Coming of Age (2/2)

[berryboys]

The first break they get is during the second day of his heat. Junmyeon explains to him that omegas’ heat can come to a halt when their bodies seek water and food, but that as soon as Jongin has eaten, he’ll be dragged into the cycle again. They take advantage of the rest to shower and sleep for a while, and it’s only when they’re completely renewed that they decide to go down to the kitchen.

However, Minseok isn’t alone. There’s a ruckus in the living room, which wouldn’t be troubling except Jongin recognizes the three different perfumes. His knees weaken when the alpha pheromones strike him, and though Junmyeon is right next to him, he’s aware they don’t belong to him.

Jongin hesitates before stepping into the living room, half ashamed of having an alpha walking with him and half terrified of the reaction he could get. Sehun is standing in the center of the room, held back by Kyungsoo and Minseok, who seem to have serious problems controlling the tall guy.

“You fucking let Junmyeon in!” he’s grunting at them, and Jongin would swear there’s blood on Minseok’s neck. “You can’t make a decision like this by yourselves!”

Whether it’s because of the smell of both Jongin and Junmyeon, or because the first lets out a breathy gasp, Sehun flicks his head to look at them. His gaze lingers on Jongin for a moment, and then travels to the other alpha, fury blinding his expression. Junmyeon steps forward, putting Jongin behind him in case Sehun does something stupid, and he raises his hand as to ask for a moment.

“Sehun, no one has forced him,” he starts explaining, not recognizing the growing anger coming from the other. “It’s just-”

“Out,” Sehun growls at him, interrupting any excuse the older can come up with.

The tone he applies is so imposing that Minseok and Kyungsoo immediately release him, frightened, but Junmyeon doesn’t flinch back. Instead, he touches Jongin’s hip so that he shelters him better, as if he thought Jongin is scared too. He couldn’t be more wrong; Jongin wouldn’t ever be intimidated by Sehun, no matter if he’s about to jump into a fight with another alpha.

“I’m here to help him with his heat, you’re not doing him any favors,” Junmyeon coldly states.

“Out.” This time, the order is accompanied by Sehun approaching them, and the other subtly recoils. It takes Jongin by surprise, because it’s rare to witness this in an older alpha, yet Sehun’s pheromones are so strong right now that it’s inevitable.

Jongin’s hand lands on Junmyeon’s shoulders, and peacefully, he assures him. “It’s okay. You should leave, you’ve helped me a lot.”

That doesn’t settle well with Sehun, whose jaw is so tense that he seems about to break it, but Junmyeon listens to Jongin’s advice anyways. Everyone is silent as the alpha exits the house, and Minseok and Kyungsoo look absolutely lost in the middle of the subdued fight.

Still mad, Sehun stares right into Jongin’s eyes, chest going up and down as he tries to calm himself. However, there’s something in the air that doesn’t go unnoticed, like a match that lights up in a room full of gas.

Sehun opens his mouth, the vicious curl of his lips still on it, but Jongin beats him to it. His voice fills the room and makes everyone startle, and he’s not even thinking when he screams. “You didn’t want to sleep with me because I hadn’t matured yet! Now I have, so I don’t understand why you still act like this, it’s not fair! You don’t have the right to kick an alpha out and then not take his plac-”

Minseok and Kyungsoo are so shocked at the scene of an omega shouting at an alpha that they nearly forget this is a private conversation, and so they stay watching in line.

“I’m not going to do things this way!” Sehun cuts him off, yelling louder, yelling angrier. “I’m going to do it how it should be done, not taking you because of your heat. For god’s sake, you would have let Junmyeon mark you if he had asked!” Jongin furrows his eyebrows, clearly intending to deny it, but the alpha doesn’t allow him. “That’s what heat does, Jongin, whether you like it or not, and I won’t lie to myself thinking that you want me to mark you because you like me. You’re going to ask for it, and I’m not going to be capable of controlling myself. So my answer is still no.”

