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Chapter Text

Everyone said Mingyu was such a bright and positive man who constantly exuded an admirable amount of confidence and cheerfulness, always giving out sunlight like a literal sun. It might be overwhelming to stay under the effect of the sun for too long and too close, but generally he was loved and complimented by not only his packmates but also all the people who had ever seen him for longer than three minutes.

Nonetheless, nobody knew that smiling and shining Kim Mingyu had been chronically in pain and drowned in his own crisis for years. No matter how hard he tried to solve his own problems or throw them away, he kept failing and failing. Who could imagine that it had been ten years already?

Everything started just right on Seventeen’s first year in the industry. Around that time, Mingyu simply thought he maybe had grown more fond of a particular member than other ones, no big deal. Among a group of friends or even family members, love could not be divided evenly, right? Unfortunately, for his case, the fondness kept growing bigger and bigger until one day Mingyu caught himself staring at Seungcheol and smiling like an idiot, completely entranced and whipped.

At first, Mingyu thought he might be mistaking the admiration for the pack’s beloved leader as something else, but the feelings progressively grew more and more distinct, downright impossible for him to be confused. Obviously, Mingyu’s longing stares stayed on Seungcheol regardless of what the latter was doing, not just the impressive moments of the leader displaying his authority and protectiveness over the group. In Mingyu’s eyes, Seungcheol was unreasonably cute and endearing in too many ways for him to describe. No matter whether the leader was being angry, sulky, sad, delighted, or grumpy, Mingyu would just ridiculously melt and want to pull his hyung into his own embrace.

It should be illegal for someone to have a pair of lips that was not only pouty but also irresistibly plump and red. Every single day, Mingyu thought he himself had already passed away and was actually living in hell instead of Earth, because how could it be fair for him to have to desperately fight against the desire to kiss those lips? How not to pinch or squish those soft cheeks? How to stop his mind from imagining how comfortable and soothing it would be to lay his head on Seungcheol’s lap? (Why was no one apart from Jeonghan and Joshua was allowed to do that?) How to stop feeling insanely jealous whenever Mingyu saw the video in which Seungcheol willingly sat on Joshua’s lap and wrapped the omega’s arms around him comfortably in Caratland a few years ago? How to stop his own heart from combusting whenever Seungcheol got shy and embarrassed due to being asked to do aegyo or something he had not prepared for?

Seriously, Seungcheol’s shyness had killed Mingyu and resurrected him countless times.

Of course, both of them were alphas, which had bothered Mingyu a lot before he hit twenty, but the concern dissipated as he matured, while society had also developed considerably and there were so many alpha couples all over the world. One of the biggest issues with an alpha-alpha couple was the fact that either one of them would have to endure the pain of being the bottom during sex, or they could just be versatile. People said the pain would gradually subside as long as they knew how to conduct these activities properly, but Mingyu was willing to take this discomfort instead of his crush even though his lustful head sometimes just wanted to bend Seungcheol over any surface and ruin his juicy ass. What was wrong with Mingyu? How could he look at his bandmate, his leader, and think of such lewd things, especially when Seungcheol was completely oblivious?

Mingyu blamed the overbearingly long frustration that he had been enduring for too long. Anyways, he should be ashamed of himself for lusting after his crush and imagining all of those obscene scenarios.

Generally, Mingyu was open to this kind of relationship, as long as he could be with the person he adored, but all hopes shattered as he kept observing how Seungcheol interacted with Jeonghan and Joshua. The worse thing was that Mingyu was not even overthinking; their fans saw it too. The leader always stayed extremely close to those two omegas, especially Jeonghan. It was never difficult to catch them whispering things to each other, or to see Seungcheol’s arm around Jeonghan’s shoulder or waist. They looked sickly in love and it pained Mingyu to the bone. He was not sure about Joshua, yet Seungcheol was undoubtedly too close to the American omega for anyone to think they were just normal friends.

Were the three of them having a polyamorous relationship?

Whatever it was, one thing was agonizingly evident: Seungcheol had already had someone he loved, and Mingyu stood no chance. He used to wish one day those three would stop being so clingy to one another but it simply never happened. It even got worse, with Seungcheol buying numerous expensive gifts for Jeonghan, hanging out with the said omega so frequently, and acting awfully sweetly around him. Mingyu’s hopes were killed bit by bit day by day, yet he had nowhere to escape, because they were literally a group, a pack, a family.

Moreover, after those two omegas, Mingyu was the next one Seungcheol clung to the most. They often went to the gym together, ate out together, drank together, or simply did all the random things together. On stage, they also interacted a lot. Whenever they were in the same team, Mingyu became the happiest man in the world as his crush had the tendency to run towards him for a hug whenever they won or got high scores. Whenever the leader’s expression softened while smiling or talking to Mingyu, the younger alpha was right on the verge of melting into a puddle, his brain sent straight into overdrive and his heart palpitating like crazy.

Some people said Seungcheol behaved like a princess around Mingyu.

Mingyu guessed he was supposed to feel happy about this, or at least relieved to know that he was considered an extremely close friend to the leader, but the way this notion was revealed to him shattered all kinds of hopes one more time.

No words could describe the tingling sensation all over the alpha’s body on the day he heard that he was Seungcheol’s favorite member in Seventeen. Mingyu had spent half a day buzzing in excitement, feeling ridiculously ecstatic just because Seungcheol was proud of him and thought of him as a very reliable person.

Mingyu’s smile dropped comically fast as his eyes read fan’s comments over this piece of information.

“Mingyu is our Seungcheol’s favorite child”

Child?

Mingyu’s life had not been pathetic enough and now he became the favorite child of his crush? Seriously, who could help him explain why it had to get this horrendous? Mingyu could settle with just being one of Seungcheol’s best friends, but then he ended up being considered as a kid?

The leader might kill him if he found out the romantic feelings Mingyu had in his heart all these years. They were not on the same page. Maybe not in the same book. Or even not on the same shelf. Different genres. Different planets.

Trying to keep calm through the storm that day, Mingyu convinced himself that those words only came from fans, not Seungcheol himself. The leader had given a lot of compliments but never explicitly said he considered Mingyu as a brother or a child. Besides, as far as Mingyu knew, Seungcheol never repeated those words again. It was always just fans that kept repeating these phrases and emphasizing that Mingyu was “Seungcheol’s favorite”.

 This phrase was different, though. “Seungcheol’s favorite” could indeed mean a lot of other things, if Mingyu thought about it more carefully. What if he was really the leader’s favorite, and this meant he might be above even Jeonghan and Joshua? Looking back at every encore stage, Mingyu found himself the most frequent target whenever Seungcheol sprayed water. Most of members got scolded for certain things they did, but Mingyu got the pass most of the time. There had been numerous occasions in which Mingyu joked or teased the leader yet received no big consequences. It was not until the alpha watched fans’ videos on social media sites did he figure out everyone considered those as “Mingyu’s privileges”.

“Imagine this being done by someone not Mingyu”

“As expected of Cheol’s favorite member”

“Mingyu is lucky he is the number 1”

“Favorite child indeed”

Was Mingyu being delusional for still keeping his hopes high? Rather than letting himself bask too deep in the joy of being treated differently, the alpha struggled to breathe deeply and be grateful for having the chance to become one of Seungcheol’s closest friends. It was a blessing to take his crush out to eat regularly, listen to the stories of his sadness and burden every day, and to be a firm shoulder for the leader to lean on whenever he was exhausted.

Mingyu guessed he might just steadily keep going on this path, settling down as a best friend forever, and ignoring the chronic pain in his heart eternally, until one day something out of the ordinary happened.

That day was supposed to be just a normal day of them doing the pre-recording for a special stage. It was not a comeback stage, just a special one that would be aired on a national festival. The broadcast station became busy with the presence of various idols coming to do the same job. A lot of them passed by each other on the hallway of the waiting rooms, yet a huge commotion suddenly broke out when they caught a man from an older group groped Seungcheol’s bottom in broad daylight. The whole Seventeen saw red and lunged at the evil man before the leader could react and Mingyu must have been the fastest. He did not hesitate to punch that bastard, and would probably punch a few more times if Seungcheol had not tried to stop him.

To Mingyu’s astonishment and even rage, the leader looked undeniably shaken, his voice and body suddenly trembling. However, seeing Seungcheol’s teary eyes of fear, Mingyu stopped trying to beat the bad guy to death, but refused to let this slide. Ignoring Seungcheol’s whispers of “please just ignore it, Gyu”, the young alpha made sure he was loud enough to make the whole hallway know how despicable the bastard had been. The jerk’s bandmates and managers quickly rushed to the rescue, surprisingly pushing the agenda of “He’s an alpha. There’s no big deal in this. It’s just a joke.”

If Seungcheol were not pleading him to stay calm, Mingyu believed he would have committed numerous crimes at once. The other Seventeen members were furious as well, yet no one spoke as loudly and exuded as much dominance as Mingyu while he growled at those shameful people.

“He’s an alpha, so what? It means you can treat him however you like? Only a pathetic excuse of human beings like you guys thinks it’s not important to respect the boundaries and consent of an alpha! Disgusting!”

Everyone literally had to fight extremely hard to stop Mingyu from murdering the bastard, but the only person who really managed to make him listen was only Seungcheol. The sole reason Mingyu agreed to walk back to their waiting room was that he wanted to check on his crush better, because obviously, Seungcheol did not look fine at all. Holding the older male’s hand gently and taking him to a corner of the room, Mingyu bent down and lowered his voice to the utmost, trying to look into the watery eyes.

“Are you okay, Cheollie? Don’t be scared. Everyone is here to protect you. I’m here to protect you.”

Sadly, Seungcheol refused to look into his eyes, yet his shoulders begun to shake, intensifying the younger man’s worries to an alarming level. The sadder thing was that Seungcheol turned away from him and took his own hand back just three seconds later, heading straight to Jeonghan who was just a step away from them, among the crowd of members surrounding them. Nobody heard what they said, only seeing Jeonghan taking Seungcheol out of the room and hearing Joshua saying that they needed a minute.

Seeing the three of them leaving, Mingyu could not feel at ease, so he decided to secretly follow. Some members tried to stop him, saying that perhaps Seungcheol needed some alone time with his omegas, but they quickly granted him the permission to go once Mingyu said he just wanted to guard them better in case someone came back for revenge. One shaken alpha and two omegas did not seem like a powerful combo.

Taking advantage of his long legs, Mingyu rapidly caught up with the trio, only a few meters away from them until they entered an empty storage at the end of the hall. Joshua kicked the door closed, but Mingyu rushed towards it just in time to prevent the door from being shut completely. Joshua should be more careful and pay more attention to locking the door but Seungcheol bursting into tears had stolen all of his attention. Mingyu had the chance to look into the room through the tiniest gap between the door and the wall, completely devastated and heartbroken to see Seungcheol crying on Jeonghan’s shoulder. Joshua pressed himself to the back of the leader, hurriedly trying to use both assuring words and soft touches to soothe the crying male together with his best friend.

Mingyu could not hear much of their words, as both of the omegas were trying their best to sound soft, gentle, and soothing for Seungcheol. Yet, his heart instantly shattered into a thousand pieces when Seungcheol croaked out.

“I can’t… I can’t face him like this… I just… just want to… want him to hold me and… and…”

Both Jeonghan and Joshua cooed at him quietly.

“Shh, don’t cry, Cheollie! It’s okay! I’m sure he won’t judge you!”

“Why don’t you just do it? I believe it will be just fine! He loves you no matter who you are!”

Seungcheol shook his head, his voice broken like how Mingyu’s heart was.

“I’m scared!”

For the rest of their conversation, Mingyu could not hear anything anymore, because Seungcheol’s cries were louder than their words, and the young alpha’s blood was rushing too noisily in his ears to catch any other sounds.

Who was the person that Seungcheol had just mentioned?

Was he still scared due to the unfortunate incidence, or because of another reason?

In spite of having got extremely furious at the bad people, Mingyu was slightly stunned to see how heavily it affected Seungcheol. Instead of becoming angry, the leader appeared to be mostly petrified and traumatized, which made it more and more difficult for Mingyu to refrain from barging into the damn room to wrap his arms tightly around Seungcheol.

The mental and emotional battle that day was undoubtedly one of the most horrible ones Mingyu had ever been through. As a mature alpha, he was supposed to be highly capable of controlling himself, but everything turned out to be tremendously difficult when Seungcheol was involved. Hating his own uselessness, Mingyu could only slowly walked further and further away from the room, pretending to be just a guard for his packmates so that no one else would accidentally get close to the storage and eavesdropped on their secret talk.

If Seungcheol chose to cry in the absence of his packmates, Mingyu believed nobody else should see this.

After fifteen minutes, the three of them finally walked out, and immediately froze to see Mingyu leaning against the wall, just a few meters away from the door.

“You followed us?” Jeonghan’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“I just want to make sure no bastards try to approach you all. You know, those jerks can be worse.” Mingyu’s words were half the truth. He was truly worried of their safety.

“Did you hear us talk?” Joshua asked warily, sparking a lot of curiosity in the youngest man.

Mingyu had known that Seungcheol did not want to be seen crying, but why were Joshua and Jeonghan so tense about his presence? Nonetheless, they did not try to interrogate him more, seemingly convinced by the alpha’s explanation. Not caring too much about them either, Mingyu walked to Seungcheol, who was now finally looking at him properly again, even though his eyes were still red and easily exposed that he had just cried. Contrary to Mingyu’s expectation of seeing a Seungcheol trying to act tough, the leader was now actually giving him a tiny smile and staring at him with anticipation.

Without thinking, Mingyu let his hand touched Seungcheol’s cheek in a gentle caress.

“Are you okay, Cheollie? Please tell me.”

The leader forced himself to smile a little more.

“I’m fine. Thank you, Gyu.”

The exchange was brief, since they were still in the hall way, but Mingyu made sure to use his giant body to cover Seungcheol on their way back to the waiting room, preventing people’s curious eyes from glancing at his crush. The other two omegas saw what he was doing but voiced out nothing, just silently walking and stealing glances at each other.

As the pack headed to a restaurant for dinner later, Mingyu was relieved to see Seungcheol’s face slowly going back to normal while being surrounded by the members. Not only Mingyu but also the whole pack was considerate and careful in handling the situation, not mentioning it too much, subtly treating the leader a bit more gently than usual and cracking more jokes among the pack to uplift the atmosphere. Mingyu sat next to Seungcheol for the whole time, trying the best not to stare at the older too hard, afraid that his intense observation would bring discomfort.

Although the leader gave him an assuring smile, Mingyu felt like something was off. According to his knowledge and understanding about Seungcheol, this man could not recover from something that had just made him shed tears so quickly. Therefore, Mingyu continued to cautiously observe Seungcheol as much as he could for the rest of the day until he could not anymore. Each of them went to their own room in the shared penthouse after Mingyu said “goodnight” to his crush and patted the back of his head gently.

Before Mingyu could fall asleep, his door was knocked. Once opening it, the alpha was bewildered to find his crush – dressed in pajamas, eyes almost glued to the floor - standing in front of him, shyly asking if he could sleep here for one night. Never had Mingyu agreed so fast.

Once they lay down together in the fluffy bed, Mingyu almost debated whether he was allowed to cuddle with Seungcheol or not, yet the answer rapidly came. Seungcheol’s tears silently began to roll down his cheeks, prompting Mingyu to hurriedly pull the leader into his embrace.

There were no heavy sobs or much noise coming from Seungcheol. His tears just came down quietly, his shoulders trembling slightly but visibly to Mingyu’s worried eyes, and right at this moment, the young alpha hated himself for having not been able to protect his most beloved person. Such mishaps were almost unpredictable, since no one could think it could happen out of the blue like that, yet Mingyu kept feeling like it was his own fault, and the only thing he could do now was to hold Seungcheol securely into his chest, hopefully never letting go again.

Seungcheol did not say anything that night, just curling up and listening to Mingyu’s soothing words and staying still under the gentle hands caressing his hair, his back, and his arms. Not being told to shut up, Mingyu knew his crush needed to and wanted to hear whatever he was saying, so he kept going on until realizing that Seungcheol had blissfully fell asleep under the tender treatment.

Tucking the leader warmly under the blanket, Mingyu let Seungcheol use his bicep as a pillow, but as time passed by, even deep in his sleep, the older male subconsciously moved until half of his face was pressed against the bigger man’s chest. No matter how hard Mingyu persuaded himself to sleep, he failed and failed, especially when his brain repeatedly replayed what he had heard from the conversation among Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Joshua.

“I just… just want to… want him to hold me and… and…”

“Shh, don’t cry, Cheollie! It’s okay! I’m sure he won’t judge you!”

“Why don’t you just do it? I believe it will be just fine! He loves you no matter who you are!”

Was Mingyu the man they had mentioned? Except for this, he could not think of any other possibility. Seungcheol being in his bed, in his arms, on his chest now was definitely not a dream, yet did this ever prove anything? Why was Seungcheol not seeking for solace from his omegas instead?

The fact that Seungcheol chose to run to him in this vulnerable moment made Mingyu’s heart swell to the point of taking more than ninety percent of his chest capacity, making it too difficult for the man to breathe.

Mingyu had spent most of the night dreading pressing his cock against Seungcheol and vice versa, scared of getting a boner in front of his pack leader and causing things to become awkward. Nonetheless, when Mingyu woke up in the next morning and found Seungcheol practically lying on top of him, he was too stunned and overwhelmed by a heart attack to realize that there was nothing poking against his torso.

Seungcheol’s face was still on Mingyu’s chest while he lay on his belly, legs draped over the sides of the younger alpha, his whole weight literally pinning Mingyu down into the mattress. Entirely enamored and elated, Mingyu smiled to himself like an absolute fool in love, wrapping both of his massive arms around his crush to hold him, tightly and tenderly at the same time, because to him, Seungcheol was the most precious existence in this universe.

Mingyu now agreed that this was his own personal privilege, since he knew Seungcheol very rarely shared a bed with any of the members.

Chapter Text

Seungcheol blushed like a ripe tomato when he woke up, too mortified to look at Mingyu in the eyes for even a second. Nonetheless, he did not fight back when the younger alpha smiled fondly and pulled him into a warm hug, encouraging him to tell Mingyu whatever he wanted to say. Mingyu was always like this, willing and eager to listen to everything Seungcheol attentively. His positive attitude and cheerfulness sometimes became overwhelming, but Mingyu knew he had always contributed to keeping his crush grounded. Although the story of Seungcheol having anxiety disorder seemed to be a long gone past, Mingyu’s words of affirmation never failed to keep the leader’s worries at bay.

The chances of recurrence of anxiety disorder were uncommon. The alpha never wanted his crush to enter that phase one more time.

In this way, Mingyu felt like they were born for each other. Destined for each other.

It was the reason why they spent the next hour talking in Mingyu’s bed instead of getting ready for the new day. Very lucky for them both, they were free this morning, which made it possible for Mingyu to properly talk to his hyung, assuring him that nothing was his fault and there was no reason to feel disgusted of himself. The company had promised to deal with the issues to do justice for Seungcheol, and Mingyu was extremely eager to catch up with how everything had progressed.

No matter how nervous Seungcheol seemed to be about the result, Mingyu firmly assured him that the world would stand on their side.

“I’m sorry I was too emotional.” Seungcheol whispered without looking at the younger man. “It was not even a sexual assault. It was such a small incident yet I ended up crying pathetically as if…”

“Hey, hyung! It’s not small at all, and you aren’t pathetic.” Holding Seungcheol’s hand gently, Mingyu quickly corrected his words in a firm tone. “Don’t blame yourself like this! Sexual harassment or assault are all bad, while you literally did nothing wrong. You’re a human. You can cry.”

Seungcheol did not look entirely unaffected, but he pouted and complained.

“You said like it’s so easy but that’s just because you’re Kim Mingyu.”

“Is this an insult or a compliment?” Mingyu faked a hurt expression on his face only to receive a slap on his chest. It did not hurt actually, simply causing him to laugh fondly. “But you have to admit that I’m never wrong, right?”

Although Seungcheol continued to pout, he did not try to argue, which gave Mingyu the opportunity to keep persuading the leader to stop degrading himself. Receiving no retort, the young alpha kept going on and on while his hands did not miss the chance to rub Seungcheol’s arm and back steadily.

In the end, what got the older alpha to smile the brightest was Mingyu’s promise.

“I will protect you even more than how you’ve always protected us.”

Once he said it, he was determined to follow through till his own last breath. Falling head over heels for the brightest gummy smile on his crush’s face, Mingyu could not help squeezing Seungcheol extraordinarily tightly right on the spot. Surprisingly, the hug turned the older alpha’s scent ten times sweeter than its ordinary state, which was the vivid sign of embarrassment, or perhaps even happiness. Despite being an alpha, Seungcheol had a fainter and sweeter scent than any alphas Mingyu had known, but this fact could not alleviate his desire to press his face into his crush’s neck to take a deep inhale.

Right, Mingyu had just remembered an important fact. Seungcheol had never scented anyone in their pack, not even once. Generally, pack leaders or alphas usually did this gesture to provide comfort and a sense of being protected to their packmates, mostly omegas since they were prone to feel more vulnerable. It was a caring act, a sweet thing to do between pack members, or lovers. Nonetheless, the most everyone in Seventeen could get was the leader’s Creed Aventus perfume all their body and nothing else. Was it because his scent was faint so it could not really overshadow other people’s scent or stick to their body?

The pack members used to be relatively disappointed about this at first, but their job required them to use scent-blocker all the time so there was not much time left to think of their real scents. However, now with his nose directly on Seungcheol’s neck like this, Mingyu’s brain spiraled faster than ever, wondering whether it would be appropriate for him to scent his crush instead? Or maybe he did not even have to do this because they had spent the whole night long clinging to each other?

Mingyu was on hundred percent everyone would only smell him on Seungcheol after the leader walked out of this room. Getting delirious because of this thought, definitely not hearing Seungcheol asking “what are you doing”, Mingyu failed to stop himself from swiftly rubbing the inner side of his wrist directly on the leader’s neck. Originally, the young alpha had mentally debated whether he should repeat the action a few more times to make sure the scent would stay or not, but reality proved he needed no more.

Only one rub and Seungcheol instantly whimpered straight into his ear. A sweet and high-pitched sound that Mingyu had never heard from his crush in the entire decade. Within a split second, it rendered the alpha completely speechless, awestruck and thoroughly smitten. Too stunned, Mingyu just stared like an idiot while Seungcheol scrambled to get out of his arms to grab the nearest pillow. The fluffy object was thrown directly into Mingyu’s face, hardly doing any harm, yet the young alpha continued to stare unblinkingly at his furiously blushing crush who was struggling to find words while crawling out of bed.

