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the movement was slow in the flower shop that day.
po hummed a familiar song from an advertisement that couldn’t leave his mind no matter how much he tried to forget it. it was a good jingle and perhaps the producer had achieved their goal with it.
the day was almost lazy, all his orders were properly done and packaged, only waiting for the owners to arrive. the temptation to close the shop earlier and go upstairs, to his home, was big, tiredness slowly becoming too obvious to ignore — especially now he had to rest for two.
he rested a hand on his belly, barely visible under his large patterned apron, where a new life was steadily growing.
po tried to ignore the ache in his chest whenever the memories slithered from under the closed box he usually left them. every time he thought too much about his baby he ended up thinking too much about earn.
how couldn’t he?
for years he thought he and earn were perfect for each other — an alpha with a bright future, even if po was the only one seeing it, and him, an omega who was ready to do everything to make sure his future remained bright. after dating for so long and overcoming all the possible hardships a couple could have, po was sure that better days were coming. he was going to be properly mated, married and have the child he desired so much.
he never expected things to turn so sour so fast.
po touched the failed biting mark hidden under his black turtleneck shirt and sighed. the abrupt and traumatic ending of his relationship with earn came just a few days before he found out he was pregnant. he still remembers the despair he felt as he sobbed in fern’s arms. she didn’t know about the child, but she took his side anyway and was the first to help him move out of their shared house and find a good spot far away from anything that reminded po of the life that didn’t belong to him.
now, three months later, the only reminder of his past were the angry purple scars from what was supposed to be his biting mark — a broken reminder of a lover who rejected him and, unknowingly, their child.
“sorry, baby,” po muttered the apology under his breath, hands slowly caressing the bump over the apron. he felt sorry for the life his baby would have without the father by their side, but po was more than determined to fill in every spot.
he decided to have the baby and he was going to make sure the child lacked nothing, specially not an alpha that didn’t want them.
the little bell over the door tinkled and po’s head snapped up, surprised to see an out of breath man opening it quickly and almost jumping inside the small flower shop.
“good afternoon,” the man spoke, hurried and cheeks flushed from all the running he probably did before stumbling in the store. “do you sell bouquets here?”
po blinked, unsure if the question was a joke or he just was that rushed and didn't realize the amount of bouquets and flowers scattered around the flower shop.
“uh, yeah…”
“oh my goodness, finally!” he slumped on the counter, sighing heavily in relief. po watched him with surprise painting his features. now that he seemed to calm down, he had the chance to see him properly. the guy was an alpha, the strong smell was too obvious to not notice, but it blended well with the familiar scent in his store; he was young and well-dressed, very handsome too. “i’ve been running around like crazy to find an open flower shop,” the alpha said, laughing a little with himself. “i want a bouquet for one of my pack mates, we’re celebrating a veery important achievement in his career!”
“oh,” po smiled too, captivated by the smile of the younger. “that calls for a good bouquet, then.”
“that’s right!” the customer settled better in his place, looking around the shop for a moment before letting his gaze wander back to po. the heaviness of his stare made the florist shift a little uncomfortable, cheeks heating up and one of his hands nervously caressing his bump in instinct.
“do you have any preferences for flowers or colors?” he cleared his throat, hoping to keep the interaction less awkward.
“ah! no, no whatever you think is the best!”
po nodded, suddenly too aware of the alpha’s smell and presence just on the other side of the counter. he didn't know much about the occasion for which he would be making the bouquet, so he tried to keep the conversation professional. apparently, his pack mate landed a role he wanted to in a tv series, so they were going to celebrate it.
it was hard to prepare a bouquet without much information about the client or their tastes, the alpha wasn’t very good at giving him a good description of his pack mate, but since he was an actor, po chose flowers with both a strong smell and bold colors, along with small delicate ones. the composition looked better than he expected once he was done.
“so, what’s the name?” po asked with a smile as he picked a matching card.
“mine? thame.” the alpha leaned on the counter, flushed cheeks and bright eyes almost twinkling at him.
po chuckled, shaking his head slightly.
“i mean for the card.” he showed him the green and red card he chose. that made thame’s eyes double in size before he cleared his throat, sheepish.
