Chapter 2

“Can I not be at school today?”

Chen sat heavily by his boyfriend's side and picked up his arm so he could snuggle himself under it. Kris kissed him on the forehead.

“What's wrong, puppy? Does your throat still hurt?”

Chen nodded, feeling sorry for himself. No matter how much he drank his throat still felt dry and sore. He had been complaining about it since they had arrived home from the beach two days ago.

“Do you need me to heal you again?” asked Lay from across the lunch table.

Chen shook his head. He didn't like the other boy healing him over every little thing. He didn't want to be a bother.

“Baby, let him heal you. You don't have to act so tough.” Kris nuzzled against his hair as Baekhyun snorted into his drink and earned a glare.

“I'm fine,” Chen insisted but snuggled closer to his lover. If it got any worse then he would go to Lay but he could handle a little sore throat and feeling generally under the weather. It tired Lay out to heal them anyway and he was already looking a little red around the eyes.

As the others talked he closed his eyes and let the warmth of Kris's body comfort him. It was a while before Baekhyun's muttered,”Holy ,” caught his attention enough to open his eyes again.

Baekhyun was staring open mouthed across the cafeteria. It took him a moment to respond to Chanyeol questioning him about what was wrong.

“Is that Jaejoong?”

The others looked up or twisted around in their seats. Sleepily Chen tried to pick out who they were looking at and guessed that it must be the boy with longish black hair that was moving to a seat on the far side of the room.

“It can't be,” said Kyungsoo incredulously. “I thought they were still in Japan.”

“Apparently not,” Lay replied. “Do you think the whole pack is back?”

Just at that moment another slightly taller boy approached the first one, laying his hand on his arm and the rest of Chen's pack sat up straight around the table.

Kris shifted in his seat, never looking away. “Well, that answers that question. If Yunho's here the others must be, too.”

“Um, can I ask what's going on?”

Kris looked down at his boyfriend as if he had forgotten he was there. “Oh, that's right, you didn't join the school until after they left.”

“The Dong Bang Shin Ki pack are one of the strongest anywhere around here,” Kyungsoo told him, an unusual note of awe in his voice. “Yunho is their leader and Jaejoong is his mate. There's three others, Yoochun and his mate Junsu and the maknae, Changmin.”

“There's only five of them?” wondered Chen. “Then how are they so strong?”

“It's not about numbers,” Kris told him. “They're strong because they're all so close and balance each other so well.”

“They don't have any omegas, either.” Chanyeol caught the look that passed between Chen and Baekhyun, the two omegas of his pack and immediately apologised.

“Sorry. There's nothing wrong with being an omega, I'm just saying they don't have any.”

Baekhyun pouted but accepted his apologetic hug.

“They don't really have an alpha either,” mused Kris. “I know Yunho fills that role but he doesn't have a strong alpha scent.”

“Not like you.” Lay grinned at Kris teasingly.

“Where have they been then?” asked Chen with a yawn. That Jaejoong guy was undeniably good looking but he was starting to feel too tired to care again.

“They all switched to a school in Japan, some exchange programme thing. Last anyone heard they had established as one of the strongest packs there as well, right?” Kris looked around at the others who nodded in agreement. “No one was sure they would even come back.”

Chanyeol, one arm still around Baekhyun, took a bite of the food he had almost forgotten. “Guess they're back now. I wonder how they'll fit back in.”

Xiumin and Luhan had eaten lunch outside on the grass since it was such a nice day and they wanted a little alone time. That meant that, like the other members who had been occupied elsewhere at lunch, they didn't hear about the return of the DBSK pack until after.

“Hey,” Kris said as he slipped into his seat beside them at the back of their languages class, “did you hear who's back?”

“Who?” asked Luhan uninterestedly.

“The DBSK pack.”

Luhan's head shot up just as Xiumin knocked half of his pencil case onto the floor. He swore and bent to pick up the mess. Luhan's eyes were wider than normal and bright with excitement.

“Really? All of them?”

“Well, we only saw Jaejoong and Yunho but it's a pretty safe bet.” Kris laughed. “I forgot how much you loved them.”

“No, no, no.” He waved his hands dismissively and quickly looked at Xiumin who was still concerning himself too closely with picking his equipment up. “It's not like that. I just… admired them, that's all.”

His cheeks flushed pink and he gave Xiumin a hopeful smile which was returned with a much tighter one.

“Everyone admired them,” Kris admitted. “To have a pack that strong and stable… that's the dream.”

Luhan laughed. “Unlike our messy, two packs into one situation.”

Kris shrugged and looked forward. “We'll get there. It always takes time.” Truthfully it had been six months and their packs were largely nothing more than comfortable friends. If he was being honest his original pack didn't even feel strong anymore and he knew that was partly his fault for spending too much time focussing on his mate instead of the others.

The teacher started the lesson before any of them could say anything else but so little of it went into Xiumin's head that he might as well not have been there. He spent most of his time staring blankly down at his book or sneaking glances across at Luhan. Every time he was caught his boyfriend would smile at him warmly. Xiumin tried to do the same back, so that he wouldn't worry, but he suddenly found that he had a lot on his mind.

I'm nervous. This is the first time I've written DBSK. They would make a y wolf pack though, right?