“Eomma,” Junmyeon asked during dinner, picking up another spoonful of rice. “Why would they call you princess back when you were young?”

Jeonghan scoffed. “Because people had the stupid idea that only females could have long hair, and since I’m an omega thereby bottom by default, it would fit with their stupid ist stereotypes.”

“The public used it as a form of endearment, though,” Seungcheol argued. He reached out for another piece of garlic bread. “No one did it to degrade you.”

“Sure felt like it,” Jeonghan muttered.

“Hey, the trainer Junhui had some pretty long hair at one point,” Seungcheol reminded him. “No one called him a girl.”

“Because he was an alpha,” Jeonghan argued. “Minghao called him princess as a joke and he got so defensive.”

“Junhui was a stuck-up .”

“No he wasn’t!! He was so nice and caring!!”

“Jeonghan, you say that about everyone.”

“No I don’t!”

Junmyeon continued eating his dinner while watching his parents bicker per usual. Seungcheol always liked to make fun of Jeonghan’s old friends. All Jeonghan had to do, though, was say one thing about Soonyoung or Mingyu, and Seungcheol would get defensive.

“Well, at least I don’t bump into chandeliers,” Jeonghan said. 

 Seungcheol’s eyes went wide. “You take that back.”

“No, I don’t think I will-”

A knock at the door interrupted their bickering. 

“I’ll get it,” Junmyeon said. He pushed himself away from the table and headed towards the door. 

“Well, someone is eager to see Yifan,” Jeonghan whispered to his husband, already forgetting about Mingyu.

Seungcheol, who was about to bring up Minghao’s mullet from one time, lightly punched in on the arm, Jeonghan yelping. “I thought you said I can’t joke about that!”

“All I said was that he was eager!!”

Junmyeon opened the door to reveal Yifan outside, holding a weird red fruit. “Hey.”

“Oh, hey,” Junmyeon said, beaming. “What’s that?” he pointed at the fruit.

“Oh, this, this is um,” Yifan ran his fingers through his hair, which had been styled. “It’s a dragon fruit.”

Junmyeon had no idea what a dragon fruit was. “Oh, that’s cool.”

“Uh, I mean, it is.” Yifan kept tossing it from hand to hand. “It’s cool, yeah, but- oh, it looks different from the inside.”

“Really? What does it look like?”

“It’s like, white with black dots.”

“... hold on, what?”

“Yeah, uh, I can show you,” Yifan offered, handing him the dragon fruit. 

Junmyeon opened the door further, stepping off to the side. “Oh, you can, uh, come in if you want.”
 

***

“Man, I wish Baekhyun were here,” Chen Le muttered. He was lying on the ground, staring at the sky. “I miss him.”

“You just saw him ten minutes ago,” Mark Tuan told him, taking another bite of the leftover rice. “He said he had plans.”

“Yeah, his plans include staring at the ceiling,” Chen Le reminded him.

“You are literally just staring above-”

“You guys argue too much,” Yoongi said, picking at his cuticle. For once, it was Jimin and not him asleep, his fiance laying head on on his lap. He picked up a strand of Jimin’s hair and curled it around his finger. “I heard he was hanging out with Chanyeol.”

Both Mark and Chen Le turned to stare at him, eyes wide. 

“What do you mean he was hanging out with Chanyeol?!” Mark yelled. “Since when do they hang out?”

Chen Le sat up, rolling his eyes. “You can’t just expect to make jokes about him and Chanyeol and not expect them to hang out-"

“I don’t make jokes, that’s you and Jimin-”

“I only do it out of love!!”

Jimin yawned in his sleep, mouth opened wide, and wrapped his hands around Yoongi’s waist, burying his head on the alpha’s stomach. “You guys are going to wake him up,” Yoongi warned the two loud omegas.

Mark grabbed a stick on the ground and pointed it at Yoongi. “I still have beef with you, alpha-”

“You have beef with every alpha. Me, Chanyeol, Jackson-”

“Don’t remind me of that scum-”

“But Jackson is really nice,” Chen Le argued. “And his friends are cool, too. Yugyeom, Bambam, Jinyoung-”

“Jinyoung is the pregnant omega, right?” Yoongi asked them. 

Mark gave him a glare. “How do you know he’s pregnant?”

Chen Le got off the ground. “Wait, he’s pregnant?!? But he’s not mated!”

