"Jeno!" Came the high pitched screams of his sisters Hyejoo and Yerim as the alpha teen walked in his home. The two little girls came running over to him, each grabbing onto one leg. 

"Hi girls," Jeno sweetly answered, squatting to give each girl a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek. With a small grunt, Jeno picked up each one. Jeno thought maybe they were getting a bit too old for him to carry both at once, but he didn't say anything, just tensing his bicep and walking through the house. 

It was a mess, of course. When was it not? Toys, clothes, furniture, leaves, dirt, everything scattered around the place, so massive to accommodate the size of their family. 

But it was an organized mess; a sweet mess. Jeno and Jungwoo knew where everything was. How could they ever keep it neat with so many people just running all over the place? 

It may drive some crazy, but Jeno always sort of liked it this way. 

"Yo," Jeno's sister Heejin spoke up. Her voice was low and cool but she still beamed and hugged her brother, Jeno's youngest sisters still in his arms. She was in upper school now but Jeno still towered over her (she was an omega after all). But Jeno towered over almost everyone else in his family, including his omega father Jungwoo, except Jisung and his alpha father Yukhei. He was still taller than Yangyang. But Yangyang had just presented as an alpha last week, and he was still in middle school. Everyone knew that the alphas of their family were gigantic, and when Yangyang grew up more he would definitely join them. Often, Jeno wondered how his youngest sisters would present, and if they'd be tall too. 

"Oh god, Hyejoo! Yerim! Hyejoo! Yerim! Oh thank god," Jeno's omega dad Jungwoo called as he walked into the main room. He breathed a massive sigh of relief. "Oh goodness, I was helping Yangyang with something for school in the back and then Hyejoo and Yerim were gone and...you have them." Everyone chuckled as Yangyang followed his dad into the main room. Seeing the youngest children taken care of, Jungwoo flopped onto the couch. Jeno smiled at his family; he always looked forward to these times after he got back from school (although he was always willing to sacrifice some of it to get a few extra minutes with Jaemin). 

"Hi dad," Jeno said with a little giggle, alternating bouncing his sisters on his knees. 

"Hello," he said, still breathing deeply. "How was your day?" 

Jeno grinned widely. "Really, really good." Yangyang gave him a look at Jeno glared, still smiling a bit with a blush coming up on his cheeks. 

Jungwoo's head darted back and forth. "Where's Jisung?" 

"At Chenle's," all the siblings spoke simultaneously before Hyejoo and Yerim burst into peals of little girl giggles. 

Jungwoo rolled his eyes. "Of course, of course. Well, speaking of being at a boyfriend's place....you've been staying out later these days, Jeno. And a little birdy told me that he's seen you out with Jaemin..." 

Jeno blushed brightly and smiled just at the very mention of Jaemin's name. "Um...." 

"Ooh! Do you have a boyfriend?" Heejin teased. 

"Jeno has a boyfriend, Jeno has a boyfriend!" Hyejoo and Yerim chanted. 

"Nothing's official yet," Jeno admitted in a voice a little too high pitched for an alpha. "And thanks for telling everyone Yangyang!" 

"I can't help that I saw you two together, and he was all over you..." 

Jeno whined and Heejin ooh'ed at her brother, Hyejoo snuggling into Jeno's shoulder. 

"All over you? How do I not know about this?" Jungwoo teased. 

"Things have been really busy lately..." 

"Do you like him?" Jungwoo asked softly. Slowly, Jeno nodded. 

"Yeah...a lot. So much." 

Jungwoo gazed at his son happily, proudly. "I'm so excited for you," he spoke, and meant it genuinely. 

"I think it's gonna be great....really," Jeno admitted, a bit shy but so so proud too. 

"If anyone deserves it, it's you," Yangyang said, in a rare moment of softness. 

Jeno beamed at the affection of his family. "I'll keep you guys updated, alright?" 

"You have to!" Heejin cried. 

"Yukhei's gonna be so happy when he hears this," Jungwoo said. 

