Chapter Text
It was a summer day when everything changed for Jung Hoseok. During one of the library’s monthly summer reading events, he met the love of his life.
The library put on summer reading events to help children learn how to read, and to keep them interested and engaged in reading. The events generally began with storytime, progressed into a game based upon the story, and then devolved into general chaos towards the end. The same was true for this month. The story chosen to be featured was Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile and the game was a sort of animal-themed pretending game, which had turned into a great big game of zoo, which included children of all ages running around and jumping off of various pieces of furniture whilst screaming animal noises at the tops of their little lungs.
But, amidst the chaos, one child sat sniffling on the circle carpet on top of the purple letter Z.
As one of the librarians who had helped coordinate the event, and as a generally good human being, Hoseok felt compelled to check on the tot. He knelt down on the yellow letter B. “Hello,” he said with a smile, softly, so not as to startle the child. “I’m Hoseok. What is your name?”
The child looked up with wide, shiny eyes and a trembling lower lip. “Min J-junsu,” the boy mumbled. His voice trembled, and he sniffled and returned his gaze to his knee, which looked bright pink under his little navy blue shorts.
“That looks like it doesn’t feel good,” Hoseok said, gesturing to the knee, which had likely been rug-burned as a result of a tumble during the game. The little boy nodded, his little cheeks red and his little doe eyes welling up with tears.
“Do you want me to help you make it feel better?” Hoseok asked. The little boy nodded, his fluffy bowl-cut bangs ruffling with his movement. Hoseok nodded back, and pushed himself into a crouch, and then put his hands under the little boy’s armpits and, mindful of the little pink knee, picked him up, resting him against his chest. He could feel the boy’s face press wetly against his shoulder, and the little sniffles he made. The sound nearly broke Hoseok’s heart, and so he stood and made eye contact with his co-worker, Namjoon, who widened his eyes and gestured for Hoseok to go and take care of the little boy.
Hoseok shifted the child in his arms as he walked towards the office he shared with the other children’s librarians. He opened the door with his hip, careful not to jostle the boy, and made his way over to his desk. He set Junsu onto his rolling chair and made sure that he was situated before opening his desk drawer to fish out a box of band-aids with smiling bear faces on them. Setting the box onto the table, he grabbed the first aid kit off of the wall.
Children’s librarians tended to deal with various boo-boos, and as a result each kept little first aid kits to take care of them. Hoseok was no different, and much like his coworkers, had personalized his first aid kit to make it less frightening to children.
Namjoon’s was decorated with Pokemon characters, Jimin’s featured different Disney characters, and Taehyung’s had Doraemon all over it. Hoseok’s was white, and decorated with Paddington Bear, the main character of his favorite children’s book.
Junsu’s sniffles halted at the sight of the little plastic kit. The edges of Hoseok’s lips quirked up; it seemed that Junsu was fond of bears. Junsu’s little doe eyes were zeroed in on Paddington Bear’s red hat and his blue coat. Hoseok took advantage of the boy’s distraction and opened up the kit, pulling out a tube of Neosporin and some cotton rounds. He preferred not to use alcohol on scrapes and cuts, because he knew that it made them sting and throb. He did want to wash the rug burn with soap and warm water, though, and so picked up the boy who protested at the movement and took him into the staff bathroom. He set Junsu onto the counter and doubled back to grab the first aid kit.
“Can I roll up your pant leg, Junsu?” Hoseok asked, making eye contact with the little boy. “It will help me to clean up your scrape, and then I will put it back to normal.” He waited for Junsu to nod, and then folded the left leg of his shorts up two times. Turning on the water, he waited for it to get warm and then pumped some of the mild, scentless soap into his hand. Hoseok did his best to be quick and gentle, and then dried off the scraped knee with his own washcloth. Junsu didn’t seem to like this, whining and kicking at the action, and so Hoseok stopped, and blew lightly on the scrape instead until he deemed it dry enough. Then, he finally dabbed a bit of Neosporin onto the scrape, and stuck a yellow band-aid decorated with smiling bear faces on top.
“Finished!” Hoseok cheered, smiling at Junsu. Junsu pouted and looked at his knee, bending and straightening it a few times as if to test its healing, sent a shy, toothy smile to Hoseok, and held his arms out to be picked up.
