Chapter Text
Disgust.
That’s what Hyunjin feels as soon as he wakes up in the morning. He gags the moment he steps out of his room and vanilla and chocolate reach his nostrils, enter his lungs and graze the more primal side of himself. Fucking awful.
It’s not an uncommon scent, but it particularly bothers him today, like his senses have decided to switch up.
Jeongin often comes over after the weekend with vanilla and chocolate sticking to his clothes, just the faint scent, nothing so… preponderant. No, this time it was sitting under his skin, and he has been dragging it around the apartment all day and morning too.
Hyunjin still gets ready for the day, dances around the apartment to avoid Jeongin’s path while making breakfast and showering and then heads out, somewhere where this scent won’t follow him.
Technically there’s nothing on Hyunjin’s schedule for the whole week, art classes are halted because of a water leak in his school’s building, his dance teacher is on a honeymoon and he’s done with all his art commissions. Lately it has gotten harder getting one, Hyunjin has become less approachable at art shows and events as, well, he either smells like he has just stepped out of a burning oven or like flowers left in a neglected and forgotten vase to become mouldy.
He dangerously tags along Yeji around the Yonsei campus, sneaks into her classes to draw while she takes notes and avoids the best he can the chemistry building to not cross, also, Seungmin. He knows he studies and works somewhere around it, it has just been pure luck they’ve never met before whenever Hyunjin had visited his friends.
Not for the first time he wonders a bit about him and, before he can trash the thought away, words of curiosity slip out of his mouth.
“Have you ever heard of Kim Seungmin?”
“Kim Seungmin?” Yeji’s voice raises in pitch at the surprising random question. She ponders on it for a second, humming. “Is he a chemist?”
Bingo.
Something inside Hyunjin peaks in interest.
“Yeah, that must be him.”
Yeji checks her phone before giving her attention back to Hyunjin. “My friend is working with him on his research,” she provides, a hint of glee in her eyes. “Are you two friends?”
Something way worse, Hyunjin would like to say. “He’s just one of my new roommates.”
It's not the first time Hyunjin has roommates, he has been moving in and out of apartments and rented rooms since the start of his studies. Dorms weren’t the right fit, his room was too cramped and the noise coming from the whole floor was distracting him whenever he would sit down to work on a piece. That all beta apartment was quite nice but too expensive, the loft by the university became a big no when he found out his neighbor was stealing his mail, and sharing an apartment with his ex boyfriend was probably the worst choice ever in his life.
Hyunjin needed peace, and somewhere cheap and private where he could lick his wounds.
He doesn’t know why, but slowly, throughout the morning, his thoughts swirl constantly towards either Seungmin or Jeongin. It must be walking around where Seungmin walks daily, or that disgusting annoying scent that was clinging to Jeongin’s skin and clothes earlier and that he is still not able to escape from, as if it settled somehow also under his skin.
Hyunjin knows it’s impossible, yet he can feel it bothering him even far away from their apartment, after a shower and changing, while he follows Yeji and her strong alpha scent that should overpower it but still doesn’t.
Even the crowded smelly subway he takes on his way back to the apartment doesn’t and Hyunjin is so frustrated that once he’s back at home, he starts opening every window. The apartment is too hot and stinks, it’s unnerving.
“I don’t know how to say this nicely, oppa,” Ryujin prefaces on the phone after Hyunjin’s long rant over everything that has happened lately. “But he might be dating whoever scented him, so you should get used to it.”
It’s a normal logical way of thinking — Hyunjin hates it. Is he going to be living with this scent for the next months? Will he have to look for another cheap room for rent in an apartment with no alphas? He was extremely lucky in finding one already through the dance school’s bulletin board.
He shrugs his jacket off out of frustration and drops it on the sofa. It feels so hot even with all the windows open and air flowing.
It still stinks.
“Give me a reason to not jump off this window,” he says with no real meaning in his words. He’s just frustrated, that’s all. Even sticking his nose out to inhale the smog of Seoul doesn’t help him.
“You should close it, actually,” Ryujin reminds him. “Your roommates will complain about the cold air later.”
Hyunjin has no idea of what she’s talking about, the temperature is uncomfortably hot in every room he has stepped in. Still, he follows Ryujin's advice before closing the phone call and going back to his room. He falls on the softness of the blanket on his bed and reaches for a pillow to dive his nose into.
At least, there’s one scent that soothes him a little inside this apartment. It’s just simple cotton, neutral and calming, but it does the trick, lulling him into a tired slumber.
💐
Mineminemineminemine.
Hyunjin’s next days pass like a storm, he feels insane, worse than he has ever felt on his heat. By the end of it his limbs hurt and his mind is more confused than ever, the only certainty in his life is that he wants Jeongin just as much as he wants Seungmin and it is… intoxicating.
The last day is the most embarrassing one but also the most thrilling. Holding Jeongin’s hand by the laundry machine, seeing Seungmin after hearing his whines day and night. Hyunjin wants to bite them even more than before.
And bite he does. They all do. So much that Hyunjin goes a bit astray and almost forgets his doctor’s appointment even though when he scheduled it he was panicking so hard that he mistyped some words.
“I’m sorry I made you wait, you seemed quite worried in your email.” Doctor Choi folds her glasses to put them back on top of her desk and offers him a smile. “Your blood results speak clearly, you’re the healthiest person who has ever sat on this chair.”
Hyunjin starts bouncing his leg, all the feelings of his first days of heat now resurfacing. When he got the notification on his phone in the morning, he had fallen from cloud nine.
“Are you sure?” He checks.
“Yes, of course,” Doctor Choi nods enthusiastically. “I know many omegas that would do crazy tricks for your hormonal levels.”
Hyunjin wavers under her gaze, which is nothing but kind and comprehensive, just as she has been in the past years that Hyunjin has been her patient. “So they’re fine?”
“Why?” She counterattacks, although still gentle in her tone and approach. It’s Hyunjin’s fault if he’s feeling like a fish in a tank getting observed. “Are you still…” she tries, wary, “...dating that older alpha?”
“Fuck no.” Hyunjin’s answer comes out of him spontaneous and quick, his whole body recoiling at the mere memory of his ex boyfriend. He still gags at the scent of menthol cigarettes if it comes too close to him. “Fuck that pathetic excuse of a man.”
Doctor Choi, instead of showing disgust, chuckles at Hyunjin’s reaction. “Good,” she nods. “Then, if he’s not around, why are you checking your hormone levels early? Your check up should’ve been in a couple of months.”
Hyunjin slips his fingers under the rip of his black jeans, tugs at a strand and plays with it to ease his tension. When he sent that email he never would’ve expected for his relationship with Seungmin and Jeongin to take a wild turn, one that he’s enthusiastic about and scared to break the frail balance of.
“Can omegas trigger someone else’s heat?” He doesn’t look up as he speaks to not see how Doctor Choi reacts to the question.
There’s a beat of silence before she answers.
“There have been a couple of instances in medicine,” she tells him, lifting a weight off Hyunjin’s shoulders. There might be nothing wrong with him. “Has someone triggered your heat early?”
Hyunjin shakes his head as he looks up, a lot more relieved than two minutes ago. “Yes. But also— I have, actually,” he admits shyly. “So I was worried.”
”So you triggered each other into an early heat?” She tries to put the pieces together, Hyunjin knows it’s only his fault for not being clear, so he braces himself for the whole storytelling.
“I have two roommates,” he starts. “We’ve been fighting for months and it’s been insufferable and— sorry, that’s not the point.” Hyunjin stops his rant midway to go straight to the point instead. “One of them came back home scented and then I… I got my heat right the next day, but I was so… mad?”
“Upset?”
Yes.
Upset and territorial and disgustingly possessive as if Jeongin were his even before he offered his neck to Hyunjin.
“Maybe,” he downplays it. “They got into their heat too once they got back home but it wasn’t like a sync-cycle.”
Doctor Choi nods, something in her expression that Hyunjin can’t quite decipher and that makes him feel self conscious — even though Doctor Choi has been next to him through his worst times and health scares. Hyunjin was just an inexperienced omega in a family of alphas when he had presented at nineteen years old, unsure on what to do next. And now he’s a full adult, still sitting on the chair in front of her, hoping to get reassurance once more.
“Because it wasn’t,” she says, her hand reaching for the mouse on top of her desk and her gaze momentarily leaving Hyunjin to check her monitor. She types something as she speaks. “You’re just into each other.”
Oh.
Well.
Hyunjin wasn’t a stranger to how many times he had spent a couple of those extraordinary and special quiet moments between them to admire Seungmin or Jeongin. To breathe in the little sweet hints in their scents under the strong burning ones coming out from both of them, to rest his eyes on their figures, so different from each other, and memorize every detail. Seungmin’s straight wide shoulders and Jeongin slightly more slouched ones, soft and sharp cheekbones, sharp and soft eyebrow arches.
Sometimes, Hyunjin had found himself sketching the pretty curve of Jeongin’s pouty lips or the bump of Seungmin’s nose bridge before realizing that his subjects weren’t exactly casual.
Maybe nothing has ever been casual among them.
“Could you have been perhaps jealous?”
Hyunjin doesn’t need to utter the answer for both of them to know it.
Doctor Choi clicks on something, her eyes skimming through whatever she’s looking at on the screen. “Jealousy increases hormonal levels in omegas, so their scents can turn strong enough to call back their mates,” she reads out loud. “The levels may peak in a heat if the omega’s system considers the situation as an emergency.”
“We’re not mated,” Hyunjin utters bluntly.
So many times they’ve walked the dangerous line of almost sinking their teeth into each other's neck these past days, fangs digging on skin enough to poke but not to reach the outer membranes of their scent glands.
“And yet your body considered them part of yourself already,” Doctor Choi states, certain of her words and hitting Hyunjin with the truth as always. ”You let them see you for who you truly are, flaws and anger. Your authentic self is something that you usually cover up, if I remember correctly.”
People started putting labels on Hyunjin before he even learned how to pick his own by himself. A pretty face. A nice body. A loud laugh. A future alpha. Not an alpha. A sweet omega. A wall, it raised tall and strong, every brick sustained by Hyunjin’s own willpower to protect himself from being seen and misinterpreted — since nobody even bothered to know his real self.
Art and dancing became an outlet to pour out his true emotions, to express everything that he wouldn’t to the people around him. With time he made some friends that he can now consider true and close, but this habit stayed, difficult — and scary — to unlearn.
Hyunjin isn’t sure how or why his petals opened in front of Jeongin and Seungmin, he had roommates before, he has been annoyed or angry before.
Maybe it was Seungmin not dropping any discussion no matter how many ‘Whatever’ Hyunjin would try to use to escape the incoming explosion of feelings building up inside of him. Or was it Jeongin with his aggressive upset scent that would never leave him and his unapologetic attitude, clear with his emotions so much that Hyunjin felt like he knew him so well without being close to him?
Clear with his emotions except that one night.
Was he scented because he was in love? Was it fooling around? Hyunjin scanned him for signs all the way down to his room only to not be able to understand Jeongin for the first time ever, vanilla and chocolate covering up everything.
Hyunjin digests Doctor Choi’s words on his way back home — where two bickering lovely men are waiting for him.
💐
“Mh, where are you going?” Hyunjin wraps his arm around Jeongin and flushes his whole body against his back. He whines a little as he shoves his nose in his neck, scents mixing together on his skin.
Jeongin chuckles and tries to push him away playfully. “I need to get up to call off work for the day,” he cranes his neck, a valley of skin only for them to kiss. Hyunjin leaves a brush of lips on it.
“You’re staying home?”
