I got a haircut (17 inches cut off and donated!) and it's official: I feel like a cutie patootie goddess.

Somewhere on the drive to Chanyeol's home, Baekhyun becomes a bundle of nerves and he feels his head fill with questions. Are they really going to Groom? Is he going to stay the night? If so, then the only belongings he has are his pajamas. He does have his Heat suppression pills in case his body decides to go haywire. What if he starts getting hot and bothered? Will Chanyeol mate him? Does Chanyeol want to mate him tonight anyway? Is Baekhyun ready to be mated? Would he let Chanyeol take him tonight? His mother may have put the edge on "no allowed until we get back" but Chanyeol has the free range to do what he wants. But even so, Baekhyun can't picture his Alpha taking him without his own full consent.

During the ride Baekhyun tells Chanyeol a little about his parents, about his mother coming from a conservative and very successful family, about his father and how he made the transfer from Lycan to a city wolf. He tells Chanyeol how he was homeschooled, and how he always did enjoy himself though. Growing up in a quiet, but family-oriented house had been a very pleasant experience, and he also tells Chanyeol that the reason why he still lives with his parents is because unmated Omegas cannot own property.

Chanyeol tells him of a very different story, of a little boy who grew up in a family of Alphas - his mother, his father, and his sister, and then himself.

"We spend quite a lot of time shouting at each other," he says good-naturedly. "It's impossible to get a word in at dinner. Although...in a way I feel like I'm the least Alpha-ish out of all of them. I've never been super combative, nor have I ever felt a need to be territorial. Until now."

Baekhyun pats his hand, holding his wrist and pretending that he knows what he's doing. "I-I was watching you earlier tonight, w-with those o-other dominants. It's your charm. You're a natural-born l-leader, someone that everyone else admires and wants to follow anyway, so you don't need to establish your authority. You...you must be a good hunter..." He blushes at the thought. Though most Omegas today can't connect to the idea of the pack hunter, Baekhyun is undoubtedly flustered by the thought.

Chanyeol ponders this. "Maybe you're right. Of course, after finding you I feel ten times more the Alpha now than I was before. The only time in my life I have ever legitimately wanted to fight someone was tonight, with Kris Wu." He shakes his head and palms his temple. "He's a good man, and I don't hate him for thinking you're attractive because he admires all Omegas, but...gah." Chanyeol seems to lose traction on his words, tripping up on his frustration with the other Alpha. "But other than that, the other time I felt like a true Alpha was when I smelled your scent for the first time."

He looks down unto Baekhyun's face and the latter doesn't pretend for a moment that he isn't so incredibly enraptured in what his Alpha has to say. Chanyeol leans forward with a long sigh and kisses Baekhyun's temple, burying his nose in the smaller's hair and inhaling deeply. His muffled voice is warm against Baekhyun's scalp. "It still makes me crazy."

"You're being silly," Baekhyun mutters as he shyly sniffs up Chanyeol's smell as well.

But then the Alpha leans away and eyes the smaller with bright eyes. "My family will love you. Trust me, in a family full of Alphas, you're going to be pampered without boundaries."

"Oh, please no. You already spoil me." The idea of being indulged by Chanyeol's family whirs his mind, because the concept is so foreign to him and having all that attention would be frightful.

Chanyeol shakes his head. "Spoil you? Of course I do! You are absolutely impossible to say no to. You've taken over - your desire is mine. And as long as I'm spoiling you, I'm spoiling myself, because when you're happy I'm happy."

"I-I was supposed to say that..."

Chanyeol chuckles and rests his head against Baekhyun's shoulder, and the Omega's hands reach up and instinctively begin his hair. Where the gesture came from, he doesn't know. Perhaps an ancestral memory. Chanyeol says, "Too bad. I beat you to it."

~

After being ushered into a private parking area around an expensive-looking house just outside of Gangnam is when Baekhyun realizes that maybe Park Chanyeol gets paid more than he lets on. In fact he doesn't even realize that they're at his house at first.

Chanyeol jumps out with gusto and quickly thanks the driver, but Baekhyun nervously scoots to the edge of the seat and leans his head out, oggling at the two-story modern house, around which is a modest garden that doesn't look like it has been tended to since it was bought, and around that, a white brick wall that separates it from the street and neighbors.

"Ch-Chanyeol?" Baekhyun stutters. "Where are we?"

With admirable swiftness Chanyeol swoops down and sticks his arms beneath Baekhyun - one under his knees, the other around his back - and swings him out of the car and to his chest. Baekhyun cries out and scrambles to find purchase around Chanyeol's neck as the ground lurches away from him and he's instead suspended in the air.

"Onward!" Chanyeol calls, and begins the short trek to the front of the house, over a boarded walkway, and to the front door where he finds himself stopping.

"Okay Baek, you need to reach around me and take the keys from my right jacket pocket, and unlock the door."

Baekhyun holds his breath as to not breathe too hard on Chanyeol's neck or face. "You don't want to just...set me down and - "

"Nope. Not an option," the Alpha announces. He bounces his shoulder to nudge Baekhyun. "Go on now."

