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Sehun’s dad was a DILF.

Kyungsoo had thought so ever since the very first time he had seen the tall and handsome alpha shortly after Sehun had transferred to his university midyear. When Sehun had first showed up at the school, he had caught Junmyeon’s eye immediately and—ever the bleeding heart for lonely misfits—the unofficial leader of their small but close knit friend group had wanted to bring the new kid into their fold.

Kyungsoo had been firmly against the idea, though it wasn’t because of anything Sehun had done, per se. Sehun was quiet, polite, kind, shy, and generous. The very first time he had joined them for a study session, he had treated them all to pizza despite being the youngest among them, saying that his dad insisted on footing the bill as a way to say thank you for welcoming Sehun among them so warmly. As a rag tag collection of poor college students, there was no way faster into their good graces than by filling their bellies with something more than cheap, convenience store ramen, but even then, Kyungsoo had been adamantly against expanding their circle for the new kid.

Eventually Junmyeon had pulled rank and demanded to know why Kyungsoo was so leery of Sehun, but Kyungsoo hadn’t been able to give a good reason. Even within his own head, he knew he sounded crazy for having any problem whatsoever with the sweet Sehun. Logically, Kyungsoo knew he should have been jumping for joy to have Sehun around. For the last year, Kyungsoo had been the only omega in their circle and he had been complaining for months now about being so vastly outnumbered.

As his best friend and a beta, Baekhyun had declared himself an honorary omega. He tried to be a support system for Kyungsoo when he complained about the sort of things omegas had to deal with on a daily basis like alphas openly ogling their asses and wolf whistling as they walked by, professors ignoring them in exchange for their other gendered classmates, or the way society as a whole often looked down on them and dismissed them outright as little more than homemakers and baby incubators.

But supportive as the self-declared honorary omega tried to be, he would never truly be able to understand what it was like to be an omega. “I mean, it can’t be that bad,” Baekhyun had theorized with a shrug. “You’ve been on suppressants nonstop since you were sixteen. You’ve only ever had a proper heat once when you reached maturity and that was years ago. Doesn’t that basically make you a beta too?”

It did not, and Kyungsoo hoped the sudden chop he had learned in self-defense class and executed expertly directly into his best friend’s throat at his stupid question answered that clearly.

So really, Kyungsoo should have been thrilled to have another omega around to commiserate with—something Sehun seemed to want as well if the way he seemed to specifically seek Kyungsoo out among their group was anything to go by—but Kyungsoo couldn’t stop himself from being on edge around the other. It had taken him a few weeks to realize that his problem with Sehun was because of how the younger omega smelled.

“You think he smells bad?” Junmyeon had asked while his eyes widened and as his voice went into a sharp, higher octave in obvious surprise.

“No, no,” Kyungsoo had dismissed immediately. “It’s not a bad smell.” Quite the opposite really, Kyungsoo thought morosely to himself. Mostly, Sehun smelled like fresh citrus, but there was a faint scent beneath the overpowering fruity tang that had a way of really working its way into Kyungsoo’s brain until he could think of very little else. If Kyungsoo had to describe the scent, he’d say it was sunshine and a soft, ocean breeze on a clear, cloudless day, warm and inviting. It wasn’t at all an exaggeration to say it was the greatest thing Kyungsoo had ever smelled. Whenever Sehun was anywhere near him, it was the only thing Kyungsoo could really focus on. It consumed his senses so completely, Kyungsoo could almost swear he could feel the sunlight on his skin and taste the salt of the sea air on his tongue.

When he had first realized it was Sehun’s scent that so easily got beneath his skin, Kyungsoo had very seriously considered the possibility that Sehun was his mate. Everyone in the world had one, and it was said that Fate would always put two that were meant to be in the path of one another at some point in their lives. Some people ignored it, choosing instead to form their own paths and forge their own destinies with partners of their own choosing, but most experts seemed to agree that Fate didn’t get things wrong. Biologically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, destined mates would always be most compatible and most content with one another.

Omega and omega fated pairs weren’t unheard of, but they were extremely uncommon. Though Kyungsoo had never even considered the possibility of having an omega mate before, he wasn’t closed minded. If Fate thought his chosen one should be someone of the same gender, who was Kyungsoo to argue? As far as omegas were concerned, Sehun was the closest to Kyungsoo’s type that Kyungsoo had ever seen. Sehun was exceptionally tall for an omega and Kyungsoo had always been drawn to taller partners that could make him feel small and delicate. Sehun had long legs, a defined jaw, broad shoulders, and very few curves for one of their gender, all of which were things Kyungsoo liked. Though the very sight of Sehun didn’t make Kyungsoo’s heart flutter or hole leak, he thought maybe—just maybe—there were enough elements there that called out to Kyungsoo to make an attraction grow and blossom.

“I know what you’re thinking. I’m not the most…” Sehun’s voice had trailed off and he had sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth before continuing, “…omega-looking omega.” The words had come spilling out of the younger when the pair had gone to the omega’s comfort room together one day in the cafeteria and Kyungsoo had been caught staring at the other in the mirrors over the sink as he tried to feel that telltale tug towards the younger that everyone said always happened between destined mates. “Everyone says I resemble my dad and he’s an alpha. My mom was a beta, but she took off as soon as I was born. My grandma says we resemble the ones that love us most, so…” His voice trailed off again and he shrugged his shoulders before they sagged sadly.

“I wasn’t thinking that,” Kyungsoo rushed out quickly. Maybe he had been to an extent, but only because he had been trying so hard to find features that had attracted him in the past within the other omega. “And you shouldn’t think that either. You’re really pretty, Sehun.”

And it was true. Sehun was pretty. He had small, sharp eyes that turned into crescents when he smiled and he had a tiny, delicate mouth that had just a hint of a pout to it. When he smiled, his whole face lit up and when he didn’t, his aura made him seem especially cool and alluring. He had a wardrobe full of designer clothes that most of their classmates would have killed for and he wore them so well, it was as if each garment had been specifically made for him.

He was really, really pretty.

Sehun had smiled then and given Kyungsoo a tight hug right there amid the toilet stalls and in doing so, had given Kyungsoo a concentrated whiff of that sunshine and sea air, but it had once more immediately raised his hackles in a way he just didn’t understand. If the smell was so good, why did it upset him so much? Kyungsoo had hugged the younger omega back and forced a strained smile to his lips before suggesting they get back out to their friends before Baekhyun forced his way into the room because of his honorary status.

That night when Kyungsoo had been alone in his dorm room, he had tried to masturbate to thoughts of the other omega. He had closed his eyes and pictured Sehun in his head, but he was dry as a bone and soft as an overcooked noodle. It didn’t make any sense. If Sehun was his mate, the very thought of him should have had Kyungsoo’s body reacting and his nerve endings sparking, but Kyungsoo felt nothing.

With that experiment failed, Kyungsoo tried to focus on the memory of the faint scent buried beneath the citrus that always drew him in like a moth to a flame. Almost immediately, Kyungsoo’s body began to respond, but the second he tried to picture Sehun along with the scent, his arousal vanished and his completely unfounded annoyance at the other omega returned.

…Which was ultimately what led to Kyungsoo approaching Junmyeon with his reservations about the other omega, or more specifically his scent.

“Phew,” Junmyeon stated then, his voice dropping out of the falsetto range as a palpable relief washed over him. “I was going to say… if you thought Sehun smelled bad, omega or not, you and I would have had to fight. Sehun smells amazing,” the alpha continued as a dopey smile settled onto his face. “Just like orange blossoms; a little sweet, a little tart, and a little floral, all in perfect, equal measures.”

“That’s not the scent I’m talking about,” Kyungsoo dismissed at once. “I’m not talking about his perfume; I’m talking about his real scent. The one he suppresses.”

Junmyeon had blinked at him completely dumbfounded then. “That’s not perfume,” the alpha argued. “The orange blossom smell is his scent. He’s not on suppressants like you, but don’t ask me how I know that,” he quickly added while a pink blush began to dust his cheeks. “What scent are you talking about then?”

It was Kyungsoo’s turn to blink at the other in confusion. The scent of sunshine and an ocean breeze had always been so muted, Kyungsoo had assumed it was being suppressed just as his own scent was. Thanks to his suppressants, someone had to practically have their nose buried in his neck to get so much as a single whiff of his natural, sweet peach scent and he had assumed the same was true of Sehun. He had thought his ability to smell it over the overwhelming citrus was because he was especially attuned to it as Sehun’s mate, but if that wasn’t the case and the scent didn’t belong to him, where was it coming from and why did Kyungsoo only ever smell it around the other omega?

“I’m talking about the sunshine and sea air,” Kyungsoo explained, half expecting Junmyeon to call him crazy while insisting Sehun smelled like nothing of the sort. Instead though, the alpha wrinkled his nose and made a face that indicated his obvious distaste.

“Ah, that,” Junmyeon scowled, very nearly spitting the word in disgust. “I hate that smell on him too.”

Kyungsoo opened his mouth to once again point out he hadn’t said the smell was remotely bad, but the words had died on his lips when he realized Junmyeon had said something that most definitely did apply to the situation at hand. Kyungsoo didn’t hate Sehun; he hated that particular scent on Sehun. He wanted it to be on him instead. That it was on another omega rather than him was completely unacceptable. It made his inner wolf want to hiss and snarl at the other omega, however senseless it may have been.

“I think it’s a scent transfer,” Junmyeon had continued, and Kyungsoo felt even sillier now for not having realized it himself. “It must be from someone he’s around a lot, but I haven’t yet figured out who it is.” Pausing for just a second, Junmyeon’s eyes and face suddenly lit up. “You could find out! You could ask him who it is! He’d tell you from one omega to another, wouldn’t he?” the alpha asked hopefully. “That’s the sort of thing omegas talk about with one another, isn’t it?”

Kyungsoo had no idea; he had never really had omega friends before. “I guess I could try,” he decided with a shrug of his shoulders. After all, he was just as curious to know the answer to the riddle as Junmyeon was.

“You’re talking about my dad,” Sehun had explained when Kyungsoo had invited both him and Baekhyun to what Baekhyun had declared an omega sleepover in his dorm room the Friday after he had spoken to Junmyeon. “That’s what he smells like. Can you really smell it on me?” he asked while pulling his collar away from his neck and up to his nose so he could sniff at his own shirt, but he didn’t seem able to pick up on the subtle scent easily overpowered by his own.

Now that Kyungsoo fully understood the situation, he understood that he and Junmyeon were anomalies for being able to smell it upon Sehun as they did. Junmyeon smelled it because he didn’t want any scent but his own upon Sehun and Kyungsoo smelled it because he wanted that scent on him instead. The word “mate” circled Kyungsoo’s head like a mantra, though it seemed much too premature for that. And yet…

“I still live with him,” Sehun continued to explain. “I started the school year in Japan, but I became so homesick living abroad that I became physically ill. I’m shy and I don’t have the easiest time making friends, so I transferred midyear so I could live at home. I figured even if I didn’t make any friends at school, I wouldn’t be completely alone with my dad around. Since things have gone better than I could have ever hoped though, next year I’ll stay in the dorms with everyone else. Then maybe my dad will finally be free to have a social life of his own too.” Sehun pouted his bottom lip out and Baekhyun cooed over the cute act.

“What is he like?” Kyungsoo asked, completely incapable of stopping himself.

Baekhyun flashed him a puzzled look. “What kind of a question is that? What does it matter what Sehun’s dad is like?”

“I just want to know more about Sehun,” Kyungsoo quickly excused, and it wasn’t entirely a lie. Now that he knew he had no reason whatsoever to loathe the other omega, he wanted to be a much better friend to the omega than he had been since their first meeting. He liked Sehun—really, he did—and now that he knew he didn’t have to be jealous of the other and that Sehun wasn’t competition, he hoped they could become just as close as he was with Baekhyun. “And obviously his father is important to him.”

“He is,” Sehun had confirmed with a bob of his head. “He’s been the most important person in the world to me ever since I was born. I was the very definition of an accident. My parents had me when they were really, really young. Like still-in-high-school young. My mom disappeared shortly before they graduated and a few months later, there I was.”

Kyungsoo reached for one of Sehun’s hands and held it as a show of support while Baekhyun threw an arm around the omega’s shoulders for some extra comfort. “They weren’t in love or anything like that. They had been casually hooking up on and off the way teenagers do when my dad got his first rut and neither was very careful and… well… biology,” he concluded with a shrug of his shoulders. “They had been fully broken up and already seeing other people when my mom found out she was pregnant. Her parents pulled her out of school and sent her to live with some family member in the countryside. My dad didn’t know a single thing about me until my mom and her parents showed up on his parents’ doorstep saying if he didn’t take me, they’d be putting me up for adoption.”

“That’s awful,” Baekhyun frowned.

“It’s fine,” Sehun insisted with a dismissive wave of the hand not squeezing Kyungsoo’s, though he dabbed at his eyes a second later, revealing the maternal rejection still stung all these years later. “My dad did want me, as did my uncle and my grandparents. He was way too young to be a father, but he figured it out with their help. I’ve never seen my mother or met her since, but I haven’t been lacking for anything. My dad took care of me while going to college and then law school after that. He’s really busy with work now, but he always makes time for me. He’s like my dad and my best friend all rolled into one. I know that’s lame, but—”

“It’s not,” Baekhyun interrupted reassuringly while Kyungsoo bobbed his head in agreement. “It’s good that you’re close to your family. It’s good that you have him.”

Sehun looked down shyly and Kyungsoo could understand how Junmyeon had fallen for the other omega so quickly. “Thanks for thinking so. Maybe next time we do a sleepover like this, we can do it at my place and you can meet him,” he suggested.

“Yes,” Kyungsoo immediately blurted out too loudly, too quickly, and much too enthusiastically. Baekhyun had flashed him yet another puzzled look at his reaction. “I mean… that sounds like a good idea. We can take turns hosting.”

And that was how a week later Kyungsoo found himself in the penthouse of a luxury high-rise meeting Sehun’s father for the first time, but it was Kyungsoo who wanted to call the alpha daddy. Kim Jongin was an incredibly handsome and sexy man and Kyungsoo had to stop himself from whimpering aloud at the mere sight of him.

While Mr. Kim and Sehun were nearly the same height, everything else about the alpha seemed so much bigger than that of his omega son, up to and including the older man’s undeniable aura that exuded power, confidence, experience, and charm. He stood tall and proud, his broad shoulders and strong arms practically bursting from the crisp white dress shirt he was wearing, the sleeves of which had been rolled up to his elbows and the top three buttons of his shirt had been left open revealing a pleasing hint of golden chest that had Kyungsoo salivating.

There was no doubt about it; Mr. Kim’s bronzed skin would be playing a starring role in Kyungsoo’s most intimate fantasies from that moment forward. It looked so warm and inviting; it reminded Kyungsoo faintly of caramel and he desperately wanted to run his tongue over it to find out for himself if it tasted just as sweet. He didn’t even care if nibbling on the handsome alpha happened to be high in calories, because the way Kyungsoo saw it, he wanted nothing more than for the man to go straight to hips and thighs. He wanted the alpha to pick him up, push him against the wall, and ravish him until his whole body was quaking. He wanted the only thoughts left in his brain to be the ones that had been put there by the alpha.

Mr. Kim had dark, sleepy eyes, but when they had locked upon Kyungsoo right after Sehun had introduced them, Kyungsoo felt as if the older man could see through his skin and directly into his soul. They penetrated deep within him and though it wasn’t the exact way he wanted the alpha inside him right now, it left him feeling breathless and dizzy all the same. Mr. Kim’s plush lips that surrounded his oh-so kissable mouth had quirked up into a smirk-like smile as Kyungsoo blatantly stared and did his best not to outright drool on the well-polished floor.

“Kim Jongin, Sehun’s father,” the alpha had introduced while extending his hand out for Kyungsoo to shake. Kyungsoo’s pale hand had trembled when he had offered his own in return to the alpha, but Mr. Kim had seized a hold of it quickly and steadied it with his own. The first touch was like being electrocuted by an especially high voltage, live wire; he felt lightning in his veins and sparks from his fingertips. He had to bite his bottom lip to keep from whimpering.

“Doh Kyungsoo,” he had only just managed to squeak out. It was a good thing he was on doctor-prescribed suppressants. If he wasn’t, there was no doubt he would have soaked right through his pants while his scent filled up the room loudly announcing he was hot, eager, fertile, and ready to be taken by the alpha right then and there, audience of the alpha’s son and the omega’s best friend be damned. Kyungsoo would submit so well for him, Mr. Kim would never want to bury his knot anywhere else. He’d be so, so good for Sehun’s father. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kim.” He sounded every bit as breathless as he felt. “Thank you for having me.”

The corner of Mr. Kim’s mouth quirked ever so slightly at the words and Kyungsoo could have sworn his heart skipped a beat. Though their hands had stopped shaking, Mr. Kim continued to grip Kyungsoo’s with his own as if he was just as unwilling to let go of this strange and new connection as the omega was. The air around them seemed charged with something supernatural—something completely and totally otherworldly. It crackled and fizzled around them setting Kyungsoo’s whole body alight with a want and need he had never known before. It began deep in his bones and radiated outward until he all but vibrated with it.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

This alpha was his; Kyungsoo had no doubt about it. He didn’t care if Mr. Kim had a girlfriend or a boyfriend or even a couple of each. By the time Kyungsoo sank his teeth into him, Mr. Kim would only ever remember him. It was destined. It was meant to be.

As Mr. Kim’s scent of sunshine and sea air wrapped around him firsthand for the first time, Kyungsoo found his head lolling to the side involuntarily, openly bearing his neck in submission to this much older, much more experienced and worldly alpha still in the prime of his life.

Despite how thirsty and wanting Mr. Kim made him feel, Kyungsoo was still largely inexperienced himself. He had been on suppressants since first maturing and hadn’t had a heat since. He had lost his virginity in high school to a clumsy and uncoordinated alpha boyfriend that hadn’t been able to make him come and that hadn’t successfully knotted him even one single time. He had been such a horny and selfish thing that he’d chase his own release from the moment they started and so Kyungsoo never had a chance to get wet and open enough for more than the alpha’s pencil dick. When Kyungsoo had helpfully offered up a few suggestions on how to make the sex less awful, the alpha had dumped him.

Kyungsoo had had better luck in university. Last year, he had dated an older Chinese exchange student named Yixing. The beta had been a much better and more generous lover than his high school boyfriend had been, but even on suppressants, his inner omega had craved a knot the beta would never be able to offer him. The sex had been good, but never earth-shattering and Kyungsoo had felt guilty for always wanting something Yixing couldn’t give him. In the end, they had mutually decided to part as friends before Yixing had returned home to China. Kyungsoo still kept in touch with him because Yixing was wonderful, he just wasn’t The One.

No, The One was standing right in front of Kyungsoo at that very moment.

Kyungsoo’s inner omega wanted to throw a temper tantrum though. While he was completely certain the handsome daddy in front of him right now was meant to be his, there was no way Mr. Kim could be as certain of that fact as Kyungsoo was with the omega’s scent snuffed out the way it was thanks to his pills. He wanted to throw the stupid things out the window of this very expensive apartment in this very tall building and never, ever see them again, but he knew it wasn’t quite that simple. He had been on a high-dosage nonstop for years. Before he went off them, he really needed to check in with his doctor back home that had initially prescribed them.

Once he had though, he’d be happy to never see the pills again so long as Mr. Kim would take care of him from then on out. Maybe he and Mr. Kim could work on giving Sehun a baby brother or baby sister or maybe even one of each.

“Stop being weird,” Sehun scolded then and Kyungsoo’s eyes went wide as his cheeks flushed bright red in an instant. Had he spoken his thoughts aloud? Oh god, could anything in the whole wide world be more embarrassing?

While Kyungsoo was still awash with mortification, Mr. Kim released Kyungsoo’s hand so suddenly, it was as if it had burned him. The alpha cleared his throat and the harsh, gravelly sound made Kyungsoo’s socked toes curl against the floor as if trying to grip onto it so he didn’t float away and directly into the alpha’s arms here and now despite his embarrassment.

“Sorry,” Mr. Kim had quickly apologized while shoving his now emptied hands into the pockets of his pants and rocking back on his heels nonchalantly. Though Kyungsoo was plenty relieved to discover Sehun’s verbal reprimand hadn’t been meant for him, he really wished Mr. Kim hadn’t drawn Kyungsoo’s eyes to his pockets, his slacks, and more specifically, everything hidden away within them. His mouth watered as his eyes lingered over a prominent and very promising bulge.

Kyungsoo wanted him. He wanted him so, so bad.

“I’ll order dinner for the three of you while you settle in,” Mr. Kim continued while rocking back and forth on his heels still. He didn’t seem nearly as consumed right now as Kyungsoo was and it made the omega want to pout.

“’Kay,” Sehun had agreed before grabbing hold of Baekhyun and Kyungsoo’s arms and dragging them down the hall towards his room. Just before they disappeared inside, Kyungsoo had chanced a glance back at the alpha and found the man was looking back at him. He only had a second to look before Sehun pulled him into his bedroom, but he could have sworn the alpha winked.

Kyungsoo was a complete and total goner.

That night, Kyungsoo hadn’t been able to sleep. Even though Sehun’s room was saturated in the omega’s orange blossom scent, all Kyungsoo could focus upon were the traces of sunshine and sea air that lingered here and there. He tossed and turned, rolling from his back to his left side and then to his right while trying to get comfortable enough to slip into dreamland, but his mind refused to go quiet. All he could think about was how close he was to Mr. Kim.

Sehun had fallen asleep almost the moment he laid down and Baekhyun was snoring loud enough even the neighbors were likely aware of the beta’s deep slumber, so after an hour of tossing and turning, Kyungsoo decided to get up and get a drink of water from the kitchen. Once he had closed the door to Sehun’s room behind him and blocked out Baekhyun’s snoring, the house was dark and silent, so he hadn’t expected to find anyone in the kitchen.

But thank every god in existence that he had.

Mr. Kim stood in front of the open refrigerator, his golden skin glowing in the light that illuminated from within… and there was a lot of skin on display. Mr. Kim was wearing a pair of sleep pants and nothing else. They hung low on his hips and offered Kyungsoo an unobstructed view of the alpha’s toned arms and back.

Kyungsoo didn’t know which room in the luxury apartment belonged to Mr. Kim, but if he ever found it, he was going to burn every single shirt in the man’s closet to ash. It should have been a crime to cover up a living sculpture such as this. No matter how inappropriate it may have been, Kyungsoo longed to reach out his fingers and touch. He wanted to run his fingertips over the expanse of flesh; he wanted to drag his fingernails over the skin and leave behind scratches the alpha would feel and remember for days. His fingers twitched at his sides he was so desperate to reach out and explore; he had to grip the sides of his own nightshirt just to stop himself from misbehaving.

“You couldn’t sleep either?” Mr. Kim asked while still examining the contents of the refrigerator without looking back. When he finally selected a carton of milk from within and turned to face Kyungsoo, the alpha didn’t seem at all surprised to see that it was him standing there instead of Sehun or Baekhyun. In fact, he looked as if he expected it.

As the fridge door closed it became dark in the kitchen once more, but Kyungsoo could still see Mr. Kim’s eyes as they took in his appearance now. It began with his hair, ruffled and tousled from an hour of flopping about trying to sleep and continued down Kyungsoo’s form from there.

His gaze lingered for a long moment on the column of the omega’s neck and a shoulder that was mostly bare. Kyungsoo had brought along an old, threadbare t-shirt three sizes too big for him to sleep in since he hated covering his legs at night and the shirt was practically a dress. It hung to his mid-thigh and kept all the vital bits hidden, but only just barely. As Mr. Kim continued to take in the sight in front of him, Kyungsoo became painfully aware of the fact that the swell of his soft, omega breasts were easily visible through the thin cotton of the old nightshirt and the attention they were receiving now from Mr. Kim’s eyes was enough to make his nipples pebble.

He considered crossing his arms in front of his chest to hide his little breasts from view, but doing so would only raise the hemline of his shirt and most of his legs were on display already. His pale, alabaster skin practically glowed in the darkness, so it was no surprise when the alpha’s eyes lingered there for far longer than a moment. Given the very long and very detailed list of things Kyungsoo wanted to do to this man and the very long and very detailed list of things he wanted this man to do to him, Kyungsoo shouldn’t have become shy from the attention, but his cheeks burned hotly anyway.

Kyungsoo had been so caught up in being stared at he almost forgot he could do some staring of his own. If Mr. Kim’s back had been a piece of art, then his chest was something even more glorious still. Defined muscle swelled beneath his pectorals and down through his abdomen in a perfect 8-pack Kyungsoo desperately wanted to touch and taste. The alpha may have been approaching middle age, but it was obvious he took care of himself and treated his body like a temple.

And hallelujah, Kyungsoo had seen the light and now considered himself a convert. He wanted to worship at this temple every day and every night for the rest of his life.

“Thirsty?”

Kyungsoo’s large eyes blinked up at the alpha in surprise. Was it really that obvious? Of course it was; he was very nearly salivating. If he had a tail, it would be wagging, but who could really blame him? Anyone with eyes would have felt the same. Still, Kyungsoo felt his cheeks flush before his head tilted in submission yet again. Had his obvious lusting displeased the alpha? He’d never forgive himself if Mr. Kim was angry with him, especially when he wanted to be so, so good for the older.

As if Mr. Kim was reading his mind, the alpha smirked yet again. “I was about to make myself some hot chocolate hoping it might help me sleep,” he explained while leaning one of his hips against the kitchen countertop. “I was asking if you’d like me to make you a cup as well.”

Oh. That kind of thirsty. Kyungsoo supposed he was that kind of thirsty as well.

“Yes, please, Mr. Kim,” he answered and the alpha nodded his head before indicating for Kyungsoo to sit upon one of the stools at the breakfast bar. Mr. Kim worked in the dark boiling milk for their drinks and occasionally looking back over his shoulder to find Kyungsoo always staring at him. Time and time again, he’d smile while Kyungsoo blushed, then turn back to continue the task at hand without otherwise acknowledging what had happened.

