Work Text:
Weary. Exhausted. Ready to sleep.
Keum Seongje is absolutely looking forward to jumping into bed for the night, looking forward to slumber consuming him. Working for a gang isn’t easy—especially when your position is as high as the second-in-command. The money is good; however, most nights don’t allocate the time for sleep, with Seongje bashing heads against bloodied brick walls instead of indulging in the pleasure of his own head meeting a soft pillow.
But tonight is different.
Tonight is Sieun’s birthday.
Yeon Sieun. His omega. His mate of seven years.
Sieun isn’t the most celebratory person ever, but Seongje still took time off for him. The alpha is already aware that the night will consist of a simple dinner, blowing out candles on a store-bought cake, and then bedtime.
The last task might be difficult to fulfill, unfortunately, since a miniature five-year-old bundle of energy will most likely run around the living room on their two stubby legs courtesy of a sugar rush.
But that’s a problem for later.
The alpha tiredly drags his feet across the asphalt in the dark alley, the bleak night clinging to his black leather jacket like moss. He reaches the front door of a small house tucked between two tall, aged buildings and starts punching the code into the keypad with one hand. In his opposite hand, he clutches a beautifully decorated bouquet—the carnation flowers colored a perfect mix of pink and purple, just like his mate’s eyes, wrapped up in glittery cellophane.
More importantly, a maroon velvet box is stashed between the blossomed petals, containing an expensive gold bracelet ornamented with emerald green diamonds that his mate had been eyeing online for the past few weeks.
Seongje prays for Sieun to find his grand gesture of love endearing.
As soon as Seongje pushes the front door open, the comfortable, domestic fragrance that defines a family home immediately enters his nostrils. Gone from his nasal cavity are the remnants of metallic iron and cigarette ashes that came with running a gang like a package deal—the awful smell fully replaced with the pleasant aroma of vanilla soap, scented Crayola markers, and lingering cooking spices.
As the homely scent washes over him, Seongje shuts the door and loosens his shoulders, feeling a sense of freedom from the confinements of his demanding job. He quickly glances to the side at the portable, circular mirror hanging on the wall, smoothing out the wild tufts of purple hair on his head and briefly scratching at the white bandage plastered near his jawline. He adjusts his nickel-framed glasses further up the bridge of his nose until his light gray eyes can see clearly through the lenses, then turns away to kick off his shoes.
When setting his shoes aside, the alpha notices the small piles of colorful doll clothes, plastic building blocks, and loose puzzle pieces scattered across the hardwood floor of the narrow foyer. A chaotic mess he swore he informed the culprit to clean up before he headed out for the day. He sighs at the disorganization.
But that’s a problem for later.
Right now, Seongje’s goal is to see his omega, gift him the flashy bouquet and bracelet, plant a long-awaited kiss on his soft lips, eat a hearty meal, and finally, sleep.
Slowly trudging through the hall, Seongje makes it to the kitchen entryway, spotting the back of his omega’s dainty build as he stands straight in front of the counter. His silver-like gray hair is still damp from showering earlier, the shapely black sweater and sweatpants dressed over his frame flatteringly hugging him in all the right places.
Busy at work, Sieun slowly dices a variety of vegetables while a pot of water rests on the stovetop, the blue flame brightly lit underneath the stainless steel. Seongje concludes that he’s cooking stew—a simple dinner that will definitely be easy on their stomachs, exactly like he predicted.
Just as he’s about to walk in with the flower bouquet hidden behind his back, preparing for a surprise, a much shorter figure zips right in front of him faster than the speed of light. The figure gets to Sieun first and tugs at his navy blue apron while happily bouncing on the tiled floor.
“Mama! Mama!”
Halting his chore, Sieun gazes down at the one who just excitedly chirped his title in their household’s hierarchy like a song. His heart softens, but his eyes simultaneously narrow at what meets his vision.
“Keum Seonghee.” Sieun states the full government name authoritatively, his voice sharp and firm cutting through the air. He turns his body and glues his hands to his hips. “Young lady, what did I say about playing roughly in the backyard? You tracked mud into the house.”
The little pup juts out her lower lip in a sad pout. Her blue jeans and her white zippered hoodie are stained with clumps of mud, a few disarrayed flecks smeared across her cheeks like a canvas as well. Additionally, her light-up tennis shoes are soaked a muddled brown, the velcro straps almost undone while she maintains her stance with her hands behind her back.
Sieun turns off the stove and hastily grabs a towel from the countertop. He kneels on the floor to Seonghee’s level, beginning to wipe away the dirt from her face, which is a near perfect resemblance to his mate.
Light gray eyes, thick dark eyebrows, a pointed nose, and unruly purple hair that Sieun finds nearly impossible to style every morning—Seonghee is the absolute spitting image of her father, but just a bit softer around the edges.
On top of her strikingly similar physical appearance, she was also born an alpha, the same secondary gender as her father. All of Sieun’s genetics practically gave up in his womb when he carried her for nine long, painful months, but his daughter is a healthily strong and growing pup, which is the only thing that matters to him.
“But Mama!” Seonghee whines, her words slightly muffled when Sieun rubs the towel over her mouth. “I got you a present!”
Seonghee steers her hands from behind her back to her front, wholeheartedly bestowing the gift to her mother. Clasped tightly in her tiny fingers is her very own creation of a world-class floral bouquet. The tousled arrangement of flowers and weeds she diligently collected from their backyard are a bit wilted, a few loose petals falling near her feet, but still colorful nonetheless. She tied the green stalks together with one of the cherry-beaded rubber bands from her pigtails, silently explaining why her hair is messier-than-usual to her meticulous mother.
“Happy birthday, Mama! Flowers are pretty, just like you!”