The Omega glances up at the Alpha first, but then disentangles one of his arms from around Chanyeol's neck to reach it over his side and fumble around the stiff folds of fabric of the taller's suit. He blushes fervently when Chanyeol chuckles, amused by the fact that the smaller is blindly groping at his hip, although Baekhyun is almost relieved due to the fact that he's convinced that there are far more embarrassing places his hand could have ended up. Eventually his fingers nimbly work their way into Chanyeol's pocket and he pulls out the house keys. Chanyeol directs him to the doorknob, and then Baekhyun allows himself to be carried inside under Chanyeol's brazen whisper of, "Welcome to my humble home, love."

Though Baekhyun is preoccupied with the worrying that he is too heavy too be carried and that maybe he should adjust his diet again, and then chastising himself for thinking poorly of both himself and doubting his Alpha's strength, he has the place of mind to recognize that, once stepping over the threshold of the entrance, humble is not the first word that comes to mind to describe what he sees.

He squeaks as Chanyeol whirls around and into the space. The lights go up on a bright living area, sparsely decorated, but the few pieces of furniture and decor that are present are modern and eclectic - the room smells so heavily of Chanyeol, and fits him so perfectly that for a moment Baekhyun wonders how he could ever make space for himself in this house. Chanyeol sets him down and then strides dramatically across the floor with wide arms.

"The den," he announces, then brushes by Baekhyun with an adventurous kiss on his head and moves into the massive kitchen, gleaming with appliances that look like no one has dared to used them for anything other than putting pizzas in the oven or cooking pasta. Baekhyun giggles as Chanyeol leans his arms on the counter of the island, seizing his gaze from across the room.

"The kitchen."

Baekhyun raises his brows. "Never would have guessed."

Chanyeol continues. "Quick notes - I have no idea how my oven works, and I usually end up burning things, so be aware that it smells like spilled sauces and burnt vegetables every time you use it. Also," he points at another counter. "the toaster sends its contents into the atmosphere when it pops up. Really, they shoot out. Try not to get too startled by it."

As he flees the kitchen space Baekhyun wonders briefly if Chanyeol already has plans and expectations for Baekhyun to be cooking here.

"Come now, Baekhyun," Chanyeol beckons as he moves to another side of the room. The Omega's eyes graze over a floor-to-ceiling library bookshelf, which looks like its used for knick-knack storage beside scattered books and packed shelves of movies. He spots some picture frames with over-exposed figures in them and makes a mental note to look at them later.

But the bookshelf doesn't take up the entire wall, though, because in the middle of it is a large, wide, and daunting opening into the next room of which its purpose is obvious. Baekhyun's steps slow as he passes under the books and steps into a grand white bedroom, arrested by a king-size bed in such pristine condition Baekhyun thinks that Chanyeol must be made of feathers in order for it not to look even the slightest bit hassled. Off to the side is a private bathroom, a closet, and even a small sitting area. Baekhyun smiles, standing a bit awkwardly in the entrance to the bedroom feeling dwarfed by the magnitude of just this room alone. Chanyeol gives a brief tour of the space and then stands next to the bed with his hands on his hips.

"What are you thinking?" he suddenly asks.

Baekhyun purses his lips to hide his abashed smile as his eyes scan the ceiling from under his lashes. "I...I'm wondering how it's possible to keep a room like this so white." They meet eyes. "Especially for an Alpha."

Chanyeol's orbs flicker with impishness. "Well I've never slept in this room."

The Omega's brows furrow. "But...it's the master bedroom...?"

Chanyeol sweeps across the floor and tugs Baekhyun towards the bed with all the playful glee of a four-year-old. The Alpha tumbles dramatically onto the down comforter and for a moment he disappears in the mounds of fabric and fluff, only to reappear a moment later when it deflates and he's left grinning. "I've tried sleeping here. But this bed is too big for just one person. It's more fitting as a dog bed for my wolf form."

Baekhyun runs his fingers over the comforter, aware of Chanyeol's intent eyes watching his every move. Baekhyun can sense Chanyeol's eager pheromones in the air, including the underlying challenge and dare and confidence hidden behind his childish enthusiasm. The Omega carefully leans down onto the bed, onto his hip until he's facing Chanyeol on the bed, feeling his body sinking into the blankets as he settles his arms over his belly. The Alpha's eyes flicker just barely to Baekhyun's lips from where his head is turned to the side, but they don't linger. Chanyeol looks back up and then turns onto his side so that he's facing the other directly with hands tucked beneath his head. Silence stills between them but it's charged full of loving looks, embarassed blushes, and excited smiles that pass over the two.

"You can breathe you know," Chanyeol whispers over the covers. Baekhyun chuckles, sounding a bit choked as he releases a tense breath and refills his lungs as if he's just come up from spending years underwater. They both laugh.

After they settle and Baekhyun works up the courage to look Chanyeol in the eyes again he shyly wonders aloud, "Do you want me to fill this bed for you?"

"I do." Chanyeol shifts and props his head on his hand. "Are you staying the night?"

According to tradition, Baekhyun should. At this point he's not sure where traditions lie though. He answers honestly, "Maybe."

Chanyeol smiles. "Well...you know, I just want to say, while we're sitting here, that I don't like talking about politics - " Oh, it's this talk. " - or work, or anything technical for that matter. The fundamentals bore me, but even if they do they're still fundamental, and they still need to be talked about. Right now I feel about talking about work less than I feel about talking about politics, so I'm just going to leave one quick note here."

Baekhyun's expression falls.

