Just Different (3/5)
“Have you been hanging out with someone new?” Minseok asks as he goes through Jongdae’s closet. Junmyeon, who is looking through Jongdae’s packed bags shakes his head at Minseok’s question.
“Why do you ask?” Jongdae asks, not completely sure why his brother is asking him such a question. Junmyeon and Minseok are over to look over the things he’s bring home with them tomorrow, since the dorms officially close for break after tomorrow, and Jongdae doesn’t want to forget anything here.
“You just smell a little different.”
“A little different?” Jongdae’s eyebrows raise when Minseok turns away from the closet with two hangers that have jackets on them. “I don’t need to pack both jackets, do I?”
“One’s for tonight. It’s winter, and you’re not wearing a jacket.” Minseok looks over his brother’s outfit.
“But this sweater is warm.” Jongdae tries to defend himself, “Besides, how do I know I won’t lose it at the party?” Chanyeol’s frat is having another party as a going anyway thing, Honestly though, they find anything to party about.
“You keep it on?” Minseok looks like he’s talking to a small child. Junmyeon stands up to look at the jackets that Minseok has pulled out.
“It’s only a ten minute walk to the frat house.” Jongdae whines.
“Yes, but if you get sick over break Mom will be so upset.”
“So I won’t get sick.” Jongdae confidently says as he pulls his phone out to check the time. He ignores the notification that’s telling him that he has a text from Baekhyun. “Besides, the party’s starting soon. The sooner we get there the sooner we leave. The sooner we leave, the warmer it’ll be because you know it gets colder as the night goes on.
Minseok stares at his brother blankly while Junmyeon struggles to hold back his laughter. “Your logic in that whole sentence baffles me.”
“Yeah yeah, whatever. Before we go, does it look like I have everything packed?” Jongdae looks at the two expectantly.
“Yeah.”
“Well, let's go!”
It isn’t until they’re halfway to the frat house that Minseok speaks up. “You never answered my question from earlier.” Jongdae doesn’t say anything at first, not thinking that Minseok is talking to him. “Jongdae!”
“What!” Jongdae yells back, startled by his brother’s outburst.
“I said ‘you never answered my question from earlier’.”
“What question?”
Minseok turns his head to glare at his younger brother. He knows Jongdae is playing this game to aggravate him to get him to stop asking. “Have you been hanging out with someone new?”
“Oh. I’ve made a few new friends. Yixing and Yifan, for example.”
“Yes, but I know Yifan and Yixing’s scents, and you don’t smell like either of them.”
“What Minseok is trying to ask,” Junmyeon interrupts, “Is if you have a boyfriend.” Minseok tries to cut his mate off before he can complete the sentence but it’s too late.
“Oh. That’s all you had to ask, Minseok. No, I don’t have a boyfriend. Why do you ask?” Baekhyun technically isn’t his boyfriend, so he feels no guilt in deceiving Minseok.
“Right. Whatever.” Minseok drops it when they get to the party. The front door isn’t locked so they just waltz on in. Jongdae immediately separates himself from his brother to go find the nearest source of alcohol.
He’s down about four eggnog shots -whoever made them didn’t skimp on the alcohol- when he smells a scent that is slowly becoming familiar to his nose. “Baekhyun.” he turns around with a lopsided grin to face Baekhyun.
“Whoa Jongdae, how much did you drink?” Baekhyun reaches a hand out to steady Jongdae because apparently turning that fast made him a little dizzy. Jongdae raises his fingers to make a show of counting the amount of shots he’s consumed.
“Four? Maybe five drinks. I dunno, they all kind of blended together.”
“Of the eggnog? Fuck Jongdae, they put a shitton of liqour in it. I’m surprised you’re not passed out drunk yet.”
“Hmmm.” Jongdae hums before turning to head towards the game of beer pong that’s going on in the living room. Baekhyun follows behind him, leaving enough space so that Jongdae doesn’t feel stifled.
Baekhyun sits on the couch that is closest to the beer pong table so he can keep an eye out on Jongdae. The last thing he needs is for something to happen to Jongdae while he’s drunk. Baekhyun doesn’t spend the time on the couch alone though because soon Yixing is making his way over, Yifan in tow.
Yixing sits the closest to Baekhyun. “Why aren’t you up having fun?” Yixing leans over to ask Baekhyun.
“Just want to make sure someone stays safe, you know?” Of course Yixing knows. Yixing is an Alpha just like Baekhyun is, and he knows what it means to keep someone safe. Yixing’s mate, Yifan, has needed quite a bit of protecting himself.
“Ah.” Yixing hums. “Who is the lucky boy?”
“He’s playing beer pong right now. Not many people know we’ve been going out, so I don’t want to point out exactly which one he is. Turns out, as time passes, Baekhyun doesn’t have to say who it is because a considerably more drunk Jongdae makes his way over to where Baekhyun is sitting to plant himself firmly in Baekhyun’s lap.
“I do hope that this is the lucky boy. If not you may have problems.” Yixing muses, watching as Jongdae turns himself so that he is literally straddling Baekhyun and has his arms wrapped around Baekhyun’s neck.
“Isn’t this Minseok’s brother?” Yixing asks after Jongdae turns his head to give Yixing a drunken smile. Yixing does know Jongdae, but he has to double check to make sure the lighting of the room isn’t playing tricks on his eyes.
“Yeah.”
“Minseok’s looking over here, you know?” Yifan leans backward so that he can see Baekhyun.
“Good to know. I think. I can use this time to mentally prepare for my death.”
“You know you talk too much?” Jongdae hums. Baekhyun looks down to see Jongdae looking up at him. Baekhyun’s getting increasingly uncomfortable, because as much as he likes having Jongdae sat on his lap, looking up at him, Jongdae is drunk and his better judgment is impaired.
Baekhyun releases an awkward laugh. “Is that so?”
“Mhm.” Jongdae’s eye shine with intent. “I know how to quiet you down though.” Jongdae scoots forward in Baekhyun’s lap, that felt a little too nice, to lean up to capture Baekhyun’s lips in a kiss. This isn’t one of the kisses that they’ve been giving each other recently though, this one is as dirty as a drunk Jongdae could make it.
Of course it’s sloppy, because a drunk Jongdae isn’t as coordinated as he would be under normal circumstances, so Baekhyun ends up with more spit than he should have on his lips. Jongdae’s tongue pushes at the seams of Baekhyun’s lips and Baekhyun tries to pull away to try to talk some sense into Jongdae. Jongdae follows his movements and when Baekhyun’s mouth opens in an attempt to talk Jongdae pushes his tongue in.
It’s not like Baekhyun hasn’t imagined this happening, hasn’t had wet dreams about it, but he can’t bring himself to kiss back. Not when Jongdae is this drunk. It’s not even because Minseok is making his way over, eyes narrowed, with his mate following closely behind.
“What the fuck is going in here?” Minseok yells through the loud music and rowdiness of the crowd. Junmyeon tugs on Minseok’s arm but Minseok ignores his mate, the urge to protect his baby brother strong.
Jongdae hears his brother’s voice and pulls away, a soft smile on his lips. “Minseok!” he sounds far too happy too see his older brother. “You came to see me.”
“No, I came because of this idiot that’s taking advantage of you.”
Jongdae pouts. “Baekhyun isn’t taking advantage of me, are you Baekhyun?” Jongdae’s words are so slurred that it’s hard for any of them to understand what he’s saying.
“I’m not taking advantage of you.” Baekhyun backs Jongdae up.
“If he was taking advantage of you he wouldn’t say he was.” Minseok reaches forward to grab Jongdae’s shoulder to pull his back but his brother is having none of it. Jongdae shakes his shoulder out of Minseok’s grip before wiggling in Baekhyun’s lap to attempt to get closer.
The problem with that is that Jongdae is basically wiggling on Baekhyun’s clothed dick and it’s doing things to him. Minseok can obviously smell his arousal because his eyes narrow. “Jongdae, this guy is getting turned on.”
“Kind of hard not to do when he’s wiggling in in my lap.” Baekhyun hisses as he tries to push Jongdae away gently. It doesn’t work at all because Jongdae clings to him even harder. “Jongdae, you should get off my lap before your brother rips you off my lap and tears me apart.”
“Minseok needs to leave us alone.” Jongdae turns around to childishly stick his tongue out at his older brother. “I’m comfortable where I am.”
“In Baekhyun’s defense,” Yixing isn’t intimidated by the heated glare that Minseok gives him, “Jongdae did basically throw himself at Baekhyun, and Baekhyun hasn’t even touched him since Jongdae’s been in his lap.”
“They were making out.”
“I actually didn’t kiss him back.”
“Sadly!” Jongdae shouts. “I know he has it in him. I want more prom night.”
“Wait a minute.” it all clicks together in Minseok’s head. “You’re the ‘great smelling Alpha’ that Jongdae made out with at prom? The one that has a crush on him?”
“I guess, yeah. Unless another Alpha that smells great made out with Jongdae on prom night.” Baekhyun shrugs as Jongdae leans to put his head on Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Alright Jongdae, looks like the drinks are getting to you.” Baekhyun places his hand on the small of Jongdae’s back, much to Minseok’s dislike. “You should go home and sleep.”
“I can sleep on your lap.” Jongdae sounds seconds away from slumber.
“Jongdae, it’s loud here. I’m sure you’d be more comfortable in your own bed. Let your brother take you back to your room.”
“Sleep on your laaaap.” Jongdae whines. Baekhyun decides that he need to take initiative so he stands, standing Jongdae up with him. He tries to hand Jongdae off to his brother but Jongdae is very adamant about not leaving Baekhyun’s grip.
“I’ll take him home, then.” Baekhyun says.
“I don’t want you taking him home.”
“Look, Minseok. I like Jongdae, and if I was going to do something I’d have done it by now. Trust me to take him back to his room without doing anything. If something happens, which I promise it won’t, you can murder me as slowly and painfully as possible.”
Minseok clearly doesn’t want to agree but a gentle touch to his arm from Junmyeon convinces Minseok. “If anything happens to him, I will kill you.”
“No doubt.” Baekhyun says as he leads Jongdae to front door. When it opens though Jongdae curls into Baekhyun even more.
“Cooooooold.” Jongdae draws out. Baekhyun shrugs off his own jacket and wrestles it onto Jongdae. The walk back is slow, and it takes twice as long as it should have to get back to Jongdae’s Hall. He walks in the building to greet the Omega at the desk. He looks at Jongdae before looking at Baekhyun. He’s clearly a student worker.
“Give me a minute, I’ll find his student ID.” Baekhyun tells the Omega only to be waved off.