“There’s no… it’s…” Jeongin shivers in his arms. “I think I need rest after yesterday.”
Oh, yesterday. Hyunjin sighs just at the thought of it. The closeness between their bodies, the way he could feel both of them at the same time. It’s a shame they couldn’t last more than a couple of minutes, but they will work on it.
“You shouldn’t even get up,” Seungmin mumbles from his side of the bed. When he turns around his hair are sticking at all sides, a tired puppy who soon joins their embrace.
Hyunjin lets Seungmin’s hand sneak between his front and Jeongin’s back, giving him space to wrap himself also around Jeongin. He playfully pokes Hyunjin’s belly just once and then presses his pouty lips on Jeongin’s own with a short and quiet hum.
Jeongin’s whole body melts at the kiss, like a pavlovian response. He becomes soft just like dough, malleable in their hands, and grips Seungmin’s waist to pull him closer just at the same time as he pushes his hips back against Hyunjin.
Lips pressed to Jeongin’s nape, Hyunjin sneaks his hand under Jeongin’s pajama shirt. “Want to try again?”
Jeongin shakes his head, still not however separating himself from them. “I need to send a text to Chan hyung,” he mumbles against Seungmin’s lips. “At least that.”
“Okay, pretty,” Hyunjin bids goodbye to their embrace to sit up. “I’ll do it for you, stay there,” he says, as if there’s even a chance that Jeongin will escape now the softness of Seungmin’s bed sheets and the hold he’s locked in.
He gets a mumbled answer, something between a moan and a sigh and a “Yes,” that makes flowers bloom all over his heart. Seungmin lets out a more impolite “Hurry up,” that also strikes at Hyunjin’s sensitive heart and makes him chuckle.
“Password,” he demands once he’s met with Jeongin’s lock screen — a Pokemon artwork downloaded from the internet. That little undercover nerd.
“Zero— Ah,” Jeongin’s voice culminates into a moan, Hyunjin holds back from looking at what’s happening behind his shoulders. “Three, two— Deeper, Seungmin-a, yeah there— Five.”
The air is sickeningly sweet, sugar burning and honey coating the walls of the room. Hyunjin inhales and leans back on one hand, while with the other scrolls down Jeongin’s contact list. He clicks on Chan’s contact and types a quick ‘can’t come to work today i’m sick’ and discards the phone back on the nightstand.
Once he finally turns his head, he finds Jeongin and Seungmin still glued together, their hands reaching down the back of each other's pants and legs slotted together. For a moment he thinks of sitting back against the headboard and just watch, get drunk on the way their scents are intoxicatingly sticking to his lungs, let them lull him in a dazed state, but Seungmin gets his wet fingers out of Jeongin’s pants — “No, why— where—” “Shh, Jeonginnie.” — and taps them on the bed, looking for him.
So Hyunjin scoots closer again, pushes a hand flat to Jeongin’s stomach to make him lay on his back between them and parts his lips for Seungmin, tasting Jeongin off his fingers. Long and lean, they push down on Hyunjin’s tongue and feel the inside of his mouth.
Sugar has never been sweeter than it is when it comes from Jeongin, when Seungmin massages it right on his taste buds imprinting both his touch and Jeongin’s taste on them.
“Enough enough,” Jeongin laments.
Seungmin sighs, faking a groan. “You’re becoming just like Hyunjin.”
Hyunjin’s smile spreads on his lips wickedly. “I like that.”
“Of course you do.”
Jeongin sits up only to roll on top of Seungmin, knees digging in the mattress. “So you don’t want me?” He asks, bratty, pretty. Something inside of him sometimes still ignites, the urge to bite back not fully dormant — it has just changed modality.
Seungmin’s puppy eyes widen before he scrambles to sit up, one arm wrapping around Jeongin while he presses the other on the mattress to keep his back straight. “Yeah, Innie, I do,” he fumbles tragically, unlike he usually pushes with Hyunjin.
Hyunjin likes how differently they all act with each other, various shades of their personalities coming out each day. Jeongin tilting his head to the side and getting a fistful of Seungmin’s hair, Seungmin’s lips opening slack and pupils dilating as his head tilts back — he would never see all this if they weren’t merging their beings together.
“I thought so,” Jeongin leans down to kiss him. “You came so fast last night.”
“Please don’t remind me that,” Seungmin whines, parting from Jeongin’s pouty lips.
Hyunjin sits up too and places a peck on his shoulder, close to where he wears the scar of Jeongin’s bite. “It was hot,” he whispers on his skin. “You like pain, pup?”
There’s a keen sound echoing in the room, a rumble coming from inside Seungmin’s chest. “No,” he forces out. Lies.
Jeongin tugs at his hair again, foxy gaze sharpening. It flicks from Seungmin to Hyunjin and then right back. “I think he does. Isn’t it curious?” He tugs more and Seungmin’s whole chest shakes in an exhale. “Our puppy likes his tail to be tugged.”
There’s something so intricately satisfying in the sight Hyunjin is being blessed with so early in the morning. The sunlight shines through the curtains and hits the exact spot where Jeongin and Seungmin’s lips collide again. A piece of art in a gallery for one.
Hyunjin hopes his little contribution won’t ruin the masterpiece in front of his eyes, slowly kissing up Seungmin’s shoulder while his hand sneaks between them, palming on the spot where they’re both slowly grinding against each other.
“Is this a second heat?” He teases. It must be impossible, right?
Seungmin scoffs against Jeongin’s lips. “Twice in a trimester I’m going to— Ah—“ Another tug of hair distracts him, making him tilt his head back to show his throat for Jeongin to kiss.
“You’re going to..?” Jeongin’s words dance on his sun kissed skin and Hyunjin has to stop whatever he’s doing to watch. Canines grazing the curve of Seungmin's neck, pink puffy lips dragging on fresh marks.
A bob of his Adam’s apple, a deep shaky sigh. “Die.”
Jeongin’s eyebrows furrow at the word, along with his scent that spikes in intensity. “Don’t you ever dare.” The exaggerated complaint flies over his head and Hyunjin should find it cute instead of terribly arousing, a soft growl rumbling under Jeongin’s voice.
“I didn’t mean—”
Hyunjin shuts Seungmin up with his own lips before he gets lost in practicalities, before he can explain to Jeongin how he was just talking for the sake of it, because Jeongin seems… delicate right now. His whole skin reacts to touch with goosebumps, while his scent is wrapping around them in tight knots afraid they’ll slip away.
Seungmin seems to catch up on it and parts his lips from Hyunjin’s to look at Jeongin and tuck a wild strand of raven hair behind his ear. “I won’t,” he clarifies quickly and sweetly. “I could go through a hundred heats with you.”
”Thousands?” Jeongin sulks.
Seungmin blinks. “I don’t think anyone can have that many in a lifetime—“
This time it’s Jeongin shutting him up, and that tiny growl reverberates again in his chest, like a sign of annoyance and protest. He lies Seungmin down the mattress with just one hand pressed against his shoulder and immediately grabs onto the first piece of fabric he can catch of Hyunjin’s pajamas, tugging, demanding.
And who’s Hyunjin to not answer his request?
He welcomes Jeongin’s pouty lips, kisses him back softly and lets his warmth seep through him. It might not be a heat, but Jeongin’s body is so hot it could poke a hole through fabric.
“Yeni.” Hyunjin pushes his damp bangs off Jeongin’s pretty face, letting his own fingers linger on the highest points of his cheeks. “I think yesterday did something to you.”
Jeongin blinks, eyes droopy and struggling to focus on one spot for too long, constantly falling to Hyunjin’s lips. “Ah,” he sighs. His cheeks are rosy, his neck blushing too. “I… I liked having you that close,” he voices out his thoughts with shyness. “It’s all I can think about.”
The room is thick with sweetness that glues to Hyunjin’s throat and melts down to his lungs. When he glances down Seungmin is busy drawing small circles with his thumbs over Jeongin’s thighs, right where his big hands are trying to cover most of the space they can.
“Can’t let go of us?” Hyunjin teases lightly.
Jeongin shakes his head in answer, humming a quiet negation. “You’re mine now.” His voice is soft, teasing, yet so decisive.
Mine. Yes. Hyunjin feels his as much as he feels like they both belong to him. He kisses Jeongin’s mouth exactly with the same feeling rippling out of himself — something rumbles in his chest, in Jeongin’s, in Seungmin’s too.
And if Hyunjin could, he would claim them both right now, so everyone will know, so strangers won’t wonder just if they’re omegas with a wide assortment of scents.
His. Theirs. Anticipation grows inside Hyunjin for his next heat, when he’ll beg for their fangs to sink into him.
Warmth pools in his guts, burning, as Jeongin pushes him down the mattress and slips in his lap and Seungmin’s lips graze his neck.
Worries melt away.
💐
Mrs. Lee’s art gallery is one of Hyunjin’s safe spaces, quiet and relaxing, scent suppressors in the vents of the air conditioning to not influence anyone’s experience of the exhibitions. He walks down the corridor, the heels of his boots clicking lightly against the parquet floor, and stops in front of a painting.
Hyunjin was going through a lot when he had worked on it, feelings of rejection, anger, sadness, all exploding in a burst of reds and blacks. The flowers are withering, petals crushed on the ground by heavy imaginary boots.
Hyunjin… hated himself. His nature. His scent. That was why he started coming to the gallery even when his pieces weren’t hung in it, even when the seasonal exhibition hadn’t changed yet. Here is where he could build up his wall even higher, impossible to break down.
Today, he walks down the corridors wishing that the people around him could feel the warm scent of baked goods and honey coating his scent glands, the accents of plumerias in the undertone of his overall scent, the claim. This is a new Hwang Hyunjin, one that doesn’t always want to hide himself behind a curtain of practiced smiles and the tricky sweet undertones of his scent, one that is far different from the one that tapped his brush on the canvas angrily — painting it all crimson red.
“This piece of yours always leaves me shocked.” Mr. Park surprises him, making Hyunjin startle a little before he turns to the side and takes in the man’s figure.
He has always had a thing for Hyunjin’s art, something that sounded flattering at the start but has grown into a quite uncomfortable feeling under his skin.
Hyunjin tucks a strand of hair behind his ear and goes back to look at the canvas in front of himself. “You could buy it,” he suggests, a hint of playfulness in his tone. Enough to tug at Mr. Park’s strings, plant the seed for it to grow. Hyunjin doesn’t want to take this painting back home once the gallery will change the exhibition soon. “It has been there for quite a while now.”
“Someone from the cleaning staff said it smells of coal when the vents are off at night.”
Of course he knows what scent clinged to the paint, always a tad creepy in how much he would dance around Hyunjin and his pieces.
Hyunjin would like to take a step to the side to put more distance between them, a recurring feeling whenever he encounters Mr. Park anywhere. But at least here Hyunjin can’t feel the strong whiskey scent coming off of him in waves.
Thankfully, the vibration of his phone in his pocket saves Hyunjin from the awkward and uncomfortable conversation. He excuses himself and finds a quiet corner in between pieces, where he wouldn’t disturb anyone with his whispered conversation.
“Hey,” Seungmin’s breath is cut short, heavy. “Come save me from our crazy boyfriend?”
The alarming feeling that bursted in Hyunjin’s chest settles down as equally fast as it bloomed. He chuckles lightly and runs a hand through his hair.
“What is our cutie doing?” He asks with a smile tugging at his lips.
“Torturing—”
There’s a bit of commotion in the background, whining, a groan.
“He decided to follow me on a run,” Jeongin answers. His tone is light and amused, the grin on his face clear just by how he’s speaking. “Technically I’ve done nothing.”
