#obviously i have ALREADY designed omega. long ago. obviously

[ambreiiigns]

i'm tired of drawing generic ghouls. we are moving on to designing the specific band ghouls. who's shitting their pants in excitement abt it (me)

[shutteredislands]

REYLO MODERN AU FIC RECS

Hi!! I spent my entire winter break reading reylo fics and I feel like I’ve found some gems! I’m boring and don’t like angst, so most of these are pretty fluffy, however, always read the tags before reading. Anyways, happy reading!

Already Home -  College, Roommates, A/B/O, Soulmates AU - Complete - Rated E - 79k

“Oh stop being all Alpha-y.” She flexes her foot, rolling her ankle as if to prove a point, and he doesn’t miss the wince that crosses her expression. “You aren’t my Alpha, and you definitely aren't my soulmate,” she mutters.

He can’t help but let out a dry laugh. “Thank god for small mercies.”

Okay so this is a trope fest but it was so good! I’m not gonna explain the plot in depth because I think going in blind is best for this!

Baby, It's Just Biology - Professor/Student, A/B/O AU - Complete - Rated E - 113k

For Rey Jackson, trying to finish your degree in Biomedical Science at Harvard is difficult enough when you're one of the few Omegas on campus.

It's made even more difficult when your Professor is the one to trigger your heat. You can't help it, it's just your biology.

An Alpha Omega love story.

This is the perfect balance of angst, fluff and pure smut. This one Is a lot angstier than anything else on this list, but you can see every stage of this relationship and I loved it so much! Please read the tags on this one!

I’ve got you (under my skin) - Nanny/Single Parent AU - On Hiatus - Rated E - 81k

“Hi, I’m Rey. I’m here for the—”

“Nanny,” Ben blurts out dazedly, still trying to remember how to form coherent thoughts. “You’re the nanny.”

Her smile hitches up a little wider. “Well, I might be.”

Suddenly, Ben thinks he might be in for a whole new world of problems.

Because Rey Johnson is still most likely the only thing standing between him and disaster, that much hasn’t changed, not by a long shot.

And Ben can’t seem to stop staring at her mouth.

In which Ben hires Rey to watch his son... but he can’t seem to stop watching her.

Okay so I almost never read WIPs, but this one was left off in a pretty good place so don’t worry about cliffhangers or anything. I am a sucker for single dad!Ben so expect more of these. I loved this fic so much and get ready for a SMUTFEST.

Light My Fire - Rivals to Lovers, College, A/B/O AU - Complete - Rated E - 20k

When rivals Ben and Rey break into a professor's office together, it comes out that Rey might not be the Beta she thinks she is.

I’ve never been the biggest reader of enemies to lovers, until this. This was so so so good! I loved their banter so much, and this is another smutfest lol.

Peacock - Fake Dating, Enemies to Lovers, Neighbors AU - Complete - Rated E - 72k

Thanks to a series of misunderstandings, failed attempts at flirting, and loud Katy Perry music, Ben grows to hate his new neighbor.

Proposing to her wasn't the best solution to his problems.

This is, hands down, one of the funniest fics I have ever read. I cried actual tears because of how funny this is. Slowish burn, but their banter will keep you engaged the whole time. I love this so much!!

An Unexpected Vacation - Scientist, A/B/O AU - Complete - Rated E - 62k 

“You don’t care that someone, that people will watch you fuck?” He looks two seconds away from puking. “Like multiple, multiple people will be able to describe your vagina. They’ll probably analyze it in a boardroom. Someone will feel proud about a shitty PowerPoint full of annotated pictures. They will use words like ‘arousal fluid’ and consult charts and these things will never not be digitally saved. That doesn’t bother you?”

“Are you suggesting my vagina is unworthy of analysis?”

--

In which Rey attempts to bolster her bank account by volunteering to fuck an Alpha in a scientific study. Plans go pear-shaped when she accidentally triggers scientist!Ben’s first Rut.

This was a really funny smutfest and I loved that. I loved Rey and Ben so much, and Ben was the perfect “I hate everyone but you” boyfriend! I love this!

She Doesn’t Normally Bite - Single Parent/Teacher AU - WIP - Rated E - 37k

Ben Solo is a single dad to 6-year old Ellis. Her teacher isn't the old-cat lady that he expects and naturally, sparks fly when they meet. Rey helps show Ben that he is allowed to be happy and the romance is DELICIOUS. There will be the happy ending we all deserve.

Both Ben and Rey have a lot to navigate, and of course - things are never straight forward.

Tw: Bens wife died when their daughter was born - whilst it is mentioned periodically, it does not form a significant part of the story. There'll also be warnings in the notes for the particular chapters it'll be mentioned in.

THIS THE ONLY WIP I WILLL EVER READ REY AND BEN ARE SO FREAKING CUTE AND ELLIS IS SUCH A CUTE KID AHHHHHHH! That is all.

Down an Inch, Up an Inch - A/B/O, Soulmates, Gym Rats AU - Complete - Rated E - 60k

Omega instructor Rey has always been the master of her domain at Rebel Belle Barre and wouldn't dream of dating an Alpha.

When her new neighbors at Supremacy Bootcamp start ruining her classes with their terrible music, she storms over to give them a piece of her mind. She challenges the beefy ex-Marine owner Ben Solo to a plank-off and the loser has to take the other's class. When they spark an unusual connection, can Rey stay away for long?

Has she bitten off more than she can chew with the gentle giant Alpha with the warm, sad eyes?

SMUT FREAKING FESTTTTT. Okay but I loved these two so much, even though I am opposed to working out in any shape or form! I love the non-traditional soulmate part, and I really loved Rey in this. 

Tea for Two - Enemies to Lovers, University Setting AU - Complete - Rated E - 67k 

'"This is a tea house, you know." The plummy, ultra-posh voice startled Rey Kenobi from her day-dreaming, almost spilling the scalding hot coffee over her chest.'

Rey, an American former hacker, turned cyber security expert, has been commissioned by Oxford University to protect their systems from hackers. Unfortunately, she has to work closely with Professor Ben Solo, Merton Professor of English Literature who also happens to be Lord Ben Solo, member of the English peerage. And an unmitigated snob.

She drinks coffee. He drinks tea. He only reads classic literature. She reads Marvel comics. He is nobility. She is a nobody.

Things should go swimmingly, shouldn't it?

SO. MUCH. UNRESOLVED. SEXUAL. TENSION. I loved the slow burn aspect because I sat in bed because I was waiting for them to bone for so long. And after they bone its a smut and fluff-fest I loved this so much!

And They Were Roommates - Roommates, A/B/O AU - Complete - Rated E - 49k

“This isn’t going to work.” He points a finger between the two of them. “This arrangement.”

Her eyes narrow. “You didn’t put any specifications on who could apply.”

“Yeah…” He rubs the back of his neck then, the action making it look longer, making her wonder what it might feel like under her fingers. “You have to know that this isn’t a good idea.”

She knows what he means, she does—but she’s so tired of being brushed aside for her designation that she challenges him anyway. “And why not?”

His eyes bore into hers, his expression blank as he says, “Because I can tell how much scent-block you put on—and I can still smell you.”

In which Rey’s new roommate turns out to be a lot more than she bargained for.

EVEN. MORE. UNRESOLVED. SEXUAL. TENSION. Like these two would be eating cereal and I would be chanting, “bone! bone! bone!” the whole time. I loved these two, and the family aspect of this one was so good.

Imprints - A/B/O, Boss/Employee AU - Complete - Rated E - 74k

“I was happy you’ll be working with someone you know. He’ll take good care of you.”

Take good care of you.

The words send a shiver down her spine, sparking memories that flood her with embarrassment. She feels a strange itch just below her ear, her gland giving a phantom pulse as if her body remembers the incident even still.

Suddenly her triumph fades into dread, the idea of working here leaving a hollow pit in her stomach. Poe is still talking, but she doesn’t hear most of it. Her mind is firmly trapped in the vivid memories of six years ago— in a moment she wishes she could forget.

By the time she hangs up the phone— she isn’t sure anymore if she can do this.

Okay so this is pretty popular so I wont say too much, but it lives up to the hype. Smutfest, fluff and angst rolled into one beautiful fic! 

Bespoke - Enemies to Lovers, Boss/Employee (?) AU - Complete - Rated E - 38k 

When new stylist Rey Jackson receives a request to dress the hottest (and most unfashionable) new actor in Hollywood, she gets a lot more than she bargained for.

Mentally AND physically.

Because Ben Solo is freaking massive.

THIS WAS SO HOT OMG! Smutfest but also super cute. Another “I hate everyone but you” version of Ben I fell in love with. Loved this!

Incognito - Coworkers AU - Complete - Rated E - 30k

“Somehow Rey’s coworkers find out about her Daddy kink. They all kink shame her for it, except her coworker Ben. He has something else in mind.”

This was so funny! Ben and Rey were so cute, and I love Finn and Rose in this too! This was great!

A Home For Christmas - Single Parent, Sugar Daddy AU - Complete - Rated E - 109k

Rey is a struggling single mother who needs to do right by her daughter, even if it means she needs to steal. Ben is sad and lonely, recently divorced for the second time. When Rey's daughter picks him to help her find her mom, their paths cross and their Christmas becomes a little more bright.

This was so freaking cute OMG!! I know I say that a lot, but this was so adorable! I loved Ben and Rey so much, but Nova was obviously the star of the show. I cannot recommend this enough!

Unsuppressed - Office, A/B/O AU - Complete - Rated E - 49k

Rey had only ever encountered two Alphas in her entire life that had been unsuppressed. And now this third one that stunk up the entire building. Not that it stunk, his scent. In fact, it was the most delicious thing Rey had ever smelled. ///////////////////////////////////// Ben Solo closed his eyes as he rode down the elevator from the 40th floor to the lobby, trying not to reach up to his glands to scratch them. Somehow, it felt like he always caught the elevator that was dripping in the Omega’s scent. The one that wandered around the building without any suppressants. The one that smelled better than any Omega he had ever smelled before.

STRAIGHT FLUFF AND SMUT OMFG!!! I loved this so freaking much! This was whatever the opposite of unresolved sexual tension and slow burn. Like Ben and Rey tried to make this a slow burn but they could not keep their hands off of each other. I loved this!

Sunshine and Gunpowder - Hitman, Surprise Parents AU - Complete - Rated E - 48k

She’s a teacher who would do anything to protect her student. He’s a glorified hitman with a heart of black gold.

Together, they make up odd halves of a beautiful whole.

THIS WAS SO CUTE!! Like, yes, I know Ben is a hitman, but when I tell you he was the softest hit man I have ever read, Temiri was so cute in this! I loved Ben and Rey, and their UST made me love them even more. Han and Leia are also hilarious in this! 

It Takes a Village - A/B/O, Surprise Parents AU - Complete - Rated E - 40k 

Who knew that all it would take for Rey Johnson to interact with her enigmatic Alpha neighbor without wanting to melt into a puddle of hormones was a baby being abandoned at her doorstep?

Not her. That was for sure.

THIS IS THE CUTEST ONE YET! I REREAD THIS QUITE OFTEN! LIKE AHHHHHHH SO FREAKING FLUFFY! NOT EVEN A WHISPER OF ANGST AND A LOT OF SMUT I LOVED THIS SO FREAKING MUCH AHHHH! AND THE EPILOGUE MADE ME CRY!

Sensual Storytime - Office AU - Complete - Rated E - 23k

When Rey Johnson starts a new job, her initially antagonistic relationship with Ben Solo from IT turns into friendship... and maybe something more.

Little does she know he also moonlights as Kylo Ren, the creator of her favorite audio erotica. One day at the office, worlds collide, and she realizes the sweater vest-wearing nerd of her dreams is also the tattooed fantasy man she listens to while getting off every night...

THIS IS MY FAVORITE REYLO FIC EVER. I RECOMMEND THIS TO PEOPLE WHO DON’T EVEN LIKE STAR WARS! THIS IS COWORKER BANTER LIKE NO OTHER. AND THE SMUT ? UNPARALLELED. READ THIS NOW!

That is all I have time for right now, but I’ll make another list later if anyone would like that! Please take care of yourself and have a great day! 

[celestial-ringleader]

pssst here’s a free pass to talk more about your phoenix!gambit au 👀 his design is super cool and i am curious abt what you have figured out so far,,, 🤲

First of all thank you so much ;u;

Okay so to start off with, the basic idea was formed because I was reading over some stuff about the Phoenix Five event that happened a bit ago (and also talks about the Phoenix came up a few times in discord) and I was sort of chilling out and suddenly I got hit with the idea: what if Remy absorbed the Phoenix Force? And then it was all downhill from there.

(Big thanks to @esteicy-blog and @imperiuswrecked for hearing me out on this ajkbkvj)

This is gonna be a long post so I'm putting it under a read more

Design:

So to start with, I'm gonna first go through the outfit design because honestly that's always the fun part for me. I wanted to obviously reference the first Dark Phoenix arc but I also didn't want it to be copy-paste, so in terms of design/over all aesthetic I was taking a lot of inspiration from the OG Dark Phoenix outfit and a bit of Namor's Phoenix look, mostly for the gold detail and the red/black/gold color scheme. And for the outfit I went with for Remy it's sort of a mix of his classic look but also his look in Excalibur. (See below)

I looked at the other Phoenix outfit variants (and apparently there are some Phoenix Gambit designs out there???), but those didn't really inspire me that much?? I wanted him to look more regal while also fucking intimidating, so Phoenix Remy would have armor on while also looking Extra Slutty for good measure (plus some rubies to make him look Expensive).

So then we end up with this: (anatomy is weird here but this was just to get a full-body drawing down, also the coat sadly didn't make it to the drawing since I wanted to show off the gold but he does wear one usually.)

But anyways that's just design stuff and I barely got into the meat of the actual AU.

Overall Story Premise:

So as I was doing research into the Phoenix, I found out that apparently at one point it put itself in some kind of egg in the White Hot room (that's according to the wiki) and that sort of made me start thinking about Remy could've gotten it.

The gist of what I came up with after the last couple of days is that one day the X-Men/Avengers (which I'm not sure who all would be there, but it would definitely have Remy, Pietro, and Jean) are called to do some retrieval mission by investigating a crashed spaceship where they need to find an artifact for the Shi'ar. They aren't told exactly what it is nor what it looks like, only that it's important they get it and they will "know it when they see it".

To not make this post too long and spoil what I might write, basically they go to find it and split off. Remy finds himself in the hull of the ship (which has all the treasure in it so of course he starts looting) when he comes across what looks like a fancy egg-shaped jewel, and aside from feeling warm there's nothing really menacing about it. Remy reports in that he found a weird thing, but he doesn't think it's what they're looking for. Jean tells him to leave it since they shouldn't steal from the Shi'ar...which only makes Remy want it more.

(Here's a visual of what happens basically:)

Remy in fact doesn't leave it and just shoves it in his bag while he finds his way back to the team, but on the way there the wreckage caves in more around him and leaves him trapped. And since there's no other way to escape, he uses the egg (which makes him sad because he really did wanna keep it) but the second he charges it up, he unknowingly releases the Phoenix, which was laying dormant/trapped within the egg until Remy charged up the "potential energy" within it (which was really just the dormant Phoenix energy).

At first the Phoenix tries to go for Jean since she used to be a host, but when it recognizes Remy as being a mutant with incredible power (he's Omega-Level in this au, but his true power is largely dormant), it basically goes like "nah I like this one" and possesses him instead. Soon after that Remy passes out and is taken back to Earth (with a very worried Pietro carrying him as much as he can bc they're dating in this au bc I said so)

Assorted Ideas:

So after the whole thing on the ship weeks go by and no one really knows where the Phoenix is, only that it's out there and will probably try to find a host. Remy says he doesn't know what happened after the egg "hatched" and genuinely has no idea that he's become a host until the Phoenix reveals itself to him in the form of an apparition.

After that he just sort of keeps it quiet while he tries to learn to control it (after all he's learned to control his powers on his own, this can't be too hard right? yes. yes it can be that hard.) Pietro is the first to find out about it because he literally sees Remy sort of transform in front of him during Intimate Times, and that makes Remy freak out and makes him promise not to tell anyone else.

Later on, Remy accidentally hurts Pietro after lashing out (idk why they were probably arguing and Remy's already on edge so he gets angered easily) and since he burns him with cosmic fire, it takes much longer for Pietro to heal. However Pietro doesn't want anyone to find out or get the wrong idea about Remy so he keeps it hidden. Which doesn't last long when Wanda finds out and she immediately goes to beat Remy's ass only to discover the Phoenix Force within him (bc she can sense it and apparently Chaos Magic is one of the Phoenix's weaknesses). She lets him live when he explains that it was an accident, but she also goes like "I fought the Phoenix before, I'll do it again".

After that I'm not sure what happens, but I know it eventually leads to Remy being completely overtaken by the Phoenix and goes on a warpath to ""cleanse"" the universe while also being driven by his rage at the world and some of his (supposed) friends, but he's snapped out of it when Pietro gets close to him and gets him to calm down enough to gain control again. Eventually the Phoenix Force is literally pulled out of him with help from Wanda and Jean, but that whole process is painful and it nearly kills him but it ends up okay. (I'm not strong enough to kill main characters)

Anyways I hope this all makes sense since I was trying to take some notes plus discord convos and making it less incoherent and with less key smashes everywhere.

Thanks again for the ask! Glad you actually wanna hear about my ramblings and such. 🔥🔥🔥

[soldouthaz]

hii! I'm not having the best night and I felt like compiling a list of my favorite fics that never fail to make me smile when I'm down or have provided me a beautifully worded escape for a while :) 

disclaimer: I will list the specifics for those interested, but there is a mix of bl / bh so be aware of that please. these are the fics that make ME happy and I want to spread some positivity for the talented authors that have gotten me through some rough times, so please leave any negativity out of it and stick to your own preferences. 

thank you and happy reading! ♡

✰ enter the rose garden (GA, 10k, imp. b!L) by @angelichl

Soft heats make omega Louis clingy. Enter alpha Harry. 

✰ before we knew (E, 40k, b!L) by @risthebrave / falsegoodnight 

Louis has been skeptical of soulmates for years so it seems like fate when he finally bumps into the owner of the obnoxiously large signature printed into his skin since age sixteen: Harry Styles, a human rights attorney who is firmly against soulmates.

✰ baby we could be enough (I'll make this feel like home) (E, 57k, b!H) 

“Did you clean the table?” Harry asks Louis once Rose is done speaking, now occupied with trying to see if she can reach over and touch Harry’s hair from where she’s sat. At Louis’ nod, Harry frowns. “You didn’t have to do that. You’re my guests here, I could’ve dealt with it later.”

Louis just smiles easily, though, adjusting Rose on his lap so that she’s facing Harry better. She manages to tug on a loose wave of hair, and she makes a noise of triumph that both Louis and Harry smile at.

“I don’t mind,” Louis murmurs to Harry, even though he’s looking at Rose. “This one here seemed very excited to talk to you.”

And, okay. Harry can’t help but think of how domestic this feels, all of a sudden.

[harry is a photographer who's trying to find his place. louis is a single father with a smile that feels like home.]

✰ when you touch me, paint me like a van gogh (E, 4k, b!L) by TurismoEmocional 

(Harry has been away for a month. He comes home to Louis in the middle of the night - dramatics and smut ensue.) 

✰ undone, undress (E, 134k, b!H) by @angelichl

Louis' new roommate is shy, skittish, and flinches at the slightest sounds. He's an art major who gets drunk on cherry wine, wears lacy lingerie, and shows up late at night covered in bruises that blossom across his skin like flowers.

Obviously something is wrong. Louis just doesn't know what it is.

personal note: this fic is amazing and has been very validating for me, but please make sure to check the tags and author’s note for any possible triggers before reading and make the best choice for yourself! 

✰ ours are the moments I play in the dark (E, 30k, b!L) by @holdingthornsandroses / edensrose

Jane Austen's Persuasion AU. Nine years ago Louis Tomlinson was persuaded to break off his engagement to Harry Styles, a poor sailor. Since then Louis has come to regret being so easily convinced to give up his one chance of happiness. Now Louis' family is in debt and his childhood home is being sold. In a complete reversal of fortune, Harry has returned to England a wealthy bachelor looking to settle down. Events conspire to bring them together once more though Louis is- must surely be- the last man on earth that Captain Styles would think of now.

✰ hot and heavy, pumpkin pie (E, 10k, b!L) by @sunflowerstyles

Louis and Harry get separated at a Green Bay Packers game. Harry finds him and helps his baby relax by buying Louis things that get him to smile and making love to him for quite a while. 

✰ laundry room (E, 10k, not specified/no penetrative sex) by @thelovejandles / beautlouis

[Louis and Harry are both students living in the same apartment complex. They end up having the same laundry night and time. Louis can't stop staring at Harry and he can't figure out why Harry consistently points out Louis’ inside-out shirts, and his untied shoes, and messy hair. Enter slow burn-ish flirting, banter, awkwardness, and a lot of laundry.] 

✰ everywhere and nowhere (E, 16k, b!L) by @2tiedships2 

Niall took a seat and said, "Apparently Louis' downstairs neighbor is a fan of giving Louis creepy gifts. Maybe I should go introduce myself and tell him that Louis actually prefers food."

"What has he given you?" Liam asked.

Louis shrugged as it were no big deal. "There was a rabbit's foot keychain on the door a little after he left from introducing himself and there was a small teddy bear sitting by my door tonight. Obviously I can't prove it's from him, but they seem to have his scent. I could be wrong though."

