Chapter Text
After checking twice that he didn’t smell like anyone besides himself, suitcase in hand, Wooyoung raised his hand to knock on the door.
The house where the door was attached to didn’t have any type of doorbell. Long windows with tinted glasses and pointy tile roof made the house look stylish and expensive. A stone path decorated the main entrance and a dense forest the back one. Wooyoung only hoped that this pack had a better temperature regulation than the last one, a bunch of snobs that he left less than twenty-four hours ago that decided that the guest room where he slept all six months of his stay didn’t need any type of refrigeration system besides a miniscule window. Just thinking about it made him sweat.
For this new case, just like any other cases assigned to him, he had studied beforehand the information his company supplied him. An expensive service to resolve pack problems to ensure their happiness. Expending an obscene amount of money into making a stranger solve your interpersonal issues didn’t sound like a loving pack for Wooyoung, but he also didn’t have a pack, so what did he know?
The door in front of him opened to reveal a man with designer clothes and a pointy smile. Kim Hongjoong, pack alpha of the Kim pack. A man with delicate features and short height that could mistake him for a beta or even an omega, and most importantly, a successful artist. That still didn’t tell anything regarding the comfort of Wooyoung’s next accommodation. He could be swimming in money but if his eccentricity won over his logical side he could spend a lot of money to live uncomfortably. The different magazines calling him genius could be bluffing.
After a fast greeting, Hongjoong led Wooyoung through the door. The inside of the house looked more modern and simple in style, like spending time and thought into decorating the house was secondary. All furniture was bare and a neutral colour. Even the fridge was empty of any sign that it was being used. At least, to Wooyoung’s relief, it looked like the electrical appliances were the newest models in the market.
“My pack will arrive briefly, although San and Yeosang are still at the gym. So you’ll meet them later once they are back,” said Hongjoong once they were in the living room.
Both names appeared in the documentation of the pack that was given to Wooyoung. Although his information on the pack alpha was extensive and specific as well as an explanation of why they needed their services, the information regarding the rest of the pack was up to the clients to decide. In this case, the only details they shared was their names, genders and subgenders of the pack. According to it, the Kim pack consisted of seven men: Kim Hongjoong, Park Seonghwa, Jeong Yunho, Kang Yeosang, Choi San, Song Mingi and Choi Jongho. All of them alpha except for one omega, Park Seonghwa.
After a short while, four of them appeared in the living room. Four beautiful men who made Wooyoung wonder if one of Hongjoong’s requirements to enter the pack was to be able to work as a model.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, my name is Jung Wooyoung, 24, omega and I will aid your pack these months. I’ll spend all my energy helping you. Please, you are welcome to drop honorifics if it will make my stay more comfortable.” Wooyoung made a respectful and formal bow. The first contact had to be very respectful and distant to look professional. Only through one on one time could he determine the level of closeness each of them preferred. “To be useful in the meantime, I’ll also be doing any chores you ask me to.” With the chores the packs assigned to him, he had an excuse to snoop around the house and topics to start conversations. It also meant everyone would get used to seeing him around the house.
“Wooyoung-ssi here is one of the best in his field. Like I said yesterday, I expect you to learn to trust in him, so he can do his job”, said Hongjoong. Wooyoung fought to not grimace, that sentence alone would make his job at beginning ten times harder. Putting pressure for the pack to talk to him will make some of them want to stay away from him.
Affirmative nods responded to the pack alpha.
The four men presented themselves to Wooyoung. The tall ones were Yunho and Mingi who were joined by their hands and despite making their bows a bit awkward they didn’t let go of each other. Yunho expressed his excitement to get to know Wooyoung while Mingi remained silent. The closest one to the pack alpha was Seonghwa, who smiled warmly and the last one was Jongho, that was the furthest from Wooyoung and introduced himself with kind words but cold eyes.
To help him navigate inside the house, Hongjoong and Seonghwa made him a quick tour of the essential rooms so he would know how to move around. The house consisted of two floors and a basement that acted as a garage. On the first floor there was the living room, the kitchen, a pair of communal bathrooms, what would be Wooyoung’s room and Seonghwa’s, Jongho’s and Yunho’s bedroom. He made a happy sound when he saw his room, there would be no sweat haunting him this time. The second floor only consisted of bedrooms and bathrooms for the rest of the pack.
While they made the tour, Hongjoong did all the talking while Seonghwa stayed by his side and discreetly glanced at Wooyoung. Those round brown eyes seemed fascinated by his presence but whenever he looked back to try to make small talk, they found the wall beside him more interesting.