The young alpha girl beams, her gummy smile wide and radiant on her chubby face. Sieun drops the towel and rests his sweater-pawed hands over his heart in awe.
“For me?” Sieun softly smiles and matches his daughter’s gleeful tone, a shyly faint blush dusting over the child’s cheeks at how ethereally beautiful her mother is. “Thank you, my sweetheart.”
Sieun gently takes the bouquet from Seonghee’s small hands, the latter bursting into a fit of giggles when he plants kisses all over her cherub-like face. From the corner, Seongje silently watches his two beloved princesses, his gift still out-of-sight behind his back. He already knows his bouquet pales in comparison to Seonghee’s. Anything homemade trumps a store-bought oeuvre of someone else’s work.
Seonghee 1 — 0 Seongje
“Oh, Seongje. You’re home.”
The alpha hadn’t realized he spaced out for so long as he rapidly blinks his eyes back to reality. Sieun stands in front of him with their alpha pup attached to his hip, the dirt from her clothes subtly transferring to his own. The handpicked flowers are on the countertop behind them with the stems submersing into a pitcher full of fresh water.
Before Seongje can wish his omega a happy birthday and get the gift-giving over with, Sieun speaks up.
“Would you mind cleaning the floors while I give this little troublemaker here a bath?” Seonghee giggles at the nickname, her toothy smile mischievously aimed in her father’s direction. “We’ll have dinner and cake afterwards.”
Seongje’s mouth gapes open to respond, but no words manage to come out. He simply nods his head in defeat and sluggishly rakes his bandaged fingers through his purple locks of hair. Sieun smiles at him and mouths a silent thank you, stalking off to the bathroom with Seonghee in his arms—the natural sway of the omega’s hips dangerously sidetracking the alpha’s train of thought.
Forget sleep. Maybe he can give Sieun a better birthday present tonight.
Seongje lies in bed wide awake. The weariness, exhaustion, and readiness to sleep completely disappearing from his body as he blearily stares up at the ceiling in the darkness.
His mind still lingers on the rousing events from earlier in the night.
How he caged his omega’s delicate body to their master bed with his broad one, how he claimed his omega’s plump lips in a dizzyingly heated kiss, how his omega was still so incredibly shy even after years of being intimate together.
Then he remembered how his omega fiercely pushed him off to fall onto the carpet when their bedroom door slammed open in surprise.
“Mama!”
Their spiritedly animated five-year-old daughter raced into their room in her footie pajamas, wailing uncontrollably. She blissfully ignored her father and clambered onto the bed towards her mother, small remnants of tears glistening in her heavily droopy eyes. Instinctively, Sieun rose up and opened his arms for her to climb onto his lap, the two hugging each other tightly.
“Mama, I had a bad dream. I wanna sleep on the big bed with you.” Seonghee mumbled into his chest as she hid her face away from the rest of the world—her bright purple hair an infinitely tangled mess upon her head. Sieun combed his nimble fingers through the thick strands as he gently rocked her back and forth, patting her back lovingly.
“Okay, sweetheart, you can sleep here.”
Groaning, the other alpha in the room stood up from the ground and straightened out his wrinkly muscle tank top. His mate and daughter already settled underneath the covers, their heads poking out while they sunk deeper into the mattress.
“Seongje, please turn off the lights. Let’s go to sleep.”
Seongje wanted to argue, but he couldn’t go up against that sweet honey-like voice. Right when he was about to walk away to access the light switch, he caught the face Seonghee made out of the corner of his eye just in time.
The little brat playfully stuck her tongue out at him, her mother entirely oblivious to her foolish and rascally actions as sleep started to overtake the both of them.
Seonghee 2 — 0 Seongje
The annoyed alpha turns his head on his pillow, perceiving the two unmoving figures next to him in the almost pitch black bedroom. Seonghee’s chest rises and falls with a languid rhythm as she sleeps on her back nestled in between her parents, with Sieun resting on his side accordingly and positioning a thin arm over her stomach thanks to his protective maternal nature.
At the sight of the two slumbering and cuddling peacefully, Seongje’s heart lurches within his chest at how his evening plans were ruined by an evil little girl who he’s sure is out to get him, but then he shakes his head in shame.
There’s no way Seongje’s jealous of a five-year-old.
Especially when that five-year-old is his own flesh and blood.
Seonghee’s an alpha like me, he reflects. It’s totally normal for her possessive traits to develop at an early age, naturally manifesting in front of an older omega figure in her life—that figure being her very own mother. Seongje’s mate. But she’ll eventually grow out of it. Seongje doesn’t need to incite a war with his daughter for his omega’s attention.
Right?
“Daddy, are you awake?”
A nearly hushed whisper breaks Seongje out of his mindless trance. He gazes down at the source—his twin, who he’s certain is staring up at him with those large, doe gray eyes of hers despite the room’s dimness.
“I’m cold. Mama’s cold, too. Give us cuddles!” Seonghee demands, her voice increasingly louder in the dead of the night. She tugs at the fabric on her father’s muscle tee with her alpha-like strong clutch, almost distressed.
They need him.
Without any arguments, Seongje scoots his body closer until there’s no space left between the three of them on the master bed. As the head of the family, he feels the intuitive need to protect his princesses from the chilly winds of a villainous force otherwise known as the air conditioner.
"Thanks, daddy!" Seonghee praises her father, calmly burying herself into the newfound warmth from his essential furnace of a body. Sieun unconsciously mimics her, with Seongje's arm draping over the both of them in a safeguarding manner.
"Nighty night, daddy. I love you."
As he lulls off to sleep, Seongje thinks nothing in the world could be better than feeling valued in this moment—and that others should actually be jealous of him and his perfect little family instead.
Seonghee 2 — ∞ Seongje