Hyunjin takes a few steps quietly, following the invisible trail towards the exit. He giggles into his own palm to not be too loud and “Should we check his temperature?” jokes, feeling like he’s fluttering around rather than walking.
No other relationship in Hyunjin’s life can compare with what he has with Jeongin and Seungmin, the freedom to be himself, the way his chest feels so full he doesn’t know how to contain his emotions anymore. Sometimes, Hyunjin wonders if he has ever been truly in love before now.
Jeongin laughs mischievously while Seungmin complains in the background. Somewhere in the streets of their neighborhood, honey is dripping on top of a warm slice of freshly baked bread, and Hyunjin and never been so hungry.
“Hyunjin-a,” Seungmin’s voice comes out distant. “You care about my life, right?”
“Just go back home,” Jeongin giggles. “We’re one block away.”
“You’re cruel.”
“I still have around two—Ouch! Stop— stop that!”
Hyunjin snorts as he leans against the wall outside the gallery, the logo hanging over him. He’s a fool in love. They all are. He shakes his head and stays quiet as he hears the other two bickering over if biting someone in public is considered socially acceptable or not.
Whiskey passes by him, strong, piercing, forcing Hyunjin to come out of his bubble to nod back at Mr. Park as he passes by him. But he gets quickly back to his phonecall, Seungmin calling for him.
“Jeonginnie says we should be ready by seven if we want to see the fireworks,” he informs him. “See you back at home?”
Home.
Another word that Hyunjin loves.
“Yeah, of course. I’ll see you both there.”
Just this morning Jeongin told them they were going to go out, a quick information given over coffee in the morning. He walked into the kitchen while putting on his suit jacket, glasses perched on his nose, hair a bit messy. He was glowing. And yet he had still that small crease in between his eyebrows that never left after their fight a couple of days ago.
Hyunjin knows he shouldn’t have gotten mad at Jeongin bumping against one of his paint buckets and knocking it down. He even forgot he left it unopened there on the windowsill, it was bound to get touched and fall, it was all Hyunjin’s fault. However he still got annoyed at the splashes of paint that hit the canvas.
Three days and Hyunjin has seen Jeongin having a relaxed expression only when he was sleeping, or when he would come back home and see him shyly corner Seungmin on the sofa to rub his cheek over his scent glands.
They were fine now. They’re fine now.
It just takes time to digest the emotional moment, the guilt of yelling and the knowledge that there’s still a bit to work on. Jeongin told him that, and so Hyunjin is waiting patiently for him to relax.
When he gets back home and opens the front door, he hopes to be welcomed by a sweet smile and eyes turning into crescent moon, dimples and a blush, baked goods and the sweetness of them wrapping around him. As soon as he steps in, giggles reach his ears, Seungmin’s quiet laugh and Jeongin’s slightly airy one.
He finds them in the kitchen, where their scents intensify, where Jeongin is sitting on the kitchen table, Seungmin standing in between his legs and nuzzling his head in his neck. Another day Hyunjin would’ve said something about it being dog behavior, but he just wishes he could distend Jeongin’s expression like Seungmin does.
They notice him quickly and turn their heads his way. There’s a rusty red flush on the apples of Jeongin’s cheeks, while Seungmin looks way less shy about being caught sniffing Jeongin, hair all messy and lips curving in a soft smirk.
They’re both still in running gear, sweat drying on their temples where strands of hair are curling softly.
“Hey.” Jeongin extends his hand towards him, his skin blushing and glistening under the dimmed light.
Hyunjin steps closer to accept it and lets Jeongin drag him closer while Seungmin steps to the side. “Was it a good run?”
Tug. Tug. Hyunjin almost trips on his own feet when Jeongin pulls him right against his lips — warm, sweet, soft. “Mhmh,” he hums into the kiss. “Seungminnie is horrible at running.”
“Hey!”
Hyunjin does his best to not melt right on the spot, his lips brushing lightly against Jeongin’s as he speaks. “So odd… puppies should enjoy running.”
He kind of deserves Seungmin sneaking his index and middle finger under his choker and pulling him back before he can kiss Jeongin once more. It’s a punishment and a gift, because by stepping away Hyunjin can see Jeongin’s expression, his rosy cheeks and the way his eyebrows are not furrowed in his presence anymore. He chuckles at them, at Hyunjin’s small cough and Seungmin sticking his tongue out at him.
“Says the serial biter.”
“Says the one who was sniffing sweat a second ago.”
“You like it when I do that to you though.”
Jeongin laughs as he hops off the table. “Okay, okay,” he puts his hands on both of their chests, stopping the lighthearted bickering. “We should shower and get ready. We can’t be late.”
Hyunjin didn’t know showering included making out, held so tight while fingers are feeling his scalp and another pair of teeth are tracing the shape of his scent gland. He didn’t know he could feel so well, that he could feel so full and flustered even after such stressful days.
Somehow, between it all, they manage to get clean and ready. Jeongin and Seungmin wait for him to fix his eyeliner before heading out, not a single complaint about how he’s curating his looks, how he looks good even without the makeup or how he’s wasting time. Hyunjin used to hear a lot of those before.
“You should teach me,” Jeongin says instead, his eyes following the movement of Hyunjin’s finger as he blurs the sharp edge of his eyeliner.
Seungmin turns to look at him and hums. “Yeah, you would look good too with it.”
Jeongin grins like he does before he says something he knows it’s going to irk Seungmin. “You think I look good?”
And like clockwork Seungmin pushes him away gently with two fingers pressed on his forehead. Jeongin laughs, satisfied even more as Seungmin scoffs, and Hyunjin can’t hold back the snort that comes out of him.
This, is the kind of life he hopes to keep forever.
💐
“There’s no way I’m wearing that,” Seungmin puts up a useless fight against Jeongin, the hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
Dog ears hairband stuck mid air, Jeongin rolls his eyes before catching both of Seungmin’s wrists to stop him from opposing again. Hyunjin steps closer to help, taking the hairband and placing it on top of Seungmin’s head.
“Bark for us?”
“I’ll bite you instead,” Seungmin threatens. He looks adorable with the fluffy ears poking out of his hair like so.
The amusement park is full at this time of the day on a weekend, couples and groups of friends are lining up behind them to wait for their turn on picking accessories to rent too. It’s a lighthearted youthful kind of date, exactly the kind that Hyunjin would’ve expected from Jeongin.
Big grin on his face and red fox ears on top of his head rendering him cuter than usual, Hyunjin would like to wrap his arms around him tightly. But in public it would be a too big display of affection, so he holds back and settles for a quick surprise peck on his cheek.
“It’s a perfect date already.”
“Because you’re bullying me?” Seungmin tugs at the hold on his wrists aimlessly. What a liar, he’s not even trying.
Hyunjin kisses his cheek too. “Exactly.”
They leave the stand with tinted rosy cheeks and animal ears and Hyunjin couldn’t be happier. He’s never had this, something light hearted and funny, a chance to laugh and be himself so openly.
He enjoys every minute of it to the brim, every line before a ride, hands crushing each others while air misses from their lungs at the drop after a long ride up, the wind pushing Seungmin’s hair back as he laughs and Jeongin shutting his eyes closed when the rides get a bit scarier. He files every little experience in a corner of his mind, pushing far back boring wine dates and men trying to push their big ideas on him.
“We should eat something before the firework show,” Jeongin trots happily between them as if he didn’t yell like he was being murdered on the last ride. His hair is still messy from the wind and his hairband is crooked, making him look like a puzzled fox caught in the wild after a hunt.
Seungmin instead is quick in trying to fix his attire. He takes off his hairband to run a hand through his hair and then puts it right back on his head neatly. “What would you like to have?”
Two sets of eyes settle on Hyunjin, waiting.
“Oh, anything’s fine.”
An eyebrow raises on one side, foxy eyes blink at him on the other.
“Okay, mh, tteokbokki?”
“Great,” Jeongin grins. “There’s a stand by the fountain.”
Eating the hot food only warms Hyunjin’s chest further. They eat on one of the tables in front of the stand, enjoying the little time they have left before the firework show that will be right before the park’s closing time.
It feels domestic and peaceful, sweet in the way Jeongin playfully tries to feed Seungmin and the other accepts as if he’s not enjoying it.
“C’mon, hyung,” Jeongin giggles as he raises his chopsticks. “Just one bite, pup.”
“Don’t say such things out loud,” Seungmin whispers, poking him on the side. The action is obviously the worst choice ever knowing Jeongin’s clumsiness, but the evident blush on his cheeks tells Hyunjin that the sweet name used in public hit a too tender spot.
The rice cake slips from between Jeongin’s chopsticks, falling right on his thigh and his jeans.
“You should’ve expected this,” Hyunjin chuckles as he reaches for the napkins on the table.
Jeongin’s loud sound of surprise gets drowned out by Seungmin’s sigh. “I should’ve known it.”
“Hey?” Jeongin looks at them both, right side first and left sight after. “You have no faith in my hands?”
“No,” Seungmin answers bluntly, taking the napkin that Hyunjin offers him. He pats it on the spot uselessly, only drying the surface of the sauce staining Jeongin’s dark wash jeans. “We need water, I think.”
“But the fireworks—”
“We’ll be on time,” Seungmin reassures Jeongin quickly. “It’s kind of my fault too, let me clean you up.”
He places a kiss over Jeongin’s lips as the other repeats an incredulous “Kind of?” making the word come out slurred. Hyunjin can only shake his head at the sight in front of him.
Left alone while Seungmin drags a complaining Jeongin to the nearest bathroom, Hyunjin busies himself with cleaning up the table. He piles his and Seungmin’s empty cups and rubs a napkin over the spot he also quietly got dirty on the table surface — he might be a bit clumsy too, maybe, don’t tell Jeongin that.
He’s so lost in his small bubble that he doesn’t notice the man walking up to the table until he hears his voice and the scent of menthol and tobacco reaches his nostrils.
“Hyunjin—a?”
Like a switch being flipped, Hyunjin’s body grows stiff. He discards the napkin in the piled cups to gain a second to think before looking up. The alpha’s scent is strong and overpowering, slapping away the soft comforting ones clinging to him.
“Joonho.” Even saying the name feels like venom on his tongue.
How dare he come up to Hyunjin after what he put him through, after the constant judging and belittling. He projected his fantasies on Hyunjin trying to mold him to his liking, and got angry whenever he didn’t fit the picture. But Hyunjin is slowly learning that there’s nothing wrong with being himself, that he can be loved with all his quirks and interests, through the ups and downs. That he can be seen for who he is.
“You still paint your nails black.”
“I thought you said amusement parks are childish.”
Joonho blinks at Hyunjin’s instant answer. Caught him.
“I— I met someone here.” He straightens his posture and crosses his arms over his chest, as if Hyunjin was the one who came up to him to talk and bother him. Maybe that’s what he wished for, for Hyunjin to still try to get his attention.
He’s a nuisance at best.
“Okay,” Hyunjin shrugs, because pressing over how he would always deny Hyunjin’s date ideas would be like bending to his sick will again. “Did you have something to say or..?”
“Hyung,” Jeongin’s voice echoes behind Hyunjin’s shoulder like a beacon of light. “Is this one of your friends?”
Joonho’s eyes travel up over Hyunjin’s head, scanning the two people behind him. Under the strong menthol scent, burnt coffee and coal push through.
“We should go if we don’t want to miss the fireworks,” Seungmin says.
Yes. Hyunjin has more important matters to attend to than sitting down below the stare of a man who helped put down the bricks of Hyunjin’s high defense mechanism. He sits up and picks up their trash, uncaring of giving Joonho another glance.