Soon, a large mug of cocoa was set down in front of him and Kyungsoo wrapped his nervous, still-trembling hands around the heated porcelain before the older alpha had the chance to notice. Mr. Kim leaned against the countertop instead of sitting himself. Even in the darkness, Kyungsoo felt small in the older man’s shadow.

Taking a small sip from his hot chocolate, Kyungsoo tried to summon his bravery here and now while his friends were sleeping and the opportunity was right in front of him. Now that he had seen, met, and smelled the alpha with the scent of sunshine, he couldn’t pretend the alpha was just Sehun’s dad, not when he knew the alpha was also his daddy.

He licked his lips and returned the mug to the counter. “Mr. Kim,” he began, his voice quivering just a little, but he refused to be deterred. He may have been an omega, but he was no coward. “I know this may be hard to believe, but I think—no, I know—you and I are—”

“Mates,” Mr. Kim both interrupted and concluded for him simultaneously. “I thought I was losing my mind when Sehun came home one day a few weeks ago with this really faint scent on him that I just couldn’t get out of my head. I thought I was working too much and overtired and it was making my brain play tricks on me, but I could swear there was something there that was important.”

A few weeks ago? Kyungsoo tried to remember. He and Sehun were around one another a lot—Junmyeon seldom wanted the other omega to wander very far from him under the guise of helping him adjust to a new school—but given Kyungsoo’s stupid, stupid suppressants, it would take much more than mere proximity to pass his scent along. And then Kyungsoo remembered the hug between omegas in the bathroom and knew Sehun must have been close enough to his neck for the transfer to have happened.

“Then last week he came home after spending a night in the dorms and I very nearly snarled at him out of jealousy,” the alpha continued to explain. The confession made Kyungsoo both smile and feel even guiltier that Sehun was a two-time victim of mistaken identity thanks to completely innocent scent transfer. “The scent was still faint, but stronger than it had been the first time and I knew chances were that I’d meet the one responsible for it tonight.”

“I smelled you on him too,” Kyungsoo stated, taking his turn in confessing. “It drove me completely crazy.”

The alpha looked a little smug to hear that and Kyungsoo liked the expression on him very much. Reaching forward, he reached over slowly—as if worried he might frighten Kyungsoo away like a frightened little animal if he moved too quickly—before tracing his fingers over Kyungsoo’s exposed collarbone and shoulder. The slightest touch made goose bumps break out across Kyungsoo’s flesh and his whole body shivered with pure, unadulterated want.

“You feel that too, don’t you?” the alpha asked, his voice suddenly taking on a deeper, huskier quality, the sound of which went straight to Kyungsoo’s now-leaking hole. One touch—one single finger of the alpha’s hand touching him—and Kyungsoo was already beginning to unravel. If it felt so good to have Mr. Kim touching just his shoulder, what would it be like if he had the alpha’s hands where he really wanted them? It seemed almost certain he’d come undone in a matter of mere seconds.

“May I?” Mr. Kim asked then. Kyungsoo was already so drunk on the alpha’s presence and innocent touch, he didn’t know what the alpha was asking for, but he nodded his head firmly anyway. Whatever it was the alpha wanted, he would give both willingly and happily to the elder.

The alpha stepped around the counter then until he stood directly beside Kyungsoo, making the omega’s breath hitch. He tilted his head up, his eyes blinking up at the alpha that continued to stroke over his shoulder until quite suddenly dipping his head to Kyungsoo’s neck. The omega gasped as Mr. Kim nosed at his neck now, deeply inhaling the concentrated scent of him his pills tried so very hard to hide.

Kyungsoo wanted to reach up and snake his hands around the alpha’s neck—to hold him close and never, ever let go—but all the courage and bravery he had summoned only a minute ago had vanished again, replaced now with an excited nervousness. Uncertain what to do with his hands, Kyungsoo gripped firmly onto his own bare knees as the alpha scented him, and from this close proximity, he transferred his own scent onto Kyungsoo. The omega would be smelling the alpha’s scent on him for days. It made him dizzy just to think about.

They were barely touching—barely making contact at all—yet seconds slipped into minutes with them just like this. The hot chocolate had gone cold by the time Mr. Kim had moved away from him. Kyungsoo wanted to pull the man back to his neck and beg for him to kiss him, touch him, taste him, and mark him, but there was a sudden bitter tang in the air that told Kyungsoo that now was not the time, no matter how much he may have wanted it.

“You’re so young,” the alpha sighed out as he leaned heavily against the counter. The words weren’t especially untrue, but they made Kyungsoo whimper since they were laced with the sting of rejection. “And I’m not.”

“You’re not that old, Mr. Kim,” Kyungsoo argued back immediately. Kyungsoo’s parents were at least a decade older than the alpha and they lived hours outside of Seoul, so it wasn’t as if things would be extra awkward because they ran in the same circles or something of that sort. Kyungsoo’s parents looked like the middle aged alpha and omega they were while Mr. Kim could have passed for a decade younger than he was. There were no wrinkles on his face or gray in his hair. In Kyungsoo’s opinion, he looked distinguished in a very sexy and appealing way, but he certainly didn’t think the alpha looked old or undesirable in any way.

“If you think your age is going to bother me, you’re going to be disappointed,” the omega continued. “I actually like that you’re so much older than me,” he admitted while ducking his head just slightly to avoid having to look into the alpha’s eyes as he confessed here and now. “You’re not some immature pup just trying to get your knot wet. You’re a man—a mature, grown man—that can take care of me in ways the sloppy and selfish boys my own age never could.”

Mr. Kim didn’t look fully convinced. “You’re the same age as my son.”

“I’m two years older actually,” the omega corrected immediately, as if those two extra years of age should make all the difference in the world.

“You’re the same age as my son,” the alpha said again, more firmly this time.

“If we’re mates, does it really matter?” Kyungsoo questioned. “If we’re mates, it means everything in the universe thinks we should be together. If we’re mates, it means the reason Sehun and I are the same age—the reason Sehun and I are at the same school and have become friends—is so you and I could meet. I don’t care that you’re older than me; as I keep telling you, I like it. You keep pointing out our age difference like you expect it suddenly bother me, but that’s not going to happen. Does it bother you that I’m the same age as your son? Do you have the room in your life to be both Sehun’s father and my daddy?”

A dark, heated look immediately passed over the alpha’s face while his breath hitched and Kyungsoo knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he hadn’t been the only one that had been thinking the word ever since they had been introduced in the living room.

New kink unlocked.

Mr. Kim was much more stubborn than Kyungsoo was though, it seemed, because while the omega was ready to throw his arms around his daddy’s neck and beg him to bend him over the counters here and now, the alpha gripped the granite countertop hard enough his knuckles turned white and took a few deep, even, measured breaths. If Kyungsoo was this damn thirsty (and not for hot chocolate) already, what was it going to be like when he really did toss his pills aside? Maybe he should have been grateful the alpha was able to keep his wits about him, but right now he wasn’t.

He really, really wasn’t.

“You’re still very young,” Mr. Kim stated now in such a forced calm and even voice, it was almost robotic. “You should be doing the sort of things college students are meant to do. You should be going out and having fun and making mistakes and learning life lessons, not being trapped by a mate twice your age. We need to do this right so a few years from now you don’t regret being shackled to some old alpha while you’re still young and meant to be foolish. I don’t want you to resent me or to resent whatever we might have together. I’ve waited twenty years to find you; I can wait a little while more.”

It wouldn’t do well to pout and throw a fit like a child when Mr. Kim seemed so hung up on the years between them, but Kyungsoo couldn’t help but be insulted by the alpha’s words. “So… what then?” he asked pointedly. “If I go out and fuck a bunch of my classmates, then you’ll have me?” The alpha frowned and opened his mouth to respond, but Kyungsoo wasn’t having it. “How many mistakes—how many wrong knots do you want me to take—before you’ll give me the one my body is made for?”

The alpha growled now. It was a low, deep sound that came from somewhere deep in his chest. It reverberated outward and directly in to Kyungsoo’s whole being and made the omega want to bear his neck and submit yet again, but he didn’t. Mr. Kim wasn’t the only one who could be stubborn.

“I don’t need to make mistakes; I don’t need to learn life lessons. If I want to go out and have fun, I’d rather go out and have fun with you,” he rushed out, before he lost what remained of his nerve and fully yielded to the alpha, for better or for worse. “Don’t make me wait twenty years just because you had to. I got here as quickly as I could.”

The growling alpha suddenly quieted and sagged, the anger at Kyungsoo’s taunting and goading leaving him now. “You’re too young right now to know what you really want,” Mr. Kim said now, and Kyungsoo immediately opened his mouth to argue that he knew exactly what he wanted, but the alpha cut him off. “So many things could go wrong here if we’re not careful. I don’t want you to get hurt because you leap headfirst into something you’re not yet ready for. I don’t want to get hurt myself because what you think you want today may not be what you want tomorrow. I don’t want my son to get hurt because he thinks you were using him to get to me or that I stole one of his only friends in the world from him like some dirty, old pervert. If we do this right, no one needs to be hurt. I want to do this right.”

It was Kyungsoo’s turn to sag now. He didn’t like it at all, but Mr. Kim had a point. Now that he no longer misunderstood the younger, Kyungsoo really liked Sehun. As of right now, Sehun was his only (non-honorary) omega friend and he didn’t want the other to doubt their friendship was real or important on its own, regardless of what Mr. Kim and Kyungsoo might have been to one another. If things went at all well, they could be in one another’s lives for a long, long time. He wanted their relationship to be one of friendship and love and happiness and not one of mistrust, loathing, and disgust.

“So what do you want us to do?” Kyungsoo asked, reaching for the cooled cup of cocoa just to give his hands something to do. He looked down at the milky brown contents, not wanting to meet the alpha’s eye when Mr. Kim would only see how sad he already was. In his brain, he knew the alpha—his mate—wasn’t rejecting him, but in his heart it felt just like he was. It was devastating, even if Mr. Kim’s concerns did make some sense.

“We don’t have to rush this,” the alpha answered before hooking a finger beneath Kyungsoo’s chin and tilting it upward so Kyungsoo was looking at him once again instead of at his hot-turned-cold chocolate. “We only met a few hours ago; we have a lot to learn about one another before we dive into anything too serious. We need to learn everything there is to know about one another. I want to learn what you like and what you dislike; I want you to learn what I like and dislike, too. Right now, I don’t even know what you’re studying. Do you know what I do for a living?”

“You’re a lawyer,” Kyungsoo answered smugly, as if his knowledge of that alone meant they should be able to leapfrog over everything else and get right to the fun stuff now.

Mr. Kim didn’t seem to agree. “And what kind of law do I practice?”

Kyungsoo once more slumped upon his stool and the alpha held a hand out as if to silently say, “see?” His point had been proven.

“We’ll exchange numbers before you leave to head back to your dorm tomorrow,” the alpha decided. “And from there, we can start getting to know one another. We can make plans to go out so we can get to know one another better.”

“Like on dates?”

Mr. Kim nodded his head in confirmation. “Like on dates. And then, when you’re a little bit older, if we both still want to go forward with this and we’re sure no one is going to be hurt in the process, we can.”

Kyungsoo considered the proposal. It wasn’t like he had much of a choice. He wanted the alpha more than anything, as did his inner omega. He didn’t want to take things slow, but he did like the idea of going out with the alpha. If the alpha gave him a chance—gave them a chance—perhaps he could convince the alpha they could learn about one another and get closer while also physically getting closer.

“It’s a deal, Mr. Kim.”

The alpha made a face. “If we’re going to do this, you should probably stop calling me Mr. Kim all the time.”

That seemed fair enough considering the things Kyungsoo wanted to do to the man were anything but formal and respectful. “You want me to call you Jongin instead?” The alpha nodded in confirmation. “But what if I slip up then and call you by your name in front of Sehun?”

“I’ll tell him I gave you permission to do so,” Mr. Kim—Jongin—stated. “It could end up being a good way to kind of soft launch things with him—to get him a little more comfortable with us being a little bit closer than he might otherwise expect us to be.”

“Okay,” Kyungsoo agreed with a nod of his head, while Jongin brought his mug of too-cold cocoa to his mouth for a drink. “From now on, I’ll call you Jongin in front of other people, so long as you can be my daddy when it’s just you and me.”

Jongin choked on his cocoa.

Their first date had been four days later on a Wednesday evening. Wednesdays had always been reserved as a group study night for him and his friends, which had been part of the reason Jongin had suggested it for their first night out together. With Sehun otherwise occupied for the night, the omega wouldn’t wonder why Jongin was out all night. So long as he was back to their apartment before Sehun returned, no one would be any the wiser.

For Kyungsoo to explain his absence to his friends, he claimed had a group project he had to work on and they couldn’t meet up any other night. He didn’t feel too badly about his deception because as far as he was concerned, it wasn’t really much of a lie. In this case, the group consisted of Jongin and him and the project was getting them closer so they could get closer to fucking. If ever there was a worthier cause, Kyungsoo didn’t know.

Usually Kyungsoo prioritized comfort over style; he was most at home in shapeless, oversized sweats and t-shirts, but for the alpha, Kyungsoo had made as much of an effort as he ever had. He had pulled outfit after outfit from his closet and drawers until it looked like his wardrobe had exploded before he finally settled on a simple pair of jeans and an especially soft-looking sweater he hoped the alpha would want to touch.

He wished he had spent even more time making an effort because he felt woefully underdressed and woefully out of place from the very first moment he entered the sleek black BMW Jongin had picked him up in shortly before their reservation. The alpha was still in the suit he had spent his work day in having come directly from his office to the dorms, something he apologized for profusely, but to Kyungsoo, Jongin looked like he had just stepped out of a magazine. It was overwhelming being in such a confined space with him that was so saturated in the alpha’s scent and when the alpha looked so good, that by the time they reached the restaurant, he felt a little dizzy and lightheaded.

But that wasn’t the worst thing in the world, since it gave him an excuse to lean against Jongin as they made their way into the restaurant. Given how much emphasis Jongin had put on their age difference, Kyungsoo had half-expected the older to keep him at an arm’s length while they were in public, but Jongin did no such thing. He had very nearly growled at the valet when they had opened Kyungsoo’s door for him and he had quickly run around the vehicle in order to help the omega out of the car first. He had led Kyungsoo into the restaurant with a hand resting on the small of his back and kept it there until they had reached their table. After he pulled Kyungsoo’s chair out for him and claimed the one across from him, Jongin had reached out his hand and claimed Kyungsoo’s and held it from then until their food came. It may not have been much, but it had been enough to make Kyungsoo’s heart flutter the whole time.

“So what kind of law is it that you practice?” Kyungsoo asked curiously between bites of his almost too-delicious meal. He had gone wide-eyed when he had seen the exorbitant prices listed in the menu, but now that he had tasted the food, he kind of understood them, even if they were still a rip off. “It’s obviously lucrative enough for you to go out of your way to try to impress me.”

Jongin laughed. “Is it working?” Kyungsoo nodded without hesitation, which made the alpha smile. “Even though I said you should know, I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t ask. It’s deeply unsexy.”

“Is there a sexy kind of law?”

“Probably not, but I think some of my co-workers would like to think so,” the alpha answered with another laugh and Kyungsoo very much liked the sound of it. “I do trust and estate planning.”

“Like wills and that sort of thing?” Kyungsoo asked and the alpha nodded his head. “You’re right; that is unsexy.”

The alpha laughed in amusement yet again and there would be many more throughout their dinner. Kyungsoo had been afraid conversation might be stilted or awkward and he was pretty sure Jongin was afraid of the same, but it wasn’t at all. Fate didn’t make mistakes, and Kyungsoo was more sure than ever he and Jongin were meant to be. The chemistry between them was obvious and palpable. Every time the poor waitress came by to deliver something or to check in on them, she apologized profusely for interrupting and intruding.

Kyungsoo’s only complaint about their very first date was that it went much too quickly. Kyungsoo would have liked to have spent the entire night getting to know the alpha better, but he had classes the next day and Jongin had work and a son to beat home. Much too soon, Jongin had pulled into a parking lot near Kyungsoo’s dorms to drop him off for the night.

“Thank you for dinner; I had a really nice time tonight,” Kyungsoo had stated after unbuckling his seatbelt and loitering just a little bit longer. He really didn’t want to leave the car; he really didn’t want to leave the alpha.

Jongin wasn’t exactly shoving him out the door either. The alpha reached over until his large, warm hand met Kyungsoo’s cheek and he stroked his thumb gently over it. “Thank you for joining me. I had a really nice time tonight, too. Let’s do it again soon, yeah?”

Kyungsoo tilted his head into the alpha’s touch, not wanting to break the contact now or maybe ever. “Yeah,” he agreed easily, and before he had a chance to stop himself or Jongin had a chance to stop him, Kyungsoo closed the distance between them and met the alpha’s lips with his own for their first kiss. It wasn’t especially deep or long—it was mostly just a firm press of lips to lips—but it had happened despite the alpha’s insistence they take things slow and not rush.

It was too quick and it wasn’t nearly as satisfying as he hoped, but when Kyungsoo pulled back just as quickly as he had lurched forward, he felt the need to apologize. “I’m sorry; I know you said we should—”

But his words were interrupted when Jongin suddenly undid his own seatbelt in order to all but launch himself at Kyungsoo. The alpha’s hand that had been cradling his face now pulled him in and their mouths met over the console between their seats. Jongin quickly dominated the kiss, tilting his head and parting their lips against one another so he could lick into Kyungsoo’s mouth. The very first swipe of the alpha’s tongue against his own had Kyungsoo whimpering directly into Jongin’s mouth.

Kyungsoo’s arms wrapped around Jongin’s shoulders as the alpha licked deeper into the omega’s mouth tasting him while Kyungsoo tasted the other right back. Right now Jongin tasted of the expensive and rich chocolate mousse they had shared for dessert and something so distinctly Jongin it had Kyungsoo’s fingernails digging into the alpha’s neck and shoulders with desire for so much more.

“I thought you said we should take things slow,” Kyungsoo panted out when Jongin’s lips traveled from his own down to his chin and then further to the pale column of his neck. Kyungsoo sucked in much needed air while the alpha sucked red and purpling bruises into his neck, marking him (temporarily) as Jongin’s. Kyungsoo’s fingers moved into Jongin’s hair, mussing the well-styled, professional look as he pulled the alpha tighter to him, encouraging the alpha to mark him more.

“Are you complaining, baby?” the alpha mumbled against his neck and Kyungsoo’s whole body shivered with each and every single word. He stretched his neck to the side giving the alpha even more room to create a work of art upon the canvas of his pale skin in bruises. “Should we stop now?”

“No, daddy, no,” Kyungsoo moaned out and the words received precisely the reaction the omega had anticipated. Jongin growled against his neck, his teeth nipping roughly over the skin while his hands moved to grip Kyungsoo’s hips tightly enough to leave even more bruises upon his skin.

The next thing Kyungsoo knew, Jongin was pulling him over and across the center console while simultaneously moving his own seat as far back as it could go. Kyungsoo settled on to the alpha’s lap with one knee on either side of the alpha’s frame and a steering wheel pressed a little painfully up against his back. He could forgive the discomfort and the tight squeeze of the car though if it meant he was straddling the alpha’s lap like this.

“No sex, no knotting,” the alpha mumbled against his throat while Kyungsoo tossed his head back and grinded wantonly on the alpha’s lap, looking for any bit of friction he could find. Jongin tilted his head back now, looking up at Kyungsoo. His pouty lips were wet and swollen and Kyungsoo wanted to taste them all over again. “Not until you’re a bit older; not until we’re sure. The rest we’ll play by ear, deal?”

Kyungsoo would have agreed to anything to get that man’s mouth back on him. “Yes,” he breathed out just before Jongin pulled him down so their mouths could meet again. The kiss was deep and urgent, heated and needy. The windows of the car began to fog and steam while the temperature within seemed to skyrocket to suffocating levels. It was autumn now, but it felt like the middle of the summer inside the vehicle.

Jongin ran his hands under the hem of Kyungsoo’s sweater and the t-shirt beneath it, feeling the smooth skin of the omega’s back with his fingertips. Meanwhile, Kyungsoo’s fingers moved to the alpha’s tie, deftly undoing the Windsor knot at his throat before pulling it out from the alpha’s collar and tossing it aside. As soon as it was gone, he began unbuttoning Jongin’s dress shirt, revealing the warm tan skin he was so fond of inch by inch.

“Baby,” Jongin groaned out when Kyungsoo began descending the alpha’s neck now. There was nothing more satisfying than finally having the sunshine and sea breeze beneath his lips and they dragged over the skin before his tongue darted out to taste. He unbuttoned a few more buttons of the alpha’s dress shirt until he tug the garment far enough aside to display one of Jongin’s muscular shoulders that he had ogled in the kitchen days earlier. He nibbled across it, laving over the skin to soothe everywhere his teeth otherwise scraped. “Don’t leave any marks where they could be seen.”

Kyungsoo snorted once and pulled back from the alpha’s shoulder in order to look down at Jongin incredulously. Even though he wouldn’t get a chance to look in a mirror and see the damage the alpha had done until he was back in his dorm room, Kyungsoo was certain he had enough blooming marks over his neck courtesy of the older to look like he had gotten into some kind of altercation with a teething bear of some sort. Jongin had been so concerned about their age difference just a few days ago, yet it was the alpha that was initiating a make out session in his car and leaving hickeys on Kyungsoo’s neck like an especially horny and possessive teenager.

He had been prepared to remind Jongin of precisely that when Jongin had gripped Kyungsoo’s hips once again and shifted the omega’s body in just such a way that Kyungsoo felt the alpha’s hardened length slide beneath him. His breath hitched in his throat and any sassy words he had been about to speak died on his tongue to be replaced instead by a dirty, wanton moan.

Jongin was longer and thicker than Kyungsoo had even dared to hope and god, all he wanted right now was to get his hands and mouth wrapped around it before he found some way to get it stuffed so deep inside him until it filled him up further than he had ever been filled before. He rotated his own hips now, dragging his butt up and down the length of the alpha’s clothed cock, giving them both a little much-needed friction now. Their mouths found one another again and their kiss became desperate, all teeth and tongue and panted out breath so heated, Kyungsoo thought he might combust right then and there.

Kyungsoo’s hand slipped down Jongin’s chest until it ran once over the alpha’s clothed length before his other hand quickly joined it in order to work on undoing the alpha’s belt buckle. One of the hands that had been on Kyungsoo’s hips moved to loosely grip one of his wrists, effectively stilling his hands. “Baby, I said no sex.”

“I know,” Kyungsoo agreed breathlessly. Jongin may have had a hold of his wrist, but his fingers still moved down to brush over the alpha’s length. It twitched beneath his fingertips. “But that still leaves a lot of options on the table.”

Jongin considered that for a moment before releasing Kyungsoo’s wrist to let the omega continue from where he had left off, but Kyungsoo didn’t manage to even get the belt unbuckled when they were interrupted again, this time by the ringing of a phone.

Jongin’s hand snatched his too-noisy device from where it was resting on the console and let out a sigh when he saw the name illuminated on the screen. “It’s Sehun,” he announced, and the words were like a bucket of cold water being dumped over the both of them. Kyungsoo leaned back against the steering wheel while Jongin’s finger swiped across the screen accepting the call and holding it up to his ear. “Hey, what’s up?”

Kyungsoo could only hear Jongin’s half of the conversation, but from the way Jongin’s eyes slipped close and his head banged back a few times against his headrest in frustration, the omega could tell their date was now over. “Sure, I can come pick you up from school now.” He mouthed a silent “I’m sorry” to Kyungsoo before continuing. “It shouldn’t take me too long to get there. It looks like traffic is pretty light.” And it sure helped that he was already at the campus, Kyungsoo thought to himself. “Hang tight; I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

When Jongin looked back up at Kyungsoo, his expression was both sheepish and a little pained. “I’m really sorry,” he apologized yet again. “I’ll make it up to you next time. I—”

“It’s fine; there’s nothing for you to make up for,” Kyungsoo interrupted before the alpha had the chance to work himself up into a tizzy. Kyungsoo couldn’t say he was grateful for the interruption of his friend and Jongin’s son, but sexy and expensive as the alpha’s car may have been, it wasn’t the most comfortable for amorous activity. Kyungsoo’s back already hurt from where the steering wheel kept rubbing against it and his legs hurt from where they were uncomfortably sandwiched between the door and Jongin and Jongin and the console.

And—fun as it may have been—going any further than they already had in the car didn’t exactly say: serious, adult relationship. Jongin may have been the one currently putting limitations upon this thing budding between them, but despite his horniness, Kyungsoo didn’t want to have any regrets either. If they got carried away in the car, he probably wouldn’t be too happy with himself tomorrow. He wanted the alpha to see him as his omega and not some kid that couldn’t control himself.

“You’re a very good dad,” he added, lifting one of his hands to rest against the alpha’s cheek. Jongin tilted his head towards the touch, and Kyungsoo couldn’t help but smile at the cute action. “And if I’m really lucky, you’ll be an even better daddy.”

Jongin groaned and pulled Kyungsoo down for one last unhurried kiss before opening his car door so the omega could climb out of the vehicle onto wobbly legs. “I’ll call you tomorrow night,” the alpha promised. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”

And if Kyungsoo smiled the whole walk to his dorm room, no one would have blamed him.

Kyungsoo had been pouting for days when Sehun had quite suddenly pulled him into the omega comfort room for a private word. Chuseok was right around the corner and Kyungsoo had been planning on making the journey home like most of his classmates were. Sure, he had been eager to see his family for the first time in a few months, but mostly he had been looking forward to the break because it would give him a chance to see his doctor and get off his nuisance suppressants once and for all.

