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"Home sweet home!" Leonard grinned, inviting Klein inside. "But not for long! Ah, you can get started in the living room. I don't have much so it'll take no time!"
Klein walked inside, closing and locking the door behind him and surveying his surroundings. "Quite minimalist. I'd have expected you to have a gaudy taste simply because you could afford to." He remarked and Leonard threw a half-hearted glare over his shoulder in response.
"I couldn't. I was saving up to buy this place… which I did three months before you joined us."
The omega walked over to the closet, throwing the doors open in the most dramatic way he could manage while Klein's footsteps pattered off.
When did I get all these? He stared at the clothes he couldn't quite remember having. How were there so many of them? How did he not notice this when he changed daily? Ah! Must be because I like throwing them on the chair when they aren't being washed or I'm not wearing them.
"Um, Leonard? Do you want to take your books with you?" Klein asked and Leonard looked towards the living room where a figure stood near his bookshelves.
"As wise people say: knowledge is power!" He answered, watching as the Seer turned to look at him incredulous.
He couldn't see it clearly but he knew the alpha was rolling his eyes. The idea of teasing him still remained novel and entertained the omega to no end so he kept doing it.
"Even the poetry and history ones?"
Leonard couldn't help but wince at the double-powered jab.
Of course Klein never took things laying down! This damn internet generation!
"Yes yes, grab them all. You know me so well so grab any you know I am attached to…" he called back. But sometimes Leonard had tastes that didn't align with what Mingrui knew about him—like his interior decoration tastes. "ah… use divination I guess."
He turned his attention back to the clothes unceremoniously dangling on the hangers in the closet like victims of a large, gruesome sacrificial ritual and sighed.
With great resolve, Leonard began grabbing them and throwing them on the bed one by one, not caring if his aim was off. It didn't take him long to empty out the wardrobe so he walked over to the mess he made and stared down at the daunting enemy.
They all look good. If it's up to me to decide, I might take them all and then forget I have them again…
"Klein?" He decided to go the easier route. "Do you think yellow would suit me?" It never hurt to ask a university graduate, did it?
"What kind of yellow is it?" Came the answering question and Leonard stared down at the distinctly yellow items.
"Um… they look very yellow? Like… they don't feel any other colour except yellow." He scratched his nose, trying to find an appropriate description.
"Unless it's something you're attached to, don't take anything that's not shades of red, black, brown, grey, white, green or blue."
I was right! He's so good at this!
"I don't like hats. Is it okay to ditch them all?" Leonard happily moved on to the next phase, sorting the clothes he was supposed to pack and donate to the orphanage.
"Don't you wish to present a semblance of sophistication?" Klein complained before quickly adding: "Wait, don't answer that! Just keep any two of them."
"Understood!" Leonard responded cheerfully, throwing half a dozen hats—where did these all even come from?—into the cardboard box meant for donation. Of course he'd set things neatly before they took it away. For now, Leonard would gladly do the bare minimum.
They would come back to get the donation items later. For the time being, Leonard and Klein were only packing things that had to be moved and organised in Leonard's new home before the wedding.
With quick moves, he neatly folded all the clothes he'd be taking to the Moretti Residence and placed them in a separate box. The box was almost full by the time he placed the two hats on top.
Zhou Mingrui walked back into the bedroom, his hands full of three packed boxes as he looked down at where Leonard sat. He gently put the packed cardboard boxes by the foot of the bed and walked towards the wardrobe.
"Did you pack those heeled boots? What else do you need from the living room and kitchen?" He started scrutinising at the almost empty piece of furniture before looking back at him.
Leonard placed the last pair of heeled boots he owned in another box, patting the boots reassuringly. "Packed them all. I have two mugs that kind of look like crude cats and have children's paintings over the sides. Just get them." They were given to him by his orphanage siblings and Leonard cherished them dearly. "Be careful not to break them!" He warned as Mingrui left the room.
"I am always careful!"
With his clothes and wearables done, Leonard moved to collect his nesting blankets and clothes. His nest was quite crude—a chaotic mishmash of blankets, pillows and articles of clothing, stolen and gifted from people he had met and been loved by over the years.