There’s a long pause in which Jongin defies him by keeping his eyes on his, and then out of the blue, Jongin’s legs seem to fail and he’s falling hard onto the floor. Minseok screams as Kyungsoo and Sehun run to the omega, but it’s too late to save him from the crash. Jongin whimpers at the hit, half-closed eyes, and he doesn’t have the strength to protest when Sehun takes him into his embrace.

“You see this?” Sehun skewers at the other two, as though they are responsible for this. He gets up, carrying Jongin despite him being a dead weight, and grunts aggressively.“This what happens when an alpha that doesn’t love an omega takes care of the heat. They don’t stop until the omega is exhausted and about to pass out because they can’t read their real needs.”

Worried, Minseok walks towards them, yet the icy stare that he receives from Sehun fixes him in his place. A second later, Sehun is turning around and disappearing upstairs with Jongin in his arms.

Sehun doesn’t touch him during the remaining two days of his heat, but he attends to him at any hour of the night or the day. Jongin discovers that he has around ten minutes between each strike of lust, and it’s then when Sehun usually slips into the bedroom and feeds him. Unluckily, Sehun isn’t fast enough on one of the occasions, and before he realizes, Jongin is rubbing himself against Sehun’s body and moaning in need. He has real problems to get rid of Jongin, and the omega is suffering too much to notice anything else besides his own arousal, but Sehun’s pants get just as strained as his.

“I know your logical self doesn't want to,” Sehun whispers as he plants a kiss on his temple, and then he hurries to lock him up in the room.

When the heat comes to an end, Jongin is absolutely embarrassed. He passes around five hours more enclosed in Minseok’s room as the memories fill his mind, and he decides he should stay forever inside. He has pleaded with Sehun for sex, has told him he’s the one, my mate, my mate, and Sehun hasn’t even batted an eyelash. He looked indifferent at Jongin, as though his smell couldn’t affect him or even like it disgusts him, because there’s no other reason why an alpha would be able to put up with a begging, desperate omega. Even Minseok had trouble keeping himself away from him, but Sehun seemed above everything.

However, Jongin doesn’t have unlimited time to hide, because in the moment Sehun enters the room with food, his eyes shine in comprehension. Jongin’s clean, fully clothed and slightly blushing at his entrance, and Sehun sniffs discreetly as to search for his smell.

“It’s over.” It’s not a question, thus Jongin doesn’t respond. Sehun glances at him in curiosity, tilting his head, and adds. “Come outside, then.”

Jongin knows it would be idiotic to refuse, so he takes the invitation. As soon as he gets close, Sehun holds his hand, and Jongin’s heart almost jumps out of his cage; he hadn’t ever felt like this, like he’s not in control of the situation and, is this how omegas feel all the time? Like they don’t have to conceal their feelings because they can trust their alpha, who is going to keep their secrets safe?

“You’re very quiet,” comments Sehun as they walk downstairs, and the corner of his lips almost curve into a smile. “I’m used to you being noisy, that’s so weird.”

Even though Jongin hasn’t paid attention to the possibility that there were more people in the house, he’s not taken aback when he spots Minseok, Kyungsoo and a tall, blond alpha in the kitchen. They all turn to stare at them, and Kyungsoo grins excitedly as if he’s meeting his son after he has graduated. On the other hand, Minseok notices their intertwined hands, and swinging around, he exchanges a look with the foreign alpha.

“I’m kind of hungry,” Jongin groans as soon as he sits down, avoiding Sehun’s insisting glance on him.

Minseok glares at him. “You’re so damn rude, really. First the introductions,” he points out, tugging at the stranger and pushing him in front of Jongin. The blonde guy gazes at the omega in amusement, as if he knows things that Jongin ignores. “This is Kris; Kris, this is Jongin, an absolute brat as you can see.”

Perhaps if Jongin hadn’t just come alive from his first heat, perhaps if he had had something alike to respect for the ranks, he would have cared.