Chanyeol seems to be choosing his words tentatively. "I know there are a lot of Omegas these days that...feel a need to express themselves politically. I know Omega rights are a thing - " Baekhyun doesn't want to talk about it. He gets an ear-load of it on the news every morning. " - and I know that there's a lot of stuff going on right now. If you ever feel inclined to go out there and throw stuff or protest, if you want to express yourself that way, I won't stop you. Go for it."

Baekhyun's brows furrow. There's a kind of earnesty in Chanyeol's eyes that let him know that he's not lying.

"I will support you no matter what," Chanyeol says, and Baekhyun looks down. The sweetest Alpha in the world. That's what he has in his palm now. He comes from the most cutthroat werewolf family in the universe and the Alpha he gets is an angel. The irony is so hilariously painful that he wants to cry at his fortune. "Just know that everything you do also reflects on the company - I don't care about my image - but...yeah, that's an entirely different topic. I'll stop talking now."

"Maybe...this talk should be saved for another time?" Baekhyun suggests softly.

"Wonderful idea!" The Alpha suddenly jumps up with renewed energy the Omega didn't know he still had. "Now, for the rest of the tour!"

Before Baekhyun has a chance to reply Chanyeol steals his breath by sweeping him up and tugging his hand back to the den towards a small flight of stairs. They whisk up the metal spiral staircase, heels clicking, and up to the second floor. It's smaller, but no less great. There's a sitting room and down the hall are two extra bedrooms, and then Chanyeol works up a particularly interesting scent when he opens the door to another room.

It's small and windowless, but as soon as the door opens Baekhyun's vision blurs as a tidal wave of Chanyeol's scent washes over him. He stumbles, blinking.

"This is my music studio!" Chanyeol announces, bounding in. It takes the Omega a moment to recover from the attack on his senses, but when he pokes his head in it's obvious that this is the Alpha's real cave. Along two walls are multiple keyboards, and on the furthest is a desk with a series of computers on platforms, and hanging on stands are microphones and headsets, recording devices. There are two kinds of looping devices at the feet under the chair, a control panel on the side of the desk, and in the corners and hanging on the walls are all sorts of instruments: an electric guitar, a bass guitar, two acoustic guitars, another piano. There's an electric drum pad. Miles of cords and cables on the floor. Amps stacked on top of each other. A mini sofa in the back. A One Piece flag hung up on the wall. The blanket and remnants of past dinners are tell-tale signs that this is probably where Chanyeol sleeps, lives, and breathes at almost any given moment. Perhaps that's why the rest of the house seems so clean - because he spends all his time here: being creative, doing cool stuff.

"I spend most of my time here," Chanyeol admits with slightly haunched shoulders, looking a little sheepish now. "I...I just realized...it's really messy in here. It's probably not that impressive."

Baekhyun quickly shakes his head. "This is the most Alpha-male cave I've ever seen. It's...so cool."

Chanyeol smiles and says teasingly, "And you've seen many Alpha caves?"

"N-No! But I - oh, god." I can't believe I'm admitting this to you on our first day together. "At the Lycan settlement that my father is from I had a...suitor." Chanyeol's face contorts in confusion. "His mancave was just the same as this, except it was full of...animal remnants."

"Animal remnants?"

"Bear skins, rabbit feet, deer antlers. Tokens of hunting expeditions." Baekhyun would be lying if he said he isn't the least bit by the thought of being pushed onto a bear pelt and kissed senseless...but not by Daehyun, the Lycan Alpha. By Chanyeol.

He clears his throat awkwardly and wills those thoughts away - it's his Heat threatening to push on him again.

"Damn. I - Oh, sorry!" The Alpha quickly says for swearing. "I wish I could hunt well. When I was in high school they tried teaching that in gym class, and it was always everyone's favorite unit. But it's nothing like it used to be...were your high school gym glasses segregated by rank too?"

"It's a national law that they must be," Baekhyun replies politely. Chanyeol watches him across the room, and leans back against his desk with shrewd eyes, teasing eyes as he asks,

"And what's this about a suitor?"

"I - " Baekhyun stutters, frozen under Chanyeol's dark, chocolaty eyes. "I - it - it's not a problem. It was just - I mean - maybe this is also a conversation best saved for later?"

In a second Chanyeol has leapt across the room, arm around Baekhyun's waist, nose a centimeter from his own. The Omega feels himself being tugged against the other and his stomach heats up. He sees the Alpha's expression change, brow furrowing just slightly and his nostrils flaring. Whatever the Alpha was going to say has been stopped it seems. Baekhyun gulps. Does he smell my Heat that precisely?

"A conversation saved for a better time?" he supplies.

Chanyeol nods. "Y-Yeah."

The Omega gently puts his hands over Chanyeol's chest, fingers running along the satin-like fabric, avoiding the heat radiating from the lager man's chest. "Maybe - if you would like to - we should go downstairs and, um. Um..." Baekhyun half expects and certainly wants Chanyeol to finish his sentence for him, since he is sure the Alpha knows what he's trying to say. But Chanyeol patiently waits for Baekhyun to gather his own words, and silence overcomes the Alpha. "Maybe we should go downstairs and clean up and...well, I don't know." Baekhyun forces the words out past his shy lips. "Maybe we should get ready for...Grooming?"

Chanyeol's eyes light up. "Absolutely. Whatever you need, let me know. What's mine is yours."

"Will do...Chanyeol."