“It’s nobody,” he answers Jeongin’s question before pecking his lips. “Let’s go. You really care about us seeing the fireworks, right?”
Surprisingly, Jeongin who’s usually way shyer in public, leans in for another kiss — a deeper one, more charged. “Yes,” he whispers. “Thank you, hyung.”
When Hyunjin peeks his eyelids open, he spots Jeongin and Seungmin still boring their eyes into Joonho. It’s new and surprising how their gazes are turning sharp.
Hyunjin puts the piled cups and napkins in one of Seungmin’s hands and holds his other one. “What’s the best spot to look at them?” He asks, holding Jeongin’s other hand.
He needs to step out of the infected environment, no matter how flattered he is to notice Jeongin and Seungmin’s scents pushing back the stench trying to cling to him. Thankfully they both seem to understand him, turning their backs to Joonho and fixing their holds on Hyunjin’s hands.
“I think the bridge’s the best spot,” Jeongin finally answers. He doesn’t pry, doesn’t ask anymore, knowing this is not the right time.
Seungmin discards their things on the nearest trashcan nonchalantly and sweetly traces the back of Hyunjin’s hand with his thumb. “We’re going there, then?”
Hyunjin feels finally free to take one full, not shaky breath, purifying his lungs with the sweet scents embracing him. “Did you exchange pants?” He realizes, more clear minded.
Jeongin chuckles softly and nods, grinning. The dress pants are contrasting with his baggy stylish sweatshirt but he still seems prideful of his look. “Yeah, Seungminnie apologized this way.”
On Hyunjin’s other side, Seungmin shrugs smugly, as if he just did something monumental. His look is slightly more cohesive as the jeans — still stained — match his shirt and comfy sweater vest.
Hyunjin leans closer to Jeongin’s side. “I bet he wants us to say that he’s cool,” he not so carefully whispers, poking at Seungmin's spots.
Seungmin pokes right back as usual. “You can wash them later since you’re so good with laundry.”
Needless to say, Hyunjin chases him down the exit of the park on their way to the bridge.
💐
Hyunjin swallows down his birth control with a sip of coffee, leaning against the kitchen counter as Jeongin and Seungmin wander left and right the apartment to get ready.
Glasses askew on his nose and hair still damp, Seungmin passes by and slips the warm cup out of Hyunjin’s hands to steal a sip. He scrunches his nose as he gives it back, making Hyunjin stifle a laugh.
“Is your coffee always this sweet?”
Jeongin scoffs while he struggles to fit his water bottle in his briefcase. He has a presentation today, something about the latest engagement numbers of the public with an ad on an account on a social media platform of some kind — Hyunjin can’t quite wrap his head around it. He’s dressed even more formal than usual, black suit and tie.
“Or is your coffee too sour?”
Seungmin waltzes to his side and leans a hand on the table right next to where Jeongin’s briefcase falls. “Thought you liked my coffee?”
“Shut up,” Jeongin gathers his stuff quickly and elbows him on the side as his ears grow red.
Oh. How Hyunjin has learned to love mornings.
He takes another sip of his coffee to check the taste, enjoying the perfect balance of sweet and sour. “You’re a maniac,” he mumbles at Seungmin, unleashing his playful side. It’s like a whistle blow, calling Seungmin to him again.
He giggles as he gets cornered against the counter, his cup of coffee courtly put aside by Seungmin before he comes closer to Hyunjin’s ear. “We should surprise Innie after work,” he whispers, “take him to dinner or out for drinks.”
Hyunjin gazes at Jeongin and at the subtle way he’s trying to look at them without staring too intently. He’s been buzzing with nerves for the past five days. The last time Hyunjin has seen him relaxed was while looking up at the fireworks.
“Yeah, I’m in.”
“In for what?” Jeongin asks casually, closing his briefcase after another shove at his water bottle, quick, as if it could implode if he’s not fast enough.
“A good luck kiss,” Hyunjin throws a white lie, “you can’t back out.”
After months, Jeongin still gets all flushed from these kinds of sentences. The tip of his ears get all red in a couple of seconds as his brain reboots — cute.
“But you can’t mess up my hair,” he finally says, putting down his overpacked briefcase on the kitchen table. “Or my clothes,” he adds right after.
“You’re so pretty, you should model.”
“Okay, I’m out.”
Hyunjin almost misses him as Jeongin gets his briefcase and does a 180 turn to exit the kitchen. He manages to wrap his fingers around his wrist and tug him enough to make him look at him, enough for him to leave a kiss on Jeongin’s lips.
They taste of toothpaste and lipbalm, not the most romantic of scents, but Hyunjin’s heart flutters anyway. Domesticity feels nice.
“You’ll do well.”
“Changbinnie hyung said your presentation is good,” Seungmin adds.
The reassurance doesn’t go as planned, as Jeongin’s face scrunches in an exaggerated expression of disgust. “Ah, don’t call him like that,” he sighs.
Seungmin shrugs. “He’s nice.”
Jeongin adds another sigh for the dramatics before letting go. “He really is, yeah.”
“Good boy.” Hyunjin pecks his lips again to reward him, feeling too many urges to kiss him again when he parts and Jeongin is pretending to be annoyed, rolling his eyes at him.
“Alright, I’ll go.”
The morning keeps on rolling as usual. Seungmin brews his own coffee like the little coffee maniac that he is and then hangs around Hyunjin until he has to leave, as Hyunjin starts settling his things on the corner of the living room to finish his commission. He should be done by the exhibition on Friday where his client will come to give their first look at it.
Mrs. Lee was kind and charming when she approached Hyunjin with her personal request. She has been looking at him, analyzing his work, and finally made her mind on asking Hyunjin to make his next piece for her only to take home after the exhibition.
He looks at the waves on the canvas and there’s something calming about it. Hyunjin hasn’t made such a quiet piece in a very long time.
“Hey,” Seungmin wakes him up from his thinking state. “I’ll text you later for dinner plans, alright?”
“Oh, yes, su—” Hyunjin’s last word dies on his lips as Seungmin pecks them quickly.
Hyunjin would like to wrap his arms around him and stop him from hiding in his dusty office for most of the day, but he knows he can’t do that, so he just watches Seungmin leave just like he did with Jeongin, and then turns to face his painting once more.
The drops of color splashed by Jeongin’s incident have been fully covered, so Hyunjin doesn’t have much left to do if not giving the final little touches before varnishing. That’s how he spends most of his morning, music playing in the background and paintbrush in hand.
He only checks his phone several hours later, a smile making its way on his face as he scrolls through the notifications.
He opens Changbin and Lia’s chats first, knowing already the possible material that has been sent to him.
Changbinnie hyung:
[photo]
Look at him ><
They grow so fast ㅠㅠ
Hyunjin quickly saves the picture of Jeongin mid-talking in front of a big screen with datas on before answering.
Me:
did it go well??
Changbinnie hyung:
Aced it!!!!!
[photo]
In the new most recent photo Jeongin’s resting his head on his desk, an empty cup of coffee close to his elbow. If he’s sleeping through his caffeine rush, he must be really tired from the past working and worry. Hyunjin saves this one too after sending a cute sticker and moving to the next chat.
Lia~:
Yeji and Ryujin say we should go out all together one night!!
[photo]
Convince this nerd
Me:
we should!!
i’m in ^^
oh
i’ve never seen him with goggles on before
Hyunjin also saves Seungmin’s picture in the lab, golden secret material. He’ll gloat to Seungmin later tonight about it.
He skips through the old high school chat he’s somehow still in and opens Seungmin’s, knowing he’ll check his phone as soon as he’ll be free.
Me:
i think innie needs rest more than winding down on a night out
[forwarded photo]
Surprisingly, Seungmin answers quite quickly, just the time for Hyunjin to clean his art corner.
Puppy 🤍:
Okay night out canceled!
He’s so cute
Also I came to the knowledge that Lia sends you photos of me??
Me:
you never send selfies
Puppy 🤍:
You look at my face everyday?
Me:
and?
Puppy 🤍:
I can’t believe I haven’t bitten you yet
Hyunjin stands up from his stool to lay down on the couch, a pillow hugged to his chest.
Me:
i’m holding back a lot
Puppy 🤍:
Okay I’m putting down my phone before you say something unhinged
I’m at the lab
[photo]
The sight of Seungmin in lab goggles is quite cute, a staged annoyed stare right behind them.
Me:
okay :P
i’ll wait you at home pup
Hyunjin bumps Jeongin’s chat next even though he knows he’s asleep just to leave him a little gift for when he wakes up: two pretty photos of Seungmin with goggles on.
The rest of his day is quiet. Hyunjin orders in because he knows better than to put himself in front of a pan — that’s surprisingly a Jeongin job, as long as simple dishes are involved — and watches a couple of episodes of an anime. He does laundry, cleans the fridge before it gets too crowded with containers and Seungmin gets annoyed, and rests his paintbrushes to dry close to the sink.
He even has time to call Yeji and then Ryujin, waiting, sitting on top of the new laundry machine. Sometimes, he feels like he can still sniff the burning scent around the area. Everything used to burn back then.
“When’s the exhibition again?”
Ryujin’s breath is cut short from her run, Hyunjin can hear the noises of cars passing by and the yelling of some kids in the background through the line.
“Friday.”
“Are your boyfriends coming?”
Hyunjin bites on his bottom lip before answering. “Yeah, they are.”
There was a time where Hyunjin couldn’t answer similar questions, when who was beside him actually wasn’t. His life has changed majorly in such a short time.
Ryujin’s enthusiasm is genuine as she utters a “Wow.” Hyunjin chuckles a little at her surprised and relieved reaction. “I was almost scared to ask. I’m happy for you, oppa.”
“Yeah, I am too.” Something clicks in the background and the scent of freshly baked goods makes its way inside the apartment way earlier than it should’ve. “Thank you, Ryu.”
When Hyunjin looks up from his dangling feet, he’s met with the sight of Jeongin standing by the entrance of the corridor, cool hairstyle undone and his unknot tie resting around his neck. He must’ve left his briefcase somewhere else, as his hands are empty if not for one singular flower.
“Hey,” he greets quietly.
Hyunjin acknowledges him with a smile and watches as Jeongin steps closer and slowly finds his way between Hyunjin’s legs. His hands spread over Hyunjin’s thighs as they rise and Hyunjin’s focus over Ryujin’s words is slightly slipping.
Jeongin looks tired. Terribly so. He cuddles closer like he almost never does first and wraps his arms around Hyunjin, tucking his head under his chin.
He stays there until Hyunjin’s call ends, nose inhaling Hyunjin’s scent and a soft quiet growl trembling in his chest. “Tell me how your day was,” he says as soon as Hyunjin says goodbye to Ryujin. “Did you work much?”
“I should be asking that,” Hyunjin runs a hand through Jeongin’s hair. “Changbinnie hyung told me you did well.”
“Mh, it was okay.” Jeongin hums resurfacing from the hiding spot in the crook of Hyunjin’s neck and places the flower he is holding between them. It’s a singular tulip, pink and yellow shades going from the bottom to the top, he taps it against Hyunjin’s nose, making him chuckle and lean back. “Just because you work from home it doesn’t mean it’s not work. You sit hunched all morning, have expectations on you too.”
“Okay, okay,” Hyunjin tries to stop him from nagging, even though Jeongin’s words are a healing balm to old wounds.
He wraps his fingers around Jeongin’s wrist and gently makes him lay the flower on top of the washing machine. When he cups his face to place a kiss over his lips, Jeongin melts like butter on top of hot bread. He sighs and lingers, sweet and tired.
