the omega just keeps staring at Taehyung’s face as if the alpha has saved his life, startled and with his lips hanging open. However, Taehyung kind of did, since he was lost and didn’t know what to do with his series. And that alpha didn’t even read the previous books and found a perfect ending for the last novel.

 “Holy fuck. Just. Holy fuck. Taehyung hyung, tell me I can use your idea. Please. I just thought of something here and— Holy fuck. I promise I’ll mention your name in the book, I’ll dedicate the whole book to you. No, the whole series. And all of my next books.”

“My idea?” Taehyung’s eyes get a little bit perplexed. “What do you mean my idea?”

“You just solved the puzzle inside my head,” Jeongguk blinks heavily, dragging his swivel chair back and opening his laptop again. “Fuck. I didn’t know where to put that fucking book. I didn’t want to break Sohyun and Joonyoung up, and my agent wanted me to make Sohyun date that dumb vampire Wooyoung and make all of them have a happy ending. And that wouldn’t make any sense in my head. But Joonyoung killing all of them? All of their coven for love? That’s amazing! I didn’t know how to make this series have a happy ending…”

“… but not all stories need to have a happy ending,” Taehyung tilts his head, staring at Jeongguk typing his password.

“Exactly,” Jeongguk holds up one of his hands, looking through the file of his book again. But he stops for a minute, and turns on his chair, batting his eyes at Taehyung. “Please let me use your piece on my puzzle. I’ll give you all the credits in the world.”

Taehyung doesn’t know how to say no. Especially when a beautiful omega is staring at him, showing off his blue eyes in his direction and nearly begging for a positive answer. Taehyung is a very weak alpha and just sighs while saying yes.

For a while, Taehyung stands still behind Jeongguk, peeking at the omega typing excitedly on his laptop’s keyboard. He doesn’t even remember how to blink his eyes at times, and the bedroom is silent. He watches over his shoulders, noticing the open windows and how he doesn’t have any idea of what to do in there now that’s getting darker outside. Jeongguk is busy and he’s there on his feet, behind him, hair still half-dry and his towel wetting his shirt.

Taehyung opens his lips as if he’s ready to say something, but he stops mid-way and breathes out, deciding to leave Jeongguk to his book as he walks out of the room and closes the door behind him. He knows that Jeongguk will be a lot busy with the idea he has just given him and that he won’t be moving out of his chair before he feels like he’s done writing for the day.

So, Taehyung decides to try to entertain himself and heads to the backyard, leaving the towel on the clothesline after looking at the sky and not finding a single cloud in there. He still remembers some tricks he learned in his pack on how to identify whether it will rain or not, and smiles as he returns inside Jeongguk's house, realizing that omega has left all the plastic bags from the grocery store on the table. And that he has no idea what Jeongguk wanted to do with the milk he fetched.

On the following day, Taehyung wakes up early in excitement. His wounds are all healed up when he checks them in the bathroom mirror and that makes him smile at himself. He hasn’t been feeling any pain for a couple of days now, but seeing that they’re gone and there are just marks remembering him that something was there is even better.

He doesn’t know if Jeongguk has already woken up or if he’s still lost in his writing, but his bedroom door is closed and Taehyung isn’t going to bother him even more than he already does, so he just heads to the kitchen and starts to try to make breakfast for the both of them.

And then, in the middle of making coffee with three spoons of coffee power and without any sugar in it — just because Jeongguk likes it that way, he pours sugar on his mug and not while he’s making coffee, and Taehyung hates coffee in any type of way. It’s just not his thing, — the alpha stops himself and stares at the wall, raising one of his brows as he tilts his head to the side, almost burning his palm with the hot kettle.

Jeongguk and he are almost acting as a mated couple since the day he stepped inside the omega’s house. Well, not actually stepping on it, Jeongguk brought him inside on his arms and laid him on the floor while he was passed out, panting and bleeding out on his white marbles. And what is even weirder is the fact that Jeongguk doesn’t ask anything of him, he doesn’t want anything from Taehyung; he just wants to help.

And that brings back Taehyung’s old theory about Jeongguk asking the moon for a mate and Taehyung just randomly passing out on his doorstep. It won’t be that random if it was fate — or the universe, or the moon, or anything that Jeongguk would like to call that happening. However, it is weird and Taehyung only wakes up from his daydreaming when Jeongguk’s voice echoes through the kitchen, almost making him drop the kettle on the floor.

“Hi, Taehyung hyung,” he murmurs, placing a backpack on the table. His voice is melodic and well-rested, and when Taehyung looks back at him he doesn’t look like he pulled an all-nighter. “Ready to visit the forest again?”

“I’m always ready,” Taehyung shoots back, a smile stamping his face as he turns around to face him, handing Jeongguk a mug full of coffee. “What about you?”

“Me too,” Jeongguk shakes his eyebrows, and Taehyung notices that he’s wearing casual clothes and gym shoes. “Do you have any idea where you left your backpack or our plans for today is spending the whole day in the forest?”

Taehyung already knows that there is a vacancy for an Elementary School Teacher at the main school of the city and that he just needs his curriculum and a college degree to be able to apply for the job and do the interview with the principal. And Jeongguk seems to be more excited about the possibility of Taehyung getting a job than the alpha himself.

Sure, he’d get his privacy back.

“I don’t remember a lot of things, honestly,” Taehyung sighs, sitting on a chair to start eating. “But I do remember that I saw a small waterfall. And an area without any trees, I think it was a camping site. There were a few small houses and wolves taking care of it. I got water and food with them, and then left.”

“Oh, I know where it is,” Jeongguk bites the inner side of his cheeks, eyes glistening after hearing that. “We can try seeing if you left it there, but we can re-do the path that you probably took to get here before heading there, it’s a bit far away.”

Taehyung smiles back at him, glad to find out that Jeongguk knows where that is. And he wants to ask about how his book is doing, if he managed to finish it all in one go yesterday night or if he just wrote it in topics, taking notes of what will happen in the future or if he just wrote a few new scenes. Taehyung is curious, after all, but he bites his lips and shuts his mouth, focusing on finishing his breakfast so that they can leave soon to find his things.