Mingyu expected to smell a sweeter scent in the air, yet nothing came, and he realized that what he had thought previously did come true. His own scent effortlessly overpowered Seungcheol’s one, which explained why now he could not smell the intensely embarrassed leader anymore. Grinning unabashedly, Mingyu received one more pillow in his face but had absolutely no regret. The pout on Seungcheol’s face was giving its full power and proved that its owner was being mortified, not angry.

“Yah, Kim Mingyu, you… you…” At this moment, he still had not found the words back.

Chuckling, Mingyu also got out of his bed to stand up, facing Seungcheol and grabbing his wrist to pull him back closer. Seemingly not expecting it to happen, the leader fell forward, stumbling on his feet and nearly collapsing right on Mingyu’s chest. The younger man did not know where his confidence suddenly came from, but the image of this flustered Seungcheol was doing illegal things to his heart and somehow he wanted to not only protect but also tease this cute boy? Had Seungcheol ever even acted this confused and defenseless in front of anyone? It looked like Mingyu had unknowingly triggered something he had not witnessed before.

“It’s meant to make you more comfortable and keep in mind that I’m always here to protect you. Remember?”

The redder Seungcheol became, the more brightly Mingyu smiled, which ended up becoming an endless circle and the leader turned out to be the one who could not handle it any longer. Shoving against Mingyu’s chest and breaking free from his hand, he grumbled without any actual spite or heat.

“Bastard!”

Even when the leader was gone, Mingyu continued to smile from ear to ear and decided to peak his head out of the door to watch his crush storming back to his own bedroom, obviously still extremely embarrassed. Having been with Seungcheol long enough, Mingyu knew the leader was not angry at all. If he had been mad, the young alpha would have been rolling in pain on the floor by now.

At the moment Mingyu came to the dining room for breakfast, Seungcheol was already there eating his ramen, but the young alpha could see the way his neck gradually turned red from far away. Undoubtedly sensing Mingyu coming, Seungcheol turned redder and redder by seconds until he literally glared at him while the fearless alpha resolutely kept his bright grin, totally unapologetic.

“You scented Seungcheol, right?” Jeonghan also glared at him from across the table, but unlike Seungcheol, he looked pretty annoyed, even gritting his teeth. “I refuse to come anywhere near him until that thing comes off.”

Mingyu exaggerated a hurt expression.

“Hyung, don’t act like I smell disgusting!”

Jeonghan scrunched his nose, showing nothing but distaste.

“No, you two are disgusting!”

A sulky Seungcheol snapped his head towards Jeonghan and smacked his arm right away yet the omega just stuck out his mocking tongue in retort. Despite laughing, Mingyu did not attempt to tease more, just starting to make his own food. Displeased with the plain ramen Seungcheol was eating, the younger man silently made some more fried eggs, and a few pancakes, pretending to simply make his own breakfast yet wordlessly putting some of them down in front of the leader. Noticing that or not, Jeonghan pointed nothing out, and Seungcheol did not reject the food either. Happy to see his adorable crush munching on the food he had made, Mingyu could sit down and eat his own food in utter delight.

Perhaps Mingyu could proudly believe that Seungcheol was back to his normal self pretty rapidly thanks to being taken care of well. For the rest of the day, the leader could not stop sulking whenever running into Mingyu but the young alpha felt proud to realize Seungcheol had not try to get rid of his scent. It only disappeared when they all had to put on scent-blockers before heading out for work, yet that was enough of a blissful day for Mingyu.

He allowed his hopes to continue living. If Jeonghan was not mad at seeing his boyfriend being scented by another alpha, maybe they were not dating?

Perhaps, Mingyu should just ask, but he knew, it would be weird of him to ask such personal questions. Moreover, they would easily realize he must be having a crush on either of them to be so curious of their relationship status, which could turn everything to a whole new level of awkwardness.

Despite Mingyu’s hopes, the next days and months went by normally like they had always done. Some people might feel sad to think that all the flirting and scenting things that day earned them nothing, but the positive Mingyu was happy with the fact that Seungcheol did not become uncomfortable or awkward with him at all. They continued to hang out with each other more frequent than with anyone else in the pack. Sometimes it would be just as simple as drinking together, or a café date. A small conversation or a sweet smile from Seungcheol while they were on stage was enough to make Mingyu’s heart bloom.

…

One day, Mingyu and Seokmin were asked to do a meeting with their CEO and producers (including Woozi, certainly). As expected, the main content of this was a discussion about their next sub-unit. Except for the Leaders and BSS, all of the other sub-units were like a “gender reveal” occasion for the members as their enlistment time was coming and it became impossible to hide their secondary gender to the public. Omegas did not have to go; only alphas and betas had to. Each of the pair - Jeonghan x Wonwoo, Hoshi x Woozi – included one member who would serve the military and one who would stay home. So far, Wonwoo had already left while Hoshi would come soon. Everything had gone really well, to everyone’s relief, as Carats loved them no matter.

There was no “gender reveal” for Seungcheol and Joshua though, since Seungcheol had already been exempt from military service due to his serious injury while Joshua was American. Jun and Minghao’s case would be perhaps the same as they were Chinese. Nonetheless, Mingyu was pretty sure everyone in the world had already assumed Seungcheol was an alpha straight from their debut. The company disliked revealing this kind of information related to the members who were not obliged to enlist. Mingyu understood this way of thinking, but he had never heard them mention any special plans for the members who did not enlist. Surely, not leaving the spotlight for two years was already a blessing for them, yet Mingyu still somehow found it unfair.

According to their age, the next ones to go would be Mingyu and Seokmin. If they formed a duo, this sub-unit would be different since neither of them would stay home as Seokmin was a beta. Mingyu was not sure why the company had to relay all of this information to them again, but he believed he had a better idea than this.

The alpha did not hesitate to share it.

“I know this is supposed to be me and Seokmin, but how about letting Seokmin go solo? He is an amazing vocalist, and I know a lot of people want to listen to many more solo songs of him where he can show off his vocals.”

“What about you?” Woozi asked, seemingly interested. “That sounds like a nice idea, but the problem is we have to pair you with someone else, or do you want to go solo too?”

“Can I do it with Coups hyung?” Mingyu asked hopefully. “He hasn’t had the chance to do this. Even the latest project for the Leaders was canceled because of his injury. It’s unfair for him not to get the chance to have a sub-unit. The total length of his hiatuses is probably longer than a real enlisting period. I know he will never say this out because he wants to let the rest of us get these opportunities but seriously I think he needs it even more than anyone else.”

With that way of reasoning, Mingyu succeeded in convincing everyone without even consulting Seungcheol’s opinion. Without a doubt, they would ask the leader later, and would change their plan if he refused, but Mingyu did not think it would happen that way.

Words spread faster than what the young alpha had expected. Mingyu came home extremely late after a personal schedule only to find Seungcheol sitting on the sofa in the living room. Before he could ask why the leader was not sleeping in bed yet, Seungcheol had already flew towards him and jumped over to wrap his limbs around the younger man. This was not the first time for this to happen (Seungcheol had done this to him on stage as well) but Mingyu still could not help getting surprised. Rapidly, he dropped everything in his hands to hold Seungcheol securely while taking in the sweetest scent he had ever found on Earth.

Mingyu missed his crush’s embrace right after Seungcheol dropped himself back down on the floor just seconds later, but the younger man’s heart was instantly soothed and caressed by the brightest smile on the leader’s face.

“Thank you, Gyu! They told me about it!” Seungcheol was evidently so happy and excited; his whole body was literally glowing. “You really want to do it with me?”

“Of course, Cheolie.” Grinning back even more brightly, Mingyu did not hide his own excitement. His two hands came up to squish Seungcheol’s cheeks. “I have always wanted to make a duo together with you! I remember telling you about this, right?”

“Yeah, you did.” A lovely shade of light pink tinted his cheeks, nearly causing Mingyu to swoon desperately.

Fortunately, the leader grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the kitchen before the young alpha could do something stupid.

“Are you hungry? I made some kimchi jigae for you.”

All of the exhaustion Mingyu had felt after a long gruesome working day vanished in the blink of an eye. Like a happy puppy, he quickly followed his love into the kitchen, even more elated to realize the pot of jigae looked completely intact, as if Seungcheol had made this just for him, not anyone else. It was still relatively hot, but the leader insisted on reheating it while urging Mingyu to change his clothes and wash his hands.

“Will you eat with me too, hyung?” Mingyu stared at his crush through his imploring puppy eyes, batting his eyelashes innocently.

Seungcheol chuckled, shoving his shoulder, yet there was barely any strength in his touch. It was just a playful – probably even loving – shove.

“I will gain weight if I eat at this hour. It’s already two o’clock.”

Laughing, Mingyu leaned closer to mischievously rub Seungcheol’s tummy. Contrary to what people usually thought about his tough and cool image, this area just felt soft and cute in Mingyu’s hands. In fact, the younger male had to admit he was addicted to touching it.

“Then we will get fat together!”

Before Mingyu could run away, he got a smack on the back of his head, but once again, it was nothing more than a playful touch, since obviously Seungcheol had never meant to hurt him. Skipping away with a fluttering heart, the puppy-like alpha changed his clothes and washed his hands in the fastest speed he had ever done in his whole life, immensely eager to have a late meal with his most beloved person.

From that day onwards, Mingyu became the happiest person in this world, because the universe allowed the time he spent with his crush to double. Apart from working with the whole group, they also worked on their upcoming unit project together without forgetting to hang out together in their precious free time. There was not many opportunities to do that these days since the schedule was incredibly hectic, but Mingyu never failed to prioritize his crush’s wishes. Seungcheol wanted to go to a concert, so the alpha made his wish come true.

The company did not want a “too obvious” revelation for the new unit although the speculation had been prevalent, so Mingyu had to take more people than just Seungcheol to the concert. Vernon and a manager came with them, but Mingyu barely saw anyone apart from his crush.

Among the crowds cheering excitedly at the band on stage, Mingyu unintentionally had his eyes glued on the leader next to him almost from the beginning till the end of the concert. Nothing else in this world seemed to be as marvelous as seeing Seungcheol having fun, smiling and enjoying his relaxing time without much worries about anything. With his phone in his hand, Mingyu did not miss the chance to capture all of the precious scenes of his crush, as if scared that his little brain would not be capable of remembering everything he adored right here right now. Within a few hours, the gallery in his phone was full of both videos and photos of Seungcheol swaying to the music, smiling happily with the glasses on and cheering at the fireworks. Certainly, they did not forget to take some selfies together in spite of not planning to post them on social media. Yet, they did ask their manager to take a few photos of them together as well, since the company planned to make a post about this later.

The manager might have been too trusting in Mingyu’s job of taking photos and videos, and it turned out to be a giant mistake. Grimacing as he scrolled through the photos and videos Mingyu sent him the next day, the poor manager sighed in exasperation.

“What the hell, Mingyu? Is it a Choi Seungcheol documentary? Where is Vernon? And you? Where?”

Mingyu shrugged, pretending to be nonchalant and innocent.

“Not my fault, hyung. Cheolie was right next to me. Vernon was too far.”

Frustrated with a heavy headache, the manager hissed and rubbed his temple.

“If we post any of those photos and videos it will just give the “taking my lover to a concert” vibe.”

Hearing that, Mingyu thought the man was overreacting, but when the post came out, he belatedly realized it was actually true. Even though the three of them were available in the video taken by the manager, the general vibe of the whole post was exactly “taking my lover to a concert” since Seungcheol was the center of every other photos. Nearly cooing at his own screen, Mingyu was whipped for them as if he was not the person taking those ones. Everyone else agreed with him though; all fans commented that the leader looked so cute and happy, and indeed, they did say it looked like a date between him and Mingyu, since Vernon was almost invisible in the photos their manager had taken.

The fact that Seungcheol voiced no complaint and showed no negative reaction afterwards gave Mingyu hopes again.

It had been ten years already and the alpha thought he was supposed to get better, to overcome it, but he only became a more pathetic loser seeing no one else but his crush after all those years. They spent so much quality time together; the fact that there was nothing except for packmate relationship going on was actually insane and obscene. The frequency of people repeating “indeed Seungcheol’s favorite child” or “favorite member’s privilege” kept increasing in a startling speed but it never helped confirming anything, because Seungcheol never showed or said anything distinctive.

Since that special night, the leader had the tendency to sleep in Mingyu’s room whenever the younger alpha knew something was making him particularly uneasy. Usually walking up before Seungcheol did, Mingyu secretly rubbed his wrist on the older male’s scent gland again, making him whine or whimper softly into the pillow. Nonetheless, Seungcheol expressed no discomfort or anger after waking up or any other times during the day, seemingly accepting the scent that did not belong to himself. Among everything, this was perhaps what caused Mingyu’s heart to swell the most, since he knew an alpha’s ego would not allow this to happen under no condition.

Yet, what if Seungcheol really considered him as his child? Or just a brother? Family members could do this to each other, definitely.

The night before the day Seungcheol headed to New York for his special schedule, he spent a whole hour fretting in Mingyu’s bed. Nonetheless, the exhaustion of their relentless preparation for the comeback had worn him out and knocked him into sleep rapidly. Worried about his anxiety, Mingyu almost failed to sleep, busy spending his time holding Seungcheol into his chest and maybe testing his own luck by using his thumb to gently stroke the scent gland on his crush’s neck. It was considered another soothing gesture people would do to their beloved ones, but this was more intimate than the act of scenting, as it would last longer, and provide more powerful impact on the receiver. Omegas were often on the receiving end, but Mingyu knew everyone could get this to feel safe and more comfortable.

His Seungcheol deserved all the sweetest thing in this world.

The first touch caused the leader to let out a small sound which did not reveal a clear emotion. Feeling a little bold, Mingyu kept going on and on, slowly picking up the faint sweet scent in the air, and that was the only reaction he received from then on. Smiling in satisfaction, the young alpha languidly let his thumb tenderly soothed the man in his arms until he himself also succumbed to his own exhaustion.

Going to Western country and showing up in public completely alone were not easy for Seungcheol, but Mingyu knew the older alpha tried not to talk too much about it since he thought as an alpha and as a leader he was supposed to suck it up and behave like a real alpha. Mingyu tried to refrain from correcting his crush’s thought at this moment, only making sure to keep checking on Seungcheol through texts and calls to ensure him he was cared about. It perhaps did work like magic. Seungcheol did not initiate a conversation often, yet spilled out a lot of thoughts and concerns whenever Mingyu contacted him, letting the younger male know the emotions were being bottled up within his anxious crush again.

“I know you can do it. You’ve been through so much already. This event will make you even stronger and shine brighter. Do you believe me, Cheolie?”

“You’re Kim Mingyu… I… I don’t have the confidence like you! And… and it’s just…”

“What I have said always turns out to be true, right? Do you agree with me, hyung?” The question earned Mingyu a dejected whine, but he knew it was a sign showing Seungcheol had nothing to retort. “You’re the strongest person I have ever known, Cheollie. I believe in you, and I know you believe in yourself too.”

“No.” The leader whimpered, yet the volume of his voice dropped ten times lower. “I don’t believe in myself! I believe in you more.”

For three seconds, the dumbfounded Mingyu could not find any bit of strength to make his mouth or his brain work, too stunned to continue speaking.

What kind of universe had Mingyu saved in his previous life? What had he ever done to earn this kind of trust? The wildest part of the alpha’s imagination had not ever dared to think of this, but right now Seungcheol had just made Mingyu felt like the most reliable and trustworthy man in the world.

“Mingyu?” Nervously, the leader asked after too many seconds of silence.

“Yes, ba- Cheolie.” Trying to clear his voice, Mingyu fought his hardest battle not to swoon or melt into mush, focusing back on the task of easing Seungcheol’s nerves without calling him “baby”. “If you trust me and I think you can do it, you must believe that you can. Okay?”

The frustration had never been this unbearable. Without a doubt, Mingyu knew if he was by Seungcheol’s side right now, he would drown the leader in hugs and kisses, using all of his love to chase the worries away, or at least he could tease and annoy the hell out of his crush to make him forget about his anxiety. Sadly, they were so far apart; Mingyu was stuck in his own room talking to Seungcheol instead of sleeping so early in the morning.

Mingyu should feel lucky nobody heard him cooing while seeing what his crush posted on Weverse moments later. “I’m so nervous” was definitely an understatement to the real emotions Seungcheol was going through. Not giving up in his efforts to cheer the older alpha up, Mingyu quickly sent him a text.

“Fighting, Cheolie! I’m gonna treat you a big meal when you ret urn, no matter how good or bad it turns out! If you do well, I will treat you thirty more meals, anything you like to eat. How does that sound?”

In less than ten seconds, Seungcheol came to him, and all Mingyu could imagine was a giggle of delight from his crush.

“I’m on it!”

Even though everyone had incredibly high expectations for Seungcheol, the outcome surprisingly exceeded anything anyone had ever managed to think of. Mingyu was sitting in front of a laptop, a tablet, and three cellphones to watch different live streams of various channels when the love of his heart showed up on one of the screens. Mingyu’s jaws were not the only thing that dropped to the floor, perhaps his drool, his teeth, or maybe even his whole heart and brain.

Seungcheol looked magnificent. Majestic. Gorgeous. Breathtaking. Mingyu’s head malfunctioned and could not think any further. Who could believe this man was actually extremely nervous under such a flawless appearance?

Everything happened so fast and nothing felt enough for the alpha’s throbbing heart, but there was no need to worry. Videos and photos of Seungcheol speedily flooded the social media, allowing Mingyu to look at his love better from different angles. Not a single one of them disappointed, as if this was something coming from a dream which took Mingyu so long to process and to stop thinking about.

Muttering a curse under his breath, Mingyu struggled to remind himself that he had a schedule to do this morning and he could not delay getting ready any longer. Unfortunately, it was just impossible to focus because he was hypersensitive of his own phone, jumping every single time it buzzed and gave a notification. At one point, there was finally a message from Seungcheol.

“Did you see me, Gyu? How was it? I’m so relieved it’s over but it’s still scary now somebody saves me!!!”

Mingyu’s fingers were flying across the keyboard on his screen to pour out as many compliments as possible in his tightly limited time.

“You’re perfect, my love. You didn’t look nervous at all and woooowww that outfit! I’m so proud of you right now I really can’t describe it! Don’t be scared, Cheolie! You can do it! You literally can do anything!”

After that, Mingyu received no more from Seungcheol until there came a new post on Weverse.

“This is the longest day in my life”

With the intention of checking on his crush, the young alpha opened the chat box and finally, the old text caught his attention, albeit too late.

His dumb excited ass really had called Seungcheol “my love” while the latter was in the middle of an important event. No wonder Seungcheol did not say anything else after that, and Mingyu was now on the verge of panicking. Maybe it would be fine if he pretended like there was nothing wrong? He could say that it was meant to be platonic love and nothing else, right?

Or maybe he could grab this chance to say it? Not right now, but after Seungcheol returned home?

For now, Mingyu chose to act like he had not done anything ambiguous, just continuing to talk like usual.

“Are you tired, Cheollie? Keep trying a little more then you can rest! Does your knee hurt?”

To the alpha’s relief, Seungcheol’s reply came to him in a normal speed.

“It doesn’t hurt but I’m so stressed so tired. I wish I could go home asap 😭 I wish I could keep texting till it’s time to go home but that won’t look good, right?”

“Poor you 😔 Right, you can’t keep using your phone all the time. Don’t be scared! Just keep your head high and know that you’ve done an amazing job, Cheolie! When you return, go to my bed and tell me about everything that happened, okay?”

“I prefer talking when you give me food. Bed is for sleeping.”

“Alright we’ll talk while eating, then come to bed for cuddles. Deal?”

“Sounds nice!”

Did Seungcheol look forward to that plan as much as Mingyu? The younger alpha smiled at his phone for almost a whole minute until his manager literally smacked his arm and scolded him furiously. Apologizing without feeling very apologetic, Mingyu went back to his current job without being able to let go of Seungcheol in his mind.

Fate must be generous to him that day, because Mingyu’s schedule ended just in time for him to receive texts and even a phone call from Seungcheol when the leader left the event venue, heading back to the hotel. Hearing the whiny complaints he had been awfully accustomed to, Mingyu kept smiling fondly despite the fact that his crush was not even in front of him right now. Without any hesitation, the younger male bombarded Seungcheol with thousands of compliments until the embarrassed leader hissed and (tried to) firmly told him to stop.

“Goodnight, our Boss. Sleep a little then come back to me, yeah?”

Mingyu could imagine Seungcheol’s pout as he read the next text.

“What’s wrong with Cheollie? Where is it?”

Who was Mingyu to say no to his crush’s request?

“Okay, my Cheollie, Cheollie, Cheollie~~~ Sweet dreams and sleep well! See you tomorrow!”

“Goodnight Gyu!”

The texting did not last long since Mingyu knew how tired Seungcheol must be, and the flight tomorrow was indeed early. Despite the endless chain of questions in his heart, the younger alpha refrained from asking more, just imagining his love sleeping peacefully after such a stressful yet successful day. The prince had run out of energy after shining like the brightest star; his little prince was deep in a sweet slumber now.

Mingyu wished he could teleport there to spoon Seungcheol through the whole night, whisper compliments into his ear, and smother him in kisses. Maybe kisses were not possible, but Mingyu would be satisfied to just watch his love sleeping soundly.

Hardly did the lovesick alpha realize that Seungcheol had spent all of his free minutes talking to solely Mingyu, which meant there was barely any time left for the leader to contact anyone else in the pack.

…

When Seungcheol returned home, Mingyu had already arranged his schedules to make time for his crush immediately. Nothing could stop Mingyu from hugging Seungcheol tightly right at the moment he stepped through the threshold of their penthouse. To Mingyu’s relief and ecstasy, he was not pushed away at all, and when they pulled apart to look at each other, Seungcheol was smiling, looking unbelievably cute and handsome at the same time in his ash grey hair. How could a person look so gorgeous in literally all hairstyles and colors? Mingyu could not understand, and completely failed to resist squishing Seungcheol’s cheeks while showering him with both warm greetings and congratulations.

Undoubtedly, Mingyu was not the only one in the pack to tell Seungcheol how well he had done. At one point, it became so overwhelming that their leader was as red as a tomato and looked like he was about to run away but they could not stop. Making him shy was fine, as long as they knew their words made him happy.