“You know I talk to other alphas, right?” Yoongi reminded them. “Jaebum told me himself, since I saw him hunting more often. How did you find out?”

“Jinyoung told me himself, too,” Mark said, the two of them ignoring Chen Le’s shocked face. “They need to have their wedding ceremony now-”

“It’s too late, though.” Yoongi wrapped his arms around sleepy Jimin’s waist, pulling him closer. “The elders are already suspecting.”

“-SO YOU GUYS ARE JUST NOT GOING TO INFORM ME WHY JINYOU-”

Mark clasped his hands over Chen Le’s mouth, muffling the latter’s yelling. “Shut the up, Chen Le, we can’t have anyone eavesdropping.” To Yoongi, he said “how do the elders even know about it? He’s not even a month.”

Yoongi shrugged. “One of the official’s sons eavesdropped his conversation with Taeyong two days ago at the engagement thing-”

“Wait, Taeyong?” 

Chen Le took off Mark’s hand from his mouth. “Taeyong as in the one who everyone talks about?”

“Taeyong gets hated on since they think he got his union ceremony while knocked up. Even if Jinyoung gets mated, the baby will still be born soon and they’ll know.”

“Yeah, but it’s better to hear people talking than suffering a public beating!” Mark yelled. “Alphas literally never get punished for anything. It was both of them who produced a child, right?!”

Yoongi raised his hands up. “Look, it’s not my fault-”

Mark scoffed at him. “Yeah, right, there’s so many alphas here in this stupid village and you guys never speak up for us.”

“I literally try the best I can!” Yoongi yelled. Jimin was waking up on his lap, yawning as he fluttered his eyes open. “I speak as much as I can at the council meetings and you know that!

They heard Jimin mumbling in his sleep. “Mhm? What, what-” He sat up, wiping off some drool on his face. “What I miss?”

“Can we stop arguing?!” They looked at Chen Le (including Jimin, even though he was struggling to sit up). “Let’s just make sure nothing ever happens to him.”

“Happen to who~” Jimin slurred, head falling on Yoongi’s shoulder. “What are we talking about?”

“What do you mean we make sure nothing happens to him?” Mark asked. 

Chen Le shrugged. “We just stage an intervention.”
 

***

The water wasn’t that cold.

In fact, it was pretty warm. The sun was out and really bright, thus warming up the water. No wind, nothing gray and bland. 

Baekhyun, who had stuck his toes in the water, stepped in with both feet. At the very edge where he stood, the water only reached to an inch.

Taking a large step in instead, the water was now a foot up to his leg. Pretty soon, it would pass his shorts and shirt and swallow him whole. 

He looked over at Chanyeol, who was in so deep that the water reached the middle of the abdomen (and that was dealing with the fact that he was… “a tall motherer” as Mark would say). 

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol splashed some water around him, some drops falling on Baekhyun. He had a big grin on his face. “Doesn’t the water feel really good?”

Baekhyun took some more steps in, the water reaching up to his waist. His shirt wasn’t fully wet yet, but the water reached the hem of the cotton shirt, making those parts translucent. He touched the surface of the water with his palms, making them wet. “It’s really warm.”

“Yeah, that’s why I like swimming when the sun is out.” Chanyeol went in deeper, landing on his back as he floated, hands behind his back looking up to the sky. “Sometimes I come with my friends, but there’s always at least one drowning attempt.”

Baekhyun swam deeper into the water, the water level now reaching his neck. He had to swim upwards a bit so that his head could stay above the water. “It’s the thought that counts, I guess. Mark also likes to beat someone sometimes, but mostly Yoongi.”

Chanyeol frowned. “Mark? He’s really chill though-”

“Mark Tuan.”

“Oh my bad.”

They stayed like that for a while, floating around, staring at the clear blue sky. Every once in a while they would talk, mainly Chanyeol starting the conversation, and Baekhyun would answer him back, maybe playfully splashing each other. It was mostly a time to relax and just enjoy each other’s company.

***

Hakyeon and Taehyung were alone at Taehyung’s place, trying to make some homemade bread like their mothers have tried to teach them. 

“Taehyung, I think I put too much yeast.” Hakyeon showed Taehyung the pan he took out from the coal-powered oven. “Look at it.”

Taehyung’s eyes went wide. “Holy moly, you deflated the bread.”

“Is it edible?” Hakyeon asked. He felt bad for wasting ingredients. “It won’t kill us, right?”