The first thing he notices is that Jeongguk’s wolf is beautiful and elegant, slightly smaller than Taehyung’s own, but it’s barely noticeable. His fur is of a dark grey around his eyes, reaching up to his ears and falling on his back until his tail, but the root of it is white, just like the rest of the fur on his neck and paws. His eyes flash a light blue, just a few shades darker than the color of the sky, and Taehyung thinks that he's the most beautiful wolf he has ever seen. Even though he can see Jeongguk rolling his eyes at him for staring too much, Taehyung can't help himself. It brings a weird feeling that runs through his stomach and floats around his whole body, but Taehyung shakes himself, closing his eyes gently before running after Jeongguk as he tries not to think much about it.

Their clothes and shoes were left inside Jeongguk’s backpack, and the omega has its strap between his teeth as he starts to run, shifting his eyes from Taehyung to the demarcated route ahead of them. Both scan over the forest around them as they fasten their step, using the strength on their whole bodies. Wolves have a great view in the dark, and that includes perceiving even the slightest movement between the tall, thick trees around them.

The smaller animals on the trees and the ground don’t even care about them, already knowing that they’re not their predators and are only harmless werewolves from the city. Usually, they run away only from certain forest wolves. And the two of them aren’t looking for food there.

And then, Jeongguk suddenly stops and starts only to walk, turning his face slightly to Taehyung and signing that they should keep walking. The alpha hears the sound of water dropping on rocks, and when he sees the sun hitting on his eyes and Jeongguk leaving the backpack near a tree. The grey and white wolf keeps walking until he reaches one of the biggest rocks, jumping on it and then sitting on his hind legs, tail wagging softly as he watches over the waterfall and part of the forest.

Taehyung follows him, but he doesn’t jump on the rock, and just walks to the creek edge, wetting the tip of his snout on the cold water before drinking from it. His chest is heaving and he lays on the grass, feeling the breeze of the waterfall hitting on his ears as he looks up to Jeongguk, who’s licking his paws and glances over at him. Lowering his ears and tilting his head to the side, Jeongguk gets on his paws again, and Taehyung watches over his shoulders to try to catch what he's looking at, but the omega is quicker, and he rushes to their left side, the sound of his nails flicking on the ground echoing in Taehyung's ears as he gets up, getting alert in the same second.

The alpha doesn't move, but he sees Jeongguk's tail wagging, and the moment he disappears behind one of the trees and comes back with a blue backpack between his teeth, which makes Taehyung frown and wait for him. He knows that this is his backpack, but he’s startled for Jeongguk having found it so quickly when the object was practically behind a tree.

He wags his tail when Jeongguk drops the backpack in front of him, feeling his ears shaking in excitement. He knows it's an intimate move, but that doesn't stop him from rubbing Jeongguk's neck using his snout, eyes closed as he hears the omega chirping softly, cocking his head to the side and giving the alpha more room. It’s rather a playful sound, and Taehyung bares his neck for him after a few minutes, letting Jeongguk brush his snout against his fur. Normally, he wouldn’t let anyone stay near him like that, but something about Jeongguk makes Taehyung want him closer.

Taehyung doesn’t know how to feel after his job interview. He doesn't like to be evaluated and much less to invent job goals that please the employer — what does anyone want with a job besides making money to survive? However, he understands that he needs to please who will be his boss and, even after training for several hours before leaving Jeongguk's house, he still feels like he could have done better the moment he throws himself on the couch, realizing the silence inside the house.

Jeongguk isn’t a noisy person, but that house seems to be empty. And once Taehyung starts to unbutton his shirt, he notices a small folded paper left on the coffee table with his name on it, he lifts both of his brows, picking it up and loosening his tie at the same time.

Hello, hyung I hope everything went well in your interview and you’re having a blast right now. And I don’t know if I’ll be home by the time you arrive, so.

Since I finished my book last night, I called my agent and found out he’s here in Jeju, so I scheduled a meeting with him at a café downtown. I don’t trust weird people in my house, and he’s very much old, weird, and scary — and he bothers me a lot, I don’t want that bad energy around my dearest plants, he’ll end up killing them. (And, yes, that’s, without any question, a compliment).

There’s takeout in the fridge, I ordered Japanese food for lunch and you’re probably hungry, you left the house pretty early and didn’t come back before midday. Uh, I’m babbling via note right now, but you don’t have a phone and I don’t know how else to communicate.

Get that job. And a phone, please, I feel like I’m in 1920, we’re old, but not that much.

Don’t worry about me not being at home ;)

Jeonggukie

It makes more sense, Taehyung thinks to himself as he places the note back on the table and takes off the dress shirt. He’s a bit nervous about his interview, but he’s glad that Jeongguk is rooting for him. Taehyung hopes that in the near future he’ll have his own place and independence. Also, he’s sort of happy for the fact that no one stole his stuff from his backpack in the forest; he had the spare money that he was saving for a while, clothes, and his documents there. He didn’t tell anyone he was leaving his pack, and he hopes that no one comes ever to find him.

Not even once in his life he wanted to be his pack’s leader, and he knew that the odds were in his favor since his birth mom was the old leader — he didn’t lie to Jeongguk, she really died weeks ago and they held the ceremony of finding a new leader. Taehyung doesn’t feel like he was betraying her, and it was her idea all along since she knew that her son didn’t want to take over her place. And, well, apparently the other alphas from his pack also didn’t want him as their leader. Not that he cares much about it, he likes the simple life, and being everyone’s leader is a big responsibility.

And at the same time that he sighs, ready to get off the couch and go look for something to eat, Taehyung hears the sound of the doorbell ringing. He doesn't get up right now, and he thinks it's strange that someone is at the gate. It cannot be Jeongguk, he has his emergency house keys, and Taehyung raises an eyebrow, walking towards the window to observe who is there.

One of them is smaller and has straight black hair falling on his forehead, and the other is, apparently, a few inches taller than him and his brown hair is tossed back on his head, they’re both wearing casual clothes and a baby bag crossed on his torso. However, Taehyung fails to keep himself hidden and one of the two men standing there waves at him with a smile showing up between his lips; the other is holding a baby girl between his arms.

“Shit,” Taehyung curses, fixing his shirt again and wearing Jeongguk’s slippers to walk out of the house. He takes a deep breath, keeping his cool as he opens the door and shows off his resting analytic face towards the couple.

Of course, he’s not the best at intimidating people, or at least he thinks so, but he tries. So, Taehyung straightens his back and walks to the gate, raising one of his eyebrows as he glares at the couple. He recognizes one as an alpha, and the other as an omega, and both of them have mating marks on their necks, and Taehyung concludes that they’re together.