There was Aunt Selena's favourite scarf that reminded him of huddling under blankets for storytime in winter. A small jacket he loved as a child that one of his older siblings knit as a ‘welcome to the family’ gift, Daly's old spirit medium robe that reminded him of her comforting presence and steadfast protection. His nest even had a worn out shirt the sourpuss father David was given as a gag gift and Leonard had even managed to steal a cloak from Old Neil and put it there in the outermost layer.
With so many items belonging to people he cherished, carrying traces of their scents, Leonard felt grounded and loved in his nest. It was a mess but it was his and moreover, it smelt like home and comfort, as though all the people he cherished had somehow gathered around him at once—something that was nearly impossible in reality.
Of course he would have to dismantle and make a new one, this time, with most of the nest using Klein's clothes and old sheets.
The omega felt his cheeks suffused with warmth at the thought of having a nest that smelled like Klein with Klein holding him as he snoozed in it…
Don't think about that! Don't think about him in your nest! Don't think about your nest smelling like him yet!
Leonard reminded himself over and over, as the floral scent of night vanilla and slumber flower bloomed thickly in the air around him, mixed with the soothing undercurrent of petrichor—a very obvious declaration of where his mind had strayed.
Although his heats usually came like clockwork and he wasn't due another one for a week—that would be after the wedding—one could never be careful about something as irrational as biology.
As it stood, his pre-heat would be arriving soon and Leonard would be damned if he did anything to have it surprise him earlier.
"I got everything. I even packed your writing equipment in a separate box." Mingrui walked back in, holding another box, almost tripping over his feet before catching himself.
He eyed Leonard curiously, inhaling sharply at the pheromones lingering in the air and sighing with what felt like longing and saintly restraint.
Lowering himself slowly, he placed it on the floor beside the first two as Leonard leaned over to kiss him—short and sweet. "Want me to finish up the ones you've sorted?" Klein's tone was gentle, calm despite the storm swirling in his darkened irises. Leonard smiled to himself, turning to stare at the man he was marrying in four days. "I know you can't sit still and work for so long so I'll help."
"You're already doing so much," Leonard couldn't help but mutter, agreeing without agreeing as his fingers fiddled with a long lock of hair.
"I can't believe time passed by so fast." He mused and Klein sat down on the floor beside him, patting the back of his hand gently.
"I quite like organising things so it's no big deal."
The answer truly reflected their relationship—one would like certain things the other didn't and yet they'd work together to finish them anyways, seamlessly complementing each other's strengths and weaknesses, both in missions and their private lives.
Klein's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "And for me, time had slowed down considerably. Maybe it's because I had something to look forward to and wanted it to pass faster." The words weren't flowery or poetic but the sincerity dripping from them made Leonard's smile turn sickeningly sappy.
Leonard leaned closer, affectionately brushing his cheek against Klein's.
"Mingrui, ah Mingrui! Sometimes you manage to sound more like a poet than me." He sighed, happy and stupidly in love as usual.
"Is that a compliment?" The poet in question teased. "Or—"
"Quiet you!" Leonard scowled, feeling the body beside his shudder with suppressed laughter. "Don't you have any other jokes?"
Klein seemed to think for a moment before shaking his head. "None as amusing as you, honey."
Leonard froze at the sound of the affectionate name, his mouth opening and closing around words that refused to flow. Any retort he could've made was stuck in his throat and Klein grinned wolfishly before kissing his parted lips.
"Shameless flirt!" Leonard mumbled as his mouth finally decided to cooperate with him.
Klein gave him the kind of look that was reserved for utterly slow individuals. "Shameless? Darling, we're getting married this week. There's no shame in being affectionate with your wife, is there?"
Every word Zhou Mingrui uttered lit a low-simmering fire of pleasure in his belly and Leonard bit his lower lip to stifle the stupid smile threatening to curve over his lips for the dozenth time that day.
"We have work to do," he said simply, sitting up straighter to put some distance between their bodies. The words were a reminder for both of them so they could snap out of it and not stage some sort of pre-marital scandal in his apartment.
Leonard loved Zhou Mingrui. He knew if the alpha asked seriously, he'd never say no or resist any intimate advances, married or not.
But even so, he had always been a romantic—yearning for marriage and all the sweetness that came with a happy ending.
And I still haven't finished those raunchy books I got from the black market. I don't want to disappoint my husband!
