Chapter Text
Harua used to had no memories of a home.
Whatever life had existed before then had long since faded into scattered fragments—faces without names, voices he could no longer recognize, the vague recollection of cold nights spent wondering where the next meal would come from. Those memories had dulled with time, buried beneath years of warmth and routine.
Everything that truly mattered had begun the day Yudai found him.
Things hadn't been easy at first, Harua was always hesitating all the time when the alpha's scent got too close. Showing his small fangs that barely wanted to emerge.
And Yudai always knew how to be patient, giving the pup his space, keeping his distance, speaking slowly and only when it was necessary. Until Harua finally understood that the alpha would never be a threat to him.
The alpha had offered him more than shelter. He had given Harua a roof that never leaked, warm meals that never ran out, and, most importantly, a family that had expected nothing from him except that he stay. A place where no one looked at him with pity or disgust, where every scent eventually became familiar enough to feel like home.
A pack.
There were difficult years where Harua had to learn to adapt, to learn to live in a pack where he no longer needed to fight or beg for food.
His packmates were no different from him; each one of them, from the youngest to the oldest, had a past as tough as his own. And Harua learned to take his heart out of the cage where he forced himself to keep it.
The pack was very diverse, all brought by Yudai or Fuma, Yudai's mate. He was another alpha who smelled like freshly baked cookies, an unusual scent for an alpha that Harua enjoyed, always letting the alpha mark him with his sweet and warm scent.
There was also euijoo, a beta. According to Yudai, euijoo was like a sub-leader for the pack. The shoulder to lean on for them, a presence of comfort, always sweet and ready to support his packmates.
Euijoo was the one who helped him adjust, patiently explaining things when they became confusing, comforting him when he couldn't relax at night for fear of waking up and finding himself back in the shelter. Euijoo also had his mate, Nicholas, a dominant Omega with sharp eyes, but with a gentle personality and the most refreshing and calming scent.
The rest of his packmates were Yuma, another beta like Euijoo; Jo, a recessive alpha; and Taki, a pup his age who had recently presented as an omega.
Harua hadn't presented yet, Euijoo reassured him saying that he was still very young, that maybe Taki had been a special case. Although his packmates always say that he would definitely be an Omega, like Nicholas and Taki. Or maybe a beta like Euijoo and Yuma. But Yudai always reassured him that whatever it was, they would support him in whatever he would present.
And one day, after a few months of his arrival. Harua had been so busy learning what it meant to belong that he barely noticed the day another pup was brought through the gates. Looking at least one year younger than him.
Maki had hidden almost entirely behind Yudai's back, looking small and peeking at everyone with wide, wary eyes. He was little more than a timid pup then—quiet, painfully shy, shrinking whenever too many people looked his way. Harua remembered smiling to himself, thinking the boy looked as though he'd bolt into the forest if anyone greeted him too enthusiastically.
The introductions had been simple. The elders welcomed him with warm, the childrens curiously circled around him, and by the end of the afternoon everyone had gone back to their own lives.
Everyone except Maki.
Somehow, for reasons Harua never quite understood, the little pup had decided that Harua was the safest person in the entire pack.
It happened so gradually that Harua didn't notice at first.
Maki would appear at his side whenever he wandered through the village. If Harua was helping fuma gather herbs, Maki silently followed with a basket far too large for him. If Harua disappeared into the woods, he could count to ten before hearing small footsteps hurrying after him. Whenever someone asked where Maki had gone, the answer became so predictable that no one bothered searching anywhere else.
"Have you checked on Harua's room?"
They were almost always right.
Before long, Maki had developed the infuriating habit of sneaking into Harua's room whenever he pleased. Sometimes Harua would wake to find the younger boy sprawled across the bed, wrapped so completely in his blankets that only a messy head of dark hair remained visible. Other times he'd discover one of his shirts had mysteriously vanished, only to find Maki wearing it later that day with absolutely no intention of giving it back.
Harua would sigh, pretend to complain, and receive nothing in return but an unapologetic small smile.
Somehow, as the months went by, it became normal.
Maki was simply... there.
Always lingering at Harua's shoulder. Always reaching for his hand without thinking. Always treating Harua's room as though it belonged to both of them.
Harua never questioned it.
He simply made room.
Looking back, he wasn't entirely sure when the rest of the pack had started smiling every time they saw the two of them together.
Maybe they had known long before either of them did.
Years had passed, and Harua no longer remembered what life was like before joining the pack.
Harua had turned eighteen, and although he hadn't present yet, Taki had told him he could smell a sweet scent him. So perhaps, he would present as an omega sooner or later
On the other hand, Harua and Maki had grown up inseparable from each other. So much so that Maki's room was deserted from the many nights that he spent cuddled up with Harua. Maki was still a young pup, he was only seventeen, small and energetic like a radiant sun.