The younger man was afraid the leader would want to rest first, but it turned out Seungcheol was eager to hang out with him as much as Mingyu did. Since the leader wanted nothing but the “normal food” which meant traditional Korean food, Mingyu happily spoilt him by taking Seungcheol to his favorite restaurant.

No words could describe the bubbles, flowers and butterflies in Mingyu’s heart for the whole time he sat there and listened to Seungcheol animatedly talking about his entire trip. Nearly forgetting to eat, the young alpha was completely mesmerized by the excitement in the leader’s voice, by the way his cheeks were puffed due to the food in his mouth, and even by the whiny complaints he made. Surely, Seungcheol tended to complain a lot and have numerous negative thoughts but Mingyu never got tired or offended while listening to him. He knew Seungcheol needed to be assured, and the fact that the older alpha chose Mingyu to wholeheartedly spill out everything meant the whole world to him.

Mingyu knew his job was to spread his own positive energy, knowing that Seungcheol would never admit he both needed it and wanted it. To other people, it looked like they bickered a lot, but to Mingyu everything was all love talk. Without any hesitation, he kept putting more and more food in Seungcheol’s bowl, adding countless compliments here and there, and constantly encouraging him to share more. Only at moments like this did Mingyu suddenly become the quiet one between the two of them, but the most important factor was that they were both satisfied and delighted.

Seungcheol had been so eager to eat out and talk to him instead of Jeonghan or Joshua. Should Mingyu believe this was a sign for something special?

He could not be just a “favorite child”, right? Who would look for assurance from their child? Who would cuddle with their child in the way Seungcheol had clung to Mingyu all those nights? It must be a different kind of love.

For the rest of the day, Seungcheol spent time resting and talking to the other members, luckily having a day to rest before they headed to Japan. A few members of the pack decided to extend the fun by drinking together that night, while the others were still busy working outside their home. Nonetheless, around midnight, there were just Seungcheol and Mingyu left, as they were the heavy drinkers who always liked to stay longer and swallow more alcohol than the rest of the pack.

The atmosphere was comfortable and everyone had a good time, but Mingyu realized that today Seungcheol got tipsy faster than usual. While the young alpha was still fully awake, the leader was already slurring and smiling like a silly boy. The older alpha was probably in an extraordinarily good mood today because he was smiling and giggling instead of complaining, yet it got more frightening for Mingyu when the leader started to lean on his shoulder while mumbling something inaudible.

Seungcheol’s hand sluggishly reached out for another drink, but ended up knocking the glass right onto himself. The liquid stained both of his T-shirt and sweatpants but he barely seemed to notice. As Mingyu hurriedly picked up the glass and desperately tried to wipe some of the liquid off Seungcheol’s clothes, the older alpha giggled with his eyes closed.

“You’re so clumsy…. Gyuuuu… you… made me wet…”

As if he was not the one who had just knocked the glass over on his own.

Mingyu hoped his mind was not this dark, but the alcohol just fueled his dark thoughts and made all of his efforts become futile. Giving up wiping, Mingyu decided that this was enough. They should not drink anymore, especially when Seungcheol was already like this.

The younger man tried to help his crush stand up but to no avail. Seungcheol’s body was like soggy noodles, and at one point, Mingyu had to give up since he realized the leader was not opening his eyes or responding to him anymore. Chuckling fondly albeit a bit frustrated, Mingyu opted to carry Seungcheol instead, planning to tease the older male about this in the next morning.  

After a moment of debating, Mingyu chose his own bedroom as the destination. Carefully placing Seungcheol on the bed, he heaved a long sigh, feeling relatively devastated with the fact that he needed to change the leader’s clothes, because it must be criminal to let him sleep in beer-soaked clothes through the whole night. Groaning to himself and already feeling the room heating up although the air conditioner was still working very well, Mingyu considered asking someone else to help. On any other days, his best option would be Jeonghan or Joshua but sadly, they were not home tonight. If Mingyu asked someone else to help, they would surely look at him incredulously as if he had just grown three more heads.

They might think it must be very reasonable and easy for him to do this because Mingyu and Seungcheol were so close to each other and they were both alphas, but the young alpha knew this was fatal for his mental health. Mingyu was one hundred percent confident he would never lose his control, but nothing could confirm his heart would not break and his brain would not explode.

In exasperation, Mingyu took a clean pair of pajama from his own wardrobe and put them on the bed next to Seungcheol. It would be too big and too long for the leader but the idea of seeing Seungcheol in his clothes did not allow Mingyu to think more wisely. The young alpha brushed his teeth and washed his face thoroughly to keep his brain in the best condition before starting.

“No staring” was the top principle. He had to do this as fast as possible.

That was why this action was painful for his mentality. In just brief moment, Mingyu luckily succeeded in taking the dirty T-shirt off Seungcheol’s torso. Considerately, worried that the beer might have brought some dampness to the leader’s skin, Mingyu used some tissue to wipe his stomach rapidly, but for sure he would only do this for the top, not the other part.

Mingyu considered it a breakthrough of his life for putting shirt on Seungcheol after so much damage to his own emotions. Sucking in a deep breath, he started pulling the sweatpants down, trying his best to look as little as possible, struggling not to touch any spots that were unnecessary. It was like hell especially when he had to lift Seungcheol’s butt off the mattress or the pants would never come off. Lifting him up without touching either his thighs or his bottom? Mingyu thought he himself might die right here right now. How would he even be able to put the pants on Seungcheol later?

Eventually, Mingyu seriously needed to spend more time looking at what he was doing, because it was still better than touching what he should not touch. The young alpha was already sweating, but right at the moment his eyes caught the sight of what was under the sweatpants, his whole body ran cold.

Seungcheol’s underwear was still on, but it did not take Mingyu more than one second to realize this was not the body of a male alpha or a male beta. Freezing right on the spot, Mingyu originally did not want to stare too hard, but his brain was malfunctioning and he could not convince any parts of his body to move. All of a sudden, all the strange things that had happened in the past became all reasonable, especially Seungcheol’s faint and sweet scent, his refusal to take showers or sleep together with the members, his total negligence in the task of scenting his pack members, his flustered reactions whenever Mingyu touched his scent gland.

It turned out that Seungcheol had been hiding his true identity as an omega for a whole decade.

Chapter Text

Mingyu was completely lost, unable to figure out what he was supposed to do. No matter what he decided to do – continuing with what he had been doing or asking someone else to help – Seungcheol would end up knowing that the alpha had undressed him and seen what he was not supposed to see. Nonetheless, he could not put the dirty clothes back on his crush either. The best option right now was probably straightforwardly accepting everything as it was. They had been together for ten years; Seungcheol must know that Mingyu never intended to take advantage of him and would never stop loving him just because he was an omega, right?

Making up his mind and determined to talk to Seungcheol properly about this, Mingyu swallowed the lump in his throat before proceeding to take the omega’s sweatpants off completely. The alpha was sweating profusely but at least he succeeded in taking the piece of clothing off without letting his hands touch Seungcheol on bare skin or touch any forbidden spots. The biggest wish for this moment was that the leader would not suddenly wake up before Mingyu put a clean pair of pants on him.

Fortunately, his wish was granted. The process went on smoothly, and Mingyu could even wet a towel with warm water to clean Seungcheol’s face prior to tucking the omega nicely under the blanket. Seungcheol looked unbelievably soft and tender in this way, sleeping peacefully and burying half of his face into the fluffy pillow, seemingly extremely comfortable with his current position. Somehow, the grey hair complemented his fair skin so well that it made him glow so brightly. Sitting on the bed and watching his love sleeping soundly, Mingyu tried to rearrange the thoughts in his mind, but the more he thought about it, the more bizarre everything became.

How terrifyingly difficult it must have been for an omega to pretend to be an omega in such a long period of time? Mingyu could not imagine all of the struggles Seungcheol had been through to act like he was something that was the complete opposite of who he truly was, especially with the scents, pheromones, and heats. When they were in public, it might be the same for everyone because they all had to use scent-blockers but what about at home? To get this faint scent, did Seungcheol take any kinds of special medication to cover the sweet part of it? Did it harm his general health?

When Mingyu also settled down in bed, he did not intend to sleep even a bit. Lying on his side to face Seungcheol, the alpha kept on thinking, reminiscing everything to check what he had missed. Now thinking about the close relationships Seungcheol had with Jeonghan and Joshua, Mingyu guessed the two other boys definitely knew their leader was an omega and maybe whatever happened between them was totally platonic. Seungcheol were close to them simply because they were omegas whom he could trust entirely and rely on whenever he needed. They must have helped him a lot in the long process of hiding the truth.

On the other hand, Mingyu could not fully figure out the reasons for why Seungcheol had to take this enormous amount of burden on himself. Being an omega and a leader under the disguise as an alpha could never be easy. There was probably never a single moment of ease for him in the public. Was this one of the things that had brought the anxiety disorder to him? Mingyu could never imagine himself going through this hardship every day in ten years. It was never wrong to say Seungcheol was the mentally and emotionally strongest person Mingyu had ever met in his life.

Although Mingyu planned to keep some distance today, Seungcheol automatically scooted closer in his sleep, quickly finding the alpha’s bicep and Mingyu seriously could not reject him. Putting his arm into a more suitable position, Mingyu accepted defeat and let the omega used it as a pillow, which also meant their bodies were touching again. In all of those nights they had been together, it had always happened in this way, and Seungcheol never seemed to be upset or uncomfortable in the next morning.

Unable to resist the lovely sight of his crush sleeping, Mingyu let his left hand gently caress Seungcheol’s cheek while his lovesick heart madly dug deeper and deeper into the belief that maybe his love was not unrequited at all. As an omega, Seungcheol had chosen to stay close to Mingyu by himself when he was in his completely conscious mind. If Jeonghan and Joshua were not his lover, Mingyu was undoubtedly the closest one to that kind of label. Nobody had thought of that perhaps because they all assumed Seungcheol loved those two omegas, but now Mingyu had to understand better than that.

But why did it happen now, after all those years?

Because his love bloomed late?

Or Seungcheol was like Mingyu, dreading the upcoming separation once the alpha’s enlistment started. The urgency of the situation, the pressure of running out of time, and the pain of being far away from each other finally prompted them to be more affectionate towards each other?

How could Mingyu feel at ease to leave his beloved Seungcheol for two years long after this realization? The whole pack would certainly always look after their leader and protect him without knowing about his true identity, but Mingyu found his concern intensifying tenfold.

Feeling devastated by such thoughts about the separation, Mingyu heaved a long sigh before pulling Seungcheol into his own chest, wrapping both arms around the smaller body like any other nights. Unexpectedly, Seungcheol did not reek of alcohol as much as Mingyu thought. He still smelled sweet; the adorable scent was even a bit stronger than usual, inviting the alpha to press a longing kiss to the tip of Seungcheol’s head then take a deep inhale. The soothing aromas from both the shampoo and the omega miraculously calmed Mingyu down, and allowed him to feel the butterflies in his stomach.

In all those years, this was the first time for the alpha to feel so close to being romantically loved by Seungcheol. No more fear about being considered a child. How should Mingyu approach this whole issue without freaking Seungcheol out later? Once waking up and seeing himself in the alpha’s clothes, the omega would instantly know what had happened. Mingyu dreaded scaring Seungcheol, knowing that how easily flustered and spooked the omega was. Just one wrong move and maybe the leader would never want to look at him in the eyes again.

Mingyu knew he should sleep, but he seriously could not.

Instead, just lay there, one hand tenderly massaging Seungcheol’s scalp while the other one languidly rubbed the omega’s back, hoping to make him feel comfortable and loved. It seemed to be effective, because Mingyu found his crush’s scent turning sweeter and sweeter, gradually filling the whole room with his flowery aroma.

Mingyu did not know how wrong he was until Seungcheol began to quietly whimper.

Instantly alarmed by the sound, the alpha was worried that his crush was having a bad dream or was feeling uncomfortable about something. However, there was no particular way to find out, so he continued to stroke Seungcheol’s back and hair, hoping to ease any discomfort. Unfortunately, the more he tried, the more Seungcheol squirmed and whimpered.

“Are you okay, Cheolie?” Highly concerned, the alpha began asking softly. “Are you hurting somewhere?”

Nonetheless, Seungcheol probably did not hear him; his eyes remained closed, but the whimpers became progressively more frequent while his hands started trying to grab anything within his reach. Mingyu’s shirt became the first target, and the omega soon began tugging it desperately, as if he was trying to get or to tell the alpha something. Extremely worried now, Mingyu quickly decided that he had to wake Seungcheol up, but the omega opened his eyes right at that moment. To Mingyu’s horror, Seungcheol’s eyes were glossy and teary. His soft whimpers were interrupted by little gasps and his hands kept pulling Mingyu closer and closer to himself until he whispered breathlessly.

“Min… Mingyu…”

The alpha could not believe he was two seconds away from losing himself in front of that desperate call of his name. A growl nearly escaped his throat while his entire body was ready to square up and pin the omega down in a split second. Holding himself back just in time, Mingyu belatedly realized Seungcheol was in heat.

And it was all Mingyu’s fault. Right, Seungcheol had been facing so much stress recently, from the group comeback, the unit, to his personal schedule in America. Mingyu had naively added more fuel into the fire by scenting the omega and rubbing his scent gland incessantly. All of those factors were surely powerful enough to induce an unexpected heat.

Too stunned to speak, Mingyu had to spend several seconds fixing the gears in his mind and forcing his instincts down to stay calm. Nonetheless, Seungcheol was impatient in front of the lack of a reaction. Whining, he fumbled to move Mingyu’s leg until it was stuck in between the omega’s thick and supple ones. Taken over by his own heat, Seungcheol probably was no longer lucid when he started rubbing himself against the alpha’s thigh. Both of them were wearing pants, but Mingyu could feel the obvious wetness. Slick was leaking out profusely, drowning the whole room in the sweetest and most delectable scent Mingyu had ever known in his life.

Literally growling, the alpha felt sanity slipping out of his own hands at the sight of Seungcheol moaning feebly while struggling to rub his clothed pussy on Mingyu’s thigh. The position was not comfortable for him to be very efficient, so moans quickly turned into louder whimpers of frustration, but Mingyu was still too shocked and dumbfounded to figure out what he was supposed to do. Breathing heavily and feeling more aroused than ever, Mingyu knew he was painfully hard right now, very ready to fuck Seungcheol into the mattress, but the last conscious brain cell was fighting with its whole life to hold him back.

No. They had not even talked about this. Mingyu could not have sex with Seungcheol while the omega was in this state. There was no argument in this; doing it was absolutely wrong, immoral, and Mingyu knew neither of them would forgive him later.

“Mingyu… Mingyu…” Seductively, the omega called out his name repeatedly, moving even closer to place his lips on the frozen alpha’s neck. “Please… Mingyu…”

“No, Cheolie, we can’t do this! No!”

Growling loudly to himself, utilizing every single bit of mental strength in himself, Mingyu finally managed to sit up and push Seungcheol out of both his neck and his thigh. Frantically, the alpha reached for his cellphone on the nightstand, knowing that he had no choice but to beg Jeonghan and Joshua to help. Hoping it would help, he purposely turned his back towards Seungcheol, hoping to just earn himself some more time.

Yet, there was no luck for Mingyu. Nobody picked up on the other end of the call when Seungcheol climbed over to drape one leg over the alpha’s lap, taking a seat there and not hesitating at all to start grinding his pussy on Mingyu’s hard cock. Groaning and sweating heavily, Mingyu struggled to hold stop Seungcheol’s movement by one hand but to no avail. The arousal was turning the alpha weaker in his attempt to stop this tragedy while Seungcheol was becoming more and more desperate. Repeatedly, he whimpered “Mingyu” and latched on the man’s neck again, kissing and licking incessantly.

Right then, Jeonghan’s voice started on the other end of the call.

“What’s wrong, Gyu? Why do you ca-” The omega did not finish his sentence and Mingyu did not have to ask why. Seungcheol’s moans and whispers could easily be heard, and Jeonghan sounded downright frightened. “What-what is that, Gyu? Is that Seungcheol? What’s going on?”

“Help me, hyung! Cheol hyung is suddenly in heat now! I don’t know what to do! Please come back home and help me!!” Mingyu spoke in the fastest speed he had ever used, fighting all his might to stifle a groan.

Seungcheol was wetting his cock by the copious amount of slick he was leaking, and this delicious friction was driving the alpha overly mad.

“Where are you two now?” Jeonghan asked urgently, obviously in a hushed voice now.

“In my room. He was drunk and fell asleep at the table so I brought him back to my room and then now he’s in heat. Please help me, hyung!” Mingyu was practically begging now, feeling more miserable than ever. “I will try my best to control him, but… but be quick, please! Should I lock him inside the room and go out? What should I do?”

“No, don’t go out! You will spread his scent everywhere! Can’t take him out of that either!” Jeonghan rushed to give out orders. “Stay with him right there, and wait for me! I will go home right now! Please try your best, Gyu! I know you can!”

Mingyu did not know how Jeonghan could be that confident and had so much trust in him but the alpha seriously felt like dying at this point. The call ended as Jeonghan had to go immediately, so now Mingyu finally could use both hands to hold Seungcheol’s waist tightly to keep him in place. It turned out to be a wrong decision, as his firm touch somehow riled up the omega even more, causing him to moan louder. A lot of heat could be felt all over his body, turning Mingyu literally insane from wherever their bodies were touching.

“Mingyu…” Once again, Seungcheol whined, stubbornly fixing his lips on the alpha’s neck, nibbling on his scent gland. “Touch me, please?”

“No, I can’t! I can’t do that to you, Cheolie! Please, please wait a bit more!” Shaking violently, Mingyu had nothing to hold onto except for Seungcheol’s hips.

The more the alpha struggled to control himself, the more his grip loosened, which allowed the omega to resume rubbing himself on the hard cock. The pleasure prompted Seungcheol to moan again, and it felt absolutely filthy. The omega’s slick had rapidly soaked large areas of their clothes, causing the sensation to feel even more pleasant and more torturous than how it had been when they had been still relatively dry. Mingyu desperately wished he could tear all of their annoying clothes apart to plunge his cock deep into the omega’s pussy and give him the best fuck he could ever get in his life. If this was a dream, Mingyu would make sure to ruin that gorgeous ass and abuse the pussy until it became completely swollen and as red as Seungcheol’s cherry lips.

The miserable truth was that this was not a dream. Mingyu was obliged to maintain all boundaries no matter what Seungcheol might want now.  Chopping his own dick off was perhaps easier than dealing with this. When Mingyu regained enough of his sanity, his hands could easily hold the leader still. This truth left the man astounded for a brief moment until he remembered that his stupid self was facing an omega, not an alpha like how he had always thought. Seungcheol had spent a considerable amount of time in the gym but that was not enough to make him stronger than a physically bigger alpha who spent probably more hours working out.

“No, Cheolie.” Growling in frustration, Mingyu used his Alpha voice without intending to. “I said I can’t! Stop moving!”

The effect was instantaneous. Seungcheol froze right on the spot, moving no more, only staring at the alpha with his mouth agape.

Yet, to Mingyu’s horror, the omega’s eyes was rapidly filled with tears which soon rolled down his flushed cheeks. Seungcheol’s pale skin had already turned red due to the heat, but now the color spread even faster and seemed to turn into a bolder shade. Nonetheless, the omega did not look at Mingyu’s face or try to initiate any physical contact anymore. The alpha started to panic but it was probably too late. His crush’s scent was becoming alarmingly sour and bitter within seconds, which was the unmistakable sign of a tremendously heartbroken and devastated omega.

Ducking his head as the tears fell down rapidly, Seungcheol whispered brokenly as the first sobs began to come out.

“You… don’t want me?”

Before Mingyu’s dumbfounded mind could find a word to respond, the omega had already clambered out of his lap and returned to his original spot on the bed.

With a shattered heart, the alpha watched his love bursting into tears while scrambling to bury himself entirely under the blanket and curling up, wailing into the pillow. No part of Seungcheol could be seen anymore. There was just a weeping, sobbing, and trembling lump hidden completely under the thick blanket. Despite being not fully conscious, the omega was capable of understanding rejection when it was conveyed in that particular Alpha voice, and unfortunately, this brutality coming straight from Mingyu, who had always taken care of him lovingly, was too much for him to handle.

Mingyu wanted to punch himself in the face right here right now for being the dumbest alpha in this world. It was his first time to face an omega in heat – his beloved Seungcheol – and somehow he was stupid enough to break the omega’s heart like this? Hurriedly crawling back to kneel next to Seungcheol, vaguely figuring out where the leader’s head was, Mingyu attempted to stroke him gently but a simple touch made the omega flinch so badly. On the other hand, he just kept crying instead of trying to move away.

“I’m sorry, Cheolie. I’m really sorry. Please don’t cry! Baby, please!” Lowering his voice as much as possible, Mingyu bent down closer to his crush, continuing to stroke his hair tenderly. “I can’t help you with this, but it doesn’t mean I don’t want you! I’m sorry, baby. Please, don’t cry!”

Sadly, all Seungcheol took from his words was “can’t” and his tears simply could not stop. The pain brought by the rejection devastatingly overpowered the instinctive desire to be bred, leaving the poor omega sobbing and whimpering pitifully. It was too late for Mingyu to regret his harsh words. The goal of keeping Seungcheol’s body safe and untouched was achieved, yet the price ended up being his broken heart. How harmful it would be for an omega in heat to undergo this much agony? What was Mingyu supposed to do to soothe him harmlessly? If he accidentally said something wrong, the omega might misunderstand it as an agreement then things would go wrong again.

Unexpectedly, before Mingyu could find a new brilliant idea, Seungcheol suddenly pushed the blanket away from himself and abruptly sit up. Very determined, the omega pushed Mingyu to sit down so that he could once again straddle the alpha’s lap and Mingyu was too weak for his tears to push him away. The younger man’s hands naturally went back to holding his crush’s waist while Seungcheol tried to rub his soaked pussy on the alpha’s gigantic cock again, sniffling and begging in the softest tone Mingyu had ever heard from him.

“Please… Mingyu! Touch me… Do something, please! Alpha! Help me!”

Mingyu did not see it, but at the moment the friction returned, he was immediately frightened by the way the pleasure heightened dangerously. Glancing down, the alpha tensed up, turning as rigid as a statue as his eyes drank in the alluring sight of Seungcheol’s bare thighs, milky, thick and delicious, on full display. The shirt was luckily long enough to cover the omega’s crotch but evidently, his pants were gone. Was the underwear still on? Mingyu could not see and did not dare to think further about it.

