(A/N: I know nothing about history, so I’m not sure if Denmark and Germany were two separate countries back then or not; please let me know in the comments if I got something wrong!)

At the age of twenty-five, Joonmyeon bit his first packmate, Yifan. That meant two things: he was officially an immortal and could only die in battle; it also meant he was bound to Yifan’s absolute lack of normality forever. Back in 1789, being that old and single was a bad sign. To be living with another single man, alone? Old women repelled him like the devil. Leaving that aside, he lived a nice life in London for years.

There was a bar just down the street from their shabby apartment. It was small and cosy and a family of fairies ran it, so Joonmyeon felt right at home. What was even better, not a lot of people knew about it because of the Mist (a magical veil that could hide the Underground world from humans) so it was perfect to mingle with other creatures. Sometimes, there would be territorial arguments, especially between wolves and vampires, and it would make for great entertainment. Joonmyeon and Yifan would never forget the time a vampire and a troll got into a heated discussion over who ruled the eastern side of the forest and an elf went through the window in a fit of rage, courtesy of the troll.

For years, it was just the two of them together, living in peace.

Minseok and Chanyeol came along next; they met in London, around the same time Baekhyun and Jongdae were making their way through Germany and towards Denmark. Joonmyeon took an instant liking to the two, and spent hours talking with Chanyeol about their lovely neighbours as Yifan and Minseok took English lessons together with a private tutor they hired. At the time, Joonmyeon didn’t consider English that much of a problem, but years later found him begging Yifan to teach him the basics so he wouldn’t embarrass himself.

“Chanyeollie,” Joonmyeon said one morning over coffee and Chanyeol looked up from his breakfast (mouth full, mind you), big eyes wide and innocent, “Do you think the pack should grow?”

Joonmyeon had been wondering for a while if he should find new packmates; after all, he knew plenty of packs with lots of members and they were just four. Joonmyeon wanted to make sure his pack was big enough to make even the coldest winter night warm enough to stop Chanyeol from shivering.  Chanyeol, with his too long limbs and big heart, was undoubtedly the baby of the pack, and Joonmyeon needed to protect him at all costs.

In the 1850s, Chanyeol met Kyungsoo and Yixing in a pub just outside Heathrow.  Contrary to popular belief, when a wolf found his mate there were no fireworks going off in their heads or a dire need to take take take; it could actually take years before you ever noticed you were bound to be with someone, before their scent got so ingrained in your head you couldn’t think straight. Thankfully, it didn’t happen for Joonmyeon and Yixing until one day they were alone and Joonmyeon suddenly realized that the pretty boy with the deep dimples smelled delectable.

 That same year, their pack grew a little bit more. Kyungsoo was the perfect addition to the pack; Chanyeol latched on to him immediately, while Minseok and Yixing became friends over their shared interest of peace and quiet.

Baekhyun and Jongdae arrived in England days before the pack left to Ireland. Lu Han and Sehun were together too, somewhere in Korea at the same time Jongin and Zitao were on their way towards America. Joonmyeon literally barrelled into Baekhyun outside of Liverpool while running from a group of hunters. The Great War was raging on and humans were starting to get a whiff of the situation. Thankfully, the communication system in that time wasn’t particularly fast, so the Council took care of the situation swiftly. However, it wasn’t before Joonmyeon had to run down a hill to escape two teenage boys with axes in their hands. He remembers sniffing Baekhyun before he saw him, but didn’t have the chance to switch directions before he got a muzzle full of brown wolf. Back then, he had snapped his jaws at the small wolf, until he noticed how starved he looked and felt his heart squeeze between his ribcage. The War had clearly taken a toll on the pup; Joonmyeon decided then that, in case he was in need of a pack, he would take him in.

He just wasn’t counting on this frail wolf to have such a snarky partner in crime.

Bringing Baekhyun and Jongdae (a grey wolf that seemed to be smiling even when he was hunting – how do wolves even smile?) into the pack proved to be the right decision. Together with Chanyeol, they brightened up their days with stupid jokes that made even Kyungsoo smile, and Joonmyeon was sure that Kyungsoo hated them. Joonmyeon learned that was just how Kyungsoo showed his love - by punching you and pulling on your hair.

The trip to America was a whirlwind; between every species fighting each other for power and humans getting too noisy for their own good, Joonmyeon’s pack had to lay low, and that was not an easy feat.

Yifan was sea sick for the entire ride, and Kyungsoo had chosen to stay with him so he could keep an eye on him.  Chanyeol looked like a lost puppy at times, wandering around the wooden ship in clothes that were far too big for him (he seemed to be too tall for a medium size but too skinny for a large size). Without his best friend, he trailed after Baekhyun and Jongdae. Sometimes, Jongdae would leave to annoy Joonmyeon and Baekhyun and Chanyeol would wreak havoc among the ship crew. Other times, it would be Baekhyun to get lost and Jongdae would coax Chanyeol to join him in another one of his crazy schemes.