Taehyung shook his head. “No, it’s just going to taste very yeasty.”

“Ay, do you think if we cover it in cream the taste will go away?” Hakyeon suggested. 

Taehyung opened the fridge, taking out a tub of cream. “We can always try.”

The two continued to work in a frenzy, trying to salvage the bread. They always burned or ruined food and their parents would constantly yell at them. One time, Taehyung was only allowed to have one bowl of rice a day for a week as punishment. 

After a while, Taehyung built himself the courage to ask Hakyeon a question. “Hey, Hakyeon?”

Hakyeon spread more cream on the bread. “Yeah?”

Taehyung bit his lip. “You remember what Leo said the other day?”

“.... about what?”

Taehyung sighed. “Hakyeon, I know you’ve been wanting a union ceremony even before you knew what it was.”

Hakyeon grabbed the dough out of the bowl and set it on the counter. “He doesn’t know that-”

“Nonsense, you always talked about it before you two started courting,” Taehyung said.
 

His friend shrugged. “I don’t want to lose him.”

“But it’s not healthy to keep these things inside of you.” Taehyung took the dough away from Hakyeon. “Remember how you would gush about the food you want to eat at the ceremony? How you dreamt about your hanbok? Your first time together?”

“Taehyung, I don’t want to lose him.” Hakyeon grabbed the dough and started kneading it. “It doesn’t matter if I want it or not because what’s the point if I won’t have him?”

“But, still though-”

Hakyeon handed him the dough. “I’m not good at kneading.”

And just like that, their conversation was over.
 

***

“Eomma, eomma, guess what, guess what, guess what?!” Jungshin yelled at Taeyong halfway across the house. 

Taeyong, who had been giving belly rubs to Gunwoo and Gongchan, yelled back to Jungshin, who had run to the foyer. “What it is, my Jungshin?”

Jaehyun’s head popped into the living room. “Good afternoon, my love.”

“Appa is here, look, appa is here!” Jungshin yelled, clinging onto his father’s leg. 

Jaehyun bent down and lifted him up, the latter laughing as he tried to playfully hit his father. “Look at my big boy, do you know how much I miss you?”

“APPA!!” Gunwoo and Gongchan got up from the floor and ran towards Jaehyun, who set Jungshin down before attempting to lift up the twins, exchanging greetings with each other. 

“Eomma, right that appa is the best?” Jungshin asked, running into Taeyong. “Look, he also bought presents!”

Taeyong laughed, holding his child in his arms. “What do you mean presents, I don’t see your appa with anything-”

“Actually.” Taeyong looked up at Jaehyun, who had set the twins down. “I did bring something, I set it next to the door.”

“I want to get it!” Jungshin shouted sprinting to the foyer.
 

Jaehyun bent down to Taeyong and pressed a peck on his lips. “Hello, my love.”

Taeyong nuzzled his head on Jaehyun’s neck, hugging him. “Hello, my one and only-”

“EOMMA, LOOK!” They turned their attention to Jungshin, who was carrying a basket. “Look, it’s the mussels! Like last time, the mussels!”

Gongchan and Gunwoo surrounded their elder brother, staring at the contents of the basket. “Mussels, mussels!” They chanted. 

“You found mussels?” Taeyong asked Jaehyun, who was grinning.

“Yeah, I know how much you like them, so…” Jaehyun grabbed a mussel from the basket, handing it to Taeyong. “What do you want for dinner?”

“Oh, that’s okay, I’ll make it.” Taeyong got up from the ground and headed towards the kitchen when Jaehyun pulled him back by tugging his arm.

“It’s fine, I can do dinner.” Jaehyun grabbed the basket from Jungshin, who was now mumbling some nonsense, and set it on the kitchen counter. “I want to do it.”

“You should rest, you just came back from working all day-”

Jaehyun gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Really, it’s no worry. Jian and Jongup are having their naps, right?” 

Taeyong nodded. “Yeah, although I should wake them up, Jongup cried for an hour because you were gone.”

“I hope he likes the mussels.” He pressed a kiss on Taeyong’s nose before taking out the cutting board. “As much as I love you.”


***

**18 Years Ago**

“Hey, Jeonghan!” 

Jeonghan turned around to see Junhui running towards him. “Oh, hey Junhui, what’s wrong?”