Hoseok’s heart just about melted as he obliged the child, setting him onto his hip, and waited for him to circle his tiny arms around his neck before taking him back to his desk. The desk was clean, with papers in a basket and a few of his favorite books propped up with a bookend that his coworkers had gifted him for his birthday. The bear theme held strong throughout Hoseok’s things, and Junsu seemed to be interested in them, as he peered over from Hoseok’s shoulder. He tried to set the boy onto the desk, but the boy held tight round his neck, nosing at his shoulder.
“Do I smell good, Junsu?” He asked, and was happy to receive a nod against his shoulder in response. “What do I smell like?”
Junsu took a moment to think, and then said “Flowers.” Hoseok nodded and cheered, causing the little one to giggle. Hoseok smelled like jasmine flowers and bergamot, and had been very pleased at the development following his presentation as an omega. He had always preferred fresh, clean scents to sugary, cloying ones. Despite his sweet disposition, Hoseok had never been a fan of sugary desserts, and had been relieved that when his scent began to change during puberty he didn’t smell of vanilla, or brown sugar, or anything too strong.
“You smell good too,” Hoseok said, and the little boy did. Junsu was a little alpha, and smelled like pine and fresh air. Most children smelled like a combination of their parents’ scents and milk in the first few years of their lives, and it wasn’t uncommon for parents to enjoy sniffing babies’ heads following their births. Of course, the milky scent faded as time progressed, but children generally still kept a milky-undertone until they started to spend more time apart from their parents as they entered school. Junsu kept some of this scent too, and Hoseok could hardly resist pressing his nose into the little boy’s silky black hair.
Nevertheless, he endured, armed with the knowledge that such closeness to someone else’s pup without permission would be completely inappropriate. In the back of his mind, he felt mildly alarmed at how bad his pup-fever was. He would have to talk to his boyfriend about it soon, or it was going to make being a children’s librarian into a mighty difficult career indeed.
“Junsu, did you come here by yourself today?” Hoseok asked instead of giving into his desires to scent the pup.
“No,” the boy said.
“Did you come with your mama or papa?”
“My daddy,” the boy answered, his arms still round Hoseok’s neck, but his attention focused on the different colorful books on the right side of the desk.
“Junsu, I think your daddy must be worried about you. Do you know your daddy’s name?” Hoseok asked.
“Daddy,” said Junsu, unhelpfully.
Hoseok grinned. “Okay, sit tight, and I’ll call your daddy, okay?” The boy did not respond; he was reaching for Paddington in the Garden. Hoseok handed him the book, wheezed as the boy stepped on his stomach while turning around to sit with his back to Hoseok’s chest, and then picked up the phone. He pressed the button for the loudspeaker and said “Min Junsu’s father, your son is in the librarian’s office on the third floor. Min Junsu’s father, please come to the office on the third floor, thank you.”
He returned the phone to the hook and looked where Junsu was peering down at the pictures in the book. “Junsu, do you like bears?” Junsu nodded. “Can you read?” Hoseok asked. Junsu shook his head, and then peered up at Hoseok with wide eyes, pointing to the book. “Do you want me to read it to you?” Hoseok asked, and Junsu nodded, turning back to look at the colorful illustrations.
Hoseok obliged, and they made it through four pages before there was a knock on the door and Taehyung strode in with a handsome-looking alpha following behind him.
“Hoseok, this is Alpha Min, Junsu’s dad.” Taehyung said with a big grin. He was the sort that children loved to play with, since his personality was so sunny. “I’m going to head back downstairs and make sure Namjoon has everything under control. Goodness knows he tends to get overwhelmed.”
Hoseok thanked Taehyung and waved him goodbye as he strode out of the office, leaving himself, Junsu, and Min Yoongi.
Junsu’s head whipped up and he scrambled out of Hoseok’s lap, leaving it feeling cold and sort of empty in contrast to the warm weight he had been supplying earlier.
“Daddy!” Junsu yelled and ran over to hug the man’s legs. The man had appeared short next to Taehyung’s lithe, willowy frame, but next to Junsu he was tall, and the little boy was dwarfed in comparison, his head not even reaching the man’s waist.
Alpha Min was clad in black slacks and a white, collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up. His black hair was fell across his forehead in a way that looked tastefully lazy, yet still somehow put together. He was most definitely an alpha, if Hoseok went off of his scent alone, which smelled of pine and fresh air, just like his son. He seemed a bit distressed, the otherwise wintery scent tainted with the sourness of smoke. He picked up the little boy and pressed a long kiss to the top of his head, before taking a whiff of the little alpha’s milky scent.