More than once Joonmyeon had to get them out of ship jail for the most ridiculous reasons – they switched the salt for the sugar and the sugar for the salt in the kitchen, they knocked on every door on a floor and hid, and they would hide other people’s clothes in every crook and cranny of the ship. Over the years, their pranks became more and more elaborate and Joonmyeon was so glad superglue hadn’t been a thing yet (or, at least, it hadn’t fallen in their hands.)

After they arrived in America and Kyungsoo officially nursed Yifan back to health, Chanyeol became so overprotective of Kyungsoo, Joonmyeon was sure Chanyeol was going to mate with him. Until Jongin came along.

They were in Maine, living in a lake house Joonmyeon got for a good prize; it had four bedrooms for eight wolves, and Chanyeol democratically dictated he would room with Kyungsoo. The first few weeks, while the pack settled down and got jobs, Chanyeol seemed like the same baby he had always been; he acted cute when he wanted something and guffawed loudly at everything.

One day, he got home late in the evening, the biggest grin on his face and rushed to Kyungsoo, saying, “Soo! Soo! I met a boy!”

Kyungsoo looked up from his book with a confused frown before Chanyeol’s words registered in his mind and his mouth opened in a ‘oh’.  Chanyeol didn’t even give Kyungsoo a chance to answer before he was dragging him away, most likely to gush about his crush. Cute, Joonmyeon thought.

Everyone was excited for Chanyeol; it turned out this boy was actually a packless wolf that was traveling around the country with his best friend. Everyone except Kyungsoo. Joonmyeon noticed how he would get a sour look on his face whenever Chanyeol would mention his name. Chanyeol began dating the boy and would wear a goofy smile every day, but Kyungsoo didn’t seem exactly happy about it. Joonmyeon decided it was his job, as their alpha, to talk to Kyungsoo and find out what was going on.

He waited until after dinner, when everyone had gone to bed and it was just the two of them to approach the subject. They were doing the dishes, Kyungsoo was in charge of washing and Joonmyeon did the drying.

“Hey, Kyungsoo?” Joonmyeon said, “Is there something going on between you and Chanyeol? Did you get in a fight with him?”

Kyungsoo looked shocked for a second until an expression of realization crossed his face and he sighed, “No, hyung, we’re fine.”

“Are you sure?” Joonmyeon pressed, “I mean, you usually indulge him and laugh at his jokes and pet his hair, but lately you’ve been acting a little jealous.”

Kyungsoo was silent. Then he spoke, “I feel a little left behind, hyung,” he confessed, “All he talks about now is Jongin this and Jongin that; I’m happy for him, I really am, but what if he gets hurt? What if he leaves me?”

Joonmyeon felt sorry for him. Kyungsoo looked so small and scared. He understood why Kyungsoo felt like that; Yixing had been his only friend and when he met Joonmyeon, he did kind of leave him a bit. Not on purpose (Yixing was an absolute cinnamon roll, incapable of hurting anyone), but Joonmyeon could see where his  fear was coming from and made a  mental note to talk to Yixing  and get him to hang out with Kyungsoo  more often.

“Why don’t you talk to him, then?” Joonmyeon suggested, “Tell him how you feel?”

Kyungsoo followed his advice that very night, and the next day they were back to normal; Chanyeol once again clinging to Kyungsoo as if they were attached to the hip and Kyungsoo never complained.

They met Jongin and Zitao two weeks later, in June 1902, after Chanyeol had finally claimed Jongin as his. Jongin turned out to be as fluffy as a puppy, with cute droopy eyes and pouty lips. Zitao was scary at first sight, but then he talked and Joonmyeon nearly cooed at his soft voice. Adding them to the pack was one of the easiest decisions in the world. In addition, he liked how smitten Minseok became with Zitao.

When Chanyeol introduced Kyungsoo and Jongin, the pack left to the other side of the house, but alphas had a slightly better hearing ability that other wolves, so Joonmyeon was able to hear, if slightly muffled, how the conversation went:

“Soo, I want you to meet Jongin, my mate,” that was Chanyeol, “Jongin, this is Kyungsoo, my best friend.”

“Hi,” spoke a soft voice that Joonmyeon registered as Jongin, “I’ve heard a lot about you,”

“Hello,” Kyungsoo said, “Chanyeol won’t stop talking about you, it’s nice to finally put a face to the endless wonder that is Jongin,” Joonmyeon was actually proud of Kyungsoo for getting through a whole sentence without insulting Chanyeol.

“Well, you’re all Chanyeol talks about, too,” Jongin laughed and Kyungsoo laughed and Chanyeol whined that they weren’t paying attention to him and Joonmyeon was glad things were working out.

