Dongwoo ran his finger along the edge of the card. All of the information was correct, and even in spite of his cold, he was smiling brightly in his ID photo. He was proud to be a student again, finally chasing his dreams. With one last caress, he placed his student ID back into his wallet and pulled out another card. He swiped the card through the lock and entered the hotel room.

He walked into the empty room. The hotel room was always empty at this time during the day. Woohyun was gone either job hunting or prowling for a mate (anything to take his mind off of Sojin). Dongwoo sighed, threw his bag onto the floor, and threw himself onto the bed. He sighed and rubbed his hand down his face. Maybe I should start prowling too, he thought while groaning. But his stomach twisted and turned at the thought. Nope, too soon. He still felt something for the bastard, some attachment. Dongwoo rolled over onto his side. Just when he thought that he was done with Taehwan, something like this would happen. Broken hearts and bonds don’t heal easily.

“Good. You’re back. How was your first day?”

“OH MY GOD!” Dongwoo exclaimed, falling off the bed in shock. He looked up, grabbing his racing heart, only to see Woohyun in the bathroom door. “What are you doing back so early?”

Woohyun smirked, happy that he’d just frightened the other (although accidentally). He jumped onto the bed, watching Dongwoo scramble back onto his feet. “No interviews today. So how was your day?” the question was asked apprehensively.

Dongwoo studied the other as he sat on the bed across from him. “It was good,” the omega responded with equal caution. But then he grinned, reflecting back on his day. “I got my books and signed up for classes. I even met some of my classmates! They are so young! When did we get old?”

“Time flies,” Woohyun responded distractedly, his eyes darting over to a pile of papers on the nightstand.

“Oh,” Dongwoo gasped looking at them. “What are those?”

The beta sighed and reached for the papers. He shuffled them in his hands, straightening them before handing them over to his friend. “Don’t get upset, but I started it,” he explained. “The dissolution process.”

Dongwoo gulped harshly, his eyes slowly leaving Woohyun’s gaze and falling onto the papers in his hands. This was why Woohyun was home so early. He tried to catch the omega at a good time. But was there ever a good time for this? No. “I’m not upset,” Dongwoo retorted, but the slight tremor in his hands gave him away. His stomach was turning again.

The spot next to him sunk down, as Woohyun sat next to him. “Then don’t get like that,” he fought back, taking the papers away from Dongwoo’s slack grip. “We need to start the process so,” he paused for a second. “For Sojinnie,” he finished, his voice slightly strained. “The baby.”

The omega screwed his eyes shut and buried his face in his hands. That’s right. They needed to dissolve their old pack before the baby arrived so that the others could register a new one, so that the baby could be legitimate. And it was a long and arduous process. They needed to file their case soon.

Dongwoo removed his head from his hands after a heavy sigh. He extended his palm towards Woohyun. “Pen,” he demanded. Woohyun reached into his pocket and gave the pen to his friend, studying his every move carefully, until Dongwoo forced him to turn around so that he could sign the papers on the beta’s back (and maybe so that Woohyun couldn’t see the storm of emotions swirling on his face).

“I marked where you needed to sign with tabs,” Woohyun said, flattening his back for the other.

“Eung,” the omega grunted, furiously signing and intial-ing in all of the appropriate places. Just like ripping off a band-aid. He didn’t even bother to read the content, what exactly he was agreeing to. He could be signing his soul to the Pororo and he would’ve had no idea. Within a few minutes he was done. He tapped Woohyun on the back and dropped the papers in his lap. “Wedding present,” he announced before grabbing his bag and heading for the door. “I’m going to study at the café downstairs. Wouldn’t want to get behind,” he said as he left, not even glancing back.

Woohyun heaved a heavy sigh and looked down at his lap. “That kid,” he muttered as he flipped through the pages making sure everything was signed. Dongwoo’s signature had gotten progressively sloppier and more illegible as he went on. But everything was in order. He threw the papers into his briefcase. He’ll file them tomorrow in between interviews. But before he closed the briefcase, he pulled out his laptop. There were two reasons why he had come home early. He had hoped that Dongwoo would’ve stayed long enough so that Woohyun could tell him, but seeing as his best friend wasn’t in the best of moods, he’ll tell him in a couple of days (if his math was right). However, for now, he had something to do.

He searched for the number online. There was also one other reason why Woohyun had chosen Busan. For something that seemed like they’d randomly run away to the big city, Woohyun had been planning it meticulously for weeks. But no one would ever be the wiser, surely not Dongwoo in this state.

He finally found the number and inputted it into his phone. “Hello? Yes, I would like to make an appointment.”

“This is perfect, hyung!” Myungsoo exclaimed as the entered the foyer.

Sunggyu rolled his eyes. “We barely even stepped into the place,” he mumbled. However, Myungsoo paid him no heed and began exploring the home with an excited spring in his step. The younger disappeared around the corner. The empty spot by his side was soon filled by a small woman dressed in a business suit.

“He’s right, though,” the woman spoke with a smile permanently fixed to her face. “This is perfect for your needs. It’s exactly what you asked for. And more.” Sunggyu turned to look at her, skeptically. She was required to say things like that, veiled and positive. She was their real estate agent. Sunggyu and Myungsoo were in the midst of buying a complex for their new pack. Whether they make it for themselves or his parents arranged them, the pack would still need somewhere to sleep. And as Hyungdon announced that they would all be sleeping as a pack in the Den until the boys moved out, Sunggyu decided that they needed to buy a home and fast. He couldn’t take the old man’s snoring any longer.

“Hyung!” Myungsoo peeked his head from around the corner. “You need to look at the kitchen! Come on!” His head then disappeared again.

“That would be the ‘and more’ part: a kitchen fully furnished with the latest appliances and granite countertops,” she explained. She then began to make her way towards the kitchen. “Follow me, Sunggyu-ssi,” she beckoned.

Sunggyu closed his eyes. He was quickly calculating the prices in his head. ‘And more’ would also include a pricetag over the boys’ budget (not like they didn’t have the means to go over. He just felt like they were being taken advantage of by the savvy agent). “But none of us even cook,” he grumbled as he dragged his feet into the kitchen.