But a few days ago, his mother had called him and informed him his father had drawn the short straw in his office and been assigned on a last minute business trip over the holidays. She had decided to go along with him so they could spend the holiday together which meant Kyungsoo would be stuck alone in the dorms for the whole of break.

“Please, Kyungsoo,” Sehun begged the moment the door had closed behind them. “I really, really need your help.”

“What is it?”

“It’s about Chuseok,” the younger omega quickly explained. “My grandparents are on a cruise right now that my grandpa scheduled without thinking about the holiday because he’s terrible at dates, so my dad decided we could skip the rites this year until my grandparents are back and just take a short trip instead.”

Kyungsoo nodded his head in understanding, though none of this came as news to Kyungsoo who had heard about it before from Jongin days ago. He had been extremely jealous to learn about the alpha’s plans after his own had fallen through, but he hadn’t expected to be able to spend the holiday with the elder anyway.

“We’re going to Japan for a few days,” Sehun continued to explain, completely unaware Kyungsoo knew about it already. “We’ll be staying at an onsen we’ve visited a few times before for a few days. It’s a really nice place; I’m sure you’d really like it.”

If Sehun’s dad was going to be there, of course Kyungsoo would like it, but he couldn’t say that now. “How does any of this involve my help?” he asked.

“I really want Junmyeon to come along,” the omega answered while his cheeks suddenly dusted with pink. “Junmyeon checked with his family to see if he could and they said it was okay, but my dad says he can only come if I have another friend come along with me so it’s not like… you know… a date and more of a group trip instead.”

Kyungsoo only just barely resisted the urge to snort and he had to bite his lip to keep from saying anything he shouldn’t. He was rapidly figuring out what favor it was Sehun was asking and if he was right, it still sounded like a date to him, only more like a double instead of Jongin being an awkward third-wheel to his son’s burgeoning relationship. To Kyungsoo, it sounded like Jongin had seized hold of an opportunity for them to spend the holiday together under the guise of doing Sehun some big favor.

“You’re the only friend I have that isn’t going home for the holiday,” Sehun continued. “But even if you weren’t, I would have asked you. Please, please, please, come along,” the omega begged openly. “You wouldn’t have to pay for or provide anything; my dad will cover all expenses. You’d just have to pack a bag for the long weekend and he’ll take care of everything else. And maybe—if it’s not too much to ask—distract my dad for me every now and then?”

“Distract your dad?” Kyungsoo repeated, his wide eyes going even wider at the suggestion. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, you know,” Sehun dismissed with a wave of his hand, though Kyungsoo most definitely did not know. “You two get along really well.”

Ever since Sehun had first brought him and Baekhyun home and introduced them to his dad, Sehun had been inviting him and the others in their circle over on a very regular basis. Kyungsoo suspected Jongin was encouraging it just so they had an excuse to see one another, but the alpha would never admit to it when he asked. While they were unable to be outwardly amorous at times like those, they couldn’t help but gravitate toward one another anyway. They always wound up sitting next to one another or engaged in a private conversation between them while forgetting everyone else was there.

Kyungsoo had thought the good food and entertainment systems that everyone seemed to gravitate towards had been enough of a distraction to keep anyone from noticing the alpha and the omega had a habit of getting wrapped up in their own little bubble, but it seemed Sehun had noticed. Sehun had noticed in a big way.

“Just get him talking about his job or hobbies or whatever other boring things he drones on to you about when you’re over so I can get a few minutes alone with Junmyeon now and then,” Sehun continued to explain. “I really like him.”

Kyungsoo offered the other omega a small smile. “He must really like you too if he’s willing to skip Chuseok with his family in order to spend it with you instead,” he said. “Junmyeon is as filial an alpha as I’ve ever met. I’ve known Junmyeon for a few years now and I can tell you this is a big deal.”

“You really think so?” Sehun asked and his whole face lit up while Kyungsoo nodded his head in reassurance. The other omega suddenly gripped Kyungsoo’s hands and looked at him imploringly. “Please say you’ll come,” he begged. “Please, please, please.”

Kyungsoo didn’t really have to consider it, but he pretended to anyway. “Fine,” he agreed with a sigh. “You can let your dad know there will be four for Chuseok.”

“I don’t like what is happening here at all,” Jongin stated grumpily through narrowed eyes as he watched Sehun and Junmyeon walking a short distance in front of them through the Japanese mall they had gone to shortly after their arrival. Having spent a semester of his life living in the country, Sehun was eager to take their very small touring group to the places he had often visited alone when he had been at the school. Kyungsoo suspected the omega who had been woefully alone a few months earlier wanted to share these places that had once brought him joy amid his sadness with people who would appreciate not only the places, but being there with him. In Kyungsoo’s opinion, it was a very nice thing, but Jongin was having a difficult time seeing anything other than the shy, innocent flirtations happening between his omega son and Junmyeon. He looked down at Kyungsoo while they walked and questioned him. “You see what’s happening here, don’t you? That alpha…” he practically snarled the word in limitless disgust, as if he didn’t share the exact same gender with Junmyeon, “…couldn’t be any more obvious.”

Kyungsoo did his best to bite back an amused smile while humoring the alpha and turning his full attention onto the pair in front of them rather than the shiny, brightly colored stores on either side of them. Sehun and Junmyeon were walking side-by-side, close to one another, yet not touching. Jongin seemed to have a difficult time saying “no” to his only child, so Sehun had been on quite the shopping spree since they had arrived. Junmyeon’s hands were laden down with all the bags from Sehun’s many purchases while Sehun’s hands were completely empty so he could continue to shop and browse without restriction. Though Kyungsoo couldn’t hear what they were saying, he could see them chatting to one another and exchanging smiles and the occasional pinked cheeks.

It was sweet.

But Jongin didn’t seem to share in that sentiment.

“I do see what’s happening here,” he confirmed with a bob of his head, and a look of relief passed over Jongin’s face, as if he now had the green light to further complain about the pair. His relief was short-lived, however. “But I don’t think I’m seeing the same thing you are, because they’re really cute together.”

“Cute?” Jongin echoed back incredulously. “Cute?! What about that boy practically drooling over my son can you possibly find cute?”

Kyungsoo didn’t think the alpha would appreciate his honest answer of “everything,” so he bit his bottom lip for a moment and tried to think of a different approach. In the days leading up to the trip and even while they were on the plane, Sehun had begged Kyungsoo to help run interference for him so the other omega could steal some alone time with Junmyeon. Sehun really liked the older alpha and it was obvious Junmyeon was just as smitten by the younger omega, but Sehun was shy and Junmyeon was almost chronically respectful. Kyungsoo wouldn’t be surprised if—despite their obvious attraction to one another—it took them a handful of weeks more to work up the nerve to so much as hold one another’s hand.

So Kyungsoo didn’t exactly feel bad about running interference for Sehun. It wasn’t like the other omega wanted a distraction so he could play a starring role as the only omega in some alpha gangbang; he just wanted the chance to get to know Junmyeon a little bit better without his father glowering at him and trying to get between them and stop those cute little moments from happening before they had the chance to even start.

Pointing out Jongin was being overprotective and unreasonable would get him nowhere though, Kyungsoo was sure of that. Alphas were stubborn and territorial and maybe even a little bit stupid when it came to protecting what they thought of as theirs. It didn’t matter that Sehun was an adult and a mature omega that sooner or later would be striking out on his own and (heaven forbid!) maybe even doing so with a mate of his own; Jongin would forever see him as his pup and responsibility.

Kyungsoo needed to give the alpha something else to be territorial over and secretly, he quite liked the idea of that something being him. “Should I be jealous?” Kyungsoo asked while looking up at the alpha he walked beside. “I’m right here, but the only thing you can focus on is the two of them. I’m not sure why I came. If I wanted to be this ignored, I could have stayed in my dorm. You’re so focused on being an overprotective dad that you’ve forgotten all about being my daddy.”

Just saying the word visibly flustered the elder the way it always did and he opened his mouth to protest against the omega’s claims, but Kyungsoo went in for the kill before he had the chance. “Why don’t you spend the rest of the day with Sehun and I’ll spend the rest of the day with Junmyeon? I’d be perfectly fine making the swap. Better to spend the day with a charming alpha than with a sullen mate.”

Before Kyungsoo had a chance to fake a dramatic storm off, Jongin grabbed a hold of his wrist gently to keep him where he was. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, looking truly remorseful for his distraction. “I didn’t mean to neglect you.” Kyungsoo had to resist the urge to coo over the alpha that, despite his age, could quickly turn into a pouty teddy bear in the blink of an eye. “I just really don’t like that kid.”

“Junmyeon has been a perfect gentleman,” Kyungsoo reassured the alpha. “Do you really think Sehun would accept or tolerate anything less? If you don’t trust Junmyeon, you should at least trust Sehun. He’s not a wilting flower; he can handle himself. If anything, it’s Junmyeon you should be concerned about,” he further teased.

Before Jongin had a chance to respond, Sehun had turned around and skipped up to them. He pointedly eyed the hold his dad still had on Kyungsoo’s wrist for a moment before Jongin quickly released the grasp. The silent “don’t be weird” reprimand hung in the air for a few seconds before Sehun actually spoke. “We want to go to the arcade,” the omega announced before pointing over his shoulder to a brightly lit storefront filled wall-to-wall with various machines of chance. “I want to play the claw machines. Can we?”

While Sehun had clearly been asking his father, his eyes kept darting over to Kyungsoo as if silently asking for help, and… well… that was what Kyungsoo was here for. “I still want to pick up souvenirs for my parents,” he voiced now. “But I don’t want to alone; my Japanese is terrible. Maybe we could split up into two groups and meet later?”

Jongin made sure to take a moment to glare at Junmyeon before sighing and nodding his head. “We’ll meet up again in an hour at the arcade,” he decided. Sehun gave his dad a quick hug as Junmyeon formally bowed. As the pair split off, Jongin took hold of Kyungsoo’s hand within his own. “It’s obvious you’re helping him, you know. You and Sehun are not as subtle as you think you are.”

Kyungsoo snorted, unsurprised Jongin had figured it out. The alpha was just as smart as he was sexy, handsome, charming, generous, clever, funny, and swoon-worthy. “I wasn’t trying to be subtle,” he countered. “I was trying to be a good friend.”

“Well you didn’t even have to try that time because I wouldn’t have wanted to go to the arcade with Sehun anyway,” he claimed as one of his thumbs stroked over the back of Kyungsoo’s hand. “That Junmyeon kid has no idea what he’s in for because Sehun is a nightmare in an arcade. He becomes so singularly focused, he forgets everything else… until he needs more money, anyway. He refuses to walk away until he’s won what he wants to win and he won’t let anyone help him. If he sees someone else win something, he insists on winning something bigger and better. He’s becomes a fiercely competitive little shit, and I say that with all the love in the world,” the alpha explained while Kyungsoo snorted. Silence hung between them for a moment before he added, “If you’re helping Sehun score alone time with that alpha, does that mean he knows about us?”

“If he does, he hasn’t told me,” Kyungsoo answered, and Jongin appeared relieved by that answer. “And I haven’t told him either. When he asked me to distract you, he said he thought I could do it because you and I get along well. Do you think we get along well… daddy?”

Jongin squeezed Kyungsoo’s hand pointedly. “You have to stop saying that right now,” he warned. “Or I’m going to end up dragging you into a fitting room in some shop and we’ll end up arrested in a foreign country for indecency.”

“Promises, promises,” Kyungsoo sighed out while Jongin led him toward a book store. They had gotten farther than they had managed on their first date in the car, but not by much, and to Kyungsoo’s annoyance, Jongin was still resolutely holding to his rule of “no sex and no knotting.”

Touching wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy Kyungsoo who desperately wanted to experience everything with his alpha and mate, but Jongin kept insisting Kyungsoo needed to take more time to consider his options and be older before they crossed that particular line. As far as Kyungsoo was concerned, there was nothing to consider. He was certain of what he wanted and what he wanted was Jongin, but if Jongin needed him to prove himself in some way by waiting, he’d do so.

In the bookstore, they wandered separately. Kyungsoo’s Japanese was rudimentary at best and even saying that was generous. He could say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, and inquire as to where the bathroom was, and that was it. If that wasn’t pathetic enough, he understood even less of the language when it was written out in hiragana. Though his pride wouldn’t allow for him to say it, he had always been significantly more artistic than book smart and languages other than his own were a bit over his head. So while he wandered the shelves, he mostly just admired the covers of books and bided his time until Jongin was finished with his own browsing.

But minutes continued to tick by with Kyungsoo on his own and no Jongin in sight and soon, the omega began to wonder if he had been abandoned in the shop as some sort of punishment for his previous teasing. He pouted to himself and scoured the space row after row in search of the older alpha and—just when he was really beginning to lose hope of finding the man—he finally spotted him in a back corner of the store.

Kyungsoo was small and quiet to a fault, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that Jongin didn’t see or notice his approach. It was especially not much of a surprise Jongin didn’t see or notice his approach considering the alpha seemed completely engrossed in the book he was currently perusing.

“What did you find? What are you reading?” he asked after he stood near the alpha for a full minute without so much as a word of acknowledgement from the other. Jongin often seemed so attuned to him on most occasions that Kyungsoo could only assume whatever the alpha had found was absolutely fascinating. The sign written in Japanese over the shelf offered Kyungsoo zero hints on what Jongin was so interested in; he’d have to get his answers directly from the alpha.

The alpha startled at the sudden questions and the heavy book in his hands slipped out from his fingers and fell to the ground with a sound thud. Jongin hurried to pick it back up, but for the first time ever, being short and thus closer to the floor gave Kyungsoo an advantage, and the omega scooped the book up into his hold before Jongin had a chance to grab it.

When Kyungsoo flipped the book over, he found himself staring down at a picture of a half-naked woman—a beta, if Kyungsoo wasn’t mistaken—bound in a series of elaborate knots by red and brown rope. Nothing especially intimate about the woman’s body was revealed despite her state of undress—between the ropes and the angles her body was contorted in by her bindings, everything was hidden—yet there was something undeniably erotic about the image. He felt heat beginning to pool in the depths of his belly and his heart fluttered a little bit with an odd sort of anticipation.

“I was just looking,” Jongin rushed out and quickly made to grab for the book, but Kyungsoo turned away with it still in his hands, effectively dodging out of the alpha’s grasp.

Kyungsoo quickly opened the book and began flipping through the pages in a hurry. Half of the pages were black and white drawings of step-by-step directions on knots and techniques that Kyungsoo couldn’t read, but that excited him in a way he couldn’t quite put words to or give voice to anyway.

On the opposite pages were glossy images of men and women of varying body types, second genders, ages, sizes, and states of undress greeted him, the only unifying feature being the ropes they were bound with. Some had more simple bindings that seemed focused on securing wrists and ankles while others were  trussed up in elaborate rope-constructed harnesses that had them freely dangling from the ceiling, supported by nothing but the ropes tied around them. He wasn’t the one bound in such a way, with bits of flesh bulging around taut bindings, yet his body seemed to tingle as if it were.

New kink unlocked.

“It’s the Japanese art of shibari,” Jongin explained after he finally snatched the book out of Kyungsoo’s hands and hastily returned it to a shelf. No sooner had the alpha put it back then Kyungsoo was grabbing it and taking it back into his hands to explore further. “It’s art, not pornography, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

It hadn’t been what the omega was thinking. While Kyungsoo wouldn’t have been surprised to learn some found the images vulgar, he wasn’t one of them. Though he had never seen something like them before, he found them oddly beautiful here and now. He could only begin to imagine what it might feel like to be bound in such a way—to be so vulnerable and exposed and submissive and helpless. He could only begin to imagine how intense it might be to feel the unnatural pressure at especially sensitive points upon his body. He wondered if the ropes would keep him grounded to the moment, or if his whole mind might float away to some unspoken place in the clouds while the one who bound him otherwise tended to him a few ways over.

And he could understand the appeal for the one responsible for tying those beautiful and elaborate knots as well. It had to make one feel really powerful to be given such trust from another and to have such control over that someone. He could imagine there was a deep satisfaction that went with each and every knot that was tied.

He could imagine the one responsible for those knots felt like an artist.

He could imagine the one in those bindings felt like a piece of art.

And when he thought about being knotted while being tied into knots… well… Kyungsoo found himself struggling not to leak in the middle of a Japanese book store despite his suppressants.

“Have you ever done this?” Kyungsoo asked when he finally looked up from the glossy images in order to meet the eyes of the alpha. Jongin shook his head once in denial. “Do you want to do this?” he asked now. “Do you want to do this to me?”

A heated, dark look passed over the alpha’s features. He stared at Kyungsoo so intensely, it made the omega feel even more breathless than the erotic images had. Kyungsoo half-expected Jongin to turn the question back around on him and ask if he wanted to be tied up instead, but the alpha didn’t do that. Instead, he crowded into Kyungsoo’s space, backing him against one of the shelves and sucking all of the oxygen out of the room with his presence alone. “Yes,” he confirmed. “I want to do this to you. Would you let me?”

“Yes,” Kyungsoo breathed out without hesitation despite the lack of oxygen in his lungs. Using the book as a shield in one hand, Kyungsoo let his other hand find the alpha’s belt buckle, the metal of it cool against his fingertips. Those fingertips dragged down now, over the zipped fly until they pressed against the very hard length the alpha was presently concealing… and quite poorly at that. Jongin was too big to go unnoticed. Kyungsoo’s mouth was practically salivating.

Just as Kyungsoo’s palm began to drag over the alpha’s clothed cock, Jongin grabbed a hold of his wrist, stilling the action, but now, the secure grasp couldn’t help but conjure images in the omega’s mind of being tied up and he very nearly whimpered aloud. “Later,” Jongin stated. “Not here.”

“Do you promise?”

The alpha nodded his head. “I promise, but you know the rules. No sex and no knotting. Not yet anyway.”

Kyungsoo nearly pouted, but he reminded himself it was only a matter of time before the alpha gave in and gave them both what they really wanted. In the meantime, Kyungsoo would be so, so good for Jongin, however he was allowed. “Okay,” he agreed. “But you have to buy me a copy of this book too.”

Jongin smirked but nodded his head once. “Deal.”

The onsen they were staying at was luxurious and it was obvious Jongin had spared no expense in their accommodations. They were staying in two separate suites connected by a sliding, shoji door between them. Kyungsoo and Sehun had been assigned to one suite while Jongin and Junmyeon took up the other, but they were spending little time confined to their rooms… mostly for Junmyeon’s sake. Despite the alpha’s best efforts, Jongin remained severely unimpressed by the younger.

“We’re going to walk beneath the cherry blossom trees,” Jongin echoed back mockingly shortly after Sehun and Junmyeon had decided to take a walk around the well-manicured grounds of the onsen. The elaborately landscaped gardens were beginning to look a little sad and bleak this deep into autumn and with winter not very far away now, but no one really thought the stroll the younger omega and alpha were taking was because of their appreciation for horticulture. “The trees won’t bloom again until spring. Right now, they’re just a bunch of sad, half-bare, browned things. Who do they think they’re fooling?”

“Stop it,” Kyungsoo scolded gently with a laugh while untying the belt to the white, terrycloth robe the onsen had provided and letting it fall off his shoulders. Their rooms shared a private hot spring and he and Jongin were taking advantage of it now. Kyungsoo waded into the heated water naked as the day he was born, feeling the alpha’s eyes on the back of him until the water was up to his waist. “I think it’s sweet,” he continued as he moved further into the natural pool, to a space surrounded by smooth boulders that afforded a little extra privacy. “And what are you really complaining about? It’s not like Junmyeon can knot Sehun in the middle of the garden path. They’re in public; they won’t do anything more than hold hands.”

“You think they might hold hands?” Jongin asked while sounding positively scandalized by the suggestion, as if he and Kyungsoo weren’t verging on becoming exhibitionists themselves. Even right now as Jongin removed his own robe and waded into the springs after Kyungsoo, he did so unashamedly at full mast, his stiffened cock bobbing freely in front of him until he too sank beneath the waterline when he claimed a spot near the omega. “Don’t you think Sehun could do better?”

A number of smooth, low seats had been carved into the rock that naturally surrounded the hot spring and Kyungsoo settled down onto one along the edge of the pool. To his annoyance, he was short enough that only his neck and head were above the waterline now, but when Jongin sat nearby, all of his shoulders were exposed. Years of the heated water shaping the rock had eliminated the sharp edges and made the boulders smooth and remarkably comfortable to lean back against, which Kyungsoo did immediately with a heavy sigh of contentment.

The naturally heated water was nothing short of heavenly. The air was cool enough and the water was hot enough that a low fog of steam rolled across the surface of the springs. Kyungsoo could see the nearby alpha clearly through the mist, but much of what was beyond them was hidden by the gray. Despite being outside and in the open, it felt private and secluded.

Once Kyungsoo had fully relaxed into the spring, he turned the alpha’s question back around on him. “How much better do you think there is to do?” he inquired curiously. “Do you know any available, literal princes? I ask because that would probably be the only upgrade from him possible. At the end of the school year, he’ll graduate at the top of his class with honors. He’s a responsible, charismatic and kind alpha and a natural born leader with lots of friends in high places as well as important contacts. He’ll have a great, financially-stable job the moment he’s out of school that will be able to provide well for both him and a future mate. What more could you possibly want of Sehun’s alpha?”

The long, strong arms that Jongin had draped along the rock ledge of the pool moved to cover his ears childishly. “Don’t say the m-word in regards to Sehun,” the alpha pouted openly. “I’m too young to have a mated child.”

“You are,” Kyungsoo agreed placatingly while stretching his pale legs out until his feet made contact with Jongin’s thigh. Almost instantly the alpha uncovered his ears and let his hands sink into the water in order to grab Kyungsoo’s feet that he promptly pulled into his lap and began massaging beneath the surface of the water. The omega couldn’t help but let out a pleased little purr. “But it’s not like Fate really cares about ideal timetables.” The two of them were proof enough of that. “And just because they’re mates doesn’t mean they’re actually mating.” Again, the two of them were proof enough of that, much to Kyungsoo’s own personal annoyance.

Jongin winced while rubbing over the arches of one of Kyungsoo’s feet. It tickled, but in a way that sent a delicious sort of tickle up and down the omega’s spine. “Do you really think they’re mates? Do you really think they’re actual mates and not just a temporary infatuation that can likely be tossed aside well before Christmas especially with a little encouragement from a beloved parent?”

Kyungsoo bit his lip in order to keep himself from laughing at the protective papa. “Neither Junmyeon nor Sehun has directly told me they’re one another’s mate,” he stated, causing an immediate look of pure relief to pass over the alpha’s face. The relief would be short-lived, however. “But Junmyeon could scent you on Sehun the same way I could and it annoyed him just as much as it did me, albeit for different reasons.”

Jongin released his hold on Kyungsoo’s feet allowing them to fall back onto his lap while he lifted his arms to slap and splash at the heated water in frustration. Though he might tease him about it, Kyungsoo could understand the alpha’s frustration on a multitude of levels. First and foremost, Sehun was his one and only child and he had barely reached adulthood. Jongin was likely still struggling with the idea that the tiny pup he had cradled in his arms in infancy was now six foot tall and an adult in his own right. A few months ago, Sehun hadn’t been able to live away from home without developing depression, so now trying to imagine he might have found the person he’d make a home with and build a life with was likely too much too soon.

Secondly, an alpha father was always especially protective of their omega children. Kyungsoo planned on keeping the news of the discovery of his own mate secret from his parents for as long as humanly possible for much this particular reason. Omegas were vulnerable so many ways over. They were always a little more quiet, a little more demure, and a little more subdued than the other genders. They were also physically weaker than alphas and betas who often liked to throw their weight around in order to bully or pressure the fairest of the sexes. It wouldn’t be easy for Jongin to trust another alpha with the care of the omega he had always watched over. It was easier said than done to accept that an alpha that no doubt did want to mate with Sehun could also simultaneously have completely pure intentions.

And third, Kyungsoo imagined there was a certain amount of unspoken resentment and jealousy that went hand-in-hand with the situation. As Jongin had pointed out the night they had first met one another, he had been waiting twenty long years to find his actual, meant-to-be mate. For twenty years, he had raised Sehun on his own waiting for the day Fate would grant him his one true one that would share his life and his burden, only to wait and wait and wait some more. Now, after all that time, Kyungsoo was here and though Jongin wasn’t complaining at all (and likely never would given the heated looks Kyungsoo pulled from the elder so easily), he likely wasn’t what the alpha had been expecting either.

Jongin was still trying to adjust to this new reality of his—the lines he had drawn between them were proof enough of that—but things had gone completely out of order. He should have been able to celebrate finding his omega after so many years spent alone, not worrying about his son potentially rushing into a relationship with his own mate when he was still in his first year of school. Jongin should have been talking with Kyungsoo about sharing their lives and building a future together, but here they were discussing Sehun’s budding relationship for the fiftieth time instead. They were sneaking around in the shadows to protect Sehun, yet Sehun wasn’t protecting his father from the worries over this new, young love he had found.

That wasn’t Sehun’s fault—the younger omega wasn’t doing anything wrong at all—but that didn’t mean the elder alpha didn’t have reason to be a little resentful of the situation.

And fourthly, there was likely some justified fear about Sehun repeating history. While Kyungsoo doubted Jongin would ever refer to Sehun as a mistake, everything that had brought him into this world likely had been. Jongin had been lucky to have his parents help him all those years ago or his life might have turned out very, very differently, and certainly not for the better. If Sehun carelessly became pregnant, even with Jongin’s support, his life would never be the same.

Kyungsoo ultimately doubted it was anything really worth worrying over; if anything Kyungsoo was the one perpetually horny enough to beg his alpha to put a baby in him, not Sehun. Sehun was shy and cautious and more aware of the potential pitfalls of young love than most thanks to his own existence. Junmyeon was respectful and the sort of alpha that had a five and ten year plan with everything scheduled out to the last second and Kyungsoo was certain a pregnancy while he was still in school or even just out of it was not on the list. If the two ever decided to graduate beyond holding hands and clumsy flirting, Kyungsoo imagined they would do so with the utmost caution, doubly and triply protecting themselves to prevent any unexpected circumstances.

