All of a sudden, a pair of arms were wrapped around him and startled poor Yixing while he had just been innocently sitting at the kitchen table and looking through his recipe collection folders for something to bake for the weekend. Yixing visibly relaxed as he recognised that it was just his mate Joonmyeon and he looked up at him.

“I just talked to Yifan and Kyungsoo over the phone. They have a little puppy to call their own now. The little guy was all alone in the woods and found by Yifan. Nothing could be done for his parents … They want to visit us over the weekend with little Xiufan and they postponed their vacation,” the blonde beta explained and placed a tender kiss on the tip of the Chinese omega’s nose. A gasp left the latter’s lips and a wide smile grew on his lips.

“How fortunate that I am looking for a nice cake recipe. Poor thing, but finally Fan ge and Min ge have the puppy they wished for! He will have it well with them,” he smiled even wider and kissed his mate back.

Joonmyeon hummed and started to pepper the other’s face with kisses, hands sneaking over his torso. Yixing smiled with a hum and closed his eyes, enjoying his mate’s caresses. It was only until Joonmyeon slipped his hand further down and whispered, “Let’s make puppies for ourselves,” that Yixing widened his eyes in horror and pushed his mate away circuitously.

“Joonmyeon! We've talked about this subject a thousand times! You know that it’s not because I don’t want to have pups; I really want to! But I am scared. And so you'll finally understand no you know what for two weeks!”

Shy Yixing still couldn’t manage to directly describe the intimate act of mating and simply call it . Even with only skating around it, he blushed like a little teenage girl. The beta let out a pained whine and stepped closer to his mate to wrap his arms around him again only to be rejected.

“You can’t do that to me. Two weeks?! We just skipped your heat and then it will pile up to three and a half weeks. Come on, baby, you can’t be so cruel! I just wanted to test whether you got ready …” Joonmyeon whined, but Yixing stayed stubborn for once and didn’t give into his pleas. The beta sighed and settled for sitting on the chair next to the other.

“Baby, I am sorry … But look at our siblings, they all have pups already, even Minseokkie and Kris have one now. I just want to be a real family with you, Xingxing. What would be more perfect than cute, merged copies of us both running around?” The blonde male took his mate’s hand and intertwined their fingers.

Yixing left his hand in Joonmyeon’s possession and lowered his head with a sad smile. A pained laugh left his lips and Joonmyeon knew his mate was crying. He pulled him onto his lap and embraced him tight, showing him that he wasn’t alone. The blonde felt terribly sorry when the other’s fragile body started to shake with sobs and wished his words unsaid.

“I’ve got you, baby. I’m sorry …” Joonmyeon whispered into his ear and kissed the spot behind it tenderly. He knew that Yixing was scared and still brought this subject up again. The shy omega was scared that something could go wrong during the pregnancy, that he could get hurt, that the pups could get hurt. Or worst of all: that he could hurt Joonmyeon. That was all his mother’s fault. Why on earth did Zitao have to tell Yixing about his grandmother having got mood swings so bad that she hurt her mate?

Joonmyeon his mate’s hair gently and whispered sweet lovey-dovey things into his ear to calm him down again. His heart always hurt so much whenever he saw just a single tear in Yixing’s eyes and it was especially bad when he was the reason.

“I won’t mention it again, okay? Will you forgive me?” He cupped the other’s face in his hands and pressed a tender kiss on his lips. Then he wiped his tears and rubbed their noses together, a method that usually worked in making Yixing smile again and it did this time too. The omega wrapped his arms loosely around his mate’s neck and nosed his cheek gently.

“Of course, I forgive you, silly. I know that you don’t want to purposely upset me. I really want to have pups with you, Myeonie … A little Myeonie Jr and a little Xing Jr, and a perfect mix of us … I am dreaming of our perfect imperfect pups every night, but I can’t get these fears out of my mind. I am sorry that I can’t give you pups, Myeonie,” Yixing sniffled with a sad smile and rested his head on the other’s shoulder.

“We could still go for adoption or maybe I should go through the forests of this town and try to find an abandoned pup, too?” Joonmyeon joked and cleared his throat. “So … about those two weeks, you are not serious, are you?”

Yixing laughed into his shoulder and shook his head, teasingly sneaking his hand below Joonmyeon’s shirt and caressing the smooth skin while mumbling something incoherent. Joonmyeon hummed in delight with a slight smirk.

“What did you say, baby?” The beta ran his fingers over his mate’s thighs but suddenly the other climbed off his lap. Yixing sat back on his own chair to continue looking at recipes, leaving a puzzled and frustrated Joonmyeon.

“I said, I will look for a suitable recipe that Minseok and Yifan’s puppy might also try and until then you will have to wait,” the omega teased and chuckled at the groan which left Joonmyeon’s lips. He didn’t need to look to see that his mate was left alone with a certain problem now.