“And?” Jongin asks, quirking an eyebrow, indifferently staring at Kris.

Before he knows it, Sehun has smacked him on the back of his head with so much force that he nearly eats the table. He gasps, and a second later he’s baring his teeth at Sehun, but the other just winks at him.

“He’s going to give you the rank license so that you can keep working at the Betagarden,” Minseok clarifies, scowling at him. Actually, he looks like he wishes Kris doesn’t help Jongin at all. “Maybe at the Omegagarden, if you want to.”

Confused, Jongin searches Sehun’s face to ask for an explanation. The only thing he gets is a grinning alpha that hasn’t ever appeared so happy and satisfied since Jongin has known him. The boy ponders for a moment, wondering from where Kris has popped up and who has dragged him into this idea, if Minseok or Sehun or even Kyungsoo.

“Oh, wow,” Jongin mutters in shame.

Kris and Sehun laugh at the reaction, and it’s not hard to guess there’s an inside joke between the two. Sehun sits next to Jongin as the first plate of food is put before him, and slings an arm around his waist. “Don’t worry, I’ve already thanked him in your name.”

Jongin hits him with the spoon, irritated. “Ugh, who are you to thank anyone in my place?”

After the heat incident, Jongin is certain they’ll be forced to talk things out, but he’s wrong. They only have two days before Sehun parts on an expedition to another community, for winter is ending and they’ll need help from other communities with damper territories. Sehun has been working in agriculture for a couple of months, and Jongin thinks it’s much better than the mines. When he visits Jongin at night, now he smells of grass and fresh soil, and not of dust and iron, yet that doesn’t mean he’s okay with the sudden trips.

Once Sehun has left, Jongin has a lot of thinking to do. He accepts Kris’ favor, gets his rank license illegally and discovers that everyone has been informed of Sehun’s protective behavior over him. When the employee of the Ranking department delivers his license, he makes a comment about how Jongin is finally embracing his nature because of love, and about how people knew he would come around sooner or later. Jongin throws a fit in the middle of the department until someone calls Minseok and his friend takes him away before he gets into a fight.

It’s not hard either to notice that some alphas try to avoid him, as if Jongin is infected because he’s not an option anymore. I still am, Jongin wants to protest, yet then he pictures how that would imply having Sehun kicking another poor alpha from his house, and he prefers to save himself from the embarrassment.

Jongin shows up at Junmyeon’s house during the nineteenth day of Sehun’s absence, decides to apologize because the alpha has been, and if he’s lucky he’ll still be, one of his best friends so far. However, Junmyeon seems scared as soon as he spots him at the door, sheepishly smiling.

“Jongin,” he breathes out, and it sounds strangely unfamiliar, considering they passed two whole days having sex before they were interrupted. “You shouldn’t be here, visiting an unmated alpha, if you already have an agreement with Sehun.”

It takes several seconds for the omega to understand, and then he scowls, bothered. “I don’t. I’ve come to apologize, and to thank you for your help, last two days of heat were awful because…”

He doesn’t finish the sentence: he senses Junmyeon’s face changing with the realization that Jongin hasn’t been touched by Sehun, and for a fleeting moment he even looks offended.

“Incredible,” he laughs, nudging a bewildered Jongin in the shoulder. “Sehun has always had that weird self-control, I guess. So, are you going to accept him?”

The weight of the events are, out of the blue, settling within him. Neither Sehun or Jongin have said a word about wanting to mate, except for the heated fight, and even like that, everyone takes it for granted that they will.

The community is unable to have a perspective of all the problems of mating with Sehun. Of course, Jongin has wanted him for so long that it even hurts having a friendship with him, but he’s also aware that they’re incompatible. Sehun comes from a very conservative lineage; he wishes to have a mate, to have kids and raise them in a traditional way. On the other hand, Jongin just wants to work at the Betagarden, not have a mate if that means he can’t be friends with other alphas. And overall, he wants to be loved because of himself, not for his omega nature or because Sehun plans to have the correct life.