“You know you taste of tulips when you kiss me in the morning?” He asks over Hyunjin’s lips. Hyunjin can only shiver at the words. “I got this on the way to work to give me strength.” Another languid kiss. “Got a honey pastry too, but don’t tell Seungminnie.”
Hyunjin laughs into the next kiss, hitting Jeongin lightly on his side with his knee to reprimand him. Jeongin quickly catches his leg and squeezes, leaning in for another kiss.
And just to the sound of Hyunjin’s next sigh, the front door clicks closed again.
Honey and coffee grow closer as Jeongin starts kissing down Hyunjin’s throat, aiming for his scent gland and making him shiver.
“He doesn’t seem that tired to me.”
When Hyunjin opens his eyes, Seungmin is leaning against the doorframe of the corridor. His hair is all ruffled, probably from taking off his hoodie, and as much as he would like to look unaffected, the tips of his ears are already starting to blush.
Hyunjin pats down Jeongin’s hair, a quiet growl echoes in the room at the touch. “He’s literally about to fall asleep all over my neck.”
Seungmin sighs before stepping closer. He lifts up the flower and brings it up to his nose to take in the scent — a simple gesture that makes Hyunjin grow even more sentimental. He looks up at Hyunjin from his spot between the petals with big brown eyes.
“All done for the exhibition?”
“Yeah, I have just varnishing left.”
“Good,” Seungmin puts down the flower to peck his cheek. “Do I have to wear a suit?”
Usually just a formal attire would be okay, but Hyunjin can’t say no to the image of Seungmin in a suit, so he nods.
Jeongin straightens up slowly, leaving the spot where he was digging his nose in Hyunjin’s scent gland. His pupils are a little blown out and his hair now an official mess. “You should try one of mine. Save money.”
Seungmin flicks his forehead making Jeongin let out a little noise of complaint. “You just want me to smell like you.”
“And?”
The rest of the night rolls in quietly in between a couple of kisses and a bit of laughter. Hyunjin accepts the chore of ordering dinner while Seungmin and Jeongin shower the day off their tired bodies and sets the kitchen table before delivery arrives.
Dinners have become nice too. Briefing over their day, telling each other stories and sharing their feelings over whatever happened. Hyunjin often finds himself thinking over what Doctor Choi told him on their last visit, how he’s the most raw and authentic he’s ever been before when he’s with Jeongin and Seungmin. He laughs without caring of what he looks like, he complains about the organization of the exhibition and voices out his worries without feeling pathetic. And maybe this is what love really is about.
💐
Hyunjin almost doesn’t hear his alarm, which is the first bad omen of the day. Thankfully Seungmin helped him pack his painting last night and Jeongin is a morning person, otherwise he would’ve been terribly late to his morning appointment with Mrs. Lee.
He rushes to the gallery with his hair hastily tied and no makeup. He’s not even sure he’s wearing socks belonging to the same pair but at least he’s not late, so it doesn’t matter much.
The city is bursting with energy for a simple Thursday morning, Hyunjin feels like he just walked through a wind whirl once he’s free from the hell that was taking the subway with a big painting tucked under his arm and finally steps inside the sterile beige building.
The worker at the entrance nods at him curtly, acknowledging him. The gallery is mostly empty, only the coordinator by one of the corners instructing someone on where to hang the tag of one of the paintings and Mrs. Lee, elegant, poised and stunning, staring at Hyunjin’s old painting resting against the wall on the floor.
“I’m sorry it didn’t sell,” Hyunjin approaches her with a little bit of guilt.
It’s too raw, too aggressive, too—
“I’m glad it didn’t,” she says, surprising him. Her gaze is still settled on the harsh red strokes and Hyunjin would like to know what’s drawing her attention so much. Is it the burning scent that lingers in the air now that the vents are off? The off putting shades of crimson?
Hyunjin tilts his head while sparing a look at the canvas. One of the many.
“How so?” He still asks, a bit of masochism biting at his soul.
Mrs. Lee isn’t the kind to sugarcoat, to hide what she truly thinks, so Hyunjin braces for the impact — it’s personal, angry, inadequate. But the hit is far too different from what Hyunjin was expecting.
“For how beautiful it is, exchanging it for money would’ve been a shame. You can’t do that to someone’s soul, dear,” she says with a faint trace of a smile on her lips, fond, delicate. Her words burn through Hyunjin’s skin. She fixes a strand of hair behind her ear, the calming scent of chamomile flutters in the air with the elegant gesture. “I’d like to move it to the permanent display, if you don’t mind.”
Beautiful.
“You didn’t find it… out of place?” Hyunjin asks, insecure.
She turns to Hyunjin. “Why would I?” Her confusion is genuine.
Hyunjin pushes through the veil of inadequacy and awkwardness. “Because it’s too angry? Ugly?” He catches the moment the words reach her ears, her eyebrows raise elegantly, as always, in surprise, and a soft sigh escapes her lips once she realizes Hyunjin’s feelings towards the painting. And, maybe, the ones towards himself too.
It’s complicated, the constant high and low of self perception. Hyunjin knows that the seeds of insecurity weren’t original to his own soil, but ones planted by other hands, poison ivy that spread slowly. He wishes that realization was enough, that he could simply lean on the love he was blessed with and cut the branches with that sole power— but it’s more complicated than that. Time is necessary.
And so sometimes he still bites his own tail.
“Anger can be beautiful too, sometimes,” Mrs. Lee says. There’s a knowing softness in her gaze that Hyunjin surprisingly doesn’t feel like running away from. “Right?”
Hyunjin thinks of Seungmin’s pursed lips and folded arms, of Jeongin’s furrowed brows and annoyed foxy dark eyes. “Right,” he agrees. “Maybe seeing it in the permanent display will help me change my mind.”
Mrs. Lee chuckles at his words, covering her mouth with a raised hand and losing her usual composure. “I hope so.”
The second bad omen comes in the form Mr. Park standing outside the library, smoking, to Hyunjin’s demise, a menthol cigarette.
He spots Hyunjin easily, as he always does. Although for the first time he seems surprised to see him.
Hyunjin can’t really ignore him on the empty sidewalk like he does sometimes inside the gallery and so he lightly bows to greet him, hoping in a short exchange of greetings. But hope isn’t an enough medium to channel good energies today, apparently. He grows impatient as Mr. Park tells him about his latest donation to the gallery, all right after telling Hyunjin how he should ditch the makeup because his natural beauty is too precious to be hidden.
Hyunjin isn’t sure how he doesn’t barf all over Mr. Park's expensive shoes and manage even a smile before finding an excuse to leave.
Even though he knows it’s impossible, he feels the oppressive scent of whiskey and menthol cigarettes sticking to his skin — like a curse that never leaves him. Maybe it’s stuck in his nostrils. Hyunjin feels relief only once he gets home and breathes in the sweetness lingering in the air. The scent of coffee from this morning and coming off Seungmin’s scarf hanging at the entrance, Jeongin’s sweet sugar clinging still to the wall he leaned against when he watched Hyunjin leave this morning. Home.
The third bad omen is probably the worst. No. It’s the worst. Hyunjin’s lucky charm, a small crochet doll of Van Gogh, is gone. The carabiner that usually kept it hanging from his bag is broken and Hyunjin didn’t notice until he’s standing in front of the bag he just hung at the entrance.
The builded up frustration finally gets to him, tears picking at his sensitive eyes. They don’t fall though, but retreat as Hyunjin takes a deep breath and closes his eyelids. He’ll just get a new one, from abroad, online. He can do this.
A familiar stress dances under his skin and Hyunjin knows better than to let it stay, so he releases it by changing into some house clothes, putting on headphones and getting himself busy with the neglected mess in his room. He starts collecting the clothes in the hamper in the corner and heads to the end of the corridor, divides colors and whites and goes on autopilot, heavy loud rock in his ears to drown out any thought.
He’ll survive the weekend and then get a whole week of rest. Skip class. Skip dance practice. Not see anyone.
Well, some people he’d like to see.
Hyunjin eyes the tie resting on his nightstand, the warm comforting scent of baked goods is still there even though Hyunjin’s room is now overflowing with the one of his fresh cotton scented fabric softener. Next to it, rest Seungmin’s home glasses, thin frame and elegant simple shape.
A bit shy even though alone, Hyunjin steps closer to his nightstand and gets the tie. He lifts it up to his nostrils and inhales, the scent calming him way more than the one he used to run to for years. That’s how he gets found, too lost in the moment to hear the sound of the apartment door or the steps coming closer down the hall.
He feels a heavy blush travel up his neck and cheeks as soon as he notices Seungmin leaning against the door frame. Jeongin stands right behind him, foxy eyes dancing all over the room rather than boring into him like Seungmin’s are.
“Is everything alright?”
Hyunjin didn’t expect to crumble down so easily, that his body could do that instead of instinctively tense up and deny any kind of deep rooted sadness and worry. Tears pool again at the rim of his eyes and he has barely the time to wipe a tear down with the tie in his hands before another one falls.
They both reach his side, quick. Hands help him sit down and hold his and Hyunjin can barely see through the tears of frustration. “Hey, hey,” Seungmin hushes quietly, stopping Hyunjin from curling down and hiding.
“Hyung.”
Hyunjin feels a shameful feeling clinging to his skin, an awful monster telling him that he’s being too much, unattractive, exaggerating. But Jeongin wipes it away with gentle fingertips, a thumb caressing his wet cheek.
“What happened?”
Caring and yet aggressive, the sweet scents of them both hug Hyunjin. The protectiveness adds an unexpected taste of caramel in the air, new.
“It’s stupid,” he sighs, escaping eye contact from both of them.
“Okay,” Seungmin says softly. “Let us judge.”
“I lost my keychain.”
There’s a beat of silence that stretches in the room. Hyunjin can feel Jeongin and Seungmin meeting in a careful quiet look.
“Little Van Gogh?” Jeongin tries.
Hyunjin really wants to wipe his tears now, curl and raise a wall. But he doesn’t and nods instead, vulnerable.
“I’ll go look for it,” Seungmin resolutely says. Hyunjin quickly holds onto his cardigan when he instantly stands up but the look on Seungmin’s face is not tired when Hyunjin’s gaze travels up to him. His lips are stretched in a gentle reassuring smile instead, and his soft brown eyes are tender. “Stay here with Innie, I’ll be back soon.”
“You just got back—”
“We need some groceries anyway.”
“But the—”
“We do,” Jeongin stops Hyunjin from objecting again, supporting Seungmin’s excuse. “The fridge is just fruit and leftovers, it’s tragic actually.”
Hyunjin looks at both of them, their cheeks still kissed by the cold wind, and caramel makes so much sense — it’s in Jeongin’s sweet sugar getting toasted in the oven and on Seungmin’s lips when he leans down to quickly peck both of them.
His short brown hair flops a little as he rushes to the door of Hyunjin’s room and turns to give them one last look. “I’ll be back soon. Love you.”
The surprise of his last words is evident in every inch of his figure as he stumbles on his next step and chuckles awkwardly at himself, but it couldn’t be more perfect than this. Pretty and flushed, Seungmin rushes away, leaving a deep warm feeling in Hyunjin’s cracked heart.
By Hyunjin’s side, Jeongin gently pokes the back of his hand. “Our dog just ran off.”
Hyunjin sniffles and pokes Jeongin back. “I guess that leaves me with the lap fox.”
“Disappointed?”
Jeongin teasing clashes with the way he leans in to peck Hyunjin’s lips. He scrunches his nose at the touch and then licks his lips, looking exactly like the fox he is. Hyunjin’s heart feels a lot lighter.
“Salty?”