As soon as he's in the solitude of the bathroom off of the master bedroom, Baekhyun fumbles for his pills. His doctor has always made a big deal about never taking more than one pill in a span of two days since the elements in the capsule are extremely powerful - they have to be in order to halt an Omega's heat - but Baekhyun assumes that this is one of those precautionary emergency moments. He'll just take a second one now, just to be safe.

Baekhyun continues to glance around the bathroom, feeling as if he's steeling or something as he uses the toothbrush Chanyeol lent him. He feels that odd sensation that someone gets when they're at a friend's house or a relative's, and they feel like they're imposing on space. He's afraid to touch anything, mostly because it's so clean, and he doesn't want to make any false assumptions that might crunch on Chanyeol's boundaries. Not surprisingly Chanyeol has makeup remover, and the Omega tousles with it for a while, and even when he's tried his best there's still a slight shade around his lids and a dusting of stubborn glitter on his cheekbones.

He looks into the mirror and stares for a moment. He's changed into his familiar pajamas, and the loose t-shirt collar droops low enough to show a bit of his claim mark. He's still him - his face hasn't changed, not noticeably - but there's something there that is new besides the claim mark and traces of Luhan's makeup. A sort of maturity in his eyes that he doesn't recognize. He doesn't know if it's the hormones, his imagination, or the effects of the mating process. But suddenly he doesn't look so much like a pup anymore.

His palms are sweating now, now that it comes to him what he's going to do tonight. Grooming. He wipes them on his pants and takes a shaky breath, then cups his hand over his mouth and exhales, quickly sniffing at his breath. He'd washed his mouth out multiple times to be on the safe side of potentially having bad breath. What if he does this whole thing wrong? What if it's not pleasurable or satisfying for Chanyeol?

Stop worrying yourself, he thinks. If there's any Omega in the world that can do this, it's him.

He takes one last look in the mirror, adjusts his t-shirt, and then heads out of the bathroom.

The sight of Chanyeol on the bed lying flat on his back with Baekhyun's blanket bundled up and sprawled over his face has the Omega smiling. He inches forward soundlessly and once he reaches the bedside, peels the blanket away from the Alpha's face.

He's forced to stifle a laugh. Chanyeol's eyes are blissfully closed and his lips parted, looking as if he was just sunbathing and not stuffing Baekhyun's blanket over himself. The Alpha's eyes slide open and a smile crinkles the corners of his eyes when he looks up at the Omega.

"There you are," he breathes.

"Here I am."

Chanyeol is dressed in a nice sweater (which is perfect, because Baekhyun would be much too intimidated if the Alpha was wearing a wife-beater or something of that sort) and a pair of boxers. His hair is no longer styled, but ruffled and splayed over his head, but he looks no less handsome. Perhaps he's even more beautiful this way. He holds the blanket up over his chest. "This smells like you. A lot."

"Missed my scent that much?" Baekhyun asks meekly in a threadbare whisper. Chanyeol's chuckle sends tingles down his spine.

"Like a parched man in a desert." He sits up and looks Baekhyun's way. "Ready?"

Baekhyun nods.

Chanyeol scoots over, bouncing to the middle of the mattress as if he's stranded in a white sea. He pats the area beside him, inviting Baekhyun up. Tenderly the Omega climbs up and crawls over to the Alpha's side, wobbling on the squishy surface and sets himself down with his legs tucked neatly to his side. They sit for a moment in silence, and though Baekhyun is itching to reach out and touch Chanyeol he feels as if that would be some sort of violation; violating his current innocence, letting go of any play-pretend games that he and his Omega classmates used to enact, getting past any fantasies he's ever had. He loves the kindness radiating from Chanyeol, the warmth, the familiarity of a soul mate that makes it seem like they're life-long lovers even though only a few hours have passed since their meeting. Baekhyun is barely aware that this is even real...or maybe he's just lightheaded, since he's been holding his breath.

Chanyeol notices his pause. "Are you okay?"

Baekhyun nods again and whispers, "Just collecting myself."

"Don't think so much, just feel."

The Alpha leans back onto his elbows and waits, staring for a moment before reaching out and rubbing the wispy fabric of Baekhyun's shirt between gentle fingers. Baekhyun watches the Alpha marvel at his shirt, confused, but he stays still.

"Your shirt is so thin and so loose," Chanyeol whispers, and then he looks up at Baekhyun and says, "that every time your heart beats it trembles just slightly."

Baekhyun's lips part.

"It's almost unnoticeable. But you're so still right now..." Chanyeol glances back down at the fabric and then smiles. "Your heart rate just picked up." They speak in bare tones, low whispers, as if there's something in the air that will break and snap back at them if they talk any louder. "It's like a heart-monitor."

"That's not fair," Baekhyun breathes, still amazed by the tenderness of his Alpha. He hears the pout in his own voice. "You can read my heartbeat through the vibrations of my shirt, but how can I read yours?"

"Like this." And Chanyeol takes Baekhyun's hand and presses it against his left where it's warm and loud -

Chanyeol's heart is beating rapid-fire, twice as fast as Baekhyun's. The Alpha's eyes bore into the smaller's.

"It's a strong heart," the Omega says with a wet tongue.

"And it's yours to hold," replied the Alpha.

"Are you nervous?"

"No. Just really, really happy right now."