Jeno could feel his heart bursting with joy. It hurt sometimes that Yukhei wasn't around for moments like this but Jeno knew that when he could be, nobody would be more proud of Jeno than him. 

"Jeno Jeno Jeno!" Yerim suddenly cried, bouncing on Jeno's leg. "Can you play with me and Hyejoo?" 

"Of course!" Jeno said with a soft smile, both girls squealing excitedly. "Bye guys," he said to the rest of his family. With a grunt Jeno stood up, carrying his sisters to their room so they could all play. 

~~~~~~~~~~

"Jaemin!" Came the voice Jaemin leasted wanted or expected to hear as the omega teen walked in his home. Sitting there in the main room was Jaemin's dad- not his omega dad Ten but their pack's Head Alpha, Jaemin's alpha father, Taeyong. "Hi!" He was grinning from ear to ear, waving and standing to greet his son.

"What are you doing here?" Jaemin quickly asked, leaning back and not moving from the doorway. This was the first time Jaemin had seen his father in the daylight in years; usually Taeyong left the house before dawn and came back long after the sun fell into the night. 

The house was neat, of course. Jaemin's omega dad Ten kept the place pretty nice, and Jaemin helped out too when he had the time.

It was bare, though. So bare. It always had been, not much of the crafts and toys Jaemin saw at his friend's houses. As soon as he'd presented too, the few toys Jaemin had disappeared. 

Taeyong always sacrifices, Ten had explained when Jaemin was young, wondering why his house was so empty compared to his friends. Taeyong sacrificed having a nice, lovely place for his family for the sake of his pack, so they could have nice things instead. 

Well, in the end, what good had it done anyone? 

"Um," Taeyong started, looking down at the ground, his face falling as quickly as he had smiled just moments before. "I...I wanted to spend some time with you...."

"Where's Ten?"

"Well....our hunt was actually decent today so I thought it would be okay if I left earlier to spend time with you! Ten is still gathering, but we can hang out together!" 

He was so....cheery. Jaemin felt a little sick; he could feel his false energy from across the room. 

"Come on sit down!" Taeyong spoke eagerly, now decisively ignoring Jaemin's hesitance. Slowly, Jaemin walked over and sat down on the couch, as far away from his father as he could get. "It's been so long since we've spent time together...oh I've missed it so much! It's just like when you were little..." 

Jaemin barely held back an eye roll. What was the point of this? Why did he feel like he had to lie? Maybe he was just trying to get out of hunting for an afternoon... 

"So...how are you?" 

"Fine." 

"How was school?" 

"Fine." 

"How have your friends been?" 

"Fine." 

Jaemin crossed his arms and sighed. Taeyong looked at his son whistfully before staring at his feet. 

"Are Jisung and Chenle still planning to mate?" 

"Yup." 

"And how's Renjun? I know he wasn't presenting yet, has that been figured out? Yuta's been really quiet lately so I don't know..." 

"He's a beta," Jaemin said firmly. 

"Oh! I'm so glad he finally figured it out. I think it'll be great for him!" 

"What do you mean?" Jaemin deadpanned. Now he definitely rolled his eyes. 

"I do my best to make this a good pack for betas. And you know, Doyoung's doing pretty good here!" 

"He's not Doyoung." 

"W-Well, of course not...has he taken it well?" 

"No." 

Taeyong swallowed and hummed, trying to think of something to say, trying to push Jaemin's weirdness away. 

Jaemin just waited for this to be over. Why should Taeyong bother with all of this now? It was too late. He didn't need to fake all of this nicety; Jaemin knew how he really felt about having a son like Jaemin.

"So...I actually heard that you've made a new friend recently," Taeyong said with a sly smile on his face. 

Oh god; the Jeno thing was the last topic Jaemin wanted to discuss with his father. Maybe if he played dumb it would just go away. 

"Who?" 

"I've heard people have being seeing you around with Jeno, and it's been awfully touchy-feely..." 

Jaemin didn't really know what to say. "I guess..." 

"Do you like him?" 

Jaemin shrugged. Trying to know him like this, after all this time? No. Jaemin wasn't going to give him anything. 