“I can’t, Cheolie! We can’t do this. We have to wait for Jeonghan hyung. Please…” Gulping and fighting for his life, Mingyu could not do anything except for pleading. Nevertheless, he did not know how his raspy voice was teasingly caressing the omega’s neediness. “Cheolie… I want you so badly… but I can’t!”

Tightening his grip, Mingyu intended to stop the movements of Seungcheol’s hips, yet his touch was only strong enough to make the omega arch his back and let out a breathless moan, as if it had turned into an intimate touch. Both of the omega’s arms were resting on Mingyu’s chest, two hands gripping the alpha’s collar and pulling them, exposing more of the man’s neck for himself to nibble on.

“You smell so good, Mingyu…” Seungcheol whispered, rhythmically moving his hips, quickly managing to get the alpha’s length in between his folds to bring himself more pleasure. He was mewling, letting out the most sinful sounds Mingyu did not even dare to dream of hearing. “Alpha, you’re mine… mine…”

Gritting his teeth vigorously, Mingyu eventually had to give up trying to restrain Seungcheol, because controlling his own inner beast was the maximum he could concentrate on. The alpha’s head was spinning like crazy, his lungs filled with nothing but Seungcheol’s intoxicating scent, his ears full of the omega’s enticing “Mingyu, please”. The fact that his crush was still calling his name instead of just “alpha” in this state drove the bigger man mad as fast as the way that leaking pussy was rubbing on his cock.

Would Seungcheol calm down a little after getting one orgasm? This was the only hope existing in Mingyu’s mind, as he saw no other way out of this. Hurting Seungcheol but rejecting him violently or giving in? Mingyu dreaded seeing those tears falling again, unable to tolerate the pain of ruining his adorable Seungcheol’s tender heart. His crush should be given the best treatment in the world, especially in his heat, his most vulnerable period of time, yet Mingyu was here refraining from giving him what he knew he was fully capable of.

With so much determination, Seungcheol pushed Mingyu’s left hand down to his thigh, urging the man to touch his bare skin, encouraging the rough hand to go even further to grope his butt, and maybe further, to the area between those gorgeous thighs. Putting a limit to this one, Mingyu resolutely shook his head and growl, not going any further than Seungcheol’s thigh, highly aware of the impact those butt cheeks had on his sanity. It was common knowledge than the leader’s rear was admirable and lethally attractive.

“Mingyu!” His voice kept dragging the name out longer and longer, going up higher at the end as the sensation kept getting better and better. “Want your cock… your knot… inside, please! Cheolie will be good! Cheolie will take no one but you!”

Mingyu chose to stop verbally responding, fearing that his self-restraint would snap if he wasted his mind power on talking instead of controlling his own body and desires. It was a deadly risky move, but eventually, the alpha decided to help his crush cool down by one climax, or at least the post-orgasm haze would make Seungcheol a bit more pliant and less sensitive. Believing in this prospect, Mingyu let the other hand slowly slide up Seungcheol’s spine until it reached the omega’s neck.

Instantly, the moaning boy arched his back beautifully right at the moment Mingyu’s fingers wrapped around his nape. Struggling to ignore how the omega’s chest was pushed closer to him, Mingyu pressed his thumb into Seungcheol’s scent gland, not too hard, but enough to create a domineering touch that caused the omega to gasp. A stream of leak rushed out, wetting them both even more than before, soaking Mingyu’s entire crotch in the alluring juice of his love. How heavenly it would be if one day the alpha could stick his face in between those thighs and push his tongue deeply into the omega’s pussy? How loudly Seungcheol would moan if Mingyu sucked his clit while fingering him and pressing against the ultimate spot simultaneously?

Driven closer to the orgasm by the incessant rubs on his scent gland, the omega moved more frantically, moaning more loudly and not able to keep his mouth on Mingyu’s neck anymore. The rushed movements of the omega gave the alpha brief moments of seeing his crush’s little pink nipples peeking from under the loose shirt. Growling in total madness, even rage, Mingyu used both hands to roughly hold Seungcheol’s waist, probably enough to leave bruises, pressing their crotches tightly against each other. Without any hesitation, the man placed his mouth on his crush’s scent gland, and sucked vigorously. His teeth pretended to bite down, and that was all it took for the omega to collapse.

Seungcheol’s broken moans formed the angelic melody Mingyu craved to hear till the end of his life. The omega’s whole body seized up, his hands struggling to hold onto the alpha’s shoulders while his thighs locked firmly around the bigger male’s waist. Everything was downright wet, and filthy, especially with the way they both tried to catch their breath. Seungcheol gradually slumped forward and physically softened while Mingyu remained as stiff as ever, continuously fighting to keep his mind sane and functioning.

Since Seungcheol tried to hold the alpha tightly when his climax hit, Mingyu did not have the chance to see his crush’s face in utter sexual bliss, but that perhaps should be considered a profound luck. Mingyu was so close to snapping, too deeply intoxicated and drowned in everything of Seungcheol. Regardless of the tremendous effort, the alpha failed to stop himself from gathering the sweet liquid on Seungcheol’s thighs by the tip of his fingers.

Licking to have a taste, growling fiercely, the alpha knew he could die in glory to have Seungcheol sit on his face one day.

Very fortunately, as expected, the orgasm really made Seungcheol calm down and much less delirious. He was still breathlessly murmuring “Mingyu”, but his whole body was leaning on the alpha now, no longer moving or begging for anything. The scent told Mingyu the heat had not gone anywhere, but this was the precious blessing he received. From now on, he just needed to clean the omega up, and waited for Jeonghan to arrive.

The soft whispers turned quieter and quieter by seconds, until no more sounds except for steady breathing came to the alpha’s ears. Yet, Mingyu’s soul was perhaps scarred forever. No magic could ever erase whatever had just happened from his mind. Seungcheol might be asleep now, but it was nowhere near the end for Mingyu, who was supposed to be in charge of so many things if he wanted to keep his crush safe and comfortable.

At the moment Mingyu laid Seungcheol down, the alpha had to hurriedly throw the blanket over the leader immediately, because apart from the shirt, the omega had nothing on. The last thing Mingyu managed to do was to check whether his bedroom door was locked or not before bolting into the bathroom. There was no time for anything, because if he hesitated any longer, the person getting hurt would be Seungcheol. Stripping himself completely and jumping right into the shower, barely did the alpha care the water was hot or cold. He just let it ran, while his hand furiously stroked his angry cock to save himself from combusting.

It surely did not take long. Growling and staring at the amount of cum spurting out on himself, Mingyu could not help imagining watching his own thick white substance leaking out of Seungcheol’s red and swollen pussy. Then, he would definitely fuck them all back in, filling the omega more and more until Seungcheol could not take it anymore and had to beg him to stop.

Jeonghan certainly did not know how much agony Mingyu had been through when he knocked on the door fifteen minutes later. Coming with a thick blanket in his arms, Jeonghan was surprised to see Seungcheol asleep in a normal bed, dressed in a normal pair of pajamas, and looking absolutely at ease. The only abnormal things were the sickeningly sweet scent in the air and Mingyu’s miserable face. Unfortunately, Jeonghan had no choice but to ask the alpha to help him wrap the blanket tightly around Seungcheol and carry him back to his real bedroom. Jeonghan had already made sure the rest of pack was in their own rooms and no one would suddenly come out to witness anything, as long as they were quick.

Watching the way Mingyu ran away later, then glancing at his best friend, Jeonghan was certain he still trusted the reliable puppy-like alpha, but still curiously wondered what could have happened. Would Seungcheol remember anything in the next morning?

Anyways, Jeonghan needed to give the leader a shot first. No matter what, they had a flight to catch tomorrow, and there was no other method to handle this situation.

Chapter Text

Mingyu wished he could chop off his own dick in order to stop lusting over his crush. Was he suffering from the influence of everything that had happened? No matter how hard the alpha tried to force himself to sleep, he only kept getting horny over and over again, thinking of no one and nothing but Seungcheol. Thousands of scenarios were made up in his mind, ruining his sanity and relentlessly causing his delirious hunger to crave for the omega. This should be considered utterly inappropriate but Mingyu eventually decided he had no choice but to milk himself completely dry, because he could not risk getting hard again in the next morning, when they had to catch a flight all together.

The poor alpha barely slept that night, and unfortunately for him, his own plan did not work. Except for getting tired and grumpy, he did not feel any better, still sensing the simmering heat in his stomach whenever his brain thought about Seungcheol again. One look at his own reflection in the mirror only caused the man’s sanity to spiral faster. Having focused so hard on his own self-control and the leader, Mingyu had forgotten the fact that Seungcheol had kissed, nibbled, and sucked on his neck for a pretty long while. Numerous hickeys were scattered all over the alpha’s neck, looking the most prominent on his scent gland when he stood in front of the mirror at four in the morning.

Who could imagine that a Seungcheol in heat would be this possessive?

Groaning to himself, Mingyu had no choice but to put makeup on his neck, or he would be bombarded by questions from everyone in the pack. Moreover, once the public saw this, they would instantly make up different stories. On the other hand, in deep worries, the alpha wondered whether Seungcheol would feel offended to see his effort in hiding everything. Jeonghan must have done something to terminate his heat, so now the leader must be able to think rationally and not get mad over this matter, right?

Forcing himself to stay calm, Mingyu chugged down a big cup of dark coffee before anyone else in the pack woke up. In an attempt to navigate his thoughts, Mingyu concentrated more on how he would face Seungcheol later. What would Jeonghan tell the leader? Would Seungcheol approach him to ask about last night? How would the omega react to the fact that there was now one more person who knew about his identity?

Luckily, the worries helped better than multiple sessions of masturbation.

Nonetheless, to Mingyu’s horror, the worst scenario turned out to come true.

The alpha generously made breakfast for the whole pack, which everyone was highly grateful for, but Seungcheol did not come out to eat. The leader only showed up when it was time to leave for the airport. Mingyu tried greeting the omega who was bearing a solemn expression, but Seungcheol just resolutely turned to another direction, ignoring the taller man entirely. Mingyu’s face instantly fell, and he could not help turning to Jeonghan, silently begging for both help and some explanation. Never had Mingyu been given a cold shoulder by Seungcheol, but today this treatment started from their penthouse, through all the car ride, and even to the airport.

Even Jeonghan had to choose a moment in which Seungcheol was busy talking to another pack member to whisper quietly to Mingyu.

“I don’t know exactly what he’s thinking either.” The blond omega looked more exasperated than what Mingyu thought he would be. “I told him what happened last night, and I am sure he does believe that you didn’t harm him at all, but… he’s been silent since then. I think he needs some time to decompress. Maybe he doesn’t know how to react to this. All of a sudden an alpha in the pack finds out his secret. I think he is scared.”

Mingyu had never thought there would be a day in which Jeonghan would beg him for something, but right now it looked like the older male was on the verge of kneeling down.

“Mingoo… you will keep this secret for us, right? Will you still continue to respect, love, and protect him like how you have always done? Does this change anything? Will you please… not change?”

“Hyung, why are you even worried? Of course I will keep this secret forever. I have to protect him more carefully than I used to.” Mingyu quickly reassured his hyung firmly and confidently. “No matter what, he is still our Seungcheol. I’m just worried that… that he is no longer comfortable with me or trust me. I mean… we used to be the same, but now…”

“It’s not that you used to be the same. It’s better to say you used to think you two were the same. In Seungcheol’s mind, you guys have never been the same, and you see how he behaves when being around you.” Lowering his voice even more, Jeonghan found himself having more trust in Mingyu to continue talking. “Cheol, Shua, and I are best friends because we’re basically all omegas. You understand why you, an alpha, are his favorite member, right?”

Through the whole waiting time and the flight, Mingyu continued to be totally restless, wrecked by the newfound discovery last night, and Jeonghan’s words. The thoughts had been troubling the alpha’s mind since the night, but Jeonghan had just effectively planted even more seeds of hopes into his heart. Undeniably, they had always been so close to each other, much more than how Seungcheol had ever been to the other members in the past. Even Jihoon and Seungkwan – the other two omegas in the pack – were not that close to their leader.

Mingyu remembered all the times Seungcheol expressed how he was proud of him. The leader had never hidden his admiration for the characteristics he adored in Mingyu. Such words had never failed to make the younger male’s heart swell and even combust. Now thinking of them from of a completely different perspective, Mingyu tried to figure out how it could possibly mean when they came from the view of an omega.

A hundred times more than how he used to, Mingyu desired to become the person Seungcheol could rely on without a second thought no matter what happened. Protecting Seungcheol or protecting this pack? Mingyu was willing to do everything, and would risk all he had to keep his precious leader safe. Mingyu could be his secret protector, someone for Seungcheol to lean on and seek for comfort from behind the spotlight.

The most urgent issue here was to find a proper opportunity to talk to him privately. In order to do it, Mingyu tried to observe his crush more carefully, meticulously analyzing every single detail of his posture and facial expression to detect any discomfort. Unfortunately, all Mingyu found from him was signs of anxiety. Seungcheol looked immensely stressed and anxious for the whole time, no matter where they went. Jeonghan and Joshua kept trying to talk to him through soft whispers but hardly could Mingyu tell whether it worked.

Even till they each got their own room at the hotel, Seungcheol still resolutely avoided Mingyu and all of his attempts to start a friendly conversation. It indeed hurt, but the young alpha surely did not give up. Maybe it would be easier to show some good attitude to his crush during the rehearsals or even during the fan meeting, so that Seungcheol could be assured that Mingyu meant absolutely no harm and was trying to do his best for him.

Mingyu did expect to be confronted by at least one of the managers, because he believed someone in the company must know the truth about Seungcheol’s identity and had been actively helping him hide it in the past ten years. Nonetheless, nothing happened. The managers did not appear to be any different from any other days, simply minding their business. This could only mean Seungcheol had not told anyone else about the incident between him and Mingyu, and he apparently wanted to deal with it just between the two of them, just not immediately.

Perhaps Jeonghan was right. Seungcheol needed some time to calm down, rearrange his thoughts, and carefully think of what to do next. On the other hand, Mingyu wished the leader would choose to do it together with him instead of handling everything alone. The alpha was so ready to answer all kinds of questions, and convey every tiny bit of feelings in his heart, as long as Seungcheol could be at ease, continue to trust him, and firmly believe that his secret would be safe with Mingyu till the day the alpha left this world.

Mingyu tried to initiate small talks during the rehearsal, but failed. Even when he greeted, Seungcheol immediately turned away and never responded. Soon, the alpha began to look alike a puppy trying desperately to trail behind its owner in an attempt to get some attention but failing repeatedly. It got so serious that even the rest of the pack began to notice the tension between the two members who had always talked a lot and even joked around with each other. Their maknae was the first one to raise his concern to Mingyu.

“Did you happen to… piss him off or something? He looks very tense. What did you do, hyung?”

“No… I didn’t piss him off, but…” Ruffling his own hair roughly, Mingyu heaved a long sigh. “It’s… more like some misunderstandings. I will try to talk to him.”

“I’m one hundred percent sure it’s Mingyu-hyung’s fault.” Seungkwan chimed in nonchalantly. “You must have messed up seriously.”

“Definitely agree with you.” Seokmin nodded eagerly. “I don’t remember the last time we saw Seungcheol hyung avoided someone in our pack. You must have done something very terrible to him. What is it, Mingyu?”

The alpha wished he could explain, but his only choice was to keep his mouth shut, giving only one vague promise.

“I will try to sort things out.”

Nonetheless, the alpha was definitely horrified to see how everyone else perceived the situation. Was it possible that Seungcheol was actually angry or annoyed about what had happened? If the omega had zero romantic feeling for Mingyu, that night incident must be something he never wanted to mention or think of again. Could this be true? Maybe Seungcheol was not mortified, but petrified? Was he feeling disgusted of himself, or disgusted of Mingyu?

Maybe what Mingyu owed him was not a serious talk, but a profound apology?

Would they ever be able to look at each other normally again?

Could this mean Mingyu had lost his crush - his best friend - forever?

Despite the fear, the alpha did not allow himself to give up, still relentlessly greeting Seungcheol every time they met and trying all he could to get the omega’s attention. The leader stayed silent all of the time, but just right before the fan meeting started, Mingyu was awestruck by his crush’s finished appearance. The grey hair continued to do wonder to his entire image, highlighting his fair skin. With a soft white blouse, Seungcheol looked even more angelic in the alpha’s eyes, leaving the alpha staring at him, agape and unblinking like a fool in love. Mingyu was not supposed to be even surprised anymore; they had all dressed up for thousands of occasions in the past ten years. How could be still be stunned and rendered speechless by someone he had been seeing every single day again? The grey hair was not even new; a white blouse was not something extraordinary either.

Mingyu only got yanked out of his trance when someone elbowed him and clicked their tongue in disapproval.

“You’re drooling again, Mingyu.”

Startled, the alpha whipped his head towards Jihoon who was giving him a scrutinizing gaze. Burnt in embarrassment, the alpha could only scratch his own head awkwardly, but also caught Seungcheol stealing a glance at him before turning away very quickly. Yet, the omega’s ears were strikingly red, which was an undeniable proof that said he knew the alpha had been staring and admiring his beauty intensely.

“I’m… not!” The alpha attempted to defend himself, but definitely did not sound convincing at all.

“Uh huh.” Jihoon deadpanned. “Not literally drooling, but definitely drooling over Cheol hyung every single day.”

Not adding any further comments, Jihoon just walked away to continue his own preparation, leaving Mingyu too astounded too speak.

Never had the alpha realized he was actually not subtle at all. Was it really that easy for everyone to see? As much as Mingyu remembered, he had always tried to be very careful since he was afraid of making Seungcheol uncomfortable. On the other hand, he obviously failed this time, as his crush’s ears continued to be red, while Jihoon’s words did not sound like a joke in the alpha’s ears.

Did Seungcheol’s red ears mean he was not disgusted of Mingyu? If his staring made the omega uneasy, there must be a different reaction, right? As the alpha continued to discreetly steal glances at his crush through the remaining minutes before the fan meeting started, Mingyu believed he saw he typical image of a shy and embarrassed Seungcheol. The omega seemed to be fine, still talking and smiling to the other members, looking absolutely adorable, soft, and unknowingly violently igniting Mingyu’s desires to kiss those tender cheeks and squeeze him tightly in his own embrace.

If Mingyu managed to resolve all of the problems with Seungcheol, the first thing he needed to do was to hug the omega tightly, and poured his entire heart out. This did not seem like an ideal occasion for a love confession, but Mingyu did not think he could explain himself or give any promises properly without expressing his true emotions and feelings for Seungcheol. Without giving out the truth, the alpha was afraid he would sound not genuine. Hiding his heart could risk making the omega doubt his sincerity, which Mingyu never wanted to happen.

Nonetheless, it turned out to be an unfortunate day for Mingyu. Just after the first song, the alpha found his back problems returning. Although his own heart was literally blooming as Seungcheol was smiling to him and treating him normally in front of the fans, Mingyu soon began faking his smiles, trying his best to cover the pain spreading from his shoulder to his lower back. It felt almost like the pain of waking up after a night of sleeping in a wrong position, but maybe even worse. Once the pain started, it did not go away no matter how hard the alpha tried to fix his posture. It could only get worse and worse after every single song. The brief talk with their fans was a wonderful moment to catch some breath, but Mingyu wished he could lie down.

Lying down was the only solace was someone with a back pain.

Yet, the alpha continued to smile through his pain, and caught Seungcheol observing him in the process. The concern was not vivid in his eyes, but Mingyu knew the leader could sense something was wrong. Mingyu tried to smile to him and made a vague gesture that said he was fine, but the omega was not convinced.

Right when the pack headed backstage for an outfit change for the next section, Mingyu immediately called for medical help and hurriedly laid down on the first couch he found in their waiting room. It was fortunate that the units’ performances were going to give him some time to rest, yet Mingyu doubted it could be enough for him to recover. There was nothing they could do for him now except giving him a bunch of painkillers and patching him up with some external aids to alleviate the pain. They made him take off his top first for easier access to his back, then urged him to change his outfit before spending the rest of his time lying down on the couch.

Several members stopped by to ask about his conditions, but as Mingyu kept his eyes closed and said very few words, evidently being tormented by the pain, they minimized the talking, just giving him some encouraging pat on the arms then moving away so that the alpha could have some peace. Some staffs and the managers explained Mingyu’s condition on behalf of him, assuring them that he would be fine, but the endurance would be tough.

Silence was stretched out for probably a minute, until Mingyu heard some soft footsteps, and some rustling sounds of clothes, but there came nothing else. Nevertheless, the scent in the air instantly allowed him to recognize Seungcheol’s presence, as the perfume had always been striking, prominent, and distinct. Instantly having enough motivation to open his eyes, Mingyu was granted the soothing sight of his love crouching down next to the couch and staring at him worriedly. Both of the omega’s hands were hovering awkwardly between them, and Mingyu knew in any other days, they would naturally and comfortably touch him, either his arms, his hands, or his head. Both of them had always been men who expressed a lot of love and care through physical affection. Depriving themselves from such touch was simply torturous.

Mingyu knew Seungcheol wanted to touch him, but something was holding him back. It could be either shyness or fear, the alpha could not tell for sure, yet even in this condition, Mingyu desperately wanted to tell his love that everything had always been fine, and would forever be fine. The groundbreaking discovery certainly created a shift in their relationship, but it did not mean Mingyu would love Seungcheol any less than what he had done or give him less amount of respect. Simply feeling delighted to know his crush still cared about him and worried about him so vividly, Mingyu smiled, and held out his hand.

In two seconds, Seungcheol looked reluctant, but the omega eventually took it, gently and nervously, yet Mingyu did not hesitate to squeeze it firmly, keeping them both on his stomach, hoping that the older male would not mind staying here a bit longer.

“Cheolie.” Mingyu called softly, feeling his heart being lively and excited again simply because Seungcheol perked up at the pet name. “Sit here with me, please?”

They had probably less than three minutes, but that would still be enough for Mingyu to feel himself being miraculously healed, as long as Seungcheol was here with him. Although the omega looked like he was slightly surprised, his nod quickly came, and he moved from the floor to sit on the couch together with Mingyu, his hips pressing against the alpha’s in the tight space, but what mattered the most was that they were finally facing each other. There were so many people around them, and among the whole pack, the two of them perhaps truly looked like they were in love. Mingyu just wished Seungcheol was not doing this because he was in pain. Their leader had never done this to any other members in the pack. If he did sit down next to them, there had never been this kind of hand holding, or the longing stare they gave each other.