Chanyeol's heartbeat is steadily picking up its pace and for a second Baekhyun thinks it's fast enough that he could run the risk of fainting. Baekhyun channels his inner calm, and then takes Chanyeol's face in both hands and leans forward -

His tongue grazes along the Alpha's temple first. As soon as it does, Chanyeol visibly relaxes and leans his face into Baekhyun's hands, his eyes falling shut with a flutter and a sigh. The slight redness that was previously in his cheeks slithers away.

The second is less urgent and falls on the top of Chanyeol's cheekbone. The Omega shivers and closes his own eyes for a second as he lets his inner wolf croon.

He adjusts himself on the bed and then reapplies his hands to gently holding Chanyeol's face as he leans forward again and laps at the warm, smooth landscape of Chanyeol's cheek. He feels the pebbly stubble on his tongue crackle over the Alpha's drier skin, and under his fingerpads and between his fingers he feels soft flesh and thick hair. He tastes a bare dusting of sweat and minerals, but also a little bit of honey-oatmeal soap, glad that the Alpha has already taken off his makeup. Chanyeol relaxes his head down onto Baekhyun's knees, letting the other's tongue massage his face and fingers rub his scalp. Baekhyun's tongue curves around the Alpha's nose and between his brow, wetting his skin as Baekhyun's eyes eat up the beautiful man in his lap. A small smile has permanently seized Chanyeol's mouth.

Chanyeol giggles and sighs when Baekhyun the thin crevice over his eyelid, then preens his brow with steady laps.

"It feels like wet silk over my face," the Alpha muses. "Or a butterfly with wet wings."

Baekhyun hums in acknowledgement as he drops a kiss at the edge of Chanyeol's eye, and then on the other one. His tastebuds sizzle with pleasure as he goes back to wetting Chanyeol's long pink cheeks with broad , replacing the scents of the Alpha's daily toils with his own saliva. He begins humming as he does so, feeling the vibrations low in his throat and allowing an old lullaby to hail past his lips as he soothes the dominant in his lap. Each schlick of wet muscle against skin drums with the easy flow of quiet notes and pitches. Chanyeol lets out a soft groan and turns his head as Baekhyun his way across to his jaw, then down to his chin. The Alpha's jaw clenches when Baekhyun places another kiss under there too, but as the Omega slips his tongue over the slim ledge of the taller's chin he doesn't realize how close he is to Chanyeol's lips.

It's by accident that he runs his tongue over the damp skin of Chanyeol's mouth, not realizing what he's just done with his mind in severe focus of this task. But when he descends for another he instead feels Chanyeol's hands raise to either side of his head, guiding him down until the Alpha presses their lips together with very much intent. Baekhyun jerks out of his reverie and his eyes flick open, met with the sight and sensation of Chanyeol's lips groping at his own upside down, nipping gently and trying to pull him lower. Chanyeol's lips on his own feel like nuzzling birds, or flower petals, or heavy moth wings. Baekhyun's heart frolics behind his ribcage and his inner tail thumps happily.

Chanyeol pulls away - he look amusingly boyish when upside down - but only for a moment. The Alpha sits up and slides a hand around the backside of Baekhyun's neck. His fingers twine in the hair at the Omega's nape, pulling him closer once again so their faces line up the right way this time. Baekhyun feels himself being pulled into the Alpha's lap and his pelvis slots perfectly over Chanyeol's hips as the Alpha guides their mouths together again. There's a soft scrape of teeth, and an impending wetness of tongue there - it's an option. Chanyeol tests the waters by opening his mouth a bit and sliding the tip of his tongue forward - 

Baekhyun tenses. Chanyeol senses it and draws it back again, leaving them with exploring and temptatious pushes of the lips.

Baekhyun is shaking. He can feel it in his arms and in the quiver of his chest. He hears his own thick breathing and bites back a whine before it turns into a whimper. Chanyeol's hold on him is endlessly and unbelievably generous and benevolent, without sensual implications. He doesn't put his hands on Baekhyun's waist, but rather holds the nape of his neck in one and wraps his other arm around his back, as if holding an infant. Tender. Considerate. It feels like kissing a best friend just to try it out.

And it feels so good.

Baekhyun feels awfully daring though, with his knees spread over Chanyeol's hips. He notices it alright, notes the closeness of their lower sections. Chanyeol doesn't try to make anything of it, and perhaps there really is nothing of it especially since they're both clothed, but it's the widest he's ever been open near a dominant. Granted, Chanyeol's arms feel like they belong there around him, and the press of his persistent lips against his own also feel just right, but being there on his lap takes Baekhyun to a whole new level of excitement.

He's grateful that there's no Heat bearing down on him now, and just allows his eyes to close and his hands to twine into Chanyeol's sweater.

Chanyeol's lips are leading him on; rhythmically rubbing them and mouthing that slowly turns into a Trojan invasion that somehow gets Baekhyun's lips parted. For those few seconds his mouth is left vulnerable the room heats up and his stomach flips, but then it's mysteriously back to an innocent kiss. It leaves Baekhyun flustered and constantly wanting to know what happens next...

But the flare of the moment slowly comes to a rest, to a simmer more than a flame. Baekhyun lowers his eyes and untangles his fingers from Chanyeol's sweater, smoothing it out instead. He feels Chanyeol's fingertips playing with a stray curl of hair at the back of his neck and his breath against his cheek.

The Omega's voice drops to a thin wisp. "I still h-have the o-other half of your face to do," he mutters.