But it would take a while for Jongin to realize and accept that himself. Sehun being interested in someone was still new to him as was Junmyeon. It would take some time for Jongin to accept that Junmyeon wasn’t just putting on an act in front of him and really was that respectful and considerate towards Sehun at all times. Nothing Sehun or Kyungsoo could say would ease Jongin’s mind or worries, but eventually Jongin would have no choice but to accept that Sehun could have done a lot worse than Junmyeon.

“Don’t you think that alpha’s too old for him?” Jongin quite suddenly asked as he ceased his splashing.

Kyungsoo managed to maintain a straight face for all of a second before his expression cracked and he started laughing. He didn’t mean to—he really wanted to let the alpha rant and rave so he might get it out of his system and so Kyungsoo could simply reassure him until the steam and bluster was nothing but a memory—but he just couldn’t help it. Jongin narrowed his eyes, pouted out his bottom lip and crossed his arms in front of his chest as Kyungsoo helplessly laughed and tried to catch his breath and Kyungsoo instinctively knew he’d have to work even harder on convincing the alpha to do away with the line in the sand he had drawn between them now.

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo finally breathed out in a rush when he had his giggles mostly under control. He didn’t mean to tease the alpha or to laugh involuntarily like this, but he just couldn’t help it. “But even you must see the humor in you asking me that question.”

“There’s nothing funny about it,” the alpha brooded. “Would it make you happy if I said I’m too old for you too? Because I am too old for you.”

“You’re not too old for me,” Kyungsoo insisted with a slight shake of his head. “Fate sure didn’t think so to pair us together this way and I fully agree. I’m attracted to everything about you including your age and experience. If Fate had picked someone only a few years older than me the way Junmyeon is to Sehun, I think I’d have been disappointed. Poor Sehun; I don’t want some alpha boy I have to teach,” he continued, while dragging one of his feet up Jongin’s thigh until it rested over his now-softened cock. Even soft, the alpha was an impressive size and girth, but Kyungsoo had no intention of letting him remain flaccid for long. “I want a man that can teach me.”

Kyungsoo half expected the alpha to shove him away after his teasing, but Jongin did no such thing. Instead, that dark look that told the omega he was only just able to hold himself back from taking and taking and taking the way Kyungsoo was prepared to give and give and give passed over Jongin’s face. Kyungsoo could feel the alpha stiffening once against beneath his foot and he bit his plump bottom lip in anticipation.

But Jongin still wasn’t fully done with the conversation, even as the alpha somewhat humped back at Kyungsoo’s exploring foot, his hips rising a little under the water with each stroke Kyungsoo’s toes and foot made. “It’s not easy, you know,” Jongin continued, his voice suddenly deeper than it had been only a moment ago. “I want to be fully focused on this—on us—but suddenly Sehun is growing up faster than I anticipated. A few months ago, I was his best and only friend. He wasn’t leaving his dorm room much less dating. When he wanted to move back and transfer to a school close enough he could stay at home, he felt younger than ever.”

“It’s a lot of change at one time, but not everything has changed,” Kyungsoo attempted to reassure, all without losing his rhythm or without falling off the underwater rock ledge he was perched upon. “You may not be Sehun’s only friend anymore, but you are still his best friend and you should be happy for him that he’s finding friends his own age and growing up too. Not only does that mean you’ve done your job well, but it also means you have more time to do the things—or person—you want to do.”

A sexy, promising smirk crossed Jongin’s plush lips and the alpha quickly licked over them, making Kyungsoo shiver despite the fact that he was up to his chin in the heated pool. “I know,” the alpha agreed. “The changes are so big; it’s hard to keep up with them. One minute he’s crying to come home and the next he wants to bring his boyfriend—his potential mate—on a trip during a holiday that is meant to focus on one’s own family.”

“Didn’t you want to bring your potential mate on a trip during a holiday that is meant to focus on one’s own family too?”

A growl resounded from Jongin’s chest, but it wasn’t one of annoyance, especially with the way he continued to encourage Kyungsoo’s foot to explore his now fully hardened member. “Maybe, but that’s not the point,” the alpha insisted. “The point is I only have one son—one child—and he’s growing up too suddenly.”

Kyungsoo’s toes trailed up and down Jongin’s length, feeling the thick veins that ran against the length of the underside. He couldn’t wait until they were dragging against his own inner walls. However would the alpha fit?

“You know what the solution is then, don’t you?” he asked, a little breathless from his own imagination as his body clenched around nothing.

“What?” Jongin asked, but as if he could read the omega’s mind and thoughts, the expression on his face was becoming even more heated.

“Have more children,” Kyungsoo breathed out. “Why don’t you go ahead and put them in me?”

Another growl reverberated out of Jongin’s chest, but this one wasn’t one of warning or reprimand. He suddenly gripped Kyungsoo’s exploring foot with his hand and tugged on it gently, very nearly pulling Kyungsoo off of his rock. “Get over here,” the alpha ordered and Kyungsoo didn’t have to be told twice.

He jumped up from his ledge and waded through the water to where the alpha was soaking. Jongin’s eyes never left him, though he wasn’t looking at Kyungsoo’s face and was instead focused upon the small swell of his omega breasts, just visible above the water and foggy steam. In the weeks since they had begun seeing one another in secret, they had begun to explore one another’s bodies in the moments they managed to steal away, but it was always hurried and done in such a way that they could break apart quickly in a moment’s notice if interrupted in some way. Though Jongin had groped him both over and under his clothes in the past, Kyungsoo had never removed his shirt in front of the alpha. This was the first time Jongin was seeing what his hands had previously felt, and it made Kyungsoo feel the slightest bit insecure.

Jongin’s glorious chest was pure muscle—pure alpha—that Kyungsoo had fantasized about and lusted over since that first night in the kitchen, but Kyungsoo’s own chest was the soft fatty tissue all omegas had. They weren’t especially big—just barely a handful—and they had always been especially sensitive. What if Jongin was disappointed? What if he didn’t like what he saw?

Kyungsoo’s hands instinctively moved to cover his chest, but as soon as he stood in front of the alpha, Jongin’s hands moved to his covered chest and they pried his hands away. “Don’t you dare,” the alpha warned as he urged Kyungsoo’s hands and arms around his shoulders instead of blocking his chest from Jongin’s hungry stare. Kyungsoo’s fingers traced over the nape of the alpha’s neck while Jongin’s knees spread and he pulled the omega by the hips to stand in the newly created space between his legs.

Kyungsoo looked down at the alpha that was looking up at him with such intensity, it threatened to take his breath away. At times, when Jongin reminded him of the boundary he had put on their relationship, it made Kyungsoo nervous and uncertain of himself and his desirability to the much older alpha. What alpha turned down the opportunity to fuck and knot any willing omega they could potentially dip their cock into, much less their mate? What if Jongin’s reticence was because he saw Kyungsoo as nothing more than his son’s peer—a child—and he had no real desire to make Kyungsoo his? What if his body, his age, Kyungsoo himself didn’t appeal to the alpha in any way despite what Fate had to say on the matter?

Yet when Jongin looked at Kyungsoo the way he did now, Kyungsoo knew the alpha’s hesitancy wasn’t because of anything Kyungsoo had done. Jongin desired him so much—so intensely—his heated stare alone could make Kyungsoo’s toes curl and his heart race within his chest. The lines Jongin had drawn between them were because of Jongin’s own insecurities. He had been alone for so long and was now faced with a mate half his age that he wasn’t certain any of this was real. He might have feared Kyungsoo wasn’t as attracted as he claimed or that he would lose interest once he had gotten what he wanted. He might have worried his life was too adult—too boring—and too messy and complicated with the baggage Jongin had accumulated over the last two decades.

But that wasn’t who Kyungsoo was. He didn’t mind if a shared life between them meant a lot of evenings sitting together on the couch watching movies and variety shows with one another until they crawled into bed and cuddled rather than dancing until three in the morning in some loud club that reeked of pheromones, sweat, and overpriced alcohol. He didn’t want to play childish games with Jongin’s heart and there was no way in the world he would regret having a mate that didn’t want to play childish games with his own. Kyungsoo was a homebody; all of his friends claimed he acted too old and was too boring in general for a college student. He could slot right into Jongin’s very adult life easily if only the alpha would let him.

Jongin wasn’t there yet though, Kyungsoo understood. He had to be patient and he couldn’t yet push. If Jongin wanted him to prove he was in this for the long haul and truly serious about them, he would. How could he do anything less than that for the alpha that looked at him like he hung the moon?

And that was precisely how Jongin looked at him as he pulled Kyungsoo close enough for him to kiss the center of Kyungsoo’s chest, between the gentle swell of his breasts. The air above the hot spring was cool and between the temperature and the attention he was now receiving from the alpha, the omega’s nipples pebbled into hard little nubs before Jongin even had a chance to touch them. When he did lift a hand from Kyungsoo’s hip to settle atop one of Kyungsoo’s breasts, Kyungsoo’s chest pressed forward into his grasp while his head fell back in pleasure.

The hand not groping him wrapped around Kyungsoo’s waist now and Jongin pulled Kyungsoo closer until the omega was straddling the alpha, his knees kneeling upon the rock seat on either side of Jongin’s thighs. Jongin’s mouth kissed from the center of his chest over to his unoccupied breast and quickly found the perky little nipple waiting there for his attention. Kyungsoo let out a moan as the heat of the alpha’s mouth engulfed the sensitive nub, his tongue roughly laving over it before he began to suckle gently.

Kyungsoo tried to remember not to mark up the alpha, but as Jongin’s hand roughly kneaded his breast before pinching and tugging at his nipple while his mouth suckled at his other teat, it was difficult to remember much of anything. His fingernails scraped over the alpha’s neck and dug into his shoulders while Kyungsoo attempted to ground himself to keep from floating away at the overwhelming sensations. His breasts had always been especially sensitive to stimulation, and Jongin seemed to know just how to touch and taste them to bring them both the greatest amount of pleasure possible.

And it did seem to be pleasurable for the both of them. Every single one of Kyungsoo’s nerves sparked with desire and Jongin was moaning and groaning around Kyungsoo’s nipple like he was the one receiving such focused attention. Kyungsoo’s breath came in short, heated bursts as the alpha teethed at him while his fingers continued to pinch, pull, and even twist at his other nipple until Kyungsoo’s back arched in such a way he was feeding more of his tit into Jongin’s eager mouth.

The hand Jongin had wrapped around Kyungsoo’s waist to brace him suddenly slipped a little lower until it was palming the omega’s ass, his fingers groping and kneading into the plump flesh in much the way his other hand did to Kyungsoo’s breast. Kyungsoo felt like a kettle about to boil over. His legs quivered and quaked as his body flushed with heat that could only partially be blamed upon the water he knelt in. His head swam while his mouth went dry and when one of Jongin’s long, thick fingers dipped into the cleft of his ass and over his hole, Kyungsoo cried out while his legs failed him and his whole body sagged into the water.

Jongin caught him before his body fully sank under the water and pulled him into his lap. “Careful, sweetheart,” the alpha murmured now that Kyungsoo’s chest was beneath the surface of the hot spring once again. Jongin’s voice was deeper than ever now and each syllable he spoke seemed to arouse Kyungsoo further, tickling something deep within Kyungsoo he hadn’t even known existed before this moment.

Kyungsoo breathed heavily as he balanced upon Jongin’s lap now, a leg on either side of the alpha’s frame. Now that his body was secure, Jongin pressed a fingertip against his hole, dipping just the pad of his finger inside before withdrawing and circling the rim once more. Jongin’s other, currently unoccupied hand reached up for one of Kyungsoo’s, pulling it from around his shoulder before guiding Kyungsoo’s hand between his legs until the omega was wrapping his fingers around the stiff cock standing proudly between them.

Their lips crashed against one another in a heated, urgent kiss that left the already breathless Kyungsoo gasping for air in a matter of moments. Their lips moved together and against one another as they shared the same breaths between them. When Jongin pushed a finger into Kyungsoo’s body, the omega gasped out at the sensation, and the alpha used that opportunity to lick into Kyungsoo’s mouth with his nimble, very talented tongue.

The alpha dominated the kiss just as easily as he dominated Kyungsoo’s body now; all Kyungsoo could do was hang on tight and try to keep up. His hand stroked up and down the length of the alpha, feeling over every ridge and every vein as he explored it here and now. It felt so heavy and hot in his hand, even the water seemed cool in comparison. Even the way the alpha’s cock had a slight, upward curve made Kyungsoo’s whole body tingle; he could only begin to imagine the places within him the alpha would so easily find once he finally decided to take him the way they both wanted.

When Jongin worked a second finger into Kyungsoo’s hole, the omega’s head flew back and he gasped out at the sensation. It was a good thing his body was under water or it would have been embarrassing just how much he was leaking. His suppressants tempered his hormones which usually kept his body in check, but the rules didn’t seem to apply when it was his mate playing his body like he was a master musician and Kyungsoo his instrument of choice.

With Kyungsoo’s head thrown back in pleasure, Jongin licked and nibbled at the column of the omega’s throat, his teeth scraping over the sensitive skin hard enough to leave marks upon the pale skin he’d have to figure out a way to hide when his brain started working again. For now though, he would just enjoy the ride.

His whole body felt on fire when his lips found Jongin’s once more. His hand moved faster now, trying to mimic the rhythm of the two long fingers invading him. Jongin had barely even stretched him, yet he felt as if he was dangling on a ledge he was about to fall completely over. Jongin wasn’t uncertain; the alpha wasn’t clumsy. He knew exactly what he was doing to take Kyungsoo apart here and now.

It was a good thing the hot spring to their rooms was private and surrounded by greenery, because Kyungsoo found he couldn’t be very quiet and thought it was likely obvious something was happening beneath the surface of the water. His whole body rose and fall with each pump of the alpha’s fingers, fucking himself down onto them as Jongin pushed them so deep into his body. Kyungsoo’s own fingers had never been this deep within him; he never wanted to have to touch himself again when the alpha could do it for him just as he was.

Sweat beaded at his brow and nape while his chest, face, and ears pinked from the exertion and heat that boiled within him so much hotter than the spring. He pressed his forehead against Jongin’s making dark hooded eyes meeting dark hooded eyes. So easily, Kyungsoo could fall into those eyes and drown in them, there was no doubt about it. They panted their breaths against one another’s faces, the heated air fanning over one another until it felt like the air in Kyungsoo’s lungs belonged to Jongin just as much as the rest of him belonged to the man.

And when Jongin crooked his fingers, curling them ever so pointedly within him to touch the sensitive bundle of nerves buried within him, the omega saw stars behind his eyelids and felt fireworks in his veins. He cried out as tears slipped from his eyes. His body arched away from the alpha because it was all too, too much, but Jongin held him in place with ease, Kyungsoo’s strength no match for the alpha. The elder continued to stroke over that oh-so sensitive spot until Kyungsoo’s whole body seized and he came beneath the surface of the water.

Jongin fingered him through his orgasm, their rhythm gradually slowing as he rode the high of his release until even the slightest touch was more than his small, sensitive body could take. He slumped against the alpha’s muscular frame, boneless and breathless, but kept his fingers wrapped around Jongin’s thick cock, fisting it from root to tip over and over again regardless of his own exhaustion.

While his head came to rest on Jongin’s shoulder and his breath fanned out over the other’s neck, the alpha’s hand came to join him beneath the surface of the water, his palm covering Kyungsoo’s and his fingers settling between each of the omega’s as they pumped the cock together. Jongin’s body fucked up into their joined fists while his breath came in shorter, sharper bursts while he chased his own relief and when Kyungsoo felt the satisfying swell of Jongin’s cock beneath his fingertips just before the alpha came, his only regret was that the alpha’s release was lost to the spring when it should have been in his mouth.

Jongin’s ridged body finally sagged and Kyungsoo made sure his fingers were clean before he ran them through the alpha’s hair soothingly. Their lips met again in a kiss, but this one was lazy and unhurried though full of just as much passion and desire as before. Their tongues met one another in a gentle dance before Jongin nibbled upon the omega’s bottom lip, making the already kiss-swollen flesh swell even further.

It was a lucky thing they had left the doors between their rooms and the spring open and had gone to the far end of the spring that was largely concealed by boulders because a moment later, they heard the sounds of Sehun and Junmyeon returning to the rooms. Though he didn’t want to part from the alpha, he slipped off Jongin’s lap and moved far enough away to not be obvious, but before he managed to get too far away, Jongin grabbed a hold of his hand underwater, keeping them together even as circumstances forced them apart.

Sehun poked his head outside followed a moment later by Junmyeon. “There you guys are,” Sehun observed while Kyungsoo desperately tried to catch his breath and will his heart back into a much more normal rhythm. “The gardens were really pretty even though not much was in bloom. You should make sure to see them before we leave.” Kyungsoo nodded his head, not trusting his voice or ability to speak.

Their attempts to look nonchalant must not have worked too well though because a second later, Sehun narrowed his eyes at them suspiciously. “Is my dad being weird again?” he asked before tossing his father an accusatory glance that would’ve turned a weaker man to stone. Jongin held his unoccupied hand up at the accusation as if to show he had nothing to hide, but he kept ahold of Kyungsoo’s hand beneath the surface with the other.

Still not trusting his voice, Kyungsoo shook his head in the negative, and Sehun immediately looked relieved. “Good,” Sehun said before wincing slightly and offering his alpha father an apologetic smile. “Sorry, dad.” Quickly trying to change the subject, he added, “Give Junmyeon and I a chance to change and we’ll join you in the spring.”

“We were just about to get out,” Jongin spoke now, and if either of the other couple happened to notice the elder alpha’s voice was deeper and more gravelly than usual, they didn’t say anything. “We’ve been in here for a while now and too much of this heat is no longer a good thing. You two enjoy it on your own,” he continued, all concerns about the pair spending any time alone together forgotten in the moment. “Kyungsoo and I will go check out the gardens.”

And though the cherry blossom trees were browned and beginning to go bare, being responsible for the lazy smile on the alpha’s face as they strolled the grounds hand-in-hand was the most beautiful thing Kyungsoo had ever seen.

It was the end of November when Jongin invited Kyungsoo to join him for a night at the ballet. Lately Kyungsoo and had been so busy with school and Jongin had been so busy with work that the two had been forced to subsist on the occasional quick meal together and phone dates. With the holidays rapidly approaching and so many things coming due, Kyungsoo hadn’t thought he’d be able to make it despite his desperation to spend a little time with his alpha, but as if Fate itself had decided to intervene, two of his professors pushed back due dates while a third delayed a test by a whole week giving Kyungsoo the opportunity to say yes to the elder.

And damn, was he ever so glad that he had.

Jongin looked like a mouthwatering snack all wrapped up in his tailored tuxedo that fit the alpha’s impressive frame like a glove. Kyungsoo felt woefully inadequate and undeserving standing next to him in the off-the-rack suit he had been wearing to every wedding, funeral, and formal function he had attended since he was sixteen and had stopped growing. Jongin didn’t make him feel unworthy though; the moment they had met outside the too fancy, too expensive theater, Kyungsoo could feel the alpha undressing him with his eyes. While the alpha taking hold of his hand and lifting it to his lips in a chaste kiss of greeting should have been innocent, the intense look in Jongin’s eyes was anything but, and it left Kyungsoo positively breathless.

“You look amazing tonight, baby,” the alpha proclaimed the moment he had released Kyungsoo’s hand and wrapped an arm around him protectively instead. The omega had the feeling he could have shown up to this hoity-toity affair in his oversized sweats and the alpha still would have said he looked good, but the best part was that Kyungsoo was almost certain the alpha meant his words and wasn’t just paying the sort of lip service he thought Kyungsoo expected. “Thank you for coming with me tonight. I know this probably isn’t your idea of the perfect date, but—”

“I haven’t been to the ballet since I was little,” Kyungsoo interrupted before the alpha could further disparage the invitation out that meant so much to the omega. “But I always loved it.” The theater in his hometown had been regional and far less impressive than this one in the heart of Seoul, but that didn’t change that he always found the experience to be quite magical. Kyungsoo may have been majoring in the culinary arts at school, but like most omegas, he had a predisposition for the arts and other right-brained fields over the more logical and rule-abiding left-brained fields that were so often favored by alphas and betas. “Thank you for inviting me.”

Jongin smiled down at him and squeezed the omega’s side where his hand rested gently. “You’re still plenty little,” the too-tall alpha teased. “But you’re welcome. My firm reserves a box here—it’s such a waste of money but it looks good for us to be able to say we support the arts—and the partners take turns getting it. When my turn comes up, I usually take Sehun, but this time… well… I wanted to take you. I’ve really been missing you lately,” the alpha confessed, and though he was usually sexiness and confidence personified, he looked a little shy after the words were spoken.

Kyungsoo’s heart fluttered dangerously in his chest. He had already fallen so far for the alpha already, it seemed unfair Jongin could pull him deeper under still. “I’ve missed you too,” he confessed while his cheeks pinked from his own confession. Seeing the alpha in stolen moments and falling asleep to the sound of the other’s voice over the phone was nice, but nothing could really compare to being together in an unhurried moment, just breathing one another in and sharing space in a way that satisfied something deep within them.

They were two halves of a whole. They would always be best when together.

When they reached the front of the queue to enter the theater, Jongin’s tickets were checked by an attendant before an usher quickly jumped in with the offer to escort them to their seats. Jongin declined having been to the box in question numerous times before leading Kyungsoo there himself. On the way, Jongin encountered numerous people who knew him and greeted him and though the alpha never lingered to talk for long, he always took a moment to introduce Kyungsoo, further proving Jongin had no interest in hiding him or them from those who knew him… Sehun and the complications surrounding him notwithstanding.

If possible, Kyungsoo was more smitten with the alpha than ever by the time they reached their private box.

The box Jongin’s firm reserved was in the middle of a long line of boxes that lined the theater above the general seating below. The box like those on either side of them and across from them was a private cubicle of space with walls on three sides and a low, half-wall in front to view the performance over. There were four chairs of plush red velvet, but Jongin had an attendant remove the two extra seats immediately after their arrival which left the box feeling open and especially private despite the many people milling around on the floor a level beneath them.

After the attendant removed the two extra seats, Kyungsoo couldn’t help but ask, “Did you have four tickets tonight? Could Sehun and Junmyeon have come along too?”

“Hmm,” the alpha hummed in quiet confirmation, holding Kyungsoo’s hand within his own until the omega had sat upon one of the chairs before releasing it and claiming the other chair for himself. “But I didn’t want a double-date with my son. I wanted a night with just you.” Jongin began flipping through his playbill idly before asking, “Do you think that makes me a bad father?”

“Being a good daddy to me doesn’t automatically make you a bad dad to him,” Kyungsoo answered, and Jongin’s playbill nearly ripped in two from the way the alpha suddenly gripped the pages of it. The heated look the alpha then sent his way threatened to dampen Kyungsoo’s pants, ruin his suit, and the posh chair beneath him in one fell swoop. Trying not to go breathless before the night even started, Kyungsoo pressed on to reassure the alpha who seemed to be struggling to maintain a balance between his role as father that he had held for the last twenty years with his newfound role as a mate. “If Sehun knew about us, I don’t think he would begrudge you a night out with me. You want him to be happy, don’t you? I’m sure he wants the same for you… though it may be presumptuous of me to assume I make you happy.”

Jongin let his playbill fall to the floor at his feet while he reached out to take hold of Kyungsoo’s hand with his own. “You do make me happy,” the alpha confirmed and though Kyungsoo had thought that was the case, it was still a relief to hear. “And you’re right; I’m sure Sehun does want me to be happy. I’m just not sure he’d want me to be happy with you.”

“You still think he’d have a problem with it?”

Jongin shrugged his shoulders. If it were up to Kyungsoo, he’d have already talked to Sehun about it, but it wasn’t up to him. Sehun may have been his friend, but he was Jongin’s son, and Kyungsoo had no desire whatsoever to overstep the unspoken boundaries of his complicated role between the two. He didn’t like the idea of lying to the younger omega by omission—a fact that was doubly true given Kyungsoo was almost positive Jongin would never take those final steps between them until he had his son’s blessing—but it ultimately wasn’t Kyungsoo’s call to make.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a problem with me,” Jongin clarified and Kyungsoo frowned at the answer while giving the alpha’s hand a little squeeze of reassurance. “How many times has Sehun called me weird now for the way I am around you? How would you feel if your dad suddenly informed you he was going to go out on a date with one of your classmates?”

“I’d be angry,” Kyungsoo admitted and Jongin gestured with his empty hand as if to silently say “see?” “But the only reason I’d be angry is because he’d be cheating on my mom. If that wasn’t the case though; if my mom wasn’t a part of the picture…” Kyungsoo’s voice trailed off and he shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Have you made a habit out of coming on to Sehun’s friends?”

Jongin looked appalled at the mere suggestion. “Of course not.”

“And if I wasn’t your mate—if I was just some random omega Sehun had brought home after meeting at school—would you have made a move?”

Jongin’s eyes briefly swept over Kyungsoo’s body, from his head to his toes and everything in between. Kyungsoo’s cheeks heated when the alpha seemed to linger for a few extra seconds on where his ass was pressed against the cushion of the seat. “I would be attracted to you specifically whether you were my mate or not,” he answered, “but I probably wouldn’t have acted on it if I could help it. I’d probably just jack off to thoughts of you in the confines of my own bedroom while pretending I was indifferent in front of you.”

Kyungsoo bit his lip at the alpha’s honest answer and unconsciously rubbed his thighs together, seeking any sort of friction he could find right now, though it would never be enough. “Well then,” he said a little breathlessly at the mental image now playing through his mind. “I think Sehun would be able to tell this wasn’t just some midlife crisis. I think he’d understand this wasn’t you taking advantage of his friend.”

