A gust of wind from the sea whizzes by and Mino wraps his arms around himself, desperate for some warmth. His teeth chatter as the coldness bites into his bones. Mino is starting to regret coming out to the rocky pier in mid-autumn.

But, damn, he can't tolerate the hostel anymore. Seunghoon and Jinu. Pyo and his girlfriend. Happy couples. Sweet kisses. Lingering touches. Even longing gazes—love is everywhere, or traces of it.

It reminds him of his lonely state, the only person without a date in the hostel.

(Pyo, that little , Mino loves him to the moon and the back, but he wishes Pyo dialled down his excessive PDA. Mino knows his girl is pretty as , but he doesn't need a free show, dammit.)

Frustrating.

So he does what he thinks is the best to dull this pent-up frustration; Mino texts Seungyoon.

im dying. help me

Because the universe enjoys torturing him, he doesn't get an instant reply. Mino receives a text from Seungyoon 30 minutes later after he found shelter behind a rock from the blowing breeze, while he's taking a long drag of his cigarette to get warm.

From Seungyoon: what store did you rob?

A snort escapes Mino. He types back, what kind of question is that?

The next reply takes about 7 minutes.

From Seungyoon: logical one. you said you're dying. i assumed you got shot, which only possible through a failed robbing attempt

A laugh threatens to spill over Mino's lips. Seungyoon sure has a wild imagination. okay, let's assume i'm dying from getting shot (how bold of you). but I have three questions.

1st, why must you assume i got shot?

2nd, why would i rob a store?

3rd, why was it a failed attempt?! are you belittling my capability?! how dare you?!

Another delay. Mino frowns, wondering if Seungyoon is occupied. He hates to disturb Seungyoon. When Mino is about to send another text to apologize for bothering him, a reply comes into his inbox.

From Seungyoon: well...

Guilt forgotten, Mino quickly types back.

fu. i'm one of the best battleground players!

From Seungyoon: you realize that didn't amount in real life, don't you

For some reason, an image of Seungyoon giving him a look springs to his mind, and Mino is torn between feeling offended and amused by how accurate that would be since that's what Seungyoon would do—skeptical.

please be a supportive boyfriend (´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀)

From Seungyoon: poor boyfriend (づ￣ ³￣)づ

From Seungyoon: you're a great battleground player. i believe in you, alpha~

His lips curl into a smile around the cigarette. Then Mino writes, what are you doing, by the way? you seem busy

From Seungyoon: grocery shopping with my mother

Realization dawns on Mino. His thumbs quickly thump on the screen, typing, sorry if i'm interrupting your time with your mom. we can talk later.

From Seungyoon: don't worry about it. she's busy reading the catalogue. i'm just pushing the cart around

From Seungyoon: who does that anyway?

Mino snort. apparently, your mom

From Seungyoon: right

From Seungyoon: wait, lemme find my earphones. easier to talk like that

Mino blinks. Once. Twice when his eyes aren't playing tricks on him. On reflex, Mino types down you don't have to—

A ring. His phone is ringing in his hold. Mino almost drops his cigarette.

Dumbfounded, Mino stares at the screen. At the name 'squirrel Yoon.' At the stupid smile in Seungyoon's picture that he assigned under Seungyoon's name.

Holy—

While in the state of disbelief, Mino answers the call. "He—hello?"

"You don't sound pleased," Seungyoon points out.

"No, no. It's just—you don't have to call me. It's nothing serious," Mino says, close to stuttering because he still has troubles to digest this moment.

"You said you were dying."

"That was just me being overdramatic."

"You are always overdramatic. Our freshly budding relationship taught me that," Seungyoon scoffs, then followed by a garbled apology, clearly not meant for Mino. He says, "I want to talk to my boyfriend too. Is that wrong?"

That silences Mino. Then he bites back a blossoming smile around the cigarette, eyes on his feet as he feels his chest warm up. "That's so cheesy."

"Hush. How's the vacation?"

"Pretty good. Do you know it is advisable not to have a wild boatride after a heavy meal? Seunghoon-hyung made us ride a boat yesterday. After lunch. I was like, what the ?" Mino rants, scratching his brow with his pinky.

