© BALWAYS

Sunflower – warmth & happiness

                Yongguk’s focus on the morning television show was interrupted by the sound of a door opening. It was Daehyun, walking out of his room while rubbing his still closed eyes. The adorable sight of his mate with bed hair, baggy shirt and shorts warmed his heart as soon as he laid his eyes on him.

                Daehyun dragged his feet towards the living room with a hand on the wall since there was a quiet sound coming from the TV. “Yongguk hyung?” he called, voice raspy from the whole night’s sleep.

                “I’m here on the couch,” Yongguk answered.

                Daehyun deftly headed straight to where Yongguk’s voice came from. He began feeling the couch when he reached there, but his hand was taken in the process.

                Gently, Yongguk pulled Daehyun to him, his other hand went around Daehyun’s waist. “Morning, prince charming.” He softly tugged Daehyun down beside him, making their bodies press against each other.

                “I’m no prince charming.” Daehyun jutted out his lower lip.

                “You are for me,” Yongguk said with a doting smile before sealing their lips in a tender kiss.

                Pink tinge spread across Daehyun’s cheeks and ears in seconds. Biting his lips after the brief kiss, he hid his face in the crook of Yongguk’s neck out of embarrassment.

                Yongguk chuckled, finding it cute how his mate got shy over a simple morning kiss. Because of that, he planted another kiss on top of Daehyun’s messy locks before wrapping his arm around Daehyun’s shoulders in a tighter hold.

                “How did I end up in my room?” Daehyun asked because the last thing he remembered was listening to a movie while snuggling with the older man at the very same spot.

                “I moved you, of course,” Yongguk replied nonchalantly.

                “But I told you I’d keep you company,” Daehyun protested in a whine.

                Yongguk snorted loudly. “How were you supposed to keep me company when you fell asleep exactly at 12? The TV can be a better company than you.”

                Daehyun grimaced with guilt, but then he let out a suppressed laugh by biting his bottom lip. “I’m sorry,” he apologized with a rueful grin as he threw his arm around Yongguk for a bear hug. “My body is very punctual when it comes to my bedtime,” he admitted shyly after looking up to the man.

                “It’s okay. I’m just kidding,” Yongguk said, laughing softly before giving a quick peck on Daehyun’s nose.

                Daehyun’s face scrunched up at that. He brought his face down again and continued to rest his head on Yongguk’s chest. “Did you even sleep last night?” he asked after a moment of being silent.

                “I did. 15-minute nap in every hour.”

                Daehyun frowned at Yongguk’s answer. “How is that enough?”

                “It is,” Yongguk claimed, keeping his eyes on the TV show. “Weredragons don’t sleep as much as humans. The least should be…” He tilted his head to the side, figuring it in his mind. “Three hours?”

                Daehyun let out a small dramatic gasp. “Oh my. Weredragons are sure lacking in sleep.” He clicked his tongue in disapproval. “I can’t imagine how you managed to stay awake when you were doing rounds before.”

                “It’s not a big deal. We are used to it.” Yongguk shrugged his shoulders. “Besides, we can just steal some time during the day to get some shut-eye.”

                Daehyun breathed out a pensive sigh in a hum. “I wonder when the thugs will be gone from here.”

                Yongguk shook his head in resignation. “No one knows.”

                “Anything caused by them last night?”

                “Nothing happened,” Yongguk told his mate with a relieved smile. “And the thugs are actually a clan called Massif, you know.”

                “Oh, I remember Youngjae telling me about weredragons’ clan.” Daehyun pulled himself apart from the older man to face him properly, causing Yongguk’s arm to fall around his waist again. “What about yours? What is it called?”

                “Empyrean,” Yongguk frankly answered.

                “Cool!” Daehyun smiled broadly in awe. “What does that mean?”

                “It can mean heaven, or the skies, since my clan consists of sky dragons mostly.”

                “Cool…” Daehyun’s jaw dropped in amazement. “What about the Massif clan?”

                “They are mountain dragons.”