“A bit,” Jeongin chuckles. He stands up, undoes his wrist cuffs and pushes up his sleeves, crumpling his suit jacket. He has a resolute look on his face while he stares down at the messy pile of clothes on top of the bed, it makes Hyunjin hold back a little laugh. “Give me ten minutes tops.”
“You don’t have to do this.” Hyunjin’s laugh finally escapes him as he tugs Jeongin back on the bed by his hands.
The younger huffs when he comes in contact again with the comforter. “I do,” Jeongin insists. “I love you too, you know.”
The words slip through his lips less surprisingly than from Seungmin’s, but he’s still prettily flushed and vulnerable just the same.
“Even if I did an insane amount of laundry?”
“The scent calms you,” Jeongin says, easily, like it’s enough to justify the pile resting right behind them. There was a time when this was one of the main triggers of their bickering. How much can change in just a couple of months, now instead of getting annoyed, Jeongin and Seungmin got worried — knowing Hyunjin inside out.
Hyunjin looks down at their hands and feels the cross symbol on Jeongin’s rosary ring. “My last painting didn’t sell,” he opens up, “and there’s this man, he has been donating money to the gallery for like two years and he’s so weirdly interested in my art.” Hyunjin can feel the faint scent of burned bread fluctuating in the room. “Today he told me I look better without makeup.”
“I’ll chew his head off.”
When Hyunjin looks up, Jeongin’s eyebrows are knitted in concern. “I think Seungminnie was right, I’m influencing you.”
“Do you mind?” Jeongin twists his hand to intertwine his fingers with Hyunjin, his eyes down, focused on the space between them.
Hyunjin really wants to kiss his eyelids and something more. But instead he holds Jeongin’s hand more firmly and lifts his chin up with the other. “I love it. And I love you,” he answers, sealing his words with a kiss. “I knew you were secretly the jealous type when you asked me all those questions about my ex the other night.”
Jeongin rolls his eyes as he leans away and huffs, all dramatically cute. He’s so animated sometimes in his reactions, the opposite to Seungmin who’s more subdued unless you scare him.
It wasn’t supposed to go this way, Hyunjin was going to give them both the small paintings he secretly worked on the side right after the exhibition and then profess his love and ask them out for his planned date. However life has been difficult to predict lately, and it’s okay, Hyunjin likes the unpredictability of Seungmin blurting the words out or Jeongin using the words to reassure him.
Hyunjin feels loved and no big grand gesture compares to this.
“Should we call Seungminnie?” He ponders on.
Jeongin runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “I can’t believe he left running,” he says, incredulous. “We’re all influencing each other.”
“Right?” Hyunjin chuckles a little. “He sprinted! I’ve never seen that before.”
It takes Seungmin one full hour to come back home since he left. He opens the door of their apartment looking a mess, hair pushed back by the wind and jacket almost off his shoulder. He kicks off his shoes before Hyunjin and Jeongin can get off the couch.
A beautiful stunning smile spreads on his lips when he fishes out of his jacket’s pocket the tiny crocheted keychain. He hands it to Hyunjin immediately, slightly dusty, the chain a bit broken. “It was under some subway seats at the stop close to the gallery,” he breathes out. Hyunjin is honestly wondering if he rushed up the stairs instead of taking the elevator.
“You didn’t get any groceries,” Jeongin pokes, his socked foot pushing against his shin. Seungmin swats him away with a fake groan and whispers a not so quiet “I’ll bite you,” that makes Jeongin only proud of his teasing.
There’s no way to thank Seungmin properly for his sweet gesture. Hyunjin hugs him tightly before pressing his lips against Seungmin’s cold ones, the words ‘I love you’ muffled into a kiss.
💐
“So this one’s yours?”
Jeongin and Seungmin didn’t joke around when they told Hyunjin that they sent an invite to every single one of their contacts. Lee Minho, their landlord of all people, is tilting his head to the side looking at Hyunjin’s painting attentively.
Hyunjin escorted him to his spot where some of his friends and more were already gathering after looking around. “Yeah,” he says, waiting for Minho’s judgment.
Not that he’s an art critic Hyunjin should fear, but, you know, he’s a bit tense.
“That’s impressive.”
In his mind, Hyunjin pops confetti and makes a little jump of excitement. “Thank you,” he says politely instead.
On the side, Yeji and Ryujin are busy chatting with the small group from dance class that showed up, glasses of champagne held by manicured fingers. It’s a blessing to have his own friends around on such occasions. Hyunjin isn’t new to exhibitions now, but there was a time when he had to face them almost alone.
So far the event has been going great. Mrs. Lee is pleased with the piece and its reception and Hyunjin has had the chance to introduce his commissioned piece to a few visitors and investors. He put on his best suit for the occasion, black and elegant, a gift his mother gave him when he sold his first painting.
Steps echo closer, when Hyunjin turns around his heart skips a beat before soaring. A smile spreads on his lips at the sight of Seungmin rushing down the gallery in one of Jeongin’s suits he got from his closet earlier in the morning. Lia is right behind him in a pink flowy dress, hair tied in a neat bun.
“Hey, I’m so sorry I’m late, we couldn’t find a sample in the lab.”
Seungmin kisses Hyunjin’s lips before Hyunjin can even catch his own breath, struck by the stunning view. He takes in a breath into the kiss, inhaling clean air and a bit of Seungmin’s cologne. The flowers he is holding push against Hyunjin’s back as he half hugs him, and every worry about the exhibition pales in comparison to the calm that spreads through him.
Seungmin gives one quick look at both of Hyunjin’s sides as they part. “Innie?”
“He should get off work in ten minutes I think,” Hyunjin feels breathless as he answers. “They’re coming with Chan hyung’s car.”
“All of them?” Seungmin asks with a little chuckle. Honestly, the idea of Jeongin, his coworkers and his friends all cramped in the same car is quite entertaining.
Hyunjin nods. “All.”
During the wait Hyunjin finds the time to take a sniff at the flowers Seungmin got him. In the years of meaningless bouquets and cliché flower arrangements, Hyunjin has never seen something so thoughtful. It might look a bit messy, seeing so many different flowers or colors together, but each one of them has been named by Seungmin in the past, accompanied by a description of how they bloom along with Hyunjin’s different moods — an handpicked portrait of Hyunjin held by a delicate white bow.
Jeongin arrives around half an hour later, perfectly on time with his promise to arrive at 7p.m on dot. He walks down to him undoing his tie and tilting his stiff neck a little, a full workday on his shoulders and an urgency in his steps.
“It was about time,” Seungmin teases.
Jeongin just huffs and dismisses him with the gesture of a hand before placing a kiss to Hyunjin’s cheek. “How has it been going?” He asks, cheeks flushed and pretty. His shyness in public is always cute.
“I’d say pretty well,” Hyunjin can’t contain his smile. He ruffles Jeongin’s hair a little, sparking a snort and a nose scrunch from the other. “The others?”
Jeongin takes a step back and pulls at Seungmin’s wrists, tugging him close enough to place a quick kiss on his cheek too. “Chan hyung is looking for parking,” he answers. “Lix obviously didn’t want to leave him alone doing that and, you know, Sung never leaves his side, and—uhm— I think Changbin hyung got jealous?” His voice lowers on the last part, like he’s whispering a state secret.
Everyone with eyes and a sense of smell can sense how Changbin’s interest in their HR Director has been growing in the past month. Hell, Hyunjin is pretty sure Chan is very aware about it too.
Seungmin snorts. “I always tell him to make a move,” he says, fake annoyance in his voice.
“I don’t like how you’re becoming friends with my coworkers,” Jeongin complains. He pokes at the exposed expanse of skin between Seungmin’s open collar, the other steps away with a little chuckle, guilty and proud of being it.
“Speaking of friends,” Hyunjin takes the chance, hands suddenly feeling a bit clammy. He cares so much for this to go well, even more than the exhibition itself. Not because he needs anyone’s approval of his relationship, but simply because just like the night he met Felix and Jisung or the day he met Lia, he wants things to go smoothly and for everyone to get along. “Mine are right over there.”
“Oh, should we..?” Jeongin looks a bit anxious too but he seems to relax instantly when Seungmin places a hand on his lower back. “C’mon,” he whispers softly close to Jeongin’s ear, “don’t be intimidated because they’re mostly alphas.”
Jeongin obviously elbows him on the side and, in a room full of people, Hyunjin feels at home.
Introductions go smoothly and so does the rest of the night, through Mrs. Lee's speech and the brief introduction to the pieces and the reasons she picked each one of them with care. Hyunjin feels a bit shy when his name gets mentioned and the eyes land on him all together, but he pushes through the embarrassment and bows with a smile on his lips.
The only moment the sweet equilibrium gets pushed off center is when Mr. Park walks up to him close to the ending of the night. His eyes square Hyunjin’s whole frame, dark irises dancing all over him in a way that makes Hyunjin want to turn and leave.
“The great Hwang Hyunjin.”
Hyunjin bows lightly, impoliteness to a donor is never a good choice, no matter how unpleasant they can be. “Mr. Park, good evening.”
Mr. Park does nothing to hide the way his eyes scan Jeongin and Seungmin too, or the little smirk that grows in his lips. Ugh.
“Your friends?”
“Oh, they’re—”
“Yang Jeongin,” Jeongin offers him his hand to shake, his expression unreadable, his scent impossible to catch inside the room. Hyunjin knows he has identified who Mr. Park is and doesn’t know what to expect. “We’re his boyfriends.”
Mr. Park shakes Jeongin’s hand and then turns to Seungmin. “Plural?”
“Yes, sir,” Seungmin answers more cordially with a short bow. He offers his hand to Mr. Park too to shake. “Hope to not trouble your mind with this.” He’s less good at hiding his disliking than Jeongin, his sentence kind of out of place — he might as well call him a ‘fucking scum’ like he did back at home at this point.
“Oh, no,” Mr. Park shakes Seungmin’s hand and his own head too. His expression is too oddly poised, kind of pleased. “The years of youth are for experimentation after all.”
Hyunjin’s sure he can sense the burning scent of treats left in the oven pierce through the scent blocking filters in the air, accompanied by the one of burned coffee. They last barely a second, but they’re there. They seem to tickle Mr. Park’s nostrils too and Hyunjin knows better than to keep this conversation going for the sake of the night.
He offers Mr. Park a short self introduction to his own painting and excuses himself with his boyfriend for leaving them for a couple of minutes. Three, Hyunjin promises, holding both their hands and giving them a reassuring squeeze to reassure them that he can survive the upcoming minutes alone.
They’re dreadful, almost, but Hyunjin pushes through the annoying, too forced intellectual critique of his piece and smiles and nods like he has always done. When he later says goodbye to Mr. Park, he spots Jeongin and Seungmin being busy talking to Felix and Jisung, and so Hyunjin joins them, comfortably taking place at their side.
💐
Mine.
The air is suffocating in the elevator up back to their apartment. Hyunjin feels it sticking to his throat, making its way into his lungs and filling them in until he’s almost dizzy.
Back off.
And yet, when he looks at either Jeongin or Seungmin they both seem calm.
Fake. No. Seungmin’s jaw is contracted and Jeongin’s been playing with his ring for all their way back home. There’s nothing calm about them. About their scents tangling and bursting out of them violently, about the sudden heat of their bodies — only the exterior.
“I think I could get one of the University benefactors on the gallery’s list,” Seungmin says right after kicking his shoes off at the entrance after minutes of silence. He lines them up neatly as always and shrugs his jacket off on his way to the kitchen.
“There’s the art event at the company at the end of the year too,” Jeongin adds casually, also kicking off his shoes and not lining them up.