“But what if one of your future pack members do?” the agent challenged, still with that calm smile on her face. “It’s better to be prepared for everything.”

“She’s right,” Myungsoo quickly agreed, pulling his head out of the oven that he had been inspecting. “Besides, I can cook.”

Sunggyu quickly shook his head. “No, you like to think you can cook,” he denied. Myungsoo frowned, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He quickly turned to the agent and explained, “He made me fried rice once and now he thinks he’s a master chef.”

“But it was delicious, right?” Myungsoo challenged.

Sunggyu cleared his throat and kept his attention on the agent.  “What else is part of this ‘and more’?” he asked.

“The other villas in this complex aren’t as well outfitted as the main home, but given what Myungsoo-ssi,” she looked over at the younger and her smile widened before continuing, “had told me, you plan on eating together as a pack as often as you can. There’s also a large and warm Den for when your pack expands. This place was built for quality pack-time. But what I think will be the most appealing to you, Sunggyu-ssi.” The agent leaned in and whispered. “This is move-in ready. Once you sign the forms, you can move in within a few days.”

“Really?” Sunggyu asked, raising his eyebrows. The agent nodded. Suddenly, the large pricetag didn’t matter to him anymore. “What else does this place have?” he asked as he left the kitchen to explore the rest of the complex.

It had everything, everything that Sunggyu had asked for and even the things he didn’t. There was a small bathhouse in the back, which he had only seen in old houses that the ancient elites lived in. People nowadays would go to public ones or to saunas to bathe together, but they could do it in the comfort of their own home. There was also a lot of land if they needed to expand or just to play around in when they had kids. Kids, Sunggyu laughed at that thought. Last week, his biggest worry was getting an order of latex-free gloves because Minyoung constantly forgot that he was allergic to latex. But now, he was thinking about how big of a table they could fit into the dining room, how many bedrooms would they need, and kids. It was mostly Myungsoo talking about them, but then Sunggyu caught himself thinking that one room would make a good nursery. It scared him. Mostly because he was thinking of things that he didn’t know he could have. No, for Myungsoo. I was thinking of it for Myungsoo, he tried to convince himself.

“Well, what do you think?” the realtor asked, shifting anxiously in front of them. The tour had ended. Myungsoo was obviously enamored with the place and already said several times that they didn’t need to look elsewhere. But Sunggyu remained stoic.

“It’s expensive,” Sunggyu stated, looking around the foyer of the main house.

“Hyung,” Myungsoo whispered. “The two of us can afford this place on our own. It’ll only get cheaper the more people we add.”

Sunggyu narrowed his gaze on the other. “Exactly how many people are you planning on being in our pack?”

“A lot,” Myungsoo answered curtly, and then he broke out into a slight laugh, leaving Sunggyu to wonder whether he was serious or not.

“Is that a ‘no,’ then?” the agent broke into the two’s side conversation.

Sunggyu sighed and hung his head. “If we don’t get this place, I’ll never hear the end of this from this kid,” he said.

“Nope,” Myungsoo agreed and turned towards the agent. “When can we sign?”

“Fantastic!” the realtor clapped her hands together. “We can sign as soon as you apply for the mortgage loan. So which one of you is the alpha? You I presume?” she asked turning towards Sunggyu.

“Neither,” Sunggyu quickly denied.

“Oh.” The permanent smile on her face faltered. “Will he be coming later then?” she asked.

“No,” Sunggyu shook his head. “We don’t have one. So far, the pack is just me and him,” he gestured between himself and Myungsoo, who smiled at the mention of him. “But we’re good on our word. I own a fertility clinic, and he does the accounting for it and for a couple of others.” Myungsoo nodded along in agreement.

“You have no alpha?” the realtor repeated slowly. She then heaved a great sigh, probably envisioning her commission disappearing before her eyes. “Well, it’s going to be hard for you to apply for a loan. Things would be different if you had an alpha or mates. But just two betas buying a complex.” She cocked her head as she paused to think things over. Her smile now was completely gone, and her finger tapped against her pouting lips. “You’re going to need a guarantor for the mortgage loan. Preferably an alpha?” she suggested. Sunggyu must have looked disgruntled because she then quickly added with her hands up in the air, “I don’t make the rules, but it’s hard to get a loan without one.”

“Fine,” Sunggyu relented. He then spoke lowly to Myungsoo “Hyungdon will sign for us.”

“Good,” the smile had returned to the agent’s face and so did her cheerfulness. “The world is changing, and so are the packs. I’m sure that banks will change their policies soon too,” she said with a wink.

Sunggyu sighed as he looked around the foyer one last time. Now that there was a possibility that he might not get it, he suddenly wanted it all the more. It really was perfect, just as Myungsoo had said. His eyes landed back on the agent.

“I hope they do.”

Now was the time.  Woohyun could see the signs of it coming. He’d learned over the years how to watch out for them for his own sake. And now he was positive, especially since Dongwoo suddenly asked him to pick up some disgusting herbal tea on his way home. Dongwoo was in heat.

It wasn’t dangerous for Woohyun to be around his friend anymore during this time. Dongwoo learned how to manage it very well and always had suppressants on his person. So all that was left was the cramps…and the slight . But Dongwoo d his on an almost daily basis, so Woohyun judged that it was something he could deal with.

But what he opened the door to wasn’t what he expected. “Ugh! Oh god! What is that smell?” Woohyun retched. He nearly dropped the tea in a desperate attempt to cover his nose. “It smelled like you marked the whole room!” He then narrowed his eyes on the lump on the bed. “You didn’t, did you?”

The lump slowly turned over. Dongwoo was cocooned in blankets. He smiled tiredly at his friend. “Nam-goon!” he called out to the other in a weak voice. “You came.”

“Hey, buddy,” Woohyun spoke in a low voice, walking over to his friend and handing him the tea. He then quickly backed away from the other. “What’s with the smell?”