Hoseok stood from his chair, and held out his hand, cautiously, so not to startle the alpha who had, until moments before, likely been frantically searching for his child. “Alpha Min, I’m Jung Hoseok, one of the children’s librarians. Junsu fell and hurt his knee, so I helped him put a Band-Aid on, and we started reading Paddington in the Garden. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” said the man, shaking Hoseok’s hand, “I am Min Yoongi. Thank you for taking care of Junsu.” His voice was deep and smooth, and he had a slight lisp. His scent seemed to settle now that his pup was in his arms. Hoseok smiled at the sight. The boy was practically the spitting image of his father, his little button nose mirrored on the elder’s face. It was endearing to see such a strong resemblance. The similarity in their scents was remarkable, too. For a pup to smell so completely like their sire was uncommon. Hoseok wondered if the child’s dam was working overseas, or something, for their scent to be so incredibly absent from the boy.
“It was no problem. Junsu and I are good friends now. Right, Junsu?” Hoseok asked, his voice taking on a playful tone as he addressed the pup.
Junsu nodded and wiggled in Yoongi’s grip, holding his arms out for Hoseok. Hoseok blanched, and glanced at Yoongi to see his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The boy whined and kicked until Yoongi handed the boy over to Hoseok, where he promptly buried his nose below Hoseok’s jawline, near the omega’s scent gland. Hoseok let out a startled laugh.
“I guess we are better friends than I thought!” Hoseok said smiling sheepishly, looking over at the alpha.
“It seems that way,” Yoongi replied frostily, crossing his arms over his chest. Hoseok’s smile faltered. Although the pup had initiated the scenting, Hoseok was a strange omega, and a parent’s instincts tended to be hyper-vigilant regarding who was allowed to scent their child. It was for good reason, too, as scenting played a major part in a child’s development. Hoseok himself wore scent dampeners, so it was surprising that the pup was reacting to his scent as more than a mild soother.
Hoseok tried to gently pry the pup away from his neck, and received a displeased whine in response from the boy. He glanced over at the alpha with a slightly worried expression, meeting the man’s eyes, seeing his own expression mirrored there.
Hoseok turned his attention back to the boy. “Junsu, I think your daddy missed you after you were away from him for so long today. Don’t you want to give your daddy a big hug?”
“Already gave him a big hug!” was the reply, stated in a whiny, bratty tone.
“Junsu,” Hoseok said, bringing his hand to the pup’s silky hair, “why don’t you give your daddy a hug? You’re making your daddy sad; he came all this way just for you.”
The boy didn’t look up from his spot against Hoseok’s neck, but held out his arms to his father nonetheless, and once again the child was transferred into the alpha’s waiting arms. Junsu immediately turned his nose to press against his father’s scent glad, hiding his face away from Hoseok’s eyes.
Hoseok felt his heart break at how empty his arms felt once relieved of the pup. He fiddled with his fingers, unsure of what to do with them now that they were no longer supporting the little boy.
“Junsu, say thank you to Omega Jung for taking care of you, and say bye-bye,” said the alpha. Junsu kicked his legs and struggled in the alpha’s grip.
“No!” he yelled, his voice going up towards a shriek. “Not leaving!”
“Junsu,” the alpha said, his voice taking on a warning tone, “we need to go home. We promised grandma and grandpa we would eat dinner together with them. Say bye-bye to Omega Jung.”
Hoseok grimaced as the little boy began to have a meltdown, the pup’s loud sobs sending Hoseok and Yoongi alike into states of distress. He quickly reached out to wipe at his runny nose and pudgy cheeks. “Junsu,” Hoseok cooed at the boy, “it’s okay, I am here every day. We can play together soon and I will read you another story, does that sound good?” The boy’s meltdown paused and he whimpered a few times, looking at Hoseok with sad eyes. Hoseok stroked his hand down the back of Junsu’s head and scratched a few times at the nape of his neck, and watched satisfaction as the little boy’s whines quieted down into sniffles as he nodded. Hoseok smiled. “Bye-bye, Junsu. Please come back soon!”
Hoseok was startled out of his conversation when the alpha finally spoke again. “Thank you, I’m going to take Junsu home now. It was a pleasure to meet you, Omega Jung.”
“Call me Hoseok,” the omega replied, absentmindedly wiping another stray tear from Junsu’s cheek.
“Then, you can call me Yoongi,” Junsu’s father responded, “it was a pleasure to meet you, Hoseok. I hope you have a good rest of your day.”
And with those final words, the love of Hoseok’s life was carried away in the arms of the most handsome alpha he had ever seen.