Chanyeol chuckles into the smaller's ear. "I know. We just took a short intermission." The Alpha leans away and looks Baekhyun in the eye, tickling behind his earlobe. Then he turns his head and showcases his shiny face for Baekhyun to watercolor with scent. The Omega obliges, and begins humming again.

Somehow once Baekhyun has barely finished his last as his lullaby came to an end, he finds himself on his back with his Alpha above him.

"You have a beautiful singing voice," Chanyeol muses. His face shines, glimmering with the traces of Baekhyun's saliva. "Maybe you should be the idol, not me. Have you ever considered a music career?"

Baekhyun, while still wondering how they got to this position, slowly shakes his head. "Not really. I've thought about a lot of other careers, though. Things I'd like to try." He tilts his head a little and eyes the Alpha's face. "Do you mind being covered in my saliva?"

Chanyeol reaches up to his face and pads around his cheek. "Not at all. It is a little sticky, though." He lowers himself then to rest beside the Omega on his hip, and Baekhyun reciprocates by rolling onto his side as well. "Now I'm covered in your scent. But you're not covered in mine yet. That's why I'm going to spend all of tomorrow scenting off on you."

Baekhyun gapes.

Chanyeol reaches out and takes the Omega's hand, rubbing the thin digits between his thicker ones. "I'm going to cuddle you to near-death all day tomorrow. You shall suffer the heat of my hugs and giggle to death on my kisses. Sound good?" The Omega lets out a nervous noise in agreement. "I'll have Junmyeon work his magic and get me off my schedules for the next week. Lee Soo-Man might give me off, he isn't cruel - but he is a businessman." He pauses and gazes into Baekhyun's shining eyes. With an aching baritone rumble he asks, "What are you thinking about?"

"Didn't you ask me that earlier?"

"You wear the most thoughtful expressions sometimes - I'd like to know why that is."

Baekhyun looks down at their hands laid on top of each other, then carefully intertwines them. "I'm thinking about how I'm going to ask off from work tomorrow."

Chanyeol oggles. "You work?"

"Why do you sound surprised?"

"Well...you've painted this picture of being the uber-traditional Omega, and so I was convinced that you probably didn't work because your parents wouldn't let you or something."

Baekhyun laughs slowly, but it's empty amusement laced with regret. "You're not entirely wrong."

"Where do you work?"

The Omega plays with the tying of their fingers and absently pushes back the Alpha's cuticles. "At a school. It's mostly volunteer, actually, but they pay me when I go overtime. I'm usually in the kindergarten classrooms, but I spend a few hours with the preschool kids too."

"Lycan and Luna and Heavens above," Chanyeol gasps. "That's so awesome!"

The Omega's eyes flicker up. "Awesome?" he squeaks. The Alpha's pink lips are turned up beautifully.

"I mean it's perfect. You seem like you'd be great with kids."

"Yeah..."

"I should stop by the school sometime and say hi."

"Ms. Lee would get a kick out of that. She's the guidance counselor. The pups would all know who you are because of her."

Chanyeol lets out a snicker and then asks, "So, what are all those other careers that you said you wanted to try? Was teaching one of them?"

The Omega thinks for a moment with his lip worried between his teeth. "No, that wasn't on the list either. See...togetherness and tradition are our major family values, but my parents value intelligence too. They weren't going to keep me from going to college if I did want to go, especially after reading the statistics and finding that 48% of all Omegas that attend college find their mate through association of college relations. I wasn't one of them..."

Chanyeol hums to indicate he's listening and takes his turn to play with their hands.

"I was interested in having a career of my own since I was little, without knowing about the social repercussions. My mother is a stay-at-home Omega, and maybe I would or already have followed in her footsteps, but I did make sure to find interest in Omega-dominated fields. I wanted to be a nurse at first, but according to the rest of my family there were many problems with that."

Chanyeol's brow furrows.

"First, the training and study it takes to become a nurse is too long for my family's standards. They were adamant about me finishing college quickly so I could find myself a mate and start a family right away, and the extra hours and years would delay that. Then, if I did actually become a nurse, the standard working hours for Omegas are very demanding. And then there was the thing about the salary. I would have gotten paid really well, which sounds nice, except in my family there's this impending and constant belief that Omegas must be consecutively dependent on dominants. If I could make my own money, then there would be no need for me to legitimately depend on an Alpha."

When he looks away from their hands Baekhyun can see the trouble in Chanyeol's face, in the sturdiness of his set, pensive eyes. "Have I troubled you?" Baekhyun asks weakly.

Chanyeol blinks as if woken from his own thoughtful state, and then shakes his head. "No, no not at all. It's not you. It's just...I've never heard that before. I remember reading something like that in an 18th century novel freshman year in high school though."

Instead of waiting for the words "That's so twisted" to come out of the Alpha's mouth, he goes on. "And then I went through a phase of wanting to be a flight attendant. I was really passionate about that..."

Chanyeol's expression lightens a bit. "Oh my god, you would look adorable as a flight attendant. Maybe when Halloween comes around, that's what you should be."

"Noted and filed."

"And what happened to that dream?"

"The research that was done proving that flight attendants are more likely to get radiation and cancer from being on aircrafts threw me off a bit. But my parents kind of shot down the idea - n-no pun intended - because they said that job isn't about the cookies and pretzels, it's about being there to manage a crashing plane if it should happen."

"Hm...next?"