Dongwoo sat up in his bed and drank from the cup. When he set it down, he looked as if he’d just taken a shot of soju instead of drinking tea. “I looked it up,” he explained. “It’s a defense mechanism for when omegas don’t feel safe when they go into heat. It’s supposed to repel instead of, you know, attracting.”

“Well it’s working,” Woohyun teased.

“That bad?” Dongwoo asked while flopping back down on his back. He laughed listlessly to himself. “I’m a mess,” he screeched, rolling around on the bed. “And I’m going to spread my mess everywhere!” Soon he felt a hand come down onto his shoulder to still him. He looked up to see Woohyun with a cloth tied around his face to block out the stench. “Ah! A robber!” he joked. “I swear we don’t have a duffle bag full of money stashed under the bed!”

“Dongwoo-yah,” Woohyun was not in the mood for joking. “You don’t feel safe? We can go if…”

“Nam-goon,” the omega cut him off. “It’s okay. It’s probably because of the…”

“Don’t say it,” Woohyun growled. Dongwoo swallowed his words as guilt washed through him. Woohyun was irritated, whether at Taehwan, him, or just the whole situation. The two of them had their problems, and they were coping with them in different ways. But they were failing. The problems were still there. Even though they were miles away in Busan, the problems, their sadness, still plagued them.

“I’m sorry,” Dongwoo apologized. “It’s because I’m a mess.” Woohyun then glared at him, words forming under his makeshift mask. But Dongwoo beat him to it, “And you’re a mess too.” Woohyun cocked his head. Dongwoo chuckled. “Especially after I do this!” Dongwoo with a screech, lunged at Woohyun, abandoning his blanket, enveloping the other in his horrible smell. Dongwoo clung onto Woohyun tighter. “Now you’re smelly too!”

“Ugh! Get off!” Woohyun fought back, flailing. “This is gross.” He somehow managed to wiggle out of Dongwoo’s grasp (maybe he couldn’t handle the other in heat). The beta glued himself to the wall on the other side of the room. “You stinky, omega. Ugh! I’ll need 10 showers to feel clean again,” Woohyun whined.

Dongwoo crawled back into bed, still laughing. But the laughter eventually slowed down, and he curled up back in this blankets, cradling the tea in his hands. Truth be told, he felt miserable. His heat had never been like this. He wanted nothing more than to be alone and repel the whole world, save for Woohyun. He never wanted to feel like this again. So low.

“Dongwoo,” Woohyun called out to him. The omega slowly raised his head. The beta pulled down his mask to his chin. “How would you like to never feel like this again?”

There was a procedure, one that removed the glands and organs that created an omega’s heat. It was normally done on omegas with cancer in that region or some other life-threatening defect. Rarely it was done for omegas who had their bonds broken. And once, just one time (in recorded history) it was done on a male omega. That surgery was done by none other than a fertility specialist in Busan, Kim Sunggyu.

“A guy?” Dongwoo asked. He was now sitting up again (and showered thoroughly, that was one of the requisites that Woohyun had before they could continue the conversation).

“Eung,” Woohyun grunted. He was freshly showered too. “The article said that he had some birth defect that messed with his sense of smell.”

“He can’t smell?! Like at all?”

“Basically,” Woohyun responded from what he could understand from the article, which wasn’t much. Science was never his forte. “I would’ve given anything to be him a couple minutes ago.”

“Me too,” Dongwoo agreed. He thought for a second, pondering over everything that Woohyun had just told him. “So if I get this, I’ll never go into heat again.”

“No, never again.”

Dongwoo looked over at the bedside table, littered with empty cups of tea (he’d gotten some more) and packages of suppressants. He then rubbed his constantly churning stomach. He’d never have to go through this again. He could just live his life like a beta that he always pretended to be. And now he could see why Woohyun chose Busan. Here, they’d have a new home, new careers, and for Dongwoo, a new body to go along with it. It would be a fresh start.

And maybe, just maybe, with all of the gross organs that the doctor was going to remove from his body, maybe he’d take away the heartache too.

“When’s the appointment?”

Dongwoo’s knees were jumping as he sat in his seat. His fingers caressing the ID card in his pocket, his real one. He was anxious to get this meeting over with. He was anxious to get those cursed things out of his body. He was anxious because the secretary had been eyeing the two of them suspiciously ever since they had sat down. Dongwoo’s eyes flickered over to Woohyun, who flashed him a small smile and squeezed Dongwoo’s hand (the omega didn’t even know when he had grabbed it).

Then the secretary cleared . “The doctor will see you now,” she announced.

The omega sprung up to his feet and made his way to the door, pausing to say thank you to the secretary. When he cautiously opened up the office door, he felt a push from behind him. Woohyun had his hands on both of the omega’s shoulder and gently pushed him into the room.

“Uh, hello.” Dongwoo finally noticed the doctor in the room. Kim Sunggyu seemed, frankly, less impressive than what he had accomplished. Dongwoo was kind of hoping that the doctor would be older, like a fatherly figure that would help to guide him through the process. But he didn’t expect the doctor to be close to his age. It put Dongwoo on edge. Sunggyu walked up to the two, ushering them into the office. “You must be here about the heat removal surgery, but, uh, where is she?”

“W-who?” Dongwoo stuttered. His fingers finally left the card in his pocket.

Sunggyu raised an eyebrow at them, confused. “Your omega,” he clarified.

This was what Dongwoo was worried about. He had been so used to hiding it for the past few years, that his first instinct was to lie. “Uh, well…she’s…” he tripped over his tongue, trying to fight against his impulses.

Woohyun took Dongwoo’s stuttering for apprehension. “She’s sick,” he lied.

“Oh,” Sunggyu exclaimed blinking a couple of times. He laughed a little. “Of course, she is getting the surgery after all.” He sat at his desk and gestured for the other two to sit down. He scooted in while they seated themselves. He leaned onto his desk, resting his forearms on it. “Well, since this is just a consultation, I guess we can proceed. And I’ll look over her charts and tell you about the process. Now, which one of you is her mate?” he asked, looking back and forth between them.

“There is no mate,” Dongwoo admitted.