Maki, like Harua, was still waiting to present. No one doubted that the pup would be a dominant alpha; it was obvious from miles away because of how much he was growing.
Although, at the moment, Maki was only a few inches taller than Harua.
A headache greeted Harua before he even opened his eyes this morning
It wasn't particularly painful—not yet—but it settled behind his temples with a dull, persistent throb that made the room sway ever so slightly whenever he moved.
He frowned, blinking sleep from his eyes. He rubbed his eyes, still sleepy, as the sunlight streamed through the window and hit his face.
And a warmth pressed comfortably against his back.
Harua glanced over his shoulder.
Curled against him, Maki slept soundly, one arm thrown securely around Harua's waist while the other disappeared beneath the blanket. His face was half-buried against Harua's shoulder, soft breaths fanning against the fabric of his sleep shirt. Completely oblivious to the world.
Harua couldn't help smiling. He was so cute.
"You'll be late if you keep sleeping," He whispered.
Maki answered with nothing more than an unintelligible mumble, tightening his hold for all of three seconds before relaxing again.
Typical.
Carefully—very carefully—Harua pried the younger boy's arm away and slipped from the bed. Maki shifted, searching for the warmth he'd lost, before stealing Harua's pillow instead and burying his face into it.
"...Close enough," Harua whispered with an amused shake of his head.
After a quick shower, he dressed and made his way downstairs, still rubbing at the back of his neck. The headache hadn't gone away.
If anything, it felt a little heavier.
The kitchen was already alive with conversation.
Taki and Yuma were arguing over something that sounded far too serious to merely be about vegetables, Nicholas stood by the counter preparing tea, while Fuma leaned lazily against one of the cabinets, watching the spectacle unfold with poorly concealed amusement. Jo was lying back on the sofa, minding his own business away from the noise of his packmates.
Nicholas looked up the moment Harua entered.
"You don't look well" he said.
"I'm fine" Harua replied, dragging his feet lazily towards the table.
"Hm"
That single hum never meant anything good.
Before he could escape, Nicholas just stepped closer, resting the back of his hand against Harua's forehead.
"...You're warmer than usual"
"I'm not"
"You are."
Harua sighed dramatically.
"It'll pass, It's just a headache"
Nicholas clicked his tongue.
"I told you not to wander around the woods while it was pouring yesterday"
The younger one frowned.
"It wasn't pouring"
"It absolutely was"
"It was drizzling"
"I remind you that you came home soaked."
"It wasn't that bad."
The table erupted into laughter.
"You really have no survival instincts," Euijoo chuckled, walking past his omega as he went into the kitchen.
Fuma reached over as Harua took his seat, casually ruffling his hair before setting a plate of egg toast in front of him.
"Eat before Nicholas starts prescribing bed rest."
"I heard that."
"I wanted you to."
Another round of laughter circled the table.
Heavy footsteps echoed from upstairs.
Everyone looked toward the staircase.
Maki descended one step at a time, rubbing one eye with the back of his hand, his hair sticking out in every direction imaginable. He yawned so widely Harua briefly wondered if his jaw might actually unhinge.
Without looking around, Maki shuffled straight toward Harua.
He dropped into the chair beside him.
"...Morning"
"Morning"
Still half asleep, Maki rested his head against Harua's shoulder before stealing a piece of toast directly from Harua's plate.
Harua didn't even bother protesting anymore.
Across the table, Yudai laughed quietly.
"Good timing."
Maki blinked.
"Hm?"
"Harua's going with Euijoo and Yuma to pick up supplies."
"Oh"
There was a pause.
"...I'm coming too"
"No."
Maki looked genuinely offended.
"...Why?"
Yudai reached over, gently ruffling his messy hair.
"Because today you're staying with Fuma and me"
Maki frowned.
"But I always go with Harua"
"I know"
"So why can't I today?"
"Because you're starting to grow too much lately, it's time you start learning more than follow Harua around."
That earned another laugh from the table.
"I don't just follow him," Maki muttered.
Eight pairs of eyes slowly turned toward him.
Silence.
"...You absolutely do," Yuma said.
"I do not."
"You've slept in his room every night this week" Jo added, distracted by the tv but attentive to the drama at the table
"..."
"And yesterday you waited outside the bath because you thought he was taking too long" Taki also added.
Maki's ears reddened.
"I was making sure he didn't fall asleep."
The room burst into laughter again.
Harua hid a smile behind his cup.
He was used to this.
Used to Maki pouting whenever they had to spend a few hours apart.
Used to everyone teasing them.
It had simply become... normal.
