It was finally Tuesday evening and Hansol excitedly ran back towards the dorm, heading straight to the third floor and pushed the door forcedfully, surprising the owner of the room. ‘I’M FREE!!!!’

‘I guess you did well then?’ Jun laughed at the whole situation. Staring back and forth between the younger man and his best friend, who had still had his shocked face. Hansol jumped on the bed in glee, earning him a distasteful stare from Wonwoo. He then proceeded to hug his tutor. ‘I think I might pass every subject this term!’

‘Yaah! Calm down! I can’t breath’ Hansol grinned at the stiffened man and let go. ‘You better make that bed or I won’t let you sleep here again.’

‘Fine! Later!’ He ran out, leaving Wonwoo to stare at the mess of a bed and sighed. Jun already started to pick up the shirts Wonwoo laid out on the mattress a few minutes earlier and laughed again. ‘Cheer up! Look at how excited he was! He even came straight here from his exams.’

‘He better relax and lose that energy first before coming here again.’ He took the shirt from Jun and folded it, putting it into his backpack. ‘I need to recheck my stuff.’ He looked on the floor for the things he prepared earlier for his short hiking trip with Jun and their hiking club, before returning to their hometown, Changwon in four days. ‘Everything’s here.’

‘Your presents and souvenirs?’

‘There.’ Wonwoo pointed at the paper bag under his study desk. ‘You?’

‘Everything’s already in the car. You wanna put yours in?’

‘Just these ones. There’s some food inside that bag.’

‘Alright. I’ll go put these in first. So, around 7 right?’ Jun pulled Wonwoo’s duffle bag around his shoulder along with his handbag which contained a few holiday assignments. Wonwoo held the door open and pat Jun’s back in gratitude. ‘Lemme confirm that. But I think it’s earlier.’

‘Got it.’

*****

After walking for almost an hour, the pack of five finally arrived at their destination, Kingsmen. Seungcheol entered first, giving a nod to his cousin who was mending the bar. He took the keys and signalled towards the others who were busy looking at a pool game nearby. Although it was still Tuesday night, there were surprisingly more people than he thought. They usually only come here Friday nights or during the weekend so they were actually expecting only a few people.

‘Is there usually this many people?’ He asked his cousin lightly, earning him a smile.

‘Well people around here don’t really care what day of the week it is.’ Seungcheol nodded and flashed a smile, showing his dimple. Of course. Most of the alphas and betas around here don’t have any working hours. Some don’t even work and Seungcheol wondered how they can afford going to places like this to even hang out. Hurrying towards their room which was usually reserved for VIPs, he switched on the light while the other three found their seat on the sofa. Wonwoo was standing in front of the old jukebox, inserting a coin and choosing some funky music.

‘Hip hop! Yeaahhhh!!!’ Wonwoo walked towards the sofa while dancing and both the alphas started to rap with the old school song. Just like that, they started the beginning of their summer holidays. Each of them ordered something to drink, they did a simple darts competition with shots, and jammed hard enough (mostly just Jun and Minghao) until everyone was drained. There were only five of them so it was not the party-till-you-die kind of vibe. They were satisfied enough to just be in each other’s presence before the long break.

‘Hey, anything to drink?’ Seungcheol asked and everyone gave him theirs. Minghao got up, ‘I’ll help.’

Once both of them stepped out of the room, Seungcheol felt a little bit of shiver. He noticed someone, another alpha maybe judging from the pheromone he was emitting, looking at his junior and walked closer to them. He paid no attention since he was confident nothing would happen until he heard Minghao’s shocked voice. The alpha had his face near his junior, trying to take a sniff, and Seungcheol growled back as a warning. The man gave him a smirk and backed away. He turned to his junior, ‘You get back inside.’

Minghao nodded. That was very creepy and he didn’t feel like waiting for their drinks because of that. He returned back inside and took a seat next to Jun, who was busily chatting with the other two. ‘Where’s the drink?’

‘Coups-hyung got it. Everyone’s acting weird outside.’

‘How so?’ Jun inquired and Minghao only shook his head. Most of the customers were staring at their door and just thinking about the scene made him shivered. Jun laughed at him and rubbed his shoulders to calm his junior down from whatever it was he saw outside. Meanwhile, Hansol already had his head on Wonwoo’s shoulder, looking high.