Taeyong's face fell at Jaemin's reluctance, more than any of reluctance he'd displayed before. "You know...you don't have to find a mate right away, right? You don't have to have one as soon as you finish schooling or for your first heat. It's really okay to wait a while to find someone right. I know me and your dad were way out of high school, and the parents of all your friends too." 

"You shouldn't brag about the circumstances of that," Jaemin mumbled, remembering the twisted history of his parents and his friend's parents. None of them could call Jaemin's plan with Jeno ed up when they thought about that, how Taeyong allowed their packs alphas to kill the alphas of his omega father's pack, and to abandon all of the pups and omegas except five, forced to move in with the pack's most powerful alphas.  

In the end, Doyoung and the omegas all ended up mating with the alphas that had chosen them, and now they all seemed happy together. 

Jaemin and Donghyuck had never been able to decide if it was stockholm syndrome or not. 

Taeyong winced and didn't answer his child, Jaemin scoffing as he spoke. Of course he didn't address it. Even an alpha like him knew at least partially that what he'd done was wrong. "Still. Don't feel pressured, okay?" 

"Sure." 

They fell silent once again, Taeyong grasping at straws to make conversation, Jaemin doing everything in his power to end it. 

"Um...so the test hunt is coming up. Are your alpha friends excited?" 

Jaemin shrugged and grimaced. "Kinda." 

"Well...I'm pretty excited," Taeyong continued, just desperately trying his best to continue on with this failing conversation. "It'll be interesting to see what the alphas around your age are like." 

"Most of the alphas my age are ." 

"Oh," Taeyong said, his voice a little surprised. Jaemin smirked; that surprise said so much. He clearly didn't know or care about what they did to Jaemin. 

"I think they can hunt just fine though. After all, that's what matters," Jaemin continued, an angry inflection in his voice. 

"Actually...that's not all of what the test hunt is about. I don't know how past Heads did it but I always look at how the alphas treat each other and the animals as well as their hunting ability. How they talk about omegas also plays a really big part." 

Lies. All lies, Jaemin thought. 

"And you know, the test hunt is the main deciding factor for the Head to nominate the next Head Alpha. I mean, it's always up to a vote but the nomination always helps..." 

"I know how our pack's leadership works," Jaemin answered. 

"Oh good! It's so important. Well...you know, even though the test hunt is the deciding factor, the Head Alpha usually goes in with a few ideas in mind of who they'll choose...so I was actually wondering if you had any ideas?" 

Jaemin scoffed. "Me?" 

"Of course. You know the alphas your age better than I do. And you're my son...I trust you." 

Jaemin winced at his father's words. "I dunno. Who were you thinking?" 

Jaemin thought he knew what alphas Taeyong would name. Maybe the leader of that band of bullies, or any one of them that's extra strong. But, Jaemin's response utterly surprised him. 

"I was thinking of Donghyuck." 

Jaemin was shocked for a moment, but only a moment, until his senses came back to him. Quickly, his surprised expression turned into a deep glare: it all made sense. 

Of course Taeyong would pick Donghyuck. It's not that Jaemin thought Donghyuck would make a bad Head, in fact, Jaemin didn't think anyone would make a better Head than Donghyuck, out of the whole pack. He was strong, so strong, but always treated omegas with kindness. But Jaemin didn't ever think anyone would agree with him, adult or teenager, except maybe the rest of their friend group and Donghyuck's parents. 

But Taeyong was not planning to nominate Donghyuck for the reasons Jaemin would, at least he assumed so. Taeyong was nominating Donghyuck because of that stupid assumption that haunted Donghyuck and Jaemin wherever they went. He thought Donghyuck and Jaemin were planning to mate, no matter how much either of them denied so, so the title of Head Alpha would stay in his family. Well, he guessed this was why he'd tried to dissuade Jaemin from being with Jeno. 

The whole point of the election system was so that the title of Head Alpha didn't stay in one family forever. But Head Alphas had been known to try and cheat the system, nominate their children or their children's mates so they could still have some control, no matter what. Why would Taeyong do any better? 

So, Jaemin's answer was clear. " no." 