“Kim Jongdae. Floor six. Room 624.” The Omega speaks matter of factly. “Take him to his room. If you’re not down here in five minutes I will call campus police.” Baekhyun nods his thanks at the Omega before dragging him over to the elevator.
Jongdae’s dead weight by the time they get to his door, and even though Baekhyun asks Jongdae where his key is he knows he won’t be getting an answer. Baekhyun ignores Jongdae’s suggestive comments as he pats his body down looking for the keys.
They’re an easy find, in Jongdae’s front pocket, and he uses them to unlock the door. Being in Jongdae’s room should be like getting a glance of Jongdae’s life, but he doesn’t get that opportunity. He leads Jongdae to the bed, pulling himself away from Jongdae’s grasp before throwing a blanket over him. Baekhyun then decides to situate Jongdae on his side, so if he does throw up later in the night Jongdae won’t drown in his own vomit.
As he leaves his gives the Omega at the front desk a nod of thanks before leaving the front door. As soon as he walks outside he remembers his jacket is still on Jongdae, but Baekhyun doesn’t feel like going back in and taking the jacket away from the sleeping Omega.
-
Jongdae holds his head in his hands as he looks over the pictures of last night that Sehun had taken and sent him. There were even videos of Jongdae basically grinding on Baekhyun’s lap while he sucked his face. Sehun even had the nerve to text ‘so your whorness comes out when you’re drunk?’.
Minseok had practically dragged a hangover Jongdae out of his room this morning and lead him to the car, because they promised their parents that they’d be home by noon. The car is silent and Jongdae is just waiting for Minseok to finally speak up about last night.
Jongdae is still in his clothes from last night so he knows the second they walk in the door he’s heading straight to the shower. He’s wearing Baekhyun’s jacket, much to his surprise, because last night is a blur and he doesn’t even know how he got back to his dorm.
“So.” Minseok finally speaks up in a clipped tone.
“Just get on with it.” Jongdae urges his brother because the sooner they talk about it the sooner it’ll be over with.
“He didn’t do anything to you last night, did he?”
Jongdae is ninety percent sure Minseok is talking about Baekhyun. “No, he didn’t. He’s not like that.”
“So, what’s going on between the two of you for you to know if he’s ‘like that’ or not?” Minseok glances in the rearview mirror to look at his brother.
“We’ve had a few dates.” Jongdae tells Minseok. “He’s a nice guy.”
“He did seem very nice and responsible last night.” Junmyeon comments.
“Yeah. I don’t know what got into me last night; I’m not usually like that when I’m drunk.”
“Well you were around an Alpha you’re dating, Jongdae. Seems natural.” Junmyeon grins.
“Are you like that with Minseok when you’re drunk?”
“No. The suppressants really suppressed my sex drive.” Junmyeon turns around to look at Jongdae. “I’m a baby drunk. I don’t want to do anything but cry and sleep. We’ll see what I’m like next time I’m drunk. I may be like you.” Junmyeon had been taken off his suppressants over the summer.
“Back to Baekhyun, is he your boyfriend?” Minseok isn’t going to let it go.
“No, I wouldn’t call him that. We’ve only been dating two months.”
“Two months?” Minseok’s laughter is humorless. “What do you mean only two months? You never mentioned it to me.”
“You never mentioned Junmyeon to me.”
Junmyeon’s mouth forms into an ‘O’ before he turns back around to face the front. He is not going to get in this mess of an argument.
“That’s different. Junmyeon didn’t want our relationship known.”
“No different from my situation. Why should I have to tell you about a relationship that I’m not sure about yet? I didn’t want people to know, but now everyone that I was keeping it from knows because drunk me didn’t want to keep it in his pants.” Jongdae crosses his arms.
“I thought you told me you wouldn’t keep a relationship from me.”
“Yeah, well there’s a lot of things I don’t tell you.” Jongdae tells him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“None of your business.” Jongdae ignores everything else his brother says the rest of the ride home.
Jongdae [10:22AM]
Thanks for taking me home last night.
I have your jacket still if you want it
Baekhyun hasn’t replied by the time Minseok pulls into their driveway, but he chalks it up to Baekhyun probably going home himself. Jongdae grabs his two bags out of the car before stalking to the front door. His parents are waiting but he doesn’t get the chance to give a proper hello because he feels absolutely filthy and needs a shower.
When he’s out and dress he makes his way down to the kitchen where his parents have no doubt cooked something for lunch.
“You and Minseok got into an argument?” his father asks. “Junmyeon told us that’s why the two of you looked so upset when you got here.”
“Yeah. It was a stupid thing to fight about. We’ll probably make up tomorrow.” Jongdae promises his parents.. “Speaking of, where are they?”
“Up in their room. Probably putting things back.” his mother smiles. “It’s good to have you back. The house won't be so quiet.”
“I would have thought you two would have gotten used to the silence.”
-
Christmas morning he gets an unexpected text from Baekhyun.
Baekhyun [9:00AM]
Turns out my wallets in my jacket. Could I stop by to pick it up?
Jongdae stares at the message in confusion before he goes to his closet where Baekhyun’s jacket has been hanging since he’s gotten home. He reaches in the right pocket and voila, there’ Baekhyun's wallet. Jongdae opens it to find Baekhyun’s driver’s license, debit and credit cards, and his insurance card.
Jongdae [9:09AM]
Yeah. How’d you get home and buy gifts?
Jongdae sends his address in a text soon after.
Baekhyun [9:16AM]
Bought gifts before I came back.
I drove, obviously.
I’ll be by around 4
Jongdae doesn’t get a chance to reply to Baekhyun because he has to go downstairs to help his parents cook. His family just happens to be hosting Christmas this year, so his cousins and aunts and uncles will all be at his house this year, meaning that there’s more food to cook.
By the time the guests start arriving at one Jongdae’s nerves are shot. His mother has had him clean everything thrice, made sure to set the tables in the kitchen and the dining room and put trays in the living room. Junmyeon and Minseok have been put to work as well.
Junmyeon’s stressing out majorly because his parents are coming over for Christmas dinner. Minseok is stressed because his mate his stressed and he has to worry about impressing his mate’s family.
Junmyeon’s family had expressed their disinterest and disappointment of Minseok to the both of them, so Minseok has been trying to prove that he’s a good enough mate for them.
They’re the first to arrive, and Jongdae tilts his head because the woman looks a little familiar, but he greets her normally without asking ‘who are you?’. His family takes turns opening the door, until they’re sure everyone is there. Then they begin to open presents.
The doorbell rings halfway into opening gifts and after a quick check of his phone messages his bolts up to get to the door first. He yanks it open and there Baekhyun is in all his glory, looking better than ever. Baekhyun is dressed semi-formal in dark jeans and a formal suit jacket. His hair is styled so it looks like the hair has blown and styled it, but it looks good.
“Hey.” Baekhyun smiles at Jongdae.
“Hey.” Jongdae replies dumbly. He’s gotten caught up staring at Baekhyun.
“My jacket?” Baekhyun gently reminds.
“Oh yeah.”
“Jongdae? Who is it?” his mother calls. Her voice is getting louder, signalling that she walking out towards the front door.
“Did we miscount family members?” Jongdae’s father comes around the corner with his mom. “Oh, who is this?”
“Uh.” Jongdae looks between Baekhyun and his parents.
“His friend. I just came to get my jacket, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Baekhyun waves to Jongdae’s parents.
“Baekhyun’s my boyfriend, actually.” Jongdae doesn’t know where that comes from and Baekhyun clearly doesn’t either because he looks at Jongdae with a raised eyebrow.
“Boyfriend?”
“Yeah. Boyfriend. If you’re okay with that.” the two stare at each other for a long moment before Baekhyun grins.
“Yeah, his boyfriend.”
“So you’re who Jongdae came home smelling like.” Seoyun walks forward to introduce herself. “Hi, I’m Jongdae’s mother, Seoyun. This is his father, Dohyun.”
“Pleasure to meet you both.” Baekhyun takes both of their hands to shake.
“Who are the people sitting out in your car?” Dohyun looks around Baekhyun’s shoulder to where his car is running.
“My parents. We’re going out to eat, actually, and Jongdae has my jacket, which has my wallet.” Baekhyun grins sheepishly.
“Oh. Would you like to have dinner here instead?” Seoyun offers.
“Excuse me?” Baekhyun’s not expecting that to come out her mouth. This is the first time he’s meeting Jongdae’s, his boyfriend’s, parents. He doesn’t understand why they’d so openly invite him and his parents in to eat dinner with them.
“Dinner with us. It’d be nice to get to know you a little more, Baekhyun. We have plenty of food, why not come in instead of spending money?” Seoyun clarifies.
“I’ll go ask them, before I make any major decisions for the three of us.” Baekhyun turns to head towards his car. Once he gets near the passenger side window rolls down and Baekhyun pokes his head in to talk whoever it sitting there.
“Boyfriend?” Jongdae’s attention is drawn back to his parents, who are looking at him with knowing looks on their faces. “We should have known when you came home wearing a jacket that wasn’t yours, smelling like some Alpha we’ve never smelt before.”
Jongdae lets out a breath that resembles the beginning of a laugh as he leans against the doorframe and looks at his parents. “Yeah. You guys know everything don’t you?”
“We don’t like to brag.”
Jongdae shakes his head at his father’s remark.
“How does he treat you?” his mother asks him gently as they all watch as Baekhyun runs around to the driver’s side of the car. The lights go off and the engine goes silent so the family can only assume that they’re coming inside.
“Well.” Jongdae starts off, not knowing what else he can say to give Baekhyun some brownie points towards his parents. “He gives me space when I want it, doesn’t push anything on me, treats me with respect. Baekhyun is what I wished I could have become, but with him,” Jongdae swallows as Baekhyun leads his parents up the driveway, “With him I don’t resent becoming an Omega, because he knows how to treat me.”
“I’m proud of you, son.” Dohyun smiles even though his son can’t see it. “You’ve started growing up and stopped hating yourself.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Jongdae backs away from the doorframe to let Baekhyun’s parents walk in. When Baekhyun comes in behind them he shuts the door, commenting about the heat going out or the cold coming in. Jongdae doesn’t completely hear him over the pounding of his heart because he’s meeting Baekhyun’s parents. Meeting Baekhyun’s parents as his boyfriend.
Jongdae is grateful that the two have to remove their hats and jackets, because that gives him time to think of what to say to his boyfriend’s parents.
“Thank you for inviting us in.” Baekhyun’s mother says, “We were really expecting to go out and eat today.”