‘Hyung. You really smell good… you remind me of that tea…’ Wonwoo looked at him with a weird smile, finding the younger one cute, and knuckled his head weakly. Hansol laughed and hugged the other’s waist tightly instead and nuzzled his nose on the man’s shoulders. Although the alpha looked like the cool guy who hates skinship, he was the one who always initiate them among his five friends, and he particularly love burying his chin on someone’s shoulder while holding their hands.

Jun and Minghao only looked at the sweet scene in front of them and laughed. ‘Why aren’t you like that with me?’ He looked at Minghao, who waved his hand, completely brushing Jun off. ‘Not with you.’

This time it was Wonwoo’s turn to laugh. He really loves watching Jun being rejected by Minghao. At least he was not the only one who does that. Feeling his left shoulder getting heavy, he nudged on the alpha who was obviously sleeping. With no answer, he tried talking, ‘Yaah Hansol. You smell good too. Like cocoa.’

‘Cocoa? Really?’ Minghao burst out laughing from his nose. Cocoa?

‘Hey… my dad smells like cocoa…’ This time Jun, who was holding his laughter, let go. This boy… he just says the most random things. ‘I guess I’m the same…’

They didn’t realized Seungcheol was already putting the tray with all their drinks on the table beside the door. He already locked the door and was wondering why all the betas were laughing, and Hansol looking dazed. ‘Yaah Wonu! Out of all the things you can say, cocoa? Can’t you say something manlier to boost his confidence?’ He heard Jun in between his laughter.

‘Well doesn’t he? I guess he uses cocoa shampoo?’ Seungcheol remained silent listening to Wonwoo talk. Something was really off. He could really sense it.

‘Wonu-yah.’ He called, in a serious tone that quieted the ruckus. The man stared at him, blinking his eyes a few times. ‘How do I put this… I’m only trying to confirm something but… remember when I told you you smell nice? Did you change anything? Perfume?’

Jun looked at him, and at Wonwoo again, blinking the same way Wonwoo did. ‘Did you? I didn’t notice anything.’

‘I didn’t use anything…’ Wonwoo paused. ‘What’s this about? You and Hansol going around telling me I smell nice. Do you guys have a crush on me?’ He nudged on the boy who was still burying his face on his shoulder. Suddenly, they heard the door handle, as if someone was trying to get in. But only lightly, and it was gone as soon as it started. Probably someone mistaking it for the toilet.

Seungcheol remained composed, thinking hard. Everyone else was weirded out with the question enough to give the eldest the silence to think. ‘Wonu-yah…this may sound weird. But Hansol’s alpha scent is something like cocoa…’ He looked at the pale man straight in the eyes, ‘Do you notice my scent?’

Wonwoo remained speechless. He didn’t like where the conversation was heading and was hoping that someone might change the subject. Why in the world would Seungcheol suggest something like that? It was just plain absurd. He just said cocoa because Hansol reminded him of hot chocolate. Or something like that. ‘What stupid scent…’

‘Wonwoo, I’m being serious right now. Do you notice my scent?’

‘Yah, Coups-hyung. You’re making Wonu-hyung nervous. Stop joking around.’ Minghao interrupted but was hushed by Jun. The latter was observing both the party, trying to make sense of something,

‘Wonwoo?’ Seungcheol asked again. He was really pushing it, and it annoyed Wonwoo.

‘Yeah fine! You smell like that essential oil thing. Cedarwood or something.’ Wonwoo tried laughing it off to lighten the atmosphere. ‘I-isn’t that the like a new shampoo brand or something? Right Jun?’

Jun stood closer but didn’t get anything off of Seungcheol. He tried breathing in again, taking all the smell, but could only notice the cologne Seungcheol always had on him. And it was not cedarwood.

Still tensed, Seungcheol suddenly notice the scent from Wonwoo getting stronger. Hansol was already showing signs of rutting behind Wonwoo and Seungcheol grabbed the man towards his back. It was not intentional but he knew it might damage their relationship if Wonwoo was t