Jongin hummed noncommittally. “Maybe,” he finally decided with a shrug of his shoulders. “Maybe after the holidays—after my work and his school have settled down—I can tell him about us.”

“Okay,” Kyungsoo agreed just as the house lights began to dim and the orchestra began to play.

Both turned their attention to the stage as the electric candlelight sconces in their box extinguished and plunged them into darkness. Everything unfolding on the stage beneath them was beautiful, but Kyungsoo found himself infinitely distracted throughout the performance.

Consciously or unconsciously, he and the alpha gravitated towards one another. While their chairs had started out with a respectable distance between them, over the course of the act, their seats drifted closer and closer to one another until their individual chairs had melded into one makeshift loveseat. Jongin’s arm was draped around Kyungsoo’s shoulder, his hand rubbing gently up and down Kyungsoo’s arm before every once in a while sweeping over the outside curve of the omega’s small breast. Each time he did so, Kyungsoo would shiver and lean his body more heavily against the alpha, and every time, Jongin would smirk in some kind of silent victory before returning his hand to Kyungsoo’s shoulder and starting the process all over again.

The hand not wrapped around Kyungsoo’s shoulder had crossed his own lap before coming to rest on Kyungsoo’s upper thigh. The alpha stroked his hand up and down Kyungsoo’s leg now too, each sweep of his fingers over Kyungsoo’s clothed inner thigh nearly causing the omega to whimper in a potent combination of need and frustration. Each time he’d turn his head away from the stage in order to look at Jongin, the alpha would lean down to meet him in a deep, toe-curling-but-too-brief kiss before ordering him in a whisper to watch the performance.

The alpha was teasing him and Kyungsoo could barely stand it.

When the curtains closed and the houselights rose at the end of Act One announcing the intermission, Jongin excused himself to the bathroom while Kyungsoo did his best not to pout or throw a tantrum over his own frustration. Jongin had barely touched him, yet Kyungsoo felt as if he had been pulled so taut, he could snap at any second. He pulled his suit coat off and folded it into a square while feeling too hot and too agitated, then pulled his tie off to join it in order to make it a little easier to breathe. Was he the only one in this stupid theater boiling alive like this? He undid the top few buttons of his dress shirt for good measure; it certainly couldn’t make him more on edge than he already was.

Jongin returned to their box just in time to be glared at by the much smaller omega. “Was I gone so long you felt abandoned, sweetheart?” he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice as he closed the door to their box and reclaimed the seat he had vacated much too calmly for the tightly-wound Kyungsoo. “I was as quick as I possibly could be. There was quite a line at the restrooms.”

Kyungsoo continued to glare at the elder. “You know exactly what you’ve done, Kim Jongin,” he scolded which only succeeded in further amusing the smug-looking alpha.

“Am I Kim Jongin now?” he asked with a grin after he had finally stopped laughing at Kyungsoo’s expense. “What happened to daddy, baby?”

Kyungsoo further narrowed his eyes at the elder and glared. “With the way you’ve teased me for the last hour, you really don’t deserve it,” the omega declared while lifting his chin and pointedly looking away from the alpha, giving him the cold shoulder.

“I’m sure this would be much more intimidating if you weren’t so cute, sweetheart,” the alpha continued to tease before poking at one of Kyungsoo’s round, pink, mochi-like cheeks. “It’s almost too fun to tease you.”

Kyungsoo swatted the alpha’s hand away. “I’m not cute,” he protested.

“My baby is very cute,” the alpha argued, resting his chin on Kyungsoo’s shoulder as the omega continued to pointedly look away from him. A moment later, Jongin hooked a finger in the unbuttoned collar of Kyungsoo’s shirt and tugged it away from Kyungsoo’s body so he could look down the front of it. “Among many other things.”

Kyungsoo batted the alpha’s hand away but Jongin quickly returned his fingers to the omega’s shirt, pushing it away from Kyungsoo’s body again in order to steal another peek at the omega’s stiffening nipples. Kyungsoo considered shoving the playful alpha away yet again, but a secret smirk curled on his own lips. He had spent the last hour frustrated and horny and wanting with everything Jongin had done being too much and too little all at the same time, so he had nothing left to lose at this point. If Jongin wanted to play a game with him, Kyungsoo could play one right back, and he would win too.

Kyungsoo caught Jongin’s hand and settled it over his dress shirt, atop his small breast. He hadn’t planned on removing his suit coat or else he might have worn a bralette out tonight, but now he was glad he hadn’t. “Daddy,” he whined breathily, and Jongin immediately sucked in a breath through his teeth. “What if someone sees?”

“Shit,” Jongin mumbled out and he attempted to move his hand away from Kyungsoo’s chest, but the omega pulled it right back into place unashamedly. The alpha’s eyes quickly darted to the left and to the right making sure there was no chance of anyone seeing them right now. If someone in the box on either side of them went up to their shared wall and dangled over the balcony’s edge, they could get a peek inside their private box, but the chances of that happening seemed slim to nil. They were more likely to be spotted by the people in the private boxes across the way from them, but they could only see what was visible above the low wall and only until Act Two began and the houselights extinguished. As if to prove they did have some sense of privacy, Kyungsoo pressed his own hands against the suddenly growing bulge in Jongin’s pants now. “What are you doing, baby?”

“Being cute,” Kyungsoo answered as the house lights lowered once again and the orchestra began to play as everyone still out of their seats hurried to claim them at the close of intermission. Kyungsoo pointedly dragged his palm up and down the alpha’s clothed cock a few times before adding, “Among many other things.”

“Shit,” Jongin mumbled yet again as his knees parted and spread just enough for Kyungsoo’s hand to have better access to the full length of his cock as well as the heavy balls between his legs. Kyungsoo’s fingers deftly undid the buckle of the alpha’s belt before undoing the fly of Jongin’s dress pants and pushing his hand inside. His fingers slid beneath the elastic band of his mate’s underwear until his fingers wrapped around the heated, hard flesh of the alpha’s cock and stroked it soundly. It twitched beneath his fingertips and Jongin let out a groan that was audible to Kyungsoo alone and otherwise swallowed up by the music.

Kyungsoo leaned up and over until his lips met the alpha’s ear. “Do you need me to take care of this for you, daddy?” he asked in a whisper. “Unlike daddy, I won’t just tease; I’ll finish what I start.”

Jongin’s tongue darted out to lick over his suddenly dry lips while the attention of the rest of the theater shifted to the stage where the dancers had appeared as soon as the curtain was lifted upon Act Two. He turned his head to meet Kyungsoo’s ear now and licked over the shell of it before tugging on the lobe between his teeth, something that made the omega shiver and grip the alpha’s cock in his hand all the more tightly. “Yes, baby,” he whispered huskily. “Be a good boy for daddy and get on your knees.”

Kyungsoo let out a needy whimper, but he didn’t have to be told twice. Tossing his folded up suit coat to the floor in front of Jongin’s seat, he slid out of his seat and down to the floor, crawling on his knees across it until he was able to settle atop his coat and in between the alpha’s long, outstretched legs. He reached for the waistband of Jongin’s pants and underwear and—with the alpha lifting his hips briefly to help—he pulled them down—belt and all—to the alpha’s ankles.

“Shit,” the alpha mumbled for a third time for only Kyungsoo to hear as his cock sprang free between them. Kyungsoo gripped Jongin’s shaft with one hand as his other took hold of the alpha’s heavy balls, massaging them gently.

“Poor daddy,” he whispered out while carefully kneading, his words barely loud enough for Jongin to hear over the music that swelled around them. “It’s been too long since we had time together like this.”

Kyungsoo could practically feel the pent up frustration beneath his fingertips. With their days so busy and their schedules simply not aligning well until that night, they hadn’t had much time to further explore the crazy and potent chemistry between them. A time or two they had gotten off in their respective bedrooms—Kyungsoo in his dorm and Jongin in his penthouse—while talking on the phone late at night with one another. Kyungsoo knew from his own experience that while the release had been good and satisfying in the moment, it hadn’t been great, and the high wore off much more quickly than it would have had it been Jongin touching him instead of merely talking to him.

No matter how well his fingers knew his own body both inside and out, they would never, ever even begin to compare to the alpha’s skillful touch. Kyungsoo could get himself off, but Jongin could elevate him to some higher plane he never could reach on his own. It seemed the same was true for the alpha. Jongin may have found release while they were apart, but painting his own hand white would never compare to Kyungsoo draining him dry the way they both wanted.

While Kyungsoo stroked Jongin’s cock from root to tip with one hand, his other moved to the buttons of his dress shirt, unbuttoning them one by one practically to his navel. He pushed the shirt off his shoulders and let it pool around his elbows, fully exposing his small breasts to Jongin’s heated gaze. It was obvious the alpha appreciated them and Kyungsoo loved the attention the alpha paid to them, so it worked well for both of them.

As soon as his chest was exposed to the cool air, Jongin looked down at him with that heated gaze before reaching forward and pinching one of his nipples between his fingers. He tugged at it roughly, pinching and pulling on it hard enough to make Kyungsoo’s back arch sharply. He rolled the bud between his fingers, then tugged harshly on it again in a silent reprimand for being naughty the way he was right now. It was hardly a deterrent though; Kyungsoo’s whole body tingled from just how sensitive he’d be tomorrow. His abused nipples would stiffen from every brush of his shirt for days.

To stop himself from crying out here and now at the alpha’s rough treatment, Kyungsoo bowed forward until his cheek was rubbing against the side of the alpha’s stiff cock. Kyungsoo had always loved Jongin’s scent of sunshine and the sea air, but here the scent was even more concentrated and muskier, and it made his stomach do somersaults while his backside began to leak in his pants. His mouth salivated as he inhaled deeply, but the smell of pure alpha alone wasn’t enough.

He needed to taste the alpha too. He whimpered aloud with his need to be full of the alpha’s cock, however he could have it.

He mouthed at Jongin’s cock now, planting delicate kisses up and down the length of it before his tongue darted out to lick over it. As he dragged his tongue along the thick, curvy vein that ran from the base to the head, Jongin groaned above him while slouching further in his chair. One of the alpha’s hands continued to torture his nipple, the rough treatment causing the especially sensitive bud to elongate further than it ever had before while his other hand moved to Kyungsoo’s head, guiding it forward to precisely where he wanted him. Kyungsoo laved his tongue over the sensitive crown of the alpha’s cock, licking up the salty precum that pooled there under the alpha’s heated gaze.

And then, finally, he took the alpha’s cock into his mouth.

Not to toot his own horn, but Kyungsoo knew he had a certain talent for giving head. Between his plush, pouty lips, big doe eyes, and a certain god-given talent for repressing his gag reflex, he was confident Jongin would enjoy every single second of this.

And he would too.

Kyungsoo’s cheeks hollowed as he sucked the alpha’s cock into his mouth. The weight of it dragged heavy across his tongue as he bobbed his head up and down and with each trip, he took a little more of the thick cock into his mouth. His jaw would ache after this, there was no doubt about that, but even that sent a certain thrill through the omega’s veins. Jongin was so big, so hard, so alpha, and all of him belonged to Kyungsoo. If Kyungsoo couldn’t speak tomorrow from the abuse his throat suffered tonight, that was fine by him. He was naturally quiet anyway.

Jongin switched his hands in order to pay some attention to Kyungsoo’s other teat and his hips fucked up into Kyungsoo’s mouth while he did. The omega hadn’t been prepared for the sudden intrusion, and he choked for a moment as the alpha’s cockhead speared the back of his throat. Tears pooled in his eyes, but he didn’t slow down the bobbing of his head. Saliva slipped from the corners of his mouth and down his chin as he bobbed his head up and down the alpha’s cock. He could taste the sunshine and sea on his tongue; he wanted more of it.

The tears that had pooled in his eyes slid down, staining his cheeks as he found a rhythm that had Jongin pinching his nipple so hard now that it was verging on painful while the alpha simultaneously bit his own lip to keep from crying out. He hollowed his cheeks, sucking the alpha in further, and this time, when the alpha’s cockhead hit the back of his throat, he swallowed around it, taking it even deeper into him. With his mouth so full of his alpha’s cock, he breathed through his nose as best he could, but if he happened to choke to death, he wouldn’t even be mad.

What a way to go.

The fingers of Jongin’s hand that rested upon his head threaded through his hair before suddenly gripping tightly, messing up the style Kyungsoo had spent too long on. Before he had a chance to pull back and scold the alpha, Jongin forced his mouth deeper onto his cock, pushing more of himself into the hot, wet cavern of Kyungsoo’s eager mouth. Kyungsoo hummed quietly around the alpha’s cock, and Jongin let out a quiet “fuck” at the sudden vibration engulfing him before he began tugging Kyungsoo’s hair as he dragged the omega’s head up and down his shaft, treating the omega’s mouth as little more than a sleeve that existed for his pleasure.

If there was any doubt about how much Jongin was enjoying himself, it was erased when the alpha’s knot began to swell at the base of his dick. Having never taken one before, this was the closest he had ever been to an alpha’s knot, and as it continued to grow and expand with each stroke of Kyungsoo’s mouth and throat up and down Jongin’s cock, he found himself transfixed and completely fascinated.

Even for an alpha, Jongin was big and for it, Kyungsoo was certainly blessed, but he was sure Jongin’s cock alone could tear his small body into two. How was he ever supposed to take the alpha’s knot? When he thought it couldn’t possibly get any bigger than it was, it managed to swell further still. It was red and angry and so desperate to release into his omega the way it was meant to.

And Kyungsoo wanted that too, even if the only thing he could offer up right now was his very willing mouth.

His nose bumped against the knot with each rough drag of his head up and down the alpha’s cock. Kyungsoo brought his hand to the alpha’s balls once more. As Jongin came ever closer to release, they had gone from heavy and full to pulled tight in anticipation. He rubbed over them again, encouraging them now to empty into the vessel of his mouth, but before he had the chance to get what he wanted, Jongin suddenly pushed Kyungsoo back and away from him.

The alpha had released his hold on Kyungsoo completely while he hurriedly ripped his pocket square out of his front breast pocket. In a swift move, the alpha gripped his own cock and covered the head with the handkerchief, but when Kyungsoo realized what he was about to do, the omega pushed his hands away.

“No,” he scolded firmly in a whisper. “It’s for me. I want it in my mouth,” he demanded petulantly.

“My knot formed,” Jongin warned back. “It’ll be too much.”

Kyungsoo wouldn’t listen. His mouth quickly pulled just the alpha’s cockhead into his mouth, letting it settle heavily on his tongue before his hand stroked up and down the alpha’s length. Jongin seemed wary of Kyungsoo’s determination, but he was helpless to stop his body from giving the omega exactly what he desired. Kyungsoo felt the alpha’s already hard cock swell even further in his hand before the first spurt of Jongin’s come landed across his tongue.

It was sunshine and sea air and Jongin, and Kyungsoo wanted more.

He suctioned around the alpha while swallowing down every spurt the alpha offered up. When he couldn’t swallow fast enough, it leaked from the corners of his mouth like a snack for later. His hand massaged the knot as the alpha continued to release down his throat, and each gentle touch of his fingers made Jongin’s whole body tense and clench until he went completely lax to the point of boneless and every drop of him had been swallowed down.

Jongin’s hand gently stroked over Kyungsoo’s head, his gaze full of fondness and affection as his now-softened cock finally slipped out past the omega’s lips and Kyungsoo rested his cheek and head against the alpha’s knee. “Baby,” he whispered fondly before running his finger along Kyungsoo’s mouth and chin, scooping up everything that had dribbled out before feeding his digit between Kyungsoo’s lips and giving him yet another thing to suckle upon. “You did so well for me, sweetheart.”

“Hmm,” the omega hummed, incapable of being verbal right now both because his throat was too raw and ruined right now and also because he was blissed out himself from pleasing the alpha as he had.

Jongin pulled his own pants back up, tucking himself and his shirt back into them before doing up his belt. As soon as he had straightened himself up, he reached down and redid the buttons of Kyungsoo’s dress shirt. The omega hissed when the fabric dragged across his oh-so sensitive nipples now; the stiff peaks were easily visible through the material until Jongin took off his own expensive suit coat and draped it over Kyungsoo’s shoulders. As soon as the omega was decent, Jongin pulled him up off the floor and into his lap, not caring if anyone might spy them cuddled together like this in the dark. Being together like this in the moment was much more important than what anyone else might have thought.

Kyungsoo rested his head against the alpha’s shoulders and melted into his arms, the performance taking place on the stage completely forgotten. The end of the act wasn’t far off now—Kyungsoo had missed half the show—yet he couldn’t help but think Jongin had been wrong at the beginning of the night.

His firm hadn’t wasted money; these seats were worth every single penny.

Kyungsoo had been uncharacteristically nervous when Jongin had invited him to his firm’s Christmas party. He was worried he would stick out like a sore thumb among the seasoned professionals that otherwise populated Jongin’s office. He had considered turning the invitation down despite the fact that he would be going back home for the holiday and the two wouldn’t really have any other chance to see one another, but in the end his desire to be with the alpha won out over his own uncertainty and insecurity.

In the end, he needn’t have worried. He wasn’t even the youngest bit of arm candy there that night. One of the firm’s founders—an old alpha easily pushing seventy that was dressed up in an ill-fitting Santa costume complete with an stretched out elastic beard that kept hanging off his chin—had a dithering, vapid omega girl in a painted-on designer dress and too-tall stilettos barely out of high school hanging off his arm. When Kyungsoo had first spotted the pair, he had assumed the girl was the lawyer’s granddaughter right up until the old, costume-clad man had shamelessly groped her ass right in front of the buffet much to the amusement of a small group of ass kissers who surrounded him, hooting and hollering for an encore. Kyungsoo had watched the scene with a wrinkled nose of distaste. It would be the first of many throughout the night.

An alpha woman Jongin had introduced as a senior partner had taken one look at Kyungsoo, sniffed dismissively, and then promptly ignored him for the duration of her conversation with the elder. Not one to usually accept such poor, sexist treatment from an alpha, under normal circumstances Kyungsoo would have spoken up and shown he wasn’t some omega that walked around baring his neck in submission to the other genders by default despite his status, but he hadn’t wanted to say or do anything that could ultimately reflect poorly on Jongin. The alpha held on to his hand so tightly, it was as if they might have been glued together, and every few minutes, he would squeeze it firmly and reassuringly.

Kyungsoo’s eyes had wandered then to a pair of betas a few years older than him that stood silently a few feet behind the partner Jongin was speaking to. One was bright eyed and attentive, hanging on every word the severe older woman spoke while the other downed flutes of champagne nabbed off passing waiters’ trays, his eyes glazed with the beginning of inebriation but his expression one of complete and utter boredom. The pair hadn’t been introduced at the beginning of the conversation the way Jongin had introduced him, but from the way neither beta spoke to one another nor moved from their spot made Kyungsoo realize they were somehow connected to the severe woman.

“The one that was on the left is her personal assistant,” Jongin whispered conspiratorially after their conversation had ended and the trio had wandered away to ignore other people the way they had rudely ignored Kyungsoo. “The one on the right is her latest… ah… boyfriend, I suppose.”

“Boy toy seems more likely than boyfriend,” Kyungsoo mumbled behind his own flute of champagne.

Jongin hummed in confirmation while swirling the amber-colored whiskey he had ordered from the open bar around the ornately cut lead glass vessel it had been poured into. When Jongin had told him he’d ordered a car for the night so they could both imbibe if they so chose, the ever-practical Kyungsoo had thought it was an excessive and unnecessary expense, but now the omega understood it was probably best to be a little bit drunk for a function like this one.

“She has a new one to show off every few months,” Jongin continued to explain in a hushed tone from the corner of the room they had claimed for themselves at present. “It’s a little bit awkward because this one is the younger brother of her last paramour and looks almost exactly like him. We won’t have to pretend it’s not weird for much longer; she’ll exchange him for a new one shortly after the new year.”

Kyungsoo’s large eyes blinked rapidly. “That’s why it’s awkward?” he questioned incredulously. Of course the situation was especially uncomfortable now that he knew that additional tidbit, but it had been awkward well before.

Jongin chuckled while wrapping one of his arms around Kyungsoo’s shoulder, the weight of it a strange comfort while also serving the purpose of keeping them close together. “Well, it’s also awkward because she’s fucking her assistant too,” the alpha explained. “They hate one another for obvious reasons, but she drags them both along to functions like this and forces them to get along so as not to embarrass her, then the moment they’re alone, she plays them against one another again for her own entertainment.”

“Gross,” Kyungsoo declared easily before taking a sip of his drink. He looked up at the alpha that was looking out over the crowd of partygoers. “Is that why you asked me to come here with you tonight?” he asked, almost worried about what Jongin’s answer might be. “So you could show off your own young, pretty thing the way everyone else is?”

Kyungsoo expected the alpha to immediately deny it, but Jongin did no such thing. Instead, he seemed to carefully consider the question before finally shrugging his shoulders once. “Maybe,” he answered. “But very differently. I do want to show you off—to my coworkers, to my friends, and to the world at large for that matter—not because you’re young or because you’re pretty, but because you’re mine. Not my bought and paid for property the way some of the plus ones are here tonight, but my mate. I’ve waited a long time for you, Kyungsoo, and now that I’ve finally found you, I understand I’ve hit the lottery. Why wouldn’t I want to show you off? Why would I want to hide you away?”

Kyungsoo had never really lacked in confidence before, yet there were moments the alpha left him feeling insecure. Next to Jongin, Kyungsoo understood he was lacking in nearly every way possible. He wasn’t as old or mature. He didn’t have the life experience that had shaped him into something resilient and strong. He wasn’t especially book smart or exceptionally cultured. Jongin was stable with a high-paying job that afforded him a fairly luxurious lifestyle for him and his son while Kyungsoo subsisted off his school meal plan and still tried to find ways to sneak into the movies with his friends to avoid paying a ticket price that could completely drain his paltry allowance.

It was still early in the evening, but tonight had been one of those nights were Kyungsoo really felt the differences between him and his mate. He was surrounded by well-to-do, seasoned professionals at the top of their game as well as the insignificant and disposable playthings they amused themselves with in the little time they spent not working. It made him question his value to the alpha as well as the role Jongin wanted him to play within the alpha’s life. Maybe there was a good reason Jongin hadn’t yet sat Sehun down to tell the younger omega about the role Kyungsoo played in their lives aside from that as Sehun’s friend. Maybe Kyungsoo was temporary—a placeholder—until something a little better came along.

But then the alpha would go and say something like that, and Kyungsoo’s knees would feel a bit weak and his heart would threaten to beat right out of his chest. It didn’t seem possible that Jongin actually believed he was the lucky one between the two of them, but when the alpha said all the right things and looked at Kyungsoo the way he was now with complete fondness and sincerity shining in his eyes, Kyungsoo believed him.

He was Jongin’s through and through already. It may have only been a few months since they had met, but he had known from the moment he first locked eyes with the elder that his heart, body, and soul had been claimed for Jongin and Jongin alone. Kyungsoo belonged to him. He truly liked the idea that maybe just a little bit Jongin belonged to him too.

A little big flustered now by the alpha’s sweet words, Kyungsoo opened his mouth to change the topic or make a joke about Jongin showing him off to the worst people in the world aka lawyers in order to give his heart a chance to calm down, but Jongin never gave him the chance. The alpha had been scanning the party from their little corner oasis when suddenly his eyes went wide and he grabbed Kyungsoo’s wrist and began dragging him away.

“Jongin, what’s wrong?” Kyungsoo asked as the alpha tugged him in a hurry, the omega’s shorter legs doing their best to keep up with the urgent, long stride of the alpha. “Can you slow down?”

“No,” the alpha answered without even looking back at him. Kyungsoo’s drink was sloshing out of his glass with the alpha’s hurried step, soaking his fingers and leaving a trail of champagne in his wake. “We have to get away before—”

“Nice try, Nini,” a voice rang out from behind them, but from the way the alpha’s back suddenly stiffened before his shoulders slumped in defeat, Kyungsoo quickly deduced the Nini in question was in fact him. “You didn’t really think you’d manage to get away, did you?”

“Hyung,” the alpha suddenly whined out while turning to face two men who looked precisely like the cat that had caught the canary. The smaller of the two even had a very cat-like grin on his face, making the comparison all the more apt. Jongin, meanwhile, had pouted out his bottom lip like a petulant child and in the moment, between the pouting and the whining, Kyungsoo thought Jongin and Sehun could easily be confused for brothers rather than father and son, though Sehun had seldom been so immature. “I thought you weren’t going to come tonight.”

“I said I didn’t want to come tonight,” the smaller of the two men—a beta—said now. “There’s a big difference. You know how these things are; I’m putting in an appearance while the senior-most partners are still sober enough to remember I was here before I make a quick exit.” The beta paused for a moment before his eyes turned sharply toward Kyungsoo. “I’d ask where your manners are for not making introductions, Nini, but there’s really no need, is there? You must be the Kyungsoo we’ve heard so much about,” he correctly deduced before holding his hand out for a shake. “I’m Kim Jongdae, this idiot’s big brother.”

“Hyung,” Jongin whined out yet again.

“And this is Park Chanyeol,” the beta continued, indicating the alpha beside him that was even taller than Jongin. “This idiot’s best friend.”

Kyungsoo gave Jongdae a bit of a shy, polite bow before taking his hand to shake and then turned to do the same to Chanyeol. “Doh Kyungsoo,” he introduced, though it seemed to be unnecessary. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

As soon as Chanyeol released Kyungsoo’s hand, a broad, dimpled grin broke out across his face. “You two are standing under the mistletoe,” he stated, pointing upward to the plant dangling from the archway a few feet over their heads. “You know what that means.”

Jongin glared at the taller alpha. “Don’t make him uncomfortable,” he warned.