“Sehun didn’t sleep with me,” Kyungsoo tells him one day, without previous notice.

Having into account they’re in the Betagarden, it’s an understatement to say Jongin is dumbfounded. Kyungsoo is the sweet type of omega, not one of those that discuss their private lives in front of a bunch of kids.

Jongin turns to look at him, attempting to contain the squealing beta that tries to climb up his leg. Sehun didn’t sleep with SooSoo! the kid repeats, cackling, and Jongin pales. “Excuse me?”

However, Kyungsoo doesn’t seem to mind how this beta is probably going to quote him when he arrives home, or that their parents will send a complaint, because he continues, “He didn’t with Baekhyun either. Actually, he kept asking things about how to court an omega that doesn’t want to be courted.”

“I know what you’re trying to do,” Jongin replies in automatic mode, narrowing his eyes at him. A part of him can’t believe he’s talking about this with Kyungsoo, among all the options he has. “But that’s not the problem.”

The other flashes a sweet smile towards him, picks up the beta so that he doesn’t bother Jongin anymore, and adds, “Things will be easier when claim season comes. You’ll be surrounded by pestering alphas and your brain will go ‘click’, realize that you only want attention from one person.”

Jongin disagrees. He has always only wished attention from Sehun, yet they’re still not moving forward.

“Maybe you should be the one to claim him, if that makes you more comfortable,” Kyungsoo adds. And well, this is new.

Jongin smells like a sin.

Three weeks have passed since Sehun last saw him, but he knows he’s damned. He can’t get rid of Jongin’s aroma in his nostrils, the strong pheromones of a first heat, and the memory of Jongin’s pleading eyes as he begged him to fuck him. He has been dreaming about it all the time, about mounting Jongin as soon as possible, and it didn’t matter if he was sleeping in the woods or in a stranger’s house in the other community; he would wake up with his cock swollen in the middle of the night, and although a part of him scolded himself for it, he would pull his pants down and come with the memory of Jongin’s voice calling him mate.

Anyhow, Sehun knows he has done the right thing, even if the omega may hate him - more - for not giving in. Jongin is a complicated person, and when claim season happens, Sehun has a lot of chances to be rejected - in public, as a vendetta. He’s going to try anyways.

“A beta or an omega?” one of his new co-workers asks him during the trip back home.

Maybe a month ago, Sehun would have felt flustered. He would have tried to block the thoughts about Jongin as something more than a friend; but now, when the boy has reached the key age, Sehun doesn’t have a reason to pretend.

“Omega.”

That simple word is enough for his body to pump blood downwards, and honestly, it hurts so much that Sehun only wants to be at home to claim his omega.

“I’m not putting that stupid thing on me. What am I now? A present?”

If it has been hard to convince Jongin to attend the party that marks the start of claim season, that was nothing compared to making him behave. Kyungsoo fears he won’t get him to follow all the rules. For that matter, when he appeared with the red ribbon they’re supposed to fasten on their shirts, he already assumed it was useless.

This is humiliating has been the exact words Jongin has spoken, followed by a clear, indisputable No. Kyungsoo loses his patience with every day he spends with the younger boy, though this time, he tries to understand him.

“Everyone wears it,” Kyungsoo insists, pointing at his own red ribbon. “Alphas’ ones are green. Yellow is for Betas.”

Jongin exaggerates a roll of his eyes, arms folded in a defensive position. “Thanks for the lesson: no.”

Minseok, who is currently laying on Kyungsoo’s bed, isn’t able to stifle a cackle. Of course, the omega side-eyes him in a clear sign for him to shut up, but Minseok has his gaze set on a cockily smiling Jongin.

“You should leave. This is an omega conversation that you shouldn’t be hearing,” Kyungsoo states, and this, the order in his voice, is a new experience for both of them. “In fact I think you’re making Jongin reticent.”