“ah… you can write jun.”
the omega nodded and wrote a basic celebratory message for him in the name of the story, and then added a second card so thame could write his own later.
once the bouquet was done and wrapped in red silk, he handed it to him.
“thank you for trusting the shop, i hope your pack mate has a great celebration,” po wished with a genuine smile, unaware of the way thame’s eyes scanned him before accepting.
“thank you, this is perfect. i’ll definitely come again next time!”
po nodded and waved goodbye, watching the alpha rush outside taking his sweet smell with him.
despite the throbbing pain in his neck, where the failed mating bite still ached, he found himself wishing to see him again.
a few weeks later.
a familiar scent slithered inside the flower shop and po recognized it before the bell tinkled.
he was carrying some bouquets from the storage to the front of the store to add the finishing touches when he saw thame and four other men walk in. they were big enough to make the space look crowded and po had to step back behind the counter to offer some sort of space between all of them. he didn’t know thame would fulfill his promise to come back, and he didn’t expect to come with more people.
all of them were handsome and their mixed scents were almost overpowering when combined together. he had no idea where one scent started and the other finished, they blended perfectly, as if made for each other. an old comment from earn about his scent echoed again in his ears, the memory so striking it made him touch the gland on his neck, over the cotton shirt out of instinct.
“hi, p’po!” thame waved, bright smile curling his lips and eyes shining in satisfaction. “i came back as i promised, and this time i brought my pack mates!” he stepped forward, pointing to the four men behind him as if that explained it all.
honestly, it didn’t, but po wasn’t going to say it.
“oh… hm, hello again, thank you for coming back,” he said, unsure of what he should say or what was the appropriate behavior for that. thame was only a customer, albeit an unforgettable one, while po was just a simple florist. he wasn’t expecting any kind of loyalty. “how… how can i help all of you?” he decided to keep the professionalism.
“good morning,” one of thame’s pack mates greeted, walking from the middle of the group to stand next to the counter. he was a little taller than thame, black rimmed glasses and fluffy hair paired together with a beautiful face and fancy clothes. po tried to not stare much as he nodded in greeting.
“good morning.”
“this pup here couldn’t stop talking about how good your flower shop was,” the man smiled at him, stroking the soft hair of the younger one beside him, thame looked radiant despite his flushed cheeks. “so we came to check by ourselves what caught his attention so much.”
he stared at him deliberately for a long second from behind his glasses, a small smile curving at the corner of his lips. po tried to pretend his cheeks weren’t flushed as he laughed it off.
“i didn’t even introduce you to them,” thame jumped between them, probably hoping to clear up the air. po cleared his throat, ignoring the way his heart was beating out of rhythm in his chest. “this is p’pepper, our pack leader,” he pointed to the man in glasses, who smiled and waved at him. “this is p’jun, the one i bought flowers for that time.” a new face stepped forward, and po felt was sure he saw him somewhere before but he didn’t know where.
“the bouquet was lovely,” jun added, winking at him. po muttered a choked thank you, hoping the flush on his cheeks weren’t as noticeable as he felt.
“and this is p’dylan,” thame continued, pointing to the gray-haired man behind jun. “and this is nano!” he ended with a cute short guy, he had orange hair and glittery makeup. he was adorable, and if it was not for the smell, po would doubt he was an alpha.
the florist greeted them politely, but more often than not his eyes trailed to nano and jun’s exposed bite mark. he didn’t know if all of them mated each other, but if he paid close attention, he could see thame’s peaking from under his shirt too.
po heard about people who mated their pack, it was rare and mostly frowned upon in society. he never placed many thoughts on it but now…
thame shifted in front of him, a smile full of expectation on his face as he waited for po’s answer. the florist blinked, realizing he was probably silent for longer than he should.
“uh, nice to meet you everyone, i… i’m po pawat, the owner of this flower shop,” he said each word carefully, hoping to not look too weird in front of all those cool alphas.
“it’s nice to meet you too, po,” pepper spoke again, voice velvety and confident. “we didn’t just came here to waste your time, i promise,” he joked, pointing to the catalogue of flowers on the counter. “we want to place an order. we’re renovating our home, so when thame talked about your shop we thought it was exactly what we needed for our garden.”