“Yes, and you could imagine our surprise when Baekhyun told us his boyfriend’s family invited us in to eat.” Baekhyun’s …. mother? continues. Jongdae tries his best to keep the confusion off his face as the hat is removed from the second person that talked and she is indeed a woman. “He had originally told us that he had to stop by a friend's house because his friend had made off with his jacket.”
“Yeah, you could have told us you were coming to see your boyfriend.” the first woman turns to pinch Baekhyun’s cheek. She then turns to Jongdae, who is standing right beside Baekhyun. “You must be his boyfriend?” she holds her hand out as she asks the question.
“Yes, I’m Jongdae, nice to meet you.” Jongdae subtly wipes his hand on his pants before reaching out to take her hand.
“Hello Jongdae, I’m Solmi.” Solmi shakes his hand.
“I’m Hyesun.” Baekhyun’s other mother says. They’re both very pretty and very nice. “You’re Jongdae? I’ve heard about you.”
“You have?”
“Yes, Baekhyun t-”
“Hahahahahaha!” Baekhyun laughs loudly to cut his mother off. “Okay, let’s not bring that up now.”
“Next time then.” Hyesun smiles snuggly at her son, earning herself a glare from Baekhyun and a push on the shoulder for Solmi.
“Stop teasing him. We’ll bring that up later.”
Dohyun and Seoyun lead Baekhyun’s parents to the living room, where they are no doubt going to embarrass Jongdae by introducing Baekhyun’s parents to the whole family.
“Boyfriends, huh? What prompted that?” Baekhyun leans forward to whisper in Jongdae’s ear. “Though I have no objection to it, if you were being serious.”
“In gratitude for you not letting me hop on your dick at that party. That and because time away from you has actually made me realize that I do miss your presence.” Jongdae smiles. “You’re good to me.”
“Who knew that it’d finally pay off?” Baekhyun grins.
“Hmm.” Jongdae hums in agreement. “Those are your parents?” he finally gets to what he’s wanted to ask after finding out both of Baekhyun’s parents are females.
“Yes.” Baekhyun says, “They’re silly, I know. I heard I get it from them.”
“Are you adopted, or …?”
“Yeah, I’m adopted. I love my moms because they’re my parents.” Baekhyun licks his lips. “They’ve raised me from the day I was born. I know nothing other than them. I might eventually look into finding my biological parents, but now I’m content with not knowing them.”
“Ah.” Jongdae nods as he listens. “Nice to know.”
“Jongdae! Baekhyun! We’re about to have dinner!” Seoyun calls out.
As they’re about to enter the kitchen Jongdae pauses. “Before we go in there, I guess you should know that Minseok might hate you a little.”
“For what? Defiling his baby brother?”
“Probably.”
“I didn’t defile you. You sat on my lap.” Baekhyun breathes out harshly. “Your brother needs to get over it.”
“Alright. You tell him that.” Jongdae’s smile is way too innocent.
“I don’t want to die.” Baekhyun falls silent once they enter the kitchen. Mainly because everyone is staring at the pair. Baekhyun takes that as his queue to bow and introduce himself. “Hello. I’m Baekhyun.”
The call back of ‘hi Baekhyun’ is so terrifyingly unison that Baekhyun wonders if they’ve had practice. Not everyone will fit in the kitchen, so they spread to the dining and living room.
Baekhyun is sat in the dining room with his parents, Jongdae’s parents, Junmyeon’s parents, and of course Junmyeon, Jongdae, and Minseok. The table had originally been set up for eight, so it took them pulling some folding chairs out the garage to be able to fit everyone in. As a result, instead of the rectangular table being set up as one seat at the small end and three seats on the long sides, there were now two seats on the short ends of the table and still three on each side.
Jongdae’s parents sat at one end of the table while Junmyeon’s parents sat at the other end. Because Junmyeon had some obligation to sit by his parents, Junmyeon was sat on the right hand side of where they were facing. Minseok was to the right of Junmyeon, and Solmi was to the right of Minseok, left of where Jongdae’s parents were facing. Because they wanted Jongdae and Baekhyun to sit next to each other, Baekhyun was to the left of Junmyeon’s parents, Jongdae to the left of Baekhyun, and Hyesun to the left of Jongdae.
It was crowded, but it worked. The meal was awkward enough at the beginning, but Baekhyun’s mother’s broke the ice well enough.
“Never thought that we’d spend this Christmas with Baekhyun’s boyfriend’s family.” Solmi started. It’s as if she and her mate have a mental connection, because Hyesun gets a gleam in her eye as she picks up where her mate left off.
“I don’t think we thought we’d be spending any Christmas in the foreseeable future with Baekhyun’s boyfriend’s family.” Hyesun leans over and stage whispers, “Tell me, Jongdae, what do you see in that handsome fellow that is our son?”
Jongdae freezes up after being put up on the spot. So he blurts out the first thing that comes out his mouth, “It’s not really what I see. It’s what I hear. Baekhyun doesn’t know when to shut up.”
The table goes even quieter than it had before. It’s starts out small; Solmi lets out the faintest hint of air that could be the start of a laugh. Then Hyesun’s silent laughter has her shoulders shaking. Dohyun puts his heads in his hands and chuckles loudly. It goes on around the table until everyone is laughing loudly. Junmyeon’s parents even have smiles on their faces.
Baekhyun, on the other hand, doesn’t look so amused. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know exactly what it’s supposed to mean. Your son,” Jongdae looks across the table at Solmi, “Does not stop blowing up my phone. You’d think that I’d get some peace and quiet when I’m not around him. He sends me a text when I wake up, when I go to sleep. It’s never ending.”
“You act as if you don’t like my good morning and goodnight texts.”
Jongdae shushes him loudly. “I want them to think I don’t like you as much as I do.” he whispers loudly.
“You two sure are cute.” Solmi smiles. “From what I can tell, you’ve raised a very nice son.”
“It wasn’t easy,” Dohyun leans back, “but we managed it. Raising Minseok was easier.”
Minseok looks away from his food to smile. “I try not to be the problematic child.”
“Yeah, the most problematic thing he’s ever done is randomly show up at the beginning of summer mated.” Jongdae grins as his brother glares at him, “Though that can hardly be called problematic, considering Junmyeon is probably the nicest guy Minseok could have grabbed.”
“Oh.” Solmi’s eyes grow wide. “How’d you feel about that?”
“Surprised, considering Minseok had never said anything prior about dating Junmyeon. And to find out that my son had been dating for four years and we didn’t know. I kind of felt bad for not noticing.” Seoyun truthfully tells.
“Four years?” Junmyeon’s father speaks up. “Junmyeon, you told us you met during college.”
Oh. Shit. Jongdae feels instantly bad about this as attention is drawn to Junmyeon, whose ears have gone red because he knows everyone is looking at him. “Well, we met a little earlier than what I told you.”
“A little? Two years is a lot of time, Junmyeon.” Mr. Kim stares his son down. “You were supposed to be focused on school, not flirting it up with this guy.”
“I was focused on school, Dad. Why do you think you two didn’t hear about Minseok until we actually mated?” Junmyeon rolls his eyes, muttering under his breath.
“You knew how I felt about you dating. Yet you still went behind my back and did it? You basically kicked me in my teeth.”
“It’s probably the only reason I was remotely happy in high school.” Junmyeon lets his fork fall to his plate, Minseok reaching up instinctively to rest a comforting hand on Junmyeon’s shoulder, but that doesn’t mask the smell of sadness and anger that rolls of Junmyeon.
“What did you say?”
“You heard what I said. I spent so much of my life trying to make you happy, it’s why I went to school everyday, even when I was sick. It’s why I studied so much, why I didn’t have many friends, why I joined all those stupid clubs, why I wasn’t happy. Because of you. I did so much to please you, and you snap at me for the little bit of happiness that kept me going?” Junmyeon scoffs. “I nearly died doing what you wanted me to do, and you still can’t lay off?”
“What do you mean nearly died?” Minseok jumps in immediately, pulling Junmyeon as close as he can with the seats of the chairs keeping them apart.
“The suppressants nearly killed me.”
Jongdae never knew that Junmyeon didn’t tell Minseok.
“What do you mean they nearly killed you?” Minseok’s grip on the chair is white as he looks intensly at Junmyeon.
“Because my heat had been put off for, oh, five years, when it struck it felt as though I was literally being cooked from the inside out.” Junmyeon’s parents look shocked at this news as well. Jongdae can guess that only himself, his parents, and Junmyeon knew about the hospital trip. “If you hadn’t come home the day you did, I’d have ended up back at the hospital-”
“Back?”
Junmyeon continues through Minseok’s interruption, “and I could have very well died.”
Junmyeon’s mother finally speaks up, “I knew it wasn’t a good idea.” she glares at her mate before her concerned gaze turns toward her son. “Why didn’t you tell us? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know.” Junmyeon shrugs. “I figured it’d be best to just leave it be and go off the suppressants.”
“And you didn’t tell me, that if I hadn’t come home that day, you could have died?” Minseok breathes harshly out of his nose. “When we were on the phone you told me to just do well in my game and catch the next flight after the match was over.”
“You were over in China, Minseok, and the game was important. I didn’t want to risk your team losing and them holding it against you for not being there.”
“That’s nothing compared to the risk of losing you. I don’t want you ever keeping something like that away from me ever again.” the look Minseok gives Junmyeon lets the whole table know that the two will talk about this later, even if now Minseok accepts Junmyeon’s promise.
“I heard about a case, very similar to yours.” Hyesun starts off softly, “It may have very well been yours. It was this past summer, actually. Someone came in with a very high fever, he was very fortunate to make it to the hospital when he did.”
All the attention is on her. “When he first came in, our main concern was getting his temperature down. We obviously ran some bloodwork even though we could smell that he was in heat. A heat of that intensity was not normal at all. That, along with the records we had from before, let us know that he had been on suppressants since his first heat had ended.” Hyesun looks towards Junmyeon.
“Sounds like me.” he sighs. “Which hospital was it?” Hyesun names the exact hospital that they had went to last summer. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“The type of suppressants you were on, Junmyeon, they shouldn’t have been taken as long as they were. You should have been weaned off them and put on suppressants that were meant for longer consumption. If you continued to take the ones you were taking your reproductive system may have been irreparably damaged.”
“Which is why I no longer take the suppressants, and am now on birth control.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Junmyeon. I didn’t mean to put your business out there.”
“It’s fine, Mrs. Byun. They’d have heard about it eventually.”
“You have to excuse my mother, sometimes she forgets she has a life outside of the hospital.” Baekhyun jokes to ease the tension.
“You’re a nurse then, Mrs. Byun?” Mrs. Kim asks.
