Prompt: alpha/omega/beta dynamics baeksoo

Word Count: 5705

Note: part 2-B

“You’re spending an awful lot of time with Kyungsoo lately.”

Baekhyun pauses midchew on the noodles he’s eating and slowly turns his head to Jongin. The tanned omega is giving him this look – a mixture between a smug smile and a knowing stare – and Baekhyun finds himself feeling irked at this. Not to mention a bit embarrassed… bashful. “What are you talking about? No, I’m not.”

Jongin takes a dumpling on his lunchbox and slowly nods. “Uh-huh.”

He wanted to say that every location Jisoo has been texting him to meet up, Kyungsoo was always there. The first time at the auditorium was a surprise then the park but as it goes on, it’s no longer a surprise until Kyungsoo was the one who invites him in every trip he and the kids have. And every time he does, Baekhyun drops everything and immediately agrees on going with them. Haneul loves it. Nana not so much. The young alpha pup still hates him to the core.

Baekhyun saves himself the trouble of explaining and just continues to eat his noodles. But after a minute later, he feels his phone vibrate against his shirt pocket. He sets his food down and pulls it out, ignoring Jongin’s knowing stare. When he sees the name, the frown on his face turned into a smile. He immediately accepts the call and presses it against his ear.

“Haneul-ah.” His voice uncharacteristically turned soft and endearing. Once again, he ignored Jongin’s surprised look. “Why did you call? Didn’t you have school today?”

“Come to school, Uncle Baekhyunnie.”

He furrows his brows. “Huh, why?”

“Please.”

Baekhyun finds himself in a school event.

He feels out of place among all of the alphas and dominant omega and betas looking all sporty with their shorts, sneakers and shirts while Baekhyun looks like he just got out of work. Once again, the whispers came back as he approaches Haneul away from the sea of people having fun watching at the relay race. Upon seeing him, Haneul’s face lightened up.

“Uncle Baekhyunnie.” He beams.

The whispers fell deaf on his ears. “Hey, champ. Sorry I was late.”

“S’okay.” Haneul shakes his head. He wriggles a bit when he takes a seat next to Haneul. “I don’t want to play anyway. Just don’t like people looking at me like that.” He buries his face on his arms that’s wrapped on top of his knees. “It’s making me feel weird.”

Seeing Haneul like this reminds him of himself when he was little, all alone with no one to fight alongside with against the world. Baekhyun was brought up in this world all wrapped up in his protective shell by his mother and he got to learn all of the harsh side of the world by himself as he grows up. He had to mask his emotions with a bright smile He was used to someone protecting him that he didn’t know how to protect himself.

Baekhyun places a hand on Haneul’s head and gives it a short ruffle. “Stop being like that. I’m already here.” He gives a comforting smile. “Your Daddy’s just late. He’ll come.”

“Daddy doesn’t know about this event. I never told him because this is only for the daddies and mommies who are the dominant ones.” Haneul looks down. “Plus, he’s busy. He’s going straight to Ilsan after work so he’s not gonna come home.”

“Then what about your other parent?”

“I don’t have one.”

Baekhyun froze at this but he immediately recovers not wanting to make Haneul uncomfortable at this. Outside, Baekhyun looks nonchalant upon hearing this. Inside, he began to realize how everything suddenly makes sense. Why Kyungsoo’s supposed significant other is always absent in every accidental run in they had and Nana’s declaration that she’s the only alpha in the family.

The absence of one parent and Kyungsoo’s frequent absences in their lives, Baekhyun understands how hard these kids must be going through in their life. Hell, even a simple parent day in their school Haneul is all alone watching them have fun. Baekhyun pulls his hair back and stands up, giving Haneul’s shoulder a nudge. “Come on.”

Haneul looks up at him in confusion.

“I don’t know about you but I feel like playing around a few games or so.” Baekhyun takes off his coat and loosens his tie. “And I’ll be needing a cheerleader to hype me up.” He grins. “Will you do the honors?”