“Hello? May I help you?” Taehyung asks, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“You’re Kim Taehyung, right?”, the omega starts, and Taehyung lowers his eyes to catch how the baby’s stare is on him. “I’m Min Yoongi, and he’s my mate, Kim Seokjin, we’re friends with Jeongguk.”

They know my name, Taehyung thinks, squinting his eyes as he peeks at the alpha, who nods and takes off a phone from his pocket and then showing the screen to him, “We called Jeonggukie on our way here, but he said that only you were at home and that you’d receive us while he’s on his way here.”

And Taehyung doesn’t need to say anything, the alpha, Seokjin, plays an audio message with Jeongguk’s voice, which is designated to him, telling Taehyung that he should let his friends in — and that Taehyung really needs a phone. He can feel both of their stares on him as he softens his expression, sighing.

“Okay then, if you’re friends with Jeonggukie,” Taehyung shrugs, raising his hand to type the password and open the gate. “Didn’t you tell him you were coming?”

“We did!” Yoongi shakes his head, taking the first step inside the front yard as Taehyung gives them room to pass, and the baby giggles at him. “But you probably already know how Jeongguk is. He has his head in the clouds.”

After Seokjin gets in, Taehyung closes the gate behind him and hums, following them inside as he tosses his hair back, “Yeah, I know. He’s funny, though.”

Taehyung can hear them chuckling, and feels himself getting into another awkward situation. If Jeongguk’s friends know his name, it means that they know who he is and the omega probably told everything to them — who keeps things from their friends, right? So he takes a deep breath and closes the door, watching them taking off their shoes and the alpha placing his bag on the smaller couch.

And he tries to make it less weird since they’re both obviously more intimate with Jeongguk and he’s sort of an outsider. Taehyung can notice that by the fact that Seokjin sits beside his chair, crossing his legs and glancing over at them, “So… do you guys want anything?”

“No, no, we’re fine,” Yoongi smiles at him, showing off his gums and he notices Taehyung’s eyes on the baby in his arms. “Do you like kids?”

“I love them,” Taehyung lifts the corner of his lips. “I was —no. I am an Elementary Teacher, but I was in the daycare a lot back in my pack.”

“Oh, this is Kim Jiwoo,” he explains, batting his lashes at the baby, who coos, grabbing Yoongi’s nose between her small hands. “We adopted her almost a year ago. Do you want to hold her?”

Taehyung nods, eyes glistening as he observes Yoongi detaching his daughter’s palm from his nose and handing her carefully onto Taehyung’s arms. Jiwoo is small, but she already can hold herself on her spine and holds onto Taehyung’s left ear as he rocks her against his chest, making Yoongi smile at both of them as he sits on the arm of the couch.

“How old is she?” Taehyung asks, his voice softening as he glances at Jiwoo playing with his earlobe.

“She'll turn one in November. We adopted her as soon as she was born,” Seokjin explains, moving his eyes from his daughter to Taehyung. “Apparently, her birth mom was a lot younger and she wanted an older couple to adopt Jiwoo, she wanted to be sure that she'd be in a safe place with a couple that could take care of her and that wouldn't be in the same situation as her. and we had just started to work on the paperwork to adopt a kid because we thought that it was finally the time for us to start a family. We weren't even trying to get a baby, we just wanted our little family and it happened that we got a newborn baby. And Jiwoo…”

“She’s lovely,”  Taehyung completes, noticing how both Seokjin and Yoongi nod and their smiles get wider. “Do you know her second gender already?  I heard that kids nowadays are getting to know their second gender sooner than it was in the past, and it used to happen back in my pack too, we had babies being born and getting their colored eyes as soon as they turned one month.”

“No, but we talked to her pediatrician, and, according to the files on her birth parents, both of them are alphas, so we think that she is going to be one, too,” Yoongi mumbles, chewing his bottom lip.

“Oh, just like me,” he grins, caressing her back as she grabs the strands of hair falling on his neck. “Both my parents were alphas, too. And we had a silly little trick to try to make them show their wolves earlier that they teach us in college.”

“What trick?”

Taehyung turns to the side, letting Jisoo face both of her parents on the couch, “Try talking to her showing your wolf eyes. And voice. Since she's your daughter, she won't get scared.”

Seokjin and Yoongi exchange a look, but both of them close their eyes and, once their lids hang open, they're colorful and shining underneath the low light. Jiwoo gets surprised by that, and she coos again, her hold on Taehyung's ear gets lighter and she furrows her brows, trying to understand what's happening in front of her. And, for the slightest second, her brown eyes flash red, and Taehyung smiles, rubbing his palm over her back once more and noticing how she blinks softly, red taking over her irises.

“Most parents are afraid to show their wolves to young pups, but it’s actually pretty good for them,” Taehyung continues, showing off his rectangular smile as the two parents shed light tears at the sight of their daughter presenting as an alpha.

The air of delight in her parents' eyes is contagious, and Taehyung's smile gets vaguely bigger, he knows that it happens every time — the glow in the eyes of new parents getting to know their kids' wolf for the first time. It’s a beautiful thing to see, and they barely notice Jeongguk’s presence there, watching them with narrowed eyes and shaking his head in disbelief.

It wasn’t even in his weirdest dreams to get home and find Taehyung rocking a baby in his arms, and that the said baby is glued to his shirt and neck as if she loves him. Not that Jeongguk dreams about Taehyung, of course — that would be weird.

But, seeing the three of them together and Taehyung holding little Jiwoo is cute, and Jeongguk can’t help but loosen his closed-off face and smile when the baby looks over to him and giggles, showing off her newly found red eyes.

“I can’t believe she’s an alpha,” Jeongguk murmurs, pouting his lower lip and walking towards Jiwoo and Taehyung.

And Yoongi is ready to complain, but all that Jeongguk does is take her from Taehyung’s arm and tickle her belly, watching her giggle again in his direction and then hold onto his nose as he scrunches it, “The cutest little alpha I’ve ever met. You’re going to give your parents a lot of trouble, won’t you? And you’re going to love uncle Ggukie because he’s going to support you in all your little adventures.”

“Jin, baby?” Yoongi raises one of his brows, glancing at his mate, and Taehyung doesn’t even know how to react. “I think we just lost our daughter.”