"Wow," Liam said, looking deep in thought. "That's old school."

"What's old school?" Niall asked. "Giving creepy gifts?"

"I've never known an alpha to do it, to be honest, but he's courting you."

Louis couldn't contain his look of disbelief directed at Liam. "He's courting me. Like some sort of romantic shit they'd do in the 1800s or something?"

✰ thinking about the t-shirt you sleep in (E, 52k, b!L) by @absoloutenonsense / nonsensedarling

Harry's alpha fraternity donates to a local thrift shop (because of Liam's latent crush on a cute beta in his lecture). Louis' financial situation (and confusing omega instincts) lead him to make some interesting fashion purchases. Lots of pizza, feelings, and not-really-lying.

✰ the case of the (definitely not haunted) styles mansion (E, 40k, b!H) by @briannamarguerite / briamaria

The Nancy Drew AU where Marcel is a man of logic, Louis is a private detective who believes in ghosts, and the Styles Mansion is definitely, absolutely, positively *not* haunted.

✰ building castles in the sky (GA, 22k, no smut) by @whileatwiltshire

"D-dad? You think I c-can do it? Y-you think i c-can..." Evan trailed off looking down at his chest. And Louis' heart melted.

"I think you can do everything, love. Everything." Louis said while pulling his boy closer. "Because you, my little dandelion, are very brave! And so strong and wonderful and so very bright! You will go up on that stage, and you will blow everyone away. I just know it."

They laid there on their porch while they hugged each other tightly. His little boy was so brave. Louis didn't need to see him on a stage to be proud. He was proud of him already.

"You know,” Evan mumbled aloud again. “Mr. S-Styles says the same t-thing. He s-says I c-can do e-everything too.”

And Louis couldn't help but smile.

or,

Where, Louis had a four year old with a stuttering problem. Harry was always there to help.

✰ a trail of honey through it all (E, 27k, b!L) by faeriestyles 

the TPH* fic we’ve all been waiting for. 

* (trailer park harry)

✰ we should open up (before it’s all too much) (E, 43k, b!H) by @disgruntledkittenface

Struggling with grieving and depression since his dad died, Harry has never felt so alone. It’s too much to cope with on his own, but he feels like a burden when he tries to open up with people.

Then he meets Louis.

personal note: I cannot stress enough how much this fic means to me and it is very close to my heart, but I strongly suggest checking the tags for any possible triggers before reading!! 

✰ my love’s not simple (it’s fragile) (E, 27k, b!L) by @risthebrave / falsegoodnight 

Harry's new job is threatened by his impending rut. Desperate for a solution, he allows Niall to introduce him to Louis, an omega whose heat begins the same day. They click.

✰ swept me off my feet (took my heart and took me down) (E, 25k, b!L) by jennifer_kaid

When Louis had decided to reopen his mother's bakery, he never thought a charming alpha would walk in through the door, let alone fall in love with him over tea, dessert and music.

✰ knock knock, I love you (E, 86k, b!H) by @thelovejandles / beautlouis

[Harry and Louis get kicked out of a statistics exam for passing a knock knock joke note, and subsequently fall in love. Harry's a virgin, there's a cat, a hot cocoa date, a lot of sex, even more knock knock jokes, and everything is lovely and happy.] 

✰ enjoy the ride (E, 11k, imp. b!L) by @2tiedships2

the one where Louis, an omega more than tired of being treated as lesser than alphas, is forced on a road trip by his beta besties only to meet Harry who might just be the alpha he never knew he wanted.

✰ fading (E, 202k, b!L) by tothemoonmydear

Louis knows about beauty; the combination of qualities that pleases the aesthetic senses. He creates that combination every day in the garments he designs while studying fashion at uni. The cut of the design, the color of the fabric, the intricacy of the stitching; it all comes together to create something beautiful. When the science student with the long legs and dimpled smile agrees to model for him, Louis decides he’s found beauty personified. Harry just thinks Louis needs someone to show him how beautiful he is.

personal note: another wonderful and realistic story but please check the tags for triggers before reading! 

all of these fics and authors mean a lot to me and have unknowingly made me incredibly happy during some dark times. if you visit these fics, please make sure to leave a kudos or a comment to spread some positivity, or feel free to let the authors that have made your life better know! :) 

(as always, please let me know if I tagged or linked anything incorrectly! happy reading!) 

[debbiechanclub]

Best Two Out of Three, Part 11

Before you all get into reading this part that I’ve been STRESSING over, I want to say from the deepest depths of my often cynical heart how much I appreciate each and every one of you. It blows my mind on the daily that there are so many people who seem to care about this fic. YOU ALL MEAN SO MUCH TO ME. This fic has given me something to focus on and look forward to during this strange time in the world.

And now that I’ve buttered you up...  pleasepleaseplease don’t kill me or @what-does-mine-say or Alex. She’s just trying to do the right thing, dammit!

Best Two Out of Three

Part: 11/26

Pairing: Kenny Omega x OFC x Cash Wheeler and Adam Page x OFC

Warnings: ANGST

Word Count: 4.2k

Catch up on previous parts here.

Alex woke up just after 7 a.m. the next morning. She’d slept as best as she could, given all that was on her mind. And that meant she needed a strong cup of coffee, stat.    

She opened the door to the guest room and padded quietly through the house into the kitchen. She was surprised to find Adam there. “Morning,” he greeted when he noticed her. “I wasn’t expecting to see you up for another hour at least.”

“I could say the same about you,” she returned. “You and Dax hit the bottle pretty hard last night.”

“Please, that was nothing and you know it,” he dismissed. “Besides, I figured I’d get up and make everyone breakfast. You know, since Callie did everything yesterday.”

He grinned at her. She playfully rolled her eyes as she motioned at the coffee pot. “Is that coffee fresh?”

He nodded. She grabbed a mug from a cabinet and poured herself a cup, just waiting for Adam to bring up Cash. It didn’t take long.

“So,” he said as he started cracking eggs into a large bowl. “You and Cash looked like you were getting pretty cozy last night.”

Alex’s face went instantly red. She took a sip of coffee to try to hide it—but there was absolutely no hiding it.

“You like him,” Adam grinned.

If possible, her face went even redder. “Don’t.”

“Why? You know he’s been asking me about you.”

“Because, Adam.” She stopped and let out a frustrated huff. “Why are you so obviously trying to set me up with Cash? Better yet—why are you so obviously against me and Kenny?”

Adam stopped what he was doing. He looked conflicted, like there was something weighing on his mind. But Alex couldn’t have predicted what he said next. “Because I think Cash would be better for you than Kenny, Alex.”

A weight dropped like a rock into the pit of her stomach. She was stunned. Kenny was Adam’s tag team partner—his friend. She couldn’t believe he would go behind his back like that. “What?”

Adam cracked another egg and tossed the shell into the trash. “Look,” he started. “Maybe I shouldn’t say this but… even if you and Kenny finally did decide to be together for real, I don’t know if he’d ever really make you happy.”

That confused her even further. “What? Why?”

“Because you’re such different people, Alex,” he said. “You like drinking and having a good time just as much as I do. You like actually watching baseball, and stupid comedy shows, and you know how to handle a gun, for fuck’s sake. Meanwhile, Kenny doesn’t drink, and I love the guy but, besides wrestling, I honestly don’t know what his interests are other than video games and Japan. You don’t play video games. You suck at video games.”

She sent him a flat look. “So you think Kenny can’t make me happy because he doesn’t drink and I suck at video games?”

“Come on, it’s more than that and you know it,” he breathed. “Let me ask you this: have you ever stopped to think if you and Kenny actually have a connection? Or is it just physical?”

Alex opened her mouth—but she didn’t have anything good to say. Now that he’d forced her to think about it, she honestly didn’t know if her connection with Kenny did go beyond the physical. Their conversations never went below the surface to anything of substance. In fact, whenever she’d tried to go deeper in the past, he’d always pushed her away; and then, inevitably, he’d try to reassure her with sex. Trent was right—Kenny had commitment issues. But maybe Adam had a point, too. Were she and Kenny just not right for each other?

“Look,” he said again, pulling her out of her thoughts. “I know I’ve put you in a shitty position, and I’m sorry for that. But I can tell that you and Cash do have a connection. And I think that’s worth giving a shot.”

He went back to cracking eggs. Alex frowned down into her coffee. She thought back to less than eight hours ago, to how she’d felt when Cash had held her in the hallway, like there wasn’t anyone else who mattered in the world. They did have a connection; she could feel it already. But, given the circumstances, she also couldn’t help but feel guilty about it.

“I’m gonna go get dressed,” she sighed, and she walked out of the kitchen before Adam could say a word. She went straight back to the guest room and fished her phone out of her bag. There weren’t any messages. She opened her texts with Kenny, her thumbs hovering over the digital keyboard. But she didn’t know what to say. There was too much and absolutely nothing to say all at once.

Someone knocked lightly on the half-open door. She turned and looked. Her heart fluttered. It was Cash.

“Morning, sweetheart.” He let himself in, pushing the door nearly closed behind him. She felt her pulse start to quicken—but then he gave her an amused smirk. “Did you sleep in an Orange Cassidy shirt?”

“Oh.” Alex flushed as she looked down at her shirt. “Yeah. What, are you jealous?”

“A little, yeah,” he admitted with a grin. “I’m gonna have to get you an FTR shirt to sleep in.”

She bit back a grin. Something about Cash made her feel like a schoolgirl with a crush. She hadn’t felt that way in a long time.

“Come here,” he said. She dropped her phone to the bed and met him halfway, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Mm,” he hummed as he hugged her. “How’d you sleep?”

“As well as I could, I guess,” she answered. “You?”

“Same. I had to talk myself out of coming in here more than once.”

She smiled against his shoulder. “Did you?”

He nodded. “Yeah.” He unwrapped his arms from around her but kept his hands on her hips, still holding her close. “Are you glad you came this weekend?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I am. It was… unexpected. I’ll just put it that way.” She ran her hands over his chest, worrying at her lip. It had been unexpected, alright. In a good way… but also in a not-so-good way. Just because she’d realized her feelings for Cash were more than just drunken attraction didn’t mean that her feelings for Kenny were gone. They weren’t—and she didn’t want to hurt him. She knew all too well what that felt like.

“Hey,” Cash gently said. She looked back up at him. His eyes were soft and sincere. “I know things are complicated right now. And I don’t want to complicate them further. But I wasn’t just sweet talking you last night, Alex. I meant everything I said. And if you meant what you said, too… then I’d like to take you out sometime, even if it’s just for coffee.”

There were the butterflies again. “Are you asking me on a date, Cash?”

He smiled. “Yeah. If that’s something you’d be interested in.”

Alex’s grin nearly split her face in two. “Of course I’d be interested,” she said. But her grin faltered. She couldn’t just accept a date with Cash. As he’d said, things were complicated.

“Why do I feel like there’s a ‘but’ coming?” he asked.

“But,” she said. “I need to talk to Kenny first. It wouldn’t be fair to him if I didn’t.”

Cash nodded. “I know. And honestly, the fact that you know that makes me like you even more.”

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck again, and he held her tight like he had in the hallway the night before. Alex knew there was a difficult conversation ahead of her, and probably a lot more guilt and anguish. But Adam was right: what she and Cash seemed to have was worth a shot.

She just wasn’t looking forward to having to tell that to Kenny.

* * * * * * * * * *

Alex arrived at the hotel in Jacksonville on Wednesday with a heavy heart and a stomach full of nerves. Her legs felt like Jell-O as she walked across the lobby toward the elevator, praying that she wouldn’t run into anyone on the way up to the room. She wasn’t ready to talk to anyone yet.

She hadn’t spoken to Cash since he and Dax had left Adam and Callie’s house on Sunday, and that was by design. She’d told him before he could even ask for it that she didn’t feel comfortable giving him her number until after she’d talked to Kenny; she just wouldn’t have felt right texting—and probably flirting with—him behind Kenny’s back. Cash had, of course, completely understood. Ironically, how sweet and sensitive he was being about the entire situation only made things harder for her.

As for Kenny… their communication had been sporadic over the last four days. He’d been busy. She wasn’t even sure what with; all the things he had on his plate were hard to keep straight. But honestly, his business had been a blessing in disguise. If they’d talked any more than they had, she didn’t doubt she would have given away that something was weighing on her.

But Cash and Kenny weren’t the only people on her mind. She still needed to talk to her best friend—and she couldn’t put off that conversation any longer.

She stepped off the elevator and made her way to the room number written on the key card sleeve the hotel clerk had given her. When she arrived, she slid the key card into the lock, opened the door, and gave a warning knock. “Are you naked?”

There was no answer at first. And then Chuck called, “No. Should I be?”

Alex laughed lightly to herself as she walked the rest of the way into the room. “Just checking. Can’t be too careful after you and James walked in on me.”

Chuck stood from his bed, clearly surprised to see her. “Hey. Are you staying here this week?”

She looked sheepishly at the floor. “I was hoping to, if that’s alright with you.”

He didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, of course,” he said. Alex let out a relieved breath. “I just figured you’d stay with Kenny again.”

She awkwardly cleared her throat. She really didn’t want to get into all that right now, so she just ignored the comment. “Well, you and I are about a week overdue for a certain conversation.”

For a second, Chuck looked like a deer in headlights. But then he shook his head. “We don’t have to talk about that, Alex.”

“No, we really do, Chuck,” she returned. “Trent and I might have hashed things out, but that doesn’t mean that what he said just disappeared.”

“I didn’t agree with anything he said.”

She pursed her lips. “Be honest.”

His eyebrows arched. “I am!”

“So you don’t think I took advantage of your feelings by flirting with you to get the attention I didn’t get from Kenny?”

“No! Not intentionally!”

Alex gaped at him. “So you do think that then.”

“No, I—” he cut himself off and let out a frustrated huff. “Okay, that sounded bad. But I promise you—it didn’t hurt me. Not like Trent implied. I’m not an idiot, Alex; I knew what you were doing. And honestly? If I could help keep you from crying over Kenny, then I really didn’t care if the flirting meant anything or not.”

He looked back at her, completely vulnerable and honest, and it absolutely gutted Alex. Was that really the truth? If it was, then Chuck was too good a person; she felt completely undeserving of his friendship. But there was a giant pink elephant staring at her from the corner of the room, and there was no way they could put this behind them if they didn’t address it. So Alex just came out and said it.

“When you told me you were in love with me in Vegas, did you mean it?”

Chuck hesitated. But then he ran a hand through his hair and said, “At the time, yeah. But I got over it. That’s why it pisses me off that Trent and James still bring it up. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Alex felt like she’d had the wind knocked out of her. She walked over to one of the beds and sunk down onto the comforter, stunned. Chuck was at her side in a second. “When?” she breathed.

His brow furrowed. “When?”

“When did you get over it?”

He combed his fingers through his hair again. “I don’t know… sometime in the fall? I mean, I knew you didn’t feel the same. And you got involved with Kenny not long after I said it, so… it was just easier to get over it.”

Alex couldn’t look at him. She felt awful. More awful than she had when Trent had called her out, more awful than she did about her feelings for Cash. That’s why Chuck had let her flirt with him—because he’d been in love with her. And she’d been too blind and selfish to see it.

She looked back at him. “Why don’t you hate me?”

He gave her a look like that were impossible for him. “Because I do love you. Platonically,” he emphasized with a grin. It made her smile, just a bit. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his side. “You and Trent and James are my best friends. And there’s not a lot that I care more about than that.” He paused. “I mean, there’s Walter’s happiness and health. And the Phillies. And the Sixers. And the—”

“I think I get it,” she smirked.

He smiled. “The point is… our friendship is like a cockroach. A nuclear blast wouldn’t kill that shit.”

Alex pinched the bridge of her nose, trying not to laugh. “You have a way with words, Chuck.”

“I know,” he seriously returned. “So can we please put all this behind us and go back to being best friends?”

She looked up at him. “We never weren’t best friends,” she said as she pulled him into a hug. She closed her eyes, happy to have at least sorted this out; but when she opened them again, she got a shock. Trent and James were peeking around the adjoining door between their rooms. Watching. “What the fuck?” she proclaimed.

“What?” Chuck let her go and turned around to look. “Seriously?” he asked when he saw them. “How long have you been there?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” James coolly returned. “We just got here.”

Alex pursed her lips. That was an obvious lie.

“So are you two good now?” Trent asked.

“Yeah,” Alex nodded with a smile. “As long as Chuck is okay then I am, too.”

He wrapped his arm around her again. “Of course I am,” he assured.

Trent stepped into the room. “Well then I think we know what this calls for.” He opened his arms and beckoned them over.

Alex arched a brow. “Seriously?”

“We’ve got to give the people what they want, Alex,” he returned.

She playfully rolled her eyes as she and Chuck stood up and walked over. James joined them, and they all gave each other a group hug, Alex squished in the middle.

There were a few seconds of silence. And then Alex said, muffled by James’s shoulder, “This is weird.”

The others all agreed as they stepped back from each other. “Yeah, let’s never do that again alone in our hotel room,” Trent said. But Alex smiled. Chuck was right. Their friendships were like cockroaches—and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

* * * * * * * * * *

A little while later, Alex walked down the hall toward the elevators. She felt like she was walking to her execution. Kenny had texted that he’d arrived at the hotel and can’t wait to see you. She’d wrestled with what to do before she sent a response—See you in a few—and went out the door. There was no point in delaying the inevitable.

She rode the elevator up one floor and made her way to Kenny’s room, hoping that the Bucks or anyone else wouldn’t be there, too. When she got to his door, she took a deep, steadying breath and knocked. It was only a few seconds before he answered. The sight of him broke Alex’s heart before he even said a word.

“Hey, baby,” he smiled. Her stomach fluttered. Why did he have to call her that? But then his brow furrowed. “Where’s your bag?”

She had to swallow a lump in her throat before she could answer. “I’m actually staying with Chuck this week.” She looked down at her hands, picking anxiously at her nails. She wasn’t at all surprised by what Kenny said next.

“Oh… okay. Is something wrong?”

She looked back up at him, her heart pounding in her chest. “Can I come in?”

He didn’t say anything at first. It was obvious now that something was wrong. But he nodded. “Yeah.” He stepped back and opened the door so she could walk inside. She moved past him and sat down on the bed; her legs were too shaky to stand. Kenny closed the door and came to sit facing her on the bed. He put a hand on her thigh. “Alex, what’s going on?”

Alex stared at the carpet in front of her. She’d thought a lot about how to start this conversation over the last four days, and she’d kept coming back to what Adam had said to her as they’d stood in his kitchen Sunday morning. “Have you ever thought about if we’re actually compatible?”

She looked over at him. He looked confused. “What? What’re you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about,” she breathed. “Have you honestly ever really thought about if we’re right for each other?”

He searched her eyes, completely taken aback. “What brought this on?”

“Please… don’t avoid the question.”

He let out a sigh. “Alex…” he reached out and gently cupped the back of her head, massaging his fingers through her hair. “I told you I want to do this right this time around. Don’t you think I would have thought about that?”

Alex closed her eyes. That was a non-answer, and she didn’t know what to make of it. “If you want to do it right this time then why doesn’t it feel any different than eight months ago?”

Kenny abruptly stopped massaging her head. “What?”

She looked back into his eyes. “I feel like we’ve barely talked in the last week. And I know it’s only been a week since we decided to try this again… but it already feels like more of the same, Kenny. You said you wanted talk to Trent after our fight, but you didn’t. It bothered me, but I understood; when we’re at work, business should come first. But the thing that really got to me was when you didn’t come back to the hotel room until after one in the morning after telling me that filming for BTE wouldn’t take that long. So were you actually filming that late, or were you just hanging out with Matt and Nick or whoever?”

He pulled his hand back. “Alex,” he started—but she wasn’t done.

“It made me feel like you didn’t care that I was sitting up waiting for you. Do you know how often I felt that way last year? Too often. I don’t want to go through that again.”

They fell into silence. They were sitting right next to each other, but it suddenly felt like there was an ocean in between them.

“It’s only been a week,” Kenny reiterated.

Alex shook her head. Part of her wanted to believe him, to hold onto hope that this week was just a fluke—but she couldn’t ignore what Trent had told her at ringside last week. Maybe Kenny just didn’t have room in his life for a relationship. “I know. But it didn’t feel any different than the last time, Kenny. That’s the point I’m trying to make.”

She looked back down at the carpet, a heavy quiet engulfing them again. But then, unexpectedly, Kenny reached out and took her hand in his.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t get back to the hotel until after one in the morning,” he said. “I hate that it made you feel like I didn’t care, but I understand why it did. And I get why you’re worried. I know I need to work on balancing my work and personal life. You’re not the first person to tell me that; it’s a problem I’ve always had. But I will work on it, Alex. I want to work on it for you.”

Alex closed her eyes again. A tear rolled down her cheek. This was the part she didn’t want to do. But she had to. “That’s not the only thing,” she said.

He rubbed his thumb back and forth over her hand. “What do you mean?” he asked.

She spit it out before she could stop herself. “There’s someone else.”

Kenny went still, but he didn’t let go of her hand. The seconds that passed before he spoke again felt like an eternity. “Who? Chuck?”

Alex almost laughed; she hadn’t expected him to think that. “No,” she shook her head as she wiped the lone tear away from her cheek. “No, it’s not Chuck.” She paused. And then she said, “It’s Cash.”

