For Jia, as she's there for me when I have my teenage problems, when I realize I am just a child or when I was a bit too wild when clubbing. A very late birthday present for you, but I hope you like it ♥

warnings; mentions of mpreg and miscarriage

When he rings the doorbell, he smiles to himself. The door in front of him is one familiar to him. House of Kim was one of the first addresses he got when he got into the bigger garden business. After working in the gardens of the ‘lesser rich’ his name had been mentioned to those who could afford the bigger type of gardens and, if he could be honest, it was a relief to him because one can only do so many of the smaller gardens with restrictions before getting bored.

Minseok is the one opening the door this time and Tao returns the beaming smile that greets him immediately. Minseok is shorter than Tao but the smell that slowly approaches him doesn’t lie: Minseok is an alpha. That would have frightened him if nature had been different, but thank god it isn’t so Tao doesn’t need to be careful around him.

“Hi Tao!” Minseok greets him while stepping back so Tao could walk in. They give each other a small hug before they walk to the kitchen. Once inside, the familiar dark brown wooden floor blinks and the white walls are still as white as the first time he has set a foot inside. The sunlight from outside enough to fully replace the artificial light and it makes the golden chandeliers shine even more beautiful.

“You want a cup of Minty Morocco? New tastes got delivered today, but Jongdae didn’t forget to include yours too,” Minseok tells him when he places a cup in front of him. Tao shifts in the black leather chair that has been unofficially dubbed as his. Tasting something new can be exiting, but will it be as good as the Minty Morocco he likes so much?

“Yes please, thank you,” he replies, deciding playing safe once more won’t be bad.

Tao observes Minseok while he prepares the tea and thanks him once more when he pours in the tea. “Where is Jongdae? Isn’t Thursday his day off?” Tao asks Minseok, the absence of omega painfully obvious. The two had been dating a long time before Jongdae had accepted Minseok as his alpha and it was only usual to see them everywhere together. Not that they couldn’t do anything without each other, but their love for each other was so much that they also started to love the things the other loved which ended up with the couple doing everything together.

“He’s at work. A lower company that got money from Dae’s company ed up and Chanyeol had called him to ask for help since Baekhyun is at home resting because of the baby. Dae actually wanted to help you today as he knows it takes a long time if you have to do it by yourself,” Minseok replied, sitting down in front of Tao with a cup of coffee.

“I would help you, but you know how my boss is. Thank god he’s a friend of mine and I can tell him to stop at some point or he would be never coming out of that office of his,” he continues.

Tao shakes his head. “Minseok, it’s ok. I’ve done this garden for years now and I’m happy to work on it and improve it every time I come.”

“I know you like it, but you got a limited time for every address yet ours takes always more time than planned. I don’t want to cause trouble in your agenda and you know I hate it when you work in the burning sun for too long.”

Oh he knows. He knows. Jongdae once fainted once before they had gotten Tao to work for them because he had been working too long in the sun and it has caused Minseok such a heart attack when he had found him. This experience was so horrible that Minseok had done everything to prevent it from happening again.

“Don’t worry Minseok, I will drink water every 15 minutes and try to have the most intensive work done before it gets too hot. And it’s only 10 now, I can do a lot of work before 12 and when it’s at its hottest I’ll just do little things. I can’t even water around that time so I might stay over until I can install everything again,” he tells the older. Summers are nice when it comes to gardening but once it gets too hot it gets irritating;  everything dries and dies too fast and watering can only be done when the temperature has dropped, which is only when it’s early in the morning or after dinner and he has so many clients he can’t do it only around that time.

“It’s ok Tao, take all the time you need. You know this house is yours too so make you at home.”

Minseok disappears before Tao has finished his tea but once he’s done too, he goes back to where he has his car parked. Most of the essentials he needs are in the storage space that’s in the garage (next to all the cars designed for people with too much money, as he likes to say) so he doesn’t need to take much from his home but some he had taken some extras with him today.

When he’s sure he has everything he will need, he locks his car and goes through the door that he has made in the fence by following the driveway. Putting down his stuff in the garage, he goes back in the house to lock up all the doors. The neighbourhood is a rich one and everyone knows it, thieves a bit too good. Jongdae has made sure there was enough security installed when they started living here so technically Tao doesn’t have anything to be afraid of, but when he is working in the back of the garden he is sure he wonn’t be able to hear it if someone was breaking in the house and he will be guilt-ridden if it happened.

When he feels the sun burning on his back he’s happy he didn’t have to do any mowing; the only thing he has to do was making sure the lawn mower was programmed on the right size and he would be able to focus on the bigger jobs.

The sound of the lawn mower doing its work and the birds chirping relaxes Tao, as it’s one of his favourite sounds to hear when working. The music installation Minseok had installed in the garden is something he only uses when it’s winter and there are no birds to be seen, but as it’s summer it’s just dusting away.

Time flies when he’s at work but it’s when he bends down to get rid of some weeds he feels it. The extreme dizziness makes him fall face first in the ground.

A .

He forgot to drink.  