"The UN. I wanted to work at the United Nations. I didn't even know for what - I still don't - Financial Management Specialist, Operations Coordination Analyst, an assistant, a secretary, or a specialist in the Werewolf Rights Council, in the Omega Branch. Something."

Chanyeol chuckles. "Why the UN?"

"Because that would be exciting. Whatever I was doing, even if it was just fetching coffee for other officials, would have felt important. And I also would have met so many people from around the world just by being there, and would have gained so much worldliness..."

"Any other career endeavors?"

"Chiropractor!" Baekhyun cheers as he throws one of his hands up. Chanyeol hiccups on a guffaw and rolls onto his back, groaning at the ceiling with a wide smile on his face.

"Why are you so adorable?"

The Omega smiles and crawls over to him, his voice bubbly with excitement. Chanyeol turns his head to meet his eyes. "I really wanted to be a chiropractor, and I still do. My parents even consented to it, though they did encourage me to go into child care and teaching too. I planned to double-major, and I still have credits in courses I had started taking for becoming a chiropractor - physics, biology, werewolf anatomy, and pharmacology."

Chanyeol raises a brow. "Then why are you not a chiropractor?"

The curve of Baekhyun's lips droop a bit. "The only chiropractic school that I was eligible to apply for was too far away, my parents said, and there weren't any classes online. They wanted me closer to home."

"You dropped your studies to be a chiropractor because your parents had a problem with the short-term schooling setup?"

The words swirl through Baekhyun's head and crash onto his mental shore like a tidal wave. The piercing look of his Alpha, the man's genuine confusion with Baekhyun's thoughtless compliance, has him feeling ridiculously stupid then and there. He wishes he had the emotive ease of Chanyeol and his honesty, he wishes he could not drop his eyes at that moment like he does, and make up some reasonable excuse for not following his dreams. Chanyeol just made it sound so simple.

Baekhyun tenderly lowers himself onto his back with a tense wrinkle between his eyebrows. Chanyeol inches closer and he has to fight the will to cover his face. But he does look away, turning his head in the opposite direction as the Alpha lays his head down on the pillow beside Baekhyun's despite having his own.

There's nothing but the faint hum and racket of the distant street.

Don't you dare cry, he chastises himself. He bites his lip for it takes every bit of confidence he has at that moment to push out the next few words.

"I - I'm lame," he mutters.

Chanyeol's terrorized gasp is slightly comforting.

"Lame? Lame? But - " He stutters and sits up again. "But you're...you're you! You're you! And you're - "

"I'm a Primitive Omega, I know."

Out of the corner of his eye Baekhyun can see Chanyeol is shaking is head and looks like he wants to protest, but before he can the Omega turns his head back and faces the Alpha again. Chanyeol's heated words are doused before they make it to his lips.

"If an Alpha came at me and attacked me," Baekhyun starts with an ache in his tone. "I wouldn't fight him. I'm not the kind of Omega that will run, protest, fight, yell, call for help...Great Lycan!" He throws his palms over his eyes and feels his face heat up with shame, tears pressing his eyes.. "I'd just let him or her or whoever do what they wanted with me! I would submit. I would just submit. That's all I would do. I'm an Omega that submits. And cries."

He swears he can hear the Alpha's inner wolf whimper. Chanyeol attempts to nuzzle the Omega's ear comfortingly and his voice is seasoned with concern. "What's wrong with that?"

"It's lame!" Baekhyun says. "I'm a lame Omega. I'm pathetic. I'm the ultimate submissive b-." The word comes out like a canon ball, or a punch to the stomach. He's never used that word before. He faces away from Chanyeol again and hastily presses his palms to his cheeks to check and make sure no tears have betrayed him yet. "I want to hate being this way, I want to be a strong and confident Omega, I want to be sure in myself and my decision to submit - I wish I wanted to have a choice in the matter. But I just...I don't. Nothing inside of me says 'protest' or 'stand up for yourself'. That's just the Omega I am. I submit."

"Oh Baekhyun, I think that it's wonderful." Baekhyun clenches his eyes shut as he feels Chanyeol's fingers tucking his hair behind his ears from behind, and then the Alpha lays himself down again and wraps his arms around the Omega. Despite the immediate safety he feels in Chanyeol's arms, unpleasant memories come seeping back to him, crawling out like a monster under the bed or a lone rabid wolf threatening the woods inside his head. 

He says, "My science teacher in seventh grade told me that I'm a less-evolved Omega. He said that Omegas that are more dominant are smarter and have more advanced brains because they defy nature and have adapted and matured to the current Alpha-Omega hierarchy. He said that it was an effect of Darwin's Theory. He described me as a disabled, crippled Omega - one that would have existed hundreds of years ago when wolves still lived in forests and ran around and in furs, when an Omega's survival depended on their ability and willingness to submit, when a pack's dynamics demanded Omegas to calm their Alphas. Because packs have been dissolved and in today's society Omegas don't need to rely on Alphas for survival at all, I'm considered old-fashioned."

"Baekhy - "

"In the middle of class my science teacher called me out as being dumb and flimsy and incapacitated. He said I'm lame physically and mentally. Because I'm traditional."

The Alpha's arms tighten around him. "That's...that's a terrible thing to say."

Baekhyun nods and sniffles, at least somewhat proud of himself that he didn't fully cry.

