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Spring has come, so as the start of a new chapter of their lives has started.
At least in the mind of seven year old Taeyong, starting elementary school is a big leap to their lives. With their omega dad reminding him earlier, “Listen to your teacher ok? Be a good alpha big brother to Yuta.” The little alpha proudly beams while his parent ruffled his hair.
Although, when their teacher asked them to introduce themselves in front of the class one by one, it proved to be Taeyong’s most difficult task to date.
“My name is Nakamoto Yuta. I’m an omega, 7 years old. Nice to meet you all.” His twin brother flashes his sunshine smile at everyone, earning heart eyes from their peers and loud cheering claps from their kindergarten best friend Doyoung and the classmate who introduced himself a while ago, Johnny.
Tears threaten to stream down his eyes as their teacher gestures that it’s his turn. He grabs at his omega younger brother’s wrist before the latter could sit.
“Yukki help me p-pwease.” He throws his pleading boba eyes to the younger and Yuta responds with a kind smile, pulling him to stand up and get in front of the class.
“M-my name is N-Nakamoto Taeyong. I’m an alpha. N-nice to meet you all.” He barely whispers the last sentence while hiding his face on Yuta’s shoulder, tears on the verge of falling. The younger omega gives his hand an assuring squeeze.
“He’s my twin brother. Please be kind to us.” Yuta gives the class a quick bow.
—
“Why do you look so sad, Jaehyunnie?” Jaehyun's cousin Johnny greets. They’ve been playing their favorite video game in his home for a while but he supposes his pout is way more obvious than he liked to show.
“Yuta and Taeyong don’t want to play with me.” He sulks. Ever since their family returned to Korea for him to start school, he’s been stuck with his cousin Johnny. No, don’t get him wrong, he regards his cousin as his nature-given best friend, but it didn’t make sense to him why Johnny’s friends don't seem to want to be friends with him, too. The beta kid Doyoung is nice, but the twins just seem to avoid him a lot. Well, he gets that Taeyong is a shy one and tends to cry at the smallest of reasons, but his omega twin Yuta just seems to avoid him at all costs and it’s bothering him.
“That’s not true.” Johnny comments. He was about to protest when his cousin beat him to it.
“They were also shy with me at first, just wanted to stick with Doyoung all the time. But it’s gonna be ok Jaehyunnie.”
“Why don’t you invite them for some playtime here over the weekend then?” Jaehyun’s mother suggests. The Madame of the Jeong household apparently overheard her son’s ‘friend’ problems.
“Do you think it’s gonna work, Mom?” Jaehyun throws his mother hopeful eyes to which the woman shrugs.
“Well, we can try. Offer them some of your favorite snacks and invite them for playtime here on Saturday, yeah? Or I can call their parents if you—”
“I will invite them!” Jaehyun declares with a huge grin, obviously proud of the newly presented idea. He can’t wait for the next school day to come.
—
“Taeyong-ah, do you want to come to my house to play on Saturday?” Jaehyun corners the other alpha the moment he sees him on the school corridor before class starts, visibly lost and about to cry looking for his twin brother.
“P-play?” Taeyong responds with bright eyes, looking delighted at the idea that Jaehyun gleefully nods, handing him a potato chip bag his mom packed for him earlier for good measure.
“I’ll tell Yukki and ask our Papa if we can go.” Jaehyun was about to reply when there’s a sudden squeal.
“Taekki!!!” A running Yuta approaches them, fussing over his alpha older brother, completely disregarding Jaehyun’s presence. Sometimes, Jaehyun thinks their roles have been reversed, with Taeyong being the elder twin and an alpha but is a crybaby while his younger omega brother always seems to be the one to take care of him. But maybe that’s just their dynamic as twins. Plus, it’s cute anyway. (Jaehyun doesn’t know why whenever he thinks of the word cute, he’s reminded of kittens and Yuta, but of course he’s not gonna admit that out loud, not even to his cousin).
“Yuta do you want to—” the sound of the school bell signalling the start of the class interrupts Jaehyun’s invitation.
It’s fine, I can invite him later. The young alpha thinks.
Jaehyun scribbles on a piece of paper while the twins leave for a bathroom break, trying to remember and spell correctly how his parents would compliment each other. When he’s content with his writing, he slips the piece of paper along with another chip bag and three pieces of his favorite candy on Yuta’s table compartment. He fixes his gaze on Yuta the moment the twins walk back to the classroom, watching all of his actions. Johnny, weirded by his cousin, nudges him whispering ‘you look so weird right now it’s scary, Jaehyunnie’ but the latter just responded with a huff and furrowed his brows, eyes still fixated on the omega.
When Yuta notices the unfamiliar items on his table compartment, he goes from confused, happy, and then back to confused as he reads what’s on the paper.
I should’ve written it in Korean. Jaehyun mentally chastises himself. But then again, after 4 years in America he hasn’t really practiced his Korean vocabulary until recently, he just hopes Yuta will understand what he said. It was simple anyway and he’s trying to express an admiring remark. The angry frown the omega throws his way proved otherwise though.
It’s official, he hates me. Jaehyun has no idea why.