“Are you… okay?” In his softest voice, Seungcheol leaned closer to Mingyu and asked, his other hand coming to rest on the alpha’s arm.

“My back hurts, but I can still dance.” The smile stayed on Mingyu’s face, so that he could assure the leader. “Don’t worry, hyung. I just need to wait a bit for the painkiller to kick in.”

However, as someone who had been familiar with injuries and pain, Seungcheol never got fooled by problems that could be solved temporarily by painkillers. The deep concern stayed on his face as he kept staring at Mingyu longer. The hand on the man’s arm squeezed a bit more tightly, then began rubbing it gently. The layers of fabric between Mingyu’s skin and Seungcheol’s palm were thick, but the alpha easily felt the soothing comfort. Usually, the leader would talk a bit louder and displayed more authority, yet somehow today he chose to keep his voice low, letting only Mingyu hear his words.

Mingyu considered this the talk of love, not the commands or questions coming from a leader.

“You can take a break if you want. You don’t have to force yourself to come back to the stage. Your health must be prioritized first.”

“I really can go back, hyung. Don’t worry.” Squeezing his love’s hand again, the alpha continued to smile in contentment. “It just caught me off guard! I will rest a lot tonight.”

Even though the worries did not go anywhere, Seungcheol sighed and stayed silent, questioning Mingyu no more. Thousands of words were hung between them, yet neither chose to speak up, knowing how unsafe it was to discuss such important matters in this setting. As a result, the omega only observed Mingyu silently while the alpha basked in the precious peaceful moment he had been craving for. It had been only two days of lacking Seungcheol’s attention, but the man easily felt like a decade had passed. The relief to be talked to, doted on, and cared about by his love was immeasurable. Something kept telling Mingyu to say something, to do something more, but the alpha was afraid every word or move he might come up with right now would all seem to be overly intimate and not suitable for this situation.

There was no choice except for just holding Seungcheol’s hand, staring into the omega’s breathtaking eyes and whispering quietly.

“Everything is going to be fine. You trust me, right? Cheolie?”

The flash of panic in the leader’s eyes let Mingyu know he understood this was not solely about the back pain or their performances. Putting more strength and affection in his assurance, the alpha let his thumb gently rub the back of Seungcheol’s hand, reminding him that no matter what happened, Mingyu would be still Mingyu, the same Mingyu that Seungcheol had known for years – always ready to do everything for him, and spend all of his time in this lifetime for him.

Unlike Mingyu’s guess, Seungcheol did not stay silent this time. The omega’s eyes did not really succeed in maintaining eye contact, but he blurted out the question, seemingly unable to keep it in his heart any longer.

“Why did you… reject?” Seungcheol instantly glanced around as if fearing being heard. However, the fear still did not deter him from letting out the rest of the troubles in his mind.

Mingyu had expected him to look shy, but in fact, the omega just seemed to be exceedingly anxious, and scared.

“I… I didn’t even think it was possible. Is it because you… don’t…”

The alpha waited for a few more seconds, expecting his crush to finish the sentence, yet Seungcheol trailed off and said no more, looking at the couch instead of Mingyu in those long seconds. Both of the hands touching the alpha were shaking slightly, leaving the man stunned, and then heartbroken. It had been incredibly long since the last time he witnessed the leader of their pack trembling in fright, anxiety, or excitement, obviously because Seungcheol had grown so much over time and those emotions did not have such powerful impact anymore. Surprisingly, Mingyu once again saw his crush getting so scared of something so uncertain.

As the alpha’s heart shattered, he was able to finish the rest of Seungcheol’s sentence by himself.

“Is it because you don’t like me?”

The reason for Seungcheol’s silence, avoidance, and inability to face Mingyu turned out to be his fear of being rejected, of not being loved and wanted. The tears that had been shed that night did not solely come from the heat.

In a split second, Mingyu sat up faster than how he had ever done in his whole life, making Seungcheol startled. Yet, the omega hurriedly pushed him to lie back down almost in panic.

“What are you doing? Lie down! Your back!!!”

“You’re being that silly and tell me not to sit up?” Groaning in pain after the abrupt movements, Mingyu struggled not to show his agony but his facial expression betrayed him ruthlessly. “You don’t know… my dick nearly exploded!”

Mingyu believed he had been talking in a very low volume but his last sentence immediately cause Seungcheol to frantically glance around to check if anyone could have heard it. The omega tried his best to shush the younger man, but Mingyu could only focus on the fact that his crush’s ears were turning adorably red again. Understanding that Seungcheol did not want to be any louder, the alpha put more force in the hand that was holding his crush’s one, pulling to make the omega lean towards him. Totally not expecting this to come, Seungcheol fell forward. Instinctively using his other hand to keep balance, the omega unintentionally rested both his forearm and palm on Mingyu’s chest.

Their position undoubtedly looked extremely ambiguous, but at this point the alpha could not care any longer. Before thinking about other people’s reaction, he needed to erase the worries in Seungcheol’s mind as soon as possible.

“You weren’t in your right mind, Cheolie.” Speaking through whispers, Mingyu stared directly into the omega’s mesmerizing eyes, feeling himself being hypnotized by the long lashes. “I want to be given the permission by you, in your best mental condition. Once you allow me to, I will show you how horrendously I suffered that night.”

Afraid that those were enough to transmit his message, Mingyu used his free hand to hold the omega’s waist, making sure Seungcheol stayed in place long enough to listen. The omega was turning incredibly red despite the layer of foundation on his face, his orbs constantly flickering, unable to determine where to look any longer. Nonetheless, Mingyu now grew enough nerves to know he could showcase a tiny bit of dominance to his crush. The alpha’s gaze was sharp, firm and demanding, not too fierce, but enough to force Seungcheol to stop looking away.

“If it were someone else, I would get out of the room in less than half a second.” Smiling at his embarrassed crush, Mingyu did not hesitate to let it all out. “And you know… I don’t invite anyone else to sleep in my bed as much as you, right? There’s basically no chance for that incident to happen to someone I don’t love.”

Having never seen Seungcheol this flustered and even petrified because of embarrassment, Mingyu nearly cooed in adoration, falling head over heels for his crush, as if he could even fall harder than how he had done in the past years. Beside a happy Seungcheol, a shy Seungcheol was overbearingly lovely in the whipped alpha’s eyes. At this moment, the man knew his message was successfully taken and understood.

If there was nobody around right now, Mingyu would not manage to hold himself back from pecking the omega’s soft cheeks. Or, if fate favored the alpha, he would even devour those cherry-red lips and show Seungcheol how much he craved for more intimacy with him. Nevertheless, for now, those imaginations stayed in his dream, and Mingyu currently could only continue to love Seungcheol through his eyes. Patiently staring at his crush and waiting for him to digest the words or invent a proper reaction, Mingyu felt as if the pain in his back had magically vanished. It would probably come back with full power once the man stood up and got back on stage, but temporarily, love was already healing all cracks and wounds in the alpha’s entire soul and body.

The moment was ended by someone suddenly calling out Seungcheol’s name, which resulted in the startled omega scrambling to get up and respond to the call. Too busy having his eyes fixated on his crush, Mingyu did not see who was speaking, but felt like honey was poured into his soul again when Seungcheol turned back to talk to him, less flustered, but evidently gentle.

“Only one minute left, Gyu. I need to go first.”

Having not expected to solve the whole issue here, Mingyu did not have any regrets in letting the omega go, because at least, they had managed to clear the biggest misunderstanding, which turned out to be drastically different from what the man had imagined. With a light heart filled with nothing apart from honey and flowers, Mingyu nodded to his crush, basking in the happiness of feeling the omega’s hand giving his hand the last squeeze before the leader stood up. The space around them was also starting to clear up as everyone was moving towards the entrance leading to the stage. They probably let Mingyu go last so as to allow him some more precious second, which luckily gave them one last moment of privacy.

Seungcheol scanned the whole area in the blink of an eye before bending back down one more time after standing up. Mingyu was almost about to get up too, but was rendered completely immobile by the softest and sweetest kiss on his left cheek, and the tiny whisper by his ear.

“Fighting, Mingyu!”

Before Mingyu could even react, the omega had run away together with the moving crowd, leaving behind a dumbfounded alpha whose mouth was agape for more than ten seconds. Mingyu only woke up when Chan literally gripped his arm tightly and dragged him out of the couch, urging him to move to the stage immediately.

As expected, the pain returned right at the moment Mingyu got up, but he could not care about it any longer. The alpha felt like the happiest man in this world, buzzing in delight and excitement, one hundred percent that he could pull through this pain and finish both days of the fan meeting successfully. What mattered the most was the fact that Seungcheol was not mad at him or scared of him. Staring at his crush across the stage, Mingyu did not want to risk making the omega’s ears turn red in front of Carats, but his heart kept palpitating at the knowledge that finally, he was allowed to believe there was a certain place for himself in Seungcheol’s heart.

Chapter Text

Refraining from squeezing Seungcheol into his arms through the rest of the fan meeting felt just like hell for Mingyu. The alpha had done that publicly numerous times before, but tonight he did not dare to allow himself such freedom, fearing he himself would combust and fail to let go of his crush. Or, someone might catch on something and find them suspicious. The world could go on comparing them with the relationship of a father and a son again but Mingyu no longer cared. Nonetheless, the alpha chose to go at Seungcheol’s pace and tried not to be shameless. If the omega was fine with displaying his raw affection in front of the public, they would probably have been a couple for so many years.

Consequently, Mingyu spent the whole fan meeting stealing glances and sneaking some small smiles and winks to his crush. Seungcheol did not catch his stares most of the time, but returned the smiles with similar ones and sheepishly turned away whenever the alpha winked at him. Even after the fan meeting, there was still no private time for them, because the whole pack went to a restaurant, booked a VIP room, and had dinner together in a cheerful and heartwarming mood. Since the day the pressure of the enlistment began hitting them, they had done this more frequently, spending every fan meeting night or concert night as a super special occasion for the pack to celebrate together, just so that they could have more lovely memories before saying goodbye to one more members in almost two years.

Naturally, Mingyu sat next to Seungcheol among their pack at the table. Instead of being nosy and asking about how they had resolved the problems, the members only quietly observed the change and felt tremendously relieved to see their leader no longer avoiding Mingyu. Paying extra attention to how much his crush ate and receiving more food in his bowl multiple times, Mingyu discreetly tried looking around the table only to realize that everyone indeed had always seen everything. They just chose not to push or tease, which got the alpha both grateful and puzzled. If someone had said something, maybe he would have recognized Seungcheol’s feelings earlier, or the omega would have understood his heart sooner?

On the other hand, Mingyu found it more relieving and safer to see things going as how they had been doing. Rather than getting the doubts from other members, the alpha was happy to experience everything on his own and get to know Seungcheol’s sentiments by himself. Jeonghan had told him some certain things, but left a lot of space for Mingyu to ask Seungcheol about. The alpha was deadly curious about millions of things about his crush, dying to ask maybe a billion questions, but the long delay and the lack of a private environment gave him the time to calm down, and rearrange his thoughts.

He might be hallucinating, but Seungcheol looked extraordinarily soft, adorable, and happy tonight. It must be the power of their mutual relief, the recognition, and acceptance. Undeniably, Mingyu felt like a ton of weight had been lifted off his chest as well, and the back pain was magically soothed whenever he saw Seungcheol smiling and glowing.

The entire pack was happy regardless of the exhaustion. They had different plans after that dinner; most of them chose to rest since they had one more night of the fan meeting to do, but some still chose to drink. This time, undoubtedly, it was obligatory for Mingyu to opt to go back to his room and rest early so as not to strain his back. Some painkillers had made the pain go away but resting was still essential.

After thoroughly cleaning himself and dressing in a fresh pair of sweatpants and a white tank top, Mingyu finally had the chance to do what he had been desperately desiring to do many hours ago. Although they had literally slept in the same bed before, the alpha still cautiously checked whether he was thoroughly clean and odorless before walking out of his room. Wrapping himself in a big bathrobe, Mingyu had to make sure there would be no chance for anyone to see the neck decorated by numerous hickeys, since the shower had washed all of the makeup away. Luckily, the hall was completely empty, giving the alpha nothing to worry about when he knocked on the door of Seungcheol’s room.

The omega was already smiling before the door was opened, and it let Mingyu know his crush had been anticipating him as well. Seungcheol had also changed into a pair of light blue pajamas. The slightly damp hair and the sweet aroma of body wash evidently indicated he had also finished showering. Having the biggest grin on his face, Mingyu guessed the timing was just perfect.

“Do you want to sleep with me, Cheolie?”

It was not until the omega’s jaw dropped and his eyes instantly turned wide did the alpha realize how bad his choice of words had been.

“No, I mean… sleep!” Frantically, Mingyu hurried to correct his own words. “Just sleep, like how we have always done! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to be so rude!”

Seungcheol’s shoulders visibly relaxed as he let out a chuckle of relief, and the lovely light shade of pink returned to his cheeks.

“Let me grab my phone.”

Without asking more questions, Mingyu understood his own bedroom had been chosen as the destination. It was understandable, as the alpha guessed the leader did not want someone coming over to find him then see Mingyu there too. If they came to the room and failed to find him, they would have to make a phone call, or just delay whatever they needed from the leader. Wholeheartedly, Mingyu wished no one would disturb their peace tonight, so that he could have his crush in his arms for the whole night long. The mere thought about it got the man overly excited, which was so serious that he was on the verge of buzzing through the short way from Seungcheol’s room back to his place.

Unlocking the door, Mingyu let his love enter first then walked in and rapidly locked the door then got rid of the bathrobe. It was not that he needed to rush in case Seungcheol ran away. The alpha needed to be fast since he could not endure this excruciating wait any longer. Only after taking a few steps inside, Seungcheol naturally turned around with the intention of looking at Mingyu, but before he managed to turn, the alpha’s arms were already wrapping tightly around his torso – one across his chest, and one around his waist. Pressing the omega’s whole back against his front and leaning his head on Seungcheol’s, Mingyu was in awe to see how nicely his love fit in his embrace.

They had hugged countless times in the past ten years, but not a single one of those felt similar to this particular moment. The emotions in his heart were so overwhelming that Mingyu had no idea what he was supposed to do anymore. Numerous fireworks were exploding in his chest while the heart was pounding violently as if he had just ran several miles within minutes. The fact that Seungcheol’s scent was rapidly turning considerably sweeter made his heart even roar. Half of the alpha was tempted to press his nose into the omega’s neck and inhale sharply, yet he had to hold back, still afraid that he could be pushing too fast and making his crush uncomfortable.

“I can hug you like this forever.” The man shamelessly admitted, feeling a heavenly tingling sensation on his skin when Seungcheol’s hands came to rest on his bare arms. “You don’t know how long I have been wishing to do this!”

The leader’s voice was much quieter than how he usually spoke, but the tone was as sweet as honey in Mingyu’s ears.

“We have hugged so many times, Gyu!”

“But it’s never like this!” Mingyu had no words to properly describe the difference, only able to emphasizing on it one more time. “I have always wished to hold you even more than this.”

Hearing a soft giggle, the alpha could not help pecking Seungcheol’s cheek, which only caused more giggles to come, and made the omega’s ears turn red.

“It will be better if you let me turn around, silly.”

Having no reason not to comply, Mingyu loosened his embrace, and his crush instantly moved. Not making any step further away from the alpha, Seungcheol just turned back, pressed his front against the bigger man’s, and tipped his head up while resting his chin on Mingyu’s chest. There was not too much height difference between them; therefore, this position brought their faces considerably closer to each other. Nevertheless, instead of just focusing on the alpha’s face, Seungcheol got drawn to the red hickeys all over Mingyu’s neck. The blush deepened on his cheeks, yet his eyes were twinkling gorgeously when the gaze averted back to the alpha’s ones.

His voice was timid as he placed both hands on Mingyu’s chest while the alpha’s bigger palms held his waist gently.

“Don’t you want to do something else?”

At such a close distance and hearing that low voice talking to him so sweetly, Mingyu was on the verge of having a heart attack.

“I want to do so many things together with you that I don’t know what to do first!” His whispers were nearly breathless. “Do you want to have a talk, Cheolie?”

Smiling, Seungcheol still looked pretty shy, but there was no discomfort in his eyes.

“You’re the alpha. You take the lead.” As the blush reddened, Mingyu understood the omega really meant his words, but sheepishly added one more thing. “I’m not up to talking now, though.”

“I see.” Grinning, Mingyu raised one hand to Seungcheol’s face, and let his finger hold the omega’s chin for the first time. Certainly, he had never done this before despite how much he really wanted to. “Seems like you’re only up to killing me with your cuteness.”

Whining loudly, Seungcheol gave Mingyu’s chest a slap but it ended up giving no pain at all, because in the past decade, the leader really had never meant to hurt him even once. Nonetheless, fully acknowledging that his crush was not feeling uncomfortable with him in any ways, Mingyu was finally relieved to the utmost, and allowed himself to relax and follow his heart. If his beloved Seungcheol trusted him and gave him the lead, he should be proud to receive everything without questioning any further.

Leaning in even closer, Mingyu murmured in his lowest voice.

“Can I kiss you, baby?”

The way Seungcheol’s eyes twinkled and his eyelashes fluttered told the alpha they were sharing the same desire. The nod easily came together with another shy whisper.

“But you have to know…” The omega’s voice got tinier as Mingyu moved closer to his face. “This is my first kiss.”

Astounded, the alpha immediately halted all movements, staring at his love with the widest eyes.

“What???”

“It’s… it’s true.” Seungcheol avoided his intense gaze by turning away, ears redder and redder by seconds. “You know… it’s extremely dangerous to date someone and reveal my real self… I can’t take that risk.”

Many more questions wanted to escape the alpha’s mouth, especially when it was ridiculously insane to think that someone as handsome, attractive, kind, considerate, and adorable as Seungcheol could have been single in the past thirty years of his entire life. Nevertheless, the alpha fought to refrain himself from asking; instead of doing such a stupid thing, he tried to focus on the most important factor: Seungcheol had never stopped fighting to hide the truth of his identity maybe not just for himself but for the sake of this whole pack. In addition, he was right; dating meant a lot of risk, no matter who the partner could be.

If Seungcheol had not dated anyone and deliberately chose not to let anyone know about his real identity, he must be a virgin too, which was another reason for Mingyu’s heart to combust. It made sense, but felt unbelievable at the same time, and the alpha had never dared to think he could have the possibilities of becoming Seungcheol’s first time of everything. If life went on peacefully and sweetly, Mingyu would even have the opportunities to be the only man in the whole universe to ever touch his beloved omega.

Living thirty years without dating or having sex even once? Was Seungcheol an angel?

“You…” Mingyu felt in pain just to think of everything Seungcheol had been through for so long. “I can die now because you aren’t up to talking.”

Once again, the leader giggled, and was able to look back at the alpha in the eyes, resting his chin back on the bigger man’s chest.

“Slipping a few questions here and there is okay. I just don’t want to be interrogated.”

“Understood.” Gladly smiling, Mingyu eventually understood the sentiment. “You know you can trust me with everything, right?”

Placing his palm on the exact spot where the alpha’s heart was, Seungcheol smiled sweetly.

“After that night, I know you are the most trustworthy man in the world.”

On the other hand, Mingyu was not very thrilled about that yet, making a hurt expression.

“Not exactly… you did doubt me after that.”

Changing his position, Seungcheol moved his head until his whole face was pressed into the alpha’s chest. It meant the eye contact was cut off, but Mingyu’s heart melted faster than ice cream as his crush nuzzled into his chest.

“I was scared you actually weren’t attracted to me at all. You know… maybe I was so gross to you that you weren’t even aroused even when I was in heat.”

Laughing fondly, Mingyu squeezed the omega into his embrace and placed a soft kiss on the crown of his head.

“Now you understand everything, right?”

“I do.” Seungcheol answered without looking up. “Both Shua and Hannie scolded me for being stupid.”

Hearing this, Mingyu could not help laughing again, but decided not to let his crush think any further about those misunderstanding and fear. Without a care about his back, the man bent down to scoop up Seungcheol and carried him in bridal style. Startled, the omega yelped and instinctively held onto Mingyu tightly before starting to remind him of his back but the alpha seriously could not think that far anymore. Sitting on the couch at the corner of the room, Mingyu let Seungcheol sit between his legs while the omega’s ones draped over one of his thigh. The intimate position he had never been in triggered Seungcheol’s scent to turn ten times sweeter, which became the end of Mingyu’s restraint.

Holding back no more, Mingyu held the back of his crush’s neck in one hand and kept the omega’s chin in the other. It was not until now did the man realize how pliant Seungcheol’s entire body currently was. Indeed, the leader was seriously relaxed and giving Mingyu the entire control of everything, unintentionally caressing the ego of the man in the sweetest manner ever.

Who could describe how meaningful and proud it could be to be thoroughly trusted by a shy and nervous omega who had been putting numerous guards around himself after all those years? Mingyu believed he could drunk on the sole happiness of being loved and trusted.

The alpha would not declare himself to be a good kisser, but his heart combust in utter pride and delight at the smallest sound Seungcheol made after the first few seconds of their kiss. Unbelievably, Mingyu was the first person, and hopefully the only one, to touch, claim, and taste those notorious cherry plump lips of his crush. Burnt in his own explosive desires, Mingyu wanted to devour Seungcheol so badly, but one more time, the beast within himself had to control itself, knowing that he could never risk freaking the omega out. He had already waited for so long; he definitely could wait longer for his Cheolie to get used to this, feel it, and slowly drown in this passion together with him.

Slowing down was what Mingyu could manage, but not making it sensual was out of the question, and the man guessed he got Seungcheol’s permission. The omega’s hand was only his chest, gradually fisting and gripping the front of his tank top tightly, but never making any effort in pushing him away. At the moment the grip loosened and that same hand came up to touch his cheek, Mingyu boldly pushed his tongue in, and received no resistance. Completely intoxicated by everything about Seungcheol’s sweetness, Mingyu kept diving in for more and more. Legends had always said everything about omegas were sweet and the alpha totally believed them at this point. Seungcheol’s lack of experience meant a lot of clumsiness and uncertainty from the omega, but they were absolutely no problem to Mingyu. The alpha was willing to guide him through everything, and there could never be a need to rush towards anything. There was no ending goal. Mingyu knew he enjoyed literally every smallest part about this, as long as the person in his arms was Seungcheol, and the pair of lips he was kissing did not want to reject him at all.