He kept his promise for the first two hours; getting something to drink every 15 minutes, but after it he started to get annoyed by how he had to stop his work every time and just kept working.

Guess he has to face the consequences now.

To make the matter worse, he hears a car parking in the garage. It can’t be Minseok, he never returns that fast if there was something his boss requested.

It must be Jongdae.

That’s not an omega you want to make worried.

Tao stands up as fast as he can which makes his dizziness only worse. Mentally scolding himself for being so ing stupid, he walks to the table on the terrace. His steps sway a bit more to his left and right than he wants to admit and when he falls down in one of the chairs he hears the door close.

When he looks up and sees that he was indeed right, it’s Jongdae standing there, a bottle of water in his hand, but his face expressions doesn’t predict any good for Tao. Tao just smiles and waves, “Welcome back Jongdae!”. He knows he can’t get away from a scolding. Tao might be working for the Kim couple but at times like this he feels more like their child than their gardener.

“Don’t ‘welcome back’ me! Do you think I didn’t see that? Just because I was stupid enough to let it happen doesn’t mean you should be just as stupid! Didn’t Minseok warn you?” Jongdae sits down next to him and gives him the bottle of water. “Drink first and then talk.”

He follows the order and starts drinking, and after Jongdae scolds him for drinking too fast, slowly. The dizziness gets lesser with every sip and he feels his head clear. He puts the bottle down on the table when it’s finished.

“Thanks Jongdae, I needed it,” he says while smiling at Jongdae. The older just looks at him for a second before playfully hitting him on the head. “Do you have any idea how worried I was? You really didn’t look good.”

Tao pouts, “I know I’m not the most beautiful one here but did you have to tell it that way?”

Jongdae lets his eyes roll up to heaven and looks at him for a bit more but it doesn’t take long before a smile cracks through his poker face. “I was worried you rascal,” Jongdae tells him, “But I will tell Minseok I already scolded you so you won’t have to listen to his ‘I’m-worried-about-you-and-Jondae’ rants.”

Tao smiles once more. Jongdae really would be that parent helping his child to get away from a scolding. He can’t want for Jongdae to get pregnant because he knows Jongdae and Minseok would be amazing parents and he overheard them discussing the topic a few times now so he guesses they might be trying for it soon.

“And why would I need to scold him?”

Minseok familiar voice makes both of them freeze and they giggle. “Nothing,” Tao replies with a naughty tone in his voice and Jongdae stands up to greet his mate. The couple talks for a bit and Tao just listens, feeling the effects of the exhaustion caused by the work and the sun creep in.

“Hey Minseok, where can I find- oh you have visitors?”

The new voice stops Tao’s daydreaming and he looks at the source of it. His breath falters for a moment when he sees that the owner of the voice is everything and more of what he expected to be.

When the man approaches him he smiles, feeling not a gram of bad intention coming from the alpha and it’s not every day you get to meet an alpha that’s actually nice.

Tao gets that the stranger wants to introduce himself and stands up to shake his hand.

“Hi, I’m Tao! Jongdae and Minseoks gardener,” he introduces himself, while noticing that the man has quite a strong handshake.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kris, Minseoks good friend and boss.”

Now that’s a man. His handshake is strong enough to make Tao think of all the other things the man would be capable off. His height and god-like face are something you will never want to stop looking at. His hair is black and Tao has to keep in urges to go with his hands through his hair. In short: he is someone Tao would like as his alpha.

Wait no nope he did not just go there, Tao scolds himself once more. He just met the man, how can he think of things like that? For all he knows, he will never see the man again. The thought itself makes his mood dampen a bit and when Jongdae’s chuckle brings him back to earth he realises he’s still holding Kris’ hand.

Smooth Tao, smooth. You’re doing absolutely amazing.

He just takes his hand back and tries to not make his awkwardness obvious by chuckling. It’s time for him to get out of this situation because it’s not good for his heart. Thank god for Tao, Kris probably notices it and excuses himself.

“Minseok and I still have some work related topics to discuss so I’m afraid we will have to leave you two here. Have a nice day.”

The two omegas are left looking at their retreating backs and Tao catches the meaningful look Jongdae throws at him.

“Jongdae, I can hear you thinking. Stop,” Tao says to him, “It’s not as if we have an expiring date for mating or something. I have my whole ing life left to choose someone. Just because I met someone who has a lot of potential doesn’t mean I will actually choose him.”

He gets a few chuckles as reply. “I never anything about you choosing him, Tao dearest. The only thought I had was you being attracted to him and you just confirmed my suspicions so I feel quite accomplished.”

Tao wants to slam his head against the table. Talks with older omegas can be so tiring, it’s like they have a sixth sense to anything related to younger omegas and keeping secrets from them is impossible. In the end he decides he doesn’t want to cause himself even more suffering and doesn’t actually slam his head against the table.

“We’ll see, Jongdae. Anyways, thank you for helping me and I’m sorry for troubling you. I just have to tidy up a few things and then I’ll be going home, okay?”

The older omega nods and hugs him. “Be more careful