“No, I just hate the two of you,” Jeongguk shoots back, using a babyish voice as he glares at his friends and places his bag on the floor. “But why is it that you two are here? I thought you’d have the business meeting and then go back to Seoul.”

“And we did have that,” Yoongi sighs, scratching the back of his neck. “But my dad’s going to hand me over the company next year, and he scheduled a business dinner without telling me first. I need to take Seokjin with me there since he’s my mate, so we don’t have anyone to watch over her for tonight, I don’t know any babysitters and you’re the only one I trust. I swear that we’re coming to get her as soon as the dinner is over.”

“Oh, sure,” Jeongguk tilts his head, voice muffled by Jiwoo’s strong hands grabbing his button nose. “Don’t worry about it, I can take care of her for the night. And… aren’t the two of you almost late? It’s past 4 pm and you two look like you went jogging on the beach.”

Seokjin widens his eyes, checking the time on his watch as he hops off the couch and Yoongi follows him, “We need to get going. Jiwoo’s stuff is in the bag and… You have our number, right? Anything you need we’re just one call away.”

“Of course, leave it to me,” Jeongguk smiles lightly, signaling to Taehyung to take them outside and type the password on the gate. “And have good luck on the dinner date, those are awful.”

Both of them just nod, kissing Jiwoo on her forehead before rushing out of the house with Taehyung right behind them, chuckling with their kick steps and how they’re looking back at Jeongguk making Jiwoo wave them goodbye. And, as soon as they’re out of the house and Taehyung walks back into the living room, sitting on the couch right beside Jeongguk still holding Jiwoo, both of them laugh staring at each other and letting their back rest on the headboard.

“Your friends are funny,” Taehyung mentions, leaving his fingertips to Jiwoo’s baby belly and making her laugh softly for a second. “And I didn’t get a chance to eat that takeout.”

“Why?” Jeongguk frowns, letting Jiwoo rest her head on his neck.

“They got here right when I was going to the kitchen,” Taehyung snorts almost silently. “And I’m starving. I’ll be right back.”

The only answer he gets is Jeongguk nodding shortly and messing with Jiwoo’s hair as he tries to chew the collar of his shirt. Taehyung jumps off the couch with a sigh, heading to the kitchen as he rubs his belly, feeling his stomach grumbling.

While that, in the living room, Jeongguk hears his phone ringing, and he bites his lower lip bringing his right hand to grab it and unlock it using his fingerprint.

Mated omegas (and Jeongguk)

Yoongi hyung [4:13 pm]:

i just met taehyung

definitely would mate him

and seokjin agrees with me

Jimin hyung [4:14 pm]:

Wait what????

Really?????

Yoongi hyung [4:14 pm]:

he’s sex on legs

he’s tall and has a beautiful smile

and has a way with kids

because of him, i know that jiwoo is an alpha????

i’m telling you all, the guy is handsome as fuck

i don’t know how jeongguk hasn't jumped on him already

their scents are completely mixed!!!!!!!!!!!! i can smell jeongguk on him and taehyung on jeongguk

Jeongguk [4:15 pm]

For fucks sake hyung

Stop with that

I’m not interested in dating any alphas, okay?

And no one else, no betas, omegas. No one.

Namjoon hyung [4:16 pm]:

I can’t believe you’re betraying us like this

by not sending a pic

Even Seokjin hyung thinks he’s hot

Jimin hyung [4:16 pm]:

Joon hyung is right

If Yoongi hyung thinks the man is sexy

Then he is

Mate him

Jeongguk [4:17 pm]:

Oh my fucking god

Do you guys really want a picture?

Jimin hyung [4:17 pm]:

??????????

Do you even need to ask

Namjoon hyung [4:18 pm]:

Bless our eyes, young Jeongguk

If you’re not mating us

Maybe Jimin and I will

We have to sides on our necks

Jimin hyung [4:19 pm]:

You know what that’s a great idea

Yoongi hyung [4:20 pm]:

i can’t believe that i was the one who saw him personally

and i’m the one getting sidetracked ://

Jeongguk [4:20 pm]:

[Picture attached]

Happy now?

Also, he’s saying hi to all of you

Jimin hyung [4:21 pm]:

….

Why is Jiwoo biting your clothes?

Yoongi hyung [4:21 pm]:

she’s teething

but the point here is: playing matchmaker for taehyung and jeongguk

Namjoon hyung [4:22 pm]:

He is, indeed, a very handsome man

He and Jeongguk would make a nice couple

But don’t you think we should respect Jeongguk’s decisions?

Jeongguk [4:23 pm]:

THANK YOU NAMJOON HYUNG

And you are lucky that he’s eating and not paying attention to my phone

He’d be asking questions!

Jimin hyung [4:23 pm]:

The real problem is: how are you going to handle spending your heat with him there?

He’s a very attractive alpha and if both of your scents are mixed, and he’s not wearing any of your clothes anymore, it means that your wolves are aligned with each other, comfortable around each other, and…

Jeongguk [4:24 pm]:

…

You see

There’s this thing that I didn’t tell you guys

We scented each other the other day

Uhm

When we were in the forest

In our wolves form

Jimin hyung [4:25 pm]:

Oh my god Jeongguk

What the hell

????

We don’t let alphas scent us unless they’re quite familiar with us

As in dating

Or they’re babies ??? what

Jeongguk [4:26 pm]:

I just felt like it??? And it was good

I should do it more

Namjoon hyung [4:26 pm]:

Has he interviewed to get the job at the elementary school?

When does the answer come out?

Jeongguk [4:27 pm]:

Oh wait I have to ask him about it

But while I was out with my agent

I thought about just sending him to a hotel or something

If something happens, it will be AWKWARD but I’ll do it

I’ll go ask him about the interview

It’s weird being on my phone with him eating by my side

Bye

Stop simping for him ffs you guys are mated

And Jeongguk turns off his phone screen, throwing the device on the space right next to him as he tries to take his shirt off Jiwoo’s teeth, “Hey, hyung, how did the interview go?”

“It was fine, I could’ve done better, but… I’m happy with it, I think,” Taehyung mumbles, chewing on his pasta. “She said that I’d get an answer through email next week tops. And if I do get the job, I’ll start working right away, ‘cause they’re making the schedules for next semester, which starts in a month and a half.”

And Taehyung does get the job.