“Alright … I will go hunt us something delicious for dinner in the meantime,” Joonmyeon murmured and started to take off his clothes. He stopped in his tracks when he received a cold gaze from his mate and quickly put his clothes back on. “I forgot: not in the kitchen. Love you, baby.”

“Good boy, love you, too. Be careful and don’t take too long, okay? Not like last time when I got worried sick and had already called the entire family,” Yixing puffed his cheeks and got another kiss and a shake of the other’s head.

“I will be quick. Just don’t fall asleep, you look tired already.” Joonmyeon left the kitchen and put his clothes on the couch in the living room before shifting and sprinting out of the house.

Yixing hummed and turned his attention back to his recipe folders. He wasn’t good at much because he was so clumsy but baking was definitely something that Joonmyeon could trust him with, even when being alone.

Joonmyeon came home with a delicious deer in his snout and placed it on the tiled kitchen floor. Yixing his lips and patted his mate before undressing in the living room and walking into the kitchen in his beautiful wolf form. He the other’s cheek gently to thank him for the meal and was about to rip a piece off as Joonmyeon stopped him.

“Is something wrong?” Yixing sent his worried thought to his mate but the beta just shook his head and ripped off the best piece to shove it over to him. “You are being cheesy again. I learned from the master how to handle the difficult parts. You don’t need to feed me.”

“I know, baby. But you love me for my cheesiness.” Yixing could literally hear the wink in Joonmyeon’s voice and gave him some more grateful before finally feasting on the delicious meat.

“I do, very much even. How old is gege’s puppy? I don’t know what kind of food to make for the little one …” Yixing gave a soft whine while chewing on the delicious meat and lying down in a comfortable position. The beta nuzzled his soft cheek gently and offered him another delicious piece of meat.

“A few months old, don’t worry too much about it, baby. Yifan and Minseok will come prepared. Eat more, you’ve not been eating well for the last few days. Thought I wouldn’t notice, hm? I know, we are going through a difficult time, love, but you need to watch after yourself. I don’t want you to be only skin and bones …” Joonmyeon his cheek gently and ripped another piece off for him. The omega flattened his ears apologetically and lowered his head, eating more under the watchful eyes of his mate.

“I didn’t do it intentionally! I just didn’t feel like eating much, especially when you are at work and I am all alone and don’t know what to do … You know I don’t like eating alone,” Yixing tried to explain and received more and cuddles from his mate.

“I know, baby, but you also need to tell me when you feel lonely … I can take a while off work, it’s my own company, anyway. I can’t read your mind, after all, so you need to speak with me, baby,” Joonmyeon comforted his mate and ate some himself. The omega flattened his ears as much as possible and covered his face with his paws, being embarrassed that he couldn’t tell his mate something like this.

The weekend arrived quickly and Yixing was awake since early in the morning to prepare all kinds of food for his brother and brother-in-law, as well as his new nephew. While Yixing was cooking and baking, Joonmyeon was cleaning the house.

It felt good to have had talked things out with each other and it brought a whole new fresh atmosphere into their home. Joonmyeon was able to sleep a bit more peacefully by Yixing’s side and they would get to meet Xiufan personally for which both could not wait.

A pair of arms slung around Yixing’s waist and the omega immediately leant against the slightly muscular frame of Joonmyeon. The latter placed a kiss on his neck and peaked at the delicious smelling cake, inhaling its scent with a hum.

“You know, I wouldn’t be able to live only as a wolf or a human. Both sides have their good and bad points and it feels wonderful to be able to experience both lives,” Joonmyeon explained with a soft smile.

“To be honest, I have never thought about that but now that you mention it, I wouldn’t want to have to decide for one side either. Do we have enough meat for dinner?” Yixing spun around in his arms to place a kiss on his mate’s lips and wrapped his arms around the other’s neck.

Joonmyeon responded to the kiss gladly as their lovey-dovey moment got interrupted by the doorbell. Yixing’s eyes glistened with joy and excitement and he quickly freed himself from his mate to rush to the door and open it. His eyes met the ones of the shy puppy which was trying to hide in Minseok’s arms. He had to try hard to keep himself from squealing and wanting to squish the puppy, so as not to scare the little thing. So the omega settled with hugging his brother tight and Minseok lightly.

“He’s so small and shy and oh my god, this little thing is so thin! You need to tell us the whole story.” Yixing carefully caressed the pup's head, a pout forming on his lips.

“Love, you should let them enter first. And Xiufan needs to adjust to the new environment before you shower him with your love.” Joonmyeon patted his mate’s back gently and pulled him aside to let his brother and brother-in-law enter with their new family member who tried to hide further in Minseok’s arms.

“It’s alright, I expected this reaction from him.” Yifan grinned at Joonmyeon and patted his shoulder as they went to the living room after taking off their coats. Minseok