Mingyu thought he was already doing his best to be slow and gentle, until Seungcheol’s hand hit his chest, not harshly, but enough to make the alpha stop whatever he was doing. Additionally, the omega was even whining softly.

Once a tiny distance between their faces returned, Mingyu was stunned by the alluring sight of Seungcheol’s shiny swollen lips and rosy cheeks. If the omega was not gasping for air, he would seriously not be able to refrain from biting those lips and dive in to taste them more immediately.

“I can’t breathe!” Seungcheol whined and pouted, hitting Mingyu’s chest lightly again. “Is this really how people are supposed to kiss?”

Chuckling fondly, the alpha put his next kiss on the omega’s cheek instead of his lips.

“I’m sorry, Cheolie. I will be slower.”

“Yes, just be slower.” The smile soon went back, prompting Mingyu to give those lips a brief tender kiss, which somehow made his shy omega flustered.

“Is this good, baby?” Grinning, the alpha asked and held his crush’s face in his own palm gently.

The lovely redness on Seungcheol’s fair skinned face deepened because of the pet name, but he made no attempt to show any disapproval, pliantly receiving one more kiss again. Having literally never seen the leader of his pack letting someone take over the reins except for himself, Mingyu could not stop his heart from swelling bigger and bigger. The more Seungcheol trusted him, the more determined the alpha was to treat him as gently as possible, trying his best to observe what his crush might like and dislike in terms of intimacy.

Perhaps the word “crush” should not stay in his mind anymore. The right to give up that term was another profound astonishment for the lovesick alpha, causing this moment to feel even more surreal.

“Will you be my lover, Cheolie?” Not wanting to hold back, Mingyu had to ask this question right here right now. Unless Seungcheol did not want it, the alpha had absolutely no reason to delay making anything between them official.

Seungcheol was rendered speechless for several seconds before giggling.

“I expected you to say this in a more romantic setting.”

Taking the omega’s hand in his own one and bringing it to his lips, Mingyu placed a longing kiss on the knuckles and tried to convey the sincere messages from deep down his heart.

“I understand, but we can’t get that right now, and I don’t want you to think I’m playing with you or just considering this as something unserious.” Putting Seungcheol’s palm on his face, Mingyu nuzzled his cheek into it, and started melting once the omega actively kept his hand there and caressed his face. “This isn’t an impulsive decision. I have always wanted this for so long.”

Seungcheol’s smile was even softer than the way his hand was touching Mingyu. The volume of his voice became ten times lower, but soothed the alpha’s heart in the most magnificent way.

“I know.” Leaning against Mingyu’s firm chest and putting his hand down, Seungcheol unknowingly made the man disappointed for a second until he held the younger male’s hand and kept them both on his own lap. Looking up at Mingyu from this angle, the omega could see a thousand questions tormenting the alpha, so he sucked in a deep breath, trying to be brave and explained on his own. “I’m just… I’ve always been scared you won’t accept my true identity. I’m scared I might ruin everything.”

Heaving a long sigh and shaking his head in exasperation, Mingyu squeezed Seungcheol tightly into his chest, kissing the omega’s head over and over again.

“You’re so silly, Cheolie. Really, really silly. According to what I’ve heard, it seems like even Jeonghan-hyung and Shua-hyung know how I love you.”

Mingyu almost cooed as Seungcheol whined loudly and hid the entire face into his chest.

“They keep saying I’m silly too!!! But I was really scared! I was always scared you might flip out or get angry or offended or something. You know… some alphas really hate being managed or led by an omega by any ways.”

Mingyu gasped in faux offense.

“You can’t seriously think that I might be one of those people?”

Moving out of the alpha’s chest, Seungcheol suddenly tried to get up. The alpha was confused for a moment until realizing that the omega wanted to straddle his lap. Fixing his own limbs and helping his love move into the desired position, Mingyu was instantly warmed by tight embrace around his shoulders and the head resting near his neck.

“I know but… maybe the shock will be too big for you to handle. You might get mad when finding out I have lied to you for so long.” Seungcheol’s voice became muffled as half of his face was hidden into the man’s shoulder. “I’m scared of losing you.”

Caressing the omega’s hair, Mingyu let himself be enveloped entirely by the happiness of final acknowledgement.

“You will never lose me.” His voice was low, yet warm and assuring. “I’m always here for you. Do you trust me, baby?”

The alpha could not see it, but just by hearing, he knew his boyfriend was smiling.

“Yes, I do.” Seungcheol was quiet for a few seconds then giggled again, creating sounds that resembled the most healing melodies in Mingyu’s ears. “How can I even sleep tonight? I don’t think I can cool down after this!”

Laughing, Mingyu let Seungcheol out of his embrace so that he could use both hands to pinch the omega’s cheeks. The action made the older male whine loudly and even squatted his hands away, but his pout was too adorable for Mingyu to believe his lover was mad.

“Don’t worry, Cheolie. I know you’re definitely tired, even more tired than you think. You will quickly fall asleep once you lie down.” Nonetheless, the alpha did not try to make it happen soon, as there was still an overwhelming number of questions in his mind. “I know you don’t want to interrogated, but can I ask some more questions? I’m literally dying to know.”

Resting his hands and forearms on Mingyu’s chest, Seungcheol was barely aware of how this position was reminding the alpha of that night. The leader simply knew he had found a comfortable way to have a conversation with his new boyfriend.

“I said so because I was afraid you would make me sit next to you or opposite you at a table and start asking a list of questions.” Seungcheol looked pretty nervous when saying this, even though he was still smiling softly. “But sitting like this is much better.”

“Don’t worry, baby. I will just ask the most important questions to understand the most basic things.” Mingyu rapidly grew fond of calling Seungcheol “baby” since it was easy to see how flustered the omega became whenever that word was heard. “First of all, you still haven’t answered my question. Will you be my boyfriend, Cheolie?”

Smiling at the reminder, Seungcheol did not have to spend time thinking at all.

“Promise me you will take me out on a more romantic date and ask this again in a better setting?”

“I promise!” Mingyu nodded firmly. “I will plan everything perfectly and surprise you! You will only have to follow me and enjoy everything to the fullest!”

The omega’s smile easily grew ten times brighter.

“I know I can count on you in terms of planning.”

“So your answer is yes or no now, baby?” Mingyu held his lover gently on the waist, puppy eyes eagerly waiting for the response.

Mesmerized by the loveliest sight in front of his eyes, the alpha felt like getting more and more intoxicated just by how adorable the blush on Seungcheol’s face was.

“Yes.” His voice went tiny again. “Would I still be sitting here if my answer was “no”?”

Unable to resist any longer, Mingyu had to pull his lover down immediately to seal his kiss once again, earning for himself another giggle from Seungcheol. Remembering the previous complaint, the alpha chose to kiss slowly and sensually, and certainly did not forget to whisper between the deep kisses.

“I love you, Cheolie.”

The happiness in his blushing lover was just evident, undeniable, and contagious.

“I love you too, Gyu.” The omega replied quietly, only to have his breath taken away instantly again.

From that moment, they resumed kissing slowly and lovingly again, for a long period of time. Even if they talked, the words were scattered among little kisses. The only serious moment was when Mingyu asked the question he was the most curious about.

“Does the company force you to hide your identity? Do they threaten to harm you or our pack if you reveals it?”

“No. It’s my own idea.” At this point, Seungcheol was relaxed and content enough to open his heart, especially with how sincerely concerned Mingyu was. “Do you remember when there were seventeen of us before our debut? And that friend who was even older than me?”

Mingyu nodded, not without snarling at the reminder of that “friend” whom Seungcheol also had just emphasized on.

“I hated to see how he treated our members. Even when I hadn’t presented, I still hated the way he kept showcasing his dominance and power. I truly dreaded the day he really became our leader. Everyone was so uncomfortable and fearful under his supervision.”

“I agree. Nobody liked him. We were scared too.” Mingyu nodded again in understanding.

“Then I presented as an omega, and I freaked out.” Seungcheol heaved a long sigh once recalling the old days. “I knew our company didn’t really have any problems with omega trainees or artists, but I was worried of so many things. That jerk was showing signs of leaving, but nothing was certain yet. I couldn’t imagine letting all of us live under his leadership, and I didn’t know who would be able to be the leader if he left either. Our CEO had always complimented on my leadership skills even though I just unintentionally looked after you guys sometimes. You know, since you were just kids back then.”

“Yeah. We were some unruly and untamed kids.” Mingyu laughed fondly at the memories. “And you were such a wonderful hyung who always made sure we weren’t out of line. We all love you a thousand times more than that jerk.”

Hearing about himself being adored by the whole pack, Seungcheol smiled more brightly, and gained more courage to keep sharing.

“I saw no other choices for the general benefits of both myself and our team. Our teachers and the CEO also said I would fit the image of a badass alpha so perfectly and they all firmly believed I would do well if I expressed myself in that way. Meanwhile, the rest of the pack would fall back into place if I were an alpha. I would be able to be the leader, to protect and take care of you all, and never have to worry about handing you guys to any other bastards. I believed this would be the only way for me to live in peace and never regret anything.”

Naturally smiling just by listening to the endearing words, Mingyu caressed his lover’s face and asked.

“So… have you ever regretted it?”

The smile stayed on Seungcheol’s face, allowing the alpha to believe he was being completely honest.

“It has been incredibly stressful and devastating sometimes, but right now, I regret nothing. We’re all safe and doing well. And the most important thing is that we will all be together like this for a long time.”

“Yes, definitely for a very long time.” Pecking the omega’s cheek, Mingyu found his heart filled to the brim with admiration and pride for his boyfriend, the leader of his pack. “It’s all thanks to you, Cheolie.”

“It’s not all thanks to me.” Seungcheol instantly turned shy in front of the compliments, which was really typical of him, yet made Mingyu fall even harder. “Each of us plays an important role in making our pack perfect. You’re the one who gave us all the strength and determination to continue the contracts. Remember?”

“But no one sacrifices as much as you do.” Mingyu chose not to put any filters in his words, wishing to wholeheartedly make Seungcheol how significant everything he had done was. “I originally guessed maybe you pretended to be an alpha because you were afraid of being mistreated as an omega, but now I understand it’s hardly one of the reasons. You really have been doing all of this for us!”

Too embarrassed to look at Mingyu’s face, Seungcheol once again leaned closer to hug the alpha tightly and hide his face into the bigger man’s shoulder.

“By being the leader, I can protect all the omegas in our pack, and make sure everyone is safe.”

“And we want to protect you too.” Squeezing his boyfriend tightly, Mingyu never wanted to let go again. “I will be your personal bodyguard!”

Giggling, Seungcheol let a hand rub the back of Mingyu’s head lovingly.

“You have always been.”

They cuddled, talked, and kissed for perhaps an hour, and at this point Mingyu started to think the omega was right. Neither of them would be able to sleep because the longing and yearning period of time prior to this moment had been too long. No amount of intimacy or affection could be enough to quench their thirst or make them temporarily calm down enough to care about anything else. Moreover, the fact that Seungcheol straddled his lap for the whole time inevitably gave the alpha an excruciating boner which had lasted for longer than it should. Mingyu was not sure whether his boyfriend could feel it or not as the omega did not verbally mention it at all, still receiving kisses and shyly kissing the alpha back.

Was it an ignorance or a green light for him to proceed further?

The man could endure ignoring his own arousal, but it was undoubtedly impossible for him to refrain from luring Seungcheol into allowing him to let his tongue in. The shy omega was rather helpless and startled when meeting the alpha’s bold movement, but made no attempt to push him away or stop it. Mingyu did not plan to initiate something evil, but it just felt naturally more convenient to invade the omega’s mouth thoroughly and taste him properly once pinning him down into the couch. Lying down, Seungcheol let out a soft giggle and his blush deepened, but his arms willingly looped around Mingyu’s neck to pull the alpha closer.

The omega’s legs were spread widely to accommodate the giant body in between, unintentionally seducing Mingyu grinding against the secret place right under his own crotch. Nonetheless, the alpha struggled to fight against his inner beast, dreading scaring Seungcheol or making the omega think that he wanted nothing apart from sex. On the other hand, their lower bodies still ended up touching, because the alpha seriously could not hold himself up for too long with his slightly aching back. Despite the painkillers, the alpha still needed to lie down and rest to feel better, but now he was stuck in this endless pit of sweetness. Completely addicted to the taste of Seungcheol’s lips and the ecstasy of being so intimately close to the omega, Mingyu was adamant about ignoring his backache for at least one more hour.

Surprisingly, the longer they kissed and pressed against each other, unintentionally rubbing their crotches sensually, the alpha smelled not only his own arousal in the air. Seungcheol had always smelled unbelievably sweet to him, yet the special kind of sweetness related to sexual desire was different. Effortless, the intoxicating scent got the alpha growling and devouring his lover’s lips even more obsessively. There was no aggression, but the way he explored Seungcheol’s mouth and tasted him was definitely thorough, soon leaving the omega gasping and breathless.

In fact, he was gasping more than what Mingyu had expected, causing the man to grown concerned. Parting away from the red swollen lips, the alpha almost growled again under the violent trigger caused by the erotic sight of his boyfriend’s flushed cheeks and glossy eyes. However, typical of Mingyu, the rational part in his brain was powerful enough to find this abnormal. A worried hand came to touch Seungcheol’s cheeks and forehead only to feel them all hotter than usual.

“Babe…” Mingyu immediately grew fully alert. “Is it possible for me to trigger your heat to come again?”

“…Huh…?”

The slightly dazed omega needed some more time to process the question, but luckily, his vivid and intense embarrassment right after that told the alpha that Seungcheol was still lucid.

“No… It won’t be triggered so quickly again.” The omega struggled to meet his the younger male’s eyes as he stuttered and spoke incredibly quietly. “I… I’m just more sensitive than usual, and… and a bit… bothered.”

The piece of information made Mingyu’s eyes wider in a few seconds before the man chuckled in amusement, leaning down to whisper in a husky tone directly to Seungcheol’s ear.

“Is that the reason why you’re afraid you won’t be able to sleep tonight?”

Kissing the omega’s earlobe, Mingyu sneaked an arm under his back to pull him closer, efficiently pressing their crotches tightly together. The sound Seungcheol let out was somewhere between a whine and a moan, too cute for the whipped alpha’s heart to handle. Teasing Seungcheol was always fun, because Mingyu absolutely adored how lovely his baby was whenever being sulky, whiny, or pouty.

“Are you worried that you will be restless for the whole night because of me?”

“B-bastard!” Seungcheol whined, his hand slapping Mingyu’s back without bringing even the slightest pain.

Laughing, Mingyu pulled away again to make direct eye contact with his lover, whose shyness had not dissipated at all.

“But why do you have to endure it, baby?” Lowering his voice to the utmost, sounding raspy and seductive, Mingyu resumed kissing his lover, while his left hand came to the first button of Seungcheol’s pajama top. “You have me here.”

Once Mingyu’s lips moved from his lips to his jaw, then his neck, Seungcheol found the whole world around him spinning uncontrollably. The intimacy and the feeling of being exposed and invaded followed every open-mouthed kisses Mingyu left along his neck, but the omega did not want to tell him to stop. It felt like being taken, bit by bit, but it was a good type of “taken”, because it was Mingyu, whom Seungcheol had wished to be his lover, his alpha, for so long. Being kissed, marked, touched, and explored by his boyfriend sounded like something only coming from the wildest dreams.

“I know how to make you fall asleep quickly, Cheolie.” Mingyu looked into the leader’s eyes again once all of the buttons had been undone, but he was not even sure his omega was aware of this.

“H-how?” Seungcheol asked, more thrilled than curious in front of the raw lust in the alpha’s eyes. When had they started appearing? Why was it such a striking contrast to the gentle movements of those hands?

Kissing the omega’s lips, Mingyu opened the right side of Seungcheol’s shirt to reveal half of his upper body. Drunk in the kisses, the omega probably did not notice it, but definitely felt it when the alpha’s hot and big palm slowly moved upwards from his waist, caressing his ribs and making Seungcheol gasp. Nevertheless, the alpha resolutely pulled him back into kisses, stubbornly not letting go even when the omega’s whole body jerked and shuddered at the moment Mingyu’s thumb touched his nipple. Rubbing and gently drawing little circles, the alpha drank all of his lover’s feeble moans, feeling utterly satisfied to see how fast he could make the pink nub harden.

The most important factor was that Seungcheol did not try to push him away at all, just gripping onto his arms tightly.

“Some orgasms will drain your energy faster than anything.” Changing to roll the nipple between two fingers, the alpha effortlessly made his lover moan louder. No longer blocking those sounds by the kisses, Mingyu allowed himself to observe Seungcheol’s face, and the reddening nub.

“But… but your back…” The omega struggled to talk breathlessly, turning even redder just because of how close Mingyu’s face was to his chest. “I… I’m not on the pill…”

Sticking his tongue out and licking the nipple without asking for permission, Mingyu successfully made his boyfriend jolt again and mewl. The realization of how sensitive this spot was added more fuel to the violent fire of desires in the alpha’s heart, prompting him to take the whole thing into his mouth and start sucking. Seungcheol gasped and cried out “Mingyu” in the way the man had never heard in his life.

“And I don’t have any condoms.” Mingyu spoke as his hands gradually gripped the omega’s waistband together with the underwear. Waiting for a response, slowly licking the nipple and looking at his lover, Mingyu tried one last time to check his attitude, only to see the omega holding his breath and staring back at him expectantly, cheeks flushed, pupils dilated.

Certainly, Mingyu could not take Seungcheol’s pants off when he was in between the omega’s legs like this, but it was surely possible to slide them both down enough to expose the entire plump and round butt cheeks. Instead of diving straight to the leaking center, Mingyu fondled the enticing cheeks by both hands, relishing the pleasure of groping them, stroking them, and feeling their softness sin his own palms. It seemed like Seungcheol was not a very vocal or loud person in bed, and the alpha had to rely more on his gasps to know his reaction, but the alluring scent of the slick was more than enough. Biting the omega’s lower lip seductively, Mingyu smiled the most wicked smile.

“But I can make you cum in many other ways, as long as you allow me to.”

Seeing the subtle nod, the alpha waited no more.

Seungcheol did not even have the time to really see how his boyfriend moved. Within seconds, the omega found himself lying in the middle of the bed, losing all pieces of clothing, stark naked in front of the alpha’s hungry eyes. Yet, Mingyu was not a wild animal. He did not pounce. Instead, the man leaned down, hovered above Seungcheol, and once again closed his lips around the other nipple while taking the space between his legs simultaneously. The position was similar to how they had been on the couch, but the lack of clothes brought the omega’s sensitivity to a whole new level. Mortified, the omega tried to suppress his moan but to no avail, especially when Mingyu’s hand caressed his inner thigh and slowly inched towards the center part. The fact that the bigger man above him remained fully clothed made Seungcheol feel even more vulnerable and thrilled. There were fleeting moments in which a bit of fear was ignited in the omega’s mind but none of them lasted long, because Mingyu did not attack. The alpha was still in the patient process of feeling Seungcheol’s skin and flesh under his hands and his tongue, gently making the omega more relaxed and checking his reactions.

Nonetheless, right at the moment Mingyu’s hand was just an inch away from his most private part, Seungcheol suddenly gripped the alpha’s wrist and stopped him. Feeling the tug, Mingyu stopped his mouth work to move back to his lover’s face, staring deep into his shining nervous eyes.

“What’s wrong, Cheolie?” The deep yet gentle and caring voice touched the deepest part in Seungcheol’s soul, making him whine, but feel more assured to voice out anything in his mind. Never had the omega felt so wanted but still genuinely cherished like this moment.

The hand that had just been stopped returned to Seungcheol’s waist and squeezed lightly, simply because Mingyu loved how soft this area felt like regardless of how much time his boyfriend had spent in the gym.

“Don’t put your fingers in…” Seungcheol sheepishly whispered, face as red as a tomato. “Just… just don’t put anything in…”

“Okay.” Mingyu easily agreed with a grin, but he was also highly curious. “Is there a reason for this? Or you’re just currently not comfortable with that?”

“I…” The omega anxiously bit his lip even harder than before, too shy to reveal the truth but indeed knowing that his boyfriend needed to know everything.

Mingyu deserved to know everything, because he was Seungcheol’s lover, and the person he trusted the most in this world.

“I… I haven’t…” Seungcheol felt like he might start crying before managing to reveal this truth. It was not an embarrassing thing, but it was too mortifying to admit it to the alpha he loved in this condition. “I have never… penetrated it…”

 Astounded, Mingyu thought he had misheard or misunderstood somewhere.

“Wh-what… what about your heats?” The alpha frowned deeply. “Or did you always take a shot to end all of the heats?”

Afraid that he might be sounding offensive now, the man rushed to rephrase his questions.

“I’m sorry, I mean… heats and ruts are always extremely uncomfortable when we don’t have a partner. I can’t imagine how you have got through all those times without at least putting a dildo or your fingers inside.”

The more they asked, the shyer Seungcheol became, and the quieter his voice became.

“I have been on a lot of suppressants. I know all omegas in our industry do that, but… my dose is kinda heavier, especially when… when…” It took him a tremendous amount of courage to reveal everything honestly. “…when we live in such a close vicinity and I can’t risk leaking while being around you.”

Overwhelmed by the intense and heavy gaze fixated on his face, Seungcheol could not contain his emotions anymore. Covering his whole face by both hands, the omega tried to roll to his right side and curled up to hide.

“Therefore, my heats have been very mild. I mostly get cramps and feel more emotional than other, but I don’t need much stimulation. I only need… need to use a… a vibrator on my clit.”

Yet, the omega could not stay in that position for long, as Mingyu soon flipped him back, and gently pried his limbs open again. Seungcheol did not fight back, letting his arms and legs move in any ways the alpha wanted, but felt ten times more arousing when the man actively used his legs to force the omega’s thighs to spread widely. Even his hands were pinned down by Mingyu’s hands gripping his wrists. Seungcheol tried pushing back, yet his endeavor was futile.

The alpha was two seconds away from turning feral. All of a sudden, his voice was sinfully raspy and rough in his next question.

“You mean you had to up your dose of suppressants because of me?”

“Y-yeah…” Gulping, Seungcheol got his answer interrupted by a kiss. Even when he could talk again, Mingyu’s lips did not really leave his or create any distance. “We… we have too much skinship…”

To the omega’s disbelief, his boyfriend smirked smugly.