"Do you need help dismantling your nest?" Klein asked, thoughtful and rational and Leonard nodded shyly.
"Just take away anything but the pillows, the lower most sheet and blue blanket." His voice was soft as he instructed and watched the Seer stand up and reach into his nest.
The knots in his belly tightened at the sight of Mingrui touching items from his nest, gently folding and putting them in a cardboard box. My nest. Alpha touched my nest…
It took everything in him to put a lid on the pheromones that threatened to expose his innermost thoughts to the perceptive alpha.
"I see we've been thinking the same thing," Klein wondered aloud and Leonard's face burned anew. "It would be much more comfortable for you if we spend our first mating cycle in the place you're used to spending your heats. This is also why I didn't want to leave the city for our honeymoon."
He wasn't surprised Klein had noticed or prepared for something like this. Of course, not only was he perceptive and thoughtful as a Seer but Klein Moretti's attention to detail was something innate to him. Leonard adored it so much!
"Tingen is my home. I've never felt inclined to leave it even to explore scenic cities I read about." He shrugged. It had never felt like a loss to Leonard, not seeing the beauties of the world outside this little city he was born and raised in.
"Not to mention the Captain's here. You rely on his scent to mask your own and warn away other alphas. It's easy to see why you don't wish to leave the boundary of the city he lives in." His fiancé added and Leonard nodded.
If Dunn Smith hadn't decided to scent all his teammates daily, an omega like Leonard or a meek alpha like Kenley would've had to face some serious issues during missions. Not to mention, the discrimination that was sure to come from Mandated Punishers if they knew about Leonard's special circumstances.
His hands moved thoughtlessly, pressing the clothes inside and closing the box. If it was anyone but Leonard, they'd want to label each box to remind themselves and others of things inside to ensure proper handling.
Alas, he was just Leonard Mitchell, the failed poet who hated putting too much effort into temporary things. So he just patted the box in an almost-consolation and put it beside the ones Klein had placed.
"Alright, I am done." Leonard quickly turned to the packed boxes, picking up the three heaviest ones and leaving the two lighter ones for Klein as he stood.
"I thought you told me it'd only be two boxes." Klein sounded amused and Leonard glared half-hardheartedly at him.
"How was I supposed to know? I've never moved houses since I left the orphanage!" He defended weakly and Mingrui tsked, bending down to pick up the remaining boxes. "Let's go. I'll treat you to lunch myself! I'll pay for all the sugar-infested things you want to eat as payback." He generously offered and watched Klein's eyes gleam with happiness.
His soon-to-be husband loved nothing more than money and sweets after all. The alpha smiled before it turned into an expression that indicated he had suddenly remembered something.
"All this packing reminded me of something I've been meaning to tell you." As expected. Leonard turned to face him fully, letting him know he was all ears.
"Leonard Mitchell, I think—no, I am very sure of it. Leonard Mitchell, soon-to-be Moretti, I am in love with you." He confessed, the words ringing out in the bedroom, entering Leonard's ears and echoing in his mind like some sort of undodgeable area-of-effect attack.
"Ah?" Leonard blinked dumbly, almost dropping the boxes he held. "But I haven't done anything except for making you do my paperwork, teasing you and… kissing you all the time? How is this possible?"
He couldn't believe it!
I am sure Mingrui only barely liked me when he kissed me six months ago. How can he be sure so fast?
Klein looked like he was unsure whether to laugh or cry. He settled for giving Leonard the 'you're an idiot' look.
"No, I am sure I am in love with you. I confirmed it through divination and the grey fog." He answered with a straight face and Leonard couldn't help but laugh at the solemn expression painting his face. "Want me to take out my pendulum and confirm it in front of you?" Mingrui continued, shuffling over towards Leonard, his dark eyes boring into the omega's emerald ones.
"No no. I believe you, Mr Seer!" He waved a hand to reassure out of habit and remembered too late that his hands were occupied.
"Shit!" Klein exclaimed and they both fumbled to grab the falling boxes, ending up in an odd jumble of limbs barely holding together Leonard's prized possessions.
"Is my love for you surprising to this extent Leonard?" This time, his tone was full of mock-incredulity as he stared at the fumbling omega.
"How do you find it in you to tease me in a situation like this?" Leonard asked, baffled and aggrieved in equal measures as he slowly shuffled backwards with Klein following closely behind.