He’s seen Haneul smile and laugh whenever he’s there but this is the first he’s seen the boy give him the largest smile he’s ever seen. Like it’s so wide he looks like the carbon copy of Kyungsoo and Baekhyun finds himself taken back at the time when he was asking him if he’s all right after jumping off the garbage bin. Baekhyun takes the boy by the hand and gently lowers himself, letting the boy climb on his back. And after wrapping his arms around the boy’s legs, he ran towards the crowd, the two of them laughing.

The old him would probably be making a face or growling in anger at the dirt on his expensive office shirt after that intense tug of war. But today, Baekhyun finds himself having fun despite being the odd one out amongst all of the other parents looking all sporty and chic. Haneul’s shouts of cheer only added fuel to his burning energy and it made the competitive side of him waking up from its deep slumber.

He even got to befriend one female alpha who’s the current MVP of their team.

“For a small alpha, you sure got the guns.” Sooyoung grins. She’s carrying one of her twin son in her arms as if they’re nothing but pillows. “How come I didn’t see you at last year’s sports event?”

Baekhyun glances at Haneul, who was talking to the other twin with a giggle. “I was busy on this… meeting that I didn’t get to go.” He looks back at the alpha with a smile. “But I told him I’d be here in the next events and in the future so here I am.”

“Well, it’s about time.” Sooyoung smiles. “God knows how long are you gonna stay as the mystery alpha this kid’s father has.” She gives Baekhyun a huge pat on the back that got said male hunching back at the impact. Like seriously, is this woman a wrestler or something. Damn.

“Y-Yeah.” Baekhyun joins in laughing with her.

Baekhyun came to the school as a stranger and he left known as Haneul’s other father. He doesn’t mind, really. They both look like a mess and he’s willing to bet Jongin’s going to make fun of what he looks like at this moment but today, he doesn’t care. He’s walking back to his car with Haneul on his back carrying the mud on his cheeks as a battle scar from a war that he fought and won.

After partially cleaning themselves, (Baekhyun has to withdraw a few extra cash from his untouched bank account to buy him and Haneul new clothes) he finds himself at a grill restaurant cooking meat for the boy. He works up a big appetite and Baekhyun finds himself unable to say no when the boy wants more meat. Baekhyun chuckles to himself.

He wonders if his relationship with either Minseok or Nayeon is still alive he might be able to have this kind of moment with his own son.

“Ah,” He pulls out his phone. “I have to tell your Dad I’m here with you else he might get worried.” He snaps a candid photo of the boy eating on a newly cooked meat that Baekhyun prepared for him before typing in, Haneul’s with me. I’m going to take him home afterwards.

“I wish you were my real dad.” Haneul said which made him freeze. “I don’t remember my other Dad. Daddy tells me he’s a great person, but I can’t say he was when I don’t even know him or remember his face.”

Baekhyun gently lowers his phone. “Well, I trust your Daddy.” He smiles, trying to lift the frown on the boy’s face. “And if he said your other Dad was a great person, then I bet he really was.”

Haneul doesn’t reply to that and continues eating, shifting the topic into a different one.

--

When they arrived at the boy’s home, Baekhyun is surprised to see Kyungsoo at home. He’s expecting it to be a nanny as what Haneul told him before he doze off to sleep but no, it was Kyungsoo and he looks really worried about his son.

“Hey,” Baekhyun smiles.

Kyungsoo is breathless after he stops in front of them. He looks at his son on Baekhyun’s arms. “Haneul’s asleep?”

“Yeah.” Baekhyun gently hands him over Kyungsoo’s awaiting arms. “Careful,” He whispers. Kyungsoo hushes the boy when he whines in his sleep but he immediately finds comfort when he fits his head his father’s shoulder. Kyungsoo chuckles softly, his fingers tangling on his son’s soft raven locks and Baekhyun finds himself staring at the scene in a trance, captivated… speechless.

“Do you want to come inside?” Kyungsoo asks in a hush tone.

Baekhyun gapes like a fish before answering. “U-Uh, I would love to but – I mean, it’s already late.”

“Oh, I see.” Kyungsoo nods in understanding. “Okay.”