“yeah,” nano jumped in the conversation, all bright-eyed and cute. po couldn’t hide a smile. “our garden looks so sad since we moved in, so i was looking everywhere for a good flower shop to make it more colorful! looking at all the pretty flowers here, i’m sure our house will be beautiful, p’po!”
despite talking about the flowers carefully displayed in the walls around them, his gaze was fixed on po the whole time.
so, with a fast beating heart, po showed them their collection of flowers and explained which ones would be better based on their routine and garden. thame showed him a picture of the space available so he could have a better idea of which option to get. to show his choices, he had to leave his safe zone behind the counter and it exposed his growing belly.
“oh, are you pregnant?” thame asked with wide eyes when his eyes landed on his bump.
he could feel the stares of the others on him as he forced his tone to sound light past the bitterness he felt.
“yeah, i– i am.”
“so, you’re mated too?” jun was the one who asked, nonchalant as he inspected too close a daisy.
the bitterness came back full force and the ache in his neck was almost too much to bear as he shook his head.
“no, i’m not.”
if they noticed how fake his smile looked or how his eyes brimmed with tears, no one commented. pepper asked about which flower would thrive despite their busy routines, and the topic was easily dropped.
po focused on explaining how to care about each kind of plant and flower they wanted to have in their garden, finding comfort in the cacophony of five different voices talking chaotically all over each other.
it was the first time po found peace amid the chaos, and the idea of going back to silence started to feel… weird.
unlike po expected, that was not the last time he worked for the pack.
two months later, despite all the work related to their garden being done for a while now, they still were hanging around po’s shop as if there was an extension of their house. sometimes one of them, usually nano or jun, came in early in the morning and brought him breakfast, asked about the baby and helped him carry heavy stuff from the storage.
in the afternoon, thame or pepper came too. they usually persuaded po into eating out in a nearby restaurant while the easy conversation distracted him from whatever issue he had either with his pregnancy — the morning sickness didn’t let go its grip from him yet and the growing bump started to become heavier day by day. both thame and pepper were good listeners and to have someone to talk to after so many lonely months since his breakup was good.
at night, next to the closing time, dylan appeared outside his shop with a bag of takeaway to share. he was a night guy, apparently because of his producer job he worked odd hours, so if anyone wandered close enough to the flower shop down the street, they would hear the laugh mid-conversation beyond the closed sign of the door.
the pack was probably unaware of how bright they turned po’s miserable days.
in those two months, he could count on his fingers the times he actively thought about earn or the fact he was going through an unplanned pregnancy alpha-less. some nights, he even got calls from thame, heard him share mundane things from his day and, more often than not, someone else popped in the call too. po caught himself falling asleep under the calming spells their voices had on him, especially when even his home — above the flower shop — started to smell like them.
they didn’t come every day, given their busy routine and the delicate beginning of the relationship, but whenever they did, their scent lingered everywhere, almost overwhelming. they brought memories — the good ones — back to the surface of his mind and were strong enough to fill the empty spot in his home.
in his heart.
it was a dangerous territory, getting caught with a pack of alphas that seemed too good to be true? while pregnant with another alpha? wasn’t he threading on thin ice? wasn’t he being stupid?
he didn’t know them that long — though it felt like they’ve been in his life forever, filling every crook and corner of his heart until it overflowed — but their feelings for each other were painfully obvious. no matter how chaotic and loud and unfiltered and odd the alpha pack was, they loved each other more than po could ever imagine being loved. the soft caresses, the worry whenever one of them got sick, the stolen kisses and the mixed scents: shirts who belonged to someone else, a recent scenting session, or even one using the other’s hair products.
po noticed it all, and the more he did, the more he yearned for that too.
however, worse than getting in the middle of an usual relationship, was getting in the middle of a pack.
the omega tried to remind himself that every day, he desperately tried to draw a line between him and them, keep things friendly and normal, but once he left the ultrasound room with a little strip of black and white pictures of his baby, he forgot all the lines and crossed the distances he once put.
when the door opened after the first ring of the bell and five familiar faces greeted him with varying levels of surprise, po couldn’t help but show them the pics, a fresh wave of tears streaming down his eyes.