“I would like to discuss now what are the issues that you detected in your pack Hongjoong-ssi. However, if you prefer it, we could talk about it with the pack once all of them are home”, said Wooyoung once the tour finished. They were standing outside of Hongjoong’s bedroom and because the hall was small they were standing close, making the conversation feel private.
“No, no, that won’t be necessary”, said Hongjoong. “The big issue we have is that for the past three heats, Seonghwa has become practically feral. He doesn’t let anyone touch him or come near him, making it very difficult to take care of him and as a result his heats are more painful than they should.”
By his side, Seonghwa started to bite his lips while a shade of red appeared on top of his cheeks. Eyes still locked on the wall.
“I understand, it is pretty worrisome having someone loved go through pain and being unable to help them”, said Wooyoung, and he meant that, that sounded horrible. Heats made you enter a vulnerable physical state, you basically relied on someone else to be able to accomplish vital tasks. “Are there any other problems worth mentioning?”
Hongjoong scratched his neck.
“Not really, I mean, not that I am aware of. I will tell the rest of the pack to come to you if they have any.”
He thanked him. “Well with that out of the way,” said Wooyoung “Could we talk alone, Seonghwa-ssi?” Wooyoung extended a hand which Seonghwa took after a first hesitation.
Hongjoong started to reach towards Seonghwa to grab him, but stopped himself.
“I would prefer if you called me hyung, Wooyoung-ah,” said Seonghwa once they stepped inside his bedroom, with his hand he motioned for them to sit in his bed. The room was decorated with different trinkets and decorations in different pastel colours and the bed was covered in soft blankets, pillows and a single pink plushie. The light inside was warm and made Seonghwa look relaxed and approachable. Now that he was inside his room, he looked more confident. The only thing that broke the illusion was the scent in the room, or specifically, the lack of it thereof. “I may not look like it, but I have to say that I’m very excited to have another omega in the house, even if it’s temporary.”
“I can’t imagine what it’s like living just with alphas.” Wooyoung turned to be in front of him and took his hands again, when Seonghwa didn’t show any discomfort, he squeezed them. The fact that the main problem was with the only omega of the group made Wooyoung protective of the older, despite knowing him just for a few hours.
“It’s not as bad as you imagine, the pack, they have always treated me well. We just belong with each other. Even if we don’t experience the same things, they always made an effort to understand me” Seonghwa frowned as he squeezed Wooyoung’s hands. “Although lately it feels like they understand me a bit less. Like there’s some type of barrier keeping us apart growing bigger with each day and whatever I do to break it, doesn’t help at all. I want to keep trying, but I don’t know what else to do.”
“Maybe an extra eye and an external opinion could be of use,” said Wooyoung.
“Do you think you can help us?” Seonghwa moved closer to him, knees now touching. His eyes were filled with hope making Wooyoung smug to be able to get such a reaction out of the older.
“Definitely, I’m confident in my skills.” He dashed a smile. “My first objective is to know everybody’s point of view, but for that I need them to want to talk to me. What I need you to think about, is which pack members you think would be more open to talking about it. It doesn’t matter if a few of them don’t tell me much as long as I can feel the voids with the story from a different source. It doesn’t even matter if they lie, first I just need context to know which questions to ask.”
“Yes, of course.” Seonghwa jumped with excitement. “I will help with whatever I can if it helps them. I just want everyone to be happy, seeing them like this hurts too much.” As Seonghwa said it, his gaze moved to their hands and his shoulders fell. In order to transmit some comfort, Wooyoung hugged him but Seonghwa tensed. Thinking that he read wrongly, he started to pull back. Seonghwa in response pulled him between his arms. “Don’t you dare, I need this hug.”
That made him chuckle.
Once he was feeling better, Seonghwa led him outside the room by the hand, insisting how by now the rest of the pack should be home.
They found Hongjoong in the living room talking to them but Wooyoung couldn’t see their faces. Hongjoong spotted him and gestured to the pair beside him to introduce themselves. One of them stepped closer with a confident stride.
“Choi San, alpha, a pleasure to meet you Wooyoung-ssi,” said San. Another handsome man in the pack, he turned to introduce the last member “And this is–”
“Yeosang!” Wooyoung practically jumped at the man, arms around his neck. He couldn’t believe it. When Wooyoung read the name in the information folder he tried to not get his hopes up, didn’t want to be crushed if he was wrong, but it was really him.
A deep laugh sounded below Wooyoung’s arms and a pair of strong arms circled his waist, pulling him closer. He blinked several times to not let the tears drop and unconsciously searched the neck of the other with his nose. His scent was different from when they last saw each other, when Yeosang hadn’t presented yet.