He pulled his hand away then. “Cash?” He looked confused. “You flirted with Cash once when you were drunk.”

Alex bit down on her jaw. She could have easily thrown out a comment about how Kenny’s jealousy over her drunken flirting with Cash was the only reason he’d even talked to her that night, but she bit her tongue. She didn’t want to get in a fight. She was just trying to do the right thing—and that meant being honest. “I went to a cookout at Adam and Callie’s on Saturday,” she explained. “The whole point of it was to try to get me and Callie to at least not hate each other… but Adam invited Cash and Dax, too. And I’m not going to lie to you… I realized that I like Cash when I’m sober, too.”

“Cut to the chase, Alex.”

She stopped. The look on Kenny’s face was entirely unreadable. Her mouth went dry. If he wanted her to cut to the chase, then she would. “He asked me on a date,” she said. “And I know it’s fucked up, but… I wanted to tell him yes, Kenny. I can’t just ignore that.”

Another tear fell and she wiped it away. Kenny ran a frustrated hand over his face. “So what did you tell him?”

Her voice came out small. “That I needed to talk to you.”

His eyebrows arched. “That you needed to talk to me? About what? To get my permission to go out with another guy?”

“No!” she returned. “I wanted to talk to you so that I wouldn’t be going behind your back! So that I wouldn’t be lying to you about how conflicted I’m feeling!”

“Well, you’re not the only one.”

Alex’s face fell. Hearing that was like a knife to the gut.

“Maybe we rushed into this,” he added.

She faltered. There was only one thing left to say. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “Don’t.” He ran a hand through his hair, scratched the back of his head in frustration. Alex sat there, mute. She knew it wasn’t her place to say any more.

“I get what you were trying to do with talking to me,” Kenny eventually said. “And I actually do appreciate that you didn’t want to lie to me or go behind my back. But I know how I feel about you, Alex. And if you don’t know how you feel about me, then you need to figure it out. And if that means going on a date with Cash… then I guess you should.”

Alex’s heart dropped into her stomach. She wanted to grab his hand, hold him, do or say something to communicate that her feelings for him hadn’t just disappeared. But she had a feeling that anything she might do or say would only make things worse.

His gaze met hers. “I think we’ve both said everything we have to say right now.”

Tears fell from both of Alex’s eyes then. She didn’t bother to wipe them away as she stood and moved toward the door. She didn’t know what this meant. It didn’t feel final, but it didn’t feel like there was anywhere for them to go, either. All she did know was that, as she let herself out, she felt even more confused than she had when she’d arrived.

[goldandbluesmiles]

Bloody Courting

Summary: “There are two types of omegas that make it in our world and especially in Gotham. There are the ones like me that wrap Alphas, Betas and even other omegas around their finger, make them dance to their tune. You will not be that omega. You are too brash and forward to it. You will be the omega that goes ahead with the sheer force of will. They will respect you and if they do not, they will fear you,”

Jason had nodded, listening to him with rapt attention.

“And remember, if any of them think they are worth you, make them prove it no matter than their designation. Do not ever settle for less than what you want,”

These days he was really wishing that he hadn’t driven the last point very hard. Because really the dead bodies were getting a bit ridiculous.

Note: This is part 2. You can read part 1 here.

TW: Mention of death, blood and dead bodies. Nothing graphic. It’s Earth 3 so things are a little messed up/

Ao3

xxx

The crime syndicate usually left most of Gotham alone, content with the reports Owlman brought them.

The only time they interfered was when someone stepped out of line and it involved Gotham city.

And Lex Luthor had stepped out of line. The Queens and Waynes were the ones who usually handled Luthor's little shows of rebellion. So Arsenal was sent to Gotham to follow the rumours of Lex bringing supplies there. Usually, Talon would work with him. However, Talon was unavailable so the syndicate was looking to the other Wayne protege to partner up with the alpha.

"I hate it when they interfere with us," said Jason, "I could handle it myself,"

"The investigation was started by the Queens, Kiddo," Bruce told him, "And it could be worse, they could have sent one of the Lanterns or god forbid, the Kryptonians. Their egos are unbearable. Anyway, Roy's a good kid, about Dick's age. Loves murder and mayhem as much as you do. I think you might like him,"

"Hmm," was all Jason said

It was the calm before the storm.

xxx

A week into the investigation, Jason and he were having dinner when the subject of Roy Harper same up.

"I haven't really head from you since the whole situation started. How's it going?"

Jason grinned, "Pretty good. You were right, I do like him,"

Bruce tilted his head. Interesting.

It wasn't that Jason hadn't ever proclaimed to like someone before, platonic or otherwise. It was just that he had never said it like that.

A pretty smile on his face, eyes flitting everywhere and light pink ears.

Interesting.

Either way, Jason was an adult. He could handle his own affairs.

xxx

The bouquet of flowers was beautiful. Red roses, white lilies and pink orchids, all tied together by a black bow.

It was lovely, really.

Except that it was clutched in a severed hand.

An expertly cut and embalmed severed hand.

But it was a severed hand.

It had been a while since a gift like this had ended up on his doorstep but it could only be for one person.

Good thing he was here today.

"Jason!"

Jason came running out and grinned when he saw the bouquet.

"My favourites!"

"Who are they from?" Bruce asked

Jason checked the note attached to the small finger.

Wait-was he-was he blushing?

"They're from Roy,"

Oh yes, definitely blushing.

Roy didn't need favours. Roy wouldn't disregard the Queen/Wayne alliance for a night of fun. Roy had deliberately sent the flowers over to Bruce's place on a night that Jason was there.

Well shit.

xxx

Bruce and Jason had lived together long enough that even apart their heats synchronized. Bruce usually spent it with one of his Alphas and Jason spent it with whoever had given him a nice gift that month.

But this time both Talia or Selina was unavailable so Jason had come over.

Bruce had always loved heats spent with his little pup, inhaling his soothing scent of lemongrass and sweet tea. Right now Jason was cuddled into his side, nuzzling at his neck and letting out small purrs.

So adorable.

"Hey B," he said, bumping his head against his chin

"What is it, baby?" asked Bruce, running a hand through his hair.

"I think Roy wants to court me,"

"Oh?"

"And the syndicate wants to shut down Lex's whole side operation but you already know that,"

He did know that.

"And well, Roy's probably gonna end up staying here for a while since Gotham seems to be the base, Lex probably thought he could hide from Owlman,"

"Jason, point?" asked Bruce

Jason raised his head so Bruce could see his face.

"Roy. Courting. How do you feel about it?"

Oh. Wow. Okay. Jason was actually serious about the older alpha.

"I trust your judgement, kid,"

Jason flashed him his brilliant smile, "Okay!"

Bruce gently rubbed Jason's back as he snuggled down again.

Jason liked bloody gifts and a courting would entail many more of them.

But Bruce had put up with them for this long. He could do it for the duration of the courting.

How bad could it be? It's not like Jason even lived here anymore.

xxx

There was a dead body in his living room.

Bruce recognized the man. He had put a hit on him a few days ago. He would have loved to go after him himself but that's not what was expected of Bruce Wayne and Jason was busy. So, in his brother's and the Talon's absence he ha ordered a hit with a reward.

Usually, anybody who completed the hit would bring proof to an agreed-upon location and then would be given compensation.

This time the body was in his living room. And it was dripping blood.

And Roy Harper was standing over it. Kori right behind him.

"You know if that's for Jason, he's not here and probably wrong...subject,"

"Oh this is for you," said Roy

Oh. Bruce looked from the body to Roy to Kori.

"Sit down, please,"

Roy and Kori took the matching armchairs while Bruce took the love seat.

"I'm going to assume you somehow got access from Dick," said Bruce

"Yes," said Kori

"Explain this to me," he told Roy though he had an idea of where this was going. Some alphas liked to ask permission to court young omegas. Now Jason didn't need anyone's permission to do anything but Bruce could respect Roy's desire to deal with any possible issues.

"Well," said Roy, "As you know, Jason and I have become close while working together and I've been thinking of he was to give us a chance, we would make a good match,"

Bruce waited for the next bit but nothing came. Roy just sat there looking at him expectantly, an impassive look on his face. Kori looked a little like she was bracing for impact.

He took another look at the body, at the alpha in front of him and-

Oh.

Oh.

This Bitch.

This alpha had specifically gone hunting a man Bruce wanted dead.

This alpha had broken into Bruce's home with the body of a man Bruce wanted dead.

This alpha had brought Bruce's future daughter-in-law with him to break into Bruce's house with the body of a man Bruce wanted dead.

Roy wasn't asking permission. Roy was informing Bruce of his intentions.

In Bruce's house. With a dead body. And Bruce's oldest son's fiance.

God Damn. Bruce had to admit he was impressed.

Didn't mean he had to leave the alpha unscathed.

"You know Roy," said Bruce, "This reminds me of the time Talia courted me,"

"Oh?" said Roy, looking mildly surprised

Bruce smiled. Jason had obviously told him that his dad wasn't the mild-mannered omega the public thought he was.

"Well, on one of our dates she took me out on an outing," said Bruce, "You know, a late-night picnic, some stargazing, walking hand in hand in a field-"

Bruce paused and looked up.

"Some murder under the moon,"

The jerk Roy's body gave was positively amazing. Kori was starting to look amused, probably remembering the first time she and Bruce had had a similar conversation.

"At one point Talia sat down and just watched me slash people's throats. Said I looked pretty doing it. Though, I was also very young back then,"

Bruce gave the alpha a winning smile.

"What do you think Roy?" asked Bruce, "Would I still look good killing people with a blade?"

Rou gulped, "I'm sure Talia and Selina definitely think so,"

Bruce gave him a wide grin, one he had been told made him look manic.

"Good answer," he said, "Speaking of Selina, we once after this man that had dared to betray the Owlman. I still used to be a 'field agent' back then, if you know what I mean. Do you want to know what we did to him?"

"Did you kill him?" asked Kori

Oh, she was definitely amused.

"No. I personally consider killing someone as mercy," said Bruce, then looked at Roy, "Let's just say, he can no longer feed himself,"

"Oh," said Roy, starting to look a little green

"Ooh," said Bruce, sitting up as if excited, "This one time all three of us went after this woman who had seen something she wouldn't tell us about so to make an example of her we gouged her eyes out,"

Bruce gave another grin.

"With our fingers. Well," he said, waving his hand around a little, "My fingers,"

Roy nodded quickly

"Either way. We got off-topic. I think Courting is a lovely idea. Thank you for him. Could I interest you in something to drink?"

"No thank you, sir," said Roy, quickly getting up, "We should really be going,"

"Of course I understand," said Bruce, "I'll walk you out,"

Once the two had left, Bruce stayed by the door long enough to hear Roy screeching to Kori about not telling him how scary Bruce was.

Bruce chuckled and dialled a familiar number on his phone.

"Hi, Arrow. It's me. I think I might have traumatized your protege,"

xxx

Jason was in the den room. That itself wasn't an unusual occurrence.

The body packed in a plastic bag was.

At least this one wasn't dripping blood onto his floor.

"Jay, baby, what is that?"

"Oh, a dead body," said Jason, cheeky smile in place

Bruce snorted, "You know what I mean,"

"Roy gave it to me," said Jason, "It has art on it. Wanna see?"

Bruce sighed and went to sit by him, "Why not kiddo. Show me,"

Roy had used a blade to carve an intricate rose design into the skin. The carvings were deeper in some areas and barely there in others. They were also in crying shades of crimson. He would have to let the blood settle in some areas while carving some areas while the body was still fresh.

All in all, it looked like hard work.

"I'm guessing this is one of the people taking part in Lex's little operation,"

"Yup," said Jason, "Roy interrogated him and that did this. Amazing, right?"

Bruce chuckled and shook his head, "I really don't understand your interest in these courting presents,"

Jason just gave him an impish grin.

Bruce sighed gain and mentally braced himself.

This was only the beginning after all.

xxx

There was another dead body in the room.

And Jason was-uh-working on it.

"Jason, sweetheart," said Bruce, "Explain to me what you're doing,"

"Creating a gift for Roy," said Jason, "I mean who said that the alpha's the only one who has to give courting gifts, right?"

"Right," said Bruce, "And why are you doing this here?"

"Roy drops by my place too much, it would be better here. Also, it'll probably take a few days,"

Bruce refrained from asking what exactly the present was supposed to be or mentioning that Jason had numerous safe houses. Instead, he quickly went to his room and dialled two numbers.

"Oh hi Talia, Selina. You both picked up. Great! I need a vacation. Please take some pity on your dear, wonderful omega and take him on vacation. Yes-yes Selina. I am referring to myself in the third person! That is not the point!"

xxx

Vacation had been wonderful, filled with warm beaches, open skies and the two of his smallest pups.

They had dropped off Talia and Damian with the League and Selina and Helena had opted to also be dropped at their place instead of taking Bruce home. Which was great anyway. This way he had time to relax before-

"Uh, what are you doing?"

Jason and Roy instantly looked up from the dead body their hands were buried in.

"Oh, Hi dad," said Jason, I'd give you a hug but-uh,"

Roy had gone very very still.

"That doesn't answer my question," said Bruce

"I thought you were supposed to come home tomorrow," said Jason

"I was," said Bruce, crossing his arms.

Roy carefully took a step back.

"Sorry about this," said Jason, "We'll clean it up,"

"You better," said Bruce, "Also I think Tim is probably available. It's been too long since I've spoken to him. I'll go see him,"

"Yeah," said Jason, "Drake Holdings landed a pretty big deal while you were gone. He'll probably want to tell you about it,"

"Right," said Bruce, going backwards out of the house

Maybe he could stay somewhere else for a while.

xxx

"I mean I like a little blood and death as much as the next person but I like to keep it out of my house. Bloody life outside, inside I'm a normal rich person. These two keep bringing-hey! Are you even listening to me?! Timmy!

"You could just tell him to not bring his 'dead body' presents to your house, or at least the den and nest room,"

'...'

'...'

"How dare you?! I can't do that! It'll break his heart,"

'...'

'...'

"You're a mess, B,"

xxx

"Dad! Dad! look what Roy made me!"

Bruce took a deep breath and brace himself for another dead body in his den.

It-it wasn't a dead body.

It looked like a large snow globe.

Well not a snow globe, since it didn't have snow in it.

The globe was about the size of a human head. It seemed to be a part of Gotham, holding two figures standing over a third. Going by the uniforms, it was Arsenal and Red X, chopping off the head of someone.

"That's a gruesome scene," said Bruce

"It's the first outing we went on," said Jason, "But you haven't seen the best part,"

Jason twisted a key and the two figures started beating the first, there seemed to be an explosion in the background and line of-

"Is that real blood?" asked Bruce incredulously

"Yup, Roy installed a system in the bottom so it doesn't go stale," said Jason, "Amazing isn't it?"

Bruce had to admit, it was impressive.

"You really like him, don't you?" asked Bruce

"Yeah," said Jason, his voice suddenly shy and soft

Bruce smiled and kissed his forehead, "I'm glad. He better not hurt you though, otherwise, I'll be making a globe with his blood,"

Jason's laughter was like magic.

xxx

Jason had been quiet the whole day, mumbling when asked a question, barely speaking up and playing with his food.

It was when he was about to leave that Bruce finally brought it up.

"What's up with you, Jay?"

"Nothing," he muttered, pulling on his shoes

"Jay," said Bruce, gently taking his hand, "Talk to me,"

"The whole Lex thing is over and Roy is going back to Star," said Jason, "And I know we're good but at best we do long-distance and I just don't know if I can take that. I'll miss him,"

"I'm sure it'll be okay, Jay,"

"I'm not like you, dad," huffed Jason, "You don't see Tal and Sel for months at a time. I can't do that,"

Bruce sighed, "Have you talked to Roy about it?"

"We're doing that tonight," said Jason, "Kinda scared of the outcome,"

"It'll be fine," said Bruce, "And if not, you know where to find me,"

"Yeah," said Jason and opened the door. And stopped.

There was a body on their doorstep.

Tied up and obviously dead.

"Who's this," said Bruce, not even surprised at this point

"Traitor," said Jason, kneeling down and picking a note from the bodies' fingers.

"Your favourite stabbing place," read Jason

Bruce was about to ask what the hell was going on but Jason was already taking out a knife and slicing open the inside of the man's right thigh. He reached in and took out a clear plastic bag. Inside it was two keys.

"I'm guessing one's from Star and the other from Gotham,"

Jason smiled, "Yup,"

Bruce shook his head, "While I'm happy that your stress in elevated, couldn't he have sent them in some normal way,"

"You don't get it, dad," said Jason, "I never told Roy my favourite stabbing spot,"

Bruce had nothing to say to that.

xxx

Lex Luthor went quiet for about a year and then came back with an army of robots.

And since the Waynes and Queens had been in charge of subduing him in the first place, they were once again sent in. Since there was an army, everyone had gotten involved.

Bruce had even gotten both of his alphas to join in.

The battle took days but they had succeeded without any casualties on their side.

"Well," said Oliver, "This seems to be- oh you have got to be kidding me!"

Bruce followed the other omega's gaze and found Arsenal kneeling on the bloody ground in front of Red X. Bruce looked back at Oliver to see if he was upset but he only looked amused. Probably thinking the same thing as Bruce.

Why here?

"Well, at least Roy won't be sending me any more pictures of his courting 'presents'"

"Pictures," screeched Bruce, "You're mad at pictures! I had to put up with dead bodies in my house. Dead bodies with art, dead bodies with book quotes, severed hands, cut out hearts- don't even get me started on the intestines! And the blood!"

Oliver grimaced, "At least they seem happy,"

Bruce looked back to where Jason had now jumped into Roy's arms everyone around then cheering and applauding,"

"Yeah," murmured Bruce, "They're happy,"

xxx

The wedding was beautiful, both him and Oliver having pulled out all the stops for their boys. The suits were red instead of the traditional white. The theme set in the colour of the sunset. The wedding party was huge, composed of their siblings and the pack they had accumulated over the year.

Really, Bruce couldn't be prouder.

When it was time for the dance, the grooms first danced together and then their fathers and then their siblings. Eventually, Bruce ended up with Roy as his partner.

The young man grinned at him, "Hey Bruce,"

"Hello, Roy," said Bruce, "How are you feeling?"

"Right now," said Roy, "Kinda glad I can still feed myself,"

"Well, don't get comfortable. That can still be changed,"

Roy laughed as they changed partners again, having moved on from being afraid of Bruce's mere presence.

Later, both Oliver and Bruce were discussing the honeymoon with the newlyweds.

"I still don't know why you didn't let us pay," said Oliver

"Where are you going anyway," asked Bruce, "You never said,"

"Oh, Talia helped us plan it,"

Talia had good taste in vacation spots, maybe she recommended the beach resort at-

"We're taking a job for the League," said Jason, "In Paris. I mean we've mixed both things this long. Why change it?"

Before Bruce could say anything, someone else was pulling the two away for a picture.

"I'm seriously starting to reconsider our parenting of them," muttered Oliver

Bruce sighed and shrugged, "At least they're happy"

Olive smiled, "Yeah. Did I ever tell you how Roy became my protege?"

"You saw his talent, right?"

"Well, yes but there were a lot of alphas that wanted him considering he was one and I was an omega. But he refused to cooperate with anyone. He'd only work with me,"

"Loyalty," said Bruce

"Yup,"

The two omegas spent the rest of the time quietly talking about their perspective boys, laughing at their stories.

So what if the courting had been a little bloody, thought Bruce, their boys were happy. That's all that mattered.

Still, Bruce was glad they now had their own place and pack to show off their bloody presents.

His floor couldn't take much more. And he liked that floor.

[farmhandler]

Run

Rating: E

Pairing: Sendak/Shiro

Warnings: Omegaverse, Heat, omega!Shiro, alien!alpha!Sendak, mating run, somewhat dubcon

CH: 1/1

WC: 8.6K~

Read on AO3 

**A/N: **Another shendak oneshot, are you bored yet? ;p (That's not an honest question 'cause I'm not HA). This is a little different than my usual, but also not. I just had fun with it. Although it's technically consensual, I tagged it dubcon due to the nature of the situation. Enjoy!

“I’ll see you later. No, no, I’m looking forward to it. Really, I am! I haven’t been avoiding you all; I’ve just been busy.” He paused. “Uh huh. I’ll see you then, Keith, bye.”

Shiro pressed blindly on the bottom end of his phone screen until the call ended, and then shoved his phone in his pocket.

After a long day of work, he was very tired.

The work itself wasn’t tiring, but monotony of the work was starting to wear on him. Going from being a pilot, to losing his arm and then being benched for over a year after was not how he had expected to spend his youth. At 25, he was one of the youngest successful pilots out there, and he’d expected to do something amazing with his skills. But then he’d crashed, and the rest was history.

Paperwork was not his favorite thing to do, and now that he was grounded, that was all they let him do. On occasion he got to running training drills with younger pilots-in-training, but his days were usually full of emails, calls, and papers to electronically file.

He hadn’t been lying to Keith. He was busy, which meant getting out and seeing his friends—even though they worked at the Garrison—wasn’t easy. He wanted to see them, it was just…

Someone nearly jostled him on their way out the door—the door Shiro was still standing in front of, so he moved out of the way, watching her rush off to her car with vague interest. Her perfume smelled nice: floral, doing little to mask the scent of alpha wafting off her. Shiro’s nostrils flared as he inhaled on instinct, resisting the urge to let his eyes flutter shut.