Hyunjin quietly follows them to the kitchen, eyeing Seungmin putting his jacket over one of the chairs and Jeongin pouring a glass of water and chugging it in one go.
“That might be a good opportunity,” Seungmin comments. He wipes away the drop of water off Jeongin’s chin and pecks his lips as a reward for the good proposal.
Mine.
It floats in the air like a promise.
“Are you… mad?” Hyunjin asks, curious, leaning against the kitchen table. He eyes them both, breathing in the territorial hints that keep on coming off in waves.
They both turn to look at Hyunjin. A slap of scent hits his chest — he knows it’s not intentional, and maybe that’s what makes him shiver more.
“Oh— I—”
“Of course?” Seungmin is way more direct than Jeongin who gets caught off guard. “He’s unprofessional and inappropriate and makes you uncomfortable.” He runs a hand through his hair, messing it up. “I’m sure if Mrs. Lee knew—”
“I don’t want her to lose one of her best—”
“He’s replaceable,” Jeongin butts in. “We know at least ten pretentious rich men that are interested in art and are not him.”
If Hyunjin didn’t know better, if he didn’t know so well the two omegas standing in front of him, he would worry about the sudden burning scent erupting in the air. He knows he’s not at fault for it and so he relaxes. Jeongin and Seungmin are right.
“Okay,” he sighs. He steps closer and stops Jeongin from scratching his ring with his thumb nervously. “We'll find a replacement first and then I’ll talk with Mrs. Lee. How does it sound?”
“Stupid,” Jeongin grumbles. “I want to punch him into a pulp.”
Hyunjin kisses his pouty lips. “Let’s not get you in jail, shall we?”
“I know a lawyer or two,” Seungmin shrugs right next to them.
“How many people do you know?” Hyunjin pokes his side to calm him down, making Seungmin slap his hand with an exasperated sigh.
Even though their anger settles into a muted barely there scent of coal, the sweet one of baked honey biscuits stays, preponderant, making Hyunjin’s stomach growl late in the night.
Jeongin noses his nape in the dark, way hours later, while Seungmin is already sleeping peacefully with his pretty lips slightly parted. “Hungry?” he asks, his big hand spreading over Hyunjin’s lower stomach.
The touch is hot even through the fabric. Hyunjin feels suddenly dizzy.
Mine.
“Maybe,” he shrugs, snuggling closer in the embrace. Jeongin’s lips brushing against his skin feel more present than usual, even though the touch is barely there.
Jeongin purrs quietly and hugs him closer. “Late night snack?” he proposes with a hint of mischief in his voice.
Hyunjin thinks of hot ramyeon and Jeongin under their low kitchen light, sitting at the table in just his boxers and baggy shirt. Ramyeon isn’t his first craving.
“I can hear you,” Seungmin mumbles. He turns to lay on his side, his eyes focusing on Jeongin’s figure right behind Hyunjin. The moonlight filtering through the curtains highlights the highest points of his face, a beauty that almost leaves Hyunjin breathless.
Jeongin has a very mature response to Seungmin’s pointed stare: he blows a quick raspberry. Hyunjin shrinks and giggles at the vibration so close to his neck while Seungmin sighs and snuggles closer.
He tucks his head under Hyunjin’s chin and presses his nose in between his clavicles.
Mine.
Sticky like honey, the word glues to Hyunjin’s heart.
💐
It’s hot. Too hot. It shouldn’t be this hot so early in the morning.
Hyunjin stirs as he wakes up, his whole body warm just like the ones embracing him. Moving is out of the question as Jeongin’s arm is still tightly wrapped around him, hand on his chest, and Seungmin is still tucked there under his chin, legs tangled and the naked skin of their thighs sticking together.
He feels dizzy, sleep clinging to every inch of his being and, honestly, it feels heavenly if he doesn’t consider that he’s sweating.
“Pup,” he whispers into Seungmin’s fluffy hair, two fingers brushing a damp strand away from his temple. “Hey.”
“Mhh.” Seungmin blinks a couple of times as he tilts his head up. Pretty. “Goodmorning,” he mumbles, pecking Hyunjin’s lips. Hyunjin feels like he has more to say, he can hear Seungmin starting another sentence and then getting lost in a hum. The sound vibrates right in Hyunjin’s throat too and he’s not sure what it is, but he feels reality slipping out of his fingers like runny honey.
Seungmin is warm and fuzzy as Hyunjin holds him even closer, flushing their bodies together as their lips touch. The heat is unbearable but not Hyunjin’s priority anymore. No, he needs Seungmin as close as Jeongin is, every inch of their bodies connected, his breath mixing with his own— he—
“Closer.” Seungmin reaches for Hyunjin’s thigh and drags it up, pushing it deeper in between his legs, right where Hyunjin feels it. Slick is soaking the fabric of Seungmin’s pajama shorts, running hot like lava through the cotton and wetting Hyunjin’s skin as well.
The reaction is instantaneous. A punch in the guts kicks the air out of Hyunjin’s lungs and a choked breath escapes his lips as slick gushes out of him.
Oh.
“Is it morning already?” Jeongin’s voice is raspy as he clings impossibly closer to Hyunjin. His hand travels down to Hyunjin’s stomach and one of his legs pushes against the tangled mess that Hyunjin and Seungmin have stuck themselves in. He must feel it, how couldn’t he when he pushes his pelvis against Hyunjin’s back like so?
His lips start leaving a tray of kisses down Hyunjin’s clothed shoulder while he starts grinding against Hyunjin and Hyunjin can barely think. Seungmin is still moaning in his mouth and grinding on his thigh and the scent in the room is coating his lungs and, and—
You’re mine.
He pushes gently against Seungmin’s chest, making the other whine at the loss. The sound is so sweet Hyunjin feels like he has just been stabbed in the heart but there’s something more important they have to assess before their minds start getting too clouded.
“We’re getting into heat.”
“Mh?” Jeongin’s bottom lip stays resting on his exposed arm once he processes Hyunjin's words. Seungmin instead looks up at Hyunjin as he blinks the veil of heat away.
“There’s still a week until the end of the trimester.”
“It doesn’t matter, I think it’s that—” Hyunjin takes a breath and sits up between his boyfriends who both look up at him with lost hazy eyes. He cringes a little at the cramp that shoots up his back and “I went to the doctor last time it happened and she told me it has to do with scent calling their mates and you are… I could feel you last night. Or now,” explains all in one go.
“Oh,” Seungmin exhales. He sits up cross legged, a pretty blush kissing his cheeks and lips puffy from kissing Hyunjin senseless not even a minute ago. “So it’s our fault?”
Jeongin sits up too and it’s kind of impossible to ignore the tent in his boxers or the way he sighs when he tries to fix himself. Hyunjin and Seungmin take in shaky twin breaths.
“What do you want to do?”
Mark.
Hyunjin feels the immediate rush of slick slipping under him as the thought materializes in his mind. Seungmin and Jeongin seem to sense it too as their backs straighten a little.
“I want us to be together,” Seungmin says, “but you should know I might be—”
Jeongin’s lips spread in a cheeky smile. “Whiny and begging?”
Like puppies fighting, Seungmin surges over to pin Jeongin down on the bed. His hands are big and wide over Jeongin’s wrists and the wet sight between his spread thighs nearly makes Hyunjin choke on his own breath.
“We could hear you,” Jeongin still teases. “Every. Single. Thing.” He knows he has the upper hand anyway, his biceps bulging now that his arms are raised over his head. The stark contrast between his body and Seungmin’s is dizzying.
Seungmin leans in, eyes sharp and honey dripping from every word he utters. “You heard me calling your name, then?”
Hyunjin’s starting to grow even hotter, overstimulated by the scents bouncing around the room. How can he be so in love and so turned on at the same time? Is it healthy to feel everything so deep in his chest?
“Together,” Jeongin says, resolute. “I want to spend it together.”
When they both look at him, Hyunjin crumbles pathetically. He agrees in a heartbeat, sure of his answer.
“Together.”
The following cold shower to bring down their body temperature doesn’t make him feel as pathetic as it usually does. Probably it’s because Seungmin keeps laughing at Jeongin’s little squirming around and whining comically because of the cold water, or it’s the peck that Jeongin presses on his lips before rushing to get dressed in his own room for privacy as if he wasn’t naked with them a second before.
“I bet he’s getting hard again,” Seungmin chuckles while drying his hair with a towel. “Last heat we almost had to drag him to the bathroom.”
“And he had already rubbed one out,” Hyunjin remembers, fond of sweet Jeongin coming out of his room still in his work clothes and parting his lips to accept fruit from his hands.
Seungmin shakes his head as he laughs and throws the towel in the hamper. His chest is flushed, just like his knuckles and the apples of his cheeks. They’ve split pre-heat chores evenly, so it’s not a surprise when Hyunjin sees him getting dressed quickly and leaving the room. Seungmin is meticulous and practical, he’ll surely be the first to be done among them.
Leaving the change of sheets to Seungmin and the nest item gathering to Jeongin, Hyunjin heads to the kitchen to cut up some fruit and get a couple of snacks and water. Every little inch of skin on his body is on edge. Knife in hand and chopped mango on the cutting board, he’s starting to heat up again. While usually he would spend the couple of hours before the kick of his heat almost bored, now he can’t contain his heart from beating like a hummingbird in his chest.
Fresh baked bread tingles his senses as Jeongin steps out of the corridor into the kitchen. He has a baggy Yonsei University t-shirt Hyunjin is sure comes from Seungmin’s closet and a simple pair of checkered boxers on. Hyunjin feels more dizzy at every step Jeongin takes closer to the counter.
“Hey.” He leans his hip against it and looks up at Hyunjin, or at least for the few centimeters of height that separate them.
Hyunjin smiles, infatuated, and pushes a strand of messy damp hair out of Jeongin’s vision. The way Jeongin leans to the side to follow the brush of his fingertips on his skin makes Hyunjin hold back a purr. “How are you feeling?”
“Like my brain is slowly melting.” The heat that radiates from Jeongin dances up Hyunjin’s hand and wrist. “I don’t know how you do this,” he sighs. “I can barely think before I…” His voice fades as he follows Hyunjin’s touch more intentionally.
The curve of his neck makes Hyunjin think of teeth sinking into skin, of digging himself in Jeongin until the damage is irreversible, until his seeds are planted and Jeongin will too bloom like flowers in the spring.
“I see you,” Seungmin steps in the room with a little chuckle. His damp hair is a bit askew and he has taken off his sweatpants, the flushed skin of his thighs on display.
Jeongin doesn’t even bother reacting, still leaning into Hyunjin’s hand.
“I think Innie’s preheat is way shorter than ours,” Hyunjin says, fascinated. When Jeongin opens his eyes, dark blown out irises burn into him. Sugar burns delicately, caramelizing on top of a sweet pastry and making Hyunjin’s mouth salivate.
Mate.
Seungmin rounds the kitchen table and intertwines his hand with Jeongin’s carefully. “Let’s go,” he says before pecking his cheek. “The bed is ready, you can rest.”
Jeongin hums positively but doesn’t move from his spot, not even when Seungmin gently tugs at his arm.
“You too.”
Hyunjin looks down at the mess on the cutting board and he knows that rationality should win, that he has at least an hour of clarity that he should use to clean up everything, but the way Jeongin timidly looks for his hand to hold rearranges all of his priorities.
He lets himself be guided to his own room, breath taken away by needy kisses and hands sneaking under his clothes. Fingertips dig in his skin with urgency, lift his shirt, lower the band of his briefs mid his ass, feel his damp hair and the line of his neck. Hyunjin is almost forgetting how to breathe when they reach the bed, falling on top of the mattress with knees digging right at the sides of his thighs and the weight of Jeongin on top of him.