Remembering they had an audience, Wooyoung forced himself to step back. “I can’t believe I get to see you again.” He grabbed Yeosang’s arms to check if the man in front of him wasn’t a hallucination.
“Yeah, sorry about that. We’ll talk later when I’m not stinking the room but... I missed you,” said Yeosang with tender eyes.
A throat being cleared broke the spell Yeosang was under.
“Hyungs, this is my friend from high school that I talked about.” Yeosang now gestured to them as if he was making introductions for the first time, as if he was the one to bring him to his home to meet his pack instead of his job.
He blinked to get his head to start working and looked at Yeosang. His face was leaner, his cheeks now missing their roundness, and he even stood taller than him. However the biggest change was his body. Even with all his skin covered, he looked bigger, stronger. Wooyoung had to swallow the spit that was gathering inside his mouth.
After a bit of small talk between the five of them, Yeosang and San went to shower to get the sweat out of their skin. Yeosang promising to talk later. Hongjoong also left mumbling about a work call he had to make.
Wooyoung stayed to help Seonghwa make dinner. As they prepared something simple, Seonghwa told him about everybody’s weekday routines. Overall all that Wooyoung understood was that most of the members had a regular nine to five job, except Hongjoong, who left earlier and came back later, and Seonghwa, who worked part time. San and Jongho were also working part time to have time to get certain certifications for their field work, he didn’t specify further. Although it seemed like Jongho also made side gigs as a commissioned singer so his free time was very limited.
Wooyoung reached the conclusion that the pack didn’t see much of each other through weekdays.
While eating dinner Wooyoung sat himself between Yeosang and Seonghwa. At first glance he didn’t see any type of tension among them, the conversations amicable. They didn’t comment anything personal, but he could guess it was more a product of his presence rather than the dynamics of the pack. However, more often than not the table was filled with awkward silences that shouldn’t be normal in a pack with so many members.
Later, when they finished cleaning the table, Yeosang pulled Wooyoung to his room to talk. When they entered Wooyoung couldn’t help himself and hugged him again. This time it was a shorter hug although it didn’t hurt any less to let go.
“Sorry, I know you aren’t the biggest fan of physical contact.”
Yeosang, to his surprise, hugged him.
“I don’t mind it now. I kinda got used to it and honestly, I missed your hugs.” His voice tickled his neck. Yeosang scent may smell a bit different from before, but we craved it the same. Losing him made Wooyoung devastated and it took a while for him to get himself back. When he pulled back from the embrace, he grabbed Yeosang’s arm.
Wooyoung inhaled to pull himself together. “What happened? The last thing I knew was that you were moving out of town.”
“Yeah, I’m very sorry about that. By the time I knew what was going on my parents had already taken my phone and had no way of explaining anything.”
“Will you tell me now what happened? I made some theories along the years but I don’t like any of them.” All of them were awful, starting from not being good enough for Yeosang’s parents to be his friend, to Yeosang being disgusted by him. It wasn’t only that Yeosang disappeared from his school overnight, he also disappeared from any ways of communication without any explanation.
“Sure, it’s the least I can do.” He moved them to sit together on a couch he had in his room, maybe to feel his heat, maybe to not feel pressured to make eye contact while he explained it. “You know how my parents had these high expectations and wanted me to become the perfect son to brag to their friends.”
“Assholes,” mumbled Wooyoung.
Yeosang chuckled. “Yeah…” He started playing with Wooyoung’s arm, squeezing it to the same rhythm he did whenever he was nervous back in school. “Well, a few months before everything happened I started getting lower grades, not by a big difference but by my parents standards it was a warning sign. They pulled me aside to ask me about it, first in a caring manner and when I couldn’t give them a straight answer, angrier. The whole thing ended up as an argument but I didn’t take it too seriously. It wasn’t the first time that happened.”
“I remember you mentioning the fight, but you said it all got fixed.”
“It kind of did, for a while. I showed them that I was still worthy of their love and that they didn’t have to worry about a thing. But when the next exams came, the results were worse than before and that seemed enough for them to transfer me to a new school and move to the city.” His breathing became a bit shaky before he took a deep breath before continuing. “Not only that, but I had to begin school at half of the semester with kids who knew each other since diapers and on top of that, were geniuses. Being the best in class was now much harder than before. I had no friends and so much pressure at home that at least once a week I ended up crying in the school bathrooms.”
A sad smile appeared on Yeosang’s face and Wooyoung felt awful. He couldn’t believe that in all these years he didn’t think once about the possibility of Yeosang having a hard time because of the whole situation.
