Chapter 28

Taehyung was having a good day. Zico had called to meet up with him and, after initially being unsure, he agreed and was glad he did. Zico had apologised for what he said to him and promised not to tell any lies about what they did together to his pack. He had found out that Taehyung had been telling the truth about what his pack mates had done to Chen and punished them. Taehyung had seen them both later that day when they came and apologised to him for talking to him so badly. They both had deep, sore looking bruises on the backs of their necks; marks that they had been punished, in their wolf forms, by their alpha.

According to Zico they had become jealous after overhearing him talking to Taehyung about joining their pack. Then they had spotted Chen who they had seen talking to Zico earlier on and taken it out on him. They had assumed that Zico had been trying to recruit him too, plus him being in heat got them a little too riled up. Taehyung worried that the pack was spiralling out of control without their alpha being present and they were losing trust in him but it wasn’t his pack so he wasn’t going to worry himself about it.

With a skip in his step, Taehyung returned to the dorm and called out, “I’m back!”

Jungkook came scampering out of the kitchen with a half-eaten cookie in hand. “Let me see. Wow!”

“You like it?” Taehyung did a twirl. He had only planned to go and get his hair trimmed but he had been in such a good mood that he felt like there was no harm in dying it too.

“Wow,” Jungkook repeated coming closer for a better look. “It looks great. When you said orange I didn’t think you meant so… orange.”

“It’s good though, right?”

“It’s amazing.”

“What’s going on?” Hoseok appeared and Taehyung’s grin widened.

“I dyed me hair,” he said though Hoseok’s mouth had already fallen open as soon as he saw it.

“I can see that.”

“What do you think?” Taehyung bounced on the balls of his feet.

“It’s…. bright.”

Taehyung blinked a couple of times and Jungkook could see him deflating.

“I think it suits him, don’t you?”

“Yeah, it’s just… orange. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone with orange hair before.”

Taehyung’s shoulders slumped.

“I’m going to get a drink,” said Hoseok. “Want anything?”

The maknaes shook their heads and let him leave. Taehyung tried to force a smile back onto his face but Jungkook had already sensed the shift in his mood.

“Ignore him,” he said, “he was just surprised.”

“It look ok, right?”

“It looks great. I promise.” He wrapped him arm around Taehyung’s waist and guided him to their bedroom, away from Hoseok.

Chanyeol was surprised when someone knocked at the door and he found Kyungsoo there. His pack mates usually just walked on in.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, seeing Kyungsoo’s red rimmed eyes as soon as he looked up. Kyungsoo began to sob again and almost collapsed into Chanyeol’s open arms.

“Can I stay here tonight?”

“Of course. What’s wrong?”

“Who is it?” Baekhyun came up behind them, his expression changing in an instant when he saw the distress his pack mate was in. “Oh, Kyungie what happened?”

Kyungsoo rubbed at his eyes roughly and let his friends guide him over to the couch. Chanyeol’s arm never moved from around his shoulders.

“It’s Kai,” he sniffed.

“Did you two have an argument?”

He shook his head at Baekhyun. “He was with Taemin. I saw them together.”

“Taemin! He back?”

“Apparently.” Kyungsoo swallowed hard, trying not to picture the two of them together even though that was all that was in his mind. If he hadn’t interrupted them what would have happened? What would he have walked in on if he had been a little later? He felt like he was going to be sick.

“What do you mean you saw them together?” asked Chanyeol gently. He exchanged a worried look with his boyfriend.

Kyungsoo sniffed a few times, rubbing the tears from his eyes just to have them immediately replaced. “They were kissing,” he said.

“,” breathed Beakhyun.

“It’s probably been going on for ages,” he said. “They’ve probably slept together already.”

“Don’t say that.” Chanyeol squeezed his shoulder. “Taemin just got back. There’s nothing going on between them.”

“Yeah, it was probably just a mistake because he was surprised at seeing him again,” said Baekhyun hopefully. “Maybe Taemin kissed him and Kai didn’t want him to.”

Kyungsoo shook his head sadly. “He was on top of him. Trust me, he wanted it.”

Chanyeol and Baekhyun exchanged another look. This wasn’t sounding good.

“He didn’t ever really love me, did he? He was just waiting for Taemin to come back.”

“Don’t say that.”

“But it’s true. He never wanted me before they broke up and now he doesn’t want me anymore either.”

“Shhh,” Chanyeol soothed as Kyungsoo descended back into broken sobs. He rocked him gently, kissing his head.  He didn’t know what to say. He knew Kai had been in love with Taemin and heartbroken at losing him but he thought he had moved on. He certainly never thought he would cheat on Kyungsoo. They had seemed so solid.

“Stay with us tonight, ok?”

Kyungsoo nodded and cuddled up against him. It didn’t fix anything but at least he didn’t have to face Kai, not yet.

Taehyung looked at his hair in the mirror. Everyone else seemed to like it but Hoseok had still only said it was bright. He wasn’t sure bright was a good thing. He could have said nice or cool or something.  He really must not like it if he couldn’t even lie about it being nice.

With a sigh, he left his room, switching off the light as he went. It had quietened down in the other rooms. The others must have finished their movie. He had said he had homework to do, which was only half true. He could have done it tomorrow instead.

He was surprised to find Hoseok alone in the kitchen. He stopped, surprised.

“I just came for something to eat,” he said.

“Well, that’s usually why people come to the kitchen.”

Feeling stupid, Taehyung slipped past him to the refrigerator. He was studiously pondering what to have when a hand on his back made him jump. He looked up in surprise to see Hoseok close behind him.

“I do like your hair, Taehyung. I’m sorry I didn’t say before. I was just surprised.”

“Oh?”

Hoseok smiled and Taehyung’s heart did that fluttery thing it always did when he had his pack mate’s sole attention.

“It suits you,” he said. “I don’t know anyone else who could pull off orange hair.”

And then he reached up and ran his fingers through the orange strands of Taehyung’s hair. It sent a wonderful shiver right down his spine. Then the fingers trailed lower, grazing the skin of his neck and holding him in place as Hoseok leant in to kiss his cheek.

“Good night, Tae Tae.”

“N-night,” he stuttered. His skin felt cold where Hoseok’s hand had been and he stood for a long time after the other boy left, freezing his off by the open refrigerator.