Sunggyu nodded as if he understood. “Is one of you her legal guardian? Alpha?”

Dongwoo shook his head, “No.”

“Are you even related to her?” Sunggyu asked through gritted teeth.

“N-no,” Dongwoo stammered with an apologetic smile.

Sunggyu groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. “There are no charts either, are there?” he asked curtly.

Dongwoo chuckled a little, trying to ease the situation. “How did you know?” But Dongwoo’s joke didn’t ease a thing. It just tightened the tension. The doctor narrowed his eyes on the omega as his chested rose and fell, building up steam.

“Look, we’re just here for a consultation,” Woohyun spoke for the first time since they stepped inside. He held onto Dongwoo’s hand that was clasping his knee (once again, Dongwoo had no idea when he had put it there either). “So consult us. Tell us about it,” he challenged.

The doctor shifted his attention on the beta. He tore a pamphlet from off of a shelf and threw it at Woohyun. “Everything you need to know is in here,” Sunggyu declared, pointing at the pamphlet. “But I don’t feel comfortable discussing the matter because you obviously came here without her consent or the consent of your alpha.”

The hold on Dongwoo’s hand tightened. He looked over to see Woohyun fighting to keep his calm. “Do we really need it?” the beta asked.

Sunggyu leaned back in his chair. “Her consent? It’s her body, so yes,” he quickly responded.

“No,” Woohyun practically growled. Dongwoo was beginning to lose feeling in the tips of his fingers (but that was better than having Woohyun lunge over the desk at the doctor). “The alpha’s. Do we really need the alpha’s consent? Do we really need an alpha?”

The doctor could sense the other challenging his authority and expertise. He pulled himself up straight in this seat and folded his hands over. “If she is incapacitated and unable to speak for herself, then I need permission from her legal guardian to be able to proceed,” he spoke clearly, drilling his point. “Since you said she had no mate, then the alpha…”

“What if the alpha is a total d*****bag and doesn’t know what’s good for her?” Woohyun cut him off. He had finally let go of the omega’s hand and jumped up out of his seat. “What if he doesn’t care like I do? What then?”

Dongwoo got up too, putting his hand on the other’s shoulder, holding him back. “Nam-goon,” he warned.

“Then get me her charts.” Dongwoo looked over to see that Sunggyu was now standing too, issuing that command. “I can’t do anything, if I don’t know what I’m up against.”

Dongwoo could feel Woohyun flinch, readying himself to lunge. Dongwoo tightened his grip on his friend’s shoulder. It was time that he put an end to this. They couldn’t do anything, not today. “Okay, doctor,” Dongwoo said, smiling warmly at Sunggyu. The doctor looked backed at him, more confused than ever. “We’ll come back next time with the charts. Sorry to bother you,” he apologized with a slight bow. He pulled Woohyun out of the office with him, but the moment they stepped out of the office Dongwoo reprimanded him, “Woah woah woah! What happened there?”

“Do you think we really need an alpha?” Woohyun argued in a harsh whisper. “Are we completely helpless without one?”

Dongwoo immediately shook his head. They have come too far to think like that. “No we’re not. And we don’t need one. We’re doing fine,” he fought back.

“No we’re not,” Woohyun snapped back. He groaned and ran a hand down his face. “I’ve been rejected. From everywhere,” he admitted. “Just because I left. They don’t think I have loyalty.” Dongwoo noticed that Woohyun’s eyes flickered away. The omega turned to see where he was looking, only to see the secretary pretending like she wasn’t just eavesdropping. Woohyun leaned in and whispered. “They say that I need a letter from him, explaining everything.”

“F**k, you serious?” Dongwoo cursed. Woohyun nodded. “But he…we….how are we going to get that?”

“I don’t know,” Woohyun groaned. “But let’s get out of here. This place makes me angry.”

Dongwoo sighed listlessly as he watched his best friends stomp away from the waiting room. And he was just as frustrated too. Even though there was a smile on his face, his heart was agitated. One step forward, five steps back. Dongwoo knew exactly what he needed to do. He had to talk to Taehwan.

“Woah!” Myungsoo exclaimed, quickly stepping to the side and narrowly missing a man stomping through the halls. He craned his neck to watch the man get onto the elevator and jamming the down button. Steam was practically coming out of his ears. Myungsoo cocked his head. He wasn’t used to seeing men come out of his hyung’s office, especially none so angry. He smirked. If this man was like this, he could only imagine the state that Sunggyu was in. But as he was imagining Sunggyu blowing off stream like a train, another man brushed past him, apologizing under his breath. Myungsoo did a double take. One man was odd enough. Two men meant that Myungsoo had just missed something very very interesting.

Myungsoo walked over to Minyoung with his eyes fixed on the closed elevator doors. “Who are those guys?”

 “I don’t know, but there’s something weird about those two,” the secretary whispered, rolling her chair closer to the other. She lowered her voice even more, “I think they might be rogue.”

Myungsoo snapped his head around to look at her. “You mean, they don’t have a pack?” his voice rising in excitement.

“Something like that,” Minyoung replied distractedly as she rolled over to her desk and grabbed a clipboard. “I just looked over their forms again, and look,” she said handing over the clipboard to the other. “Do Minjoon and Cheon Songyi,” she read and pointed to the names on the list. Myungsoo laughed and she did as well. “It’s weird, isn’t it? Why come in and waste everybody’s time? They didn’t even have the omega with them.”

“Maybe she was too ashamed to come herself,” Myungsoo hypothesized, handing back the clipboard. “Maybe she didn’t want to be Yoo Semi,” he joked.

“Maybe,” Minyoung said with a laugh. But then she looked back at the clipboard and clicked her tongue. “I don’t like it,” she muttered under her breath and set the clipboard down. Suddenly the phone rang on her desk. She put a finger up, begging for Myungsoo’s patience. Minyoung cleared and answered it sweetly, “Yes?”

“Yah! Minyoung-ah!” Myungsoo could hear his hyung yell on the other end of the line (and could hear him through the office door. “Why did you even schedule that appointment?”