                “Oh… What else besides sky and mountain dragons?”

                Yongguk smiled looking at his mate being eagerly curious to know more about his kind. So he would gladly tell the younger man everything he wanted to know. “There are just those two and one more, which is the ocean dragons.

                “How can you tell the difference?” Daehyun kept being inquisitive.

                “Well, the sky dragons have wings, the mountain dragons are slightly bigger in size, and the ocean dragons have fins,” Yongguk explained the raw features.

                “Cool!” Daehyun exclaimed before gasping in realization. “So you have wings?!”

                Yongguk’s smile immediately dimmed. “Yeah…”

                “So you can fly! That’s like the coolest thing ever!” Daehyun was so excited to know the fact, which made him miss the slight change in Yongguk’s tone.

                “Do you have to be so loud in the morning, hyung?” Jongup groaned as he came out of his room.

                Yongguk quickly withdrew his arm from holding his mate, whereas Daehyun was pulling a face in Jongup’s direction.

                “Good morning to you too, Jung Jongup,” Daehyun said to his brother in annoyance.

                “Morning, Daredevil and Dragonman,” Jongup quipped before letting out a big yawn.

                It put a scowl on Daehyun’s face, in contrast to Yongguk, who was chortling at the ridiculous nicknames.

                “I already made breakfast. You can have it if you want,” Yongguk told Jongup, his gaze following the groggy man.

                “Nice.” Jongup gave Yongguk a thumbs up on his way to the kitchen.

                “You made breakfast too?” Daehyun asked, his brows puckering sullenly. “I should be the one doing it,” he argued.

                “It’s nothing much. Only bacon and eggs,” Yongguk brushed it off, taking his mate into his arm again. “Aren’t you hungry?”

                Daehyun too slid his arm over Yongguk’s torso, nestling up against the man. “I’ll eat later.”

                Yongguk brought his other arm around Daehyun, now squeezing his mate with both of his arms. “You’d rather cuddle than eat?” Yongguk asked in a fake gasp. “That’s surprising.”

                “Surprise, surprise.” Daehyun giggled before his voice got muffled in Yongguk’s chest.

                Since Daehyun missed Yongguk so much, he was in need to cling to the man all the time. He even attached himself to Yongguk when they were having breakfast earlier with just the two of them after Jongup had left for class. He dragged the man to the couch again after that, only to curl up against him without doing anything in particular except for listening to the TV and having little chats every now and then.

                It couldn’t be denied that Yongguk was also enjoying their intimate time. But he didn’t think he could go on any longer. He had to make both of them occupied with something else because he was afraid he would lose his head and start to do more than just a cuddle.

                That was what brought them to be in the car, driving to the neighbouring town where braille and audio books could be found. Daehyun had been so thrilled about it ever since Yongguk told him about it. He just couldn’t keep calm on their way there.

                “Have we arrived?”

                Yongguk rolled his eyes playfully. He might be quite annoyed since Daehyun had been asking that every time the car had to stop at the red light or make a turn, and it had only been half an hour since they left the house.

                “Not yet, sweetheart,” he tried to hold his irritation, because how could he get mad at his mate whose eyes were sparkling with excitement while smiling so brightly.

                Daehyun pouted at Yongguk’s sarcastic tone. “How much longer will it take?” he asked in a disgruntled manner.

                “About another half an hour,” Yongguk answered, now biting back his laughter at Daehyun’s adorable sulky expression. “And I will tell you five minutes in prior before we arrive there.” He poked Daehyun’s soft cheek, causing the man to turn away from his touch. “So you don’t have to ask every time I slow down the car.” His hand moved to pat the smaller one which was placed on Daehyun’s thigh.

                Daehyun swiftly pulled his hand before folding his arms across his chest with a huff. “Fine…”

                The corner of Yongguk’s lips curl up in a smirk. His hand was back onto the steering wheel as he started driving again. He knew he shouldn’t have treated his mate like that, but since it could make Daehyun shut up for a while, he didn’t feel the need to do anything about it. At least until they reached the bookstore. He promised himself to make up with his mate after that.