“It’s fine,” Kyungsoo countered, not especially shy in this moment. Had it been one of the creepy old partners with their little playthings encouraging a kiss between the alpha and him, Kyungsoo may very well have balked, but this was Jongin’s brother and his friend, and Kyungsoo was practically flying with the knowledge that the alpha had told people so important to him about the omega. Jongin may have been struggling with telling Sehun about him, but he wasn’t a secret from the entire alpha’s family and that knowledge meant the world to him. “It’s tradition after all.”

Jongin still looked skeptical and maybe a little bit shy, but when Kyungsoo turned toward him, the alpha suddenly lurched forward and pressed a quick, chaste kiss that lasted less than half a second to his cheek before jumping back immediately. “Happy now?” he asked the other two men quite accusatorily.

“Are you kidding?” Jongdae asked while Chanyeol openly laughed. “You’ve kissed mom more intimately than that.”

“I have not!” the alpha rushed out immediately, his cheeks pinking from the teasing. He turned toward Kyungsoo before adding another adamant, “I haven’t.”

Kyungsoo smiled gently up at the alpha before setting aside his mostly empty glass on a nearby table. As soon as his hands were free, he settled his arms over the alpha’s shoulders before rising up on his tip toes in order to press his lips against his mate’s. Kyungsoo had never cared for whiskey, but he quite liked the taste of it when it was on the alpha’s lips. After a few lingering moments, Kyungsoo’s heels returned to the ground and he separated from the alpha. The kiss had been fairly chaste and tame compared to the ones they had shared in the past, but the alpha looked oddly dazed from it, and when Kyungsoo went to step away, Jongin quickly put his arm around his waist and pulled him right back into his side.

“I don’t know how to tell you this, Kyungsoo, but you could do so much better than this guy,” Jongdae said with a shake of his head.

“Jealous?” Jongin asked now, the awkward shyness he had shown moments ago suddenly gone and replaced with the confidence Kyungsoo had come to expect of his alpha. “Where is sister-in-law tonight?”

Jongdae sulked. “At home with the kids,” he answered. “I tried to bribe her to come, but she hates these functions. Maybe I’ll be able to convince her to suffer through the next one if you bring Kyungsoo along so she’ll have someone to commiserate with. I’m sure she’ll love you immediately,” he added now to Kyungsoo. “So will our parents. They’ve always wanted Sehun to have another omega in the family.”

“And I already know you’re jealous,” Jongin continued, looking to the tall alpha who immediately let out a heavy sigh.

“Of course I’m jealous; I work too much,” Chanyeol groused. “I never have any time to meet anyone who isn’t paying me an hourly rate and suffering from varying degrees of heartbreak of their own. It’s tough being a hopeless romantic in my line of work.” He paused for just a moment before turning his attention to Kyungsoo again with a grin on his face. “Hey, Kyungsoo, you wouldn’t happen to know anyone you could introduce me to, do you? Omega, beta… I’m not picky.”

Kyungsoo blinked a few times. “Um…”

“Okay, okay,” Jongin interrupted. “You’ve met my omega; you’ve embarrassed me. You’ve accomplished everything you wanted, so Kyungsoo and I are going to get going.”

“We are?” Kyungsoo asked, somewhat surprised. They had only been circulating the party for about an hour and this was the only night they had together. Tomorrow Kyungsoo would be leaving for home and they’d be in separate cities until the day after Kyungsoo’s birthday since his parents had insisted they celebrate the occasion together after they had missed the chance to spend Chuseok together as a family. Though they’d still talk on the phone during their weeks’ long separation, Kyungsoo wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet.

“Leaving the party, yes,” Jongin confirmed. “I’ve greeted everyone I’ve needed to greet and I’d prefer to get out of here before the DJ plays the same six holiday songs a few hundred times more. I want to show you my office so you can see where I slave away so many hours of the day that I’d rather be spending with you.”

How could Kyungsoo refuse that? He opened his mouth to gladly accept the invitation, but Jongdae cut him off. “Please wear a condom this time,” the beta groaned out while Chanyeol reached into his pocket and pulled a business card out of a small, silver case.

“Here, take this,” he said while handing the small card to Kyungsoo, who immediately accepted it, though he didn’t quite understand why the alpha was giving it to him. “You’ll want to hang onto it. Chances are you’re going to need it eventually.”

“Ha, ha,” Jongin deadpanned, obviously not amused by the other two. “May the two of you always have to pee every time you’re stuck in traffic.”

“Hey, don’t put that curse on us,” Chanyeol whined, but Jongin stuck out his tongue at the other before guiding Kyungsoo away from the pair.

“It was nice to meet you,” Kyungsoo called back over his shoulder before Jongin pulled him out of sight and toward a bank of elevators. As soon as they were alone, he had to ask. “Please wear a condom this time?”

Jongin scowled while stabbing at the elevator call button. “Hyung is pretty sure the last time I had sex was twenty years ago, when Sehun was conceived,” he explained. “And he doesn’t suspect I’ve learned anything since then. In other words, he’s teasing me.”

“And the business card?” Kyungsoo asked while he fiddled with the small embossed card in his hand while Jongin escorted him into the elevator car with a hand on the small of his back.

Jongin snatched the card out of his hand the moment the doors were closed behind them. He ripped it in half, then in half again, and then further until it was nothing more than a handful of confetti that he promptly let fall to the floor. “Chanyeol is a divorce attorney,” Jongin answered. “He thinks he’s being clever and funny.”

Kyungsoo’s cheeks pinked at the explanation, but now he couldn’t help but laugh a little at the joke he hadn’t understood in the moment. His laughter was short-lived, however. Jongin pointed upward at the ceiling of the elevator and Kyungsoo’s eyes lifted to look. “More mistletoe,” the omega observed, but the words were cut off suddenly when the alpha was suddenly on him.

There was no hesitancy now and no brief, extremely chaste kiss. This time, it was as if Jongin was attempting to suck the air right out of Kyungsoo’s lungs. Jongin backed him against the wall of the car while his hands snaked up over the alpha’s shoulders, hanging on for dear life as he tried to keep up with the sudden, heated kiss his body and brain were quickly melting into. Jongin’s hands traced down Kyungsoo’s sides until they settled on his hips for a long moment before they descended even lower, groping his ass in each of his palms. A second later, the alpha was heaving him upward, picking Kyungsoo’s feet up off the ground until the omega wrapped his legs around the alpha’s waist. Jongin’s fingers and hands dug into his thighs as he supported Kyungsoo’s weight while they licked into one another’s mouth combining the taste of whiskey with champagne.

When the bell dinged announcing they had reached their intended floor, Jongin blindly carried him out of the elevator without ever skipping a beat of their kiss. His teeth captured Kyungsoo’s bottom lip between them, and he tugged roughly at the plump, soft skin before soothing the fresh sting with his tongue. Kyungsoo moaned aloud as he threw his head back, gasping in a breath as Jongin now mouthed at his throat and neck leaving a series of blatant love bites in his wake that Kyungsoo would have to cover before he returned to his family home the following day.

The floor Jongin had brought them too was largely dark with only a few dim, security lights illuminated to light the way, but the alpha navigated the space that was so familiar to him without ever opening his eyes. When they reached an office with a placard outside the door bearing Jongin’s name, the alpha attempted to open the door only to find it locked. He cursed under his breath before shifting Kyungsoo in his arms slightly so he was supporting all of the omega’s weight with one arm while the other dug through his pocket for his keys. After trying a few keys blindly in the lock, he finally found the correct one and carried Kyungsoo into the office.

The door wasn’t unlocked for long. The moment they were through it, the alpha turned the lock to insure they wouldn’t be interrupted before he carried Kyungsoo over to his desk. The papers, pens, and other bits of clutter were quickly swept aside before Kyungsoo was finally set down on the center of the desk.

Before the alpha had a chance to resume their heated kiss, Kyungsoo used the opportunity to look around the room. Jongin’s office was on an upper floor of the building with a large wall of windows that provided an amazing, unobstructed view of the twinkling lights of Seoul at night. The walls that weren’t all glass were packed with bookcases that were all weighed down with heavy, boring-looking tomes and the occasional picture of Sehun from infancy up to now.

Jongin returned to kissing and marking Kyungsoo’s neck while the omega’s eyes continued to search the room. His head tilted to one side to allow the eager alpha more access while he looked over the framed diplomas that hung upon the wall displaying the alpha’s impressive credentials. A small sitting area consisting of some dark furniture occupied the side of the office not occupied by Jongin’s desk and a number of plants—real or fake, Kyungsoo wasn’t sure which—were scattered throughout the room to bring a little life into the otherwise very serious room. The largest plants were seated on the floor in heavy planters, but a few small plants were hanging from hooks near the windows where they’d get more than enough sun.

“You’ve been practicing,” Kyungsoo observed a little breathlessly as Jongin unbuttoned the omega’s shirt while simultaneously marking up his collar bone.

“Huh?” the alpha questioned in obvious confusion when he pulled away from Kyungsoo enough to meet his eyes. His eyes darted from Kyungsoo’s eyes to the omega’s neck and shoulder and back again. “Have I been doing something wrong? Did I need practice?”

Kyungsoo smiled fondly at the alpha before shaking his head. “Not that,” he insisted before lifting one of his hands and pointing to the hanging plants. “That.”

Jongin’s head turned, his eyes following the direction of Kyungsoo’s finger until he took note of the plants and his cheeks flushed a little. To the unsuspecting eye, the plants were suspended by the sort of macramé plant holders one could buy at some charming, overpriced boho boutique in Gangnam, but Kyungsoo recognized those elaborate twists and beautiful knots weren’t ones reserved for arts and crafts. If he wasn’t half as obsessed as he was with the books he and Jongin had bought two copies of during their trip to Japan, he might have missed it, but as it was, his whole body tingled with a want that burned deep from deep within his stomach. “You’ve been practicing,” he repeated once more, and this time, the alpha nodded once in confirmation. “Do you want to tie me up, daddy?”

The heated look Jongin had been wearing turned even darker still until it threatened to scorch Kyungsoo from the burn of it. Instead of answering the question aloud, the alpha crashed their lips back together in an urgent, hungry kiss that was all teeth and tongue and need. The alpha resumed unbuttoning Kyungsoo’s shirt with renewed fervor, his fingers moving so quickly and demandingly, a button or two was liberated from the shirt completely, falling to the office floor never to be seen again.

Kyungsoo began undoing the alpha’s shirt in turn. His fingers shook with anticipation as he pushed each button through its respective hole. Getting to see the alpha without a shirt on was always a treat, but given how hurried and hungry the alpha seemed right now, Kyungsoo wondered if he was in for more than he could even manage tonight.

As soon as the front of Kyungsoo’s shirt was undone, the alpha was ripping it off him, the buttons at his wrists popping off the garment as well when it was pulled clear without taking the time to undo them. Even though his own dress shirt was only half unbuttoned, Jongin pulled it up over his head and tossed both garments over his shoulder to fall to the floor. He immediately moved to Kyungsoo’s belt and began to unbuckle it with hurried fingers.

“Are we going to have sex in your office?” Kyungsoo asked breathlessly as the alpha pulled down everything he was wearing below the waist in one fluid motion. Kyungsoo had to step out of his still tied shoes before he could kick his pants and underwear aside, but the moment he had, Jongin had turned him around so the omega was facing the desk while the alpha pressed up against him from behind. Kyungsoo braced his arms against the smooth wood of the elder’s desk as Jongin reached around him in order to grope his chest while pointedly grinding his stiff but still-clothed cock against Kyungsoo’s bare and exposed ass.

“Yes, many, many times, I’d say, if I get a vote on it,” came the answer breathed into Kyungsoo’s ear. The alpha’s warmed breath fanned across the omega’s ear and neck and despite its heat, Kyungsoo shivered at the words. “But not tonight and not for our first time.”

Kyungsoo’s shoulders sagged. He should have been relieved the alpha wanted to do things right, but at this point, he wouldn’t even care if their first time was in the uncomfortable, too small back seat of Jongin’s car. He wanted to be with the alpha completely. He wanted Jongin to possess him both inside and out. He was trying to be patient—he really, really was—because he understood there was more at stake than his desperate need for the alpha to fuck him, but it was getting harder not to feel like there was something wrong with him.

Stupid, stupid suppressants. Maybe if he wasn’t on them and Jongin could see, feel, and smell just how desperate the omega was for him, he wouldn’t deny him any longer.

Jongin pressed a trail of gentle kisses over the omega’s dejected shoulders. “I’ll tell Sehun soon,” the alpha promised.

Kyungsoo glanced back over his shoulder before looking away just as quickly. “You’ve said that before.”

“And I meant it then just as I mean it now,” the alpha attempted to reassure him. “I’ll tell him soon. Just give me a little more time. It’s a little scary, you know. Once I tell him, everything will change between us.”

Kyungsoo took a deep breath while his fingers played idly against the polished surface of the desk, leaving smudged streaks in their wake. Kyungsoo didn’t know why, but his eyes were tearing up. He hated that he was naked right now when he felt exposed in ways that had nothing to do with his state of undress, but it was a small comfort he was at least faced away from the alpha. “Are you worried about things changing between you and Sehun once he knows?” he asked. “Or worried about them changing between you and me?”

Silence fell for a long moment and Kyungsoo’s heart sank with each additional second of it. No relief came when the alpha finally spoke either. “Both, I suppose,” he answered. “I’ve never introduced Sehun to anyone significant before and this is doubly complicated because the two of you are friends. Once I involve my son in this, there’s no turning back.”

“So you think there’s still a chance you could want to turn back,” Kyungsoo concluded.

“That’s not what I’m saying,” the alpha argued immediately. “This is new and a little bit scary. I was only a little younger than you when I got someone pregnant. I thought at the time my relationship would be forever, but it barely lasted a few weeks. I want to be sure of everything. I want you to be sure of everything, too.”

“Don’t put this on me,” Kyungsoo said while finally pushing away from the desk and turning around. He grabbed his pants from the floor and quickly stepped back into them, doing them up in a hurry. “I’ve been sure since the first time we’ve met. This isn’t some high school crush, Jongin. You’re my mate. I’ve known that in my heart from the beginning, but it seems you’re less sure. That’s fine, I guess.” It wasn’t—it wasn’t at all—but Kyungsoo would blame his stupid suppressants for that too if only because he didn’t want to blame himself or the alpha any more than he had to here while his heart was breaking. “But don’t use me as your excuse to keep playing with my heart.”

“Kyungsoo, that’s not—”

“I’m taking your shirt,” the omega declared once his pants and shoes were back on. His shirt was in no state to wear out and his coat was back at the party, a place Kyungsoo had no intention of ever returning to. He’d rather get a lecture from his parents about not taking care of his things than have to walk into that party with marks up and down his neck, red glassy eyes and a broken heart. “I’ll find some way to get it back to you when I’m back in the city after the holidays.”

Jongin gripped Kyungsoo’s arm after he shrugged into the dress shirt. His voice sounded emotional, but he refused to look up at the alpha to see if there was sadness in his expression too. Despite his best efforts to hold back his tears, he could feel them falling now, and he didn’t want to give the alpha the satisfaction of seeing how much this rejection stung. “I don’t care about the shirt; I care about you. Please don’t leave, sweetheart,” the alpha begged. “This is nothing but a misunderstanding. It’s hard when we’ve both been so busy as of late. We can figure this out. We can—”

Kyungsoo shrugged out of the alpha’s grasp. “You’re the only one with something to figure out, Jongin,” he stated simply while slipping past the alpha and heading toward the door. “I wish you luck in doing so.” He unlocked the office door and threw it open, lingering in the threshold of it for a moment without looking back, despite the temptation to do so. “I’ll take a taxi back to my dorm. Enjoy the rest of your party and have a happy holiday.”

And with that, Kyungsoo left the office in a run. It wasn’t until he was in the elevator surrounded by the remnants of the business card confetti on the floor that he fully broke down and cried. And he doubted he’d stop crying until well after Christmas.

“Are you crazy, Kyungsoo-ya?” Dr. Kim Minseok asked incredulously as the omega sheepishly sat atop the examination table kicking his feet to and fro. “I’m not the kind of doctor that can diagnose whether or not you are, yet I’m quite confident that’s precisely what I’m dealing with here because what else could explain how careless and foolish you’ve been? How are you in college? I can’t believe auntie raised such a fool!”

Kyungsoo pouted at his cousin. “Hyung,” he whined out and sulked. “That’s not very professional.”

“Not very professional?” the alpha echoed back. “You’re accusing me of being unprofessional? Ya!” he shouted before kicking wildly at Kyungsoo’s legs, making the omega flail and shriek and nearly fall off the table he was sat upon. His cousin likely would have continued his attack if Kyungsoo’s phone hadn’t chosen that moment to ring. Even before he had pulled the device out of his pocket, he knew whose name would be illuminated on the screen, and sure enough, there it was, taunting him yet again.

Kim Jongin.

It was the middle of the day which meant the alpha was calling him while at the office when he probably should have been focused on his work instead of pestering Kyungsoo repeatedly. After the first thirty, he had given up counting how many times the alpha had called him since the night of the Christmas party. Kyungsoo hadn’t answered a single one and he didn’t think he would answer a single one ever again. He probably should have blocked the alpha once and for all and been done with it, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he swiped his finger to decline the call just as he had every one that came before it and let out a heavy sigh.

As if sensing the playful air of a moment ago had suddenly gone out of the room, Minseok patted the omega’s knee. “Did you need to take that?” he asked gently. “I can give you a minute of privacy and come back—”

“There’s no need; it was just a wrong number,” Kyungsoo dismissed before shoving his phone back into his pocket. While he didn’t want the lecture he knew he was about to get, he didn’t want to talk or think about Jongin right now. “So about my suppressants…”

Minseok let out a groan before gently whacking Kyungsoo in the head with his clipboard. “I told you how to take them when you first went on them,” the doctor scolded, his irritation obvious. “A few months on, a month off. A few months on, a month off. And now you come here telling me you’ve been on them nonstop for years? Ya!” the doctor shouted again before whacking him with the clipboard once more for good measure.

“Hyung,” the omega whined yet again, and the pout on his face this time was enough for the older cousin to begin petting the omega’s head in apology. Despite the fact that things had gone completely pear-shaped with Jongin, Kyungsoo had decided to still go through with his doctor’s appointment while back home for the holidays. He had come to resent the pills so much over the course of the last few months that he didn’t want to rely on them the way he had ever again. Sure, he liked not having to be a slave to his heat like every other omega on the planet not on suppressants, but he didn’t want to shove his own inner omega down any longer, even if he would face a certain amount of discomfort every few months when his heats hit.

“Am I going to die because I never stopped taking them?” he asked, since Minseok had yet to explain precisely what the problem was beyond the fact that he hadn’t really followed directions. Who could blame him though? While other omegas could miss up to a week of class on a regular basis while managing their heats, Kyungsoo had not. He didn’t have to deal with alphas and betas that didn’t understand the meaning of the word “no” following him around and getting handsy because he smelled so good or smelled like he “wanted” it. Until Sehun had suddenly shown up dragging his father’s impossible-to-ignore scent with him, Kyungsoo had been completely unbothered by and unaware of the multitude of scents in the air meant to send messages to potential partners, his pills blocking a majority of them out from even registering in his brain. It had been nice until he had suddenly wanted to be able to scent Jongin and tell his moods and feelings from the smell of him alone and couldn’t.

“Am I going to die,” the doctor mumbled back mockingly before once more kicking at Kyungsoo’s legs, though he intentionally held himself back from making any contact with the omega. “You’re not going to die, but you might wish you would when your heat hits. Think of suppressants as a dam with your hormones and normal body chemistry as the water that is being held back by it. Every once in a while, water must be let through the dam or it just builds and builds and builds and the pressure of it will make the whole thing fail. You haven’t released that pressure in years now—that the dam hasn’t cracked already is no small miracle—and all those hormones and omega traits you’ve been repressing are going to come rushing out in one fell swoop. It’s going to take your body a while to regulate itself and to adjust.”

Kyungsoo didn’t like the sound of any of this and he hugged his arms around himself while simultaneously ignoring his phone vibrating within his pocket to indicate incoming text messages. He had given up counting the number of those after the alpha had surpassed seventy and now just let them accumulate unread in his inbox. “Could I be weaned off of them gradually so it’s not such a drastic change?”

Minseok shook his head. “Now that I know what’s going on, if I let you near another pill at this point, I’d be negligent. It may not seem like it now and it definitely won’t seem like it when everything is rushing back, but it’s better to get through this all at one time than to continue toying with your body’s natural chemistry.”

“Then what should I do?” Kyungsoo asked. “How will I get through it?”

Minseok shot the younger a look. “You should have thought of that before deciding not to listen to me,” he scolded, but the glassy-eyed look Kyungsoo was sporting at present was enough to crack the alpha’s hard exterior. “I’ll write you a doctor’s note for school. I know you’re supposed to return to the dorms soon and resume your classes shortly after, but you won’t be in much of a condition to do so. Do you have an alpha to help you through what’s coming?”

Kyungsoo bit his bottom lip while his hand instinctively moved towards the phone resting in his pocket before he shook his head in the negative. “No,” he answered. “I don’t have an alpha to help me.”

“A beta then?” Minseok asked then and Kyungsoo once again shook his head. “Another omega?” Kyungsoo shook his head a third time. “Then I would suggest staying home,” the doctor answered. “If things get really bad, auntie and uncle can call me and I can get you on an IV drip and have you sedated. It wouldn’t be the optimal way to handle it, of course, but it would be better than nothing.”

Kyungsoo considered Minseok’s offer before shaking his head. “I need to go back to school,” he decided. He wouldn’t be able to attend classes, but he’d rather deal with a heat from hell in the omega dorms surrounded by sympathetic peers than have his parents see him like that. It had been years since his first and subsequently last heat, but he remembered how awkward and embarrassing it had been to have his mom knocking on the door to check on him while he was trying to satiate the burn within him. He couldn’t imagine how humiliating it would be this time without being overcome by a full-body cringe.

“Then keep your phone nearby and call me if things get ugly. Worst case scenario, I drive out to Seoul after my shift and sedate you there. Beyond that…” Minseok’s voice trailed off and he shrugged his shoulders. “Have a lot of toys at the ready, hydrate on a regular basis, and say a prayer.”

The day after Kyungsoo’s birthday, his parents had driven him back to the city and he had barely been able to convince them to return home once they had reached the dorms. Shortly after his appointment with Minseok, he had confessed to his mother about his situation and she had promptly told his father and since, they had been watching him like a hawk waiting for the other shoe to drop that would signal the arrival of his heat straight from the depths of hell.

But so far, Kyungsoo’s symptoms of pre-heat had been… well… weird, but overall manageable. A week after he had stopped taking his suppressants, his small breasts had become tender and achy before suddenly increasing in size. A day later, they had begun to leak. He had called Minseok in a frantic tizzy, but his cousin had just sighed a sigh of long suffering and patiently explained, “As I told you before, Kyungsoo-ya, your hormones are out of control right now. Your body is trying to figure things out and regulate itself after so long being plugged up. You’re being flooded with such a rush of omega hormones that your body is producing milk like it thinks you just had a baby. It’s not surprising. Odds are you’ll stop once your heat passes; that should get things back in order the way it’s meant to be. In the meantime, you just have to deal with the consequences of taking your suppressants so irresponsibly.”

Beyond that embarrassing symptom, Kyungsoo was dealing with a low grade fever and a sort of deep-seeded exhaustion that Minseok said was his body getting rest while it still could, before the insatiability of the heat claimed him and sleep would be hard to come by. Perhaps the worst “symptom” so far had been the incredibly embarrassing shopping trip his mother had dragged him on for heat aids. She had been adamant that he stay home for his heat, but Kyungsoo had fought back against her. When his father had sided with him saying it was Kyungsoo’s decision, she had insisted on dragging him out to buy everything he’d need to get him through the worst of it. He’d probably have nightmares about her pestering the sales associates over the pros and cons of vibrating dildos for the rest of his life.

Now, at least, he was back at school. He had arrived to the dorms late in the evening the day after his birthday and when he had been dragging his bags in with a flushed face and a light sheen of sweat covering his body, his RA had pulled him into a hug, pet his hair like he was a cat, and promised it would all be okay before offering him a pint of ice cream and a pack of maximum strength batteries. The doctor’s note Minseok had written him had been submitted to the school’s health office excusing him from classes until further notice and a small sign had been placed on the door of his room notifying the other dorm residents an omega in heat was within so there would be no disturbances. He would have been embarrassed about it, but in a dorm full of omegas, it was an everyday sort of thing.

The day after he returned to the dorms, his fever increased as did his lethargy. His room only had a single, small, rectangular window on one wall of the room, but he had opened it up despite the chill of the January air just to provide him with a little relief from the overheated furnace his body was. When one of his neighbors—a sweet second year named Seulgi—had stopped by to check on him, she had shivered and quaked from the temperature while Kyungsoo had further fanned himself shamelessly with a book on shibari he didn’t have the heart to throw away.

The afternoon of the fourteenth after Kyungsoo woke up from his third nap of the day, he finally texted Baekhyun to apologize for his silence over break and to let the elder, so-called honorary omega know he had returned to school, but wouldn’t be back in class for at least a week thanks to his heat. After requesting the beta inform the others so no one worried, he tossed his phone aside and fell asleep yet again.

His fourth nap of the day didn’t last very long. When he was awoken by a loud knock on his door, the winter sun had already set and his room was extra cool for it. He groaned as he stretched, the ache in his body becoming more and more pronounced and prominent the closer he came to his heat, which would be any time now. He was already beginning to produce and leak slick, and while it wasn’t a lot yet, it was only a matter of time before he was flooding.

He padded to the door in his socks, but paused to look in the mirror before he opened it. He looked a mess. His hair stuck up in every possible direction thanks to his frequent naps and the tossing and turning he did to try to alleviate the aches in his body. The oversized, loose t-shirt he was wearing had dark, wet spots where his nipples were and the loose shorts he was wearing were equally damp in a telling sort of way. His skin was glowing from a thin layer of sweat that covered his entire body and his face and neck were deeply flushed making it look like he had been interrupted in the middle of something intimate rather than in the middle of a nap.