Kyungsoo and Jongin seemed to get along well, considering how they both had a common ground. It became usual to see Jongin either asking Kyungsoo endless questions about Chanyeol or asking him to teach him how to cook.

Joonmyeon was also pleased to see that Minseok was hopelessly pinning after Zitao. He realized in August, when they were all outside in the lake at night. Zitao had been playing with Jongin and Baekhyun in the water while Kyungsoo had Chanyeol in a headlock, and Minseok had not taken his eyes off Zitao the entire time. That was when it occurred to Joonmyeon that Minseok became an absolute ball of awkwardness when he was in the same room as Zitao, stumbling over his words and fumbling with his hands. It was adorable. Joonmyeon knew it was only a matter of time before his hyung made a move.

He was right; Minseok came to him one morning to ask for advice. He found it a little funny, considering how Minseok was the oldest and Joonmyeon was the one supposed to go to his hyung for relationship advice.

“Joonmyeon-ssi,” Minseok had come up to him, “I need your help with something, it’s a little complicated and -”

“Is it about Zitao?” Joonmyeon interrupted him, making Minseok blush in confirmation.

Minseok nodded, “Yes, actually. I was wondering,” Minseok paused to wet his lips nervously, “How did you know Yixing was your mate?”

That took Joonmyeon by surprise; he had thought that Minseok had a crush on Zitao but that was it. He didn’t expect him to be considering Zitao to be his mate.

“Well, I didn’t realize it right away,” Joonmyeon decided to answer truthfully, “Not all mates become obvious the second you meet them. Then again, there are those that do, like Chanyeol and Jongin.”

Minseok nodded, paying full attention to his alpha. Joonmyeon leaned back on his chair, and Minseok inclined forward on the other side of the dining table. They were alone in the house; the rest of the pack had gone out to a Carnival in the city. It was unusually quiet without all those wolves running around. Joonmyeon could actually hear the birds chirping outside their window.

“It took me weeks to realize I wanted to be with Yixing,” Joonmyeon continued, “And it was because we were left alone and his scent assaulted my senses.”

“So, scent?” Minseok asked, “That’s how you knew?”

Joonmyeon nodded. Minseok didn’t press further on the matter, but that night Joonmyeon saw him talking to Zitao near the lake. The next day, Zitao had an additional bite mark on his shoulder.

Joonmyeon’s father had made him promise to take his pack to his hometown once it was big enough, so in 1905 the pack moved again. They didn’t sell the lake house, but decided to keep it as a vacation spot. Joonmyeon wasn’t ready to let go of the first place he had been able to call his home in a long time.

Korea turned out to be a lot more different from what Joonmyeon and Yifan remembered. They were used to hiding, so they lived in a rundown building in Busan for a while, when they met Lu Han and Sehun.

They had been out in the woods, hunting, when Yifan had gotten a whiff of blood. He had followed it, thinking it was some injured animal they could finish off and have as meal, but was met instead with the sight of a white wolf coated in red, and a boy trying to mend his wounds. Yifan had considered leaving, but he could recognize other wolves, and this one was in danger. Therefore, he shifted back to his human form and helped them out.

The injured wolf was Sehun, who turned to be simultaneously a cutie and an annoying . The boy was Lu Han, an adorable man with a Beijing accent that gave Yifan the shivers. Somehow, a big bear had taken Sehun down during a hunt, and Lu Han had decided to let it go in favour of aiding his friend.

Joonmyeon offered them a place to stay when he found out they were alone, and they accepted with reluctance. Lu Han had refused at first, seeing as he didn’t trust anyone other than Sehun, but he realized that, in the state they were in, in addition to Sehun’s injuries, they wouldn’t make it too far.

A few days after the incident, Yifan asked Joonmyeon for permission to mate with Lu Han; he claimed that the other boy’s smell was far too enticing for him and he could not take it anymore. Joonmyeon gave him his blessing.

Sehun became the maknae of the pack, which meant he was spoiled rotten. However, he listened more to Lu Han than he did to Joonmyeon, and he understood that. It also meant Jongin became a jealous little thing for approximately 3 days before he started playing with Sehun.

As soon as they became twelve, Council agents visited them. They were asked to join Korea’s new Inner Circle, because they were the biggest pack in the country, and they also had two alphas; Joonmyeon wasn’t so sure about  it, but then the Council offered him a house big  enough they didn’t have to sleep all huddled together (eight bedrooms for four mated couples and four lonely wolves), with a kitchen so big Kyungsoo was sure to never get out of there again, with plenty of room for the boys to roam around and a forest in their backyard and, well, the decision became a lot easier.

He did miss sleeping with his own personal heaters, though.

That’s the story of how Joonmyeon went from living just with Yifan in a crappy flat in the streets of 1800 England, to having a pack of twelve rowdy boys in Seoul.