“A doctor, actually. I enjoy helping people. What about you, Mrs. Kim? What do you do to make money?”
Junmyeon’s mother is hesitant to voice it out loud. Hyesun is about to drop the subject before it gets any more awkward when Mrs. Kim says, “I’m the CEO of an electronics company. My husband is the CEO of a pharmaceutical company.”
“Sounds like it pays well.” Solmi laughs. “I remember when Hyesun and I were struggling to get stable jobs just so we could get Baekhyun. Adoption is no joke, you know. The smallest thing goes wrong,” Solmi holds up her fingers to show how small she means, “And you are put further back on the waiting list.”
“How old was Baekhyun when you two adopted him?” Seoyun asks.
“We met him the day he was born. You see, after the agency gave us the green light to go through with the adoption, they had us meet with a few families. Baekhyun’s birth parents really liked us, and didn’t have any problems with two female Omegas raising their child.” Solmi looks at Baekhyun with such love in her eyes, no one would doubt that she was his mother. “When his birth mother went into labour, we went to the hospital and met Baekhyun. We took him home with us two days later. There’s the grace period for all adoptions, meaning that if his birth parents decided they wanted him back, they could have him back. Though they did assure us that they wouldn’t change their minds, it didn’t keep Hyesun and I from rolling in our bed at night in fear. After the six months we had to go and meet back with the birth parents, and our adoption was finalized.”
“And what do you work as, Solmi?” Mrs. Kim looks completely interested in the story.
“Me? Oh my, I got caught up talking about Baekhyun,”
“As usual~” Hyesun muses.
“I’m a professor at a university. Not the one the boys’ go to though.” she laughs. “And I apologize if I’m making you repeat yourself, but I didn’t catch your name earlier.”
Junmyeon’s parents never actually said their full names, just introduced themselves as Junmyeon’s parents. Mrs. Kim laughs, “Oh, right. How forgetful of me. I’m Minyung. My husband is Sangjun.”
Hyesun snaps her fingers. “I remember seeing you now! I thought you looked familiar. Your company is coming up with great medications, Sangjun. And Minyung, your company makes so much money. It’s great seeing a woman in charge.”
“Thank you. It’s nice to know that all my years in school and all my hard work is being appreciated.”
“Of course. Why not.”
Baekhyun looks at Jongdae, eyes wide. Jongdae’s still trying to comprehend what’s being said, so Baekhyun leans forward and whispers, “Junmyeon’s parents are the very definition of filthy rich. They have so much money they could buy whatever they wanted.”
“Ah.” That explains why Junmyeon’s parents had high standards for a mate of Junmyeon’s. Minseok’s face has gone completely blank, and Jongdae can tell something is on his brother’s mind. He wants to ask once the plates are put up and in the dishwasher, but Junmyeon and Minseok go off somewhere, probably to speak in private.
It isn’t until everyone is leaving that he sees Minseok again. He looks upset. Jongdae looks in confusion at Junmyeon, who is dressed in a coat, hat, and gloves. He gets close enough to the two to hear the last bit of the conversation.
“I just have to talk about this with them in private. I’ll call you when I need you to come over? Okay.” Junmyeon kisses Minseok before walking out the door with his parents. Jongdae comes over to look at his brother.
“Hey, Minseok, I just want to apologize for what I said at dinner. I didn’t mean to bring it up, and I didn’t know that it was such a sensitive topic.”
“Whatever, Jongdae. Your big mouth just got Junmyeon scolded, and now he doesn't’ want to be here tonight. The damage is done.” Minseok turns away, missing the hurt look on Jongdae’s face as his brother says this.
-
Going back to school the day before classes start probably wasn’t the best idea. Jongdae hasn’t had time to acclimate to the environment.
Jongdae knows that that’s just bullshit and he just really doesn’t want to go back to school after an amazing break. More time in class, more time studying, more time away from his boyfriend. Thinking of Baekhyun, Jongdae should have probably asked for a ride from him to get back to uni. The car ride with Minseok and Junmyeon was so stifling awkward that Jongdae wanted to jump out the car as they were speeding down the highway. Jongdae’s parents still wouldn’t let them take separate cars, so Jongdae had to deal with it.
He couldn’t even text Baekhyun the entire way there, because if he knows someone is driving he doesn’t text them about silly things. Jongdae’s texting Baekhyun now though, asking him how his drive had been and if he was ready for class tomorrow.
Baekhyun [9:51PM]
Get on snapchat and open our chat
Jongdae finds the request odd as he exits out the messaging app to go to Snapchat. Usually whenever Jongdae receives a text from Baekhyun regarding snapchat it’s about Baekhyun wanting Jongdae to see something funny on his story.
As he opens the chat he waits. There are no saved conversations, because Baekhyun figured that conversing with Jongdae through text is more likely to get a response. The white circle encased by yellow has the background turn blue, signalling that both Jongdae and Baekhyun are looking at the chat at the same time. Jongdae simply stares at it before the white background changes to pixilated colors.
Jongdae jumps in surprise, watching as the screen smoothes out to reveal Baekhyun, in what Jongdae assumes to be his bed. Baekhyun waves at the camera, a “Jongdae, hit the blue button.” leaving his mouth.
Jongdae obliges, pressing the button. His face comes up briefly on the screen in a small circle before going away. “Jongdae, press and hold the button. Then slide the circle down so you don’t have to keep you hand on the screen.”
Though he takes Baekhyun’s advice word for word, it takes a few tries before the circle at the bottom of the screen actually stays.
“A video call? This is a first.” Jongdae muses, watching Baekhyun’s movements closely.
“I haven’t actually seen your face since New Years. You never send any pictures back on snapchat. I missed seeing your smile.” Baekhyun’s smile widens as Jongdae smiles at those words.
“You’re embarrassing me.” Jongdae tells him.
“How am I embarrassing you?” Baekhyun chuckles, “There’s no one in that room with you to hear me.”
“Oh yeah, and what about you? Who’s in the room with you?”
“No one.”
“Hey,” a deep voice resonates through the speakers of Jongdae’s phone, and voila, there Chanyeol is, his head right next to Baekhyun’s. This probably means that Chanyeol is kneeling, or more likely, laying on Baekhyun's bed. “I’m not no one.”
“Yes you are, Chanyeol. You’re nothing,” Baekhyun attempts to push Chanyeol out the the screen but the much larger Beta isn’t having any of it.
“How was break, Jongdae?”
Jongdae hadn’t gotten a chance to see any of his friends during that break, and that included Chanyeol. He and Jongin had spent time with their families in Korea, but Jongin and Chanyeol were always busy when Jongdae wasn’t. The rest of his friends went to China to celebrate it with their families. Even though Zitao’s immediate family lived in Korea, they still went to China to visit with extended family. Yifan and Yixing’s parents had made it to China about a week before Christmas, so Yifan and Yixing took the earliest flight after finals to get to China and spend quality time with their families. Kyungsoo and Han were in Korea also, but because Han’s father had flown in, they were spending as much time with him until he had to go back to work. As for Sehun, because he was unable to go with Zitao to China, he just sulked at home most of break.
“It was great, actually. What about yours, Chanyeol? Did you get any good gifts?” Jongdae’s attention is all on Chanyeol as the older male grins.
“Hell fucking yeah. Jongin got me this sweet guitar for Christmas. I wasn’t expecting it from him. It’s great.” Chanyeol smiles. “I felt bad just getting him some new sneakers and clothes to dance in. It felt like nothing compared to what he gave me.”
“I’m sure he loved your presents, Chanyeol. Don’t stress over it. Jongin probably needed new dancewear anyway, you helped him out.” Jongdae comforts Chanyeol.
“Thanks Jongdae.”
“Okay Chanyeol, go away and let me talk to my boyfriend.” Baekhyun tries to push Chanyeol away again, but this time Chanyeol has looked away from the camera to stare at Baekhyun. Then he looks back to the camera. Then at Baekhyun.
“Did you just say…?”
“No, I didn’t, now leave.”
“I think you did just say. When did this happen?” Chanyeol’s eyes light up with interest.
“It was Baekhyun’s Christmas gift. Now go away Chanyeol and let us talk in peace.”
“Alright.” Chanyeol leaves, but not before Jongdae sees the gleam in his eyes.
Jongdae and Baekhyun have barely gotten into their conversation when Jongdae hears a loud, “Baekhyun and Jongdae are dating?” this time it’s Jongin, and Baekhyun rolls his eyes before muttering something about going to handle this. The phone is put down, and Jongdae is greeted with the lovely sight of Baekhyun’s ceiling while he hears a loud banging.
“Out!”
“But Baekhyun…”
“Out, Jongin. Shoo! We’ll talk about this later, maybe.” Jongdae hears a loud bang, which he assumes is Baekhyun slamming the door shut because Baekhyun’s face comes into view a few moments late. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s alright.” Jongdae waits as Baekhyun readjusts himself in his bed.
“Now where were we?”
“We were talking about class tomorrow.” Jongdae’s attention is pulled away once more by a notification coming up at the top of the screen.
Sehun [10:12PM]
You finally got some dick????
Kyungsoo [10:14PM]
Just got an ecstatic call from Jongin saying you have a boyfriend
Kyungsoo [10:15PM]
I guess it’s true, we’ll talk tomorrow though
Han [10:17PM]
Just heard one of ur friends yelling on the phone at soo…
Han [10:17PM]
I guess minseok wasn’t exaggerating and u actually have a bf
Han [10:18PM]
So proud of u. u grwing up. brings tears to my eyes ;)
“I lied, it’s not alright. I did not want this on a school night, Baekhyun.” Jongdae rubs his face. “Now everyone knows we’re a thing.”
Baekhyun shrugs, showing no remorse. “How was I supposed to know you didn’t tell them? They are your friends after all, I figured you told them everything.”
“Baekhyun, half of them didn’t even know we were dating.”
“Ah.” Baekhyun falls silent. “You’re not mad at me, are you?”
“No, but now I’m wore out. I should go to bed, I have class in the morning.”
“What time does it start?”
“Ten.”
Baekhyun stares blankly at Jongdae before saying, “Jongdae, it’s ten at night now. If you went to sleep now, you’d get eleven hours of sleep.”
“I need to have beauty sleep.” Jongdae bats his eyelashes at Baekhyun in a show of his ‘beauty’.
“You don’t need any beauty sleep, you’re perfect the way you are.”
That’s where Jongdae ends the video connection, so Baekhyun doesn’t seem him turn and smother his face into his pillow to hide his scream and laugh, because even Baekhyun saying that is enough to make Jongdae blush.