As soon as he gets his first salary, he moves out of Jeongguk’s house before the omega’s heat hits him to a small apartment closer to the school, that was already fully furnished and all that Taehyung had to buy was small utensils for the kitchen, his bedroom, and more clothes. However, nothing changes between them and that tickles something inside both of them, they had gotten used to living with each other for just a few weeks.

Even though Taehyung doesn’t like to confess that out loud yet, falling in love with Jeongguk was easy. And all he needed to find that out was being away from him for a few days, his heart pumping harder at the thought of him. Taehyung never thought much about love or getting himself together with another person like that, sure, he had a few boyfriends here and there, rut partners and fooled around a bit during college, but it was never something serious — never something that made his heart pound at the thought of the person. And Jeongguk brings that to him. He feels like someone having their first love, sighing at hearing his name and at the thought of Jeongguk.

And Taehyung daydreams a lot while chewing his lower lip, trying to get a hang of the weird school website for grades and attendance of the students that will start frequenting his classes the following week. He thinks about Jeongguk watering his plants, wearing his worn-out clothes, and waking up with puffy eyes and hair pointing in all directions possible, he remembers about Jeongguk’s curious eyes on him as both of them tried to access Taehyung’s email on his laptop and check if he had gotten the job.

He thinks about them scenting in the forest and Jeongguk’s chocolate smell on his nose, and Taehyung’s sure that all of his co-workers are staring weirdly at the new dreamy, smiley teacher who keeps taking deep breaths has the corner table and a small laptop in front of him. But Taehyung can’t help it, he has grown attached to Jeongguk, and he has fallen in love with him just within the few weeks that they spent together. And Taehyung is old enough to not fall in denial of it, and maybe, just maybe he’s starting to think that he’s reaching an age that he wants to have someone to go back to at the end of the day, someone to hold while he sleeps, someone to kiss and to tell them he loves them, someone to spend his ruts and their heats together; someone to complain about life together, and, especially, someone to run together in the forest and just forget about the rest of the world.

And he wants that someone to be Jeongguk. He wants to hear more about his books, watch him watering his plants while he hums an unknown melody, he even wants to make the strong-ass coffee he likes to drink in the morning after chewing on an apple. And Taehyung wants to share his stories with him, tell Jeongguk about how his day went and what his little students did today. It's a casual and simple life, but Taehyung wants that more than anything.

In the middle of his lovey-dovey thoughts towards the omega, Taehyung whines silently, closing the tab of the school website and then he opens Naver, but the first thing he sees is an article that makes him raise one of his brows.

Don’t you think that you should start looking for a mate?

Seven signs that you’re ready to mark someone (and to be marked):

He closes his laptop, startled that the thought of Naver maybe reading over his mind as he was thinking about Jeongguk. He snorts, hearing the familiar sound of his phone vibrating by his side. He shakes his head, making all of his worries go away, and grabs the device, reading Jeongguk’s name flashing on the screen as he unlocks it.

Jeongguk [5:15 pm]

Hey, hyung

I’m all heat-free now lol

It went away two days ago but I needed time to clean the whole house

And I’ll have to go to Seoul for a few days because of my book

Something about a signing and the new plot that I came up with

Do you wanna meet up and I don’t know grab a coffee or something?

A hot chocolate in your case

Oh wait

You’re working

Are you free?

Text me when you can!

Taehyung blinks sharply, feeling his lashes hitting on his cheekbones as he checks the time on his phone and notices that’s past his off time. So, he decides to not answer Jeongguk right away and just shoves his phone back into his pocket, remembering that he still has another step before starting to court Jeongguk — even though he thinks this word is outdated, and he should just flirt with him or be honest about his feelings.

He needs to find out if Jeongguk likes him back — or at least thinks about having something to do with him. Taehyung very much knows about Jeongguk’s lack of interest in relationships, but maybe something could have changed during the past month. So he picks up all of his stuff and puts it in his bag, waving goodbye to his co-workers before running out of the building.

One thing that Taehyung learned during the month that he spent living with Jeongguk is that there’s a particular coffee that the omega loves and is only sold by a café placed near a flower shop. It’s just a few blocks away from the school, and Taehyung has enough money to buy the coffee, a few slices of cake, and a hot chocolate for himself — he’s still paying for his phone and he has rent to pay at the end of the month, and he’ll only receive his full salary once he starts giving his daily classes.

(And Taehyung won't even mention the fact that he still feels like he owns something to Jeongguk from the weeks he spent at his house, eating from his food and having his clothes bought by him.)

With a hopeful smile stamped on his whole face, Taehyung keeps walking and checking on both sides of the streets before crossing it. He doesn’t know why he hasn’t thought about trying to find out about Jeongguk’s feelings before. Of course, that might turn out to be a difficult thing to do, but he has all the time in the world and the certainty that he won’t give up on Jeongguk if he thinks that he has even the smallest chance of being with him.

But Taehyung’s happiness dies down from his eyes the moment he sees Jeongguk talking to a broad-shouldered, tall, and unmarked alpha on the other side of the street, right in front of the flower shop next to his favorite café. Taehyung stops himself and doesn’t walk over the pedestrian crossing even though the light is shining green. He feels his heart losing a bit at the sight of Jeongguk smiling at the alpha — it’s so obvious that he’s an alpha, Taehyung can smell him even blocks away —, and holding a bouquet of red roses.

Taehyung takes a step back, and Jeongguk laughs, his eyes almost closing. It’s Taehyung’s favorite smile. And he feels his heart shattering over something he never had. He doesn't want to believe in what he's seeing, but he wouldn't mistake Jeongguk for anyone else in this world. And he doesn’t even know why he’s feeling so down that, it’s not as if Jeongguk and he had a relationship to begin with, Taehyung just wants to have one with him, but apparently, Jeongguk already has someone in his life. Taehyung lets out a deep breath, tapping over his pocket to find his phone and then lowers his eyes. Surprisingly his fingers aren’t shaky while he types.

Kim Taehyung [5:37 pm]:

I’m sorry, Ggukie

Something came up at school and I can’t leave now

Can we meet later?

And then, he lifts his head, watching as Jeongguk frowns and grabs his phone with his left-hand, mouthing the other man to wait for a moment. Taehyung swallows dry, trying to read his expression as he peeks over his text message. He doesn't know what he's expecting, but Taehyung just wants something — a signal that might give him hope and glue his heart back together.