“Seongwa-hyung found me there one day. He didn’t pry much as to why I was crying but he still comforted me. Since then, he spent all school breaks with me. It got easier. I never maintained a long streak as the top of the class but Seonghwa’s grades made my parents relax about my future. The following year I got to meet Seonghwa’s friends that later became his pack and a bit later, I joined it.”
He rested his head on Yeosang’s shoulder.
“I’m glad that at the end you found someone and joined a pack. I’m really happy for you, believe me. But I can’t help thinking about it. Why didn’t you reach out to me?” He cringed at how desperate he sounded, but he needed the answer before he got too attached to him again.
“I wasn’t sure you would want me back in your life. You protected me and I felt like I was taking advantage of our friendship, from your kindness. Back then letting you go felt selfless, no matter how much it hurt.” He lifted Wooyoung’s head to look at him. “Now I know that’s not true, but I thought that you would be happier without me.”
They stayed there. Wooyoung felt relaxed in knowing the other was there and that he had been missed, just like he had missed him. When Yeosang asked him about the years they spent apart, he brushed it aside not wanting to grim the evening. He didn’t want to mention how Yeosang’s parents looked at him when he visited his home or how the fact that he presented a few days before Yeosang disappeared made him believe for a while the harsh words he heard about presenting as an omega. He just compensated for it by hugging him for a long time before leaving his room.
Running into Mingi at the doorway helped Wooyoung come back to reality.
After a short visit to the bathroom to wash his face and return to himself. Wooyoung made his way towards his bedroom, eager to undo his suitcase and try the softness of his bed.
Once he reached downstairs, he heard a muffled whimper that made his spine tense.
It sounded like it came from the living room which made the perfect cover for him to snoop, his room was the closest to it.
As he got closer, the whimpers kept coming and he started to hear kissing sounds.
By the time he was in front of his door and near enough to see a fraction of what was happening, he could smell the arousal in the air. Seonghwa was stranding one of the alpha’s lap on the couch, while the other fingered him below his pants. The alpha identity concealed by the omega’s body. Although Seonghwa was on top, he was just taking whatever the alpha gave him. Like the alpha put him there to see him better, to access him better. And to be honest it was one of the hottest things Wooyoung had ever seen. The sounds of Seonghwa’s groans and whimpers combined with the way he bared his neck to the other was making Wooyoung dizzy.
By the looks of the wet patch in Seonghwa’s sweatpants they had been at it for a while before he found them.
Putting a hand on top of his scent gland to not blow his cover, he opened his door to enter his room to give them privacy. Don’t get him wrong, he will listen to the exchange from his room to get any extra information but he didn’t exactly need to see it.
“Do you like that little omega? Are you imagining it’s Wooyoung’s fingers filling you? I saw how you looked at him.” The amused voice belonged to San, the alpha that came back with Yeosang from the gym.
The sentence glued Wooyoung to the spot.
Seonghwa whimpered, looking more out of it.
“Are your alphas not enough? You say you love them but do you want them?” San’s tone of voice didn’t shift despite the vulnerability of his words. Despite it, Seonghwa seemed to sober up a bit.
“What–” He let out a surprised sign when San started kissing him to shut him up. The sounds of wet kisses were eventually interrupted by their groans when San moved his attention to Seonghwa’s neck while he sped up the hand inside his pants.
“Hmm It’s such a shame, these past weeks you were being so good,” said San between kisses.
“I am, I am good, please alpha.” With each second the pitch of the whines started to get higher.
“Oh? Does my omega want me to touch him even more Greedy little thing,” said San with a grin.
“Yes, yes. Oh please, please Sannie.”
Silence filled the room as San’s smile dropped and stopped all his previous movement. Only budging to take his hand out of Seonghwa’s pants.
That was Wooyoung's cue to enter his room. The only sign that he was there was the door not being fully closed in order to hear the conversation. Watching what was happening wasn't as important as ensuring he wasn't interfering. He felt bad for Seonghwa but usually the most crucial information was the one that the pack’s members were too embarrassed to share. As long as the situation didn’t evolve, he needed to stay out of sight.
"I told you to not call me that." His tone was completely serious now. In contrast Seonghwa’s voice still sounded a bit out of it.
"Sorry alpha, I didn't... I'm sorry I didn't mean it."
"... I don't feel like continuing. I'm going to bed. Hyung, stand up."
Wooyoung counted ten seconds before the silence was broken by a whimper.
"Hyung, don't make me push you."
Wooyoung closed the door before San came near his room.