THE FINAL CHAPTER!!!!!!!!

Chapter 55

“Hey, what are you doing here?”

“Kris sent me home to shower and get changed,” said Chen. He looked a little grumpy about it. “Suho wanted to talk to him about something, too.”

“About what?” asked Baekhyun. He was curled up on the couch with Chanyeol who had his foot propped up on a stool. It had taken a while for him to limp home that morning but with the help of Baekhyun and Kai (who was really the most helpful since he wasn’t so tiny) he had made it. Neither of them had expected to see Chen back for a while.

“Don’t know.” Chen shrugged his shoulders. “Suho just said it was private.”

“Do you think it’s about the fight?” asked Baekhyun worriedly. “About Sehun getting hurt?”

“What about me getting hurt?” Chanyeol gestured at his leg.

“I know, baby, but Sehun’s the maknae. Suho didn’t even want him fighting in the first place.”

Chen’s mouth tugged downward. Suho hadn’t seemed angry but what if he just hadn’t noticed? Maybe he was blaming Lay for getting him involved again.

“Is Sehun still at Kris’s place?” asked Chanyeol.

Chen nodded. He had been out on the couch all day, worrying about Kris and trying to stop him from moving too much, so he would have noticed if Sehun had left. As far as he knew Lay hadn’t left his side either.

“Well, we’ll find out later, I’m sure,” Chanyeol reassured them. “Kris won’t want to go too long without his nursemaid.”

Chen stuck his tongue out even though he was fully aware that he had been a little overprotective of his mate that morning. Maybe a quick shower and a rest would help him relax a little after rushing around helping his pack mates that morning. He yawned and stretched.

“I won’t be long,” he said as he headed for the bathroom.

“So what do you think?” Suho sat back where he was perched on the edge of the coffee table facing Kris. He tried not to look too nervous at the other alpha’s reaction but the longer Kris was silent the more uncomfortable he became. Eventually, after a few minutes of silent thought, Kris began to nod slowly.

“I hear what you’re saying,” he said quietly. “It might just work.”

Suho swallowed down the dryness in his throat. “Really?”

“Well, it’s not like it’s never been done before and I can’t deny that out packs have become pretty intertwined these past few months. The question is whether they’ll all be interested, and whether they’ll accept us both equally.”

“We’ll have to present a united front,” Suho agreed. “I know most of the time this situation happens when two alphas mate but obviously that isn’t going to be the case here.”

“At least we can be sure Sehun, Lay, Xiumin and Luhan will be interested,” Kris noted wryly. Suho gave a little smile.

“I’m betting Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Chen won’t mind either. I can’t see any of the others being a problem. I wouldn’t have suggested it if I thought it might alienate someone.”

Kris shifted, trying to ease some of the ache in his bruised ribs. “It’ll be hard for a while but I’m willing to give it a go. To be honest, I’ve been wondering about something similar for a little while now.”

“It just seems like it’s already accidentally happening,” Suho agreed, “so we may as well take advantage of it. Seeing us all fight together last night just confirmed it.”

“We’re going to need a bigger dorm if this works out,” Kris laughed.

“For now maybe we should mix our members between the three so everyone becomes more familiar with each other.”

“I can’t see any of the couples having a problem with that.”

That was when Suho’s enthusiasm faltered a little and Kris didn’t miss the flash of apprehension in his eyes.

“What’s wrong? Is it Sehun? Don’t tell me you still don’t trust Lay with him?”

“No, no.” Suho waved his hands. “After the way he tried to protect him last night I can’t really argue about that anymore, it’s just Sehun’s never been in a relationship before and I don’t want him to get hurt, even accidentally.”

Kris smiled at him fondly. He could see how uncomfortable it made Suho to admit that but he understood. “It’s alright,” he said. “If Tao was in the same position I would be pretty overprotective too.”

Suho’s eyes went a little wider than usual. “O-oh, really?”

“Yeah, he’s my maknae after all and he can get pretty emotional sometimes. Don’t worry about Sehun though, Lay’s crazy about him.”