—
Jaehyun runs to his room and throws himself to his bed the moment he gets home, slamming the door, not even responding to his mom’s curious question of how did his invite for the twins for playtime go.
“Johnny’s here.” His mom quips an hour or so later with a knock on his room followed by his cousin unapologetically jumping on his bed probably to cheer him up.
He didn’t really wanna talk about what happened, heck, he didn’t even understand why the omega threw him a hateful face (he still thinks Yuta is cute, and pretty, and a lot of other good things) but the way he stared at Jaehyun as if he’s the most annoying kid on the planet breaks his small heart.
“What did you even say for him to look at you like that?” Johnny interrogates, cell phone in hand for their beta friend Doyoung to hear. His alpha cousin thought letting Doyoung into the conversation could give them an idea why Yuta acted that way since he’s the closest to the twins among them.
“I just said that he’s pretty. His smile shines and I want to be friends with him.” He blurts, saying the phrase in its Korean version.
“Hmm, that’s weird. Maybe I should try to talk to Yuta tomorrow.” Doyoung says through speakerphone while Johnny pats his cousin’s back.
“Um, I said it in English. Maybe he didn’t understand?” He admits in a small voice.
“Tell me what exactly did you say.” The beta prods.
“Yuta, you’re pretty. I want to be friends. Your smile shine. -Jaehyun”
—
“Why are you mad at Jaehyun, Yukki? He’s not bad.” Taeyong asks his omega brother in Japanese as they ate their dinner. Confused with the change in his expression since he read a piece of paper when they returned from their quick bathroom break in school. Their alpha classmate sounds cool and also invited them for playtime in his house so he’s just confused why his brother is acting this way.
“He just told me I should die.” The young omega deadpans, followed by the clang of silverware from their parents, dropping their chopsticks, unbelieving that their lovely seven year old would receive such terrible words from another child.
“Is that true, Yuta? Should I call your teacher? What exactly happened?” Jaejoong throws a worried glance at his youngest, to which his older child protests.
“But he just asked me if I wanted to play at his house on Saturday. He gave you chips and candies, too! It must be a mistake.”
“Do you believe him over me, Taekki?” The omega pouts at his brother.
“But—”
“Ok stop fighting, you two. Tell me what happened and let’s see.” Their omega dad scolds before they could continue to bicker. Yuta leaves his chair for a moment and hands his parents the now piece of crumpled paper. Jaejoong scans through the paper with his mate, a colorful scribble of crayons with a cute drawing of what seems to be stick forms of five children smiling and a messy writing in English. After reading through, he and his husband looked at each other with a fond smile before bursting into full laughter, leaving their children confused.
“What’s funny?” Asks an annoyed Yuta.
“Yukki, I think your classmate Jaehyun likes you.” His alpha dad suggestively comments, throwing his omega son a teasing wink.
“That’s not true!” The young omega practically screams, cheeks and ears progressively getting redder by the second. Jaejoong gives his husband a playful slap before turning his face to his youngest.
“Yuta, he didn’t want you to die. He didn’t say shi-ne.” He starts, explaining in Japanese.
“It’s an English word pronounced as sha-in, meaning you have a bright smile.” Piquing the interest of Taeyong.
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” The young alpha nudges at his brother, who now looks super guilty remembering how he reacted to Jaehyun’s message.
“Just apologize and maybe say that you want to play at his house on Saturday. I believe you’ll become good friends.” Jaejoong gives his youngest an encouraging smile and gives his back a soothing pat, while his husband playfully huffs, I can’t believe my child already found a boyfriend in his first month of elementary school. Causing the said child to whine.
—
Twenty years later
“I still can’t believe you’d think I’ll say something that horrible to you. I was basically in love with you the first time I saw you.” Jaehyun teases his fiancé. He just opened a box containing their valuables as they’re fixing their things for their soon to be home when he stumbled on a familiar laminated piece of crumpled paper. His omega, mate, and soon to be husband, whines when he sees what the alpha was holding.
“Can you let it go? To be fair, if you just said it straight to my face or with Johnny around he could’ve translated it properly for us.” Yuta pouts, melting Jaehyun’s heart. He can’t believe how his fiancé’s effect on him never wilted despite their decades of being together—if anything, he just falls in love with him more, first as friends and then lovers. He drops the laminated paper back into its box and encases the smaller man in his arms, burying his face on top of the other’s head, getting lost in his familiar scent.
“I think that misunderstanding brought us closer though.” Jaehyun fondly smiles, dropping a kiss on Yuta’s forehead, cheek, lips, and the bite mark he created on the juncture of his omega’s neck.
“I love you.” A confession he will not get tired of saying.
“You’re such a sap, Jaehyunnie.” His omega teases right back.
“Hey, say it back.” Now it’s his turn to pout at his mate.
“You’re insufferable.”
“Baby…”
“I wouldn’t agree to marry you if I don’t. I love you, too, Jaehyunnie.” The alpha beams at his mate, framing his face with his hands before plunging to capture his lips.
Yeah, he’s definitely marrying this man who thought he wanted him to die.