Jeonggukie [5:38 pm]:

Oh

Okay then, hyung

It’s fine

I’m going to Seoul tomorrow, but I’m sure we can meet up when I come back

Good luck with work! :)

The omega just puts his phone away again and goes back to talking to the alpha in front of him. Jeongguk didn’t even bother looking around or expressing anything with his eyes. Taehyung gasps, feeling a lump on his throat as he turns on his heels and tries to control his trembling eyelids to not cry in the middle of the street.

Of course, Taehyung tries not to fall into a slump of sorrow and regret for not going after Jeongguk before. And he should've thought that maybe his disinterest in relationships is because he already is in one. And now, he has no idea if he will ever get a chance with him, and just walks back to his apartment to tuck himself between his blankets even though it's summer and he's sweating underneath his dress shirt.

He swallows down a sob as he throws himself on his bed, feeling his hair getting splashed all over his pillow. The ceiling doesn’t bring him answers, neither does the silence inside his apartment, which only makes his heart chest hurt a bit more. He glances at the windows and catches the exact moment the rain starts pouring heavily against the glass, but it doesn’t wash away Taehyung’s thoughts inside that empty bedroom. And he closes his eyes, rolling to the side as he notices that the pain of his breaking heart isn’t even slightly softened by the warm tears rolling down his cheeks.

It's something that Taehyung never thought he would go through: having his heart broken that easy that way. But he fell in love easily with Jeongguk's smile, and with the omega's adorable personality. Having an easy way out of this seemed like a dream, but that situation just sounds more like a nightmare to him.

And, yes, Taehyung knows that he cannot spend the rest of his life feeling sorry for himself because of that — putting himself down over a non-reciprocated love. And he also knows that someday it will go away and that he will be happy only with Jeongguk's friendship, after all, the omega helped him when he was at the lowest point in his life and would always be grateful to him for that. Eventually, he'll get back together and stand on his feet because he's an adult and has responsibilities.

So, Taehyung rolls over on his bed, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, allowing himself to feel everything that is floating around inside his chest. Tomorrow will be a new day and on Monday he will meet his students, and finally start working with what he studied for. He’ll bring another type of joy to his life and he’ll move on.

Well, that’s just what Taehyung thinks, at least.

His students are lovely, just like he thought they’d be. They’re new at school and just starting to learn, and Taehyung is more than glad to spend his whole day with the small, energetic young pups that seem to be more eager to play around with each other than to learn their alphabet, which makes Taehyung chuckle.

And, apparently, the little wolves like him and are happy to go to school every day – from what their parents say when they drop their kids at school in the morning. They get a little surprised over the fact that Taehyung is an alpha, and he already expected that, to be honest.

Indeed, teaching gives Taehyung another type of joy, and comes out of the school sparkling with serotonin rushing through his brain. But once he steps inside his apartment and sees the cacti Jeongguk gifted him when he got the job, his shoulders drop to the floor and he’s back to feeling sad over the fact that he’s in love and very much pushed into the wave of dealing with his own feelings alone.

So, a few weeks later, when the last Saturday of the month comes and he doesn’t have to go to work, Taehyung leaves his house with a backpack to visit the forest, shift into his wolf and just run around between the trees to forget about his thoughts. He's not stressed or anything, he's actually glad for his job and for having a roof over his head, but Taehyung does feel like he needs a day out to clear his head and think about what goes on inside his heart.

As soon as he reaches the first trees, Taehyung can already sense his lungs getting filled with clean oxygen and his eyes flashing red. Leaving his backpack resting on a tree, Taehyung closes his eyes and starts to take off his clothes slowly, first his shoes and shirt, then his pants and underwear. The cold wind hits his back skin as he places his clothes inside the backpack and moves his neck, massaging the soft muscle on his shoulders before letting his wolf take over.

It hurts to have his bones getting modified and changing places as he shifts, but it's a pleasant pain and Taehyung endures it, already used to the stretch on his body and with the change. And when he opens his eyes back again, he's already standing on his paws, shaking his fur and getting used to the change in his height. Taehyung is a big wolf, and if he stands on both of his hind legs he'll be even taller than his human side — and it's a funny thing to think. But he doesn't let his mind wander around and bites on his backpack, leaving it locked between his fangs as he gets ready to start running.

He doesn't know how much time he spends just running around amidst the trees, feeling the oxygen clearing his lungs and his mind traveling around his thoughts. Taehyung remembers when Jeongguk and he went there, searching for his backpack and how it was the first time that the alpha realized he's in love with Jeongguk. The sight of the grey and white omega in all of his glory and majesty made Taehyung think that whoever ends up with Jeongguk, they would be a lucky one. And the next thing that went through his mind is how he wanted to be that lucky person.

And then Taehyung thinks that if his wolf and he were different people, the big alpha would tell him to be ashamed of himself and go after the omega he wants, but Taehyung knows that life isn’t as easy as their instincts make them seem to be and that he can’t just make someone love him back just because he wants to.

No matter how much he desires, not everything is as simple as he wishes it was. The sight of the same waterfall they stopped at and Jeongguk found his backpack, and Taehyung lets out a sound that seems to be something between a whine and a sigh, and he lowers his ears, watching the sun reflected on the creek. He doesn’t know how much time he spends on his wolf form before shifting back to his human side, putting back only his pants before sitting on the rock to watch the waterfall.

The silence of the forest makes Taehyung take deep breaths, getting focused on how the water hits on the creek and gives it small waves that reach the rocks, and he fiddles with his own fingers at the lack of birds around him. However, thanks to his good hearing, he notices a shifting between the trees at the back of the forest, just a few feet away from where he is, but he remembers that Jeongguk mentioned to him that it’s common for city wolves to come and run during the weekends  — and he doesn’t forget about the camping site built somewhere between the thick shrubs and tall trees.

“You’re ignoring me,” Jeongguk voice reaches to his ears, and Taehyung furrows his brows, moving his head slightly to the side where he heard the soft sound mixed with the noise of the waterfall next to him. “Why are you ignoring me?”

Taehyung blinks shortly, leaping off the rock as Jeongguk walks towards him, wearing messy clothes and a bit of sadness in his eyes, “What do you mean?”

“You barely talk to me anymore, Taehyung,” he’s serious now and has both his hands turned into a fist as he gulps. “We used to live together for a month, then you left and barely text, or talk to me, even though I’m always asking you to hang out together. My book got published, did you know that? No, ‘cause we barely talk anymore.”