Jongdae [10:25PM]
Goodnight
Baekhyun [10:25PM]
Goodnight.
“Why do you ask?” Jongdae asks, not completely sure why his brother is asking him such a question. Junmyeon and Minseok are over to look over the things he’s bring home with them tomorrow, since the dorms officially close for break after tomorrow, and Jongdae doesn’t want to forget anything here.
“You just smell a little different.”
“A little different?” Jongdae’s eyebrows raise when Minseok turns away from the closet with two hangers that have jackets on them. “I don’t need to pack both jackets, do I?”
“One’s for tonight. It’s winter, and you’re not wearing a jacket.” Minseok looks over his brother’s outfit.
“But this sweater is warm.” Jongdae tries to defend himself, “Besides, how do I know I won’t lose it at the party?” Chanyeol’s frat is having another party as a going anyway thing, Honestly though, they find anything to party about.
“You keep it on?” Minseok looks like he’s talking to a small child. Junmyeon stands up to look at the jackets that Minseok has pulled out.
“It’s only a ten minute walk to the frat house.” Jongdae whines.
“Yes, but if you get sick over break Mom will be so upset.”
“So I won’t get sick.” Jongdae confidently says as he pulls his phone out to check the time. He ignores the notification that’s telling him that he has a text from Baekhyun. “Besides, the party’s starting soon. The sooner we get there the sooner we leave. The sooner we leave, the warmer it’ll be because you know it gets colder as the night goes on.
Minseok stares at his brother blankly while Junmyeon struggles to hold back his laughter. “Your logic in that whole sentence baffles me.”
“Yeah yeah, whatever. Before we go, does it look like I have everything packed?” Jongdae looks at the two expectantly.
“Yeah.”
“Well, let's go!”
It isn’t until they’re halfway to the frat house that Minseok speaks up. “You never answered my question from earlier.” Jongdae doesn’t say anything at first, not thinking that Minseok is talking to him. “Jongdae!”
“What!” Jongdae yells back, startled by his brother’s outburst.
“I said ‘you never answered my question from earlier’.”
“What question?”
Minseok turns his head to glare at his younger brother. He knows Jongdae is playing this game to aggravate him to get him to stop asking. “Have you been hanging out with someone new?”
“Oh. I’ve made a few new friends. Yixing and Yifan, for example.”
“Yes, but I know Yifan and Yixing’s scents, and you don’t smell like either of them.”
“What Minseok is trying to ask,” Junmyeon interrupts, “Is if you have a boyfriend.” Minseok tries to cut his mate off before he can complete the sentence but it’s too late.
“Oh. That’s all you had to ask, Minseok. No, I don’t have a boyfriend. Why do you ask?” Baekhyun technically isn’t his boyfriend, so he feels no guilt in deceiving Minseok.
“Right. Whatever.” Minseok drops it when they get to the party. The front door isn’t locked so they just waltz on in. Jongdae immediately separates himself from his brother to go find the nearest source of alcohol.
He’s down about four eggnog shots -whoever made them didn’t skimp on the alcohol- when he smells a scent that is slowly becoming familiar to his nose. “Baekhyun.” he turns around with a lopsided grin to face Baekhyun.
“Whoa Jongdae, how much did you drink?” Baekhyun reaches a hand out to steady Jongdae because apparently turning that fast made him a little dizzy. Jongdae raises his fingers to make a show of counting the amount of shots he’s consumed.
“Four? Maybe five drinks. I dunno, they all kind of blended together.”
“Of the eggnog? Fuck Jongdae, they put a shitton of liqour in it. I’m surprised you’re not passed out drunk yet.”
“Hmmm.” Jongdae hums before turning to head towards the game of beer pong that’s going on in the living room. Baekhyun follows behind him, leaving enough space so that Jongdae doesn’t feel stifled.
Baekhyun sits on the couch that is closest to the beer pong table so he can keep an eye out on Jongdae. The last thing he needs is for something to happen to Jongdae while he’s drunk. Baekhyun doesn’t spend the time on the couch alone though because soon Yixing is making his way over, Yifan in tow.
Yixing sits the closest to Baekhyun. “Why aren’t you up having fun?” Yixing leans over to ask Baekhyun.
“Just want to make sure someone stays safe, you know?” Of course Yixing knows. Yixing is an Alpha just like Baekhyun is, and he knows what it means to keep someone safe. Yixing’s mate, Yifan, has needed quite a bit of protecting himself.
“Ah.” Yixing hums. “Who is the lucky boy?”
“He’s playing beer pong right now. Not many people know we’ve been going out, so I don’t want to point out exactly which one he is. Turns out, as time passes, Baekhyun doesn’t have to say who it is because a considerably more drunk Jongdae makes his way over to where Baekhyun is sitting to plant himself firmly in Baekhyun’s lap.
“I do hope that this is the lucky boy. If not you may have problems.” Yixing muses, watching as Jongdae turns himself so that he is literally straddling Baekhyun and has his arms wrapped around Baekhyun’s neck.
“Isn’t this Minseok’s brother?” Yixing asks after Jongdae turns his head to give Yixing a drunken smile. Yixing does know Jongdae, but he has to double check to make sure the lighting of the room isn’t playing tricks on his eyes.
“Yeah.”
“Minseok’s looking over here, you know?” Yifan leans backward so that he can see Baekhyun.
“Good to know. I think. I can use this time to mentally prepare for my death.”
“You know you talk too much?” Jongdae hums. Baekhyun looks down to see Jongdae looking up at him. Baekhyun’s getting increasingly uncomfortable, because as much as he likes having Jongdae sat on his lap, looking up at him, Jongdae is drunk and his better judgment is impaired.
Baekhyun releases an awkward laugh. “Is that so?”
“Mhm.” Jongdae’s eye shine with intent. “I know how to quiet you down though.” Jongdae scoots forward in Baekhyun’s lap, that felt a little too nice, to lean up to capture Baekhyun’s lips in a kiss. This isn’t one of the kisses that they’ve been giving each other recently though, this one is as dirty as a drunk Jongdae could make it.
Of course it’s sloppy, because a drunk Jongdae isn’t as coordinated as he would be under normal circumstances, so Baekhyun ends up with more spit than he should have on his lips. Jongdae’s tongue pushes at the seams of Baekhyun’s lips and Baekhyun tries to pull away to try to talk some sense into Jongdae. Jongdae follows his movements and when Baekhyun’s mouth opens in an attempt to talk Jongdae pushes his tongue in.
It’s not like Baekhyun hasn’t imagined this happening, hasn’t had wet dreams about it, but he can’t bring himself to kiss back. Not when Jongdae is this drunk. It’s not even because Minseok is making his way over, eyes narrowed, with his mate following closely behind.
“What the fuck is going in here?” Minseok yells through the loud music and rowdiness of the crowd. Junmyeon tugs on Minseok’s arm but Minseok ignores his mate, the urge to protect his baby brother strong.
Jongdae hears his brother’s voice and pulls away, a soft smile on his lips. “Minseok!” he sounds far too happy too see his older brother. “You came to see me.”
“No, I came because of this idiot that’s taking advantage of you.”
Jongdae pouts. “Baekhyun isn’t taking advantage of me, are you Baekhyun?” Jongdae’s words are so slurred that it’s hard for any of them to understand what he’s saying.
“I’m not taking advantage of you.” Baekhyun backs Jongdae up.
“If he was taking advantage of you he wouldn’t say he was.” Minseok reaches forward to grab Jongdae’s shoulder to pull his back but his brother is having none of it. Jongdae shakes his shoulder out of Minseok’s grip before wiggling in Baekhyun’s lap to attempt to get closer.
The problem with that is that Jongdae is basically wiggling on Baekhyun’s clothed dick and it’s doing things to him. Minseok can obviously smell his arousal because his eyes narrow. “Jongdae, this guy is getting turned on.”
“Kind of hard not to do when he’s wiggling in in my lap.” Baekhyun hisses as he tries to push Jongdae away gently. It doesn’t work at all because Jongdae clings to him even harder. “Jongdae, you should get off my lap before your brother rips you off my lap and tears me apart.”
“Minseok needs to leave us alone.” Jongdae turns around to childishly stick his tongue out at his older brother. “I’m comfortable where I am.”
“In Baekhyun’s defense,” Yixing isn’t intimidated by the heated glare that Minseok gives him, “Jongdae did basically throw himself at Baekhyun, and Baekhyun hasn’t even touched him since Jongdae’s been in his lap.”
“They were making out.”
“I actually didn’t kiss him back.”
“Sadly!” Jongdae shouts. “I know he has it in him. I want more prom night.”
“Wait a minute.” it all clicks together in Minseok’s head. “You’re the ‘great smelling Alpha’ that Jongdae made out with at prom? The one that has a crush on him?”
“I guess, yeah. Unless another Alpha that smells great made out with Jongdae on prom night.” Baekhyun shrugs as Jongdae leans to put his head on Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Alright Jongdae, looks like the drinks are getting to you.” Baekhyun places his hand on the small of Jongdae’s back, much to Minseok’s dislike. “You should go home and sleep.”
“I can sleep on your lap.” Jongdae sounds seconds away from slumber.
“Jongdae, it’s loud here. I’m sure you’d be more comfortable in your own bed. Let your brother take you back to your room.”
“Sleep on your laaaap.” Jongdae whines. Baekhyun decides that he need to take initiative so he stands, standing Jongdae up with him. He tries to hand Jongdae off to his brother but Jongdae is very adamant about not leaving Baekhyun’s grip.
“I’ll take him home, then.” Baekhyun says.
“I don’t want you taking him home.”
“Look, Minseok. I like Jongdae, and if I was going to do something I’d have done it by now. Trust me to take him back to his room without doing anything. If something happens, which I promise it won’t, you can murder me as slowly and painfully as possible.”
Minseok clearly doesn’t want to agree but a gentle touch to his arm from Junmyeon convinces Minseok. “If anything happens to him, I will kill you.”
“No doubt.” Baekhyun says as he leads Jongdae to front door. When it opens though Jongdae curls into Baekhyun even more.
“Cooooooold.” Jongdae draws out. Baekhyun shrugs off his own jacket and wrestles it onto Jongdae. The walk back is slow, and it takes twice as long as it should have to get back to Jongdae’s Hall. He walks in the building to greet the Omega at the desk. He looks at Jongdae before looking at Baekhyun. He’s clearly a student worker.
“Give me a minute, I’ll find his student ID.” Baekhyun tells the Omega only to be waved off.