                Therefore, exactly five minutes left in their drive, Yongguk made the announcement to Daehyun. Just like that, the previously grumpy man was bouncing in his seat again. The beaming smile was back on his face and his large eyes lit up again.

                Yongguk led Daehyun straight to the braille section in the huge bookstore. It was not as crowded as other sections. There were only a few people, sighted and unsighted, who were surveying the books on the shelves, just like what both of them were doing right now.

                But Daehyun didn’t need to go to each of the shelves. He already knew what he wanted to read. He told Yongguk to bring him to the fantasy genre section and now, he had picked out two books, fiction and non-fiction, and both were about supernatural creatures.

                “These are hella expensive!” Yongguk’s eyes bulged at the book’s price after Daehyun passed it to him.

                Daehyun sighed as he began to nimbly feel the braille title on the books’ cover. “That’s why I don’t want you to pay for them.”

                “I have no problem with my money. I’m just surprised with these books’ price.” Yongguk shrugged his shoulders before putting the book into the basket he was carrying with the first chosen book.

                “Because braille books are rare and cost a lot to be published,” Daehyun explained half-heartedly. “I’m already aware of the price. That’s why I bring enough money with me and you really don’t have to pay for them even though you’re richer that I am.”

                “I’m not rich. My father is,” Yongguk argued.

                Daehyun scoffed. “Well, then you’re a son of a rich man.” He selected another book and handed it out in Yongguk’s direction.

                “Can I at least pay for one of them?” Yongguk asked as he took it from Daehyun.

                “Nope,” Daehyun refused again. “You’ve been driving for an hour to get here and you’ll drive for another hour to get back. You’ve already done so much for me.”

                “Driving’s not a problem for me,” Yongguk insisted. “Just let me pay one and you can think of it as a gift from me.”

                Daehyun tilted his head to the side with a frown on his face. “You don’t have to buy any gift for me either, hyung.”

                “Please?” Yongguk grabbed Daehyun’s hand before giving it a light squeeze. “Pretty please?”

                Yongguk’s pleading tone sounded a pitch higher than his usual voice. Daehyun found it cute, so he took only a second to agree with the man. “Alright, fine,” he said with a chuckle.

                Done with the braille books, they moved to the audio books section next. The first thing Yongguk did once they reached there was checking the price. It didn’t surprise him as much as the braille books did.

                “These audios books are much cheaper,” he remarked.

                “Cheaper than braille books, but not that cheap,” Daehyun countered.

                “Can’t you just buy audio books instead of buying braille books too?”

                “No way. Braille books are my casual read. I only listen to audio books when I’m gardening or doing the laundry,” Daehyun told the other man, clear and concise. “Now tell me what’s on the shelf.”

                “You’re not going to buy any more books about supernatural stuff, right?” Yongguk asked again.

                Daehyun turned to him with his brows knitted together. “Can’t I?”

                Yongguk let out a heavy sigh in disbelief. Freeing his bicep from Daehyun’s hold, he wrapped his arm around the younger man’s shoulders. “Why do you need to read those bull when the real thing is your own boyfriend?”

                “That’s why I need to read about that kind of stuff,” Daehyun said firmly. “I need to know more about my own boyf-”

                Yongguk raised his brows, grinning broadly at Daehyun’s reddening face. “What did you say?”

                Daehyun knew Yongguk was just teasing him, so he cleared his throat to cover his embarrassment. “Just help me pick the books already,” he muttered, only to make Yongguk laugh at his cute pouty lips.

                Their next stop was a casual dining restaurant for lunch, where both of them consumed a good deal of food, more than they planned to in the beginning. So they had to call the waiter for a few times to add their new orders.

                They had a slice of apple pie each for dessert, but it wasn’t enough, especially for Daehyun. They were leisurely walking by the river at the largest park of that town after that and it made him have a craving for some ice cream. He asked Yongguk to find an ice cream stand right away because he was drooling at the mere thought of it.