 “Sorry if I want this practice to make money! I need to eat!” she snapped back and slammed the phone into the holder. “Aish,” she cursed, ruffling her hair. Then she froze, realizing that Myungsoo was still there, right in front of her. She quickly straightened back up and tucked her hair back behind her ears. She picked up the phone and put on her saccharine voice again, “Oppa, I’m hanging up now.” She then carefully put the phone back down and raised her eyes to meet the beta’s. He was barely holding back his laughter.

“You’re weird,” he stated through his wide smile.

Minyoung groaned, “I am, aren’t I?”

It had been a few days since the incident at the doctor’s office. Dongwoo and Woohyun had a mutual agreement not to talk about what happened. At least not yet when the event was still fresh in their minds. Woohyun still went to job interviews, and Dongwoo was going to classes, trying his best to get used to being in school again. He also had his first test coming up. He was in the hotel room, intently reading his text with a pen in his mouth. Then the phone on the bedside table rang. He assumed that it was the delivery, asking for his room number again.

“Hello?” he asked, voice muffled by the pen.

“Dongwoo? Is that you?”

“H-Hyung?” Dongwoo choked and the pen fell out of his mouth, hanging wide open. His heart stilled in his chest. He stiffened to the point that he felt fragile, like glass.

“I saw this number on one of the dissolution forms,” Taehwan explained. “I hope you don’t mind me calling. I just wanted to know how you were doing. So you’re in Busan now?”

“Yea, I got into the program for oriental medicine,” Dongwoo was grateful that his voice was still working (and part of him felt grateful that Taehwan sounded well).

“That’s great!” the elder praised. “You’ve always wanted to do that.”

Dongwoo felt pride rising up in him, until he remembered that Taehwan was the one that hindered that dream in the first place. He sighed and gnashed his teeth. “Yes, I did. How’s Sojinnie?” he hoped that the annoyance in his voice was evident (but it only sounded like he was distracted instead).

“She’s fine. Getting bigger, but don’t tell her that I said that,” Taehwan joked.

“I won’t,” the omega mumbled back. I doubt I’ll ever see her again, he thought.

Taehwan hoped otherwise. “She misses you guys, you know. The three of you were so close for so long.”

We can’t go back. Dongwoo ground his teeth. “Hyung, why are you calling?” he almost growled. He couldn’t take anymore of this walk down memory lane.

“I signed the forms,” Taehwan finally revealed his purpose. Dongwoo held his breath. He stiffened again in anticipation. “And I got them approved. We’re officially no longer a pack or mates…and while we were there, Sojinnie and I registered.”

“Congratulations,” the words slipped out through slack lips. Dongwoo knew it was going to happen, but he didn’t expect it to be so soon, or so casual.

“Thank you,” Taehwan said with a sigh of relief. Apparently the elder thought that this conversation was going wonderfully. “I just…I just want us to still be friends. Or at least amicable? Especially because of Boohyun. Please tell Woohyun to call his brother every once in awhile. I told him just to call his brother, but you know how he is. He wants to be cool,” he ended with a slight laugh.

“I’ll tell him,” Dongwoo responded, but then at the mention of his best friend, he snapped back into reality. He remembered what they still needed from the alpha. “Woohyun also needs a recommendation letter from you, explaining everything. And mention that he’s loyal. Mention it like a 100 times. Say he’s more loyal than Lee Soo Shin.”

The elder chuckled heartily. “Okay, I’ll do that. And Dongwoo?”

“Hm?”

“I don’t care about the money. Keep it,” Taehwan offered. “And don’t be shy either. You can call or visit anytime you want. You know, you’ve always been like a little brother to me.”

“But I wasn’t,” Dongwoo snapped.

“Huh?”

The glass was fracturing, splintering. The hot anger in Dongwoo’s gut was rising. “I was never your brother. I was your f***ing mate, for crying out loud,” he yelled. “But you never saw me like that, did you?”

Taehwan was caught off guard. “It was a mistake.”

He shattered, breaking into laughter. A dark and bone-chilling laugh. “Us?” he challenged. Tears began welling up in his eyes. “Yea, I guess so,” he yielded that much. He couldn’t stop laugh, but his mind was blank. He didn’t know what else to do or say. The words were on his tongue. “Even animals know when they’re loved, but I…I’m done. I’m done.” And with that, he hung up the phone, not willing to listen to Taehwan’s false objections. He wiped the tears from his face as he waited for his breathing to become regular once again, for the laughter and anger to go away. But only one of them did. “Whew! I need a drink.”

He reached down underneath the bed, pulling out the duffle bad. He ped it and grabbed a stack of cash, before stuffing it back underneath the bed. He was going to spend a nice long night at the bar. And he left his text books on the bed, forgotten.

“Cheers!”

Myungsoo and Sunggyu were out celebrating. It had been a hectic week. But after much begging and pleading (on Hyungdon’s part because he hated seeing the boys go), the alpha finally went with them to the bank and signed the loan. They were approved, and the complex was theirs. Finally. They both took off from work to move-in. And after a long day of heavy lifting and organizing and bickering, the boys were exhausted, hungry, and were in much need of a drink. Which lead them to Jungyeop’s restaurant, as it usually did (they got great service there). And for some inexplicable reason (or maybe way too obvious reason given her crush), Minyoung joined them too.

“Where were you when we were moving?” Sunggyu asked the omega after guzzling down his beer. “We could’ve used your meaty arms.”

“Yah!” Minyoung shouted, rubbing her arms up and down. “My arms are just fine. Besides, you got the day off, not me. I still had stuff to do in the office.”

Sunggyu shook his head. “Watching dramas doesn’t count,” he teased.

“I am a professional,” Minyoung claimed, placing a hand over her heart. “I don’t do stuff like that,” she spoke through gritted teeth, narrowing her eyes on her boss.

Myungsoo frowned. “I was kind of counting on you to tell me what happened today on the show,” he said in disappointment.