“I—”, Taehyung stutters, still not understanding how Jeongguk managed to find him there. And it’s not like he meant to ignore Jeongguk or push him away, and he didn’t even realize he was doing that. “It did?”

Jeongguk hisses, almost stomping his foot on the ground as he shakes his head in disbelief, he glances over at Taehyung’s eyes, and takes another step, sitting on the rock with his feet touching the grass. Taehyung can’t guess what the omega is trying to say, he’s too much of a question mark for his soft brain, so he just licks over his lips and sits by his side, leaving just a few inches of space between them.

After a few minutes of silence, Taehyung holds both of his hands together and peeks at Jeongguk, who’s still breathing heavily and avoiding looking at him, “How did you find me here?”

“How could I now, Taehyung?”

It’s all he’s able to answer, and the alpha stares at the ground again. He doesn’t know what to say. His chest is a mess of feelings and there are bubbles all over his stomach for the fact that he’s near Jeongguk, his wolf is tingling inside of him, desiring to touch and hiss Jeongguk and make him his omega — but Taehyung simply can’t do that without knowing that Jeongguk wants him to.

“One year ago,” Jeongguk breathes out, closing his eyes for a second, and then he moves them to look at Taehyung. “On my birthday, I said to my friends that I’d only get mated if an alpha showed up at my doorstep. They were joking over the fact that all of them are mated, and I’m not, and I’m already thirty-three and everyone says that I should be at least dating someone or thinking about it. But feelings and dating people were never my things, I never fell in love so easily like the others and… Alphas were always all over the internet, all around the town, and everywhere. I never got interested in them because… Bodies and sexual attraction aren’t everything. And I had, and still have, other priorities. I’d rather eat cake than to think about mating one of those alphas, to be honest.”

He stops for a second, lowering his head, and Taehyung swallows dry, still rubbing his knuckles over the painful silence, “Because I’m pretty much placed into a sort of grey area in romantic attraction and sexual attraction that really doesn’t matter right now. And my point is: you just showed up at my doorstep. Bleeding out on the sidewalk and I was lost, I didn’t know what to do other than helping you. And what I said back on my birthday was just a joke, it wasn’t even a full moon in which we can make a wish and they’ll come true. I’m not going to say that it was easy dealing with the weird-ass jokes that my friends made, they’re awful and I love them, but it took me a while to figure out.”

“Huh?” Taehyung scrunches his nose, trying to figure out what Jeongguk is trying to say between all of those words. “Figure out what?”

“That you showed up there and made me fall in love with you, you dumbass,” Jeongguk rolls his eyes, snorting as he straightens his back to take a better look at him, his voice gets deeper and louder than before. “You simply showed up on my doorstep and I fell in love with you. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t in a blink of an eye, it happened slowly and now all I get is to feel frustrated because you’re ghosting me. You, Kim Taehyung, don’t get to show up on my doorstep, make me fall in love with you, to think of you as the only alpha I’d possibly mate in my life and simply ghost me after all of that.”

Taehyung bats his lashes, not knowing what to say after all of that. Jeongguk has just thrown a bucket full of hot water on his shoulders and left him there, sitting on a rock with the blankest of the faces, “I thought that…”

“You thought what? That you’d get rid of me easily?” Jeongguk narrows his eyes at him. “That’s not…”

“No, you idiot. Let me finish,” Taehyung scoffs, swallowing down the lump on his throat in a rush of adrenaline floating through his veins. “I thought that you were dating that alpha that I saw you talking to a month ago. Before you went to Seoul. I saw both of you talking outside the flower shop, you were holding a bouquet of red roses and smiling. I walked away and said that I was busy and couldn’t come to your house. I was planning to find out whether you liked me back. I’d buy you your favorite coffee and chocolate cake since they remind me of you because of your scent, but… I just held myself together and walked back home and cried for the rest of the night.”

Jeongguk shakes his head, hitting his own forehead after hearing that, “That was my agent. He gave me those flowers after telling me that the company had settled a date to publish my book. He was congratulating me for coming up with a new idea and finishing a book in the same month. And I was going to thank you for helping me with that.”

Taehyung chokes in surprise, “Your agent?”

“Yeah, my agent. And I was smiling because I was happy, not because of him. I was happy that I’d get to publish my book,” Jeongguk sighs, glancing over his shoulder. “Wait here a moment.”

Before Taehyung could even answer, Jeongguk turns on his heel and runs to between the trees, hiding from Taehyung’s eyesight, but he doesn’t take a long time to come back, holding a book between his fingers and looking straight into Taehyung’s eyes as he hands him the book.

The alpha feels like he’s the most stupid person in the world right now, his flushed cheeks and the warmth rushing through his veins and turning his ears reddened are proof of that, and he thinks that he could just be swallowed by the ground underneath his feet and disappear. Jeongguk’s gaze on his is strong, and Taehyung gulps. He knows what Jeongguk means now, he knows that his feelings are reciprocated and all that he saw a month ago was just a misunderstanding that could’ve been avoided, and he was being childish by not going after Jeongguk to fix that situation.

The cover is the drawing of two women, their backs touching and their eyes closed, one of them has green fog coming out from her fingers and the other has vampire bite marks on her neck, the title of the book, ‘Ending Line’, shines in a beautiful shade of foggy white on the bottom of the book cover. Jeongguk’s name is right on top of it, alongside the name of the series and a few comments on the five books.

“Look at the credits in the beginning,” Jeongguk murmurs, moving his eyes up to Taehyung’s face, and the alpha nods lightly, licking over his lips.

Taehyung opens the book, scanning over the name of the editor and all of the credits before flipping through a few pages to find the credits that Jeongguk mentioned. He blinks for a second and then starts reading the thank you notes first.

Firstly, I’d like to thank all of my fans who buy and enjoy my books, I wouldn’t be anything without you. Thank you so much for walking this path with me and getting here with the characters I love and appreciate so much.

Secondly, but no less important, I’d like to thank someone new in my life, but if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be able to finish this book. Taehyung, thank you so much for your genius brain and your quick wit to help me see things in the storyline that I wasn’t able to before. Thank you for helping me build up this ending out of nowhere, and thank you for walking into my life; you didn’t change me, you were a beautiful addition to my craziness and my love for plants. I hope you’ll want to keep me closer too.