“i’m going to have a boy,” he told them, voice trembling in a mix of emotions he couldn’t name anymore, but knew immediately they felt the same once five pair of arms rushed to wrap him in the warmest hug he ever received.
for the first time in years, po felt loved — truly, without hidden conditions or burdens.
just… loved.
pepper invited him to sleep over at the pack house.
po hesitated in accepting. he didn’t know if it was a good idea to spend so long with them now that he felt like at any given moment his feelings could overflow beyond the safety zone he so desperately clung to.
he was seven months into his pregnancy already, the day to meet his baby loomed closer and closer and po felt overwhelmed by the amount of things on his shoulders.
how would the birth be?
would he have any complications?
would the baby have any complications?
would it hurt much?
what about his store?
how could he manage that during the time he would inevitably spend recovering? was the closing going to affect his earnings? he didn’t earn that much from the flower shop anyway, it would be difficult if he lost even more revenue.
what about the baby? would he resemble his ex-boyfriend? po prayed he wouldn’t.
what about the pack? would they want to stick around once he actually had the baby there?
and did he even have all the necessary items in the baby’s room—
his phone rang on the bed, and po startled back to reality, forcefully pulled out of the spiraling thoughts that seemed to make a home out of his anxiety. pepper’s picture was blinking on the screen, and he didn’t need to read any minds or be a prophet to know what the call was about.
pepper was the pack leader and he took that job extremely serious, even when he didn’t need to, even towards po, an ‘extra’ to his pack. despite per’s attempts to be discreet, po saw right through him and knew that the fact po was a pregnant omega far along in his pregnancy all alone at home and work — even if it was in the same building — had him going crazy with worry.
it was extremely rare to not have one of them helping around the shop lately even when po repeated exhaustively that he was okay and they didn’t need to wast their days there. still, he was never really mad, the company helped keep his anxiety over those last months of pregnancy at bay.
perhaps, he also wasn’t as discreet as he thought, because pepper wasn’t ready to give up on the idea of him staying over at their house.
po suspected that if he went for the first time, that wouldn’t be the last.
lines, limits, distance. that was the rule po was trying to set for himself. somehow he ruined his own relationship once, and he didn’t know what his presence could cause in their perfectly balanced heaven. destroying that in any way or form felt almost blasphemous.
he couldn’t do that — it was easier to swallow his feelings and lock them away where they couldn’t cause any harm.
his phone rang again, pepper’s picture appeared on his screen.
looks like he wouldn’t take the easy no for answer.
po picked it up, clearing his throat to not sound so… sad, he accepted the call.
“per, sorry, but i—”
“p’po, can you open the door?” it wasn’t per’s voice, at least not only his voice. jun and nano’s voice were easily recognizable over the pack leader’s and in the background he could hear dylan mutter something, probably with thame.
“what–”
“we’re outside your shop,” nano said, excited, po could almost envision him jumping around the phone. “we brought snacks!”
speechless, po stumbled out of his bed and ran — or whatever was closer to it as a seven month pregnant omega — to the window.
he gasped when he saw all of them gathered there with shopping bags, food and beverage packaging. tears filled up his eyes faster than he thought it was possible (he blamed the hormones) and gripped tighter his phone.
“you didn’t seem like accepting the idea of coming to our house,” pepper said, stepping back to be able to look up and see po on the window. the street lights cast delicate shadows all over him and his warm, homely smile melted po’s heart beyond the point of return. “so we decided to come here instead. i hope you accept us.”
that—
that didn’t sound like he was simply talking about accepting them in his house.
i hope you accept us in your heart. the implicit message echoed in his ears with each loud erratic of his heart.
before po could make any sound, he was already throwing his phone on the bed without even ending the call, going down the stairs as fast as he could. he battled against the ungodly amount of keys in his keychain through shaky fingers and unlocked the doors of his shop.
he didn’t realize he was crying until pepper rushed to him and held his face, gently wiping the tears running down his cheeks. only then did he hear his own sobs and his own gasping breath.
“i don’t deserve this,” he blabbed out before he lost the sudden wave of bravery that overtook him. the others looked at him, really looked at him, not an ounce of the playfulness they usually displayed when grouped together. they seemed to understand immediately what he was talking about and the seriousness of it. “i don’t… deserve you.”
“p’po…” someone said, but po was too desperate to get everything out of his chest at once.