Taeyong turned to his son in shock. "Wh-what?" 

"No! Ugh. I know you don't know me but I didn't think you were that blind to who I am." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I am not going to be Donghyuck's mate. We don't like each other like that. Sorry! It's never going to happen, no matter how much you want us to, or how much everyone wants us to. We're not mating. So don't bother nominating him if you just want to keep the Head Alpha title in the family." 

"That's...That's not why I nominated him Jaemin. That's not the reason at all." 

Jaemin rolled his eyes. At this point, the lies were making him exhausted. 

"You and Donghyuck's friendship has always been special; everyone can see it. But what makes it special is that it's just that: a friendship, nothing more. Not many people expected it to last past the age of presenting, but the fact that it has says a lot about both of you. Donghyuck being a good friend and just a friend to you for all of these years makes me think that he clearly cares about omegas. So that definitely influenced my decision. But I did really want your opinion." 

It was a good excuse, Jaemin thought. "If that's your reasoning, then I think Donghyuck's a good choice too. But it's obvious that it isn't." 

"H-How?" 

"After everything, I can't believe you just want to keep things in the family..." 

"Jaemin, did you not hear what I just said? I don't want to keep things in the family, that's wrong and I know it. I know you're not going to mate Donghyuck." 

Bull. Bull bull bull bull bull.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm not an alpha," Jaemin mumbled. 

"J-Jaemin, why are you sorry? There's nothing to be sorry about." 

"Bull," Jaemin whispered, but Taeyong must have not heard it, because he didn't answer. 

Taeyong looked beyond shocked and concerned, back and forth between his son and the floor beneath him. 

But Jaemin just ignored it, ignored it all. 

This afternoon had been the worst thing he could have possibly imagined. Hearing his father's lies, his false interest and even falser concern was just exhausting. It must have been some stupid excuse for him to get out of hunting; an ineffectual Head Alpha turning even more lazy and useless. 

Wasn't it just so fitting that the up Head Alpha had a  up pup? Leading the pack to famine, with nobody to take over his line. Honestly, the rest of the pack was probably overjoyed that nobody from Taeyong's family could lead them again. 

Not many people liked either of them. How could Taeyong ever be so joyous as when Jaemin came home, knowing how everyone felt about their entire family? His upset expression fit the mood of their family a lot better. 

"Jaemin...are you sure everything is okay?" Taeyong reached out to rub his son's arm but Jaemin snatched it away, curling into himself in the very corner of the couch. 

"I'm fine. Everything is fine." 

"You....you can always talk to me and Ten about anything that's bothering you. We're here for you! I know things are crazy and stressful right now but-" 

"I told you, it's fine." 

Taeyong swallowed thickly and looked away. Jaemin watched his father, aged so much in the years since the famine, always small for an alpha but so slight, so thin these days. Even though Jaemin was a young omega he was still almost as tall as his alpha father, but Taeyong always had such a commanding presence that his stature had never mattered though. Even in the days of the famine he'd kept that presence but in this moment; he'd never appeared so small. His eyes were wide and concerned and maybe a little wet, all of that cheer from when Jaemin first walked in was gone. 

What, was Taeyong expecting Jaemin to be excited and just go along with everything he said? After all the Jaemin had to put up with? No way. If Taeyong was upset, it was all his own doing. And if Jaemin was upset, that was just a result of his words. 

They weren't close. And Jaemin didn't want to be close. Their relationship didn't have to change. 

"Jaemin I love y-" 

Interrupting his father Jaemin stood up from the couch. He was done, he was tired. 

"I'm tired from school. I'm gonna go take a nap in my room now, alright?" 

Taeyong just stared back at him, expressionless, before letting out a deep sigh. 

"A-alright." 

"Bye," Jaemin said quickly before rushing away. He could feel Taeyong's eyes on the back of his head, watching him go.