The hours passed.
The marketplace was as lively as ever.
Merchants called to passing customers while children darted between crowded stalls. Euijoo and Yuma disappeared from one stand to another with practiced efficiency, discussing prices and comparing supplies.
Harua followed quietly behind them.
Or tried to.
Because the headache had returned.
Stronger.
He pressed his fingers against his temple.
"...Harua?"
"Hm?"
"You alright?" Euijoo asked.
"Yeah"
He wasn't.
His body felt... wrong.
The air had become strangely heavy.
His clothes suddenly felt far too warm against his skin.
Every sound echoed inside his skull.
He blinked.
The crowd swayed.
"...Harua?"
"I'm okay" Harua answered again, his tone sounding almost defensive. He felt sensitively irritated now.
He wasn't sure whether either of them heard him.
By the time he looked up again... Euijoo and Yuma were gone.
Or maybe,
Maybe he'd simply stopped following them.
His breathing had become uneven.
His heartbeat hammered painfully against his ribs.
Heat flooded through every muscle until it felt impossible to think.
I should go home.
The thought came slowly.
Like it belonged to someone else.
He stumbled away from the bustling streets, barely noticing the concerned glances people threw his way.
The walk back felt endless.
His legs refused to cooperate.
The world blurred around him.
By the time the familiar house came into view, Harua was trembling.
He pushed the front door open with shaking hands.
Silence.
No voices. No laughter.
No one was home.
Relief washed over him.
He didn't think he could explain whatever this was.
Each step upstairs felt heavier than the last.
When he finally reached his room, he barely managed to close the door before collapsing onto the bed.
Everything hurt.
His skin burned.
His chest tightened.
His fingers tangled desperately in the bedsheets as tears blurred his vision.
"...What's... happening..."
His own voice sounded distant.
Small.
He buried his face into the pillow, desperately searching for relief that never came.
The room spun.
Time lost all meaning.
He didn't notice the bedroom door opening.
"Harua? Did you come back?"
A familiar voice.
Maki.
Harua lifted his head.
His vision refused to focus, but he knew that voice anywhere.
Maki rushed to his side, panic written plainly across his face.
"Harua? Hey—look at me."
Harua couldn't make out the words.
Only the concern.
Only Maki.
He watched Maki turn toward the hallway, shouting for someone.
Harua reached out before he could leave.
His fingers caught the back of Maki's shirt.
"Don't..."
Maki looked back immediately.
"I'm here"
Harua pulled him closer with surprising strength.
His arms wrapped instinctively around Maki's neck as he buried his burning face against the youngest's shoulder.
"I don't feel good..." he whispered brokenly. "Something's wrong..."
Maki's arms came around him without hesitation.
"I know. It's okay."
He held Harua as carefully as though he might break.
Neither of them noticed the sweet scent slowly filling the room.
Neither of them understood what had just begun.
And for a brief, impossible moment...
Everything went still.
Maki stopped speaking.
The reassurance died on his lips as his entire body went rigid.
Harua frowned weakly.
"...Maki?"
No answer.
Maki simply stared at him.
His expression had emptied, as though every thought had suddenly been stolen away.
Then, almost unconsciously, he leaned forward.
Harua startled as Maki buried his face against the curve of his neck, drawing in a slow, shaky breath.
"...Maki?"
The warmth of his breath sent an unfamiliar shiver down Harua's spine.
Maki inhaled again.
Longer this time.
His grip around Harua tightened.
So much tighter.
"M-Maki..."
Harua tried to laugh, though it came out strained.
"You're... squeezing."
No response.
Only another slow breath against his neck.
Harua shifted, trying to pull away.
"Maki?"
Nothing.
His arms refused to loosen.
Instead, they locked more firmly around Harua's waist, possessive enough that it stole the air from his lungs.
"...Maki"
He pushed gently against his shoulders.
"I can't breathe."
It was like trying to move a mountain.
"Maki, let go."
The words barely left his mouth before a low sound vibrated through the room.
A growl.
Harua froze.
It wasn't loud.
It didn't need to be.
He had lived among alphas for years, yet he had almost never heard that sound.
At least not from Yudai.
Not from Jo.
Not even from Fuma.
Not unless something had threatened the pack.
Harua had only heard a sound like that years ago, in that horrible, dark place.
The shelter.
His heartbeat stumbled.
"...Maki?"
The name left him as little more than a whisper.
Another growl answered him.
Lower.
Rougher.
His body reacted before his mind could.
Every instinct screamed that something was terribly wrong.
The room suddenly felt suffocating.
Too hot.
Too small.
Harua's fingers trembled as they curled into the fabric of Maki's shirt.
"Maki..."
His voice cracked.