His heat was about a week away. That was the most interesting thing he would experience for the next month, and if he was lucky, he’d find a nice alpha on one of those apps. Or, like every other heat, he’d look through the options, hate every single one of them, and end up spending it alone.

Sighing, Shiro stepped off the curb and walked towards his car.

He noticed the flyer when he was on his way to pick up groceries.

Shiro didn’t live in the Garrison compound—he might literally go insane if that were the case—and so the nearest grocery store was a few dozen blocks away. He liked to take the long walk if he was just picking up a few things and enjoy some much needed fresh air, particularly after being stuffed in his office all day.

It was when he was passing a streetlamp covered in dozens of posters that the wording on one of them caught his eye.

MATING RUN

Bored? Tired of your daily routine? Spice it up with a mating run!

Shiro snorted out loud once he realized what the poster was advertising.

Mating runs were an archaic form of punishment on omegas hundreds of years ago, when alphas would be let loose in groups to chase after omegas on the cusp of their heats. Once an alpha caught an omega…well.

They didn’t teach it in schools anymore, thank god, but Shiro had stumbled upon the literature in the library at the Garrison when he was eighteen, and for about an afternoon he had been horribly fascinated by the process. It was riddled with consent issues and seemed completely in favor of the alphas, but it had been considered a rite of passage at the time. An honor.

Only now, they were illegal.

How the hell had anyone not been arrested for trying to set this up?

Shiro ripped the flyer off the pole and started reading the text. Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the mating run was only in name only. None of the omegas could be in heat, alphas couldn’t be in rut. Couples were encouraged to take part.

Essentially, it was a kinky run through the forest with a stranger or one’s partner. None of it was real.

Shiro crumpled the flyer and tossed it towards the nearby trashcan, his interest dropping dramatically.

I’ve tried having sex with strangers, Shiro thought, starting walking again. It never works out. And who would want to pretend they’re being chased in an event that’s designed to be entirely against their will?

Shiro didn’t think about the mating run as he picked up the carton of eggs and looked inside for any cracked ones. He didn’t think about the run while he was deciding what meats he wanted at the deli. He didn’t consider taking part while he was in line at check-out, watching a large alpha place his things on the conveyor belt, smelling like he’d just come out of the gym, a tempting mix of body chemicals.

Shiro’s heat was in a week. He hadn’t considered taking on a stranger for when he’d be out of his mind for a few days, but for a brief moment he imagined taking part in the mating run after having invited the alpha along. He was muscular and trim, so Shiro was reasonably certain he worked out. He’d probably catch him quickly; Shiro wouldn’t even have to wait that long.

“Next, please?”

He was ripped free of his thoughts by the cashier, a beta that was staring at him expectantly. The alpha was already gone.

“Sorry,” Shiro said, flushing. He quickly set out putting his things on the conveyer belt, shoving thoughts of the mating run from his mind once and for all.

***

Shiro wasn’t looking for the poster. He was just…concerned that he might have missed the garbage can early on his way to the grocery store. That was why he was looking in and around it, just to make sure that he hadn’t missed it.

When he found it lying on the ground, having been blown into the corner of a building ten feet from the trashcan, the sigh he breathed wasn’t one of relief. No; he was just doing his civic duty to keep the city clean.

If he copied the number written down on the bottom of the flyer, that was no one’s business but his own.

***

“We’re going to need you to sign here, here, and here.”

The woman—an omega—smiled at him brightly, while Shiro considered walking out then and there.

He hadn’t planned on calling the number. He hadn’t planned on going to the building where they were taking signups for their kink group, and he certainly hadn’t planned on signing all the paperwork, but here he was.

“What is all this?” he asked, unable to keep the waver out of his voice. He knew that the woman could probably smell his unease as a fellow omega, but she was kept up her bubbly persona and didn’t attempt to soothe him, as much as she probably wanted to.

“The release forms,” she clarified. “This is just to ensure that if anything happens, we aren’t liable. It’s everything we’ve already spoken about, but I suggest you read through them.”

He nodded and started skimming the text.

The rules were simple, and it wasn’t nearly as spontaneous as the flyer made it seem. Everything about the run was controlled. It was taking place in a forest, just like a real mating run, but they would be on constant watch. There weren’t any drones following them around, but there were cameras along the designated path that everyone would take, and they were required to wear trackers ensuring that if they did somehow end up getting lost, they would easily be found. All the ‘alphas’ were trained and vetted by the organization prior to any events.

Shiro held back a smile when he read that going naked wasn’t a requirement like it would have been in an actual mating run. That was just one of the many clauses. Among them there was the one he’d read about on the poster—confirmation that he would either be on suppressants or his cycle would not line up with the run, ensuring that it was consensual for all parties involved. The omegas—and the alphas, if they so chose—could tap out at any time.

His heat would end just a day before the mating run, so at worst, he would smell like post-heat.

Shiro hesitated with his hand over the signature line, a sense of dread washing over him when he considered what he was about to sign up for.

It was fucked up that he wanted a stranger to pretend to take advantage of him during his heat.

“You don’t have to commit today,” the woman said gently. “Or at all. You can walk out this door right now and your money will be refunded to you in a couple of days.”

He shouldn’t want to do this. He shouldn’t, but—

God, he was so bored. He’d lived his life preparing to be a pilot, and once he’d become one, he’d immediately lost it. He’d never been to war, or seen battle, and the last time he’d done something adventurous was get drunk after he’d graduated.

He signed the paper.

***

Wiping his clammy hands on his athletic shorts, Shiro looked around at the group of omegas giggling and walking around their waiting room, wondering if this had all been one big mistake.

Shiro’s heat hadn’t started on time.

It was supposed to trigger a few days ago, but instead, he’d only felt the signs of pre-heat, barely there and almost indistinguishable from how he normally felt. He was aware that the contract he signed forbid him from taking part in the run during heat, but he wasn’t technically in heat.

It was just pre-heat, which was a lot similar to post heat. He was just a little hornier.

The scent of virile alpha wafted over and Shiro tensed, the muscles in his thighs bunching up.

If he was being honest, Shiro wasn’t quite sure what he’d been expecting in coming here. The group of ‘omegas’ wasn’t just omegas. There were only a few dozen of them, and a good handful were aliens that were probably doing this out of curiosity. The rest were obviously couples. Shiro could tell the other single members because they stood alone, and they didn’t say much.

They had reached the forested area where this would all take place a while ago. Water was being passed around, and all the actual omegas were being inspected for signs of heat. Nothing invasive, but there were a few obvious signs, and they had signed a waiver that said they were willing to be scented.

As the alpha started to make her rounds, scenting each of the omegas, Shiro’s nerves kicked up a notch.

He shouldn’t have come. He was breaking the rules by being near heat, even if it wasn’t the real thing. And while heat didn’t make it impossible to function, his ability to give consent was now in jeopardy. The entire operation could be jeopardized just by him being here.

“Hi there,” the alpha said upon approaching him, smiling a disarmingly beautiful smile. Cathryn, her nametag read. “I’m just going to scent you really quick if that’s all right with you.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Shiro turned towards her and exposed his neck, his heart pounding. “I might smell a little—um, like post-heat. I just had it a few days ago.”

The lie slipped out easier than he’d expected. The alpha took his chin in hand and gently pressed her nose against his throat, inhaling a few times. His heart started pounding harder. She sniffed him for much longer than the others, and when she pulled back, she was frowning.

“You had your heat a few days ago?”

Shiro nodded and she let his chin go. Almost immediately he wanted her hands back on him.

“Hm. All right. Then we’re good to go here.” She nodded shortly. “Have fun on the run!”

He watched her go, biting back the urge to ask if she was participating. They had offered to match him with someone so he wouldn’t have to feel overwhelmed by choosing right before the run, but at the time he’d mostly been concerned with getting all the paperwork over with.

“All right, everyone!”

There was an alien that Shiro couldn’t name standing by the exit. He was tapping his fingers on the metal doors, indicating that they were probably going to be opening them soon.

“We’re going to head out in five. Find your partners, and if you’re alone, remember the rules. Anytime you want to tap out, give one of our support crew a call and we’ll come find you. And if we find out that you ignored the requests of your partner—” they grinned, revealing two gigantic and sharp fangs, “—we know where you live.”

There was a murmur among the crowd; excited whispers that transformed into laughter and giggles. Clearly, most of the people there saw this as a fun excursion with their partner and they weren’t taking it very seriously.

Shiro shifted, adjusting the way his shirt laid on his body. He’s chosen his athletic wear, which was light and soft on his skin. He blamed the sensitivity on nerves and adrenaline, heightening his senses and making him feel on edge.

The doors opened, and they started filtering out into the cool air. As soon as he stepped outside, Shiro breathed a relieved sigh. It wasn’t quite winter yet, so it was the perfect temperature for the run, and he could already feel himself itching to move—to get out there and do something.

He breathed in, inhaling a lungful of scents so delectable that his head snapped to where he detected them.

The alphas.

Their guides were explaining the rules again, talking about the alphas and the omegas and their respective roles throughout the run, but Shiro wasn’t paying any attention.

He was busy staring at the alphas sitting in the literal cages that the volunteers had brought. It was barbaric and a little ridiculous, but it was at least offset by the expression on the alpha’s faces, ranging from humor to boredom.

The moment they realized their omegas had arrived, a few of them started whooping and howling in an exaggerated display. A few of the omegas howled back, while others fell into loud laughter.

“Chris!” called one man, waving his hands wildly. He ran over to a dark-skinned man and grabbed his arms through the bars, grinning.

Shiro looked past him, taking in the sight of the other alphas. Most were human, but there were a few aliens in there. Shiro spotted a few galra, of all things: there was a large one, and then another tall and thin. They both looked bored, but the larger one scowled at anyone who walked by, appearing as though he found the entire situation ridiculous. It was odd behavior, considering he was the one being paid to provide a service.

Their scents wafted over, strange and different. Shiro wanted to get a closer look, but then their group was being herded to the other side of the starting line to have the rules explained to them one more time.

This time Shiro managed to pay attention, nodding along while Cathryn spoke.

“Like we’ve said before, even if you requested not to be matched, we ask that you to pick someone,” she said. “It helps to have an idea who you want to catch you, unless you want to be chased by multiple alphas.” She smirked. “Once everyone’s ready, gather back around by the starting line. You don’t need to line up, but just stay in that area.”

She pointed to a long line of rope that stretched across the grass, to their right and just past the furthest cages.

“Does anyone have any questions?”

A few hands went up. People started to drift, going to see their alphas, while a few other milled off to the side, unsure or appearing to consider the alphas that were still up for the choosing.

Shiro’s skin felt like it was buzzing. He managed to tear his eyes away from Cathryn and glanced at the cages, eyes skittering over the many faces. The combination of scents lingering wasn’t helping him any, confusing his nose and his brain.

He brushed the sweat off his forehead, then looked down at his hand.

I’m going into heat, he realized belatedly.

Shiro didn’t feel as bothered as he probably should have been. Mostly because he still felt like himself and would for quite a while yet.

I should leave.

Shiro made no move to do so, merely plucking at the collar of his shirt to get some air flowing and cool down.

It was probably the stupidest and most terrifying decision he’d made to date, but he just couldn’t get the image out of his head—the ones from when he was eighteen, when he had imagined an alpha pinning him down and having their way with him.

This wasn’t the same, because it was consensual, but that only made it better. Even if it was all his choosing, someone he didn’t know would still be chasing after him, maybe even for real.

Besides, it wasn’t like he was mid-heat, so it wouldn’t be like either of them were really out of it.

Shiro’s gaze drifted for some time, but his eyes kept straying to the same person in one of the center cages. It was the big galra from earlier; purple-furred, with large ears, standing probably a few heads or so taller than Shiro. Like most of the alphas, he was only dressed in a pair of athletic pants that did little to hide his muscled thighs and thick calves.

And he was staring. He’d been staring at Shiro for a while now, gazing at him unflinchingly with an intensity that Shiro would have otherwise found unnerving.

Whereas Shiro would normally bristle at the attention, this time he merely cocked his head, meeting the stranger’s gaze with a raised eyebrow.

The galra did not even blink. His nostrils flared, and Shiro abruptly realized why he was staring.

He knows.

His skin prickled, goosebumps raising the hairs on his arms and neck. He shivered. This galra—whoever he was—he looked strong. Really strong. He had scars on his face, and huge claws that looked like they could rip right through him.

Shiro made a soft sound in the back of his throat, wrapping his arms around himself. Inexplicably, he felt cold all of a sudden, and wondered what that fur might feel like pressed against his body, or what his teeth might feel like biting into his jugular, bonding him. Maybe by force.

I want him to catch me.

Shiro’s feet started moving on their own, walking him towards the galra until he was standing directly in front of his cage. He still hadn’t said a word, but he hadn’t looked away from Shiro, not even once.

“Hi,” Shiro said. It came out breathless, so he tried again after clearing his throat. “My name is Shiro. What’s yours?”

The galra narrowed his one good eye at Shiro. This close, his scent invaded Shiro’s nose: it was so much thicker than a human’s, so strong he might describe it as a stench if he hadn’t felt his brain go fuzzy. It was the scent of an alpha. A big, strong, virile alpha.

“Sendak.”

His voice deep, reaching somewhere inside Shiro and holding him there. He felt suspended, and he grabbed onto the bars of the cage to keep himself from feeling like he’d float away.

“It’s nice to meet you, Sendak.” Sendak’s nostrils flared again and he leaned forward, wrapping his palms carefully around the bars above Shiro’s head. The movement was restrained, like he was holding himself back. “Look, I’m going to cut to the chase. No pun intended.”

Sendak said nothing. He waited, fingers curling and uncurling around the bars slowly.

“I’m supposed to choose someone. I’m not choosing you.”

Sendak’s lips curled and the bars shook as he yanked at them with his fists. Shiro’s stomach dropped out from under him.

“And you’ve decided to tell me to earn my ire or make me feel envious of your chosen ‘alpha’,” Sendak sneered. “You waste time, and your efforts are in vain.”

“No, that’s not what I’m doing.” Shiro leaned against the bars, pressing his cheek into the cool metal. His head and heart were pounding, and he was about to make a break for it in the dim lighting of the forest at night, and this galra that he didn’t know was looking at him like he was a piece of meat. He felt reckless and wild. “I’m not choosing anyone. But I’m giving you a head start. If you catch me, I’ll let you spend my heat with me. Have you ever been with an omega in heat?”

Sendak was silent. Shiro could sense his answer would have been negative.

He stepped away from the bars, walking backwards towards the starting line, a smile slowly forming on his face. Sendak leaned forward, his nostrils flaring wide, chest expanding with each breath. Scenting the air; scenting him.

It had been bashed into their head that they—the omegas—would get a four minute head start on the alphas.

“You’ve got five minutes,” Shiro called, raising his hand in a carefree wave.

As the realization dawned on him, Sendak’s contemplative frown grew into a vicious smirk.

Back at the starting line, almost everyone who had chosen was waiting for the event to begin. There were a few that had decided to sit out and watch, but the rest were ready and raring to go. Most of them were still holding in laughter, clinging to each other as the sun finally set, casting the area in a grim darkness.

Shiro felt hot. He wanted to rip every piece of clothing off his body, but while it was allowed, he didn’t feel comfortable doing so. Besides, a few people were giving him wary glances, like they weren’t sure if he was actually going into heat or post-heat. With how similar they could smell to an omega that didn’t have the mating instinct, none of them were aware.

He just hoped the people running this whole thing didn’t notice either. The wind was blowing at his back, sending his scent forward and into the forest, which worked in his advantage. He would be harder to track.

A few more people arrived, and then there was the final demonstration as they explained the rules one more time. There was some minor grumbling from the crowd, but Shiro was hardly paying attention. Excitement and anticipation were building inside him; he had his eyes on a path to the left, between a few trees that would give him some excellent cover.

The voices quieted. Someone to Shiro’s left sneezed before they settled. The air seemed charged with a sudden electricity. Shiro kept shifting on his feet, inching forward, muscles bunched and ready to sprint.

The horn sounded, and Shiro took off like a shot.

He didn’t bother to look behind him to see if the rest of the group had followed him. He ran at full speed, arms pumping, eager to get a head start.

About a dozen yards into his run, his stomach suddenly tightened to the point of pain, flooding his body with a wave of molten heat. He stumbled, and then came to a stop, pressing his hands against his abdomen.

For a moment, he was worried he was going to be sick. He swallowed over and over, throat tight; then the feeling faded, and he became aware of something warm and wet leak out of him, soaking straight through his underwear. Shiro touched the crease of his ass to check; sure enough, it was wet with slick, and when his fingers made contact with his hole, he had to resist pressing in harder.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He was already in heat. Not pre-heat, but a full-blown, actual heat. How was he already there?

Shiro lifted his head and sniffed at the air. He hadn’t gone that far yet; he could still hear the voices of the other people from not far off, echoing loudly in the quiet forest. Behind that, he could detect the scents of the alphas from the compound, but only just.

Shiro swallowed against a flood of saliva. He licked his lips, suddenly tempted to head back and—

No. No.

He wasn’t just any omega begging to be fucked and knotted. This was his mating run, and only a worthy alpha would find him and take him.

Shiro looked past the well-lit path and walked to its edge, peering into the part of the forest they weren’t supposed to go in. The sun had set, but it wasn’t pitch-black yet. He had time. He’d be fine.

Shiro’s fingers edged towards his waistband, tugging at the fabric that was lying uncomfortably on his hips.

The voices grew closer. Shiro looked behind himself to make sure the coast was clear, and then ducked under a tree and took off.

With every step that he took, he could tell that his heat was fast approaching its apex. What had started as barely a trickle turned into a gush of fluid that stained his shorts and the backs of his thighs. Moving became more difficult as the itch of need started to prod at his hips, but he kept running, feet pounding at the ground.

Whereas he would normally be exhausted by this point, the start of his heat left him with plenty of energy that had been stored away in preparation. Even though it felt like he’d been running for ages, not once did Shiro stop. He kept going, passing in between trees and jumping over gnarled roots lying in his way. In the distance he could see lights shining from a few buildings. The cabins they were meant to use? Shiro’s had a name and a color, but it was too dark to see.

He slowed to a stop to get a better look, and that was when he heard a sound coming from behind.

Shiro froze, ears perked.

It started out faint, and for a moment Shiro thought it was the sound of a deer running through the forest like the ones he’d passed by. But then it grew closer, and he realized with a start that it was the sound of someone running. Fast.

He glanced behind him for only a split second and caught sight of a something large and distinctly person-shaped.

A hysterical giggle erupted out of Shiro. He sprinted off away from the cabins, peals of panicked laughter escaping his lips. In the second he’d seen him, he hadn’t gotten a good look, but he recognized the build of one of the bigger alphas.

A twig snapped behind Shiro. He nearly tripped on a root when vaulting over it, and that split second of hesitation gave the alpha enough time to get close enough that Shiro could hear his every exhale coming from directly behind. Shiro couldn’t smell him from the front, but he imagined it turning warm and musky with the effort of tracking and chasing him down.

He nearly stumbled again as a bolt of need shot straight through him. His cock was doing its best to get hard, and he could feel fluid dribbling down the back of his knees. The alpha had to be able to smell it. Shiro hoped he could.

He grimaced. Maybe he was closer to heat he thought. Barely a few minutes in, and Shiro was already desperate to be fucked.

That didn’t stop him from running. He kept on going, even as his lungs burned and his breath came out in exhausted huffs. He didn’t stop even as he swore he could feel the alpha’s breath on his back.

He couldn’t make himself stop running for anything less than the alpha catching him. He had to earn it.

Had it been five minutes? Shiro had no idea. He just kept going, until he stepped on a wet patch of leaves and slid forward, arms pinwheeling as he tried to right himself. He extended one of his arms to grab at the nearby tree, but before he could, someone grabbed him by the waist and slammed him into the ground.

Shiro’s vision swam viciously as his cheek met the wet combination of leaves and dirt. The alpha that had captured him quickly sat over the backs of his thighs, trapping him there. They leaned over, their breath hot on his throat.

Whoever they were, they were huge. He couldn’t see anything past their bulk from how he was lying, let alone move. Then they—he, Shiro realized—placed a hand on the back of Shiro’s neck, claws threatening the sensitive skin there.

Shiro wriggled uselessly, testing the bounds of his capture, panting, fighting against instincts that were urging him to spread his legs and part his cheeks so the alpha could plunge right in.

“Submit,” the alpha growled. Shiro recognized his voice. It was Sendak.

Despite Sendak's command, Shiro remained tense, the muscles in his shoulders and legs bunched so tight he was trembling. He stayed like that, breathing in the alpha’s musk, his brain going fuzzier and fuzzier. Slick slid down the inside of his thigh.

Sendak growled again, and this time the sound made Shiro moan in the back of his throat, shivering as a stronger gush of fluid followed.

“Submit,” he repeated, teeth brushing the back of his neck. Shiro was caged in by his body; there was nowhere he could go, even if he’d wanted to.

Shiro didn’t want to. He hadn’t wanted to since the beginning, since he’d taken one single look at Sendak and knew that he was the one he wanted.

Shiro closed his eyes and went limp.

Sendak rumbled a pleased sound and flipped Shiro onto his back, his hands tearing—literally tearing—at his shorts to rid Shiro of them.

He didn’t wait, and he didn’t ask, because he’d earned it.

Shiro was his prize.