“Kim Jongdae. Floor six. Room 624.” The Omega speaks matter of factly. “Take him to his room. If you’re not down here in five minutes I will call campus police.” Baekhyun nods his thanks at the Omega before dragging him over to the elevator.
Jongdae’s dead weight by the time they get to his door, and even though Baekhyun asks Jongdae where his key is he knows he won’t be getting an answer. Baekhyun ignores Jongdae’s suggestive comments as he pats his body down looking for the keys.
They’re an easy find, in Jongdae’s front pocket, and he uses them to unlock the door. Being in Jongdae’s room should be like getting a glance of Jongdae’s life, but he doesn’t get that opportunity. He leads Jongdae to the bed, pulling himself away from Jongdae’s grasp before throwing a blanket over him. Baekhyun then decides to situate Jongdae on his side, so if he does throw up later in the night Jongdae won’t drown in his own vomit.
As he leaves his gives the Omega at the front desk a nod of thanks before leaving the front door. As soon as he walks outside he remembers his jacket is still on Jongdae, but Baekhyun doesn’t feel like going back in and taking the jacket away from the sleeping Omega.
-
Jongdae holds his head in his hands as he looks over the pictures of last night that Sehun had taken and sent him. There were even videos of Jongdae basically grinding on Baekhyun’s lap while he sucked his face. Sehun even had the nerve to text ‘so your whorness comes out when you’re drunk?’.
Minseok had practically dragged a hangover Jongdae out of his room this morning and lead him to the car, because they promised their parents that they’d be home by noon. The car is silent and Jongdae is just waiting for Minseok to finally speak up about last night.
Jongdae is still in his clothes from last night so he knows the second they walk in the door he’s heading straight to the shower. He’s wearing Baekhyun’s jacket, much to his surprise, because last night is a blur and he doesn’t even know how he got back to his dorm.
“So.” Minseok finally speaks up in a clipped tone.
“Just get on with it.” Jongdae urges his brother because the sooner they talk about it the sooner it’ll be over with.
“He didn’t do anything to you last night, did he?”
Jongdae is ninety percent sure Minseok is talking about Baekhyun. “No, he didn’t. He’s not like that.”
“So, what’s going on between the two of you for you to know if he’s ‘like that’ or not?” Minseok glances in the rearview mirror to look at his brother.
“We’ve had a few dates.” Jongdae tells Minseok. “He’s a nice guy.”
“He did seem very nice and responsible last night.” Junmyeon comments.
“Yeah. I don’t know what got into me last night; I’m not usually like that when I’m drunk.”
“Well you were around an Alpha you’re dating, Jongdae. Seems natural.” Junmyeon grins.
“Are you like that with Minseok when you’re drunk?”
“No. The suppressants really suppressed my sex drive.” Junmyeon turns around to look at Jongdae. “I’m a baby drunk. I don’t want to do anything but cry and sleep. We’ll see what I’m like next time I’m drunk. I may be like you.” Junmyeon had been taken off his suppressants over the summer.
“Back to Baekhyun, is he your boyfriend?” Minseok isn’t going to let it go.
“No, I wouldn’t call him that. We’ve only been dating two months.”
“Two months?” Minseok’s laughter is humorless. “What do you mean only two months? You never mentioned it to me.”
“You never mentioned Junmyeon to me.”
Junmyeon’s mouth forms into an ‘O’ before he turns back around to face the front. He is not going to get in this mess of an argument.
“That’s different. Junmyeon didn’t want our relationship known.”
“No different from my situation. Why should I have to tell you about a relationship that I’m not sure about yet? I didn’t want people to know, but now everyone that I was keeping it from knows because drunk me didn’t want to keep it in his pants.” Jongdae crosses his arms.
“I thought you told me you wouldn’t keep a relationship from me.”
“Yeah, well there’s a lot of things I don’t tell you.” Jongdae tells him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“None of your business.” Jongdae ignores everything else his brother says the rest of the ride home.
Jongdae [10:22AM]
Thanks for taking me home last night.
I have your jacket still if you want it
Baekhyun hasn’t replied by the time Minseok pulls into their driveway, but he chalks it up to Baekhyun probably going home himself. Jongdae grabs his two bags out of the car before stalking to the front door. His parents are waiting but he doesn’t get the chance to give a proper hello because he feels absolutely filthy and needs a shower.
When he’s out and dress he makes his way down to the kitchen where his parents have no doubt cooked something for lunch.
“You and Minseok got into an argument?” his father asks. “Junmyeon told us that’s why the two of you looked so upset when you got here.”
“Yeah. It was a stupid thing to fight about. We’ll probably make up tomorrow.” Jongdae promises his parents.. “Speaking of, where are they?”
“Up in their room. Probably putting things back.” his mother smiles. “It’s good to have you back. The house won't be so quiet.”
“I would have thought you two would have gotten used to the silence.”
-
Christmas morning he gets an unexpected text from Baekhyun.
Baekhyun [9:00AM]
Turns out my wallets in my jacket. Could I stop by to pick it up?
Jongdae stares at the message in confusion before he goes to his closet where Baekhyun’s jacket has been hanging since he’s gotten home. He reaches in the right pocket and voila, there’ Baekhyun's wallet. Jongdae opens it to find Baekhyun’s driver’s license, debit and credit cards, and his insurance card.
Jongdae [9:09AM]
Yeah. How’d you get home and buy gifts?
Jongdae sends his address in a text soon after.
Baekhyun [9:16AM]
Bought gifts before I came back.
I drove, obviously.
I’ll be by around 4
Jongdae doesn’t get a chance to reply to Baekhyun because he has to go downstairs to help his parents cook. His family just happens to be hosting Christmas this year, so his cousins and aunts and uncles will all be at his house this year, meaning that there’s more food to cook.
By the time the guests start arriving at one Jongdae’s nerves are shot. His mother has had him clean everything thrice, made sure to set the tables in the kitchen and the dining room and put trays in the living room. Junmyeon and Minseok have been put to work as well.
Junmyeon’s stressing out majorly because his parents are coming over for Christmas dinner. Minseok is stressed because his mate his stressed and he has to worry about impressing his mate’s family.
Junmyeon’s family had expressed their disinterest and disappointment of Minseok to the both of them, so Minseok has been trying to prove that he’s a good enough mate for them.
They’re the first to arrive, and Jongdae tilts his head because the woman looks a little familiar, but he greets her normally without asking ‘who are you?’. His family takes turns opening the door, until they’re sure everyone is there. Then they begin to open presents.
The doorbell rings halfway into opening gifts and after a quick check of his phone messages his bolts up to get to the door first. He yanks it open and there Baekhyun is in all his glory, looking better than ever. Baekhyun is dressed semi-formal in dark jeans and a formal suit jacket. His hair is styled so it looks like the hair has blown and styled it, but it looks good.
“Hey.” Baekhyun smiles at Jongdae.
“Hey.” Jongdae replies dumbly. He’s gotten caught up staring at Baekhyun.
“My jacket?” Baekhyun gently reminds.
“Oh yeah.”
“Jongdae? Who is it?” his mother calls. Her voice is getting louder, signalling that she walking out towards the front door.
“Did we miscount family members?” Jongdae’s father comes around the corner with his mom. “Oh, who is this?”
“Uh.” Jongdae looks between Baekhyun and his parents.
“His friend. I just came to get my jacket, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Baekhyun waves to Jongdae’s parents.
“Baekhyun’s my boyfriend, actually.” Jongdae doesn’t know where that comes from and Baekhyun clearly doesn’t either because he looks at Jongdae with a raised eyebrow.
“Boyfriend?”
“Yeah. Boyfriend. If you’re okay with that.” the two stare at each other for a long moment before Baekhyun grins.
“Yeah, his boyfriend.”
“So you’re who Jongdae came home smelling like.” Seoyun walks forward to introduce herself. “Hi, I’m Jongdae’s mother, Seoyun. This is his father, Dohyun.”
“Pleasure to meet you both.” Baekhyun takes both of their hands to shake.
“Who are the people sitting out in your car?” Dohyun looks around Baekhyun’s shoulder to where his car is running.
“My parents. We’re going out to eat, actually, and Jongdae has my jacket, which has my wallet.” Baekhyun grins sheepishly.
“Oh. Would you like to have dinner here instead?” Seoyun offers.
“Excuse me?” Baekhyun’s not expecting that to come out her mouth. This is the first time he’s meeting Jongdae’s, his boyfriend’s, parents. He doesn’t understand why they’d so openly invite him and his parents in to eat dinner with them.
“Dinner with us. It’d be nice to get to know you a little more, Baekhyun. We have plenty of food, why not come in instead of spending money?” Seoyun clarifies.
“I’ll go ask them, before I make any major decisions for the three of us.” Baekhyun turns to head towards his car. Once he gets near the passenger side window rolls down and Baekhyun pokes his head in to talk whoever it sitting there.
“Boyfriend?” Jongdae’s attention is drawn back to his parents, who are looking at him with knowing looks on their faces. “We should have known when you came home wearing a jacket that wasn’t yours, smelling like some Alpha we’ve never smelt before.”
Jongdae lets out a breath that resembles the beginning of a laugh as he leans against the doorframe and looks at his parents. “Yeah. You guys know everything don’t you?”
“We don’t like to brag.”
Jongdae shakes his head at his father’s remark.
“How does he treat you?” his mother asks him gently as they all watch as Baekhyun runs around to the driver’s side of the car. The lights go off and the engine goes silent so the family can only assume that they’re coming inside.
“Well.” Jongdae starts off, not knowing what else he can say to give Baekhyun some brownie points towards his parents. “He gives me space when I want it, doesn’t push anything on me, treats me with respect. Baekhyun is what I wished I could have become, but with him,” Jongdae swallows as Baekhyun leads his parents up the driveway, “With him I don’t resent becoming an Omega, because he knows how to treat me.”
“I’m proud of you, son.” Dohyun smiles even though his son can’t see it. “You’ve started growing up and stopped hating yourself.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Jongdae backs away from the doorframe to let Baekhyun’s parents walk in. When Baekhyun comes in behind them he shuts the door, commenting about the heat going out or the cold coming in. Jongdae doesn’t completely hear him over the pounding of his heart because he’s meeting Baekhyun’s parents. Meeting Baekhyun’s parents as his boyfriend.
Jongdae is grateful that the two have to remove their hats and jackets, because that gives him time to think of what to say to his boyfriend’s parents.
“Thank you for inviting us in.” Baekhyun’s mother says, “We were really expecting to go out and eat today.”