Behind him, Seungmin is busy kissing his neck, making Jeongin’s head tilt back and a moan leave his lips. Fangs dangerously graze on skin and Hyunjin has to hold every instinct to flip the situation and pin them both to the bed.
Hyunjin isn’t sure how much he has left before he’ll start slipping away. He can feel slick slipping between his thighs, warm and watery, and he’s not even sure if it’s just his own or Jeongin’s too.
“I want to mate,” Jeongin sighs suddenly, stopping space and time. His hand keeps Seungmin crouched down over his own neck, fingers digging in fluffy short hair, while his hazy eyes look down at Hyunjin burning into his soul — I know you want it too.
“Mark you?” Seungmin checks, as if his fangs aren’t a fraction of a second away from sinking into Jeongin’s skin definitely. Hyunjin does his best to sit up, just so he can see closer. “Now?” He asks, breath cut short.
Everything inside of Hyunjin trembles. Mineminemine.
Jeongin nods weakly and tugs him closer by digging a hand in his shirt, their lips brushing. “Fill me first?”
“Fuck—” The scents erupting in the room at those simple three words feel like a hit in the head. Hyunjin’s tongue feels too heavy to speak properly. The only grip on reality he’s left is the hold of his fingers on Jeongin’s thighs, digging into soft plump flesh. “Come here.”
He tugs, strongly, the grind of their hips sudden and harsh. Burning hot like a furnace, Jeongin flushes himself to his body, making Hyunjin lose his balance and fall back down. “Sorry,” he mumbles quickly, fast, before reconnecting their lips again. Handsty, Hyunjin barely notices how Jeongin reaches at his back searching for Seungmin.
The bed dips at their sides with Seungmin’s knees and hand digging into the mattress. His nose finds its way again over Jeongin’s scent gland as one arm hugs Jeongin’s middle from behind. His dark brown eyes however settle on Hyunjin, pupils swallowing down his irises.
When he grinds down, Jeongin’s whole body moves in motion. Hyunjin nearly blanks out at the dry touch.
“Clothes,” he sighs, starting to tug at every piece of clothing that’s in the way. He’s starting to lose his focus, slick pooling in his underwear and skin sensitive.
Seungmin’s the first to successfully undress, later helping Hyunjin in lifting Jeongin’s shirt up his shoulders and throwing it somewhere at the opposite edge of the bed over the edges of the nest that was carefully made earlier. Soft yet firm all over, Hyunjin doesn’t hold back from feeling Jeongin’s hips under his fingers.
“Ah— Be gentle, be—” Jeongin’s head falls as he moans, hips grinding down and wetting Hyunjin’s boxers.
“Like this?” Hyunjin asks. He grips less on Jeongin’s supple flesh, a pity, but the way Jeongin hums with parted lips is the perfect reward for having obeyed. “Too sensitive?” He still teases, thumb circling a spot that makes him shiver.
“Yes, yeah, thank you, hyung,” Jeongin nods as he answers, head still hanging down and eyes closed. At his temple, Seungmin places a sweet kiss.
Plumerias bloom and petals embrace the more sensitive side of Hyunjin at the sight. He’s never been in heat while also being truly in love. He can feel the warmth growing faster than what he’s used to and his mind slipping again. The sensation of his fangs brushing against the inside of his lips is suddenly too present, it would take nothing to sink them into the pristine flesh of Jeongin or Seungmin’s neck, poke, reach their glands and break the veil between temporary and forever.
Hyunjin’s hand traces the wake from Jeongin’s hip to his shoulder, fingers dancing up to the curve of his neck. Jeongin shivers at every touch, so responsive already.
“I’m taking this side.” Hyunjin feels drunk, possessed. He feels the sharpness of his canine against his tongue and nearly sighs.
“Of course you’re picking without asking me first,” Seungmin bites.
“You’re too slow.” Hyunjin searches for him to pinch his arm.
The other slaps him away the best he can in the cramped position they’re in. “Hogger.”
Jeongin sighs between them, the scent of baked muffins fills the room and overpowers everything, begging. “I appreciate that you can still think,” he complains, bothered, “but I— I just can’t— and I’m— Ah—”
His voice gets stuck in his throat as he grinds down again, impatient and needy. The fabric between them is completely drenched by now and Hyunjin sees white for a second as he feels Seungmin’s hand sneaking between them. “Whiny and begging?” He repeats.
The tease flies over Jeongin’s head as he moans and crumbles on top of Hyunjin, lips mouthing desperate sighs all over Hyunjin’s neck.
Hyunjin tries his best with his shaky fingers to push his own briefs down enough to free himself. The direct touch to Jeongin’s leaking slick is maddening. He’s never cared much about being inside anyone until Seungmin and Jeongin entered in his life, , more so this close to his own heat, but now, grinding his tip over Jeongin’s covered hole, he can think only of one thing.
“Want to be full? Mh?” He tilts his head to the side to talk into Jeongin’s ear. “Even with no knot?”
“Fuck a knot,” Jeongin sighs desperately. “I want you.”
Frenzy fingers pull down Jeongin’s boxers. They get stuck and roll right over his thighs but none of them cares, no, there’s no time to sit up and slide them down. Not when Seungmin is already feeling Jeongin’s bare entrance while kissing up his spine. Honey heats up and melts, almost burning.
“You’re so cute like this,” he mouths over his back. “Are you going to return the favor?”
“Yes, yes, I will—I—” Slick drips down Hyunjin as Jeongin lets out a choked up moan. “I don’t need stretching, pup, I don’t, I don’t.” His voice comes out broken, like he could cry if he doesn’t get what he wants. His heat has fully kicked in and there’s nothing sweeter than the sight or the scent of it.
Caramelized sugar drips from his lips at every plea, strong and delicate at the same time just like him.
Hyunjin cups his cheeks to redirect him into a kiss, whispering quiet reassurances against his lips that keep on parting in shaky breaths. He can feel his own body and mind crumbling down but something inside of him screams at him that his own needs are secondary — calming down Jeongin, giving him what he wants, comes first.
With one hand he lines up himself with Jeongin’s wet entrance, meeting Seungmin on the same spot. He smirks, elated, his slick pooling down on the new waterproof sheets. “Let’s see if our pup knows what to do.”
“Of course I do,” Seungmin says with a biting tone. He runs his tip along Hyunjin’s cock, down and upwards, sending stars up his abdomen. “We practiced.”
When he pushes in, Hyunjin takes it as dare to do the same, his eyes boring into Seungmin’s wide pupils over Jeongin’s shoulder. The sensation is exhilarating, the entrance smoother, warmer. He feels every little shake of Jeongin’s body and the slick that pushes back and slips out.
“Fuck, wait—” Jeongin sighs. He drops his forehead down on Hyunjin’s shoulder and then drags his nose over his scent gland to soothe himself into a more calm state. The mere touch makes Hyunjin let out a weak cry.
He’s going to get bitten there. They’ll be linked forever. His lovers. His family. His mates.
From behind Jeongin’s back, Seungmin runs his fingers through Jeongin’s hair, petting him before getting a hold of it. “Okay?” He checks.
Jeongin nods weakly over Hyunjin’s skin. Hyunjin can feel every little shake in his breath as he speaks, they pierce through his external layer and reach his core, ruffling the petals of his flowers. “Move.”
Caramel fills the room the instant that Seungmin obeys to Jeongin’s plea. The sensation is overwhelming, impossible to get used to no matter how many times they’ve done this, just like the scent of caramel, familiar and new, that sticks to every inch of Hyunjin’s lungs.
I love you.
“I love you,” Jeongin repeats the same words over Hyunjin’s scent gland, “so much. Both of you— Fuck— You’re mine, right?” His cheek is scorching hot as he brushes it over Hyunjin’s gland. Mine mine mine.
“Of course, pretty.” Hyunjin’s hand meets Seungmin’s own in Jeongin’s hair. Some of their fingers link. “We’re only yours.”
“Bite,” Jeongin sighs, his whole body shaking as he grinds against them both. “Now, now, now—”
Seungmin’s eyes are dark as he leans down over Jeongin’s back again, crumbling the moment he gets begged to. Hyunjin can taste on the tip of his tongue the instant his nose feels the line of Jeongin’s neck. Burned sugar, honey, caffeine, all mixed together in a maddening combination that makes him slip deeper into the first wave of his heat.
And what a dear way to fully fall, if not by kissing Jeongin’s scent gland before sinking his teeth into it. The membrane pops under the strength of his bite and the world shifts on his axis — Hyunjin’s life will never be the same again.
He belongs now.
Or maybe he has always had, here, where every shade of himself is seen and accepted no matter the intensity of it.
💐
“Do you really have to do this?” Hyunjin sits on the bathroom counter as he looks at his boyfriends.
Fresh out of a shower and heat subduing, he admires their beauty as they, sadly, get ready to leave the house. Seungmin’s short hair is poking at all sides and his cheeks are still flushed from that kiss Hyunjin gave him right before being put on a timeout.
Jeongin looks at the patch in his hands and then up at his own reflection. “I can’t get sent to HR again,” he says, however still hesitant in placing the bandaid over one of the fresh bruises on his neck.
Hyunjin can feel his own every time he moves even an inch. He likes the look of them, purple and red hues mixing around the shape of the fangs of his lovers.
“People at your work are too uptight,” he complains.
“They are,” Jeongin agrees.
“Or maybe it’s indecent to go around flashing still bruised mating marks?” Seungmin points out, placing one of the patches down his own neck. The side where Hyunjin has bitten him is way more bruised than Jeongin’s — Hyunjin was overwhelmed, growls rumbling in his chest and hands on Seungmin’s feeling the accelerating beating of his heart.
He feels a sense of pride when he can see the edges of the bruise sneak out from the sides of the patch.
“Boring.”
Jeongin hums in agreement to his words and finally peels off the back of the patch after inspecting it for three or more minutes. “Very boring.”
“Let me help—”
A hand hurriedly stops Hyunjin from standing up. “Stay there,” Jeongin reprimands him, eyes wide and scent spiking in sweetness. Cute. “I need to be at work by nine.”
“It’s so sad that there’s no mating leave,” Hyunjin pouts, resting his head against the wall behind him. It’s unfair that they had just the few days of their heats to enjoy the new page of their bond. They should cuddle, lay down on the sofa with their bodies warm and tangled under a blanket, watching one of those baseball games that Hyunjin and Jeongin still struggle to understand fully but Seungmin loves.
An eye roll and a sigh preface Seungmin walking towards him. He slots in between Hyunjin’s legs and pecks his lips. Hyunjin licks them the moment they part, feeling honey on his tongue.
“We work half day, technically,” Seungmin reminds him.
“Still.”
“It sucks,” Jeongin agrees. He lays the other patch down on his neck, bites fully covered. “I’ll bring lunch home.”
That sounds quite nice. Hyunjin curves his lips in a pleased smile, he has some bureaucratic work to do online, that will do enough to fill the time until lunch. Maybe he can pick a movie to watch in the afternoon too, or see if Felix’s bakery is open and drop by to get some sweets.
When they both exit the bathroom to go get their bags, Hyunjin takes the chance to get off the counter and look at his bites in the mirror again. Red, purple and green mix all over his neck, beautiful shades that he won’t keep forever but he will memorize for the rest of his life.
He walks down to the entrance with a pleasant warmth dancing under his skin. He watches from a distance Seungmin fixing Jeongin’s coat as the other scrunches his nose as if in distaste while the look in his eyes says otherwise.
He’ll never grow tired of this view.