He whimpered when Sendak grabbed him by his thighs and thrust him aside, exposing him to the moonlight. It was hard to see in the dark, but the bright yellow glow of his eye was distinguishable enough that Shiro could tell he was examining him, perhaps deciding how he wanted him.

Shiro imagined being turned around on his hands and knees, being used as a fucktoy, a warm body to sate Sendak’s need. Even though technically it was the other way around, that it was Shiro who was awash in sweat and heat.

Instead of reading his mind and fulfilling his fantasies, Sendak stayed where he was and dragged his cock alongside Shiro’s. Rutting. It was nearly double the size of his own, fat drops of precome drooling from the tip.

“God,” Shiro whined, staring at it, suffering at each brush of his big cock. He turned onto his side, dislodging Sendak and shoving him away so he could expose the part of himself that really needed Sendak’s cock. Sendak watched him for a moment, eyes training on the hand Shiro used to lift his leg and reached behind his back, fingers seeking entry at his hole.

The moment they made contact Sendak’s hand shot out to still his progress, the growl that erupted out of him so loud and fierce that Shiro went completely still.

His other hand was at Shiro’s throat again, but it wasn’t threatening. He just…held it there, keeping Shiro pressed into the ground, showing him exactly what he was capable of.

Shiro trembled, itching, aching, and more slick gushed over the backs of his thighs when Sendak’s teeth ghosted over his throat. With no other choice, he Shiro went obligingly limp once again. He felt Sendak’s grin, then saw it when he pulled his head back.

Without uttering another word Sendak freed his hands, using one to angle his cock, and the other to hook Shiro’s leg over his shoulder so he couldn’t dislodge himself, leaving him wide open.

Sendak’s cock was so close, so close. Shiro bit his lip, toes curling, resisting squirming even though it was all he wanted to do.

“C’mon,” he begged. “C’mon, come on, plea—”

Sendak cut him off before he could plead anymore, sliding inside with a wet squelch.

Shiro’s resulting moan was pure, utter relief. He hadn’t realized how badly it had gotten until he finally got what he’d been craving, what he needed. He tossed his head back, biting down on his lip, awash with pleasure as Sendak’s cock filled him all the way and then some.

Sendak’s mouth was back on his throat again, teeth hanging right above the jugular, like he knew it was where humans were most fragile. Shiro moaned as quietly as he could manage, which wasn’t much when he was speared on Sendak’s cock.

Sendak groaned in his ear, low and deeply satisfied, and then he started fucking him, wasting no time in working up to speed.

And he was big. It made Shiro’s head buzz with satisfaction knowing that the alpha that had caught him was as big and strong as he’d hoped. He was vaguely aware of some pain, but that was washed away quickly by the euphoria.

“God, yes,” Shiro breathed, barely aware that he was speaking. Each thrust sent Shiro skidding along the wet undergrowth, punctuated by his pleasured yelps. “Yes, yes, yes yes yes!”

Sendak growled deep in the center of his chest, curling forward, the new angle burying him that much more firmly inside Shiro. He kept fucking him, pulling Shiro down onto his cock, like it was that easy, like he could crush Shiro under his hands, but he was choosing to fuck him instead.

Each powerful thrust sent lightning bolts of heat straight to Shiro’s cock. It felt like he’d come once already. He reached up to curl his hand around Sendak’s shoulders, maybe give himself a little breathing room, but Sendak caught his hand and pinned it to the ground. It wrenched at Shiro’s shoulder—not enough to hurt, but enough that it forced his back against the ground while Sendak was still pistoning in and out of him with no sign of slowing.

Then, in an unexpected move Sendak pulled all the way out, followed by a hot flood of Shiro’s slick.

“Wait—no! No no no!”

Shiro let out a panicked whine. In a heat-induced daze, thoughts too muddled to think properly, he mistook Sendak’s movements as an attempt to pin him down without giving him what he needed, leaving him empty and aching. He jerked his shoulder to try and escape Sendak’s iron grip to no avail.

“Please, keep going, please, please don’t stop—”

Another growl, this one less threatening and more coaxing. It sounded warm in his chest, almost like a purr, and then Sendak pinned both of Shiro’s hands to the ground and nudged his thighs underneath Shiro’s legs, silent encouragement to wrap them around his waist.

Shiro was blind to it. He didn’t understand why Sendak wasn’t fucking him; he was so wet he was dripping, and he wanted to be knotted so badly. Didn’t Sendak want him?

He didn’t realize he was still pleading with Sendak until he pressed his mouth to Shiro’s throat, licking long, hot stripes up the length. He kept doing this, licking at him and rutting against the inside of his thigh until Shiro quieted.

“Calm yourself,” Sendak rumbled. His hand landed on Shiro’s hip, tugging at it. “Release me. I can’t mate you if you won’t let me.”

Shiro frowned, but he followed Sendak’s command, understanding dawning once Sendak fed his cock back inside him now that he had the room to do so. The position urged him even deeper, right at the hot core raveled tight inside him.

“Oh god, I’m—right there.” Shiro broke off as Sendak thrust all the way inside, grinding the base of his knot up into him roughly, and the following cry that came out of Shiro’s mouth was close to a sob. Sendak was so big and so deep inside him, and when he came, Sendak kept him pinned to the ground and didn’t stop fucking him, even when Shiro started screaming.

Whatever Galra cocks were made of, it was driving him nuts. Shiro squirmed, digging his feet into Sendak’s back, and in a powerful display, Sendak shifted into a low crouch, bending Shiro nearly in half to better fuck him.

Shiro’s voice nearly gave out when he came the second time. Sendak threaded their fingers, pressed up against his front, claws digging into the soft earth underneath the back of Shiro’s hands. He nuzzled Shiro’s throat, growling when Shiro’s moans reached new heights. He couldn’t keep quiet for the life of him, and when Sendak knotted him—god.

Shiro had taken a dozen knots in his life, of all varying sizes. But Sendak was on an entirely new level. The first knotting was usually the worst, and this time Shiro was almost certain they were going to send someone eventually to check on the noise. His throat felt raw.

“Such lovely squeals,” Sendak said, rolling his hips to seat the knot in place. Shiro sobbed a little as he lodged it right up against his prostate. "It’s a good thing I found you before someone else encroached upon what was mine.”

In heat, it was hard to focus on anything other than Sendak knot and fucking him. His words registered, but they didn’t really matter. He watched Sendak lift his head and sniff at the air, but his eyes followed the line of his throat, shifting down to stare at the way his pecs flexed in the moonlight.

“C’mon,” he whined, groping at his waist, not sure what he was asking. “C’mon, come on.”

Sendak turned to him and growled again. He raised his hand, and for a wild moment Shiro thought it was headed for his throat. But it landed over his mouth, keeping him quiet.

Shiro’s eyes flickered to the left. He could hear the voices now; Sendak had probably heard them way further off. It should have bothered him that he could hear them, but he was mostly unphased, focused entirely on Sendak, the alien with a big cock and a gorgeous knot that was slowly driving him insane.

Shiro shifted subtly, trying to rock down onto Sendak’s thick knot, but the position made that difficult. He couldn’t get a good angle, and each time he failed he whined a little louder, a little needier.

After a time Sendak swore, moving his hand away from Shiro’s mouth and down to his waist. He hooked his chin over Shiro’s shoulder and brought his hands around his ass, hiking him higher against his chest.

“Grab onto me,” he commanded. Shiro instantly obeyed, wrapping his arms around his shoulders. Sendak braced his feet and then lifted the two of them. “Hold on,” he added, as if Shiro wasn’t clinging desperately. Moments later, the knot slipped out of his body and Sendak burst into motion, taking off towards the cabins.

“Direct me to your cabin,” Sendak declared. It took a few seconds for Shiro to understand what was being said, and by that point Sendak had already started approaching each cabin, searching for his name.

“Thir-third from the end,” Shiro managed. He buried his face in Sendak’s throat, inhaling. God, the scent on the man. “Black name plate.”

Sendak hurried to the cabin, bursting inside like they were being chased. Considering how Shiro hurried him along, pressing open-mouthed kisses and hasty pleas into his fur, he couldn’t blame him.

They made it to the bed in record time. Sendak threw Shiro onto the sheets, using that same incredible strength to shove Shiro into place, spreading his thighs so he could bury himself inside his wet heat.

Had Shiro been of his right mind, he might have been terrified to have a stranger mandhandling him and pinning him down while he fucked him, but by that point, he didn’t care. He didn’t care that Sendak fucked him with a specific kind of ruthlessness that he knew would leave bruises all over his hips and thighs, and he didn’t care that he could feel Sendak’s claws burying themselves into his skin.

Everything about Sendak was alien. The way he looked, the way he acted, the way he fucked—and Shiro loved it. He loved every second. It was like a dream.

By the third time being knotted, Shiro was so deep in heat that when someone knocked on the door, he clung to Sendak’s shoulders and begged him to make them go away.

“Don’t let them take me away,” he pleaded with him. “Please, please, I need you. I need you more than they do. You’re my alpha. They can’t have you.”

“Mine,” Sendak said, as much a claim as it was affirmation of Shiro’s current state of mind. He turned, eyeing the door with distaste, and growled that same low, deep growl that Shiro had heard when he’d first found him.

Submit.

Shiro shuddered, biting down on his knuckles. He felt like a live wire, overheated and constantly on the edge. Sendak’s cock was lodged fully inside him, filling him with his come, and Shiro himself had come half a dozen times already, but it wasn’t enough.

It would never be enough.

Eventually they left, quiet murmurs disappearing. Shiro could finally breathe—though it didn’t last long.

Shiro hadn’t been prepared for a heat. Exhaustion crept up on him quicker than he’d like. It got bad enough that Shiro lost his voice completely, moving on fumes alone, and Sendak forcibly held him down against the bedsheets, laying his hand over Shiro throat each time he tried to beg.

“Please?” he croaked, sounding close to a sob. “Please? I’ll be good, I’ll be so good. Please!”

“You are resting. Then you will eat and drink. And then we bathe. And only then will I fuck you.”

“Fuck me now and I’ll let you mate me.” Shiro tried to wriggle onto his cock, desperate to get out of his hold and fuck himself, but Sendak merely blinked at him placidly. “You know how to mate an omega, right? It’s easy, you just have to bite—”

“I have no interest in marking you,” Sendak interrupted. Shiro’s mouth snapped shut, and heart sank in an instant. Sendak cocked his head, stroking the side of his face with his large hand, and said, “You are already mine.”

“Oh,” Shiro said, quietly elated. Maybe not so much when his heat was over, but for now, that was the best thing he’d heard all night. “Okay. So you’ll fuck me?”

Sendak breathed through his nose. He changed positions, pushing Shiro back against the sheets. It wasn’t obvious what he was trying to do until he nuzzled Shiro’s cock with his mouth and dragged his fingers through the slick still gathering.

“Be still,” he warned, tongue darting out to brush over the tip of his cock. Shiro shuddered.

They fucked long into the morning, long after Shiro was supposed to have checked in. He was filled with come over and over, stuffed so full he worried there’d be no end to it. Sendak didn’t seem bothered by Shiro’s lack of refractory period, and even though he forced him to rest occasionally, refusing to even touch him, Shiro never felt neglected.

He felt sated. He felt good. He never wanted it to end.

****

He felt like shit.

The end of Shiro’s heat was always marked by a splitting headache, and this time was no exception.

A full day after he’d started his heat, Shiro woke up and felt like himself for the first time. At first, he lied in bed, staring at the ceiling, trying not to look directly at the big purple alien lying beside him, but eventually his bladder won out and he slipped out of bed. Or rather, he tried to.

Crumpled may have been a better descriptor; thanks to Sendak, Shiro’s body was covered in bruises, scratches, and scars. When he attempted to walk to the bathroom, he had to pause and hold onto the edge of the bed while his legs screamed at him in protest.

God, everything hurt.

“Jesus Christ,” he hissed, planting one hand along his hip. In the heat of the moment it hadn’t bothered him, but maybe he should have warned Sendak to be more careful of his frail human skin.

He glanced over at the body lying still in bed. Even curled on his side, Sendak appeared gigantic. Shiro swallowed, thinking about the teeth against his throat.

This had to be one of the stupidest things he’d ever done in his entire life. Once he spoke to those in charge, he was probably going to receive a serious reprimand. If he wasn’t immediately given the boot for endangering everyone involved.

After using the bathroom, Shiro took stock of his surroundings. Observing the cabin had been the last thing on his mind when he’d been in heat, but upon inspection, there wasn’t anything too impressive about it. Other than a bathroom and a small kitchen, it was unremarkable.

“Where are my clothes?” Shiro wondered aloud, realizing a moment later that Sendak had ripped them off his body. Right.

He glanced at Sendak again. As far as he was aware, he was still sleeping. Did the people here provide a change of clothing? How often were they supposed to check in on couples? The more Shiro thought about it, the more he realized he’d hardly paid attention to anything that had truly been important. He didn’t even know what time they were supposed to return.

Shiro’s phone buzzed on the end table. He wasn’t aware Sendak had retrieved it for him.

“Hey…uh, Sendak?” he tried, surprised when Sendak rolled over and met his eyes. “Um. Did I—did you get my phone for me?”

“While you slept,” Sendak confirmed. “You left it where I caught you.”

“Oh. Wow. Thanks.” Shiro shuffled over to the left, towards the doorway, then back to the right when he remembered he wasn’t wearing anything clothing. He stopped, because he didn’t know what he was supposed to do with himself. He was in the post-heat state, fragile and still seeking comfort from his alpha.

With no other options, Shiro turned away from Sendak and went back into the bathroom. The space was small, a far-cry from the one Shiro had to himself at the Garrison. He stared at himself in the mirror, grimacing at the sight of hickeys and bitemarks all along his neck and throat. A good number of them were concentrated where Shiro could have been marked. Could being the operative word.

Sendak hadn’t marked him. The revelation was as relieving as it was disappointing.

A hand that wasn’t his own slipped over his shoulder, near the base of his throat.

Shiro watched Sendak shuffle in behind him, his size made even more extreme in the tiny space. He didn’t bother to ask permission as he bent down and peppered Shiro’s throat with kisses, paying special attention to where Shiro’s gaze had lied.

“You begged me to mark you,” he said into his skin. His hands landed on Shiro’s hips. “You begged me to make you mine. You did not understand when I explained how it works for the galra.”

“I remember something like that.” Shiro laid his hand over Sendak’s, trying not to blush as he worked his way over his shoulder. “I think. How does it work again?”

Sendak met his eyes in the mirror. Inexplicably, he smirked, and then shuffled past him to use the bathroom.

Shiro never did get an answer out of him. Not long after, there came a knock at their door and they were preoccupied with the situation Shiro had gotten them into.

The only reason that they’d been left alone was apparently because of Sendak. He explained that he had deterred anyone from entering by claiming he went into rut, and that it had triggered a latent heat in Shiro. It was flimsy as far as excuses went, but Shiro was grateful he didn’t have to try and explain what he was doing in heat when he had explicitly denied it from the beginning.

“Why are you helping me?” Shiro asked while he gathered his things, including the clothes provided for him. It was a simple black tank and a pair of shorts. They didn’t feel great on his post-heat skin, but he didn’t have much of a choice.

“I have no reason not to help you,” Sendak replied, which wasn’t much of an answer at all. Shiro watched him get dressed, turning away only when he made a phone call and began speaking in a language Shiro didn’t understand.

They barely spoke as they gathered themselves and then met up at the facility. Shiro was examined and questioned to ensure that he was alright, but he assured them that he had enjoyed his time with Sendak, and that it was entirely consensual.

“I realized I was going into heat and decided to do it even after I figured it out. Sendak’s a nice guy.”

He didn’t actually know that, and based on the way he was limping around, he wasn’t sure anyone bought it. But because he didn’t seem outwardly stressed, they let them go without further questioning.

All Shiro knew was that for the galra, mating was different. No bite-marks were involved. At least not the kind Shiro was thinking of.

Had he been mated? Shiro wasn’t sure he was ready to know that answer, so he didn’t ask. Instead, he stood by Sendak while he waited for his ride to show up (he’d called in a favor with Hunk), and Sendak watched over him.

“Will you be all right going home on your own?” Sendak asked. His expression didn’t change, the but inflection in his voice suggested he did care. Shiro felt a little better thinking about it like that.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Thanks for looking out for me. I know I didn’t exactly…ask.”

Sendak scoffed. “I understood the rules, and I also understand how you yearned to break them. You are a fascinating individual for it.”

Shiro rubbed his forearm, oddly uneasy at Sendak’s assessment of him.

“Well,” he said, spotting Hunk’s car turning the corner. “I’ll see you later, I guess? Do you have a phone number I can reach?”

“I will find you,” Sendak promised him. Shiro blinked.

“What—”

“Hey,” Hunk interrupted, rolling down his window. “Shiro! You ready, buddy?”

“Hunk, hi! Yeah, I’m ready.” He glanced back at Sendak, noting the way his eyes followed him on his way to the passenger side door. “Thanks again, Sendak.” He paused with the door still open and offered an awkward wave. “Have a good one.”

Have a good one? Really?

Shiro wanted to wince. Instead, he slid into the car, mentally beating himself for giving Sendak such a terrible goodbye. Thankfully, Sendak didn’t seem bothered; if anything, the smirk on his face told Shiro that he was amused. And maybe he’d see him again if Sendak’s words weren’t all talk. Whatever they meant.

Smiling, Shiro turned his gaze out the window.

“So who was that guy?" Hunk asked, eyeing him. "And why do you smell like you drank his bathwater?”

Shiro’s smile turned into an embarrassed grin. Fascinating indeed.

[pretty-well-funded]

Ok I've seen your fav tropes (?) to write and here I got a prompt: dystopian AU in which omegas are treated as basically walking wombs but they have to live with the person who rents them until the child is born, alpha!Tony rents omega!Peter to have a heir for SI. He didn't expect he would like the omega so much.

Obviously I’m still tied up in the kidnapping fic but I started noodling on this idea (as well as the fic I posted yesterday), just to change things up.  thanks to everyone who has left prompts, I haven’t forgotten any of you and I’ll get to them as life allows :)

*

For the record, it wasn’t Tony’s freaking idea.

He’d never wanted kids.  He has no desire to fuck someone up for life, thanks - the experience of fucking over grown adults and breaking their hearts was more than enough.  Plus as an alpha, the most reliable option to get the kids was to ‘rent a womb,’ which was a creepy fucking euphemism for human trafficking.

But Tony’s no spring chicken, has no one to designate as an heir, and that was making both the board and the shareholders terminally nervous.

Long story short, they’d dug up an archaic clause in the bylaws, and now Tony’s procrastinating going home to the penthouse because an omega was…delivered this afternoon and he has a schedule to keep.

As if that wasn’t bad enough the omega must be a zygote, because apparently the board thought it was important for Tony’s offspring to be its very first get.

Seriously.  Those were the words that came out of their mouths.

“Sir,” JARVIS says, “if I may remind you - “

“No, you may not.  I’m not fucking on the board’s schedule, J.  They can take that schedule and go fuck themselves.”

“Be that as it may, Sir, your contracted omega went into heat three hours ago and now appears to be in considerable distress.”

Tony swears, putting down his tools and burying greasy fingers in his hair.  He’d done too goddamn good of a job programming JARVIS.  That stiffly-disappointed-yet-never-improper tone of his makes Tony feel all of twelve.  It was the exact sound of human Jarvis not telling pubescent Tony to stop being a dick just like his father.

“How distressed?”

“His temperature is 104, and he’s weeping.”

Tony’s stomach turns.  “Pull your punches, why don’t you?”

“You don’t like people that pull punches, Sir.”

“Damn right.”

Knowing what to expect when he got to the penthouse and actually seeing it were two different things.  He was hit immediately by the overpowering smell of omega in heat, instantly recognizable for all its lack of familiarity.  The boy is already in place on the breeding bench someone had thoughtfully erected in the goddamn living room, frantically fingering his hole and sobbing.

Tony is seriously an asshole.

Somewhere in this building is a whole file about the kid and what he needs, the rules, etc, but Tony is such an asshole, he doesn’t even know where.  “J, anything I need to know?”

“I believe you have all the requisite skills at your disposal, sir,” JARVIS says dryly.  “But I would remind you that in accordance with Title 18 of the federal code, no person may establish a sexual tie to an omega that they don’t own outright.”

“Right,” Tony mutters.  “No knotting.”

It never seemed that big an ask, before, but now that Tony can feel the itch, the compulsion, driven in his hindbrain by that scent…  Better safe than sorry.

“Did they happen to - “

“Disposable knot rings are available in the bag of supplies that they left on the foyer table, Sir.”

Well, no point in waiting.

*

The first time is, no lie, sort of awful.  The kid was just denied for too long. Tony’s lucky the pheromones are so thick he couldn’t lose wood if wanted to, because he’s certainly not turned on.  Between the knot ring and the crying, it takes way too long to come, which doesn’t help anything.

By the time the recommended, you know…steeping time has passed on the bench, the kid is passed the fuck out at an inverted 45 degree angle, which is kind of impressive.  He doesn’t respond to Tony’s attempts to wake him up, but he’s a little thing, so once Tony awkwardly gets him off the bench and into his arms, carrying him to the bedroom isn’t a big ask.

He’s not thrilled about sharing his bed, to be honest, but apparently it’s recommended (during heat, at least), and Tony’s already denied the kid what he needs enough.