“I mean, if the offer still stands then maybe… next time?” Baekhyun doesn’t realize he’s biting his lower lip nervously not until he feels his teeth digging against his lower lip painfully. Before he could retract his sentence, Kyungsoo chuckles and nods, smiling.

“Next time, it is.” Kyungsoo said. “I’ll be at Ilsan tomorrow ‘till next week Monday so… Saturday next week? Would it be okay to have you with us at dinner?”

“Yes.” Baekhyun clears his throat when he realizes how loud the volume was earlier. “Yes,” He repeats, this time a whisper. “Yes, please.”

That night, Baekhyun watches Kyungsoo’s retreating back hanging on to that promise of next time.

Friday in the afternoon, Baekhyun opened up his email and finds a message from Jisoo. There’s no message, actually, but there’s a pdf file to be downloaded. Baekhyun did not think twice and did that, the file immediately opening up after it finished. His eyes went wide.

Jeon Jungsil’s suicide report.

Alongside it was his autopsy, several pictures of Jungsil’s body after he shot himself. There are a few bottles of liquor lying around next to him and a pool of blood underneath. Baekhyun couldn’t help the frown on his face thinking, why would Jisoo send him this file? He doesn’t get it. What’s the connection between what happened to his mother and what happened to Jisoo?

Baekhyun immediately deleted the pdf file and was about to delete Jisoo’s email, but he stopped.

He doesn’t know why but he just did like there’s a part of him that thinks, Jisoo is trying to tell him something and instead of being ignorant, he needs to know the answer. Baekhyun wants to know the answer. But how can he if Jisoo is being this cryptic?

He furrows his brows and settles his phone down. Jisoo in hiding can only mean one thing: someone’s after him. Probably one of his mother’s shady enemy that is still on the loose as we speak so he understands why Jisoo isn’t showing his face to anyone. Though a part of Baekhyun is kind of frustrated because after Jisoo dropping the bomb that he knows what happened to his mother, he’d go off and disappear and left Baekhyun chasing after him.

“A little birdie told me that you’re going to Kyungsoo’s place for dinner tomorrow night.”

Baekhyun chuckles. “You and I both know that that particular birdie isn’t little, Jongin.”

“Okay, a giant birdie then.” Jongin a brow, a smirk on his face. “It seems like someone’s on the move after learning Mr. Do Kyungsoo’s apparently single for how many years now.” Baekhyun drags a hand down his face upon hearing that.

“Quit pestering me, brat. Aren’t you supposed to be gossiping around with Sunny? I heard the chief is apparently hooking up with the intern now.”

“But this is the best gossip ever, my friend.” Jongin grins. “And not even Sunny knows this. I feel so special.” Baekhyun makes a noise of discomfort. “Anyways, I heard from Chanyeol what you’re going to do. I say, don’t do flowers. It’s too cliché.”

Baekhyun blinks. “Why not?”

“I just got a feeling that he’s not the flower type of guy. I mean, you are aware that most male omegas are dominant ones, right?  Giving him flowers is like… giving a rubber tube to a person who can swim. It’s insulting.”

Baekhyun frown heavily at this. He wasn’t aware and he’s silently thanking Jongin to give him a heads up before he come crashing down without control tomorrow evening dinner. He leans forward, intrigued and determine to listen to the younger. “Then what do you think I should do?”

Jongin leans his back against his swivel chair and thinks. “You did mention he has kids, rights?”

--

“Chicken nuggets?”

Baekhyun gives Kyungsoo a sheepish smile as he hands the box of McDonald’s chicken nuggets at the younger male. Kyungsoo looks amused at this as he accepts. “Thank you, Byun. And here I thought you were gonna give me flowers.”

“You’re not the flower type of guy?”

Kyungsoo opens the box. “Nope and so does the kids.” Then he pops a nugget in his mouth. He flashes a cheeky grin at him, something that he found adorable before following the younger male deep inside his house. “Kids, look who’s here.” Haneul squeaks when he sees Baekhyun while Nana only appears