“i– i don’t have anything valuable to offer you, my shop isn’t even that big. i'm an older omega who discovered i was pregnant after being practically abandoned by my ex-boyfriend, and this baby won’t even be any of yours! i don’t even know how my life will be once he’s born, i—”
“p’po,” this time, it was thame’s voice who pulled him out of his spiraling. he placed a warm, comforting hand on his shoulder. “this… nothing of this matter to us.”
“what happened to you,” jun began, stepping forward confidently. “well, i have no nice words to say to your ex, but none of this is your fault nor do we see it as a problem.”
“even if this baby isn’t related to us by blood, he will be related by heart,” nano declared with a warm smile, so sure of it that shook po’s bases down its core.
“p’po you don’t have to worry about anything else,” dylan’s voice was soft and velvety as he spoke, sending shivers down his spine. one of his hands rested on his lower back, grounding. “what we feel for you don’t depend on anything that happened in your past, or whatever you think its happening in your present.”
pepper’s hands tightened slightly around his face, thumb wiping some more rebel tears that left the captivity of his eyes.
“we are aware of everything that worries you, p’po,” pepper finally said, words unwavering and firm like rock. “but i assure you we’re ready to take responsibility for you, and for the little pooh,” his smile was warm as he eyed his belly. as if summoned by his own name, the baby kicked with enough force to be noticeable under the street lights. “and for your future too. we want you to be safe, loved, and happy.”
whatever was left from his walls crumbled under the gentleness and warmth from the pack that turned his life upside down in just a couple of months.
he was hugged and kissed right there on the empty streets, scents mixing while pooh kicked all the time to get some sort of attention as well. po couldn’t even complain about the pain, too overwhelmed by the feelings overflowing his chest until it translated into touches, giggles and loving embraces.
when po walked inside his house again, it was not the same way he left.
he was part of a pack now — part of a family.
two months later.
“…they look so… peaceful…. do we, hm…”
“i think we should…. more.”
“why does he look like a potato?”
“jun!”
“i mean a cute potato, of course!”
po blinked awake while familiar voices discussed… potatoes? or something like that over his head.
he was still a little out of it after the sudden arrival of his son.
when the omega hit the ninth month, things were chaotic. he had to make sure all the last orders of his shop were finished and sent on time — thankfully his pack helped a lot — and also organize the last things in his baby’s room.
with all the chaos happening, he didn’t even think his labor could happen before the due date predicted by his doctor. so imagine his surprise when his water broke when they were finishing the last details for the closing of the shop and cleaning up the space.
everything happened too fast after that.
someone called an ambulance, there was pain everywhere and too many voices speaking over each other. po didn’t remember much from the actual birth, mind hazed by, well, pretty much everything on top of the shock of giving birth more than a week earlier than he expected. his most lucid memory was holding his baby for the first time.
that was something he couldn’t forget even if he tried.
seeing his baby face covered in blood and fluids, scrunched in a desperate cry while surrounded by his flowers and family was better than he ever expected. for a brief moment, he wondered how he could ever have wanted to do that in a sterile hospital.
then, the ambulance arrived and the thought slipped away along his consciousness once he was safely laid on the stretcher, smelling the scent of his baby and his alphas together for the first time.
in the first moment nobody realized he was up, so he enjoyed that peaceful minute to just see them.
the memories came in messy chunks along the soreness as he blinked his eyes open. he first saw jun and dylan hovering over the cradle next to his bed. then, he saw pepper by his side, holding his hand tightly between his while watching endeared those two bicker. he was obviously tired, but his eyes held nothing but love.
nano was hunched over a huge light blue bag with at least three different baby pajamas scattered on the little couch for visitors.
the see-through cradle allowed him a view of his baby sleeping soundly all bundled up in yellow and white clothes — definitely nano’s work, none of them would have matched those two pieces as well as him. he could see the dark hair peeking from the fluffy beanie and the same heart shaped mouth he saw every day in the mirror. he was sure the baby was still going to grow into his features (and look less like a cute potato, as jun was smacked by saying) but the relief that filled his heart was immense.
that was his family and he loved them.
he loved them so much.
po knew that they would be all over him the moment they realized he was awake, but those brief minutes he allowed himself to simply bask in their peaceful warmth for a moment more.
they had time.