Minseok could comment on how Jongin was born reticent, but instead he glances at Kyungsoo as if he had gone nuts. “Omega conversation,” he repeats, incredulous. “You’re forgetting I have suffered Jongin’s omega talks for a whole lifetime now.”

It is the wrong answer, at least after Kyungsoo has passed the last hour arguing with the younger one. Jongin wouldn’t have guessed that the man has, indeed, a limit, because Kyungsoo is the little friendly omega that doesn’t even dare to look at a beta’s eyes. Nevertheless, a crimson red is crawling up Kyungsoo’s neck as he turns to glare at Minseok, and it’s not a blush, not simple warm in the summer. Jongin is versed enough in rage themes to predict the attack, yet only when Kyungsoo has his hands around Minseok’s neck, does Jongin stare at himself in the mirror and pin the red ribbon on his shirt.

Kyungsoo guides him to the field where claiming season begins, interlacing their hands and flashing adorable grins at everyone who crosses their path. It’s an understatement to affirm Jongin is mortified: the ribbons on their shirts are a punishment, and Kyungsoo himself is like a punishment too. If Jongin had never met him, allowed him to contaminate his mind with love stories, he wouldn’t have ended up attending claiming season - especially knowing that he indeed has several suitors.

Although three quarters of the people in the open field are omegas, Jongin detects the alphas’ smell like a cascade falling over his head. The lack of alphas could work in his favor to being ignored by some potential candidates, but when Kyungsoo abandons him to ‘take a stroll’, Jongin is sure he won’t go unnoticed since the nerves make his pheromones more evident. Trying not to panic, Jongin inhales, and he doesn’t find Sehun’s scent among the crowd. He realizes, right then, that even if Sehun arrived this morning, he might not be up for tonight’s claim party. He shouldn’t even know that his friend has come back from his trip either, because he hasn’t had the decency to pay him a visit, and it’s only due to Kyungsoo know-it-all that he has been able to conclude Sehun is an asshole.

A fucking asshole.

“Wow, Jongin?”

Said boy bites back a curse as he recognizes the voice, and within a second an alpha named Tao, a spoiled brat first class, is occupying his visual field. The admiration is apparent in his tone, but moreso is the beginning of a flirtation. It’s comprehensible, given that he has found Jongin here, alone, with a red ribbon that doesn’t imply anything except that he’s ready to be manhandled and obey. Just that he’s not.

He looks up, sends the stink eye in an attempt to to disregard how Tao is eyeing him, and announces, “I’m waiting for the dickhead of Sehun.”

Maybe the sentence is unfortunate, but Jongin is too immersed in his own world - frustration - to be self-conscious about it. However, Tao arches a brow in amusement and repeats, “A dick’s head? I guess that’s the purpose of all this.”

A laugh reverberates behind Jongin, yet he picks the aroma before realizing to whom the sound belongs. It’s not Tao’s joke that finally pushes him into a dark state of shame; it’s Sehun’s laugh, clean of jealousy and full of confidence, as if Tao wouldn’t have had a chance with Jongin either way.

“I’m glad you’re waiting for such things,” he says, and the gentleness seeps through Jongin’s body like venom, legs shaking as he confronts Sehun.

Jongin is vaguely conscious of how hoarse Sehun’s voice is, perhaps because the next second his eyes are roaming from Jongin’s lips down his body, and he doesn’t need words to catch what it means. The nature rooted in Jongin has him craving to drop to his knees and unzip the alpha’s jeans in the open field, even if Tao is right there laughing at him.

Sehun’s hand jerks towards him, and as to lead him, Jongin responds catching it by the wrist. But much to his surprise, the alpha isn’t trying to feel him up. Instead, Sehun tears the ribbon away from his shirt, releases him from the rules and from his rank, and Jongin’s body is all of a sudden much lighter. The omega gasps as though he’s breathing for the first time, and perhaps it’s not a reaction Sehun has expected, because his fingers clench around the fabric and Jongin finds himself an inch apart from touching his lips.