“Yes, and you could imagine our surprise when Baekhyun told us his boyfriend’s family invited us in to eat.” Baekhyun’s …. mother? continues. Jongdae tries his best to keep the confusion off his face as the hat is removed from the second person that talked and she is indeed a woman. “He had originally told us that he had to stop by a friend's house because his friend had made off with his jacket.”
“Yeah, you could have told us you were coming to see your boyfriend.” the first woman turns to pinch Baekhyun’s cheek. She then turns to Jongdae, who is standing right beside Baekhyun. “You must be his boyfriend?” she holds her hand out as she asks the question.
“Yes, I’m Jongdae, nice to meet you.” Jongdae subtly wipes his hand on his pants before reaching out to take her hand.
“Hello Jongdae, I’m Solmi.” Solmi shakes his hand.
“I’m Hyesun.” Baekhyun’s other mother says. They’re both very pretty and very nice. “You’re Jongdae? I’ve heard about you.”
“You have?”
“Yes, Baekhyun t-”
“Hahahahahaha!” Baekhyun laughs loudly to cut his mother off. “Okay, let’s not bring that up now.”
“Next time then.” Hyesun smiles snuggly at her son, earning herself a glare from Baekhyun and a push on the shoulder for Solmi.
“Stop teasing him. We’ll bring that up later.”
Dohyun and Seoyun lead Baekhyun’s parents to the living room, where they are no doubt going to embarrass Jongdae by introducing Baekhyun’s parents to the whole family.
“Boyfriends, huh? What prompted that?” Baekhyun leans forward to whisper in Jongdae’s ear. “Though I have no objection to it, if you were being serious.”
“In gratitude for you not letting me hop on your dick at that party. That and because time away from you has actually made me realize that I do miss your presence.” Jongdae smiles. “You’re good to me.”
“Who knew that it’d finally pay off?” Baekhyun grins.
“Hmm.” Jongdae hums in agreement. “Those are your parents?” he finally gets to what he’s wanted to ask after finding out both of Baekhyun’s parents are females.
“Yes.” Baekhyun says, “They’re silly, I know. I heard I get it from them.”
“Are you adopted, or …?”
“Yeah, I’m adopted. I love my moms because they’re my parents.” Baekhyun licks his lips. “They’ve raised me from the day I was born. I know nothing other than them. I might eventually look into finding my biological parents, but now I’m content with not knowing them.”
“Ah.” Jongdae nods as he listens. “Nice to know.”
“Jongdae! Baekhyun! We’re about to have dinner!” Seoyun calls out.
As they’re about to enter the kitchen Jongdae pauses. “Before we go in there, I guess you should know that Minseok might hate you a little.”
“For what? Defiling his baby brother?”
“Probably.”
“I didn’t defile you. You sat on my lap.” Baekhyun breathes out harshly. “Your brother needs to get over it.”
“Alright. You tell him that.” Jongdae’s smile is way too innocent.
“I don’t want to die.” Baekhyun falls silent once they enter the kitchen. Mainly because everyone is staring at the pair. Baekhyun takes that as his queue to bow and introduce himself. “Hello. I’m Baekhyun.”
The call back of ‘hi Baekhyun’ is so terrifyingly unison that Baekhyun wonders if they’ve had practice. Not everyone will fit in the kitchen, so they spread to the dining and living room.
Baekhyun is sat in the dining room with his parents, Jongdae’s parents, Junmyeon’s parents, and of course Junmyeon, Jongdae, and Minseok. The table had originally been set up for eight, so it took them pulling some folding chairs out the garage to be able to fit everyone in. As a result, instead of the rectangular table being set up as one seat at the small end and three seats on the long sides, there were now two seats on the short ends of the table and still three on each side.
Jongdae’s parents sat at one end of the table while Junmyeon’s parents sat at the other end. Because Junmyeon had some obligation to sit by his parents, Junmyeon was sat on the right hand side of where they were facing. Minseok was to the right of Junmyeon, and Solmi was to the right of Minseok, left of where Jongdae’s parents were facing. Because they wanted Jongdae and Baekhyun to sit next to each other, Baekhyun was to the left of Junmyeon’s parents, Jongdae to the left of Baekhyun, and Hyesun to the left of Jongdae.
It was crowded, but it worked. The meal was awkward enough at the beginning, but Baekhyun’s mother’s broke the ice well enough.
“Never thought that we’d spend this Christmas with Baekhyun’s boyfriend’s family.” Solmi started. It’s as if she and her mate have a mental connection, because Hyesun gets a gleam in her eye as she picks up where her mate left off.
“I don’t think we thought we’d be spending any Christmas in the foreseeable future with Baekhyun’s boyfriend’s family.” Hyesun leans over and stage whispers, “Tell me, Jongdae, what do you see in that handsome fellow that is our son?”
Jongdae freezes up after being put up on the spot. So he blurts out the first thing that comes out his mouth, “It’s not really what I see. It’s what I hear. Baekhyun doesn’t know when to shut up.”
The table goes even quieter than it had before. It’s starts out small; Solmi lets out the faintest hint of air that could be the start of a laugh. Then Hyesun’s silent laughter has her shoulders shaking. Dohyun puts his heads in his hands and chuckles loudly. It goes on around the table until everyone is laughing loudly. Junmyeon’s parents even have smiles on their faces.
Baekhyun, on the other hand, doesn’t look so amused. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know exactly what it’s supposed to mean. Your son,” Jongdae looks across the table at Solmi, “Does not stop blowing up my phone. You’d think that I’d get some peace and quiet when I’m not around him. He sends me a text when I wake up, when I go to sleep. It’s never ending.”
“You act as if you don’t like my good morning and goodnight texts.”
Jongdae shushes him loudly. “I want them to think I don’t like you as much as I do.” he whispers loudly.
“You two sure are cute.” Solmi smiles. “From what I can tell, you’ve raised a very nice son.”
“It wasn’t easy,” Dohyun leans back, “but we managed it. Raising Minseok was easier.”
Minseok looks away from his food to smile. “I try not to be the problematic child.”
“Yeah, the most problematic thing he’s ever done is randomly show up at the beginning of summer mated.” Jongdae grins as his brother glares at him, “Though that can hardly be called problematic, considering Junmyeon is probably the nicest guy Minseok could have grabbed.”
“Oh.” Solmi’s eyes grow wide. “How’d you feel about that?”
“Surprised, considering Minseok had never said anything prior about dating Junmyeon. And to find out that my son had been dating for four years and we didn’t know. I kind of felt bad for not noticing.” Seoyun truthfully tells.
“Four years?” Junmyeon’s father speaks up. “Junmyeon, you told us you met during college.”
Oh. Shit. Jongdae feels instantly bad about this as attention is drawn to Junmyeon, whose ears have gone red because he knows everyone is looking at him. “Well, we met a little earlier than what I told you.”
“A little? Two years is a lot of time, Junmyeon.” Mr. Kim stares his son down. “You were supposed to be focused on school, not flirting it up with this guy.”
“I was focused on school, Dad. Why do you think you two didn’t hear about Minseok until we actually mated?” Junmyeon rolls his eyes, muttering under his breath.
“You knew how I felt about you dating. Yet you still went behind my back and did it? You basically kicked me in my teeth.”
“It’s probably the only reason I was remotely happy in high school.” Junmyeon lets his fork fall to his plate, Minseok reaching up instinctively to rest a comforting hand on Junmyeon’s shoulder, but that doesn’t mask the smell of sadness and anger that rolls of Junmyeon.
“What did you say?”
“You heard what I said. I spent so much of my life trying to make you happy, it’s why I went to school everyday, even when I was sick. It’s why I studied so much, why I didn’t have many friends, why I joined all those stupid clubs, why I wasn’t happy. Because of you. I did so much to please you, and you snap at me for the little bit of happiness that kept me going?” Junmyeon scoffs. “I nearly died doing what you wanted me to do, and you still can’t lay off?”
“What do you mean nearly died?” Minseok jumps in immediately, pulling Junmyeon as close as he can with the seats of the chairs keeping them apart.
“The suppressants nearly killed me.”
Jongdae never knew that Junmyeon didn’t tell Minseok.
“What do you mean they nearly killed you?” Minseok’s grip on the chair is white as he looks intensly at Junmyeon.
“Because my heat had been put off for, oh, five years, when it struck it felt as though I was literally being cooked from the inside out.” Junmyeon’s parents look shocked at this news as well. Jongdae can guess that only himself, his parents, and Junmyeon knew about the hospital trip. “If you hadn’t come home the day you did, I’d have ended up back at the hospital-”
“Back?”
Junmyeon continues through Minseok’s interruption, “and I could have very well died.”
Junmyeon’s mother finally speaks up, “I knew it wasn’t a good idea.” she glares at her mate before her concerned gaze turns toward her son. “Why didn’t you tell us? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know.” Junmyeon shrugs. “I figured it’d be best to just leave it be and go off the suppressants.”
“And you didn’t tell me, that if I hadn’t come home that day, you could have died?” Minseok breathes harshly out of his nose. “When we were on the phone you told me to just do well in my game and catch the next flight after the match was over.”
“You were over in China, Minseok, and the game was important. I didn’t want to risk your team losing and them holding it against you for not being there.”
“That’s nothing compared to the risk of losing you. I don’t want you ever keeping something like that away from me ever again.” the look Minseok gives Junmyeon lets the whole table know that the two will talk about this later, even if now Minseok accepts Junmyeon’s promise.
“I heard about a case, very similar to yours.” Hyesun starts off softly, “It may have very well been yours. It was this past summer, actually. Someone came in with a very high fever, he was very fortunate to make it to the hospital when he did.”
All the attention is on her. “When he first came in, our main concern was getting his temperature down. We obviously ran some bloodwork even though we could smell that he was in heat. A heat of that intensity was not normal at all. That, along with the records we had from before, let us know that he had been on suppressants since his first heat had ended.” Hyesun looks towards Junmyeon.
“Sounds like me.” he sighs. “Which hospital was it?” Hyesun names the exact hospital that they had went to last summer. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“The type of suppressants you were on, Junmyeon, they shouldn’t have been taken as long as they were. You should have been weaned off them and put on suppressants that were meant for longer consumption. If you continued to take the ones you were taking your reproductive system may have been irreparably damaged.”
“Which is why I no longer take the suppressants, and am now on birth control.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Junmyeon. I didn’t mean to put your business out there.”
“It’s fine, Mrs. Byun. They’d have heard about it eventually.”
“You have to excuse my mother, sometimes she forgets she has a life outside of the hospital.” Baekhyun jokes to ease the tension.
“You’re a nurse then, Mrs. Byun?” Mrs. Kim asks.
“A doctor, actually. I enjoy helping people. What about you, Mrs. Kim? What do you do to make money?”