Third, my agent and editor, both of you were part of this whole process and I know that I annoy both of you a lot, but that’s because I love you. Also, how could I not? If it weren’t for you, I’d have never been able to fulfill my dream.

Dedicated to:

KTH,

I hope you’re reading this.

And Taehyung closes the book, almost losing his breath at the words. Jeongguk is chewing the inner side of his cheeks in front of him, blinking those beautiful raven-colored eyes of his in Taehyung’s direction, he doesn’t know, but Taehyung loves them so much and could watch them for the rest of his life and not get tired of it.

“Jeonggukie…” it’s all Taehyung managers to mouth, feeling his stomach tingling as he notices the omega taking the book from his hands and placing it on the rock by their side.

“I want you, Taehyung,” Jeongguk says, firm on his voice and taking a step closer to the alpha, who flinches his lids at the proximity between them. The smell of chocolate coming from Jeongguk gets thicker, and it’s almost as if Taehyung is stepping into cocoa plantations, but it’s just Jeongguk there, standing in front of him and staring deeply into his eyes. “I want to be with you. I have no idea of what the hell goes on inside my chest or in my brain. Feelings are a mess, but all I can think of is about how I’ve fallen for you so deeply, hyung. And I want you closer.”

The omega’s pheromones are almost a calling, and fresh cinnamon and chocolate get mixed up in the air, Taehyung doesn’t even need to think about his body responding – it just does. The feeling is mutual and Taehyung thinks that he could cry right now, not of sadness and sorrow like in the past few weeks, but happiness. His eyes flash red, and Jeongguk’s blue eyes respond and the alpha gaps, taking another step forward as he closes his lids, taking a deep breath, feeling himself drowning in the omega’s smell.

“Please, just…” Jeongguk gulps, bringing his hand to touch Taehyung’s jawline, but he doesn’t complete his sentence.

He’s stopped midway by Taehyung’s lips covering his and taking his hand to Jeongguk’s waist, pulling his body closer. The low sound of their bodies hitting on each other is enough for Jeongguk to gasp onto Taehyung’s lips, opening his mouth and feeling the alpha sliding his tongue in, kissing him deeper and brushing their noses together as Jeongguk touches the back of his neck, not getting shy at his fingers grabbing Taehyung’s hair.

It’s almost as if all the oxygen is dragged out from Jeongguk’s lips. Taehyung takes his breath away and makes his chest pump, and he couldn’t feel himself more relaxed at the feeling of the alpha rubbing his fingerprints on the hem of his shirt, barely touching his skin. He wants more, he wants more of Taehyung’s lips on his, more of Taehyung in him, and not just for today, he wants him for the rest of his life.

Jeongguk wasn’t lying when he said that Taehyung was the first and the only person to make him even consider mating. He knows now why his wolf was so eager to scent Jeongguk’s, why he didn’t even flinch back then, and why everything seemed to work out perfectly and easily when it was about him.

Taehyung is the mate that Jeongguk wants. He’s the alpha that his omega wants. And he doesn’t even understand why they took so long to meet each other. But maybe it just wasn’t the right time, maybe in the past, they would never understand each other as much as they do today. Maybe they’d be too immature or wouldn’t fit as much as they do today. Maybe Jeongguk would still be stuck into his ‘I don’t need an alpha’ motto to not pay attention to Taehyung.

Yes, Jeongguk doesn’t need an alpha. But he wants Taehyung. He wants that alpha with him, and he wants him to be his alpha and to mark him somewhere in the future. He never thought that the feeling of being in love —  of being actually in love, and not just thinking that he is — would be so good. Kissing Taehyung isn’t like kissing his ex-boyfriends from college, kissing Taehyung is more.

Kissing Taehyung makes Jeongguk feel like he’s at home. Makes him feel like he found the right person for him and not like he’s some sort of puzzle missing a piece; Taehyung feels more like he’s another puzzle that’s lying just beside him, and like he’s another addition to Jeongguk’s equation. And he knows, he simply knows, that Taehyung feels the same from the way that he’s holding onto his waist, pecking the corner of his mouth as he pulls the air heavily into his lungs, smile cutting his lips as he presses his nose on Jeongguk’s cheek.

“I love you too, Jeonggukie,” Taehyung whispers, but it’s enough for the omega to hear and shiver from his raspy voice. “I love you. I love you so much. Fuck, I can’t believe I was so dumb to…”

Jeongguk smiles back, opening his blue eyes to meet with Taehyung’s red ones, “You’re not dumb, Taehyungie,” he caresses his cheek, licking over his lips as he takes a deep breath. “I’m complicated and... I needed this time to think. New feelings are scary, especially when they’re as strong as these. Writing about love and actually living it are two different things. They’re both hard, of course, but living it…”

“I know,” Taehyung answers shortly, batting his lashes and pressing his lips on Jeongguk’s again. He can’t get enough of them. “What matters is that you’re here. We are here.”

“Yeah,” Jeongguk swallows dry, smiling without showing his teeth. “It’s not that scary when I’m with you.”

And Taehyung doesn’t even answer that. All that he can do is tighten his grip on Jeongguk’s waist, pulling him even closer to his body and then kissing his lips again. And again. And again. And all over again until both of their lips are swollen and they’re giggling from the silliness of the moment. But it’s good, it’s so good that both of them just want to keep kissing each other until they’re out of breath.

 Jeongguk learns that Taehyung’s lips and his cinnamon scent are two of his new favorite things. That and Taehyung’s hands on his waist, thin fingers wrapped on his bare skin and gluing their bodies together as if they’re not completely pressed on each other already. Taehyung kisses him as if he’s hungry for him, and as if he’s been looking for Jeongguk his whole life and just had to show up at his doorstep right when both of them were ready to get into something new with each other.

On the other side, Taehyung is happy, as happy as he could ever be. He can’t even believe that he has Jeongguk between his arms and that he’s kissing him and he is giggling underneath his lips, and kissing him back, rubbing his nape and biting his lower lip at times. Jeongguk is happy too, he’s under a type of happiness he never thought he’d ever get. And it’s scary and exciting at the same time, but as he said himself, it’s not as scary as long as he has Taehyung by his side and discovers their new relationship together.

Oh, and Jeongguk also learns that he’s so ready to spend the rest of his life together with Taehyung.