Tony, himself, hasn’t slept in over forty-eight hours, and the stress of the whole ordeal has him exhausted.  He’s grateful that it takes him all of eight seconds to slide into deep unconsciousness.

Part 2

[morkmywords]

Peaches |Werewolf au | Exo | Chanyeol |

Masterlist | Epilogue

Werewolf!AU

Length: 23.7k

Note: This took such a long time to finish and I’m sorry but I promise I’ll try and get some other things written now also please excuse and errors since I’m too lazy to edit this ALSO THIS WILL CRASH YOUR MOBILE APP BECUAE ITS SO FREAKING LONG

Warnings: theres mentions of fighting and blood and some mention of the devil’s tango(Sex)

Pairing: Chanyeol x Reader

Genre: Fluff/angst

Summary: Werewolves live peacfully with the humans but not always peacefully with eachother.

The autumn sun beat down on the back of your neck as you pulled weeds from your garden, summer had ended a while ago but the sun was still hot as it washed over your fields. The Festival of Fallen Leaves was drawing nearer so you had to make sure everything was perfect because when The Festival of Fallen Leaves arrives so does the mating ritual, which means a lot of hungry wolves. You loaded up the last cartons of produce in your wagon before heading to town, the road was long but it wasn't like you hadn't done it before. You made your way through town with your head up as you greeted all the human elders and younglings you crossed paths with as you made your way to the banquet hall where all the food for the feast was being kept.

You waved to the young mother trying to grapple her children and organize the food collection all at once. “Hey Irma, how's everything going?” she gave you an exasperated groan in response as you put down your last carton full of peaches and picked up one of the two toddlers that were clinging to her legs.

“It really would be so much easier if Songho was around to help take care of these little rascals but I think we’re doing fine for now.” She said as she wrestled the other one away from the boxes.

Irma was your closest friend for as long as you remembered, she had always been your friend even when the other omegas weren't. You weren't small and fragile with long silky hair like the other omegas in the village, your arms and legs had muscle to them from your days spent working in the fields and your hair was cut you above your shoulders so it wouldn’t get in the way of your work. And the whole expectation that omegas need to rely on somebody to do basically everything for them you definitely didn't meet also helped, your mom was an alpha of the pack but your dad was a rogue so when the rest of the pack found out she was pregnant and from a rogue they exiled her, but she left you here and now you were the outcast. The toddler in your arms began to squirm out of boredom so you put him down and began to play with her until you were both giggling messes.

“You’d be a good mom you know.” Irma said as she placed the other toddler down in front of you. Irma and her husband Singho had been married for two years and already had three kids, as much as you loved the idea the thought of gaining so much responsibility in such a short period of time made you kind of uneasy. “And who knows, maybe you’ll get to be one soon after the events of tomorrow.”

“I doubt that.” You snorted, the thought of  one of the wolves from across the lake wanting to have you as a mae was utterly ridiculous. From the past festivals they had come to the village you figured out they were the same as the wolves on this side of the lake, they wanted nothing to do with you and you wanted nothing to do with them. “I’ll probably just live out the rest of my days on the farm in peace, with none of the drama that comes from wolves and their hierarchy.”

Irma sighed, you'd had this conversation many times before and your answer had been the same since the first time you could remember. “Don't get yourself too down in the dumps, even if you won't be one of their mates you can still oogle them. Werewolves have the best bodies and even humans know that.”

“You're the worst,” you groaned, Irma may be married but she still acted like a lovesick teenager. You gave her back the two now sleepy toddlers before standing back up, “ I have to go and finish up the flag that I still don't understand why I have to make a while im being forced to participate in this event I hate!! But I’ll see you tomorrow.” She giggled at your little outburst before she waved goodbye and you headed back to your farm. On your way down the main road you noticed the group of the highest ranked omegas staring at you as you pulled your wagon past. There weren't any official rankings but they were considered the best of the best, they all had top notch skills in cooking, cleaning, sewing, and being small and pretty. This was the year Chanyeol, the alpha next in line for head of pack, would be participating and everyone was sure he would pick one of them with their brightly coloured clothes of the highest quality and prettily painted faces. Chaeyoung was the omega he seemed to favour when Chanyeol had come for past festivals and they seemed like the perfect match. As much as you wanted to stay confident and keep your head up as you walked past them you didn't, so you avoided eye contact and strayed to the other side of the street while trying to stay out of the spotlight. You didn't really mind if the wolves didn't like you since most of the humans were pretty nice to you, once you got out of the center of the small town you let your shoulders relax as you made your way back along the dirt road to the small farmhouse you called your home.

Your wagon rattled across the bridge that ran over the river that separates your land from the main road and your neighbour’s property, the sun had set by the time you walked back to your front porch and you were just ready to sleep. You opened the curtains and peered out the window as you heard the sound of paws crunching on the dirt road, a pack of wolves were walking down the road and you could see their glowing eyes from where you were standing leaning halfways out your window. Your hand slipped from the windowsill and you let out a muffled scream as your stomach hit the edge of the window, you felt a blush from embarrassment rise to your cheeks as you pulled yourself back up and saw most of the wolves turn to face you. They were obviously from across the lake as their wolf forms were the larger more muscular ones of alphas and betas compared to the smaller stature of omegas. You ducked back into your house after shutting the curtain in a flurry of movement and flopped on your bed while trying to calm your racing heart. Once your breathing returned to normal you rolled off the side of your bed and began rummaging in your trunk for the supplies you needed to complete the banner. The banner was one of the reasons you hated the festival so much, the omegas were supposed to create a banner to be displayed and judged to see who’s was the best, it was the only competition out of all the competitions designed to show of your omeganess that was mandatory to enter and you hated it the most. Some omegas spent months planning out and designing theirs unlike you who had left it till the night before, you finally finished it and crashed onto your bed to sleep for a few hours until sunrise when you would have to get to work again.

When you got up the next morning you could feel the excitement of everyone in town at the arrival of all the wolves last night even though you didn’t actually see anyone. You dragged your heavy legs out of bed and threw your work clothes on before heading out to the fields behind you house, the other omegas in the town would be putting on layers of makeup and their best silks in an attempt to look their best in preparation for the later festivities. Once you were finished with your daily chores you went inside and do your best to get ready, unlike the traditional silks that the other wolves would be wearing that were brightly coloured and decorated with crystals and other beads made of various gems yours were a mixture of blue and yellow colours with a simple pattern on the outer layer but otherwise no decorations. You added a bit of colour to your cheeks and lips before struggling with your hair, you tried your best to braid it back and away from your face but you were helpless. You let out a groan as your fifth attempt of a braid got tangled and fell apart, you banged your wrist on the vanity as you threw your arms down in anger. You winced as you held your tender wrist and got a glimpse at the clock, you shot up from your seat and rushed to the door since you had to be there in ten minutes. You shoved your banner in your bag before wedging your feet into the dainty slippers that were part of your whole getup before running out the door and down the road.

----

You were panting by the time you handed your banner to the village elder that was organizing them and the bottom of your skirt was covered in a thin layer of dust. All the wolves were in their fine clothing, covered in jewelry and expertly done hair and makeup while you looked like you'd just rolled out of a barn, it was a bit embarrassing as the wolves around you all stared at your unique appearance. You walked away as quickly as you could in search of someone you knew to distract you from the stares, you were walking past the display of professionally crafted blankets and other weavings when you heard a few alphas and betas talking.

“Are you sure she’s an omega, she looks quiet….. Robust,” one whispered to his friend.

From the corner of your eye you saw one of the friends let out an amused huff. “I’d hate to be the unlucky idiot that ends up with her.”

“Even if she was the only wolf left in the forest I wouldn't be her mate.” one added and they all nodded in agreement. Your eyes travelled to the ground and you felt the flush of embarrassment rise to your cheeks as you rushed past them while holding your sore wrist against you body, you were jittery around the festival until you found Irma and her husband. The festival was filled with different competitions and activities, there were cooking, sewing, dancing, singing, and art competitions which were basically just an omega talent show. There were also various sports competition and strength competitions for the alphas, betas, and humans to participate in, of course you chose not to take part in anything that wasn't mandatory and would preferably be back home sleeping some more. The omega focused events were all happening today to show off before the mating ritual and the other events would follow in the weeks after, and the painting exhibit was where you finally found Irma.

“You look like death,” Irma commented on your appearance as you walked over to her, “Did you get eaten and spit out again by one of those chickens you have in your backyard?”

You sighed and leaned your head against her shoulder letting your eyes drift closed. “I stayed up till about an hour before dawn trying to finish that stupid banner.”

“Did you finish it?”

You yawned and nodded still keeping your eyes closed

“Sometimes I’m glad I’m not a wolf with all your weird customs but I do have to admit this one is kind of romantic.” she sighed.

You snorted while opening your eyes and standing back up.“Romantic my butt……” you paused and yawned again before continuing on, “By the way, where are the kids?” you asked her as she guided you to a bench.

“Songho offered to take them for the day.” you saw her evil smirk as you both sat down on the bench.

“Stupid man, you're never going to see him again.” you said and closed your eyes once again, you felt her shrug in agreement beside you. You both stayed seated at the bench for a while just chatting about this and that before you eventually got up and made your way through the various exhibits, there was nothing extremely special about any of the winning items but you looked nonetheless. You were sifting through the endless poems that seemed to all be about love or nature when your stomach let out an unusually loud growl.

“Did you forget to eat lunch again?” Irma teased as she placed her hands on her hip playfully. You nodded your head and a pained expression set up shop on your face as the emptiness of your stomach caught up with you. “Let’s go.” She grabbed your hand and dragged you through the crowds to the hall where all the food was before she wedged some sort of meat sandwich in your hand. You practically inhaled the first sandwich as you listened to her chatter about the minor issues in her life, your mood definitely lifted when you had food in you as you happily munched away. You were halfway through your third sandwich when some younger girls made their way past chatting.

“We wouldn’t be so late if you hadn’t been filling your guts with pastries.” The taller one hissed at the girl by her side.

The smaller girl’s eyes grew wide in panic and an embarrassed blush coloured her cheeks.”We still have two minutes before it starts.” She stuttered.

“But we’ll still be late to the banner contest if you don’t pick up the pace.”

You choked on the piece of bread that was in your mouth when you heard the word ‘banner’, you knew the hall seemed oddly empty of people and you quickly glanced at the clock on the wall before grabbing Irma’s hand and breaking into a run for the town square. You sprinted past the two girls from before with Irma in tow who was utterly confused until she saw the crowd surrounding the stage that had been put up and had all the banners hanging from the back. You dropped Irma’s hand and began slipping through the crowd and not so gracefully slipping under the rope to join the crowd of omegas whose work was going to be displayed. The crowd of both male and female omegas were glaring at you while you tried to stand up after you tripped on the hem of your own dress and landed with a muffled screech. Thankfully you didn’t draw anyone else’s attention and on any other the crowd of glaring omegas would be enough to make you want to throw up but in your sleep deprived state you didn’t even notice them and just waited for the presentation to begin already knowing yours would be dead last.

“And in first place, Kim Chaeyoung!” The announcer exclaimed not to your surprise but the crowd went wild. Her banner was more like a tapestry you would hang in a castle, it was embroidered with a mountain that slowly bled into the forest and lake where you lived, beads and sparkling gemstones were sewn on to look like the orange hues of fall leaves and right smack dab in the Center there were two figures that were obviously meant to be her and Chanyeol in wolf form, his massive wolf with a dark brown almost black coat and her with her soft dappled grey fur. Your eyes followed her like most of the other jealous omegas as she went up on stage to recover her reward, you may have been completely out of it but you didn’t miss the disgusted glare she gave you when she caught you looking. Only the top three participants revived rewards and were called up on stage and unsurprisingly it was two of Chaeyoung’s followers who got second and third, the current head alpha and his mate were the ones to rank the banners and even though it was supposed to be based on quality alone there was obviously some favouritism at work when you saw their pleased smiles. After that the banners were shown in ranking from highest to lowest but no names were called although it was still painfully obvious who’s was whose, they kept going until there was only one left. Yours palled in comparison to all the other with their fancy decorations and high level skill, yours was a plain cream coloured piece of fabric to which you had embroidered a few leaves and a cluster of peach blossoms onto one corner. There were no beads or gems, there were no bright colours or artistically sewn images, it was just plain and simply showed off who you were. You still flushed red when you saw the knowing glances fall to you and you wanted to shrink back into your cocoon of a dress until everybody left but unfortunately you couldn’t do that as now it was time for the feast.

——

The eating part was the easy part since your stomach was an endless pit but now the eating was over and it was time for the hard part. You hated the traditional dances but you still attended the rehearsals that taught you how to do it, the basic idea of it was to dance past the alphas and betas who would be taking part in the ritual so they could scent you you thought but really didn’t know. It sounded simple enough but it was a lot more nerve racking, the entire of the human village and werewolf pack would be watching you as you danced as if you didn’t get stared at enough and aside from that the actual dance you had to do wasn’t choreographed. The dance was usually passed down from a mother to a daughter and the dance was unique to each family but you were completely on your own since the only thing that was choreographed was the order you would go in which was the same as the banners were ranked which meant you had to go last. Your palms were already sweating as Chaeyoung began her dance flowing smoothly across the space and stopping to linger in front of an alpha or beta she seemed to like, this year there were only three betas and two alphas that were participating. On the other hand omegas had found every loophole possible to try and participate because the next head alpha would be participating. Although you didn't realize, soon there were five omegas left before it was your turn, then it was four, three, two, and suddenly it was your turn to go. The musicians kept a steady beat as you began trying your best to dance on wobbly legs, you were so tired it hardly seemed real as you moved across the open space. At this point in time you were so exhausted you really didn't care anymore, you kept your eyes on the ground and did your best to copy the moves you'd seen at previous rituals in an attempt to move gracefully. Your legs wobbled here and there and sometimes your feet got tangled or your steps faltered but you were still definitely the fastest to do it. You paid no attention to the jibes the others threw at you as you joined the group of other omegas who had already finished their dances, you just wanted the festival to be over so you could go home and sleep but it was far from over. Now it was time to go to the edge of the forest because the mating ritual was about to start, Irma caught your eye just as you were about to leave and gave you a huge thumbs up to which you replied back with a huge thumbs down. You were led to the edge of the forest by the head alpha’s mate before he started explaining the rules as if you already didn't know them.

“You’ll be released into the forest in the same order as the dance, with the first place in this case Chaeyoung having two hours to find her place and after another omega will be released every five minutes until the last one is released who has only one hour to find their place. Once the alphas and betas are released if they want to mate with you they will mark their territory and proceed, tomorrow morning the omegas will meet back here and the ones who have been mated with will get ready for the ceremony while the others go back. During the ceremony if you are mated your mate will choose your banner which announces it to the pack that they are your mate and the vows will be exchanged. Everyone understand?” the head omega asked and everyone nodded, as if he hadn't learned about this from the time they were old enough to speak. “Well if everyone is prepared Chaeyoung will start.”

At his signal Chaeyoung took off into the forest to find her hiding spot, the others were buzzing with excitement but you being the last would have to wait an hour before you could go. Eventually omegas left the group and headed into the forest nervous and excited all at the same time, you waited through every departure until it was finally your turn to go. As soon as you stepped foot in the forest you heard a rumble of thunder and the rain began pouring, your plan was to head through the forest to the river where you could then cross it and hideaway in your house before returning the next morning without anyone ever knowing but now that it was raining it might but a halt to your plan. You only had an hour before the alphas and betas were released so you had to move quickly, your senses were not nearly as strong as they were when you were in your wolf form but it was still stronger than humans so you used them to steer clear of any of the other omegas which you could smell of hear but most would be crowded around where the alphas and betas would be released and not this far into the forest. Once you deemed yourself far enough away you stripped out of your silks and placed them in your bag before changing into your wolf form which made it much easier to navigate the dense forest, the rain was still pouring and lightning struck a few times but you continued on. You heard the river before you saw it but when you did see it all your fears came true, the river was more than double its usual size and running at least three times as fast making it impossible to cross even in wolf form. You were dumbfounded as to how it rose so quickly and you stayed there in utter shock for a few minutes before a clap of thunder broke you out of your thoughts. You would have to stay in the forest until the water calmed down which meant all night, the rain probably washed away most of your tracks and scent but you still didn't want to draw any attention to yourself.You only had about ten minutes left until the alphas and betas were released so you had to be fast, you trotted through the forest in the surrounding area looking for a place you could stay when your eyes caught on a rocky outcropping the resembled a cave. You ran over there and tucked yourself under the stone roff thankful to get out of the rain but unthankful you had to spend the night in this damned forest, you put your bag down in a far corner before scanning the area for signs of anybody else. You stayed there for a while scanning your surrounding until you deemed it safe and tried to sleep but the anxiety of being in the forest and the pouring rain kept you awake, it was like all the exhaustion from earlier in the day had disappeared and you were wide awake. A little while later the rain had stopped pouring so hard and you decided it was time to investigate since all the other wolves were…..preoccupied. You cautiously stepped out from under the protection of the rock and explored the small clearing to the left of the cliff, the heavy rain had created a small stream of running water in a divet of land. You bent down closer to get a closer look at the miniature river when you heard a small croak and looked up to see a little brown frog staring at you from a rock that was about a foot in your face. You observed the small creature out of curiosity and it seemed to do the same, you were about to lean closer when there was a rustle in the bushes behind you and his hopped away. You whipped around and straightened your legs as you saw the familiar yellow eyes and large body of a werewolf come into view, you stood frozen as it lifted its leg and marked the territory without ever taking its eyes off of you.

‘You shouldn’t do that.’ Your panic got the best of you as the wolf began advancing towards you. The wolf was almost twice the size of you with dark brown almost black fur and glowing yellow eyes, it must have been an alpha and you could tell from its scent that it was a male.

‘I don’t think you are in any position to be telling me what I can and cannot do.’ It growled back as it stalked closer and closer to where you were.

You were no longer frozen in shock and again,out of instinct, you began to move backwards which only seemed to make the alpha angrier.

‘Don’t.’ He growled again but you didn’t listen and instead made a break for it trying to swing in a wide arc around him. You thought you were going to get away until your body was slammed onto the ground with the alpha pinning you down, an unreadable look in his eyes.

‘You can’t- I can’t- you- I can’t be your m-m-mate I’m not-‘ You tried to make excuses as you stifled helplessly underneath the much larger animal, even though you had some hard earned muscle it did nothing against him as your cries seemed to go through one ear and out the other. Just when you were about to give up you caught him off guard and pushed one of his legs off balance before slipping out from under him and trying to make another escape. You barely got three steps before you were pinned to the ground again, alpha boiling with rage above you.

You began to struggle again but he cut you off with a low growl. ‘Mine.’

You let your body fall limp underneath him knowing there was no way you could escape this.

——

You woke up at dawn out of habit and your entire body was sore, the left side of your neck especially. You ignored the aching of your muscles and sat up letting the blood rush to your head and the memories of last night with it. You turned your head to see the sleeping face of Chanyeol staring up at the sky and you began to panic, it would have been bad enough if any wolf mated with you but Chanyeol being the next head alpha was one thousand times worse. You sprung into action changing back into your wolf form before grabbing your bag from underneath the small overhang and booking it to the river. You splashed through the river not caring if it was safe of not and bounding out of the trees and into your orchard, once you were safely behind the various fruit trees you changed back and threw on your silks. You tentatively reached a hand up to your sore neck and let out a hiss as it stung when you touched it, you tore out the small mirror in your bag and sure enough Chanyeol had bit your neck and marked you as his mate.

You paced up and down the rows of trees trying to figure out what to do, you couldn’t be his mate ever, it was unheard of and you surely would get banished from the pack just like your own mother, you had to pretend like nothing happened because there was no other way. You gathered your skirts and readjusted your top to cover the red and purple mark bite mark on your shoulder before heading to the meeting spot.

“You’re the last one, where have you been!” The omega in charge called out and you tripped over your long skirts as you hurried over to where the rest of the omegas were gathered.

“I’m sorry, I got lost and had t-to take the long way.” You mumbled but got no response, confused you looked up to see everyone staring at…… your left shoulder. When the realization hit you your hands flew up to check your neckline and sure enough your neckline had slipped down to reveal the mark.

Once everyone got over the initial shock you were put in a group with the four other omegas that had been mated and were marched to the village while the others were dismissed.

“Who in their right mind would mate with her?” One of the other omegas in the group of five seethed. Your cheeks turned bright red and you hung your head at her words while she just snickered. Chaeyoung and one of her minions were mated with and were walking in the front while there was one of the others walking behind them and a boy who looked as soft as a marshmallow walked beside you.

“Don’t listen to her, she’s just upset because her mate is a beta. You raised your eyebrows at the boy who was at least a foot taller than you with hair the colour of a cloud.

“How do you know that?” You were confused by the boy who was talking to you but more curious about what he said.

“I saw them together as I was walking out and I’m scared for life.” He whispered.

You both were pretty sure she heard because of the glare she sent back over her shoulder, even so you both giggled at the statement while you continued your treck to the town. “I’m Jongin.” He said with a smile that would melt anyone’s heart. “Let’s be friends because you seem really nice even if people say bad things about you.”

You looked over at the smiling boy and you didn’t sense any ulterior motives coming from him. “Ok Jongin, let’s be friends.”

