He woke up early in the morning to get some rice again. 

It was very early, almost dark outside, but if Johnny was honest, he had been up for at least an hour but couldn’t fall back to sleep. Might as well do some chores early. 

He picked up the basket and headed outside, enjoying the silence. He didn’t see anyone else in the village, which was a really rare sight - there were always people outside. 

The forest looked creepy to some people in the dark, but Johnny loved it. It felt really peaceful, just letting him be with his thoughts. It was nice hanging out with the alphas, though most of the elders and officials hate him, and he worked a lot for his family, but going to get rice, especially if it was in the night, was a very pleasing time for him indeed. 

Silence surrounded him everywhere as he walked through the forest, the only sounds being caused by an occasional animal here or there and his feet as they stepped on the leaves and dirt on the bumpy path. 

The bad part of it being really dark, though, was that he couldn’t see some of the branches, so he bumped into one and slipped on the ground. 

He let out a series of curses and groans as he rubbed his sore head and , staying there for a minute.

Height was a curse disguised as a blessing. 

When he finally sat up, still wincing at the pain, he realized that he had gotten his legs covered with scratches and dirt, a semi-deep cut already oozing out blood. 

He got up and picked up his basket from where he had dropped it and changed his route, making his way towards the river instead. It would be best if he cleaned himself up first. 

Arriving at the river, he noticed a lump on the ground, an omega. Surprised, he reached out to poke their shoulder, the omega turning their head around to look at him, startled. 

Ten?

“What are you doing here?” Ten asked him, his voice shaky. He sat up to get a better look at Johnny in the dark. “It’s not even morning yet.”

“I can say the same to you.” Johnny sat down next to him, his wounds long forgotten. “What brought you here?”

Ten rested his head on his knees, looking out at the river. “I’m getting married off.”

… What? 

“I’m sorry, did you just say you’re getting married off?” Johnny asked, eyes wide. “Wh-what happened?”

“They’re bribing my parents,” Ten explained, wiping his face with his sleeves. Thank god it was dark, he did not want Johnny to see that he had been crying for a few hours. “Technically I have not been told, since I was eavesdropping the whole thing, but…” he shrugged. “I don’t know how I’m going to get out of it.

“Well, I mean there should be something. Maybe lie and say you’re seeing someone already?” Johnny suggested.

Ten rolled his eyes. “Where am I going to find an alpha who will willingly pretend to be in a relationship with me? No one here does fake courting.”

Johnny’s hands were trembling. “I’ll do it.”

Ten looked at him, in shock. “Wait, really?”

Johnny nodded. “If you want to.”

“But that’s insane, you- wait, do you even like me in that way?”

Johnny could feel his face get warm, thank god that it was still dark outside. The sun should be rising soon, though, and he had yet to get the rice; that could wait, though. “I- I mean, yeah, but that’s not why I’m helping you though!” he exclaimed. “I just… feel like people shouldn’t be forced, so…”

Ten grinned. “So are we getting in a fake relationship or a real relationship?”

“Uh… whichever?” Johnny asked. “I mean… sorry, I’m not good at this.”

“No, that’s okay,” Ten reassured him. “... I don’t mind being in a real relationship with you.”

***

“Chen Le, where do you think you’re going?”

Chen Le, who had opened the front door to leave, turned around to see his mother. “I was going to hang out with my friends-”

“Jesus, child, do something more productive for once.” She handed him an empty basket. “Go gather some more berries, you idiotic father didn’t catch enough meat for dinner tonight, you’re going to have to eat something else.”

He took the basket from his mother, heading hung low. “I’ll be back,” he muttered, leaving the house in anger.

His mother for sure loved to bother him about everything. Chen Le didn’t know why she hated him hanging out with his friends; Baekhyun, Mark and Jimin were nice and lovely. Did she think they were bad influences or something? What bad things could they possibly be doing?

Stepping into the forest, he set out to find some berries, gripping the basket in his hand harshly. Is it so bad to hang out with his friends so much? 

He decided to just gather some berries and then head on over later. His friends would understand, it’s not the first time this has happened.

