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One thing about having cubs that they don't tell you is that you will be waking up at dawn every single day.
That's the only thing Minho can think of as one of the cubs gnaw at his arm and scratches at his shoulder.
By the sound of the soft snores all around him—only one cub is awake. That means that Minho still has time to hush him back to sleep before his ruckus wakes the others.
But Minho is so comfortable.
He still hasn't opened his eyes. Perhaps if he pretends to be asleep the cub will fall asleep from boredom.
Minho contemplates the idea for nothing more than a second, he knows ignoring the cub will only start a a chain reaction.
"Chan…" he mumbles, hand pushing against the alphas bare chest.
Chan barely twitches, a slight mumble starting but it disappears before it could even begin to form a word.
"Chan," Minho says again, pushing harder against his chest, "Your cub is up."
Chan finally wakes up. Minho feels him shift under him. Feels his arm come up to rub his eyes, a tired growl, a warm hand settles on Minho's jet black hair and he relaxes into his mates embrace.
"My cub, is it? I thought i neglected them?" Chan muses. Minho scowls and pinches his chest which is conveniently under his fingers, ready for his ambush.
Chan just chuckles, hand leaving Minho's head to gently grasp his wrist and tear his reaching fingers away from his now red chest.
Minho looks up at him with the roll of his eyes. When Chan raises his eyebrows expectantly he relaxes his hand, stopping the ministration of his fingers "Yeah, yeah. Just entertain him before he wakes up his siblings."
Chan just smiles, lets go of his wrist to instead grasp at the neck of the light gray cub—of course its her—and carrying her up to also lay on Chan's chest, next to Minho's face.
Minho, already too awake to attempt to fall back asleep, scoots his face slightly forward to nuzzle against her tummy. She growls playfully and clumsily moves and—
Minho yelps, flinching his face away from Chan's chest. Chan looks down in concern, eyebrows furrowed.
Before he can even ask what's wrong Minho growls at the mischievous puppy who's still growling and rolling around all playfully. "She bit my nose." Minho informed Chan—tone something akin to disbelief—who he could feel the anxiety roll off in big waves.
Chan visibly relaxes, knowing its nothing serious. Still he also lets out a warning growl, making the little pup's ears pin back and a soft whimper leave its small body.
The sting in Minho's nose is already gone, and while he knows he has to be stern with the pups for them to actually learn anything, he still cant help but melt when he looks into her adorable puppy eyes—so alike Chan, its almost uncanny.
Minho leans down to be face to face with her, rubs his nose back and forth against hers. "We're not mad at you, honey, just… we don't bite in human form, okay? Wolfs have tougher skin, so we can take it then, but not like this. Okay?" He looks at her pointedly. She lowers her head, a clear form of submission.
Minho smiles and pets over her back, resting his head back on Chan's chest, feeling comfy enough that he might actually be able to fall back asleep.
That is until he feels a hairy shuffle against his back. He opens his eyes again and looks up at Chan who's staring at them with such a heartfelt expression that Minho almost wants to look away. "They're awakening." He warns ominously.
Chan smiles and reaches behind Minho's back to grasp yet another puppy and bring them to his chest as well.
Looking at the scene in front of him. A light gray pup and a jet black pup. Chan playing with them, allowing them to toy with his fingers as he dances them around.
Minho's again reminded of all the reasons he loves Chan. All the reasons he mated him and all the reasons they had a litter together.
Without thinking, Minho reaches up and presses a firm kiss to Chan's plump lips.
When they separate Minho keeps close, staring intimately into his dark eyes. He whispers against Chan's lips, "I love you."
Chan smiles, teeth and dimples and the whole package. "I love you too, honey."
Suddenly there's a nip at his earlobe and he pulls back—expecting that same gray rascal—only to be met with jet black fur. "Oh, don't tell me she's infecting you, sweetheart," Minho jokes.
Chan chuckles while the innocent pup just tilts his head.
Looking out the window, Minho sees that the sun is far enough into the sky for it to be an acceptable time to start his day.