——

Once you arrived in the village you were all sent to different huts where pack elders were waiting for you. You were first stripped of your clothes then put in a hot bath where you were scrubbed from head to toes as if you couldn’t clean yourself with various soaps and scrubs that left you smelling like some sort of fancy flower. Next you were placed in a dressing room where you were outfitted with traditional robe that was probably more expensive than everything you owned altogether, you were sat down in front of a mirror where they did their best with the little hair you had and painted your face with makeup you had never even seen before. The sun was beginning to go down by the time they were done and you were exhausted, they put you in front of a large mirror to make sure you were happy with it and all you could do was nod. You could hardly recognize yourself as you stared in the mirror, other than your hair you looked completely different with the layers of makeup and fancy clothes but you didn’t want to be rude so you hid the discomfort you felt and quietly thanked them. You were led into a larger hut with all the other omegas who were participating in the ceremony, you were definitely the least extravagantly dressed but it’s not like it was unusual. The others were in traditional dress that was specified for their families, and many had family heirlooms which could be a hairpin to a belt but were always beautiful and covered in glittering gemstones. Jongin chatted idly beside you like some of the others in your room but you weren't really paying attention because you were too focused on your racing mind and pounding heart. You had seen this ceremony so many times in the years before now but you never actually thought you would be the one participating in it, when the whole process was explained multiple times you barely listened. Finally it was time to leave and the veils were placed over everyone's head before they were led out into the field where the ceremony would be taking place. Through the thin fabric that covered your eyes you could see the alphas and betas lining up parallel to the line of omegas you were standing in and the speeches began.

After what seemed like endless people speaking the alphas and betas were called one by one to claim their mate, the omegas beside you were claimed one by one until it was only you and Chaeyoung left. The name of the other alpha was about to be called when the head alpha was interrupted, you missed what was said but your eyes shot up to see Chanyeol looking back at you with a garbage eating smirk. He walked forward staying right in between you and the omega beside you until he stopped two feet in front of you two.  Everyone held their breath in anticipation to see which omega he was going to pick and even more anxious for who was under the veil. He seemed to be charged by the tense atmosphere and his smirk on grew as he took a step and stopped in front of you before gently lifting your banner from your hands and unwrapping the cloth covering it. You heard multiple noises of shock when the crowd recognized the plain cream backing with a few small peach blossoms in the corner, your heart was beating so fast you thought it might stop. He leaned forward to lift the veil from your face as the crowd prayed it wasn't true but when the summer sun washed over you it was clear their worst dreams had come true. As you blinked back the sunlight he leaned even closer to you and in the ruse of placing a kiss on your cheek he whispered, “It was incredibly rude for you to run away this morning Peaches.” He stood back up and you could already feel how red your cheeks were getting as you followed him you to the platform where the head alpha and the head of the human village were standing. By the time you had reached the proper positions everyone had seemed to have gotten over themselves enough to continue on so both men cleared their throats and began. You stumbled through the vows while Chanyeol was the picture of calm enunciating every word perfectly, almost slowly and when the time came to complete the ceremony with the wine you were more nervous than ever.  First he took a sip then offered the cup to you which you took with shaking hands and did your best to sip the strong liquid but when you thought nothing worse could happen you inhaled some of the liquid which made you let out a cough embarrassing you even more. The next ceremony continued with almost nothing going as wrong as yours but you could hardly pay attention to anything.

----

The feast was in full swing with people dancing around and singing drunk on the exceptionally strong wine they were serving, while others were gouging themselves on the endless tables of food. You were sitting on a cushion next to Irma by the farthest table while watching her children dance around with hands full of different sweets.

“I still cant believe youre letting them have so much sugar.” You laughed as her son shoved a cream puff into his small mouth and smearing the cream all over his nose.

She sighed and filled her cup with some more wine before downing it in one gulp which you giggled at. “It’s a celebration therefore it’s Songho’s responsibility. And I still can't believe that the next head alpha is your mate.”

“Dont remind me.” you muttered and reached for the pitcher of wine and filled up your cup, but before you could take a sip Irma knocked it out of your hand. “WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!” you exclaimed.

“Don't forget that now you're his mate you could possibly have a mini you swimming around somewhere in there.” she poked at your stomach. Your heart dropped, you hadn't even considered that possibility and you started panicking, you couldn't have his baby inside your stomach, that would just make everything worse. “Don’t freak out too much, there’s hardly a chance you would get pregnant after only one time. It took at least five for me to get pregnant with my first daughter.” Irma said as she wrapped her arm around your shoulder and tried to comfort you.

“I really didn’t need to know that much but thanks for telling me I guess.” you said as she dropped her arm off your shoulder and reached for a roll off the center of the table.

“Now go find your big strong alpha.” she said before taking a bite out of the bread and shoving you up from your seat. You laughed and made your way back to where you remembered sitting a few minutes before, stopping to wipe the cream off her sons face before whispering goodluck to Songho and continuing on your way. You skirted the outer edges of the tables in an attempt to avoid the drunken crowd who was dancing around the bonfire in the center. You dodged through small groups of people who were stumbling around and ducked behind a tent where food was set up. You turned the corner and walked around the back of the tent to where you remembered the table you left a few minutes ago, you rounded the last corner you stopped in your tracks.

Your jaw dropped to the floor when you saw Chaeyoung dropping herself across Chanyeol’s lap and presses kisses into his neck. In a rustle of many layers of fabric rubbing together you turned and headed back behind the tent and into the maze of huts that surrounded the town square. You moved as fast as you could with all your finery but you only got a few small huts down before you were stopped by a hand on your arm. You were spun around and came face to face with your mate. You were surprised he left the omega who he was so happily chatting with just a few moments before to stop you.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He demanded without releasing his hold on you arm.

“Leaving.” You grunted as you wrenched you arm from his grasp. “What’s it to you anyways? You seemed perfectly happy with your little friend back there.”

The look in his eyes darkened into something frightening as you finished talking. “And how do you know she was my ‘little friend’?” He spit out.

“Well it didn’t seem like you were making any objection to her little show for you.” You didn’t know why you were angry you just knew you were.

“How are her actions my fault!?”

“Well you weren’t doing anything to stop them, in fact, you seemed to be enjoying it!”

“Why are you so oblivious?!” He growled, “Everything with you is always poor me, poor me. You’re so selfish you can’t think of anyone but yourself! You always go around wallowing in your own sadness about how hard your life is and you’ve never cared about anything else.” He was breathing hard now and his eyes seemed to darken even more. “At least you could be yourself, I’ve had to life a life of perfection since I was a child without even a chance to mess up!”

Your breath hitched in your throat “Is that all I am to you? You’re one big mess up!” You exclaimed, throwing your hands into the air, “I’m just a pawn in your stupid game and you thought I was selfish! Maybe I do wallow in my own sadness but it’s your and the others fault I’m an outcast to begin with! Maybe you lived a strict lifestyle but it sure is a hell of a lot better than being abandoned as a baby then shunned by the people who were supposed to be like your family!” You were screaming at this point, not caring about the look in his eyes or anyone who was around to hear.

“You’re ruining everything for me, be quiet!” He hissed as he took a few steps closer which you matched with a few steps back.

“I was perfectly fine with marrying a human if I ever got married at all but then you had to come along and now it really is you who ruined everything for me.” You could feel the warmth of tears on your cheeks and the crack in your voice from a dry throat as you struggled to take a breath. You turned away from him and fled back to your little farm which seemed to be your only safe place now. You didn’t pick up on any footsteps behind you but you ran anyways as your many layers caught and ripped on things and your breath turned ragged. You were almost to your house as sons racked your whole body and suddenly you couldn’t go inside, you wanted to forget about this whole thing and you couldn’t go inside because you knew the supplies for the banner were still strewn about on your bed.

You had barely slept in three days and the exhaustion was really catching you this time as your stumbles down the river bank, your vision swam as you took a step into the water. You didn’t care that it was freezing cold or that it was ruining your fancy garments as if they hadn’t been ruined enough already, you walked deeper as more tears began rolling down your cheeks. You wanted the cold mountain water to wash away the memories of the past few days as you stopped an crouched down so the water came to just above your elbows. You wanted the river to wash you away but you didn’t have the strength to do anything but sit there in the chilly water and cry, your emotions seemed to be coming just as fast as the water was rushing.

——

“Check by the river!” Songho called from his seat at the table that the rest of his family was currently sleeping on.

Chanyeol’s sharp eyes trained on the person who was speaking to him. “What?” He asked confused as why a villager just blurted out a random piece of information at him.

“You’re looking for Y/n right?” Songho asked the alpha who had stopped his frantic search of the crowd. He took the silence he got as confirmation. “She lives on the farthest farm by the river, she probably decided to head home.”

“That’s her house?”

“Mm, she’s lived there her whole life, best peaches around.” Songho answered before he was interrupted by his half asleep wife rolling on top of him and their pile of kids following. When he finally looked back up the worried alpha was gone.

——

You felt warm arms against you as they lifted you from the water. You snuggled into the warm chest behind you for the brief moments you were conscious before you passed out again to the rhythm of the running water.

—-

You woke up to your throat feeling like sandpaper and your lips cracked and dry, your limbs felt stiff as you tried to shift on the bed your recognized as your own.

“Y/n?” Somebody called out. You heard a shuffling in the next room over before Irma popped her head into the room. “You are awake!” She exclaimed before scurrying over to you with a large glass of water in her hands.

“Thank you.” You croaked before grabbing the glass of water from her and drinking it entire contents. You let out a heavy sigh as you finished drinking and handing the glass back to her, you tried to push yourself further up into a sitting position but your vision began to swim.

“Take it easy there.” Irma warned as she snaked her arm around your back and helped you up, placing more pillows around you as she went. “You’ve been asleep for so long I would be careful.”

“Exactly how long have I been asleep?” You questioned, you remembered what happened before you passed out but nothing else.

“I think it’s been about two weeks now?”

“WHAT?!” You exclaimed while shooting up from the bed but quickly falling back as the dizziness came back.

“Calm down,” Irma said, “I’ll tell you but first you need food because your stomach sounds like a thunderstorm.”

You felt the pink in your cheeks as she disappeared back into the kitchen and began crashing around again. You peered out the window to your right across the orchard outside of your home, winter was already just around the corner as the sun hid behind clouds and the cool winds ripped the falling leaves off their branches. It seemed like only a few days ago you were out in the fields at the beginning of harvest season but now it was almost winter and you were going to be forced to leave your farm for what would most likely be the rest of your life. At that moment Irma decided to barge back into your room with a giant bowl of stew in her hands  she made your way back over to your bed before climbing in next to you and attempting to hand you the giant bowl.

“Earth to Y/n?” She said before jostling you with her elbow and bring you back to reality.

“I have something to ask you,” you started but we’re cut off by Irma shoving the bowl into your face.

“Eat first and I’ll explain, then you can ask questions.” She demanded. You reluctantly took the bowl and took a small bite before starting to shovel it into your mouth at a speed you didn’t think you were capable of, you had forgotten how good of a cook Irma was. “Slow down there sport,” she laughed at your frantic eating, “You’re not going to able to hear me speak!” She teased.

Eventually you slowed down enough for her to explain though you still ate at an unnaturally fast speed.

“Well I guess I should start from the beginning of it even counts as the beginning,” Irma said, “Chanyeol was wandering around the feast like a lost puppy until he bumped into Songho, we may or may not have seen you run off earlier and were kind of worried. Anyways, Songho told him to go look by the river and he took of so fast it was like he wasn’t even there in the first place.” You finished your food and we’re just listening quietly at this point while she explained everything. “The next morning I decided to go check and see if you made it home alright and I almost got run over by your mate who was running back to the village. He told me you weren’t conscious and had a fever so he was going to get a doctor and I’ve been here taking care of you since. There was one point where we were scared you weren’t going to make it because you weren’t sick anymore but you weren’t conscious, the doctor said it was your wolf senses reacting to shock. I’m just glad you’re okay.” She finished.

“So what day is it today?” you asked her as you laid your head on her shoulder and huddled back under the blankets.

“Friday.” “So I’ve actually been asleep for almost three weeks?” “I guess…” you laughed at the way Irma was subtly trying to avoid your question and ended up poking her in the stomach which launched a full out tickle war. There were limbs flying and the sound of your laughter was filling the entire house as you two tumbled over each other with wiggling fingers. In that moment you forgot about everything that was changing in your life and you were back with your best friend just having fun until Irma brought up the festival again.

“You’ve missed most of the games but there's still the Kickball tournament before you leave, the first game if tomorrow and I'm pretty sure your mate is playing. Don’t you want to see him all shiny from the sweat, and his muscles-” you quickly cut her off by slapping a hand over her mouth, you let out a groan of disgust as you felt her lick your palm.

“Don’t remind me about leaving.” You muttered as you crawled back under a pile of blankets. “I just want to stay her forever.”

Irma sighed and was about to say something before there was a sharp knock at the door, you made no move to stand up so Irma was making her way to the door when you let out a frantic whisper. “Don’t tell him I’m awake.”

After a confused look you returned to your blanket cave and sure enough when she opened the door you heard a familiar voice.

“Did Y/n wake up?” Chanyeol asked, he sounded out of breath and his voice was tinged with worry which only made you wonder about what he was doing before.

“She did and we talked for a while but she just fell asleep again and i think it’s best if we dont disturb her.” Irma said calmly.

You heard a loud sigh. “That’s good.” Chanyeol sounded much more relaxed now though you didn't know why. “She’s alright though?” He asked after a slightly awkward pause. What followed was some more conversation and you heard a doctor being mentioned a few times before goodbyes were exchanged and the door was shut again. You felt the bed dip with Irma’s weight as she perched on the bed beside you.

“You might want to put on some clothes since Chanyeol said the doctor would be here soon.” She whispered. It took a few minutes of mumbling and grumbling before you finally gave in and got up.

----

“So doc, is she dying?” Irma asked from beside you. The doctor let out a low chuckles as he placed his equipment back into his bag.

“No, she’ll be perfectly fine if she takes it easy for the next fe days.” He explained as he continued packing away the various bottles and tools.

You fidgeted nervously underneath the blankets unsure of whether to ask your question or not. “So, what was wrong with me?” You finally blurted out.

He paused to scratch his head and he seemed to be thinking of what to say. “Well, It’s most likely from shock. I don’t really know the way werewolves bodies well enough to determine the exact cause but from what experience i do have I believe it was shock mixed with the fact you hadn't been eating or sleeping in the few days beforehand. There may also be a slight chance your pregnant but i wouldn’t be too worried about that.” He paused to did around in his bag a bit  as you went over what he said. “Now i want you to take one of these a day until they run out, just to get your body back on track.” He explained as he handed you a bottle of what looked like vitamins. “They’ll help with your sleeping habits as well as get rid of nausea and headaches.”

You two bid the doctor farewell before he left again and you went back to reading the label on the bottle he gave you.

“So you can go out and have fun now but instead you choose to read a medicine bottle?” Irma sked when you refused to get up.

“You can go, I’ll be fine on my own. I’m just not feeling like going out.” You said. It was true that you were tired and didn’t really feel like going out but it was mostly due to the fact that you didn’t want to see your mate. In the bottom of your stomach there was a pool of guilt, you felt bad about what happened between you and just the idea of being around him just made you nervous.

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright?” Irma asked.

“Yes, now go have fun!” You were thankful that she was worried about you and it warmed your heart but you couldn't make her stay here with you so you ushered her out the door from your spot at the bed.

----

Somehow it was four days later and you were at the games. Irma had finally managed to drag you out of the house saying that she needed your help to take care of the kids but you two ended up at the large playing field and your plans of avoiding Chanyeol were slowly slipping away. It was an uncharacteristically sunny day for winter which was creeping closer and closer, you were standing at the side with Irma and Songho each holding a squirming child.

“We should go find seats.” Songho managed to mutter as he tried to keep the toddler that was using him as a jungle gym still. You both nodded and began to make your way to the stands which were already full of people, you still had an hour till the final game started but people were already filling up the stands with screaming and cheering. You were beginning to get nervous as humans and wolves alike began recognizing you and you felt their eyes following you, thankfully Irma and Songho chose a few seats that were far enough away from the main crowd that nobody even noticed you tucked away in the corner.

----

A cheer erupted in the crowd as the players burst onto the field, you thought you were going to go deaf from the noise and it was magnified by your wolf senses. Horns were blowing and people were cheering as both teams got into their positions, you caught a glimpse of Chanyeol in a serious discussion with his teammates before breaking and heading to their respective positions. The whistle blew, the ball was dropped, and the game was underway. Both teams were amazing and you thought you would get whiplash from how the ball flew from one end of the field to the next, unhindered by the strong winds that seemed to pick up speed as time went on. Goals were scored from both teams and you couldn't tell who was who from volume of dirt and mud that were covering all the team uniforms, Irma left earlier with her youngest and now it was just you, Songho, and the two toddlers.

Suddenly the wind picked up and thunder rumbled across the sky, a large raindrop hit you square between your eyes followed by another, then another, and soon it was pouring rain. The wind was whipping the hair into your eyes as you stood up, it had only been raining for a few minutes and you could already feel the water soaking through your clothes. The whistle blew and the referees called the game to a stop. The weather conditions continued to worsen in the next few minutes and Songho gave you a nod signalling he new you needed to head home and make sure everything was alright back at the farm. You pushed through the crowds of people who were trying together their things to protect from the rain as you raced back home. Your equipment wasn't put away and you shutters were not closed so your windows could blow in and get everything ruined, you sprinted through the huts until you got to the main road. Raindrops were already dripping off of you so splashing through puddle and getting your pant legs all dirty wasn't really your main concern. You had never really been athletic so you did your best to keep running even if you fell a few times and got all battered up.

You burst into the farmyard with new found energy as you began to pick up your scattered tools and locking them in the shed while trying not to be blown over by the strong gusts of wind. Once you were sure everything was locked away tight you ran around your house and strapped all the shutters shut as best you could with your limited vision. The wind was howling and lightning was striking by the time you finally bolted your door shut behind you, your boots made an uncomfortable squelching noise as you padded over to a chair before pulling them off, followed by your equally as soaked socks. You quickly shedded  your soaking wet clothing for a more favourable outfit of your warmest nightdress, warmest sweater, and a pair of soft leggings in an attempt to bring some heat back to your body.

Just as you were about to curl up on your bed there was a loud pounding on your door, you stayed still, frozen in place. You thought it might just be the thunder but then there was another harder knock, at this point you were close to panicking as you slowly picked up a pan from your dish rack. You crept up to the door with your pan poised and ready to attack at the first sign of danger, you took a deep breath before slowly twisting to handle before the door was thrown open by the wind. Standing out on your small porch in the pouring rain and howling wind with his fist poised to knock again was your mate, Chanyeol.

The pan fell from your hand as it went limp at your side, the loud crash it made seemed to break both of you out of the trance you were in. You reached out and grabbed his arm yanking him inside with an unnecessary amount of force before pushing the door shut and latching it again. He opened his mouth to say something but you cut him off.

“Just stay here.” you told the dripping man before your shuffled back to your closet and started digging around, it felt like the piles of clothes had eaten you before you finally found what you were looking for with an exclamation of joy. You grabbed the pile in one of your arms and headed back to where the alpha was waiting for you expectantly, without a word you signalled for him to follow you with your free arm and headed to your tiny bathroom. He took a step inside before you threw the budle in your arms at him.

“What are these?” He asked as he began sifting through the pile.

“Clothes you idiot, if you don’t want to get sick you’ll change.��� You sighed, he looked like he was about to say something more as he sniffed one of the shirts but you beat him to it. “There are towels in the cupboard.” Without another word you closed the door and  walked back to the kitchen.

----

When Chanyeol wandered back into the kitchen you had already set out a dish of warm food for him as well as more blankets than you could ever need already set onto your bed. Without needing any instruction he walked over and sat in the chair across from you at the small table, while he scanned over every nook and cranny of your house you took the time to observe him. You couldn’t see his bottom half but the shirt you gave him was old and stretched out but it was still snug on him, your wolf instincts had definitely gotten the better of you as your almost started drooling while discreetly running your eyes over his well muscled arms and chest which were showcased perfectly. You saw him turning back around to face you and you quickly focused on something else, you landed on the sewing basket you left on the table this morning and pretended to be digging through it before he cleared his throat and you brought your attention back to him.

“So, why do you have men’s clothes?” He asked. His tone of voice was odd and almost jealous which for some reason made him even more sexy than you were already being brainwashed by your wolf senses to think he was.

“They’re Songho’s.” was your simple reply before you got up and headed to dig through a drawer in the ruse of trying to find something but you were really trying to clear your head.

“Songho’s?”

“Yes, Songho, Irma’s husband.” The tinge of anger seemed to grow in his voice and you didn't know why you were trying to defend yourself from him.

You saw him cross his arms over his chest and furrow his eyebrows from the corner of your eye. “And why do you have his clothes?”

“Have you ever tried to garden in a skirt? Oh wait, you were privileged enough to not have to work to feed yourself.” You spit out at him before storming over and picking up his still full bowl and bringing it back to the sink.

“How would you know?! I may have not had been abandoned but I had to work-”

“Work my ass!” you cut him off, “Showing up to events and frolicking around with your other alphas and betas does not count as work.”

“It’s not like you can speak from experience, all you’ve had to do is sit on your little farm and pick fruits all day!”

“You’re right a sit on my farm and pick fruits all day, and starve when there’s a bad harvest, and freeze during the winters when there hardly enough blankets to cover myself, and throw every last penny I made back into the farm to repair things and buy new equipment in the hopes of making more money! So I am going to keep taking hand-me-downs from my friends and you can leave if you have such a problem with it!” You stormed into your room and grabbed and armful of blankets and pillows.