When he found some bushes filled with the common berries, he got on his knees and started picking the ripe ones, making sure none of them had pests or were spoiled. Once on a tomato, a worm came out and Chen Le almost killed it. Luckily, he pulled it out and set it on the ground so that it could go back to the soil. 

Nothing looked wrong with the berries he picked, so he quickly filled up the basket and made his way to where his friends would be waiting for him. He could handle no dinner and a beating tonight, it was fine.

While walking to where his friends were, the basket full of berries in his hand, he heard someone yell his name. 

“Chen Le!” He turned around and saw Jisung, who ran to catch up with him. “Hey, how’s it going?”

Right. They were courting. It was still hard to believe, though - this would be the second time that they have been alone, the first being when they first met and Jisung hit him thinking he was an animal. “Oh, I was just, um…” he lifted up the basket to show Jisung. “I picked some berries for dinner.”

“Oh, cool, cool.” Jisung stuffed his hands in his pockets. “That’s nice.” 

They stood in silence for a few seconds, trying not to look at each other. 

“Well, um, I’ll see you later!” Jisung said,  laughing nervously, turning to walk away, until Chen Le impulsively grabbed Jisung’s sleeve, pulling him back.

“You can hang out with us if you want,” Chen Le told him. 

***

“Why did you bring your alpha here,” Mark Tuan harshly whispered to Chen Le. 

Chen Le shrugged. “He’s not doing anything bad, I don’t see the problem.”

The group of six (yes, six - originally it had started as four, but Yoongi had been hanging out with them for so long it just gradually became a group of five, and now with this Park Jisung here-) were chilling in their usual spot, Yoongi playing with Jimin’s hair, who along with Baekhyun were trying to talk to Jisung. 

“You know, for someone asking your hand, I thought they would be more…”Mark struggled to find the word he was looking for. “Energetic-no not that one, more…. outgoing?”

“Well, Jimin and Baekhyun are talking to him, I think that’s a good sign,” Chen Le pointed out. “Plus he doesn’t really know you guys, so…”

“Wait, so you DON’T like bamboo shoots??” Jimin yelled at Jisung in disbelief. “They’re so tasty!!” 

“I mean, I don’t know, I just find it weird,” Jisung admitted, his voice low. 

“Yoongi, do you like bamboo shoots?” Jimin asked his love, who had not piped up once in the conversation. To be fair, he rarely did, since he was always sleepy from working too much or just too preoccupied with Jimin, like now.

He was still playing with Jimin’s hair when he spoke. “Not a fan of them, no.”

“What?!” Jimin’s eyes were practically going to double in size at this rate. “What is wrong with you two?”

“Bamboo shoots are delicious,” Baekhyun agreed. “You guys are stupid-”

“Right, Chen Le, Mark, that bamboo shoots are good?!” Jimin yelled at his two friends who had been busy in their own little world. 

“They’re hella good,” Mark admitted. “You alphas don’t have any taste,” he added, pointing at Yoongi and Jisung. “I bet you don’t even season your food.”

“I season my food, thank you very much,” Yoongi yelled back. To Jimin, he whispered, “we can still have bamboo shoots at the wedding.

“Thank you, I was going to cry,” Jimin said, giggling as Yoongi pushed a hair strand behind his ear. “Yoongi, go play with your own hair.”

“My hair dry as , no thank you.”

Mark leaned closer to whisper in Chen Le’s ear. “Five golden pieces that you’re going to be like that with Jisung in a month.”

Chen Le glared at him. “You’re crazy-”

“YOU DON’T LIKE CHESTNUT EITHER?!”

***

Yuta was woken up by someone shaking his shoulders aggressively. 

“Yo, dude, wake up, we have to do something,” he heard Takuya’s faint voice waking him up to consciousness, and that’s when he smelled it. 

An omega was going through heat. 

Yuta sat up quickly, yawning as he tried to be fully awake. Yep, it was definitely an omega in heat. 