He was embarrassed to be seen this way already. What was the purpose in putting a sign on the door warning others away if no one was going to listen to it?

He twisted the knob on the door and threw it open, prepared to yell that very question at whoever was on the other side of it, but the words died on his lips when he discovered Sehun of all people standing in the hall. The taller omega didn’t wait for the stunned Kyungsoo to greet him, he merely slipped past Kyungsoo and into the room while carrying a backpack on his shoulders, a duffle bag over his arm, and a rolling suitcase behind him which he promptly set down in the middle of the room. Next, the younger omega went to the bed, taking note of the wet spot in the middle of the bed before he began to strip the blankets and the sheets immediately.

“I brought my own from home, I didn’t think you’d mind,” Sehun explained while stripping the bed.

Kyungsoo did mind. As a matter of fact, he minded very, very much. He didn’t want Sehun’s fancy sheets from his fancy penthouse bought and paid for by his fancy alpha father anywhere near his shabby little dorm room. For that matter, he didn’t especially want Sehun anywhere near his shabby little dorm room. It was wrong to be upset at Sehun when the other omega hadn’t done anything. Logically, Kyungsoo was very aware of that fact, but right now, he didn’t feel especially logical. He was hot, he was aching, and he was embarrassed to be seen like this, perhaps especially by Sehun.

He wanted to shout at the other omega to get out of his room right that very instant, but he found his mouth completely dry and the words unable to form for it. As much as he wanted Sehun to leave, he wanted the omega to stay too, because Sehun smelled nothing short of heavenly. It wasn’t the nuisance scent of orange blossoms that caught Kyungsoo’s attention now but the buried smell of sunshine and an ocean breeze that captured him completely. With the suppressants now out of his system, Kyungsoo could smell that subtle scent clearly. It called out to him like a siren’s song, easily luring him in and honestly, he didn’t care if he met his end by crashing into the rocks of it.

The scent brought tears to his eyes and even seemed to soothe some of the ache in his body. Before he could even realize what he was doing, he had closed the door, crossed the room, wrapped his arms around Sehun, and buried his face in the younger omega’s neck so he might inhale as much of that scent as possible. Sehun stiffened momentarily in surprise before dropping the stripped sheets onto the bed and putting his arms around Kyungsoo to return the embrace, his hands gently stroking over Kyungsoo’s back as he cried. “I know, I know,” Sehun gently soothed. “It must have been so tough for you.”

Kyungsoo sniffled pathetically while tears ran unchecked down his face. “That makes it sound like it’s already over,” he whimpered out. “But my heat hasn’t even really begun yet.”

Sehun pulled Kyungsoo down until they were both seated on the bare mattress of the small dorm bed. He kept an arm around Kyungsoo, still rubbing his back while the smaller omega leaned into his side and rested his head against his shoulder. “I’m not talking about your heat,” Sehun corrected gently. “I’m talking about you and my dad.”

Kyungsoo stiffened in surprise at the words, his body instinctively leaning away from the other omega now so he could escape whatever punch or slap was about to come his way, but Sehun kept an arm around his shoulder and pulled him right back. “I don’t know how you found out,” Kyungsoo rushed out now while he sloppily brushed tears from his eyes, “but it’s over now and won’t happen again. I’m really sorry—”

“Don’t be,” Sehun interrupted. “Unless you’re serious about it being over, then you probably should be. I really don’t want my dad to go back to the way he was before he met you, when he was married to his job and seldom ever smiled. It’s been nice to see him happy for once. Of course, he hasn’t been happy since just before Christmas—he’s been a complete wreck actually—but… well…” Sehun’s voice trailed off and he held a hand out in front of him as if what he was going to say was obvious.

It wasn’t though. Kyungsoo blinked in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“My dad told me everything,” Sehun explained then. “But he really didn’t have to, since I knew long before.”

“You knew?” Kyungsoo asked, his voice squeaking slightly in surprise.

“I’m not blind or dumb and I’m definitely not clogged up,” the other omega explained, pointing to his nose for good measure. “So of course I knew. Since I met you, you barely had a scent of your own.”

“Suppressants,” Kyungsoo mumbled and Sehun nodded his head in understanding.

“Yet this strange sort of coincidence kept happening. My dad would be stressed out and antsy and mopey and then he’d suddenly have to work late on a night you also conveniently had plans and couldn’t hang out. And then my dad would be all smiles and stress-free the next day while you would practically reek of him. He’s been possessively scent marking you this whole time,” Sehun explained with a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head, as if the alpha’s behavior was especially embarrassing. “It’s been so bad; it’s only been a very small step up from peeing on your leg in order to warn others away. There were days even I was afraid to get close to you and risk his wrath, and I’m his kid.”

Despite the pain the alpha had caused him, Kyungsoo found himself smiling. Between the two omegas sitting on the bed now, Kyungsoo had been the one that had been “clogged up.” The suppressants had successfully performed their duties by blocking out the sort of scents alphas and omegas used to advertise their availability or to stake a claim to territory. “To be honest, I was a little afraid it was one-sided,” Sehun continued. “And that he was going to get hurt because he liked you way more than you liked him.”

Kyungsoo began to violently shake his head back and forth and opened his mouth to explain his own side, but Sehun once again cut him off. “I know,” the omega reassured. “He told me everything, including that he messed things up by building walls between you and being scared.”

Kyungsoo didn’t want to think about that or he was going to start crying again, so he decided to ask the billion-won question. “You’re not mad at me? At us?”

“He says this isn’t a crush or an affair or a midlife crisis. He says you’re his mate and he’s known it since the day he met you,” Sehun answered. “What do you say? Is he your mate too?”

Despite his best efforts, a tear slipped from his eye as he nodded. “Yes,” he confirmed aloud. “I’ve known it since the first day I met him too.”

Sehun nodded in understanding. “Then what is there to be mad about?” he asked. “If you’re mates, then you’re going to make my dad happy. If you’re mates, then that means you’re supposed to be an important part of my life too. My dad could do much worse than you and you could do much worse than my dad. Two people I care about also care about one another. What’s there to be mad about?”

Kyungsoo sniffled and wrapped his arms around the younger again in another hug. “Thank you,” he mumbled into Sehun’s shoulder.

Sehun returned the hug just as enthusiastically. “You’re welcome,” he stated before breaking the hug off and giving the older omega a stern look. “But that said, there are certain parts of your relationship with my dad I don’t want to know anything about. At the very top of the list of things I don’t want to know anything about is everything that is going to happen this coming week.”

Kyungsoo wiped at his eyes yet again. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m going to stay here in your dorm room for the week,” Sehun explained. “So you can stay at the apartment throughout your heat without traumatizing me. Junmyeon’s waiting outside in the cold in his car so we can drive you over there and drop you off before my dad gets home from work. Today is his birthday,” he added. “I figured the best thing I can give him is some much-needed alone time for the two of you.”

Kyungsoo bit his bottom lip. He didn’t want to be mad or hurt by the alpha anymore. Jongin had told Sehun about them and eliminated the self-made hurdle between them for it. Jongin had been worried about Kyungsoo’s age and whether or not he’d still want to dive into something with someone so much older than him before, but Kyungsoo was now a year older and wiser than he had been before the holiday season, and he still wanted Jongin—he still wanted his mate. Even now, when his body was the most vulnerable, it knew exactly who and what it needed, and that was Jongin. It would always be Jongin.

And so, Kyungsoo could think of a thing or two to give the alpha on his special day too.

“Pack a bag,” Sehun instructed, and Kyungsoo immediately leapt to his feet to begin doing just that. “Toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, other toiletries, medications, phone, phone charger,” the tall omega listed off while Kyungsoo ignored him completely and raided his underwear drawer for all his cutest and laciest lingerie sets instead. Sehun just sighed and shook his head before gathering up Kyungsoo’s actual necessities himself.

“Thank you, Sehunnie,” Kyungsoo called out while debating between a few more sets than he needed, but ultimately deciding on bringing them all along just in case.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the taller omega mumbled. “If you really want to thank me, just stay out of my room this week. If I have any reason to believe my room was breached by the pair of you, you’re both dead to me.”

Being in Jongin’s penthouse with the suppressants out of his system was a whole new sensory experience for Kyungsoo. The smell of the alpha was practically suffocating. The scent of him crashed into Kyungsoo like an unruly wave and dragged him out to sea for the omega to completely drown in him. Within moments of entering the space he was dizzy from the headiness of it all; he had barely retained a single thing Sehun had told him about the door’s passcode, the thermostat, how to use the remote to get the TV to work, where the clean linens were, and where the best delivery places were to order from. Thankfully Sehun had blasted the air conditioning to arctic temperatures before wishing Kyungsoo good luck and leaving.

Which just left Kyungsoo to wait.

He had taken a shower shortly after he was left alone. Sehun had told him there was an en suite in his dad’s room, but Kyungsoo chose to use the main bathroom instead. He had never been in the alpha’s room before and it felt wrong to enter without his consent. While he knew exactly what to give the alpha for his birthday, there was still a chance his present would be declined. He didn’t want to think of that possibility, but it was still there taunting him cruelly. The wounds his brief visit to Jongin’s office had brought about were still fresh in his mind and upon his heart. If he wandered into Jongin’s bedroom and even deeper into the alpha’s life for it only to face the sting of rejection yet again, he wasn’t sure he’d ever recover.

And so he kept to the rooms he had been in before. In the shower, he had scrubbed the sweat and stickiness from him until his skin was pink from the effort. He thought about fingering himself then and there to take the edge off the building warmth in his belly, but ultimately he turned the water to a cooler temperature and kept his hands to himself. He was so close to his heat claiming him now, any intimate touch could easily push him over the edge. He didn’t want that touch to come from him; he wanted it to come from Jongin.

His whole body tingled at just the thought. When he was out of the shower and dry once more, he put on an especially cute set of lingerie before slipping on a pair of knee socks and the dress shirt he had stolen from the alpha at the Christmas party. He buttoned the bottom few buttons and left the rest open before checking his reflection in the mirror. Even though he was flushed again and his skin was already beginning to glow with the threat of perspiration, he thought he looked the right amount of cute and sexy.

And so he moved to the couch in the living room to await the alpha’s arrival.

It was quarter to seven when Sehun called Kyungsoo’s phone. “My dad will be home shortly,” the other omega had explained. “He said he was leaving work and wanted to know what to pick up for dinner. I’m not sure greasy food would be the best for you right now, but I hope fried chicken is okay with you anyway. It’s his favorite and since it’s his birthday…” His voice had trailed off.

“That’s fine,” Kyungsoo confirmed while his heart began to beat in double-time at the prospect of seeing the alpha that had claimed it again, for the first time in weeks. “I like fried chicken too.”

“Good,” Sehun breathed out, sounding truly relieved. “There’s a cake for him in a box on the kitchen counter. I left candles and matches next to it. Please make sure he gets it; I don’t want him to think I forgot.”

“I will,” Kyungsoo promised. “Thank you again, Sehunnie.”

The younger omega hummed in acknowledgement before adding, “Thank you, too. Make sure to eat and drink and make sure my dad takes care of you well. Call me or Junmyeon if you need anything. Proof of life now and then over the next week wouldn’t hurt.”

Kyungsoo laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good luck,” Sehun had said then. “I’ll see you next week.”

Twenty minutes later, while Kyungsoo sat on his legs in the center of the couch while a cake with a burning candle in the center of it rested on the coffee table in front of him, the telltale beep of the passcode being entered into the electronic lock resounded before the door swung open and the alpha stepped within.

“I’m home,” Jongin called out blindly, his voice sounding tired and maybe more than a little bit sad. He began removing his dress shoes at the door on autopilot, without otherwise looking around the space. “Why is it so dark in here?” he asked the ether now. “And did you turn the air conditioning on? It’s January for goodness sake, Sehun.”

“Sorry,” Kyungsoo spoke up now. “It’s my fault; he turned it on for me before he left.”

Jongin’s spine stiffened as he dropped both his messenger bag and the paper bag containing their dinner to the floor and he whirled around to face Kyungsoo now. Even in the dim, flickering light of the birthday candle, the omega could see the stunned shock clearly on the alpha’s face. For a long moment, Jongin just stood there blinking silently. When the silence stretched on long enough to make Kyungsoo a little nervous and uncertain, he shifted awkwardly and the action seemed enough to snap the alpha out of his trance. A second later, Jongin was opening the door of the apartment and checking the number upon it, seemingly making sure he hadn’t somehow wandered into someone else’s unit. When that checked out, the alpha pinched his own arm before grimacing. When that too checked out, he blinked a few more times as if still not trusting his eyes fully. “Baby?” the alpha questioned aloud.

Kyungsoo smiled softly up at him. “Happy birthday, daddy.”

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Jongin was hurdling over the coffee table, the rush of wind he kicked up with his jump enough to extinguish the single candle atop his cake before Kyungsoo suddenly found himself on his back, the alpha looming over him. “You’re really here,” the alpha stated, though it still sounded half like a question, as if he still couldn’t believe it.

“I am.”

His hands slid up Kyungsoo’s sides, the too-big shirt that was practically a dress on him riding a little further up the omega’s thighs. “You’re wearing my shirt again.”

“I am.”

Jongin’s fingers ghosted over his cheeks while he inhaled the unsuppressed scent of him fully. The alpha’s eyes darkened immediately, his pupils dilating. “You’re in heat.”

“I almost am.”

Jongin’s eyes blinked a dozen times in a matter of moments as he tried to shake the immediate instinct to claim a fertile omega the way only an alpha could—to claim his fertile omega the way only he could. When he seemed to regain his faculties, his expression went from dark and heated to remorseful in an instant. “I’m so sorry,” the alpha rushed out. “I’ve been so sorry since the night of the party onward. I wanted to rush after you immediately, but I thought that might only make things worse if you needed some space. Plus, I wanted to talk to Sehun first so I wasn’t offering up empty promises. I tried calling you and texting you after and—”

“I know,” Kyungsoo interrupted. “I should have answered, but I was hurt.”

“You had every right to be,” Jongin insisted. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Kyungsoo dismissed now. “So long as there are no more barriers between us, it’s okay.”

Jongin nodded in silent promise before his mouth descended to meet Kyungsoo’s in an unhurried, heated kiss. In a matter of moments Kyungsoo was breathless, not from a lack of oxygen but from the emotion and sincerity the alpha poured into the kiss. Tears stung at his eyes as every cell and fiber of his being called out for the alpha above him. As Jongin deepened the kiss, the heat that had been building within him for days threatened to boil over, but way in the back of his mind he could hear his cousin and Sehun reminding him to eat and hydrate.

“Wait,” he rushed out before gently pushing against the alpha’s chest.

Jongin let out a needy whine. “I don’t want to.”

Kyungsoo laughed a little breathlessly. He felt the same way, but he needed to keep his wits about him for these last few moments before they escaped him entirely. “Let’s have dinner first and then some of the nice cake Sehun got for you. After that you can unwrap your present, so long as you promise to wrap it up again when you’re done.” He held his wrists out in front of him while Jongin’s eyes darkened once more at the unspoken suggestion.

The alpha sat up now, letting Kyungsoo out from under the weight of him. “Okay,” he agreed, though from the strain in his voice, it was obvious that if it was up to the alpha, they would be skipping dinner and get right to dessert. “Where is Sehun?”

“He’ll be staying in my dorm room until my heat passes.”

“I may have to buy him the car he wants after this,” Jongin thought aloud. “But it’ll be worth every penny. You get dinner ready while I change out of my work clothes and call into the office. I’m on vacation starting now until further notice.”

Kyungsoo sat completely naked and completely still on his heels in the center of Jongin’s oversized bed while the alpha carefully bound him in bright red, cotton rope. It was hard for Kyungsoo to remain still right now; even though the alpha seemed focused on his work, Kyungsoo could feel his heated gaze and it made the heat crawling beneath his skin sing all the more pronounced within his veins. He could feel himself leaking onto his own legs while his signature smell of peaches so long repressed now filled up the room to the point Kyungsoo could nearly taste it on his tongue.

With his heat knocking at the door and threatening to consume him fully at any second, his scent had turned especially sweet, as if the peaches were candied. Every once in a while, Jongin would pause his work in order to lick a single stripe up the omega’s neck before groaning in satisfaction. Each time Kyungsoo would press his thighs even more tightly together while slick continued to pool beneath him.

“I’m almost done, baby,” Jongin informed him from where he worked behind Kyungsoo’s back. “Are you still okay? There’s no numbness or pain?”

Kyungsoo smiled to himself. Jongin had been checking on his comfort every few minutes despite the fact that he had reassured the alpha he would speak up if anything at all felt odd or wrong. His body was contorted ever so slightly with his shoulders back as far as they could go while his arms were bound behind him in a series of ladder-like rungs that ran from just beneath his armpits down to his wrists. A corset-like harness made out of the ropes and knots decorated his chest down to his hips. His legs had been kept bare this time, but Kyungsoo was certain a day would come when they too would know the oddly addicting squeeze of being bound like this.

“I’m okay, daddy,” he assured the alpha. He was better than okay really. The alpha had barely touched him aside from the occasional brush of fingertips against his fevered skin, but already Kyungsoo felt a breath away from release. The rope Jongin had chosen was surprisingly soft so the pressure of it against his skin was pleasurable and not especially scratchy. The knots and bindings created a sort of squeeze and pressure against him that brought out a nice sort of tingle in his veins and the slight burn of his muscles from being kept in one position felt oddly nice.

And though he was sure others might have found it strange, one of the best things to Kyungsoo about his present condition had nothing to do with the physicality of it. When he had looked at the pictures in the books of those that had been bound, he had been easily able to understand the appeal. There was a sort of helplessness to being bound like this, but it was simultaneously oddly freeing. He trusted Jongin fully and in doing this, he was giving complete control over to the elder. Whatever Jongin wanted he could take because whatever Kyungsoo had to offer was already his. Kyungsoo didn’t have to think about anything. He didn’t have to be insecure and he didn’t have to worry. His head could empty completely of everything but breathing and Jongin and the squeeze against his flesh.

“Shit, baby,” the alpha stated when Kyungsoo felt rather than saw him sit back to admire his handiwork. “You look so pretty wrapped up like this for me; this is the best birthday present I’ve ever received by far. You should see how you look.”

Kyungsoo attempted to look over his own shoulder at the alpha. “It feels really nice,” he admitted. “Can you show me how it looks?”

“May I take pictures?” the alpha asked and Kyungsoo immediately nodded in response. Jongin all but dove for his phone on his bedside table, something that made the omega crack up. He had a feeling Jongin would be looking back on the pictures he took now on a regular basis. Kyungsoo sat up especially straight as the alpha snapped pictures behind him. The alpha adjusted the lamplight before taking a few more pictures, as if the sight he was preserving in his camera roll was worth taking every extra effort for. After a minute or two, the alpha rounded the bed until he was in front of Kyungsoo, and he snapped a few more.

Even without seeing the pictures, Kyungsoo knew he was flushed and blushing. Bound as he was, there was nothing hidden from the alpha’s eyes, nor his phone’s camera lens. His oh-so sensitive omega breasts were leaking from the pressure of the cotton shibari rope wrapped in a sort of diamond pattern around them. He could feel the occasional drop of milk drip onto his thighs and he could smell the oddly sweet scent of it in the air even over the heavy pheromones both he and Jongin were throwing now. His small cock was hard between his legs just as it had been since he had first gotten into the position Jongin had ordered him into and he had been steadily leaking precum into his own lap since.

Even now as Jongin stood in front of him taking pictures, Kyungsoo felt himself leaking from both his cock and his ass in anticipation. The gray sweats hanging low on the alpha’s hips did nothing to hide the hard cock desperate to be freed from its cotton confines. Jongin pressed the heel of his palm against his imprisoned bulge for a little bit of friction and Kyungsoo swallowed involuntarily at the sight. The very last picture Jongin took included the omega’s tongue licking out over his heart-shaped lips that had suddenly gone dry at the sight of the alpha.

“Look at how pretty you look, baby,” the alpha stated while holding the phone screen so Kyungsoo could see while dragging his thumb across it to flip through the collection on the omega’s behalf. “How does it feel?”

Kyungsoo’s eyes looked over each of the pictures as Jongin flipped through them. His skin was flushed just as he had predicted. Between his fever, his embarrassment, and his sheer desire for the alpha in front of him, his skin was rosy from his face right on down to his chest. He had made a mess on his thighs and his chest and his backside shone from the slick that leaked from him and pooled beneath him.

But all of that was secondary to the overall picture he presented bound like he was. The red ropes Jongin used contrasted against his pale skin and the intricate knots and patterns Jongin had created made him look like a living sculpture. He felt every bit as pretty as Jongin claimed he was.

With his legs unbound, Kyungsoo lifted up onto his knees and crawled away from the middle of the bed and toward the edge where Jongin stood. It was a little awkward and his movements a little stilted with his upper body so immobile, but when he saw Jongin swallow roughly at his approach, Kyungsoo managed to feel sexy and powerful despite his vulnerability. “I like it,” he confessed quietly, his big eyes focused up on the alpha that was looking more heated with each passing second. “Can I show you how much I like it?”

Instead of answering verbally, Jongin nodded his head, and as soon as Kyungsoo had the alpha’s permission, he leaned forward as best he could until his face was pressed flush against the alpha’s clothed crotch. No longer inhibited by his suppressants, Kyungsoo could scent the alpha clearly. The sunshine and sea air that had always drawn him had notes of arousal, possessiveness, desire, and hunger and Kyungsoo smelled his own arousal spike as well. They blended together in a satisfying sort of way, like a picnic of fresh fruits on the beach on a warm summer’s day. If either of them had ever had a doubt they were mates, it would be gone now.

Kyungsoo mouthed along the gray cotton imprisoning the treat he really wanted, his saliva turning the fabric darker everywhere he touched. He licked around the shape of it and barely resisted the urge to pout for being denied what he desired that he had no way to reach right now. Sensing his frustration and impending pout, Jongin hooked a finger beneath Kyungsoo’s chin, raising it up so the omega was looking up at him. The finger then traced upward, over his chin before Jongin ran his fingertip across Kyungsoo’s lips. The omega parted them immediately, letting the alpha slip his index finger into Kyungsoo’s mouth.

Jongin worked the finger in and out of Kyungsoo’s eager mouth, each stroke dragging across Kyungsoo’s tongue. When the alpha’s finger was good and soaked, he added a second and then a third. He pushed them deep into Kyungsoo’s mouth until the omega choked around them, but the alpha didn’t even slow the drag of his fingers in and out of Kyungsoo’s mouth. Gradually, Jongin pulled back his fingers and then pressed his thumb against Kyungsoo’s lips. “Are you going to be a good boy for me, sweetheart?”

Kyungsoo suckled at the thumb offered up to him before gently teething at the pad of it. When Jongin pulled it back through his lips, Kyungsoo looked up at him with heat in his own eyes. “Yes, daddy.”

Jongin groaned at the name, his cock twitching involuntarily within his sweats. “And you’ll give daddy everything I want for my birthday?”

“Yes, daddy,” the omega promised while rubbing his thighs together and grinding against the heels of his own feet just for a little friction upon his hole. The more aroused he became, the more the heat crawling beneath his skin was beginning to take hold. In no time at all, he would be desperate to have something buried inside of him, most especially the alpha’s cock and knot. He wouldn’t be too proud to beg if that was what he had to do.

“Prove it, baby,” the alpha commanded and Kyungsoo shivered as the words washed over him. A second later, Jongin had pulled down the front of his joggers, the cock it had been concealing immediately springing out in front of him, hard and veiny and slightly curved upward and completely mouthwatering to the omega.

He didn’t wait for any further instruction from the alpha and instead dove forward, his lips quickly dragging up and down the thick, velvety shaft. He wanted to touch it—to feel it beneath his fingertips—but all he could do was helplessly flex his fingers behind his back. Jongin gripped his own cock at the base, holding it steady so Kyungsoo’s mouth didn’t have to chase after it and once the omega had kissed every inch of it, the alpha tapped the head of it against Kyungsoo’s lips.

His tongue darted out immediately, licking everywhere his lips had previously touched. The alpha was hot and heavy against his tongue and he flattened his tongue against the underside, licking up the ridge that ran from the root to the tip. He swirled his tongue around the head, gathering up the precum that was leaking there. He held his tongue out so the alpha could see the clear, viscous fluid pooled there before he pulled it behind his lips and swallowed pointedly while his eyes were locked upon the dark gaze of the alpha.

A moment later, Jongin was forcing his cock between Kyungsoo’s lips while his hands both went to the back of the omega’s head. He fucked into Kyungsoo’s mouth with abandon. The alpha wasn’t gentle and he wasn’t slow, which suited Kyungsoo fine because he didn’t want him to be. Jongin thrust into the back of his throat leaving Kyungsoo to choke around him. Drool dribbled from the corners of his stuffed mouth while tears slid down his cheeks. His tongue dragged along the underside of the alpha’s cock every time he thrust it in and out of Kyungsoo’s willing mouth and when the alpha forced Kyungsoo’s head as far down his shaft as possible—until Kyungsoo’s nose was nuzzled forcefully against his pelvic bone—he hummed around the alpha’s girth to keep himself from choking.

“Shit, sweetheart,” the alpha cursed before pulling his cock almost all the way out, until only the head was left between Kyungsoo’s greedy, swollen lips. “If you keep that up, I’m going to come.”

“Want you to,” the omega somehow managed to mumble around the cock in his mouth. He had been taught not to speak with his mouth full, but there were exceptions to every rule, and he didn’t want to surrender his treat yet even as Jongin pulled back. His lips suctioned around the head, his tongue laving around the velvety bulb until the alpha extracted himself fully.

Kyungsoo attempted to lean forward to chase after him, fully prepared to face plant directly onto the alpha if that was what he had to do, but Jongin stopped him, his hand coming up to cradle the omega’s face once more. “You’ll get exactly what you want, baby,” he promised while Kyungsoo teethed at his thumb yet again, wanting to taste the alpha however he was allowed. “I’ll come deep inside you, but not in your mouth this time.”