"P-Please..."
He didn't understand.
Nothing made sense.
His own body burned, his head pounded, and now...
Now Maki was looking at him like—
Slowly, Maki lifted his head.
Harua's breath caught.
His friend's pupils had swallowed nearly all the silver of his eyes, leaving only impossibly dark irises fixed entirely on him.
Focused.
Unblinking.
His breathing had become uneven.
His jaw was tense enough for the muscles to twitch beneath his skin.
As if every part of him were fighting something invisible.
"...Call..." Harua whispered, tears gathering in his eyes. "Please... call Yudai..."
Maki didn't move.
Didn't answer.
He only stared.
A flicker of frustration crossed his face, sharp and unfamiliar.
Another growl rumbled deep within his chest.
Harua flinched.
Then he saw them.
Fangs.
Just barely visible beneath Maki's curled lip.
His stomach dropped.
Fear settled cold and heavy inside his chest.
That wasn't... That wasn't Maki.
"...You're scaring me..."
The words escaped before he could stop them.
For a heartbeat, something seemed to flicker across Maki's face.
Recognition.
Confusion.
Pain.
Then it vanished beneath another wave of tension.
Maki leaned closer.
Harua instinctively shrank back against the headboard.
"Maki... please..."
It's okay, you're not in danger.
He heard. Distant, the voice barely there.
And before either of them could move again—
A powerful force tore Maki away from him.
The weight disappeared so suddenly Harua nearly collapsed forward.
He barely had time to process what had happened before familiar arms wrapped around him.
"Harua!"
Euijoo.
He found himself gathered carefully against Euijoo's chest, one hand supporting the back of his head while the other wiped damp strands of hair from his forehead.
"It's alright, were here."
Harua could hardly hear him.
His ears were ringing.
Across the room, Yudai stood between him and Maki.
Calm. Steady. Unmoving.
Maki was several steps away now.
His chest rose and fell in ragged breaths, every muscle drawn tight beneath his skin.
His eyes never left Harua.
Not even once.
For the first time in his life...
Harua was afraid of him.
"Euijoo."
Yudai never looked away from Maki.
"Take Harua outside."
"But—"
"Now."
There was no room for argument.
Euijoo adjusted Harua more securely in his arms before turning toward the door.
Harua looked over his shoulder one last time.
"Maki..."
The younger boy took a single step forward.
Yudai stepped into his path.
The growl that erupted from Maki's chest echoed through the room—raw, furious, almost animal.
The bedroom door slammed shut.
And the sound followed Harua all the way down the hall.
Harua curled up in the sheets that Nicholas and Euijoo shared, lying on his back with his gaze lost on the ceiling. After a while, the pain in his body had lessened somewhat with the suppressants that had been given to him, leaving only the severe headache he had felt in the morning.
But the pain and emptiness in his chest didn't seem to want to go away.
Harua heard the others talking outside the room, glancing over his shoulder at the closed door.
"It's my fault, I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have," Yudai's voice was heard. Worried, frustrated. "I was so sure he'd be a beta that I didn't though about this"
"It's not your fault. It's nobody's fault" Fuma said, Comforting. Harua could smell a little of his scent emanating from the door.
"What would have happened if..." Yudai abruptly cut himself off.
What if Maki had bitten him?
Harua didn't know either.
All he knew was that he was now an omega. And his cycle had been the push for Maki's presentation.
A dominant alpha.
That was all he was told. After that, the others didn't told him anything.
"You should have seen his face... he's..." Yudai sighed.
"He doesn't even want to leave his room."
Maki is in his room? After so many years of not using it?
Before he could hear anymore, the voices faded further away, leaving him with no information.
Then the door opened, slowly.
Nicholas slide across the door, smiling when he saw him awake.
"Hey there.." He said gently, walking until he was close to the edge of the bed. Nicholas sat down next to Harua, stroking the crown of his head.
Harua sighed when he sensed Nicholas's pheromones, fresh, sweet, ripe strawberries, scenting him.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, looking at his face.
Harua took a while to answer, looking distractedly at Nicholas.
He couldn't stop thinking, he couldn't stop worrying. And his chest ached even more fiercely.
He's hurting.
He heard that voice again. It didn't feel like his own thoughts spoken aloud.
Go to him, he's hurting.
Harua shook his head, dizzy.
Then he spoke.
"Where's maki?" Harua asked. His chest tightened when he saw Nicholas's expression crumple.
The oldest omega sighed.
"He's in his room, he just still... needs time" Nicholas said, forcing a smile. He combed Harua's sweaty bangs back with his fingers, trying to comfort him.
"And you need time too... when both of your cicles ends, both will talk"
He would have liked it to have been that way.
But it never happened.