“Si Cheng fell asleep last night,” Takuya explained, pointing to a sleepy Si Cheng, who had been sewing. “And he’s in heat, shouldn’t he wake up or something?” 

“Let’s just wait in the living room,” Yuta suggested. “Besides, his mother already knows we’re here, no thanks to your frequent adventures to see that Shin guy.”

“That’s actually his surname, thank you very much.” Takuya got up from the floor and left the room, leaving Yuta to follow after him. “But there’s apparently someone else who goes by that name, so he just calls himself Shin.”

“Yo, that .” They left the room quietly, letting Si Cheng have his privacy, hoping he would sleep comfortably despite being in heat. 

***

“Do you want me to show you around?” Jeonghan asked, excited that he was finally exchanging more than three sentences with the Choi Seungcheol. 

Seungcheol shrugged. “It’s no worries, I work here anyways-”

“Nonsense, they only show you the boring places,” Jeonghan insisted. He suddenly got an idea. “Are you hungry?”

“No, not really-” Seungcheol’s stomach chose to betray him, emitting a low rumble that he was sure Jeonghan heard.

“I can show you the kitchen!” Jeonghan grabbed Seungcheol and led him through the grand hallways of the palace, bouncing with joy with each step he took. “I can make you something.”

Seungcheol rolled his eyes but let the prince drag him around. The idea of food did sound good to him, and plus, didn’t Jeonghan had a reputation for being one of the best bakers and cooks in the kingdom?

To be fair, Seungcheol thought people exaggerated. They were just saying that since he was part of the royal family; if he were a peasant, no one would be saying that. Jihoon was a really good cook, and he never got compliments. (To be fair, the grand percentage of people who went to his diner were half-drunk alphas, so…)

Food was food, though, and the palace was known for having fancy ingredients anyways, so it wouldn’t hurt to eat something here anyways. Plus, he was with the prince, so no one could tell him . 

When they arrived at the massive kitchen, there were already some chefs and cooks busy at work, cooking up some elegant meals. Seungcheol was pretty sure he saw some lobsters. 

Jeonghan led him to a corner where there wasn’t anyone. “Is there anything in particular you want to eat?” Jeonghan said, letting go of their hands. He grinned an awful lot to Seungcheol’s liking. It was kind of annoying.

Seungcheol was about to ask if he had any normal food, but figured it was probably rude enough to get his head cut off. “I heard your mooncakes were delicious."

“You probably heard that Minghao, he always whines about them.” Jeonghan opened a cupboard and grabbed a set of bowls and measuring items. “Once he asks about them everyday, they get easier and easier to make.”

“Prince Xu Minghao?” Seungcheol asked, already knowing the answer. It was well known how close the two princes were each other. To be honest, it did settle the tensions between the two Kingdoms. 

“That’s the one.” Jeonghan pulled out some more ingredients and rolled his sleeves up, grabbing an elastic band from his wrist to tie up his long hair. “‘Kay, so we need the flour, the vegetable oil…” he trailed off, listing ingredients as he pointed to each one he had set out. Some Seungcheol didn’t know existed.

Seungcheol watched as Jeonghan made the dough in the mixing bowl, talking to Seungcheol throughout the whole process. He watched as Jeonghan made the filling and wrapping the whole pastry together, laughing when Seungcheol accidently bumped the bag of flour, his whole face covered in white powder. Seungcheol threatened to throw some at Jeonghan and he did, leading the two to end up throwing flour at each other, the mooncakes long forgotten. 

There were still some cooks and chefs in the kitchen, and some were about to scold them before realizing it was a guard with the prince, though, so they let them be, shaking their heads at the teen’s antics. 

The thought of him being a prince that let him get away with anything never crossed Jeonghan’s head, too busy on having fun with his crush, Seungcheol, the two eventually tiring out and desperately trying to clean themselves up to go back to the mooncakes. 

And Seungcheol? Well, he forgot that Jeonghan was the prince - for a few minutes, anyways. 

Those were some good few minutes.

*** 

“So eomma says that for this is the perfect way to make a cupcake,” Junmyeon instructed Yifan, pouring some flour in the mixing bowl.