Then he feels Chanyeol's nose nuzzle into his neck, into his hair, and the Alpha's lips kiss under his ear. "Well love, did you know that in the past wolves were far more feral?" His lips trace a loving trail of kisses under Baekhyun's hair, around the back of his neck. Of course Baekhyun knows, but he wants to hear it from Chanyeol. The information feels brand new, like sugary ice prickles to his ears, coming from the Alpha's mouth. "Traditional wolves...mmhmn...I don't think I ever told you this but...the idea of you being a traditional werewolf...god, it's an enormous turn-on."

Baekhyun can't help but laugh at this, anxiety seeping through his clenched teeth. Chanyeol goes on, "Traditional werewolves were - are - more instinctual, they're more durable, they're purer..and more lustful." Baekhyun shivers. "It is said that traditional wolves are always better at ."

Where did this new sultry Chanyeol come from? Only the gods and his seventh grade science teacher would probably ever know.

"I-I-I w-w-w-wouldn't know anything ab-b-b-bout th-that," he stutters.

Chanyeol chuckles, a rowdy twinkle to his eye, and then he suddenly latches his hands into Baekhyun's armpits and begins flicking his fingers. Baekhyun's eyes bulge and he twists on the bedcovers.

"Tickling!? Again?" A cry of shock, swamped by an onslaught of uncontrollable laughter. He splutters and hears the pitch of his voice jump three octaves as he descends into giggles with a sense of deja vu.

"Ch-Chanyeol!" 

"Look at you kicking your little feet," the Alpha simpers, then drops his head to Baekhyun's neck, buzzing his lips over his skin. The Omega shrieks.

"Oh - Oh!" He chokes on his laughter and screams in mock fear as Chanyeol swiftly lifts his shirt and buzzes against his belly too. "Chanyeol! Stop that it - it tickles!"

"I know!" is the Alpha's impish reply. He comes down on Baekhyun's neck again and the Omega weakly pretends to fight him off when he feels Chanyeol buzz his throat, kickstarting another string of laughter.

"Stop! I'm - I'm too happy!"

"What? You can never be too happy!"

"But I am!" Baekhyun insists. "I'm going to Change!"

"You're that happy right now?"

It's true. The joy is like a little sun in Baekhyun's chest, warming him, enlightening him, guiding his wolf forward without his will.

"Y-Yes!"

A second later an uncontrollable convulsion cracks through his body as a shock runs through him and a wild warmth overtakes his skin. He feels the thunderous pounding in his bones, the rush of his blood, and the momentary numbness of his mind -

For a moment he feels dazed, drugged, as if he's just woken up from a coma. His vision has changed. It's sharper, wider, magnetized. He feels a certain roundness to his back that makes his current position slightly uncomfortable, and there's weight on his bones that he doesn't recognize from before. He sees his paws dangling above him from where he lays on his back and he can see the tip of his muzzle; a little black nose, sniffing up at an awe-struck Chanyeol above him.

"Wow," the werewolf man breathes. "You're a beauty."

Baekhyun whimpers uselessly in response.

Chanyeol reaches out and the back of his hand against Baekhyun's thick fur and the touch is welcome. "Your eyes still have that droopy shape, you know. And your face is still on the narrow side..." He runs his bony knuckle down the Omega's nose and Baekhyun snuffs at it happily. Chanyeol continues to itch behind his ears and then rub his belly, which provokes the Omega's tail to wag and thump against the covers.

"Let me help you with these," Chanyeol mumbles as he coaxes Baekhyun to roll onto his stomach, and then maneuvers his t-shirt off of him, followed by his pajama bottoms. Once his form is freed Baekhyun bumps his nose beneath Chanyeol's chin and there gently, indicating his submission. Chanyeol laughs and the sound is like deep church bells in the smaller's ear.

"I've never been kissed by a wolf with such nice breath."

Baekhyun lets out a playful, shy grunt. His tail swiffs back and forth in short , the long fur brushing against the bed. He lets out a conversational groan, and Chanyeol chuckles with the indicative message.

"Look away then if you don't want to see everything yet," he says as he stands from the bed and begins lifting the hem of his sweater off of his frame. The Omega looks away, abashed, especially when he hears the distinct sound of Chanyeol's boxers slipping down his thighs.

A moment later there's an animalistic growl, crossed between a wolf's moan and a human's grunt, and then a snuffle. Baekhyun looks up just in time to see Chanyeol's massive wolf form leap up onto the bed - earning a creak from the mattress - and the smaller yips in alarm.

The wolf that bears down on him with a wide stare is undoubtedly Chanyeol - the gentleness and brightness of his eyes, the long elegance of his body, even when on all fours. But like this...oh, in his wolf form he pulses with power and fills the room with his presence, a disgustingly beautiful danger and promenade about him that mutes the rest of the world. Chanyeol's human smile may shame the sun, but his wolf form crowds out the night from the house and replaces it with a mysterious authority that goes unrivaled.

He's also more than twice - probably almost three times - Baekhyun's size, which is a staggering realization.

The Omega doesn't know when the lights were turned off, but assumes Chanyeol must have done it when he still had opposable fingers.

The wolf saunters over to Baekhyun's figure, and with a loving to the Omega's ear and a nuzzle to his neck, Chanyeol curls himself down around the smaller, nesting him into his side and resting his massive head over Baekhyun's back with a long, noisy sigh. 

"I love you, Baekhyun."

The Omega presses his head back into the Alpha with a whine.

"I love you too."