“To my home. Now,” Sehun orders, and even though he doesn’t touch his mouth, the mere warm breath feels like a kiss. “Or I will take you here in front of everyone.”

Weakness strikes Jongin, and it’s not a rational thought, but he would be willing to lay on his back and let Sehun do whatever he wanted, with or without the public. He’s lucky Sehun’s home is close and that the boy holds his hand through the path, leaving behind the talking, noisy crowd and probably countless eyes looking for new gossip. He never obtains silence, though, for when the noise subdues he can hear Sehun’s muffled pants as he tries to open the door. Jongin squeezes his hand once to calm him down, which is quite ridiculous considering he could pass out right now, but the other is too blinded by impatience.

Jongin isn’t sure at what point Sehun succeeds in opening the door; he just remembers being pushed against it from the inside, and remembers to take advantage of the hand holding to press Sehun’s fingers between his legs. He’s already so hard that he drags a groan out of Sehun’s throat, as if Jongin’s stiff cock is the most alluring thing he could have ever had.

“Always so romantic,” Sehun half-complains as he adjusts himself to Jongin’s body, a hand on his neck and the other shamelessly massaging him through the pants. “You want me to touch your dick even before I’ve kissed you.”

Jongin would be disposed to do anything, anyhow, even if he wasn’t going to receive a kiss from Sehun. Anything.

The alpha tilts his head to the side, leans towards him fast and dangerous, making Jongin flutter his eyelids close and part his lips in need for the definitive touch. “Maybe I shouldn’t touch you at all,” Sehun murmurs, so close that his lips tickle Jongin’s.

The omega sneaks a hand around Sehun’s waist, planning to force him against his lips, but it’s unnecessary. Sehun doesn’t kiss him like Jongin would have imagined; he smacks his lips together with enough force to make Jongin hit his head with the door. His kisses aren’t polite: he nips until Jongin’s moans are because of pain, and the omega fears he’s going to collapse even though Sehun’s arms hold him against the door.

He hooks a leg around Sehun’s hips, but he doesn’t foretell his movements. The alpha kicks his ankle so that he leaves space for him, and as soon as he complies Sehun rams his hips together, moaning into his mouth. Jongin perceives it, Sehun’s dick completely erect pressed on his, and that’s all he needs to surrender. A warm sensation creeps inside him, an intensity that translates into wetness trickling down the back of his thigh. Only he can sense it, and for a tiny second he’s embarrassed to think that Sehun will see how much of an effect he has on him, triggering a heat that should be due for months later.

“Do you know how you smell?” Sehun asks, letting his lips go for a tiny second. He is still breathless, almost wordless, and he moves away to add, “Like you want to be eaten.”

Jongin’s vision is blurred, his back scurries down little by little until Sehun keeps him still by the waist again. “I want to be eaten.”

The grumble abandoning Sehun’s mouth is scary and also unknown for Jongin. He doesn’t get used to the shine in the alpha’s eyes, not even when he grips him by the hair and pushes him to the couch. Jongin doesn’t stand a chance against the treatment, mainly because his body is reacting to it in ways he would have never dreamt of, and so when he falls back onto the couch, the first thing he does is to remove his pants.

Sehun is taking off his shoes, stopping mid-way to observe him with hunger. “The shirt too, omega. Completely naked and on your back.”

Jongin isn’t sure what invades him when Sehun calls him omega. It’s not the name, he notices, it’s the will of owning him as his, the pleasure of being aware that Sehun lusts for him more than as a pretty, unachievable omega. That those words are final for them, and that Sehun isn’t going to run away from him again.