Minyoung leaned in closer to him and whispered, “I’ll tell you later, okay?” She then pulled away and turned back towards her boss. Her demeanor grew more excited. “Now all that’s left is for you to make a pack. Soooo…have you thought about asking anyone?” she asked in feigned innocence, batting her eyelashes.

“Nope,” Sunggyu retorted, fighting back a smile especially when the omega began pouting. He knew what she was getting at, but adding her to the pack wasn’t his decision alone. His eyes flickered over to Myungsoo, whose eyes were glued onto the tv. If Myungsoo didn’t seem so disinterested, Minyoung would’ve been the first person that he’d ask, but seeing as their love-lines didn’t match up (Minyoung liked Myungsoo and Myungsoo liked his dramas), Sunggyu was going to wait a little longer to see how this would play out.

“You’re running out of time,” Minyoung reminded them. “If I were you, I’d look for an alpha first. That’s the most important part.”

“No,” Myungsoo objected. The other two looked over at Myungsoo in a bit of a shock. Neither thought that he was paying much attention to their conversation. “We don’t need an alpha. Hyung’s the leader of the pack,” he stated, pointing at Sunggyu with his drink. He then took a long sip.

“Since when?” Sunggyu retorted with a laugh of disbelief.

“Are you not?” Myungsoo fought back.

Sunggyu thought for a second and then nodded. “Of course I am,” he stated. “For now.”

“Why not always?” Myungsoo immediately argued. He put down his drink roughly. “Look at us, hyung. We’re more than capable enough. We make a lot of money. We’re handsome.” Sunggyu scoffed, not knowing what that had to do with anything. “But the bank wouldn’t give us the loan without an alpha. Isn’t that messed up?”

“So you want me to become a leader to prove a point? That we don’t need an alpha?” Sunggyu asked as if the notion was ridiculous.

“Yes,” Myungsoo answered in all seriousness. “Don’t you too? Weren’t you upset?”

“Of course I was, but…” the eldest admitted and then paused. He had put a lot of thought into this. Ever since the loan fiasco. No, he had even thought about this right as his mother told him to leave home. Sunggyu wanted a pack, but he didn’t think that he could live satisfactorily under any other alpha. He had been practically independent for way too long. He was used to doing things on his own. And he was embarrassed just asking Hyungdon for his signature. Sunggyu couldn’t imagine subordinating himself to someone else, not anymore. But, there was a slight hiccup. “Myungsoo, who are we going to find that will willingly follow a beta?” Especially one as defective as myself, Sunggyu wanted to add, but he bit the inside of his cheek, holding it back. But then again without a mate, he could devote all his attention to the pack. That would be the only positive Sunggyu could offer.

“Aish! Is he drunk already? What are you doing? Take him home!” Jungyeop was heard shouting at some customers that had just walked in.  The trio turned towards the bar to see a man dragging in his stumbling friend into the room. The man didn’t pay any heed to Jungyeop’s threat and sat his friend down on a stool at the bar.

“You’re kidding me,” Sunggyu mumbled under his breath. It was the two men who invaded his office and demanded advice on a case that probably didn’t even exist. He had assumed that it was just two prowling erts looking for an omega with her guard down. He had sadly dealt with that before.

“Please ahjussi, my friend needs something to eat and we have no food at home,” the man begged, finally paying attention to the man behind the bar. “We’ll just get some food. Sober him up a bit. And be on our way.”

“Okay, but if he disrupts any of my customers, you’re out,” Jungyeop warned.

“Thanks, ahjussi! And don’t worry! He’s a very nice drunk!” the man said proudly as if were something to brag about. Sunggyu scoffed. Those two seemed to cause trouble wherever they went.

 “Hey aren’t they to two weirdoes from the other day?” Minyoung spoke lowly, pointing at the duo. The drunk was now leaning up against his friend for support.

“Yup,” Sunggyu answered before taking a large sip from his drink.

Myungsoo tapped on the elder’s upper arm. “Hyung! Let’s go talk to them,” he suggested.

“Why?” Sunggyu asked, looking at the younger as if he were crazy. And he had to be if he wanted to interact with those two erts. “The short one has a temper, and the shorter one is drunk already.”

“Hyung,” Myungsoo whined, now shaking Sunggyu’s shoulder. Dear god, he’s begging now.

Sunggyu shook his head. “You just want to see me get into a fight.”

Myungsoo laughed, having been caught. “It sounded like it was fun,” he admitted. But then he leaned in and whispered like it was a secret. “Besides, aren’t you curious?”

Damn. After all of their years together, the younger really learned how to play with Sunggyu, prodding at his weaknesses. Sunggyu was a curious creature, which isn’t too odd, most scientists are. But the fact was that he was curious about those two. He could guess and he could speculate about why they did what they did. But he still didn’t know. And Myungsoo knew that. He had been listening to his hyung rant about them for days. However, Sunggyu refused to give in. “Not curious enough,” he retorted, finishing off his beer. He got up from the table. “I’m going to get another. Do you want one?” he asked. The other two nodded and he made his way to the bar.

Now if Sunggyu happened to go up to the bar and those two just happened to start talking to him, he wouldn’t be exactly be giving into his curiosity. He was just getting beer, and all of his questions would just happened to have been answered. It would be mere chance, and not intentional (or at least that’s how Sunggyu justified it to himself).

Sunggyu slid his empty glass over to the old man behind the bar. “Jungyeop-ssi, how are you doing?” he asked.

“Better now,” the old man replied with a smile. “You want another?”

“Eung,” Sunggyu nodded and put up three fingers, silently ordering for the others as well. Jungyeop nodded and went to fill the order.

“Well, well, well, look at who it is,” Sunggyu heard a voice to his right. He smiled to himself. Look who took the bait. He turned to see the man from the other day sliding over next to him. “Are you here to tell me that I need permission to sit at the bar?”

“Yea, mine. Leave,” Sunggyu answered curtly.

The man chuckled darkly and shook his head, waving his finger in the air. Is this kid drunk too? “You can’t do that,” he responded. Then panic appeared on his face as he looked up at Jungyeop, still behind the bar. ”Can he?” he asked the old man. Jungyeop chuckled and shook his head. The man then pouted and turned back towards Sunggyu. “Why are you being such a jerk?”