“You don’t look like someone on suppressants that night, actually.”

“It’s your fault!” Whining again, Seungcheol wanted to slap the alpha’s arms or back but surely, he could not move at all. His only choice of responding was to use words and pout. “The heat was triggered because you kept rubbing my scent gland and scenting me every day!”

The younger man chuckled, teasing.

“How can I help it when someone keeps crawling into my bed and cuddle with me every night?”

Releasing Seungcheol’s hands to sit up, Mingyu deliberately used his knees to keep the omega’s legs spread widely, allowing the little pink pussy to be fully exposed. Growling, the man was entranced by the smoothness, the enticing color, the shining slick, and the sheer image of how closed it was, obviously having not been used even once. For someone as big and bulky as the leader was, this area easily gave the impression of surreal tightness that made the alpha growl in total madness. Unable to handle the insane stare, Seungcheol whined again and tried to use both hands to cover himself but the alpha pushed him away this time. Giving his lover no chance to act on his kindness, Mingyu used his right hand to spread the outer lips and pull the hood up, grinning at the tiny precious thing he found right away.

Without any hesitation, the alpha’s left thumb came over to rub the clit slowly and gently, but the effect was violent and instantaneous. Throwing his head backwards and arching his back, Seungcheol attempted to press a palm to his mouth and stifle the loud moan, but there was absolutely nothing he could do to hide the spike in his scent and the slick oozing out of his pussy. Mingyu had to spread the lips pretty hard to actually see the center of the wet entrance. Putting a constant pressure on the clit and not stopping the rubbing, the alpha was content to hear the tiny sounds Seungcheol was letting out. Only half of his face was visible due to the trembling hands covering it in utter embarrassment.

“So you mean… you only want my cock to be the first thing that penetrates you when we really have sex one day. Right, baby?”

 Despite the mortification, the omega nodded and confirmed the alpha’s thought without knowing how violently he had just triggered Mingyu’s excitement and happiness. The alpha’s grin was just so wide and blinding that Seungcheol almost wanted to whine and slap him, but it just made this entire ordeal feel safer and more comfortable. Regardless of the obscene and filthy things he was doing and saying, Mingyu remained the greatest gentleman Seungcheol had ever known, since the alpha was willing to agree with everything the omega wanted him to do. No pushing. No trying to persuade. No dismissing. Seungcheol said “no penetration”, then it simply meant no penetration, and Mingyu’s mood was not ruined even the slightest.

Leaning over one more time to kiss his lover without taking his thumb away from the sensitive bundle of nerves, the alpha smiled and whispered on Seungcheol’s lips.

“I know one perfect way to both save me from worsening my backache and make you cum without putting anything inside you, Cheolie.”

“Wh-what is it?” Seungcheol asked breathlessly, gasping when Mingyu’s thumb pressed a little harder, and wrapped his arms around the man to pull him closer.

Nonetheless, in the next second, the omega was startled as his boyfriend abruptly sat up and picked him up from the bed. Utilizing his own strength, the alpha effortlessly maneuvered Seungcheol’s body around until Mingyu himself lay down on the mattress. Finding himself nearly sitting on the alpha’s chest with his knees on two side of the man’s head, Seungcheol scrambled to hold onto the headboard to steady himself, preventing his body from falling forward or else he would press his entire crotch onto Mingyu’s face.

Seungcheol did not know that it was exactly the alpha’s intention. Smirking and licking his lips in hunger, Mingyu was pleased, and ravenous to get such a close-up view of the irresistible virgin pussy of his lover, and to breathe in the seductively sweet scent of the secret canal inviting him to dive in for a taste. Drooling at the sight and the scent, Mingyu firmly believed he could eat this pussy for hours without a break and drink all of the sweet juices until Seungcheol cried and begged for him to stop. There was no need to hold back anymore, after all those years and struggles. Finally, Seungcheol was all his to take and eat alive.

Squeezing the omega’s butt cheeks in his big palms, Mingyu whispered, simultaneously blowing ridiculously hot air against the mound, making his lover squirm, whine, and cry out “Mingyu” ambiguously.

“Sit on my face, baby.”

Seungcheol frantically tried to reason.

“But I will crush your he-”

There was no chance to ever finish that sentence, because Mingyu swiftly hoisted him closer and roughly pushed the omega down, literally slamming the wet pussy against his face unapologetically. The greedy tongue and lips took action immediately, giving Seungcheol no time to brace himself for the sudden onslaught of pleasure.

Chapter Text

Obviously, Mingyu had no worries about his head being crushed. What he cared about most right now was undoubtedly getting the fullest taste of Seungcheol, and nothing could deter him from doing this. Holding the omega tightly against his own face by groping his butt cheeks, the alpha believed he was in heaven right now. Just a few days ago, Mingyu had already believed he would go totally insane when tasting a tiny bit of Seungcheol’s slick. Right now, the alpha was even able to drink it, and taste the most private part of the omega he loved to the fullest, with no reservation or barrier in between them any longer.

Although Seungcheol had told him not to push anything inside, Mingyu was certain his tongue could do no harm, so the alpha did not hesitate to reach inside as far as possible, coaxing even more slick to come out within seconds. Slurping it all, the alpha rapidly felt completely drunk and heady, even starting to growl and fondle the plump cheeks in his hands more obsessively. One of the best things about this was Seungcheol’s confusion. Evidently, the omega had never received so much stimulation in this area, and he was unsure whether to move away from it or to chase after it. Certainly, Mingyu did not allow him to run away; no matter what happened, the omega had to stay seated on his face.

Seungcheol at first did try to press a hand against his mouth to stifle his own embarrassing moan, but his both hands soon came down to grab the headboard instead, feeling down he would be too overwhelmed to sit straight. The omega was nearly tempted to slap Mingyu for being so enthusiastic and passionate about eating his pussy but the thought quickly flew away, giving way to shyness. Who could ever imagine that Mingyu would enjoy this so much? The only part of the man’s face Seungcheol could see was the eyes, yet whenever the omega gathered enough courage and sanity to look at them, he rapidly averted his gaze to another direction.

Knowing his partner was shy, Mingyu was determined to make him moan louder. Madly sucking the omega’s clit, the alpha moved his hands upwards, grabbing his lover’s soft chest and letting his naughty fingers tease the lovely pink nipples relentlessly. The sudden attention on the chest made Seungcheol squeak in surprise, then his wanton moans just sounded ten times better. Realizing those tiny nubs was highly sensitive, Mingyu now even had more reasons to take care of them better as he simultaneously lightly bit the tiny clit. Hearing his lover’s whiny moans, the alpha could not help chuckling, feeling absolutely amused and whipped. They sounded like a combination of “what is this”, “why is this so good”, and “please don’t stop”.

The suppressants Seungcheol had been taking for years might make his scent become mild and imperceptible, but Mingyu was able to smell and taste everything to the fullest at this position. Groaning in satisfaction, the alpha found it marvelous that the light sweet scent he had been loving turned out to be a sweet fruity one. Now tasting and swallowing the slick, Mingyu easily got drunk, feeling as if he had been sucking on candy, licking ice cream and drinking juice. It was peaches. Originally, the man did not care about whom else Seungcheol might have been with in the past, yet now knowing that absolutely no one had ever got a precious chance to be this intimate with his beloved omega, Mingyu grew more and more addicted within seconds.

Fresh, unsullied, unblemished.

What had Mingyu done in his life to deserve this honor?

The alpha was confident he could do this for hours without sleeping tonight. If Seungcheol grew exhausted and needed to lie down, Mingyu could still continue, as long as his lover allowed him to. Even if Seungcheol was an alpha, Mingyu would still happily and enthusiastically suck his cock until his own throat could not handle it any longer. As long as it was Seungcheol in his mouth, Mingyu would be so contented and over the moon.

“Min-Mingyu…” The omega croaked out, his voice breathless but higher than his usual speaking tone. “I… I think…”

Understanding what his partner was trying to say, Mingyu responded simply by sucking the clit ten times harder, pinching both of the hardened nipples in his fingers. The sudden increase in the intensity of the stimulation got Seungcheol moaning and gasping, and in that moment, he could not endure looking at Mingyu any longer. The omega’s eyes closed involuntarily as his orgasm hit without a gradual buildup. The alpha’s hands moved back down at that exact moment to keep the omega stay on his face instead of moving away. Seungcheol was cumming, but so what? Mingyu only got that as an encouragement for him to keep going. Greedily drinking all of the juice that was oozing out, the alpha was determined to keep abusing the oversensitive clit, even when Seungcheol started twitching and pulling his hair.

Alternating between taking care of the clit and pushing his tongue inside to explore the tender flesh, Mingyu could both hear and see his lover losing his mind very rapidly. Nonetheless, no word came out of his mouth except for just “Mingyu”, as if that was the last thing the omega could remember. He was not saying “stop” or “no”, so the alpha allowed himself to smile wickedly, triumphantly, and give more. Nothing was ever supposed to end when they were willing participants together.

This position gave Mingyu a perfect view of his omega’s pussy, not his face, but the flush spreading from Seungcheol’s face to his chest was just so obvious and arousing that the alpha’s eyes did not miss a single detail. Sweats were running down Seungcheol’s temples and chest, and the grip he had on Mingyu’s hair was progressively getting tighter, but after about two minutes, the leader finally let go of it to grip the headboard again, and began muttering curses.

“Fuck… Kim Mingyu… fuck… I… this… this…”

If Mingyu was not so busy enjoying his treat, he would smile widely and brightly enough to earn a slap on the chest or the arm. Luckily, the alpha now refused to stop what he was doing, and Seungcheol could not move anywhere either. Mingyu did not want to use his strength on his love, but this particular situation was the one in which he needed to grab Seungcheol’s butt and thighs harshly. His hands would probably leave bruises later, and Mingyu was thrilled by this knowledge.

Seeing bruises that fit the shapes of his hands on Seungcheol’s gorgeous skin? Mingyu had seen this way too many times in his sinful dreams. The only terrible thing about this moment was the struggle to stop himself from pushing his fingers into the omega’s pussy, but Mingyu knew he could handle this, and the effort would always be worthy. His own cock was aching and so horrendously hard without any viable solution except for a masturbation but Mingyu did not have much mental capacity left to care. All he wanted now was Seungcheol.

Two orgasms were what it took to steal the leader’s ability to sit straight. Seeing the way his poor flushed body swayed and heaved for air, Mingyu gently laid his lover down on the mattress, and Seungcheol seemed to instantly appreciate the relief without seeing Mingyu slipping the blanket under his body. The omega looked like he was ready to sink into the fluffy pillow beneath his head and pass out but Mingyu went down on him again, pushing his legs wide apart and sticking his face in between.

“Fuck… you… you want to kill me, Mingyu?” Seungcheol groaned before moaning again, wantonly yet weakly.

“You will sleep very well later.” Smiling, the alpha gave a nice hickey on his lover’s inner thigh, extremely close to his pussy. “I haven’t finished my meal!”

Despite that “complaint”, Seungcheol had never explicitly told Mingyu to stop or expressed that he wanted no more. Proud of what he could bring to his omega, the alpha insistently wrung more and more orgasms out of the leader. As he no longer had to focus on forcing Seungcheol’s body down, his hands had the opportunity to join teasing the clit and resume playing with the omega’s chest again. The entire sacred area looked so red and swollen after half an hour of Mingyu’s obsessive eating, but the alpha still went on and on, completely forgetting about the existence of his own backache.

Mingyu only had mercy on his lover when he found the omega too exhausted, not because the man himself did not want more. Chuckling at his wrecked partner, the alpha spent a minute admiring the breathtaking view of Seungcheol laid out in bed, pussy and nipples red and swollen, thighs scattered with hickeys and bruises. The beautiful grey hair was a mess now but still looked effortlessly gorgeous, complementing the sweaty and rosy look on the omega’s face in the dreamiest way.

Moving, Mingyu placed Seungcheol’s head on his thigh and caressed the omega’s hair lovingly, gently helping him calm down after his last orgasm of the night. Just by bending over a little, the alpha was still able to touch the twitching pussy and rub it. His palm just came into contact with the outer of it but Seungcheol was so oversensitive that it was enough to make him whine loudly and try to close his legs.

Seeing his lover turning to lie on his side and curling up, Mingyu chuckled and got the hint, withdrawing his hand for good and ending the torture. Nuzzling into the alpha’s thigh, Seungcheol tried to regain his breath and cool down, but the process just took so much time. Nevertheless, it felt comfortable and peaceful because Mingyu’s gentle hands never stopped stroking his hair. By his ears, there were soft whispers of “I’m here with you”, and just right by Seungcheol’s face, there was the source of the musky scent coming from between the alpha’s leg. If the omega was not lying in this position, he perhaps would not even remember that Mingyu still had not cum. The alpha had not even taken off his pants or underwear throughout the entire crazy erotic session.

Drawn in by the scent, and the knowledge that his boyfriend had not taken care of his own needs yet, Seungcheol let his hand reach Mingyu’s waistband without a second thought. The omega used to feel worried whether this idea would disgust him or not, but right now, Mingyu in his eyes was not just a man. Mingyu was the noble alpha that had respected him and loved him enough to excellently control his instincts and keep Seungcheol perfectly safe at his most vulnerable moment. Having such a man to himself was a great happiness and honor; nothing about that man could be disgusting even the slightest. Seungcheol wanted his marvelous alpha to enjoy the pleasure as well, because they were lovers, and because the omega wanted him to.

Realizing what Seungcheol’s intention was, Mingyu hurriedly held the omega’s hand despite the way his heart started beating wildly.

“You don’t have to do it, Cheolie! I ca-”

Not letting the alpha finish his sentence, the leader swatted his hand away, resolutely pulling the waistbands of Mingyu’s both sweatpants and underwear down and freed the rock hard dick. Although his hand was trembling, Seungcheol believed nothing could deter him from doing this, and the emotion he had in his chest the moment his hand held the alpha’s cock was actually thrilling. Mingyu hissed and gritted his teeth audibly right away, obviously highly sensitive and aroused after spending so much time eating his lover’s pussy, but the current sight was not any less erotic. The amount of precum he had leaked out was obscene, maybe even embarrassing, but Seungcheol did not mind anything. Licking his lips as his hand began stroking the thick length lightly, the omega could not believe he was really doing this right now.

It was perhaps not a secret to the world; everyone had had different ways of seeing that Mingyu must be well endowed. They were all indeed correct; Seungcheol had not had seen any cocks outside of porn but he had enough knowledge to know this was huge. Gulping and licking his lips again, Seungcheol was unknowingly inching closer and closer, getting excited and elated to know that this handsome alpha and this cock would only belong to him. His hand was not providing much stimulation at all, but Mingyu was still growling and clenching his teeth, seriously and heavily influenced by the lightest touch his lover had on his cock. It was all because this was Choi Seungcheol touching him, not anyone else.

Mingyu once again intended to tell the leader that he was not obligated to do anything, but Seungcheol was faster, and shut the alpha’s mouth for good. What else could Mingyu even say when the omega started licking the tip of his cock? Riled up for so long, the alpha quickly turned insane by these little licks, wondering whether Seungcheol was genuinely trying this new experience or he was deliberately tormenting him. The omega licked it in the same way someone would do to an ice cream, probably taking his time enjoying the taste of precum on his tongue, checking to see if it would be suitable to put this thing in his mouth or not. Watching the ways those big and shiny eyes staring at his cock dead on, Mingyu believed his lover was not being evil.

As a result, it was even harder to resist pulling the omega’s hair, even though the alpha’s fingers had already tangled into the soft grey locks. Struggling to relax his hand, Mingyu opted to just hold Seungcheol’s head instead in the most gentle manner he could manage at this point.

The omega looked up at his lover, and had the audacity to smile.

“I want you to cum too.”

That was the last warning Mingyu received before the leader opened his mouth and took the entire tip in. The omega did not go any further than that, just focusing on having the whole bulbous head in his mouth so that he could one hundred percent focus on taking care of it properly. Throwing his head back and growling, Mingyu let out multiple curses at once, realizing the real torture only happened now, as he had to fight against all of his inner beasts to refrain from moving his hips. This was Seungcheol’s first time; the omega would not be able to handle getting his mouth fucked and Mingyu did not want to risk making him dislike giving blowjobs forever. In hell and heaven at the same time, the alpha was torn apart by maddening pleasure and the crazy urge to buck his hips.

Seungcheol might lack experience, but he was now really turning Mingyu insane by swirling his tongue around, and stroking the remaining part that could not fit inside his mouth. Keeping his head resting comfortably on the alpha’s thigh all the time, Seungcheol truly looked like he was enjoying his lollipop rather than doing something so filthy to his lover. Without a doubt, Mingyu knew he would cum fast, and this was probably Seungcheol’s plan too, especially they both knew the alpha had been holding back for so long.

“Do you… want to swallow my cum, Cheolie?” Stroking the omega’s hair gently as the last resort to control his madness, Mingyu asked breathlessly, huffing.

Not letting the cock slip out of his mouth, Seungcheol nodded, and sucked harder, pressing the tip of his tongue tightly against the slit that he knew was very sensitive. The sensation, the encouragement in the leader’s eyes, and the sight of those red plump lips wrapping around his cock all became too much for Mingyu to handle any longer. Gripping the omega’s hair more tightly than he had intended to, the alpha grunted, and spilled his load into Seungcheol’s waiting mouth. It did surprise the omega a little, but the omega continued to suck and swirl his tongue around the tip insistently, milking his lover.

Seungcheol pulled his own head backwards and finally let the cock slip out so that he could both properly swallowed and breathe, but his hand did not stop stroking the pulsing length, resulting in even more cum to leak out. As if not willing to waste anything, he quickly attached his mouth to the cock again, pushing it all down his throat while his tongue worked hard to make sure nothing stayed sticking to his lover’s cock. The last thing that was allowed to stay on Mingyu’s cock was Seungcheol’s saliva and nothing else.

Mingyu believed he turned blind for more than fifteen seconds during his immense orgasm, the craziest one he had ever had in his whole life. His climax seemed to last forever, and the alpha could not believe how he could give Seungcheol so much to swallow, but the omega looked evidently pleased to receive it all and satisfied with the job he had done. Even when the overstimulation started kicking in, Mingyu did not actually want to push Seungcheol away, wholeheartedly enjoying the way his cock kept staying in the omega’s mouth, even though he was not actively sucking vigorously anymore.

A little sucking could still be felt, but it felt similar to the way a person languidly enjoying their lollipop. Gritting his teeth, Mingyu found himself not tortured by the overstimulation as much as he had imagined. Once the discomfort disappeared, the alpha found himself drowned in a euphoric sensation he had never experienced before. It was not until now did Mingyu realize that his lover’s eyes were glossy and distant, as if Seungcheol’s mind had drifted far away, even though he was still batting those long lashes and staring at the alpha. Stroking the leader’s hair by one hand, Mingyu used his other one to touch Seungcheol’s chin, then his cheeks, and traced the tip of his fingers on the red plump lips still wrapping around his half hard cock.

The tender stroke on the hair slowly made Seungcheol’s eyelids grow incredibly heavy. The omega ended up dozing off before his brain managed to get out of the thick fog to think of doing anything else. In awe, Mingyu nearly cooed at the sight of his lovely omega, and felt his heart swelling to a dangerously giant size, as if it was attempting to make his ribcage burst. Although Seungcheol was already asleep and not moving anymore, Mingyu continued to spend the next minutes stroking the omega’s hair and watching his lover in extreme adoration and ecstasy, wondering how he could be lucky enough to be this close and intimate with the only Choi Seungcheol. Tonight they had no intercourse, but everything that had happened was enough to feel oddly sweet and intimate. In the end, nothing could be as satisfying as the knowledge about himself being loved, and trusted.

Mingyu would forever remember this day as one of the most special and important days in his life. Silently, the alpha vowed to love, look after, treasure, and protect Seungcheol forever. The more he thought about how things had changed since this morning till this moment, the clearer Mingyu could confirm that the feelings in their hearts were mutual.

Despite liking letting Seungcheol’s mouth warm his cock for longer, Mingyu knew this would not be good for the omega, especially when they still had one more night of the fan meeting and this night should be for Seungcheol to restore his energy. Once making sure the omega was sleeping soundly, Mingyu carefully took his cock out, holding Seungcheol’s head in place and sliding out as slowly as possible. Lucky for him, the leader was blissfully oblivious to everything, seemingly truly exhausted and soundly asleep. Exhaustion was one of the reasons; he was also currently soothed and at ease thanks to the Mingyu’s scent which was available on himself and everything else in the room.

Thanks to placing the blanket under Seungcheol previously, Mingyu now did not have to change the sheets. Taking out the clean blanket in the wardrobe to use was much easier. Watching the wet spot on the soiled blanket, Mingyu regretted not drinking all of the omega’s slick but was also satisfied to know how much he had made Seungcheol leak without using his cock. Using wet tissues and a dry towel, Mingyu gently wiped his lover clean, which made the cute omega frown in his sleep and whine. Feeling the touch on his sensitive pussy, Seungcheol attempted to curl up, causing the alpha to giggle. The task was a bit difficult but the man enjoyed watching his cute omega no matter what. Mingyu did intend to put clothes on Seungcheol, but eventually decided against it, knowing they could just feel each other’s warmth better by cuddling while being naked during this long sleep.

Mingyu only took care of himself after making sure Seungcheol’s condition was good enough to sleep. Once deeming himself clean, the alpha eagerly joined his lover under the new blanket. Sensing the alpha’s presence immediately, Seungcheol automatically scooted closer while Mingyu naturally straightened his arm to welcome his lover into his embrace. The omega only settled down after placing his head on Mingyu’s chest and pressing his entire body against the bigger man’s one. Apart from the lack of clothes, everything about this was overwhelmingly domestic and familiar, since they had been sleeping together like this for so long.

Closing his eyes and smiling with a warm tingling sensation in his chest, Mingyu knew everything was right. It might have taken them too much time, but in the end, it felt right. They were destined to be for each other.

---------------------------

Never had Seungcheol expected himself to be woken up by this feeling.

The omega had thought he would be welcomed to the new day by Mingyu’s scent surrounding all of his senses like usual, but this time it was not the first thing his mind registered anymore. Instead, Seungcheol was actually startled awake by the shocking pleasure from the area between his legs. The omega started moaning even before opening his eyes, as his pussy was being vigorously licked and slurped. Gasping, Seungcheol rapidly snapped his eyes open, blinking multiple times at once to clear his vision and adapt to the brightness of the morning. The stimulation from his pussy should be clear enough for him to understand what was happening, but the omega was caught completely off guard again by the image of Mingyu’s head between his widely spread legs.