He obeys under the ravenous gaze of Sehun, who takes his time to remove his own clothes, more occupied with observing Jongin’s exposed body on his couch, waiting for him, craving for him. He wraps his fingers around his own cock without even being conscious of it, and the mere image gets a whimper from Jongin. Sehun has imagined this, has come with the scene of Jongin open-legged for him so many times that the move of the wrist to pleasure himself is automatic.

Not trusting that he will be able to stand for much longer, Sehun climbs onto the couch, kneeling as he approaches Jongin. The other, however, has his eyes fixed on Sehun’s cock, teeth biting his lower lip as though he is retaining the instinct of sitting up and reaching to suck. There’s a pronounced desperation which he’s probably not aware of, soft whines that he doesn’t seem to be emitting consciously, and Sehun out of the blue wants to tease. Tease although his mind tells him otherwise.

The alpha releases his own twitching dick, strokes Jongin’s legs from the knees to his inner thighs, and the boy clenches beneath his hands. He shudders, whines when Sehun doesn’t go further, but then his fingers get soaked with Jongin’s self-lubrication and he chokes on his own saliva.

Sehun doesn’t believe it at first, thus he grasps Jongin’s thighs and pushes them even more to watch. Like this, with Jongin shivering in anticipated pleasure, with his slick and wet hole and his dampened legs - and his red cheeks, both from lust and embarrassment - Sehun just wants to drown into him.

“Look at this,” he says, even if he knows that’s not possible, and Jongin swears his voice has just shaken. “Look at it, omega. How much you need my cock.”

A light of confusion crosses Jongin’s face, and a second later he’s raising his hips, arching his back as to put himself on display. Sehun is generous this time, forces his hips down again and without previous notice, inserts three fingers at a time.

Jongin freezes instantly, a gasp falling from his lips before blabbering, “Yes, yesyes, y-yes.”

Sehun plays with him at first, maintaining a squirming Jongin in place since he seems decided to fuck himself on his fingers, and then, keen to see what happens if he sets Jongin free, he removes the pressure. Jongin doesn’t even have time to register the situation: right away he swings his hips back and forth, closed eyes as if Sehun’s fingers are better than any other alpha’s dick he has ever had.

However, Sehun controls him when he realizes Jongin is slowly approaching his end; he smacks him hard on the thigh, which slows down Jongin’s anxiety, and drags his fingers out, passing the lubricant from his hole to Jongin’s balls.

He looks beautiful, Sehun thinks, when he’s not fighting against him without a reason to, when he’s just enjoying his own pleasure. “I got better things for you than a pair of fingers, omega.”

“You do?” Jongin answers back, and that takes Sehun by surprise. Not only because he’s able to form words regardless of his state, but also because of the ferocity in his voice. It’s something between a plea and an order, yet it’s still there. “You do, mate? What do you have for me?”

The madness is not foreign for Sehun, it’s just that he doesn’t remember how it feels to hear mate from Jongin. He nearly slips down the couch as he approaches Jongin again, sprawled and groaning right when Sehun puts his cock against his entrance. He doesn’t push in, but the mere touch, the thought that he’s about to fuck Jongin, has both of them moaning in sync.

Sehun rams into him so hard that the couch sweeps along, but neither of them notice. He doesn’t let Jongin have time to adapt, as he slips out and slams into him again, and Jongin is too overwhelmed to utter a single sound. His hands clench the cushions while Sehun fucks him, then clenches around Sehun’s length, pressing his legs against his chest, and a part of Jongin only thinks about how big Sehun is, about how is even possible that someone feels so big inside him.

Sehun, as though he has read his mind, slants towards him and whispers. “You’re taking it so good, Jongin.”

He indeed is, Jongin prides himself. He searches for Sehun’s mouth with a whine, and the other reads the signal without a problem; he grasps Jongin by the waist and the back of his head, lifting him up as he sits down. Jongin takes a moment to register he’s on Sehun’s lap now, the alpha kissing him sweet and loving almost like a joke.