“Why are you trying to pick a fight?” Sunggyu immediately barked back. But the reaction that he elicited from the other wasn’t what he had been expecting.

The man averted his gaze, looking down at his drink. “I’m not,” he denied. Something about this scene reminded the doctor of a dog who had been scolded. The man took a sip from his drink and faced Sunggyu again. “I’m not!” he denied more fervently.

Sunggyu sighed, looking at the pitiful man in front of him. And then his eyes widened when he noticed his more pitiful friend behind him. “Yah! Pay attention to your friend. He’s falling off his stool!” Sunggyu scolded.

“Hm? Ah! Dongwoo!” the man exclaimed, just barely catching his friend before he fell onto the floor. The doctor shook his head and clicked his tongue at the scene. These two were looking increasingly more problematic.

“Hyung, introduce me,” Myungsoo came up at Sunggyu from behind, nearly giving the elder a fright.

“Fine,” Sunggyu relented. “Do Minjoon, Cheon Songyi, meet Lee Hwikyung,” he introduced, gesturing to the man behind him. He then patted Myungsoo’s shoulder. “Let’s go back,” he urged. He didn’t want to stay around those two any longer.

But Myungsoo didn’t follow him. “Which one is Songyi?” he asked.

After propping his friend back up, the man pointed to him. “He is. I’m Minjoon. I can read minds,” he stated with a slight chuckle.

“Really?” Myungsoo challenged. He then brushed past Sunggyu and sat next to the man. He narrowed his eyes onto the other. “What am I thinking of?”

Sunggyu noticed the man’s eyes flickering over to the television set for a brief second. “Uh, baseball,” the man guessed.

Myungsoo’s jaw went slack as he turned to face Sunggyu, who was still standing. “Hyung, he got it right,” he said in disbelief. Sunggyu ran his hand through his hair in frustration and was about to yell at his dongsaeng, but then Myungsoo cut him off, “Why is he Songyi?”

The man shrugged, craning his neck backwards to look at his friend. His friend finally got some food and was slurping it noisily. “Because he’s…pretty?” the man threw it out there.

“Hyung, he is,” Myungsoo muttered as he leaned forward to catch a better glimpse of the man with soup dribbling down his face. Then Myungsoo turned back to look at his hyung with eyes sparkling with excitement. The doctor’s stomach sank. The last time his dongsaeng looked at him like that, they ended up buying the complex. The first and only one that they stepped into. Sunggyu could see the gears meshing inside Myungsoo’s brain. He could tell what the other was thinking.

“Myungsoo, no,” he warned sternly, hoping that Myungsoo would abandon the idea.

But the sparkle didn’t leave his eyes. Instead a cheeky smile was added along with it. Myungsoo turned towards the man and asked, “Do you guys really not have a pack?”

The man looked at the other curiously. “Not at the moment,” he responded carefully.

“Neither do we! But we’re forming one,” Myungsoo said; excitement was building in his voice. He leaned forward. “Do you want to—”

Sunggyu grabbed onto the other’s collar and jerked him backwards before he could finish that question. “Just one moment please,” he begged of the man as he pulled his dongsaeng up and out of the chair so that he could speak to him in private.  Once they were a couple steps away, Sunggyu shoved the other. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Hyung, they’re perfect,” Myungsoo argued with a pout and gave Sunggyu a weak push back, purely out of retaliation.

Sunggyu shouted back, “Have you looked at them?!”

“Eung,” Myungsoo nodded emphatically. “They smell like us. And weren’t you saying that we needed someone who’d follow a beta?”

“Yes,” Sunggyu answered slowly.

“And didn’t you say that these guys seemed to hate alphas?”

. Sunggyu knew where this was going. “Yes.”

“Hyung, this is them!” Myungsoo exclaimed excitedly.

“Myungsoo-yah!” All Sunggyu could do was to whine and stomp his foot, hoping that the other would realize his frustration, which only grew at the next second.

“If you don’t mind me intruding,” the man came up from behind and did intrude. “That actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” he agreed with a grin.

Myungsoo immediately went up to the man’s side. “Right!” he exclaimed.

The man nodded and continued, “We could really use some more friends right now, and…I don’t know, this feels right.”

“Like it’s fated?” Myungsoo suggested.

“Exactly!” the man chimed in. “We’re looking for a pack to join, you’re making one. I’m a beta. You’re a beta.” He gestured over to Sunggyu. “He’s a beta. She’s pretty,” he said while waving over at Minyoung who had snuck over to join them (probably getting lonely at the table all by herself). “This can work out, right?” the man asked, nudging Myungsoo. Myungsoo nodded shyly.

“Work out?!” Sunggyu challenged with a condescending laugh. “We’re all complete strangers!”

“Doc Kim, don’t be like this,” the man said with a pout.

“Yea, Doc Kim,” Myungsoo played along with the other. But then his face fell when his eyes met with Sunggyu’s and he quickly amended, “Hyung.”

“The whole point of us getting a pack together was so that you’d find a mate,” Sunggyu revealed.  

“O-oh,” Myungsoo stammered, looking down at his feet, not knowing how to react quite yet.

Sunggyu then heard a long sigh from next to him. He turned to see Minyoung swirling her drink in her hand. “Yea, too bad you don’t know of any single omegas,” she said. “So hard to find. Where can one be?” she pondered aloud while pointing to herself.

Sunggyu slapped her finger away from her face before Myungsoo could see what she was implying. “Desperation isn’t cute,” he whispered harshly at her.

“Neither are you,” she retorted, sticking out her tongue.

“Hyung,” Myungsoo called out. He had finally gathered himself together again. “I told you that I won’t mate until you do. Besides, Mom and Dad didn’t specify who had to be in the pack, just that we needed to make one,” he argued.  

“Ah! Loophole!” the man cheered, putting his arm around Myungsoo’s shoudlers. “You must be a lawyer.”

“No, actually I’m an accountant,” Myungsoo corrected with an embarrassed laugh. “What about you?”