Junmyeon’s mother is hesitant to voice it out loud. Hyesun is about to drop the subject before it gets any more awkward when Mrs. Kim says, “I’m the CEO of an electronics company. My husband is the CEO of a pharmaceutical company.”
“Sounds like it pays well.” Solmi laughs. “I remember when Hyesun and I were struggling to get stable jobs just so we could get Baekhyun. Adoption is no joke, you know. The smallest thing goes wrong,” Solmi holds up her fingers to show how small she means, “And you are put further back on the waiting list.”
“How old was Baekhyun when you two adopted him?” Seoyun asks.
“We met him the day he was born. You see, after the agency gave us the green light to go through with the adoption, they had us meet with a few families. Baekhyun’s birth parents really liked us, and didn’t have any problems with two female Omegas raising their child.” Solmi looks at Baekhyun with such love in her eyes, no one would doubt that she was his mother. “When his birth mother went into labour, we went to the hospital and met Baekhyun. We took him home with us two days later. There’s the grace period for all adoptions, meaning that if his birth parents decided they wanted him back, they could have him back. Though they did assure us that they wouldn’t change their minds, it didn’t keep Hyesun and I from rolling in our bed at night in fear. After the six months we had to go and meet back with the birth parents, and our adoption was finalized.”
“And what do you work as, Solmi?” Mrs. Kim looks completely interested in the story.
“Me? Oh my, I got caught up talking about Baekhyun,”
“As usual~” Hyesun muses.
“I’m a professor at a university. Not the one the boys’ go to though.” she laughs. “And I apologize if I’m making you repeat yourself, but I didn’t catch your name earlier.”
Junmyeon’s parents never actually said their full names, just introduced themselves as Junmyeon’s parents. Mrs. Kim laughs, “Oh, right. How forgetful of me. I’m Minyung. My husband is Sangjun.”
Hyesun snaps her fingers. “I remember seeing you now! I thought you looked familiar. Your company is coming up with great medications, Sangjun. And Minyung, your company makes so much money. It’s great seeing a woman in charge.”
“Thank you. It’s nice to know that all my years in school and all my hard work is being appreciated.”
“Of course. Why not.”
Baekhyun looks at Jongdae, eyes wide. Jongdae’s still trying to comprehend what’s being said, so Baekhyun leans forward and whispers, “Junmyeon’s parents are the very definition of filthy rich. They have so much money they could buy whatever they wanted.”
“Ah.” That explains why Junmyeon’s parents had high standards for a mate of Junmyeon’s. Minseok’s face has gone completely blank, and Jongdae can tell something is on his brother’s mind. He wants to ask once the plates are put up and in the dishwasher, but Junmyeon and Minseok go off somewhere, probably to speak in private.
It isn’t until everyone is leaving that he sees Minseok again. He looks upset. Jongdae looks in confusion at Junmyeon, who is dressed in a coat, hat, and gloves. He gets close enough to the two to hear the last bit of the conversation.
“I just have to talk about this with them in private. I’ll call you when I need you to come over? Okay.” Junmyeon kisses Minseok before walking out the door with his parents. Jongdae comes over to look at his brother.
“Hey, Minseok, I just want to apologize for what I said at dinner. I didn’t mean to bring it up, and I didn’t know that it was such a sensitive topic.”
“Whatever, Jongdae. Your big mouth just got Junmyeon scolded, and now he doesn't’ want to be here tonight. The damage is done.” Minseok turns away, missing the hurt look on Jongdae’s face as his brother says this.
-
Going back to school the day before classes start probably wasn’t the best idea. Jongdae hasn’t had time to acclimate to the environment.
Jongdae knows that that’s just bullshit and he just really doesn’t want to go back to school after an amazing break. More time in class, more time studying, more time away from his boyfriend. Thinking of Baekhyun, Jongdae should have probably asked for a ride from him to get back to uni. The car ride with Minseok and Junmyeon was so stifling awkward that Jongdae wanted to jump out the car as they were speeding down the highway. Jongdae’s parents still wouldn’t let them take separate cars, so Jongdae had to deal with it.
He couldn’t even text Baekhyun the entire way there, because if he knows someone is driving he doesn’t text them about silly things. Jongdae’s texting Baekhyun now though, asking him how his drive had been and if he was ready for class tomorrow.
Baekhyun [9:51PM]
Get on snapchat and open our chat
Jongdae finds the request odd as he exits out the messaging app to go to Snapchat. Usually whenever Jongdae receives a text from Baekhyun regarding snapchat it’s about Baekhyun wanting Jongdae to see something funny on his story.
As he opens the chat he waits. There are no saved conversations, because Baekhyun figured that conversing with Jongdae through text is more likely to get a response. The white circle encased by yellow has the background turn blue, signalling that both Jongdae and Baekhyun are looking at the chat at the same time. Jongdae simply stares at it before the white background changes to pixilated colors.
Jongdae jumps in surprise, watching as the screen smoothes out to reveal Baekhyun, in what Jongdae assumes to be his bed. Baekhyun waves at the camera, a “Jongdae, hit the blue button.” leaving his mouth.
Jongdae obliges, pressing the button. His face comes up briefly on the screen in a small circle before going away. “Jongdae, press and hold the button. Then slide the circle down so you don’t have to keep you hand on the screen.”
Though he takes Baekhyun’s advice word for word, it takes a few tries before the circle at the bottom of the screen actually stays.
“A video call? This is a first.” Jongdae muses, watching Baekhyun’s movements closely.
“I haven’t actually seen your face since New Years. You never send any pictures back on snapchat. I missed seeing your smile.” Baekhyun’s smile widens as Jongdae smiles at those words.
“You’re embarrassing me.” Jongdae tells him.
“How am I embarrassing you?” Baekhyun chuckles, “There’s no one in that room with you to hear me.”
“Oh yeah, and what about you? Who’s in the room with you?”
“No one.”
“Hey,” a deep voice resonates through the speakers of Jongdae’s phone, and voila, there Chanyeol is, his head right next to Baekhyun’s. This probably means that Chanyeol is kneeling, or more likely, laying on Baekhyun's bed. “I’m not no one.”
“Yes you are, Chanyeol. You’re nothing,” Baekhyun attempts to push Chanyeol out the the screen but the much larger Beta isn’t having any of it.
“How was break, Jongdae?”
Jongdae hadn’t gotten a chance to see any of his friends during that break, and that included Chanyeol. He and Jongin had spent time with their families in Korea, but Jongin and Chanyeol were always busy when Jongdae wasn’t. The rest of his friends went to China to celebrate it with their families. Even though Zitao’s immediate family lived in Korea, they still went to China to visit with extended family. Yifan and Yixing’s parents had made it to China about a week before Christmas, so Yifan and Yixing took the earliest flight after finals to get to China and spend quality time with their families. Kyungsoo and Han were in Korea also, but because Han’s father had flown in, they were spending as much time with him until he had to go back to work. As for Sehun, because he was unable to go with Zitao to China, he just sulked at home most of break.
“It was great, actually. What about yours, Chanyeol? Did you get any good gifts?” Jongdae’s attention is all on Chanyeol as the older male grins.
“Hell fucking yeah. Jongin got me this sweet guitar for Christmas. I wasn’t expecting it from him. It’s great.” Chanyeol smiles. “I felt bad just getting him some new sneakers and clothes to dance in. It felt like nothing compared to what he gave me.”
“I’m sure he loved your presents, Chanyeol. Don’t stress over it. Jongin probably needed new dancewear anyway, you helped him out.” Jongdae comforts Chanyeol.
“Thanks Jongdae.”
“Okay Chanyeol, go away and let me talk to my boyfriend.” Baekhyun tries to push Chanyeol away again, but this time Chanyeol has looked away from the camera to stare at Baekhyun. Then he looks back to the camera. Then at Baekhyun.
“Did you just say…?”
“No, I didn’t, now leave.”
“I think you did just say. When did this happen?” Chanyeol’s eyes light up with interest.
“It was Baekhyun’s Christmas gift. Now go away Chanyeol and let us talk in peace.”
“Alright.” Chanyeol leaves, but not before Jongdae sees the gleam in his eyes.
Jongdae and Baekhyun have barely gotten into their conversation when Jongdae hears a loud, “Baekhyun and Jongdae are dating?” this time it’s Jongin, and Baekhyun rolls his eyes before muttering something about going to handle this. The phone is put down, and Jongdae is greeted with the lovely sight of Baekhyun’s ceiling while he hears a loud banging.
“Out!”
“But Baekhyun…”
“Out, Jongin. Shoo! We’ll talk about this later, maybe.” Jongdae hears a loud bang, which he assumes is Baekhyun slamming the door shut because Baekhyun’s face comes into view a few moments late. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s alright.” Jongdae waits as Baekhyun readjusts himself in his bed.
“Now where were we?”
“We were talking about class tomorrow.” Jongdae’s attention is pulled away once more by a notification coming up at the top of the screen.
Sehun [10:12PM]
You finally got some dick????
Kyungsoo [10:14PM]
Just got an ecstatic call from Jongin saying you have a boyfriend
Kyungsoo [10:15PM]
I guess it’s true, we’ll talk tomorrow though
Han [10:17PM]
Just heard one of ur friends yelling on the phone at soo…
Han [10:17PM]
I guess minseok wasn’t exaggerating and u actually have a bf
Han [10:18PM]
So proud of u. u grwing up. brings tears to my eyes ;)
“I lied, it’s not alright. I did not want this on a school night, Baekhyun.” Jongdae rubs his face. “Now everyone knows we’re a thing.”
Baekhyun shrugs, showing no remorse. “How was I supposed to know you didn’t tell them? They are your friends after all, I figured you told them everything.”
“Baekhyun, half of them didn’t even know we were dating.”
“Ah.” Baekhyun falls silent. “You’re not mad at me, are you?”
“No, but now I’m wore out. I should go to bed, I have class in the morning.”
“What time does it start?”
“Ten.”
Baekhyun stares blankly at Jongdae before saying, “Jongdae, it’s ten at night now. If you went to sleep now, you’d get eleven hours of sleep.”
“I need to have beauty sleep.” Jongdae bats his eyelashes at Baekhyun in a show of his ‘beauty’.
“You don’t need any beauty sleep, you’re perfect the way you are.”
That’s where Jongdae ends the video connection, so Baekhyun doesn’t seem him turn and smother his face into his pillow to hide his scream and laugh, because even Baekhyun saying that is enough to make Jongdae blush.
Jongdae [10:25PM]
Goodnight
Baekhyun [10:25PM]
Goodnight.