“Well, nothing’s wrong, it’s just that Seungcheol requested to speak with you,” Junhui explained. “Something about expressing his gratitude.”

Jeonghan perked up. Seungcheol? Was asking for him??

Surely this was a dream, right?

“A-are you talking about the guard Seungcheol?” Jeonghan asked him.

Junhui rolled his eyes. “Literally who else would I be talking about?”

Jeonghan smiled. “He’s really asking for me?”

“Jeonghan, you’re stalling aren’t you?”

“No, but, oh no, no, no, I can’t see him like this-”

“JEONGHAN!” Junhui grabbed Jeonghan and started pushing him down the large corridors to the throne room, where people who wanted to talk to the royal family or anyone important went. “He’s waiting for you, now stop stalling!”

He let his friend lead him there, jittering the entire time. He still couldn’t believe Seungcheol was set to see him! Him! Yoon Jeonghan!! Surely this was a dream right? Yeah, it was a dream, and any second now, Minghao was going to wake him up, almost strangling him, and ask him to make his famous moon cakes. 

Add the fact that this was unexpected made him even more surprised. What made Seungcheol want to come now???

He skipped his way to the throne, ready to see his crush.

---

“This is a really bad idea, Seungcheol-”

“Soonyoung, I know what I’m doing.” Seungcheol shook his friend’s hand off him. “Look, all I gotta do is be nice, it up a bit and he’ll trust me in no time.”

“Yeah, but I got to warn you, he’s not really the -up-to type,” Soonyoung said. 

Seungcheol frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean is that he’s more like the…” Soonyoung waved his hands, trying to find the right words. “He thinks those people aren’t genuine, so he doesn’t act the same way.”

“So he fakes it?”

“No, no, it’s more like he knows who’s real and who not,” Soonyoung explained. “So you have to be careful because he might know it’s an act or something-”

They stopped when they heard the doors to the throne room open. “The prince is here,” Junhui said.

Soonyoung and Seungcheol bowed down in habit. 

“Hey, Seungcheol.” Seungcheol looked up to see Jeonghan, who was running towards him, smiling. “I was told you wanted to see me?”

“Oh, yeah, that I wanted to take you for returning my job,” Seungcheol lied, bowing down again. “It means a lot to me-”

“Oh, nonsense, that was already your job, it’s just the bosses here, they, you know-” Jeonghan shrugged. He stuck out his hand. “Yoon Jeonghan.”

Everyone knows who you are Seungcheol thought, but since he had to stuck it up and be nice, he extended his hand to shake Jeonghan’s. “Choi Seungcheol.”
 

***

“This tastes really weird,” Junmyeon said, taking another forkful of the dragon fruit. “But it’s still good. It’s like a good type of weird.”

“Like good, but just a foreign taste,” Yifan agreed. “I like it, it’s pretty rare but it’s one of my favorite delicacies.”

“Do you know any other fruit delicacies?” Junmyeon asked, resting his head on his arms on the table, looking at Yifan. “I bet they’re delicious.”

“Oh, they are. There’s this random brown fruit called the coconut, but you eat the white part of the inside,” Yifan explained. “There’s the watermelon, a big fruit that you also only eat the red part inside. There’s the mango, which you only eat the inside-”

“Wait, why can you only eat certain parts of the fruit?” Junmyeon asked, lifting his head up again. “Like this?” He pointed to the peeled parts of the dragon fruit that Yifan had taken off earlier. “Like, why can’t we eat that? But other fruits we don’t have to peel off the skin, like apples and berries? Like the banana, I had to peel that.”

“That’s a really good question and I don’t have the answer,” Yifan admitted. “But, to be honest, I don’t think any of these skins can kill you, it’s more like some of these also happen to be tasty.”

“Oh, so like my eomma,” Junmyeon pointed at Jeonghan, who was sitting at the couch with Seungcheol, the two adults pretending to ignore their conversation. “He says you can’t eat orange peels, and I tried it once and it was disgusting. However, one time he scraped off some parts of the skin and put it in a cake??"

Yifan covered his mouth, trying not to laugh. “Sounds like a murder case to me.”

“EOMMA!!” Junmyeon yelled, Jeonghan turning to look at him. “Are you trying to kill me??”

“Yep,” Jeonghan said, popping the p. “That’s what you get for drinking my apple juice.”

“What- that’s not fair!”

“It is fair!! It’s apple juice, there’s no negotiation!”