“Oh. I’m currently unemployed and living off of the money that I stole from my previous pack,” the man answered as if it were an everyday occurrence. The man then turned his attention towards the doctor. “See, we’re becoming less and less strange to each other,” he pointed out and then took a long sip from his drink.

“Whatever,” Sunggyu grumbled. He wouldn’t be able to go anywhere with those two, to knock any sense into their heads. Myungsoo was already enamored with the idea, and the man seemed just as stubborn. The doctor sighed. That just left the drunk friend with soup stains on his face and shirt. But the drunk seemed together enough, so Sunggyu decided to attack from that angle.

“Hey,” Sunggyu greeted, sitting onto the stool next to the other.

“Hey,” the drunk slurred, wiping his chin with his sleeve.

Sunggyu handed him a napkin to use instead. “How are you feeling?” It was better to start with a harmless question first in order to gage the other.

The man thought for a second and giggled, “Well, I’m alive. I have my health. Sort of. I have my love, Nam Woohyun!” he suddenly leaned back and shouted to his friend, and his friend threw him back a heart. The drunk waved him off, shifted his focus back to Sunggyu and whispered, “And I have my one true love, soju.” The man put his finger to his lips and shushed. Sunggyu sighed. He didn’t have the heart to tell the other that he was only drinking water, but he doubted that would wipe the smile off of the other’s face. “So things are good.”

We just bought a home and Myungsoo is already trying to make a mess of it, Sunggyu thought as he studied the other. He shook his head in disapproval. But, the man gave him an intelligible reply so he started to probe further. “Why did you guys come to my office?”

“For a consultation,” the other responded. He then frowned. “But you didn’t tell us anything. You are a bad doctor. I’m going to revoke your license.” He then pretended to grab something from off of Sunggyu’s chest and chuck it across the room. Sunggyu turned around to see if anything actually landed onto the floor. But nothing ever did. “There. All gone. Doctor no more,” the drunk teased playfully.

“This punk,” Sunggyu cursed. “How was I supposed to—“ He stopped himself. He had enough of senseless arguments for the night. “I’m still a doctor. A good doctor,” he mumbled under his breath, assuring himself. After calming down, he tried again, “Do you guys really not have a pack?”

“No.”

“Why’d you leave your pack?”

The drunk sighed and drained the rest of his water. He even air through his teeth as if he had just finished off some liquor. “I didn’t get along with my alpha,” he admitted, circling the rim of his empty glass with his finger.

“Oh,” Sunggyu said as if he understood. “They do say that some betas are borderline alphas, and have some alpha tendencies. That might be a reason. How’d you test?”

“O—“ the drunk then paused to laugh at himself. “F. I failed.”

“What?” Sunggyu blubbered, not understanding as well as he thought he did. How did this kid manage to flunk an unflunkable test? He pulled the glass from the other’s hands. “I think that you had too much to drink.” He judged that the other was getting drunk off of a placebo effect now, so cutting him off, even from water, should sober him up.

The other shook his head and took his glass back. “Do you ever feel like…there’s never enough…even when there’s too much, clear and fuzzy but you want numb?” he spoke almost nonsensically. “Nothing? But it’s also cold. And you just want to feel…something. You know?”

“What?” Sunggyu mumbled. He had barely even understood the drunk’s slurring, let alone get what he meant. But then he met with the other’s eyes, and that had said enough. The drunk was in pain, emotional pain. Things weren’t as good as he said. Sunggyu sighed and took the glass away again. “You can’t fill that hole with alcohol. Come on, give me that.”

The other wouldn’t let go. “No mine! Get your own.”

“Glad to see that you two are getting along,” the drunk’s friend showed up, smiling brightly and with Myungsoo closely behind.

In what world? “Hyung,” Myungsoo broke into his thoughts. He then put an arm around the man next to him. “This is Nam Woohyun and that is Jang Dongwoo,” he finally introduced the two. “And we were thinking…”

“A trial period!” Woohyun blurted out unable to contain his excitement. Myungsoo nodded along happily.

“Huh?”

“Dongwoo and I live with you for two weeks, and if we don’t get along, you can kick us out,” Woohyun explained the plan. Then he turned to look at Myungsoo. “But it’s not like that’s going to happen, right?” Myungsoo nodded again. Woohyun shook him gently. “I like this kid.”

“That kid is mine. It’s my home,” Sunggyu grumbled under his breath. He was fighting a losing battle. His eyes narrowed on his smiling dongsaeng, already abandoning him for a new hyung. Why did he make me leader if he’s just going to undermine me? “It’s my home,” Sunggyu repeated more loudly. The smile fled Myungsoo’s face as he glared at the doctor. “Our home,” Sunggyu corrected.

“That’s right. It’s our home,” Myungsoo repeated. Then another smile crept onto his face, a pleading one. “Hyung, it’s just two weeks. But I’ll do whatever you say afterwards. If you really don’t like them then…” he offered.

“Okay, fine,” Sunggyu groaned, finally giving in. It’s just two weeks. How hard can that be?

“We’re going to be brothers!” Woohyun cheered, breaking out into a small victory dance (or that’s at least what Sunggyu supposed it was and not bodily tremors). Myungsoo joined in on the random shaking. The doctor shook his head and resumed drinking. He had a feeling that he’ll be drinking a lot more for the next few weeks.

“Oh no! Dongwoo!” he heard Woohyun yelp. Sunggyu looked next to him only to see Dongwoo will his head resting on the bar and his eyes closed. Woohyun ran over and began slapping his cheeks. “You can’t go to sleep yet.”

“But it’s my bed,” Dongwoo argued in a tired voice. “You go to sleep too.” He didn’t even bother to open his eyes when he spoke.

Minyoung sat on the other side of Sunggyu, pouting. “Oh look, you’re all forming a pack without me. Yay,” she lifelessly cheered, watching the men gather together at Sunggyu’s other side.

Sunggyu scoffed, while watching the disaster unfolding next to him. Yea, some mess of a pack that we’re going to be.