“Wait, aren’t you going to measure it?” Yifan asked, confused. Junmyeon had poured it straight into the bowl.

Junmyeon shook his head. “Nah, once you do it a few times, you know how much is an amount just by looking at it.”

The two were at Junmyeon’s home in the kitchen, where Seungcheol was busy with the officials and Jeonghan out picking apples (Seungcheol drank all the juice again), leaving the two alone. Yifan had promised to help Junmyeon make a dessert,but he didn’t know how to bake much, 

Yifan had brought Junmyeon some more assorted berries to see if they could use it for anything, so Junmyeon had decided to make a mixed berry frosting on vanilla cupcakes, decorated with strawberries and kiwis. A bit fruity, but it was okay - they both liked fruit.

“So I just mix the frosting-” Yifan held up the whisk that Junmyeon had given him. “With this?"

 Junmyeon nodded, cracking an egg to his mixture. “Yeah, and it has to be well, since the berries can alter the texture.”

“Got it.” 

The two continued making the dessert, exchanging small talk (mostly Yifan asking if he did something wrong) when they heard the front door open. 

Junmyeon looked up to see Seungcheol, who was taking off his shoes. “Appa, what are you doing here so early?”

Usually Seungcheol would have joked about being casted away from his home, but he didn’t say anything, a frown plastered on his face. “Where’s Jeonghan?”

“He went to pick apples,” Junmyeon said, pointing to the back door. “He said he’ll be here in a bit-”

“, he shouldn’t have done that.” Seungcheol threw his jacket on the couch and slid open the backdoor, not even bothering to say hello to Yifan as he went outside. 

“Appa, where are you going?” Junmyeon dropped the spoon he had been holding and followed his dad outside, who was heading straight towards the forest. “Appa!”

“Stay inside with Yifan and lock the door,” was all Seungcheol told him before he headed off to find his love.

***

A few miles away from the village in the forest, there were two best friends playing in the woods. 

They lived in the Kingdom of Kaeleous, ruled by an old king with a lost heir. The omega prince was never found, and there were rumors that the king, along with his second wife, the queen, were due to die any day now.

Of course, the two friends weren’t really concerned in politics or whatever. No, they were more concerned about this mysterious hollow tree that they had found in the woods behind the alpha’s house. 

“Do you think an animal lives here?” Seungkwan asked, trying to jump against the tree to see inside. “I don’t see anything.”

Unfortunately, the two were around the same height. “I don’t see anything, either,” Vernon replied, sighing. “Damn, it looks really interesting.”

“At least this is right near your house,” Seungkwan added, jumping one last time to try to see the inside. However, he accidentally landed on the wrong foot, so he fell backwards onto a pile of leaves. “Ouch.”

Vernon rolled his eyes before extending his hand out to pull up his best friend. “Seungkwan, you have to be more careful about these things.” 

“Shut up, Mr. Oh, I’m an alpha and I love danger!” Seungkwan mocked him, wincing. “My back hurts.”

“At least you don’t have scratches,” Vernon said, looking over Seungkwan’s legs. “Plus, tripping because of jumping has nothing to do with danger.”

“Yeah you’re right.” Seungkwan dusted off the dirt that was now staining his pants. “Guess I don’t pass the bad boy test.”

“At least you pass tests,” Vernon muttered. “If my dad finds out about my grades, he’s not going to let me live it down.”

“You act like Mr. Kwon is rude,” Seungkwan said, grabbing Vernon’s hands before they made their way together to Vernon’s house, which was a good ten minute walk from where they were currently located. “Yet I still don’t know why he’s afraid of Mr. Lee.”

“Eomma’s nice, he just knows how to beat up people,” Vernon agreed. “But appa says that when he was a guard in the palace back in the day, you know with his friend Seungcheol, eomma wouldn’t hesitate to put them in his place.”

“I stan your eomma,” Seungkwan stated, swinging their linked arms together. “He makes the best avocado wraps."

“You’re hungry, aren’t you?”

“Pfft, when am I not?”