He gently pushes himself up, ignoring the grunt from Chan when he puts pressure on his chest. Balancing on his knees, the puppies that were still snoozing behind him slide down against Chan's side and its one of the cutest things he's seen.
He manages to climbs out of the bed without stepping on anyone—it really is a skill.
Approaching the chest where they keep their clothes, he glares over his shoulder, already knowing Chan would be staring at his naked ass. Seeing the older man's eyes darting up to his face as soon as he looks back he scowls, but its all just an act. Minho cant help if he likes getting admired by his mate.
He crouches down and grabs the first best thing he sees. Throwing on the clothes he keeps eye contact with Chan as he does.
Chan looks comfortable—enjoying the show, the pervert. An arm thrown under his neck, the other playing with their cubs.
Minho sighs, knowing they all have to get up now. "Come on, you big baby. You need to be setting an example for our cubs!" Minho laughs as he starts pushing at Chan's side, trying to force him out of the nest to get ready for the day.
The cubs join him in his endeavor, their small paws pushing against Chan's side.
"That's right, babies. Get him up." Minho praises mischievously.
Chan finally relents, sitting up, and stretching his arms far above his head. They do that weird thing where it looks like they're broken. The pups finds it endlessly hilarious—their small yips and barks already rising in volume at the sight of it—but Minho just finds it freaky.
Chan chuckles at the cute yips of their pups and pet over their ears before getting up, also approaching the chest to find clothes for the day. Minho isn't a pervert (thank you very much) so instead of looking at his husbands naked form with lustful eyes he turns his attention towards the cubs.
"Come here, babies. Time to get ready for today." He urges the pups to follow him. It's not as difficult to take care of the wolf cubs as it is when they learn to transform. Minho's cubs are still years away from that stage tho so he tries not to worry too much about it.
the pups eagerly follow Minho, nipping at his heels as he walks into the small dining area of their den.
The cubs know the drill by now and they all settle obediently on the floor. Minho coo at them as he digs though their preserved meat to find the ones of the cubs, its a bit softer and easier of their developing teeth.
He feeds the babies, its easy enough. He himself nibbles on some preserved meat as he waits for everyone to get ready.
The cubs are messy eaters but they finish quickly and Minho has long ago gotten used to cleaning up their spills.
As he stands up from having picked up the spills on the floor he feels Chan behind him, his warm hands find his waist and his nose nuzzles into his neck.
"Are you ready to go, honey?" Chan asks, voice muffled against his scent gland.
"I am." Minho states, matter of factly. Then he writhes his way around until he's facing Chan. Reaching up and booping his nose, Chan doesn't look perturbed at all—of course he doesn't—instead he looks all the more full of love. "But you aren't."
Chan blinks. Like he cant possibly fathom what he could possibly be missing.
"Breakfast, honey." Minho holds out a piece of cured meat.
Chan takes it from how with a sheepish smile. "Ah, right. Thanks, baby." He kisses Minho's cheek as he tears off a piece of meat with his canines.
Minho manages to get out of Chan's hold and he starts herding the pups to the door.
Chan follows behind like a lost puppy and Minho pets his hair as he walks past him to go get the necklaces he's been working on. Being Luna comes with a lot of responsibilities, Minho takes great pride in being a Luna and completes all his tasks with as much precision as possible. This time he had been asked by the council to make a few ceremonial necklaces after the latest ceremonial necklaces broke and caused a failed mating ceremony.
Minho can only imagine the pain of ones mating ceremony failing, it would bring him to tears to have Chan right in front of him but not allowed his bite.
He doesn't think about it too much, the necklaces are done and he made sure they were durable so no other poor couple will have to go through that.
He grasped them tightly as he once again approached his husband who had taken it upon him to dress the puppies. At their young age the winter could be a bit too much for them, even with their fur. So it was normal to dress young pups in pelts and blankets.
Seeing that trouble making gray wolf dressed in a brown bear fur—cut to fit a small pup of course—tugged at Minho's heart strings.
Chan was just fastening the last pelt on the last cub. The smallest of the litter, their little runt. Minho and Chan had made sure to double wrap him whenever they went out, not wanting him to freeze when he had less body fat than the others and also thinner fur.