"Boatride? In mid-autumn? Wow." Then Seungyoon says something like, 'That one—yea, it's cheap, can we have the other one too—yes, that one, that one, please? It looks delicious.'

It's so sweet that Mino can't help chuckling.

"What?" Seungyoon asks suddenly.

Mino doesn't hold back his smile. It's not like Seungyoon can see him anyway. He says, "You sound like an eager kid around your mom."

"I don't." Seungyoon pouts—or Mino imagines him pouting because it sounds like he's pouting.

"Sure, you don't." Mino laughs.

"I don't—yoghurt, yoghurt—" and Seungyoon is back to the conversation with his mother. Mino is content listening to it in silence, captivated by Seungyoon's gentle tone, reserved for his mother.

"Who's that?" another voice interjects.

Mino looks up. Standing on the rock behind him is Jinu, hands in the pockets, with a cigarette on his lips. In response to that, Mino looks around for Seunghoon since they both always come in a pair.

"I'm talking to Yoon. Where's Seunghoon-hyung?"

Jinu coolly lights up his cigarette. Takes a long drag, plucks it from his lips then puffs the smoke into the evening skies. "Enjoying all the attention he gets from those shameless es. Probably."

Wow, harsh. That explains the cloudy expression. Mino calculates the consequences he might face if he fled from this suffocating atmosphere. Yep. Not pretty at all.

"Seunghoon-hyung only has eyes for you," Mino tries to placate. He lowers his phone to his chest, attention on Jinu instead.

Jinu snorts around his cigarette, gaze out on the sea.

"You know it's the truth, hyung."

"He shouldn't—" Jinu stops, looks down at his slippers with a pinched face then takes a long drag of his cigarette. He blows the smoke, eyes glittering. "I'm just a Beta."

"Seunghoon-hyung doesn't care about that. Hell, you could be neither, and Seunghoon-hyung would still look at you like you hung the moon and stars."

"I can't handle his ruts."

Absurd, Mino thinks. Seunghoon would never factor that in when it comes to relationship. Sure, it's important but never the main priority. He argues, "Please tell me you aren't thinking so low of him, hyung. Seunghoon-hyung deserves more credits. He adores you because of you—"

"—we tried it before!" Jinu interrupts abruptly. So harsh that it stumps Mino into silence. Then another broken, "We tried—" and Jinu's legs slowly lose their strength as he squats down on the rock, the cigarette between his fingers above his head, his face tucked in the knees.

Guilt is thick in Mino's chest.

"We tried before. Didn't work so well. I couldn't accept his Alpha authority well. I got afraid—I was in pain. Seunghoon almost went insane, in war with his own Alpha instincts. He even hurt himself. I had to send him to the facility to ride out his rut and that—"

Jinu stops there. Mino doesn't utter a word, respecting Jinu's need for silence.

"I know Seunghoon doesn't care about that, but," Jinu lifts his head. "In the end, he's just an Alpha and I'm just a Beta."

Mino opens his mouth. Closes it again because he doesn't know what to say to that. Instead, he rubs the nape of his neck, feeling guilty for accusing Jinu of horrible things.

"Hyung, why did you leave me with those vultures?!"

A whine. Seunghoon's voice. Mino climbs up the rock and sees Seunghoon jog up towards them. At the corner of his eye, he catches Jinu's eyes glimmering like sunlight on calm waters.

Huh.

"You'd think it was easy to escape from their claws—took me everything to run away—huh, what's with that look, hyung?" Seunghoon asks, clueless when he really looks at Jinu.

Jinu wipes his eyes with his sleeve. He flicks the cigarette off and sniffles. "ty wind."

"Yea, it's pretty windy here," Seunghoon comments, squinting at the sea.

"I'm cold," Jinu whines, spreading arms wide for Seunghoon to take.

And Seunghoon does just that, with no verbal communication at all. He pulls Jinu up to his feet then wraps half of his jacket around him to share some warmth. "Hot mushroom soup while I make dinner?"

Jinu tucks his face in Seunghoon's collarbone. Nuzzles it with eyes closed. And says, "Yummy."

"Cool." Seunghoon makes to move but pauses, "You not coming, Mino?"