As soon as the words were processed by his heat-addled brain, Kyungsoo moaned around the alpha’s thumb with desire. He wanted that; he wanted that so damn much. He had wanted that for weeks—for months!—and didn’t want to wait a single day more. It was still Jongin’s birthday today, yet he felt like he was the one receiving presents.

Jongin popped his thumb back out of the omega’s mouth before lifting Kyungsoo with remarkable ease and turning him to face the pillows and the headboard instead of the foot of the bed. When Kyungsoo’s knees were returned to the mattress, the alpha gently pushed on the omega’s shoulder until Kyungsoo finally was face planting onto a pillow with his cheek pressed against it and his head turned to one side so he could breathe.

Jongin maneuvered his body with ease and Kyungsoo was helpless to fight against it… not that he had any intention of doing so now or ever. The alpha gripped Kyungsoo’s hips, lifting them so his ass was well off the mattress. His knees kept him aloft, but his shoulders and chest were pressed to the sheets beneath him.

Jongin forced his legs apart, fully exposing every inch of him to the alpha’s eyes. Jongin had seen him naked before—that in itself wasn’t new—but Kyungsoo had never been so completely defenseless before. The ropes kept him from shielding himself or hiding in any way. His cheeks burned hot with a potent and heady combination of both arousal and embarrassment, but arousal took a front seat as slick all but poured out of him. It dripped down his thighs turning them shiny and began to dampen the sheets beneath him. He couldn’t remember ever being this wet and needy before. Every single second Jongin wasn’t touching him was torture.

As if Jongin could read his mind, the alpha ran his palm over Kyungsoo’s plump bottom before dipping his thumb into the crack, tracing up and down it until the pad of his thumb caught on the rim of his leaking hole, dipping inside to the first knuckle in a tease that had Kyungsoo very nearly sobbing out with his need for more. Tears he hadn’t even realized were forming slipped from his eyes and dampened the pillow he was pressed into while he whimpered and sniffled in his need. The heat that had been building beneath his skin for days now had finally boiled over. All he knew—all he wanted—was the alpha. Only Jongin could take away the ache that radiated deep within him.

“Do you want me that bad, baby?” Jongin asked, his thumb now dipping inside completely, his body easily accepting it without any trouble at all. Still, it was only a tease. Long as Jongin’s fingers may have been, his thumb was still too shallow within him; he wanted the alpha far deeper than that. “Do you need me that bad, baby?”

“Yes, yes,” Kyungsoo chanted out breathlessly. It was difficult to take a deep breath; the ropes kept his chest and lungs constricted especially in this position and each inhale of air was a desperate little gasp. “Want you. Need you. Please, daddy,” he begged and babbled. “Please, alpha.”

Before Kyungsoo completely lost himself to the sensation, Jongin reminded him, “If anything begins to hurt or feel numb, tell me right away so I can cut you out immediately. I’ll be very disappointed if you don’t. Do you understand me?”

Kyungsoo was truly enjoying the tight, tingling hug of his pretty bindings and even the way they rubbed against his skin with his every breath and movement, but there was nothing in the whole wide world the omega wanted less than to disappoint his daddy. “Yes,” he agreed once more. He gave the fingers on his hands bound behind his back a wiggle to show all was well. “Promise.”

That seemed enough to satisfy the alpha, because then Kyungsoo felt the mattress dip behind him as Jongin crawled onto the bed and a moment later, the alpha licked a fat stripe with his tongue up the crevice of Kyungsoo’s ass before dipping it into his eager hole. The sensation alone would have had Kyungsoo crying out, but the way the alpha so enthusiastically began to eat him out as if he was the best thing the alpha had ever tasted had the omega’s knees shaking and his legs quaking in a matter of seconds. Jongin’s hands gripped into the meaty flesh of Kyungsoo’s cheeks, pulling them wide apart so he could feast uninhibited as his tongue speared into Kyungsoo’s body, licking up the ample amounts of sweet slick the omega was producing now.

Kyungsoo couldn’t help but sob. He was so very sensitive right now and so, so very needy. Tears spilled from his eyes as his chest contracted with involuntary hiccups. He could feel his body shamelessly pumping out more and more slick to feed the feasting alpha, as if it wanted to be the alpha’s sole source of sustenance. The fire that burned him from the inside out wanted nothing more than to please this alpha, to give this amazing man everything he could have ever wanted and more and to submit to his every single whim. He wanted to be claimed by the alpha—mind, body, and soul. He wanted the alpha to tattoo himself onto his very being, so he could never, ever belong to anyone but him.

Behind him, Jongin growled against Kyungsoo’s heated flesh. “I knew you would taste good, sweetheart,” the alpha mumbled out, “but even I’m surprised by just how sweet you are. I think I have a new favorite cake.”

Kyungsoo whimpered before turning his head to bury his face into the pillow that was damp with his tears. He was already so, so close to release, and from nothing more than the alpha’s tongue licking at his walls and rim. When the incoherent sounds Kyungsoo had been making suddenly cut off, Jongin spanked his hand firmly across one of Kyungsoo’s cheeks. It bloomed a bright red as the nerve endings sparked and stung from the slap and his body jolted forward from the surprise, nearly collapsing completely into the bed. The only thing that kept his hips aloft now was Jongin gripping them, forcing them upright. “I want to hear you,” the alpha said now, his voice so deep, it was little more than a rumble. “Let me hear you.”

Kyungsoo turned his head yet again and whimpered as the alpha dove back in yet again. Though the omega couldn’t see him, he knew the alpha was sloppy in the best way possible. He could feel the slick coating his crack, cheeks, and thighs cooling in the air and he could feel the wetness that covered Jongin’s mouth and chin with every brush against him. It felt so, so good, Kyungsoo could barely contain himself.

“I’m close, alpha,” he whimpered out, his cheeks blushing and burning with the confession. It was almost embarrassing just how quickly the alpha had brought him to the ledge. It was almost embarrassing just how desperate he was for Jongin in any way he could have him.

“Come for me, baby,” the alpha commanded, his words fanning out against Kyungsoo’s heated skin. “I want to know how good this old man can make you feel.”

Kyungsoo smiled at the alpha’s words before the grin turned into a choked sob. Jongin had dove back in, sinking two of his fingers into the omega’s depths right along with his tongue. Kyungsoo’s eyes squeezed closed and bright white lights sparked like fireworks behind his eyelids. His body shook and quivered against its bindings, his fingers flexing helplessly to find purchase upon anything in order to ground himself and keep him from floating away. When they found the alpha’s soft hair and tugged on it soundly, Jongin ate him with even more vigor and enthusiasm and Kyungsoo couldn’t take it anymore.

The usually quiet omega cried out so loud, his voice filled up the room and the penthouse beyond it completely. He spilled onto the sheets beneath him as his body clenched around Jongin’s fingers and tongue and slick rushed out of his body faster than the alpha could swallow down. He pressed a lingering kiss to one of Kyungsoo’s ass cheeks while his fingers continued to move in and out of the omega’s body as he sobbed and rode the waves of his relief.

He had expected the alpha to slow and withdraw as his body began to twitch and shake from oversensitivity, but Jongin did nothing of the sort. One of his arms braced around Kyungsoo’s hips, keeping them aloft and just where he wanted them while his other hand continued to finger into Kyungsoo’s tight, puckered hole. Two fingers quickly turned into three. Kyungsoo’s legs shook and his whole body quivered involuntarily. “Too much,” he cried out in a sob. “Too much.”

“Shhh, sweetheart,” the alpha soothed just before licking a stripe down the cleft of the omega’s ass. “Just let go for me.”

Kyungsoo opened his mouth to protest—to point out he already had and that the alpha was damn well aware—but Jongin took that moment to curl his fingers in such a way that they brushed across and against the bundle of nerves deep within him and all Kyungsoo could do was let out an incoherent gurgle of sounds while he shook from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. It was as if Jongin had always known precisely where to touch within him, but had waited until this exact moment to demonstrate it.

Jongin was relentless. It felt as if his fingers moved in a blur within Kyungsoo’s body, poking and prodding the places his own digits could never quite reach in a satisfying way. The only thing keeping Kyungsoo upright was Jongin’s arm around his waist; his body was nothing but a shaking and quivering mess of deadweight. He sobbed and sobbed while tears fell from his eyes and drool slipped from a mouth he just couldn’t close right now. Kyungsoo’s skin glowed with perspiration, but whether it was from his heat or Jongin’s skillful ministrations, the omega didn’t know.

His vision blurred while he desperately gasped in whatever air his lungs could accept before everything turned white and Kyungsoo hoarsely screamed. Ropes of white streaked across the bedding and his own belly while his body spasmed and his hole squirted out more slick than Kyungsoo had ever known was possible around Jongin’s fingers, completely drenching the linens beneath him and the alpha that had brought him such unspeakable pleasure.

Jongin kissed his lower back gently. “You did so well for me, baby,” the alpha praised while his fingers slowed their stroking before finally withdrawing completely. Finally, Kyungsoo’s body was allowed to sag fully down to the bed, his muscles involuntarily twitching in the aftershocks.

The scent of peaches in the room was almost suffocating.

Kyungsoo was barely aware of it as the alpha cut him free from the red ropes and the pretty knots he had created. His mind was floating somewhere outside of his body. He was barely aware of the fact that he was lying in his own rapidly-cooling, sticky mess. He felt much too good to complain.

Absently, in the very back of his mind, he knew the feeling wouldn’t last. His heat and the deep need it created within him was sated for the moment, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long. His body could be temporarily tricked into thinking an orgasm—or two, as the case may have been—was what it wanted, but what it really needed was to be taken—to be bred. He needed Jongin’s cock buried within him and his knot keeping them locked in place. He needed the alpha to take him and use him and to fill him so full of his seed he’d drip like a leaky faucet for days.

He couldn’t convey any of that while he floated outside his body as he was, but being the superb daddy that he was, Jongin seemed to know what he needed anyway. The alpha cleaned the sticky mess coating Kyungsoo’s skin away even though his heat-riddled body continued to produce more almost immediately. The alpha stripped away the soiled bedspread and replaced it with something fresh before laying down a few towels to further help keep things as tidy as possible.

The only thing Kyungsoo could do was gradually come down from the high he was feeling. He flexed his shoulders and his fingers, appreciating the range of motion he had now anew now that he knew what it was like to lose it. His breath evened out and he was able to take deep breaths now that he was no longer restricted. Eventually Kyungsoo was able to roll from his stomach onto his back and when he did, Jongin was right there above him to greet him.

Their lips met in an unhurried kiss. Since Sehun had first introduced them, they had kissed a hundred times, but Kyungsoo would never fail to marvel at how well their mouths fit together. The muscles in his arms still had a dull ache from their previous bindings, but he wrapped them around the alpha’s shoulders now, wanting to keep the alpha close as he slotted himself between Kyungsoo’s parted thighs.

The weight of Jongin’s body above him as he pressed the omega into the mattress with his larger and more muscular frame was satisfying in a way Kyungsoo couldn’t exactly define, but he knew he wanted to feel it over and over and over again. His fingernails dug into the alpha’s shoulders as their lips parted and their tongues entangled. Kyungsoo could taste himself on the alpha’s tongue, mostly sweet but just a little bit tart and he flushed with heat when remembering just how deep Jongin’s tongue had been within him in order to acquire that flavor in his mouth.

Jongin not only led the kiss, but dominated it. Compared to what Kyungsoo had experienced from him in such recent history, the touch of their lips and intertwined tongues was nothing, yet it left the omega just as breathless—just as desperate and wanting. Jongin’s mouth trailed down Kyungsoo’s chin until he was kissing down the omega’s throat and then tasting the skin of his neck with his tongue. He teased and suckled at the fragile skin, leaving deep red marks in his wake tattooed into his skin. Kyungsoo lifted his hands from Jongin’s shoulders to his hair, his fingers threading between the silky strands and holding him close, encouraging him to leave more, to mark Kyungsoo’s body as his.

Kyungsoo’s parted knees bent now as he planted his feet against the mattress, seeking any friction he could create between himself and the alpha’s body. The heat was crawling beneath his skin again, insistent and demanding and he was overcome with the want and the need he felt for his alpha. As Jongin’s mouth continued to descend his body leaving love bites in his wake, Kyungsoo attempted to grind his small cock up against the alpha’s body while he leaked slick beneath him. The sticky, translucent precum he leaked was smeared across the alpha’s defined abdomen as he shamelessly rutted against him.

Kyungsoo would have continued to do so—perhaps even to release—had the alpha’s mouth not suddenly latched onto one of Kyungsoo’s enlarged breasts and especially sensitive nipples. “Jongin, no!” he quickly squealed out, the fingers he had threaded through the alpha’s hair now tugging and pulling in an attempt to steer the alpha away. In a very embarrassing conversation during dinner when Jongin had noted the wet spots forming on the front of his borrowed dress shirt, Kyungsoo had been forced to confess taking his suppressants improperly for so long had played havoc on his body and now that he had gone off them, his body was trying to recalibrate. He had been so embarrassed about his condition, he hadn’t been able to maintain eye contact with the alpha. Jongin being the kind, mature, and magnanimous man that he was had reassured Kyungsoo he had nothing to be embarrassed about, but that didn’t stop the omega from feeling so embarrassed, he bordered on ashamed.

When Jongin had tied and bound him, Kyungsoo had noticed the alpha had seemed to pay special attention to his breasts when creating the rope and knot harness that had encompassed his chest. The alpha had pinched his nipples making them drip at first and then spray. Jongin had watched with unadulterated fascination while Kyungsoo’s face burned a bright and heated scarlet. Then he had thought Jongin was just demonstrating to Kyungsoo that he wasn’t repulsed and the omega didn’t have to be ashamed, but now, Kyungsoo wasn’t sure that was what the alpha had been conveying.

Because now, as he attempted to tug the alpha away from his breasts, Jongin lifted his head, bared his teeth in a snarl of warning, and then growled.

Kyungsoo whimpered at the reprimand while his head instinctively lolled to the side in submission. Satisfied with Kyungsoo’s obedience for the moment, Jongin latched on to his teat with his eager mouth yet again. Every single pull of the alpha’s mouth on his nipple Kyungsoo could feel from both the outside and the in. It was an odd sort of sensation to feel the milk his hormonal and heated body was producing being pulled and drained, but not an unwelcome one, and soon the fingers that had been trying to push the alpha away were once again holding the alpha tight to him.

The overwhelming scent of peaches was now joined by the sunshine and sea air of Jongin’s scent. It was laced with a sharp sort of demand and need that once again had Kyungsoo whimpering while his body went even more pliant for the alpha above him. Kyungsoo could feel the alpha’s thick and heavy cock rutting against his thigh as he suckled, the precum it was leaking joining the mess of slick that otherwise coated them. He hooked his legs around Jongin’s waist, keeping the alpha as close as possible. Jongin ground their hips together now, their cocks trapped between their bodies and sliding against one another. It wasn’t exactly what Kyungsoo wanted, but he cried out at the sensation all the same.

The alpha growled in frustration when he emptied the first of Kyungsoo’s breasts before switching to the second. Kyungsoo’s small tits had been aching for days, but he felt an immense relief once the pressure within had been eased and the teat otherwise drained. Jongin latched on to him, teething and biting at the nipple roughly before laving his tongue over it to soothe. He didn’t waste any of the milk Kyungsoo’s body offered up now. When a droplet missed his mouth, the alpha chased it down Kyungsoo’s torso with his tongue until he had licked it and the trail it had made up completely.

In the haze of his own need and heat, it took Kyungsoo’s brain a while to register why Jongin’s scent had become so pronounced, why the alpha was growling, and why his own body and instincts were telling him to submit completely to this perfect specimen of an alpha. “You’ve gone into rut,” the omega breathlessly observed and the statement was answered by a deep grunt from the alpha. It seemed Kyungsoo hadn’t been the only one taught not to speak with his mouth full.

The alpha tugged so hard at Kyungsoo’s nipple now, the omega’s back arched up off the bed and his hands tugged at the alpha’s hair so hard, it was a wonder he didn’t rip it out at the roots. Jongin growled before quickly lifting up off of Kyungsoo’s teat and moving back to the omega’s lips. His mouth was full and his lips dripped with milk even before he kissed Kyungsoo and parted their lips so he could feed the omega his own milk. It was hot and sweet and different than any milk he had ever had before, but Kyungsoo found he didn’t dislike it. His tongue swirled with Jongin’s as they passed the milk back and forth before finally swallowing it down.

“Please,” Kyungsoo begged then, incapable of being patient any longer despite his recent releases. If he didn’t have the alpha inside him soon, there was a good chance he would combust or shatter into a hundred million pieces that could never be put back together again. He needed Jongin with every fiber of his being. He didn’t care if he sounded desperate; he didn’t care if he sounded needy. He was desperate. He was needy. The only thing that could take the ache within him away and soothe him from the inside out was the alpha. “I need you, alpha. I need you inside me, daddy.”

Jongin leaned back in order to look down into Kyungsoo’s face. His eyes were dark, his pupils so blown, his eyes seemed more black than they were chocolate brown. “Yeah, baby?” he questioned, his voice impossibly deep. He grabbed a hold of one of Kyungsoo’s legs wrapped around his waist and lifted it until Kyungsoo’s foot and ankle was dangling over the alpha’s shoulder and he was practically folded in half. Jongin reached between them and gripped his own cock. He dragged the head of it up and down the split of the omega’s ass before lining it up with Kyungsoo’s leaking hole. He pushed forward just a little, just enough that the puckered rim began to give way to the intrusion, inviting it in deeper. “You sure?” he asked teasingly, as if they both didn’t need the exact same thing right now.

Kyungsoo didn’t care if the alpha was teasing him; he’d play whatever game his daddy wanted. “Yes,” he breathed out in a whine, his hands moving around the alpha’s neck once more to keep him grounded in this moment. “Yes, daddy, please.”

“My omega is such a good baby for me,” the alpha ground out while letting just the head of his cock slip through the tight ring of muscle and into Kyungsoo’s heat. The omega cried out at the thickness of it, as well as the heat. “I’ll take care of you now and forever, baby.”

And with that, Jongin sank into him inch by inch until their bodies were connected fully.

Kyungsoo had never felt more full in his life. The alpha’s thick cock pressed against his walls, his own body squeezing helplessly around it because it was just so big and deep within him. Tears slipped from the corners of his eyes as he tried to adjust to the size of his mate. Much like the heat that coursed through his veins, the stretch burned, but Kyungsoo wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. He probably should have given himself more time to adjust, but every second they were still was torture. Sweat beaded on Jongin’s forehead and the muscles in his arms clenched as he tried to hold himself back from claiming what was his whether Kyungsoo’s body was ready or not. It was a gentlemanly thing to do to wait as he was; Kyungsoo almost wished he wouldn’t though.

“Move, daddy, please,” he begged out breathlessly. “I can take it.”

The alpha’s hips pulled back until just the head of his cock remained buried in the tight clutch of Kyungsoo’s heat and all the omega’s verbal bravado died on his lips to be replaced by a scream when the alpha suddenly plunged back in.

Kyungsoo’s fingernails dug into the alpha’s shoulders as Jongin pounded into him from above. There was no gradual build up. There were no soft words whispered into one another’s ears or eyes locked deeply with one another now. There would be time for gentle and sweet lovemaking later, where their hearts and souls entwined with one another, but that wasn’t what they needed now. This was the culmination of months of flirting, touching, and chemistry building while they never gave one another exactly what they wanted. This was the manifestation of months of need and desire.

It wasn’t gentle. Jongin’s hips slammed into his body hard enough the omega was almost certain his thighs would be bruised from the impact. Every slide of the alpha’s cock in and out of his body sent electricity coursing through Kyungsoo’s body until he felt like he might shoot lightning from his fingertips. His small body gave way to the alpha’s large cock; it felt as if the alpha was reshaping his inner walls, stretching them until they were the perfect accommodations for him and him alone. Kyungsoo knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, no one would ever be able to satisfy him again.

His first orgasm snuck up on him completely; he hadn’t even realized how close he was until he was suddenly coming. Thick ropes shot up from his untouched cock and painted his belly and chest in heavy lines of white while more slick forced its way out of him, making the slide of Jongin’s cock into his pliant body all the easier to maintain… or it would have, if Kyungsoo’s whole body wasn’t clenching around the alpha now. Jongin growled; it was a deep, almost feral sound from some hidden depth of his chest and the sound of it made the whimpering and sobbing omega cry out.

The alpha wasn’t done yet though. Despite the tight clench of Kyungsoo’s body, he forced his cock in and out of the tight clutch while Kyungsoo’s body sparked with oversensitivity. As soon as Kyungsoo was able to will his body to relax once more, Jongin dropped Kyungsoo’s leg from his shoulder, pulled out of his body, and flipped the omega over so he was on his hands and knees in a series of moves so swift, it left the omega dizzy.

He didn’t have time to dwell on it because Jongin was fucking into him yet again while Kyungsoo’s hands desperately clung to the sheets. The alpha’s hands gripped a hold of Kyungsoo’s hips in a bruising hold while his own hips snapped back and forth as he fucked Kyungsoo more open than he had ever been before. The omega didn’t know how it was possible, but he could feel the alpha inside him even deeper now. The alpha was so deep, it was as if he had slipped straight past his womb and was now prodding into his stomach.

“Jongin, alpha, daddy,” Kyungsoo babbled out in an almost incoherent stream between the tears, the breathlessness, the hiccups, and the drool. It felt as if Kyungsoo no longer had any control over his own body. He was nothing but a toy for the alpha to fuck and use and ruin as he saw fit, and Kyungsoo was quickly falling to ruin. With this new angle, Jongin slid past that bundle of nerves with every thrust of his hips and even though he had only just come, he knew he was close again. His heat had him perpetually sensitive and on edge, but Jongin’s natural skill and ability to know precisely what he needed kept pushing him towards the ledge. When the alpha dragged his hands from Kyungsoo’s hips up to grab hold of the omega’s breasts and pinch his nipples while he draped himself completely over the omega’s back, Kyungsoo came yet again.

Stars flashed in front of his eyes while his mouth fell open into a silent scream. His body clenched and twitched and went lax; he was completely incapable of holding himself up any longer. Without missing a beat, one of Jongin’s arms wrapped around his waist, keeping him up and at the perfect angle to keep fucking into him. Kyungsoo didn’t know how the alpha did it; it seemed the alpha’s quest to keep fit and trim gave him the strength, energy, and stamina to outlast an omega half his age.

Kyungsoo buried his face in the pillow as the alpha continued to pound into him from behind. His body was covered in sweat—his hair was damp with it—and the room felt over a hundred degrees despite the winter weather outside and the air conditioner blasting within. Kyungsoo felt dizzy and exhausted and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could last before his body gave up and he passed out from everything being too, too much. He wanted to voice it out, to warn Jongin he was damn near empty when he felt it, and instantly, the omega was wide awake.

The knot that had swollen at the base of the alpha’s cock nudged at Kyungsoo’s hole now with every slide in and out of his body. The alpha was thick to begin with, but Kyungsoo had seen that knot up close before and could feel it trying to enter him now, and he wasn’t sure how it would even be possible. That didn’t stop him from wanting it though—from needing it so deep inside him, he’d never, ever be the same. He wanted it buried within him, locking him and the alpha together until Sehun went from an only child to an oldest.

“Give it to me, alpha,” Kyungsoo babbled desperately, his words muffled into the pillow that was damp with his tears and snot and drool. “I can take it. Please.”

Jongin grunted behind him and snapped his hips forward with all the more force in order to work the swollen knot through the tight hole it belonged within. Kyungsoo’s eyes clenched closed and tears leaked uncontrollably from them. He had never been knotted before—he’d never be knotted by anyone else either—and it was a potent mixture of pleasure and pain. His body pumped out slick to make the slide easier so it could attain the knot it both wanted and needed and when it finally slipped inside, Kyungsoo sobbed out loudly enough, the neighbors would have good cause to complain.

Incapable of fucking into him any longer, Jongin ground his hips against Kyungsoo’s backside, working the knot in deeper while he kissed and licked across the omega’s spine and shoulder. “Love you, baby,” the alpha confessed while Kyungsoo ground his own backside against the alpha.

“Love you, daddy,” he quickly answered back sincerely.

Kyungsoo felt the alpha’s cock swell all the more within him before his insides were painted white with a splash of heat. He cried out, his toes curling and his small cock twitching as yet another orgasm was ripped from him. His own release was thin and watery after so many before, but when his body clenched around Jongin’s cock and knot this time, the alpha groaned and released another wave within him.

When Jongin’s weight upon his back and his twitching, exhausted muscles could no longer keep them upright, Jongin carefully rolled them onto their sides, with him spooned against Kyungsoo’s back. He kissed across Kyungsoo’s shoulder until the omega turned his head and their lips met in a sloppy sort of kiss as best they could while locked as they were.

When their lips and tongues parted so they could pull in some much needed air, Jongin embraced Kyungsoo more tightly from behind. “It wasn’t just my knot talking,” the alpha said now. “I really do love you, you know.”

Kyungsoo did know. He had been silly to ever doubt it even for a minute. “I know,” he promised as he reached behind him and threaded his fingers into the alpha’s sweaty hair as he nuzzled Kyungsoo’s neck. “I really love you too.” And he always would, even when he was old and gray; there was no doubt about it.

Kyungsoo could feel rather than see the alpha’s smile against his skin. “I don’t mind being another year older when I’m such a lucky man,” he stated now. “After twenty years of wishing on candles, I finally got exactly what I wanted.”

It was Kyungsoo’s turn to smile now. He took hold of Jongin’s hand that was wrapped around his waist and threaded their fingers together while relaxing back against the alpha’s chest. There was only one thing left to say, and Kyungsoo would say it every year for the rest of his life too. “Happy birthday, daddy.”