Lowering their hands near the surface of the mattress, the two of them let go at the same time, watching the packed boxes bounce and fall over. Some items spilled out of the open flaps and Leonard winced at the waste of effort.
The transmigrator chose that very inopportune moment to impart his wisdom. "Life is like an ice-cream. Enjoy it before it melts!" He sounded a little too cheerful to be the one who had worked harder on the packing.
"Zhou. Ming. Rui!" Leonard gritted out, watching Klein's shoulders shake in the reflection of the full-length mirror before the omega froze in his steps.
"That's me," Klein smiled, turning to look at what caused Leonard's reaction.
Their eyes met across the mirror and Mingrui too froze as he realised.
There was no sound in the apartment for a minute before Klein snapped out of it and asked:
"Do you like it?"
"Yes," Leonard whispered, ashamed he had forgotten the only large thing he had wanted to move to the Moretti residence.
"Two boxes," the Seer muttered sarcastically.
"I'll carry it!" Leonard yelled, not wanting to hear the words 'two' and 'boxes' coming from his fiancé's mouth in the same sentence again.
"No, I'll do it," the alpha insisted. "The Clown's abilities are quite handy in terms of balance, precision as well as flexibility. I can get it home safely."
Compelling argument.
Leonard didn't bother mentioning the mirror again because that beloved pair of brown eyes gleamed with enough stubbornness to rival the Old man.
"Fine. But I'll carry all five boxes." It was a statement, not a question of course.
"Four." Klein argued, in the tone he reserved for haggling with hawkers. "I'll carry a box and the mirror."
"You can have the lightest box," Leonard nodded.
"I am carrying the one with your nesting material and that's final!" The haggler was back and it was clear Leonard was about to concede, like every other person did when Klein Moretti mimicked a stubborn lawyer.
"Alright." He picked up the four boxes, watching Zhou Mingrui move towards the mirror. It came off the wall easily, hanging off two hooks as it was and the agile alpha held it under one arm and moved to grab the last box.
The placement looked odd and clearly hindered Klein's movements but the stubborn gleam in his eyes didn't diminish. Instead it flickered brighter as he looked challengingly at Leonard, daring him to spout his nonsense again.
With a roll of his eyes, Leonard walked towards the front door before another realisation hit him with enough force to rival a rampager's punch.
"Ruirui… how do we open the door?" He stared at the door that opened inwardly and had been locked after Klein entered behind him.
"Um… Leonard? We'll figure the door out but… how will we hail a carriage?"
"I forgot we had to do that too." He admitted. Maybe his memory had worsened in preparation for his advancement to Nightmare.
But that didn't explain how someone as meticulous and perceptive as a Seer forgot too…
"I may or may not have been looking at how nice you looked in your tight pants from behind?" His husband-to-be admitted. "They look uncomfortable to wear but they make your—"
"Klein Moretti!" Leonard squeaked.
His face felt like burning and Leonard could almost feel steam coming out of his ears with how embarrassed he was. His heart hammered against his ribs, threatening to burst out and the omega was torn between wanting to look at the mosaic of expressions on Klein's face and wanting to bury himself and saying goodbye to the world and its inhabitants.
"You're about to become my wife! I am allowed to admire you!" The alpha defended weakly and Leonard didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "It's not my fault you have such a pleasing figure! I am just a man after all!"
Neither of them spoke for a few moments before they turned to look at the locked door in tandem before looking at each other again.
Leonard didn't know who broke first but all he knew was the adorable way Klein's lips twitched before they both burst out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
From the window in the living room, the sun shone down inwards and onto the two people bending over near the door, their bodies and belongings shaking with laughter as the sunlight bathed them in gold.
In that moment, the house on 32 Zouteland Street was filled with life and laughter unlike it ever had been before.
×××
Mini Theater - Unlocking the Door:
“Old man? Old man! Wake up! I know you can hear me. Please open the door.”
(They grovelled for 10 minutes before Pallez got tired of their whiny voices and unlocked it.)
+
[Leonard: Old man! Old man! Ooold Maaaaan!
Klein (first two minutes): Sir… um… Mr Marauder?
Klein (after the five minute mark): Old Man! Old man! Please help us please!]