Suho lowered his head and nodded. “I know. You’re right. So we’ll get everyone together later?”

“Sure, we’ll get them all here and see how they feel about it.”

Chen hurried to snuggle up against Kris on the couch. He heard him grunt as he shifted to make space and looked up worriedly. “Are you ok? Does it hurt?”

“I’ll be fine, baby” he replied even as he grimaced.

“Are you sure? I can get you some painkillers.”

“No, baby.” He leant over to kiss his forehead and tuck him under his arm. The ache was already easing.

“What’s going on?” asked Tao as he sat the other side of his alpha and looked around at the rapidly filling room. Chanyeol and Baekhyun were already on the other couch along with Sehun. Kai and Kyungoo has taken a spot on the floor and Lay sat at his boyfriend’s feet just in case he needed anything. Luhan and Xiumin were the last to arrive. Each of them took up a position on the arm of a couch while Suho stood by the coffee table and cleared his throat.

“Thanks for coming,” he told them. “Kris and I have been talking and we have come to an agreement about something but we want to know your feelings on the matter, too.”

The two couples exchanged nervous glances with each other but as soon as Suho started explaining his idea, with the help of Kris, their faces began to light up.

“Wait,” said Luhan once he had stopped talking and had everyone looking at him expectantly, “are you saying you want us to join together, to be one pack?” He couldn’t keep the excitement out of his voice.

“That’s what we’re saying,” said Kris. He couldn’t help but smile. The more he thought about the idea the more right it seemed.

Luhan turned, bright-eyed, to his boyfriend and grabbed his hand.

“You two agree with it then?” Kris grinned. “How does everyone else feel?”

“I’m fine with it,” Chen said quickly, beaming up at his mate.

“Us too,” Chanyeol spoke for himself and Baekhyun. “We’ve been living with Chen all this time anyway.”

“It’s ok with me.” Tao looked between both alphas, referring his answer to both of them since they would both be his leader from now on. Suho gave him a thankful nod.

“Wait, so does that mean me and Lay can be together?” Sehun asked excitedly. He started to lean forward but the many aches in his body held him back. Lay placed a hand gently on his knee.

Suho looked at their eager, honest faces for a few moments and then smiled. “Yes” he said, “you can be together.”

Lay knelt up and turned to kiss Sehun before he could lean forward and hurt himself again.

“Ooh,” Baekhyun teased from beside them. They were both too happy to really care.

Now it was Kai and Kyungsoo’s turn to reply. They were the least invested in Kris’s pack and really had no reason to want to join them but as all eyes turned towards them they exchanged a look and nodded.

“I’m in,” said Kai.

“Me too,” agreed Kyungsoo.

“Then it’s decided,” said Kris. “We’ll have to rearrange some of the living arrangements so everyone can get to know each other a little better…”

“And we expect you all to treat us both equally as alphas,” Suho added.

“… but if you have any problems or worries then please come and tell one of us. We know it will take some time to adjust but this feels like the right thing to do so we’re going to give it our best shot.”

Looking around the room and seeing nothing but excited, msiling faces, he was sure that they had made the right decision.

“So,” said Baekhyun as he looked around the room at his new, extended pack, “I guess, we’re one now?”

Suho nodded and exchanged a look with his fellow alpha. “We are one.”

Wow, this has been a long ride but finally I got there!

Shout out to whoever it was that gave me the whole Chen/Heechul idea to help end this and bring everyone together. I'm useless at remembering screen names and I should have written it down when we were talking about it because I can't find the conversation now. Tell me if it was you in the comments and I'll grovel for forgiveness and edit this with your name, you lovely person.

Thank you everyone for sticking with this for 55 chapters! This was crazy long. I'm so glad I can focus on Return of the Xiuharem now and start something new soon. Not saying there might not be an epilogue to this though so I won't label it as complete.

One last comment spam everyone? I'll give you your favourite Exo wolf to play with ;-)

Wooo, let's go! *big hugs for everyone!*