“Look at you, omega,” Sehun mutters, his lips quivering, and Jongin doesn’t know if he’s going to smile or growl at him. “So ready, so pretty, so mine.”

Jongin would have refused to accept that in another moment, but now Sehun’s words get him to rut against him. He supports himself on his knees, one to each side of Sehun’s legs, and the alpha stares at him as he stuffs himself down onto his cock, throws his head back with a soft cry. Sehun doesn’t stay still: he seizes his ass, fingers clawing into his cheeks, and pushes him down every time; he jerks upwards to meet him, and Jongin senses his dick pulsating inside of him each time that Sehun enters as deep as he’s able, stops for a second and then begins again. It’s then when Jongin’s litany of matematemate begins, when he forgets everything except for the burning sensation that Sehun gives him. He doesn’t know when it happens, but Sehun bites him all over his neck and chest, red marks engraved on his skin, and Jongin just wants to bite back. It’s not easy, because he’s bouncing over Sehun and he can’t even breathe, yet he looks for the chance to sink his head in the crook of Sehun’s neck. And the alpha, too reckless and too engrossed in Jongin’s body, doesn’t realize what he’s doing.

Jongin moans for a fleeting second, the excited expectation and the pleasure combined, and then bites. Hard and merciless, as if he’s meaning to take a part of Sehun between his teeth, and the emotion that hits him is enough for him to know he has succeeded. He has just claimed Sehun, and it’s so much of a fact for him not to come at the thought, tensing around Sehun’s cock and dragging him along in his orgasm. Sehun tries to last a bit longer, but his moves become irregular, his breath hitches and suddenly he’s coming inside Jongin with a suffocated grunt.

Immediately afterwards, they both hunt for a kiss, jiggly limbs and a silence filled with panting, but Jongin still has strength to note that Sehun’s lips are struggling not to stretch into a smile. That feels like a huge compliment, although Jongin wouldn’t admit it, and it’s him who isn’t able to stop the satisfied smile. Sehun pulls away, a trace of caution on his features, and blinks at Jongin as though he’s supposed to read his wants.

“Why are you looking me this way?” Jongin complains, pulling his eyebrows together. He squirms over his lap, and all at once aware that Sehun’s still inside of him, halts.

There’s mischief in Sehun’s eyes as he hugs Jongin’s waist closer. Then, he timidly adds, “Call me mate again.”

Jongin flushes red at the demand, although it’s not about power anymore. Sehun doesn’t ask to be called alpha, because that doesn’t mean anything for Jongin; however, he wants to hear the only name that Jongin takes seriously. “No.”

Sehun smiles at him, half-understanding and half-nervous, and the truth is that’s just how Jongin himself feels.

“You bit me, shameless rascal,” Sehun almost cries, planting a quick peck on Jongin’s lips. He’s about to reply with a rude attack until Sehun’s finger stroke up and down his back, as if he’s waiting for this to end so that he can caress his whole body again. “So accept it, mate.”

Thanks to the fact that he has the alpha to support him, he doesn’t lose balance - despite being on a couch. He wants to be Sehun’s omega, he wants it so so so much. Yet the shame overcomes him, because he has been nothing but stubborn, childish and whiny through the years, meanwhile Sehun has been patient, thoughtful and has treated him like he was a treasure, not a toy.

Jongin fumbles with his words, head down in embarrassment, and then peers sheepishly at Sehun through his eyelashes. The alpha smiles back at him, and Jongin, even though he’s dueling with himself, senses something unknown pulling his strings. His lips move on their own and Jongin is assaulted by a deep, natural urge to correspond his mate’s feelings.

“Mate.”

***

It happens two years later.

Kyungsoo is reading a magazine when Jongin steps into the Betagarden, a scowl slowly appearing on his face as though he has just smelt something disgusting. He raises his head, flipping the page he was reading, meets eyes with Jongin and assures him, “Pregnant.”

Sehun is going to be dead happy. Jongin wants to die.