Minho was happy to have seen him improving lately, his weight getting closer to healthy and his fur growing in more.
Chan straightened up and Minho smiled at seeing all his eager pups trying to contain themselves. He couldn't blame them for pawing at the door or rough housing with themselves. After all, it was exciting to go out, they would meet the members of the tribe and see their friends.
Minho reached over and opened the door for them allowing them all to fall out, plowing through the snow that was taller than them. Minho saw the little pup hesitating by the door. The snow was way taller than him and he also had a hard time playing with his siblings since they had such an easy time overpowering him.
He cooed at him, and when he looked up at Minho—sad puppy dog eyes staring up at him—he gently gestured out the door. "Come on, baby. You can do it. It's fun in the snow, i promise." Minho made a show of taking a step out, his clothed foot sinking into the tall layers of snow.
The pup whined, feet pawing at the floor and eyes concerned. Like he wanted to go out but couldn't.
"Aw, come on, puppy, its okay, i swear. Look." He fully stepped out, his other foot joining him. The pup reacted even more. Whines surprisingly loud for his small size called the attention of his siblings who looked over to assess the situation before going back to their playing when they saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Chan was stressing tho, his alpha instincts screaming at him to help his pup, even though he knew nothing was really wrong.
he crouched down next to the little runt and petted over his back, trying to soothe him. "Come on, baby. It's okay. Mom's okay." Chan reached out and grasped some snow, bringing the white substance closer to his son.
The pup carefully approached Chan's hand, sniffing at it. He sneezed, snow flowing everywhere. A snow flake landed on his nose and his eyes followed the white thing from the sky to right on top of his snout, eyes crossing to still be able to see it.
Minho cooed at the cute scene in front of him. Still he unfortunately didn't have time to stay here, the council weren't that generous when it comes to punctuality.
He bent down and picked up the little runt holding him close to his chest, the pup clawed until he was satisfied with his position. His milky scent had Minho subconsciously breathing in. The smell of babies was just so intoxicating.
"Come on, alpha. Don't be slower than the babies." Minho teased as Chan threw on a thick winter coat and stepped out after his mate.
Minho led the way and Chan made sure to heard all the puppies after him, running after a certain gray wolf that kept making trouble wherever she went.
They arrived at the daycare, the one place Minho suspected their pups might like more than home. His idea was always proven when they arrived and all the puppies immediately ran through the door, abandoning their parents at the first glance of their friends and teachers.
Even the little pup in his arms started pawing at his chest, wanting to be let down. Minho did just that and the pup clumsily made his way inside.
Chan just came back from chasing down the gray pup once again, he was out of breath. The pup pranced up to minho and nuzzled his ankle before prancing inside. Minho snorted at the visual of it all, his big strong husband out of breath next to him while she just innocently nuzzles him.
"She might have gotten my fur but she's got your personality." Chan huffed.
Minho's mouth opened in fake offense. He knew he was a little mischievous back in the day but since receiving his Luna title and having pups he's tried to mature a little bit.
Slapping Chan's shoulder because no matter how right he is, he should still think before he says stuff like that about his mate. Minho loves him so much.
"Thank you," Chan says to one of the omegas left in charge of the pups today, a young, newly presented girl who Minho cant quite recall the name of.
She just smiles and waves them off, from what Minho's seen she's a bit shy but really good wish children.
"Come on, Chan, you also have chores today." Minho reminded, dragging his mate along by his wrist. Chan complying as usual.
"Ah, Minho." Chan started, a hand rubbing at his neck as he caught up with Minho's hasty steps. "What… What—"
"yes, Chan, your chores are to help in the kitchen today. I checked for you yesterday when i was heading home since i assumed you hadn't checked it."
Chan leaned in and pressed a long peck to his flushed cheek.
"Thank you, baby."
Minho's cheek flushed for more than just the cold.
Hand coming up to wipe away the saliva left on his cheek he sent a playful glare towards Chan.
"What would you do without me?"