Seungcheol choked out a loud moan right at that moment because the alpha had just started using the pad of his thumb to play with the clit while still attacking the pussy ruthlessly by his hungry lips and tongue. Were the sounds this obnoxious last night? Seungcheol could not believe how loud the slurping noise was, and did not dare to believe Mingyu was also moaning like a man possessed. The omega’s moan of pleasure turned into whines of embarrassment as his hands reached down to grab Mingyu’s hair and arm, but not to push the alpha away.

“Fuck, Kim Mingyu!!!” Seungcheol was not even sure he was seducing the alpha or trying to scold him. “What… what are you doing? Are you trying to kill me?”

Lifting his head up slightly to look at the leader in the eyes, Mingyu had the audacity to smirk and licked his lips which were shiny with slick, but his thumb did not stop moving.

“I’m addicted to the taste of your pussy, Cheolie!” Sticking out his tongue to tease the clit, Mingyu was smug and satisfied to see his omega’s face turning red. “You can’t blame me, baby!”

Not letting his boyfriend say anything else, Mingyu rapidly resumed eating his favorite meal, knowing that he would be obsessed from now till the end of this life. It was a blessing to hear Seungcheol quickly moaning uncontrollably under the intense pleasure, and the alpha was instantly encouraged to be better pussy eater. Even Mingyu himself was moaning, since nothing could be as tasty and irresistible as this, especially his hands had full access to Seungcheol’s thick thighs and butt cheeks. The omega could be strong, but was not enough to fight against the alpha’s hands that held his legs apart and stopped him from closing them.

The leader’s complaint did not mean he had any objection or dislike about this. Burning in utter embarrassment, Seungcheol just did not expect to receive so much sexual pleasure within a short amount of time, and definitely had never managed to imagine Mingyu was someone who loved doing this so much. Moreover, Seungcheol was not accustomed to getting this kind of attention. The more embarrassed the omega was, the more euphoric it even became. It was at this moment that Seungcheol was certain he would never turn down Mingyu’s initiation. What else could be even more sinfully exciting than having his pussy be the center of his boyfriend’s attention like this?

Too greedy to let go easily, Mingyu made his lover cum twice before pulling the trembling omega back into his embrace. Seungcheol’s mind was drifting away too far for him to think about returning the favor to Mingyu, but the alpha did not actually need it. Undeniably, his cock was hard, but the man found more happiness in holding a blissed out Seungcheol in his arms than making the leader suck his cock or give him a hand job. Indeed, the alpha was proud to have made his boyfriend so fucked out, and Seungcheol was so pliant right now. He barely spoke, but received every kiss Mingyu gave him and proactively nuzzled into the alpha’s chest like a clingy kitten.

Just like that, the atmosphere went from scorching hot to pleasantly sweet and peaceful. The couple spent one more hour cuddling and dozing off slightly in bed before it was seriously time to go. Mingyu got a pillow thrown straight into his face due to staring too intensely while Seungcheol got dressed, but the alpha simply laughed then went on shamelessly staring until he decided to walk closer and do the buttons for his lover. Despite the shyness, Seungcheol let him do it, then attempted to run back to his own rooms with flaming cheeks.

Nonetheless, the omega halted his footsteps in front of the door, which gave Mingyu just enough time to catch up and came to stand just right behind him. The alpha raised an eyebrow, silently asking what made Seungcheol hesitate when the leader turned around to face him.

Without saying a word, the omega stood on tiptoe, and delivered a tender kiss on Mingyu’s cheek just like how he had done backstage last night. The alpha did not have any time to react, and his lover was already gone, as if Seungcheol was still deliberately trying to make him fall harder and harder. Mingyu had never thought it was possible to get crazier over someone, but his leader had effortlessly proved his imagination incompetent. Grinning like the happiest fool in love, Mingyu was immediately madly energized to start his new day, having absolutely no tiredness and remembering nothing about the pain in his back.

…

Throughout group meals and the rehearsal, the couple kept stealing glances and Mingyu just teasingly winked at Seungcheol several times, especially whenever he caught the leader staring at him. This act made the older male flustered every single time, but Mingyu’s heart just became even more delighted and he had seriously no intention of stopping. Teasing Seungcheol was fun, because Mingyu found his lover extraordinarily cute whenever being sulky or pouty. Their leader was undoubtedly exceptionally cool on stage and never failed to make everyone bark for him, but during their daily life, whenever the situation was not stressful, Mingyu saw nothing but a cutie Seungcheol.

The alpha earned a slap on his arm eventually, but he just grinned even more brightly and went on teasing Seungcheol. Taking the chance when nobody was looking while they were not in front of the staff, Mingyu mischievously gave his lover’s butt cheek a little squeeze. Seungcheol squeaked in shock, causing all heads to turn towards him in the blink of an eye, but the profusely blushing leader could only try to tell everyone that he was fine, just tripping over and almost falling down.

Mingyu received one more slap on his shoulder and a death glare. Shamelessly, the alpha blew a kiss to his boyfriend and went on smiling brightly, because he knew Seungcheol was not mad. If the leader were angry, Mingyu was certain he would be wrestled down onto the ground within seconds. It was not that Seungcheol was stronger than him; the alpha just deliberately let the leader win every single time, even though he used to think they were both alphas. Mingyu had never wished to win against the person he loved in terms of anything.

Mingyu was a simp, literally.

He only simped even harder for the one and only Choi Seungcheol when the leader took advantage of the last moment before they went on stage to put a kiss on Mingyu’s cheek. He was so slick and quick, making it happen without anyone seeing, but the alpha’s heart did somersaults from then till the end of the night.

The second day of the fan meeting was smooth and peaceful, leaving them all exhausted but also excited to get another event done successfully. Once again, the pack delightfully enjoyed their dinner together, then went back to the hotel to have a brief rest before returning to the Korea in the next morning. They went back to their own room to wash up, and Mingyu went straight to Seungcheol’s room right after getting his jobs done. While the omega was still in the shower, the alpha diligently helped him pack his suitcase, only leaving out things that the leader would need from now till tomorrow. Coming out of the bathroom to the sight of his boyfriend sitting on the bed scrolling through the phone languidly while waiting for him, Seungcheol could not help smiling brightly and feeling incredibly warm in his heart.

Putting the phone away immediately when seeing his lover, Mingyu pulled Seungcheol into his lap and kissed the omega for a long moment until they both decided that it would be better to move to the alpha’s room first. Grinning happily, Mingyu was downright resembling an excited puppy while bringing Seungcheol’s suitcase across the hall towards his own room. They had tried hard to be discreet, but still ended up running into Seungkwan and Joshua who happened to open their door to come out at such great timing. Seungkwan’s confused face rapidly turned into an understanding one with a teasing smirk and a wink. Mingyu wanted to strangle the shorter boy so badly but the one truly ended up getting strangled was Joshua as the American boy unceremoniously slapped Seungcheol’s butt and saying “That’s my boy!” not very quietly.

Certainly, it was not Mingyu who blushed exceptionally hard and jumped on Joshua. Overly embarrassed, Seungcheol grabbed his best friend right in the next second and the last thing Mingyu could see from them both was the leader’s utterly red face and Joshua’s brightest smile ever despite Seungcheol’s hands around his neck. The two omegas disappeared into Joshua’s room for a few minutes, which caused Mingyu to debate whether he should go first or just stand here and wait for his boyfriend.

Eventually, the alpha chose to wait until the leader came back out, still blushing extremely hard and urging him to walk quickly before someone caught them again. Grinning in amusement, Mingyu did not really dread being caught by the other members or their managers, because sooner or later, they would all know, and Mingyu would probably even have to attend a meeting with the CEO and the managers to ensure Seungcheol’s safety. Those things could not even be considered inconveniences; as long as he was now able to hold Seungcheol’s hand and confidently led the leader to his room, Mingyu was willing to go through hundred types of uncomfortable events in his life while regarding them just as minor extra activities.

The couple did not do anything special that night, simply cuddling in bed and exchange a few words in approximately three minutes. The exhaustion did not allow Seungcheol to stay up any longer than that, especially when he was being enveloped in so much love and protection, feeling warmer and safer than ever in the arms of the alpha who had vowed to protect him. In fact, it had always been extraordinarily safe to be with Mingyu, but finally, the acceptance, acknowledgment, and the revealed secrets allowed Seungcheol to be vulnerable and put up no guard. With Mingyu, Seungcheol could be himself and did not have to think about creating any façade to fool anyone.

 With his love in his arms, Mingyu was not able to stay awake for long either. Together, they had a blissful sleep, and went back to Korea together with the pack.

Being intimate in public was still forbidden, but Mingyu found out he did not begin to struggle more, since he had always been struggling. Fighting to hold back the urge to be as close as possible to Seungcheol was not a new effort. Being fully alert and cautious around his lover was not strange either, since Mingyu had always been caring and protective of his love, his leader. However, the rest of the pack caught on very quickly, as they did not miss the way Seungcheol started to whisper more often rather than speaking normally when talking to Mingyu, and the way the leader smiled much more than any other days. They understood what was happening.

Yet, nobody chose to drown the couple in relentless teasing, which actually shocked Mingyu to see how considerate and thoughtful his pack was. The alpha knew except for the other omegas in Seventeen, nobody other members knew the truth about Seungcheol’s identity, but they all knew how shy their leader, and were all aware of the sweet and tender heart that the oldest member possessed. After such a long period of time living under his love and protection, who would not wish for Seungcheol to find his comfort and shelter in someone else too? If it was a stranger, they would undoubtedly get very defensive and alert, but this was Mingyu, so everyone could be at ease, since there was no doubt about the alpha’s ability in protecting his beloved people.

They did not need to know about Seungcheol’s secret to understand the leader was in good hands now.

Seungcheol slept blissfully on Mingyu’s shoulder for the entire flight, and they spent the rest of the day doing nothing extreme. Granted some time to rest by the company, the alpha made use of this time to do one of the things he knew Seungcheol loved the most – taking the omega out for a delicious meal. Seeing the smile blooming constantly on his boyfriend’s face, the alpha was utterly satisfied and elated. Knowing rumors would erupt on the Internet if they were seen in public, Mingyu could only order a big bouquet of flowers and arrange the delivery to arrive right at the moment they came back to their building. When Seungcheol received it, they were already in the safe confinement of their apartment, so the omega did not have to hide any of his reactions.

Gifts and flowers were nothing new to any of them, but to Seungcheol, receiving this type of thing from Mingyu meant a lot. His cheeks turned as red as the roses in his hands, and his smile was so bright, so vibrant that the alpha believed he could get blinded right at this moment. Wrapping his arms around the omega from behind, Mingyu could not help kissing his lover’s cheek, not once, not twice, but four times, just because how could he resist these soft adorable cheeks?

“We can’t finish a date without flowers, right?”

It was difficult for Seungcheol to reach the nearest chair within his reach but he still struggled to do it, so that he could put the bouquet down. If the flowers were in his hands, they would be a huge obstacle between him and his lover, but right now Seungcheol only wanted to get as close to Mingyu as possible and enjoy the peaceful happiness of allowing himself to be small and vulnerable in front of the alpha. Their height difference was merely perfect, as the omega could press his face into Mingyu’s chest while looping both arms around the taller man’s waist and nuzzling into him. Wasting no time, the alpha soon wrapped Seungcheol in a tight hug, on cloud nine to hear the whisper “thank you so much”.

Mingyu was ready to give his lover ten bouquets of flowers every day to make up for all the years they had spent dancing around each other.

“I want to take you on a vacation. Just the two of us. Do you want to go with me, Cheolie?” The alpha asked without loosening his arms around his boyfriend. “I will make all the plans. All you need to do is have fun.”

Resting his chin on Mingyu’s chest, Seungcheol looked up at the alpha and smiled, evidently excited.

“Where will we go?”

Nobody knew how madly Mingyu’s heart was pounding because of how cute the omega looked while being like this. No words could ever appropriately describe how adorable Seungcheol was whenever he acted in this way, and looked up at Mingyu from this position. Never had the alpha felt so lucky for being this much taller than the leader.

“Do you like going to a beach?” Mingyu asked without realizing how the sweetness in his voice, his eyes, and his embrace was melting the omega’s heart. “I’m thinking of renting a villa that has a private beach. We can go out and do a lot of things during the daytime, then go back and relax on our own beach when we’re tired. What do you think?”

“Seems like a brilliant idea!” Seungcheol’s smile only grew wider and wider as he listened to the taller man. “You will really plan everything?”

“Of course. Flights, accommodations, transportation, itinerary. Everything is on me.” Grinning confidently, Mingyu was itching to just start their journey immediately. “Agree, Cheolie?”

Having absolutely no reason to reject such a wonderful and dreamy vacation, Seungcheol nodded without hesitation before pressing his face back into Mingyu’s chest again. The saying “thank you” nearly went unheard as the omega’s voice was muffled but the alpha luckily caught on it just in time. So many kisses were scattered all over Seungcheol’s hair after that, making the omega giggle and eventually slap his boyfriend’s chest in embarrassment.

Undoubtedly, again, the slap held no power at all, only feeling like tender tap that Mingyu would always gladly receive from the love of his life.

That night, not worn out by hours of performing on stage anymore, they had some more energy to stay up a little later to cuddle in bed, make out, and talk until Seungcheol once again fell asleep blissfully with his head on the alpha’s chest. In awe, Mingyu could never stop adoring the sight of the leader always sleeping so peacefully whenever they shared a bed together, even before and after this revelation. As Seungcheol today seemed calm and smelled normal, Mingyu realized the omega’s arousal and restlessness yesterday had been seriously caused by the aftermath of his heat. The effect seemed to be entirely gone today, and Seungcheol did not even once look like he needed any sexual relief again. Mingyu decided not to bring up this topic, because he knew there were so many other things for them to enjoy together. Moreover, he was always ready to wait for longer.

Certainly, it was impossible for them to take their vacation right away, because for now everyone had to concentrate on the group comeback first. Nonetheless, Mingyu had numerous reasons to enjoy every single one of those hectic days, because the feeling was not the same as how it used to be anymore. Staying subtle and keeping everything secret in public was forever a must, but Mingyu was at ease to be able to stick to Seungcheol as much as he wanted and dote on the omega more than anyone else. Even though the saying “Mingyu is Seungcheol’s favorite child” kept existing among their fans, the alpha no longer cared, as long as he knew he held a different special place in the leader’s heart.

Working together with his own pack and the person he loved most in the world was forever a blessing. No matter how exhausting their work could be, Mingyu felt thankful for finally being able to stop thinking his love was unrequited. Unless they had separate schedules during night time or early in the morning, every day started with waking up next to Seungcheol and ended with a peaceful and sweet sleep with the said omega in his arms. No one in the pack questioned their leader’s act of spending every night in Mingyu’s room; they all knew where to find Seungcheol whenever they needed him.

Whenever having free time, Mingyu did not enjoy doing anything more than hanging out with Seungcheol. This was something they had been doing in the past ten years, but did it even more frequently now, and spent time talking about everything in the world as if they had not talked enough for a whole decade. At moments like this, Mingyu had the luxury of feeling that he was considered as Seungcheol’s family. The leader was not typically a talkative person, but he tended to pour out all of his heart whenever he was with Mingyu, letting the alpha know whatever he was thinking about. There did not seem to be any fear in feeling vulnerable whenever Seungcheol shared his concern and complaints with the alpha, since the omega knew Mingyu always attentively listened and sincerely cared about the content of his long rant.

Mingyu found it incredibly endearing whenever Seungcheol’s eyebrows went downwards as the omega whined about something. Somebody on the Internet once said that while Soonyoung was ten past ten (10:10), Seungcheol was four forty (04:40), and Mingyu could never unsee that anymore. At times like that, Mingyu could not help delivering kisses between the omega’s eyebrows to ease the tension and trying harder to give him solace. The tactic worked every single time, making his boyfriend both blush and giggle until his stress was gently alleviated. Sometimes, the omega did not seek for any solutions; he simply wanted to be heard and comforted. Fortunately, his warm and considerate boyfriend never failed to give the best talks and best hugs in the world.

Right after the promotion week was over, Seungcheol and Mingyu were given the plan for the preparation of their upcoming unit debut. Seeing not only the planned trip to shoot the music video and take photos in America but also the details of getting those photos taken in the water, Seungcheol instantly grinned and turned to Mingyu excitedly right after they went back to their cozy bedroom.

“Gyu, we’re going to the beach! It’s such a coincidence! We’re planning to go to the beach anyways!”

Immediately realizing what his lover was thinking about, Mingyu shook his head firmly.

“No, baby! Our vacation can’t be mixed with work! I said I would give you a proper vacation and I mean it.”

Seungcheol did not protest at all, just smiling more brightly at Mingyu’s determination in giving themselves a good time together. In fact, the company gave them two weeks off before the preparation of their unit debut, and Mingyu had finished all of his planning already. Nonetheless, the vacation itself was not the only fun part. The couple was both enjoying the days of getting ready for the trip amidst the schedules. Things were not too hectic now, so they were able to sneak in a few shopping trips together. Certainly, a lot of photos had been taken by fans or random people who saw them on the street, but those did not stir up any rumors because it was just as normal as any other days to see Seungcheol and Mingyu in the past ten years.

The alpha could not imagine what kind of chaos they would create when revealing Seungcheol’s true secondary gender one day. Nevertheless, Mingyu did not let this thought bother himself much, because clearly, the leader did not seem to have any intention of doing that, at least in the upcoming five years.

After the comeback promotion, summer was also coming, which was one of the reasons why Mingyu had chosen to go to the beach, but the alpha could not help wondering whether he would be able to survive. Right now, when they were still in the pack’s apartment, the man was already feeling like his sanity was tested on the extreme level on a daily basis. Surely, the air conditioner was always on, but the hot weather made Seungcheol opt to wear shorts while sleeping, since they were undoubtedly more comfortable than pants. Besides, this was also a significant sign of the omega getting more at ease while being with Mingyu now, as he no longer had anything to hide and knew there was nothing to worry about.

Seungcheol was just blissfully oblivious to the ridiculous boner he gave the alpha every single morning. The blanket always slid off the omega’s body every time Mingyu woke up, and the man began to hate the fact that Seungcheol seemed to sleep on his belly most of the time. In that position, no matter how the omega put his leg, the plump and round butt cheeks never failed to tantalize Mingyu’s eyes. The loose shorts would either ride up a bit too far upwards or slide down enough to begin showing the omega’s underwear. At least, it was safer when they came down a little, because the underwear saved his mind, but whenever those shorts revealed the underside of Seungcheol’s bottom, Mingyu instantly licked his own fangs. They itched maniacally, wishing to sink into the omega’s skin, not only his neck, but literally everywhere on that soft and milky body.

It would be even worse if Seungcheol wore a loose sleeveless shirt. Once it was loose, it was obscenely loose. What greeted Mingyu’s hungry eyes every day was either the omega’s collarbones or the sexy tattoos on his back. Among all of those seductive things, Mingyu only dared to let his fingers gently touch the tattoo and the omega’s bare arms. It was unbelievable to recall how he had succeeded in surviving all those years. Had the one night of tasting Seungcheol had such detrimental influence on both his sanity and his heart? Mingyu’s stomach continuously growled, not because it was hungry for food, but because it was craving for Seungcheol’s taste again.

Desperately, the alpha could only wrapped the omega in his arms tightly and pressed his face into the back of his shoulder. Like that, he could both inhale Seungcheol’s scent and put a wet kiss on the area of skin where the tattoo was. For sure, not much of the peachy scent could be found here, due to the suppressants, and this frustrating truth nearly made Mingyu growl. Just one taste and he was already this greedy and ravenous? The alpha did not dare to think how obsessed he would become once having a proper intercourse with Seungcheol.

At mornings like that, Mingyu terribly wished he had asked the omega whether he agreed to let the alpha eat his pussy during his sleep every day prior to this moment, but their busy schedules and the omega’s innocent smiles had always made him forget. Hating nobody but himself, Mingyu cursed at his own idiotic self, struggling to calm down and forcing his mind to remember the most important principle: patience. The alpha had managed to hold himself back even when Seungcheol had been in heat; he definitely could overcome this almost insufferable arousal.

In Mingyu’s memories, Seungcheol had always dressed himself very modestly at the pool or the beach, for obvious reasons. Even if the omega was comfortable enough to show skin, he would only take off his tops. The possibility of seeing him wearing something tight on his lower part was extremely small, but Mingyu allowed himself to dream. The place he had booked for them had a private beach and a private pool; the man allowed himself to dream of having some romantic time with Seungcheol in the water. Even if the omega refused to have sex, kissing and cuddling under the stars with his lover was in Mingyu’s bucket list as well.

Heading to the bathroom to deal with his own painfully hard cock alone, Mingyu sighed, relentlessly wondering how to bring up this topic without being rude or sounding like a pervert. Cumming and sighing on more time, the alpha knew one mistake could easily cause Seungcheol to feel like Mingyu only wanted to fuck his body and the omega would probably start to doubt this entire relationship.

That was the reason why the alpha set up a plan to spend a few days with Seungcheol’s parents, then his own parents as well, right at the beginning of their holiday. The omega was surprised to hear about this, but his eyes shone so brightly and the wide smiles showed so many teeth that Mingyu instantly knew this was the best decision.

Seungcheol’s parents did not need to be told about anything. They simply knew one of their son’s pack members was coming home to stay a night with him, but nothing could escape their attentive observation. Seeing the way Seungcheol smiled more, talked more, blushed more, the way Mingyu’s arms usually lingered longer around the omega’s waist more often, the frequent whispers, the subtle grip of Seungcheol’s fingers on the giant alpha’s arm, they understood everything. The way Mingyu’s bow to them deepened and the incredibly formal and luxurious gift set the alpha brought over were a dead giveaway. The alpha’s behavior was still on a subtle level, but those all contribute to an undeniable courting process.

Seeing the smiles on his lover’s face and everyone’s face in the house, Mingyu knew he was welcomed.

Sometimes, the alpha felt like they were progressing too fast, but then he realized they actually had been getting to know each other for more than ten years. This relationship had all of the best reasons in the universe to move forward peacefully, smoothly, and quickly, especially when Seungcheol kept smiling so adorably, as if not even the tiniest bit of his anxiety existed.