                Needless to say, Yongguk was more than glad to comply with his mate. Luckily, there was an ice cream truck nearby. He bought three scoops of different flavours for Daehyun, as requested by the man himself, and one scoop of vanilla ice cream cone as his own. They continued their walk after that, arm in arm as Daehyun was savouring his ice cream in a cup with a satisfied, joyous grin on his face.

                Later on, they visited a DVD store to buy movies with audio description. Daehyun told Yongguk what movies he should look for. Not all movies he wanted was sold there, so he asked Yongguk for some suggestion. It wasn’t often that he got the chance to go there. That’s why he wanted to buy as much as he could.

                Based on a couple of movies Daehyun had chosen, Yongguk assumed that his mate preferred fantasy and adventure movies. It seemed right because the younger man wasn’t adventurous himself if he didn’t dare to take a walk at night on his own without telling his brother until he got lost.

                In that case, Yongguk suggested some of his favourite war movies that he could find there. But instead of getting Daehyun to buy them, he was lectured at his taste in watching movies with extremely loud noises.

                After spending their time for quite a while buying the DVDs, Daehyun finally confirmed the movies he wanted to listen, all of his own choices. They planned to go home after that, but Yongguk just had to tell his mate that there was a bakery at the other side of the road. Daehyun didn’t think twice to make Yongguk bring him there and they had a sweet cheesecake date in the café.

                At last, they were heading home when it was almost dusk. Daehyun let out a long heavy sigh once Yongguk got into the car and started driving. It made Yongguk look at him in wonder.

                “What’s with that sigh?”

                “I didn’t go out of the house for so long. I feel so tired right now,” Daehyun was almost whining as he said that.

                Yongguk laughed. He took a glimpse of his mate in the middle of driving before ruffling the man’s fluffy hair. “You’ll get used to it in no time because I’ll take you out on a lot more dates after this.”

                Daehyun turned his head to the side, sending a thankful smile to Yongguk. “I already had so much fun today.”

                “I’m glad you did.” Yongguk gave Daehyun’s head one last pat before bringing his hand down. It was silent for a moment until he spoke up again. “Daehyun?”

                “Yeah?”

                “I was wondering… if you’re willing to stay at my clan’s house since… you know, I have to help my clan members doing rounds too,” Yongguk ventured, afraid if Daehyun would misunderstand him. “I mean, in case something happens and they need my help, I can’t just leave you alone with your brother,” he added a solid reason, hoping that Daehyun would go along with him.

                Daehyun took a second to think about it. “But who’s gonna take care of my plants?”

                “You only have to stay at my place at night. I’ll bring you home during the day, or wherever you want to go.”

                “What about your family-” Daehyun cut his own sentence abruptly as he realized his mistake. “I mean, your clan. Will they be okay with it?”

                “Of course,” Yongguk assured without a doubt. “They are more than happy to have you there. You’re my mate, remember?” he turned to look at Daehyun’s worried face, which was slowly tinted with a lovely shade of pink.

                Daehyun had to bit his lips to hide his growing smile. “What about Jongup?”

                “He’ll go with you, of course.”

                “Alright. We need to tell him first,” Daehyun finally agreed.

                “And I’ll tell my clan.” Yongguk was more than happy to hear that, aside from knowing that his mate’s safety would be guaranteed at the clan’s house.

                A while later, it was Daehyun’s turn to break the silence. “How long have you known that I’m your mate, hyung?” he asked shyly.

                “Since the first time I met you.” Yongguk too was bashful as he answered it.

                “Was it love at first sight?” Daehyun poked fun at the latter.

                Yongguk laughed and shrugged his shoulder. “Yeah, more or less.”

                Daehyun hummed. “Maybe I’ll fall in love with you at first sight too if I actually have it,” he muttered.

                Yongguk turned to see Daehyun’s lower lip protruded in a sour pout and he didn’t like it to be on Daehyun’s pretty face for long, no matter how adorable Daehyun looked with it. “To be precise, it’s actually love at first smell.”

                Daehyun’s brows furrowed. “What? Smell?”

                “Yeah, I smelled your scent first, climbed the tree in your backyard, and then, I saw you,” Yongguk said while keeping his eyes on the road.

                “Is my scent that strong?” Daehyun wondered aloud.

                “Everyone’s scent gets stronger if you’re a dragon shifter, but your scent is the strongest for me.”

                “And what do I smell like?”

                “You smell really sweet, like thick honey,” Yongguk told his mate with a flattering smile. It still made Daehyun’s face flushed even though he couldn’t see it.

                Daehyun sheepishly pulled at the hem of his shirt. “You know, my smelling ability is pretty strong too since I rely so much on it,” he admitted and bit his lips for a moment before adding, “And to be honest, your scent is my favourite.”

                Yongguk’s smile widened. “What scent do I have?”

                “You smell sweet and honey-like too, but it’s also musky and woody. It’s something like amber or cardamom, and it’s funny to think that I’ve liked that kind of the smell since I was a kid.”

                “Why is that?”

                “It calms me.” Daehyun turned his head in Yongguk’s direction. “And so do you. You gave me feelings of comfort and safety.”

                Yongguk’s heart skipped a beat. He glanced at his mate and couldn’t help smiling at the sight of the beautiful man. “Your scent does the same thing to me.”

                He slipped his hand under Daehyun’s. With their finger laced with each other, he brought it up to his mouth, giving a kiss to Daehyun’s knuckles.

                Daehyun smiled at the warm touch of Yongguk’s lips. The man brought down their clasped hand onto his thigh. Daehyun didn’t let go of Yongguk’s, now holding it with both of his hands. He started to rub the back of Yongguk’s hand, loving how their hands fit perfectly with each other.

                After stopping by Daehyun’s house to pack some basic needs, Yongguk drove both Daehyun and Jongup to the clan’s house. Minjee was the one to welcome them with open arms since Dongwan and Jungsu had not return from work yet, Narae and Eunbyul were making dinner in the kitchen and the younger parents were busy looking after their kids.

                “Jongup, you can use room number five from the stairs on the first floor. It’s the room right next to Youngjae’s,” Minjee said with a meaningful smile as they stood near the main entrance of the house.

                It made Jongup drop his jaw. His eyes widened at her before looking at Yongguk and Daehyun, who had the same suppressed wicked smile on their face. “Does everybody already know about this?”

                “We don’t hide anything in the clan.” Minjee patted Jongup’s arm to calm his nerves.

                Jongup blew out a long puff of air, having to accept the thing he couldn’t do anything about. “Then, I guess you’re going to put my brother next to Yongguk hyung’s room,” he deadpanned.

                Minjee arched his brows. “Oh, I thought Daehyun is going to sleep in Yongguk’s room?”

                Blood rushed to Daehyun’s face, making him look like a ripe tomato, whereas Yongguk was facepalming while shaking his head.

                Jongup snorted loudly. “There’s no way I’d let that happen,” he declared sternly. “At least not now. It’s too early for… for that! My brother is not ready. I am not ready. My late parents are not ready. My late grandparents-”

                Daehyun quickly tugged Jongup’s arm before the younger man could blurt out any more nonsense. “Shut up already,” he whispered through gritted teeth.

                “What? I’m just saying the truth,” Jongup snapped back to his brother, but then he gasped. “Don’t tell me you’ve already done it?!”

                “No, we haven’t!” Daehyun’s face turned even redder than before. “A-And… And even if we did, it’s… it’s not your business…” he sputtered shyly and his brother was muted right away.

                Yongguk just didn’t know what was going on anymore. He couldn’t lift his face for a while now because of the growing awkwardness in the air.

                “So…” Minjee eyed the three men in front of her who had different expressions of ashamed, embarrassed and dismay. It appeared to be very amusing to her, but she just had to hold her laughter. “…for Daehyun, the room beside Yongguk’s it is.”