“Wait, Y/n,” He started but you cut him off.

“No, here are blankets. You can sleep on the couch but I want you gone by tomorrow morning.” You threw the blankets down and slammed your bedroom door behind you before crawling under the mountain of covers still on your bed. You managed to get a few hours of sleep even if you were kept awake through night  by either the storm or the aching in your heart, and just as you asked Chanyeol was gone the next morning only leaving behind a pile of folded blankets and clothes.

----

You had just finished lugging a pile of fallen branches and plant pieces to a pile when you heard shoes crunching on the gravel. You made sure everything was in the right place before turning around to see Irma jogging up to you.

“The wolves are holding a pack meeting, we have to hurry!” She exclaimed and without any further explanation she grabbed your hand and pulled you after her as she headed back to the village. Thankfully you had done the rest of your cleaning up before Irma arrived and all that was left for you to do were a few minor repairs here and there, you knew it was going to cost you so there would be no more living in comfort for the next few weeks. You moved as quickly as you could along the dirt road, you weren’t really worried about the meeting since usually they were just for show but how you were going to survive and buy things for repairs was taking up all of your thoughts.

----

You could smell the nerves before you even entered the council room and you immediately were on edge, in all of the past meetings you’ve attended it was mostly the heads of families but every single wolf was here today and everyone was nervous. The thoughts of your farm wentescaped your mind and were replaced by worries of why everyone was so stressed, your first thought was that it was about you and Chanyeol mating with you. The obvious course of action was to sneak in as quietly as possible and sit in the farthest corner at the very back so that’s exactly what you were doing, you cringed as the chair let out a small squeak as you sat down but you were otherwise unnoticed. People were chatting amongst themselves in hushed whispers as you scanned the room, you skipped from one person to the next until you landed on Chanyeol who was sitting at the head table with his family and the head omega. His eyes met yours and you quickly looked away, focusing on one of the many paintings on the wall before the doors banged open and the head alpha stormed in. The only sound in the entire room was the sound of his boots echoing against the floor as he made his way up to the head table by his mate and Chanyeol. The room seemed to take a collective inhale once he sat down but the relaxation was short lived since he started speaking at once.

“I bet you’re all wondering why we are gathered today, so I’ll get right to the point,” he cleared his throat and took a deep breath, “As many of you know, we are supposed to be heading back to the village in two days time, yesterday we sent the scouts ahead and they have just returned hearing news. The trail has been completely cut off by a rockslide during the storm and there is no way around it, which means we can’t get back home.”

The room was dead silent, quiet enough to hear a pin drop before someone shouted. “We need to get home, our mates and children’s are still there.”

Shouts of agreement were followed and you could see the alpha getting flustered. “I know but-“

“Let’s start moving the rocks!” Someone yelled, even more shouts than before followed until the head alpha threw his fist down on the table. The sound was so immense you thought the table had cracked in half but he was only standing there and breathing heavily.

“I know you all want to get home to your families but as I said before there is really no way! Moving the rocks was our first idea but after further inspection even if we did somehow manage to find the manpower to move them all we would have to wait until the beginning of summer which is ten months away!”

“Isn’t there any other way?” What seemed to be a female voice called from the audience.

“Only one, as far as we know the trail that goes around the far side of the lake is still in usable condition and it would take us less than half the time it would take for us to clear the rocks.” It was Chanyeol that spoke know. You were awed by how commanding and serious he sounded, it was no wonder he had the wolf’s blind trust as a leader.

“But that means we would have to travel through winter, isn’t it dangerous?” The same voice from before asked.

“Yes, not just because of the cold winter months the but the routes that wander the territory near there. I never said it would be easy or pleasant and before you decide on any of it you must know it will be much more dangerous but it’s the only alternative.”

Mumbles and whispers floated through the crowd before the head alpha called for a vote, stones were cast one by one and counted until there was a verdict. In the hour it took to wait people were huddled together, nervously whispering about what was to come. Mated omegas and their children usually stayed behind in the wolf village across the lake with a few alphas and betas while all the rest cane for the festival of fallen leaves which meant that all theses people’s families were waiting for them on the other side of the lake for possibly another year.

——

Everyone piled back into the hall where the results had been counted.

“With a unanimous vote, everyone has decided that we will travel the long way around the lake to get back home.”

A cheer went up in the crowd with people embracing and shouting in joy, it went on for a few more minutes and you observed until the head alpha began to speak again.

“We will leave in two days time so everyone must be ready by then or you will be left behind.” With those last few words everyone began to file out chattering nervously and excitedly about the journey but you stayed silent. While most other were happy to be finally heading home you were in somewhat of a depressed state, for your entire life your little farm in the human village had been your home not the wolf village across the lake but know you would have to pick up everything and leave all because of some selfish alpha.

Once you were out of the hall you almost made it to Irma’s house before you started crying, emotions just came rolling over you and you were a sobbing mess as she tried to comfort you. Eventually you managed to calm down enough to explain everything that was going on and Irma was everything you could have asked for in this situation.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so emotional lately.” You sniffled as Songho handed you both mugs of tea.

“It’s okay Y/n, we understand. It’s a big change and we knew it would happen eventually and Songho and i have been talking….” Irma paused, unsure of what to say next. “Well we’d be happy to take care of your farm for you.”

You swear your jaw hit the floor. “Really?” you asked, of course your best friends offered to take it over for you, “You don’t have to do this, it’s a huge effort and you have kids and jobs-”

“Shush and let me talk.” She cut you off. “Yes we have jobs but Songho is actually planning to quit being the town treasurer because of all the stress and I can make dresses anywhere as long as I can sell them.”

“What about the kids?”

“The kids would love the space to run around and play, plus they could learn some valuable skills.”

“You still don’t have to do this.” “I know, but I also wanted to ask you if we could build our own little house in that empty field so we don’t have to take over yours.”

“You can take over mine!” you exclaimed. “It’s so much work already and I don't want you to do more!”

Irma giggled, “No offence, but your house definitely isn't big enough for our ever growing family.”

You pouted but agreed.

“Plus Songho wants to build us a house of our own, it’s probably some man thing.” she whispered.

“I heard that!” Songho yelled from the other room and you both burst into giggles.

“Be careful Chanyeol doesn’t do something like this for you.”

As soon as Irma said that your mood immediately swung back and the tears were bubbling back up again. You spent that night in Irma’s guest room as she tried to comfort your tears by telling you little silly stories, eventually you drifted off to sleep. You woke up in the middle of the night to the door opening and a whispered conversation but you dismissed it and fell back into dreamland.

----

The next morning you woke up with a heavy heart as you all headed to your small farmhouse to begin packing. It was an odd mix of happiness and despair as you went through all your belongings to decide what you would take with you. As you dug through everything you owned and sorted it into piles you got to remember all the good times you had in this village and this house. There was the ceramic chicken Irma stole from her mother to give you as a birthday gift when she forgot, overtime the hideous pattern and colours grew on you as it was proudly displayed on your fireplace. You found pressed flowers from the first ever spring festival you attended in between multiple heavy books and you smiled at the memory of dancing in the fields of flowers and stuffing your face with deserts until you were sick. Irma’s children had found a box of your old toys which you had happily given them, content to see the bright smiles that lit up their faces. Of course mixed with the good memories there had to be bad, you found some old school books that were ripped and torn when they were thrown around by your omega classmates. And the memory of you stealing the pastries in secret and dancing in the flower field alone during the festival instead of the town square with everyone else because you were scared of the other wolves left a sour taste in your mouth.

When lunch came around you were about halfway through all of your things and you decided to all have a picnic by the river and take a well needed break before continuing on, it was unnaturally sunny and warm out but you decided to enjoy it because you knew there wouldn’t be such nice days for a long while. The kids splashed in the shallow banks of the river while You, Irma, and Songho chatted on the dry land. At one point someone got splashed and the next thing you knew everyone was dancing and playing in the water until you decided to head back and dry off. This was one of the things you would definitely miss and suddenly you wanted today to last forever.

----

You could feel the tension in the town as you dropped of your luggage for tomorrow, the omegas were each allowed to bring one trunk of belongings aside from the bags that would everyone would carry. The announcement had been made that the wolves would be travelling by foot as to minimize the wolf scent that would attract rouges so your carry bag had to be light enough for your human form. Everyone was saying goodbye to each other and sharing meals in the town since the wolves were leaving at dawn the next morning. You were making your way to Irma’s house where she had apparently created a goodbye feast in your honour, she told you to dress formally so you were walking up to her door in the only fancy silks you had left when you saw a familiar figure waiting at the door.

“What are you doing here?” you spat at Chanyeol who was standing in front of the door.

“I was invited.” He said plainly. You were about to ask something else before the door swung open.

“Thank goodness you’re both here!” Irma exclaimed, “The food was about to get cold!” She grabbed your arm and pulled you inside, you caught a sympathetic glance from Songho who stayed to chat with Chanyeol at the door before you disappeared into the kitchen.

“What is he doing here?” You hissed at your best friend who had shifted her focus to the various dishes on the stove.

“He's your mate so I invited him.” She said nonchalantly before grabbing some spices and shaking them into a pot and stirring.  

“Doesn’t he have his own family thing?” you insisted before coming up beside her and stirring something else.

“Songho asked and he said it was fine.”

You were about to say something else before you felt small arms around your legs and looked down to see the two toddlers wadling up to you. You shot Irma a glare which she only replied with a sweet smile before you followed the two kids to the living room to play.

Playing with the two toddlers lifted your mood for a while until dinner started, you were sat next to your mate which made you incredibly tense through the entire meal. Irma and Songho happily chatted away while you sat in silence pushing around the food on your plate, normally you would have eaten but your stomach had been feeling upset since this morning. It was probably the nerves of leaving tomorrow but it wasn't getting any better, eventually you excused yourself saying you were tired and saying you had to go home. Before you got out the door Irma shoved a giant winter coat in your arms.

“It gets cold in the winter so make sure to stay warm and safe, I’ll miss you.” She whispered before pulling you into her arms and sniffling into your shoulder. You felt big, fat, crocodile tears roll down your cheeks as you said goodbye to your best friend who you might never see again. You turned around from the porch still sniffling as you made your way home for the last time.

-----

The travel formation would work like this, the omegas would stay in the center while the alphas and betas sandwiched them from the front and back, it was the standard form although stakes were high because of all the rogues in the area. Because of this, the alphas and betas would be on watch at all times and there would be no mixing as the omegas stayed grouped together, this really meant that you wouldn’t have to see Chanyeol but you would be stuck with Chaeyoung for the whole journey.

You stuck to Jongin like glue as everyone was preparing to leave, you were always one step behind him as he mingled around with all the wolves. He introduced you to his friend Kyungsoo who was the healer that would be travelling with the omegas, he was a beta but he was the softest wolf you had ever seen with a smile made of pure sunshine. You felt a cold shiver travel down your spine and you turned around to see Chaeyoung stalking over to the wagon you were standing by with here entourage of other omegas. She shot you and icy glare that felt like you were already in the throes of winter before walking past to the next wagon.

“Was she looking at you?” Kyungsoo asked once she was well out of earshot, he seemed concerned and genuinely confused while Jongin looked annoyed.

You sighed and turned back around to the two wolves at your sides and let your shoulders droop. “Yeah, it’s not really an out of the ordinary thing.” You told them as you adjusted one of your many layers of skirts, now that you were part of the pack you were expected to wear dresses and skirts but you had no idea how long it would last.

“Why does she look at you like that, it’s not very nice.” Kyungsoo said with a frown.

“She's not the only one.” You sighed, you had gotten used to the looks but people who weren't got confused easily.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“You really don’t know?” Jongin exclaimed. Kyungsoojust stared back at him seeming even more confused than before, there was no way he couldn't know why, right?

“I’m Chanyeol's Mate.” Was all you said, he furrowed his eyebrows and you could see the gears in his head turning as the realization exploded onto his face.

“So your mom was…” He started, you nodded and all he said was a simple “Oh,” before seeming to disregard it completely.

“You don't have an issue with me?” You asked in disbelief.

“Not really, I never really saw anything wrong with you and the pack was overreacting when they kicked her out.” He said simply.

You stared at him in disbelief for a few moments before wrapping your arms around him and pulling him into a tight hug. “Thank you.” You warbled into his shoulders as you sniffled through some tears, you stayed like that for a few more seconds before releasing him and wiping your cheeks on your sleeve.

“What was that?” He asked once your eyes had stopped leaking.

“I’m sorry, I’ve been really emotional lately and I don't know what came over me.” You said bashfully as Jongin giggled at your awkwardness. Kyungsoo gave you a quizzical look and observed you for a few seconds before shrugging and continuing on with your conversation. A few minutes later the party started moving and you were on your way to the wolf village and away from your home, after a couple hours of walking your nerves had almost disappeared, you saw some of the other omegas struggling to keep walking which Kyungsoo had to go help while you and Jongin kept chatting. You stopped for a quick meal halfway through the day in a small clearing beside the trail, as some of the betas went to scout ahead the pack of omegas gathered to eat. You were put as the chef even though you were nowhere as good as the others but you still had to do the job, what you didn't know is that cooking also meant cleaning the dishes. Once everyone finished they handed you their dishes before heading back to the wagons to rest as you went to clean them, Jongin offered to help but you declined since it was your job not his. After assuring him that you would be fine you took the bucket of dishes and headed to the edge of the treeline to wash. You crouched in front of the bucket of water and started washing, you weren’t really paying attention to what was going on around you until shouts went up and you heard the sound of boot against the ground, the scouting team must have returned. You looked up to see a group of panting wolves gathering to those that stayed behind and greeting each other before a familiar voice rang out through the crowd.

“There’s a place camp a few miles away but we have to make it there before nightfall so start packing up because we have to get going.” Chanyeol called out. The wolves all nodded before hurrying to pack up, you stayed there for a few seconds as you couldn't seem to take your eyes off your mate, his gaze drifted to yours and as soon as you made eye contact you quickly snapped out of it and picked up the full bucket. You could feel his eyes watching you as water splashed the hemline of your skirt as you carried the full bucket back, your heart was racing until you finally put everything away and joined Jongin before starting to walk again. You chatted to Jongin for a while but eventually all words were replaced by heavy breathing as the trial got tougher.

Compared to the first half of the day the trail got steadily more difficult, the mountanus hills grew taller and more rocks and roots littered the overgrown trail. As your breathing got heavier you refused to show your struggle as you pushed ahead, you kept going at a steady pace until you finally stopped a few hours later when you came upon the clearing just as the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon. Thankfully you weren’t chosen to make the meal again and you immediately went to set up the tent you were going to be sharing with Jongin. It really ended up being you setting up the tent with Jongin holding something here or there since he couldn’t figure out how to put up the poles or tie any ropes. Once you were finally finished and had set out your bedroll you wanted to just curl up and fall asleep but your stomach had other plans as it let out a large grumble.

At the campfire you shared a meal with Kyungsoo who was busy checking everyone to make sure there were no injuries, you chatted for a little while before you felt your eyes get heavy and you decided to call it a night. The next morning you woke up at dawn like usual and began preparing for another day of travel.  

----

Most of the omegas hated the journey but you loved it. You had never left the village before so this was a whole new experience and you were determined to enjoy it, instead of grumbling as you walked you tried to memorize every detail of the world around you, from the way the sun reflected on the water to the colour of each leaf on a tree. You sincerely hoped you weren’t driving Kyungsoo and Jongin insane with all your questions but they never opposed as you asked and asked again about everything you saw. After about two weeks into the journey the weather had already dramatically changed, you started hoarding extra blankets and layering your clothes to stay warm. The other wolves predicted it was going to be one of the coldest winters in the past hundred years so you all had to be prepared for the worst, but you kept asking your questions and trying your best to enjoy it. You started memorizing the birdcalls that you overheard one of the other betas talking about as you were washing clothes though they soon disappeared as the weather began to get colder. The first snow fell in the middle of the day about one month into your journey which you had quickly gotten used too, once camp was made that night the alphas held a meeting to see if it was still a good idea to carry on. News travelled through the camp quickly when the verdict was to continue on even if the snowfall came early but what shocked people even more was that it had been Chanyeol to make the final decision, he was going to become the leader soon.

----

It was almost a month later when you woke up at dawn and rushed from your tent. The weather was colder than it had ever been before and you were walking through blizzards most of the time, thankfully nobody had gotten hurt although there had been a few colds going around. It had stopped snowing last night and had yet to start again when you rushed to the treeline. It felt like your stomach was doing somersaults as you released its contents into the bushes, it had been like this for a few days now but it hadn't gotten this bad until now. There was an arm that came around your shoulders as you continued to empty your stomach into the bushes, Jongin was whispering comforting things as you continued to gag until there was nothing left for you to do.

“Are you okay?” He asked as you both began to walk back to your tent.

“Yeah I’m probably just getting sick. Thank you for being there by the way you didn't have to.” You told him as you weaved through the field of tents. “Of course I did, your my closest friends but…” He said as he squeezed your shoulder tighter in comfort.

“But what?” You asked.

“But you might not be sick.” He explained.

“What do you mean?”

“You could be pregnant.”

You fell silent as the shock of what he just said washed over you. “There’s no way, It’s probably just the cold getting to me.” You mumbled.

“Well if you are mates you had no-” “We should get going or else we’ll hold everyone up.” You cut him off before hurrying back to your tent. Jongin quickly forgot about your conversation but it kept circulating through your brain as the day went on, you couldn’t be pregnant could you? There was absolutely no way.

----

The snow had continued to fall as you reached the most perilous part of the journey, the snow had melted in the sunlight only to freeze into ice at night making the rocky mountains you were crossing even more dangerous than they were in the first place. The pack had slowed their pace and people were being extra cautious in order not to get injured and Kyungsoo was on high alert. People were checked daily for injuries and everyone was full of nerves during the climb but thankfully nobody was injured by the time you got to the peak. You could feel the tensions shift into nothing as everyone settled down for camp that night since the climb was over, and although it was a lot more difficult that the descent you still had a ways left to go.

You were almost to the next campsite and nobody had been injured yet so something just had to go wrong. You had hardly slept the night before since you woke up early sick to your stomach, so you were half asleep as you trudged along next to Jongin, you felt the overwhelming urge to yawn so you squeezed your eyes shut and as you did your foot caught on a patch of ice. You let out a small shriek as your feet slid out from under you and you tumbled into a snowbank on the side of the trail, everything flashed before you and you came back to your senses as arms wrapped around you and pulled you out of the whole you’d created from falling. As you were being pulled up your foot caught on a rock and sparks of pain shot up your leg as you let out another scream and fell onto the person holding you up. Jongin managed to catch you and himself before you tumbled to the ground and Kyungsoo came rushing over.

“What’s wrong?” He asked in a rush as he began scanning up and down your body.

“My foot.” You managed to choke out before another wave of pain washed over you.

“Set her down on the wagon.” He ordered Jongin before grabbing his bag and digging around in it, You leaned heavily on Jongin and winced as you limped over to the wagon that thankfully was moving slowly. You eased yourself onto the edge of the slowly rolling wagon as Kyungsoo came back with a blanket that he draped over you.

“We’re almost at the campsite and i can check you there, are you ok to hold on for a few more minutes?” He asked you as he kept spreading the blanket to cover all of your limbs.

You could only nod as you didnt think you could speak without letting out a cry of pain.

He saw your agonized look and grabbed your hands as comfort. “I’m sorry I can’t give you anything to numb the pain but it’s a precaution until we can be sure.” You missed the look he sent Jongin as the wagon went over a bump and jostled your foot and you tried not to cry out. Just as promised you arrived at the camp a few minutes later even though it felt like an eternity because of the pain, you were rushed into your tent as soon as it was set up and not going to fall over because of Jongin’s mediocre tent building skills. You let out a few squeals and moans of pain as Kyungsoo inspected your leg, you were afraid that you were going to break Jongin’s hand from how hard you were squeezing it until Kyungsoo finally sat back.

“Well you really know how to sprain your ankle.” He said as he pulled out a bandage and a waterproof bag from his larger one. “Go fill that up with snow while I wrap her ankle.” He told Jongin who squeezed your hand once more before grabbing the bag on his way out.

You sighed and braced yourself for more uncomfort as he began winding the bandage around your ankle. “Don’t you have some sort of painkillers you can give me?” you hissed out as he continued to wrap your leg.

“I would under almost any other circumstance but I can’t.” He sighed as you let out another squeak.

“And why not?” you managed to ask him.

“I’ll tell you once I’m done and Jongin brings back that bag of snow to stop the swelling.”

You sighed and bit down on your lower lip as he continued, focusing on how the bandage was getting shorter and shorter. Jongin came back just as Kyungsoo was tying off the bandaid and handed him the bag which he placed against your ankle, the sting of pain that came with the cold when the bag hit your skin was soon replaced by relief as you felt it soothe the throbbing of your ankle.

“Can you tell me know?” you asked as Jongin came back and sat beside you, Kyungsoo only stared back at you for a few moments before answering bluntly.

“You’re pregnant.”

Your jaw hung open as you processed what he just told you. “You’re sure?” Was all you could say as you felt the tension in the tent rise. He only nodded before reaching into his bag and pulling out a small jar of tablets.

“These are vitamins that you need to take, it will help with the sickness and make sure you're getting enough nutrients.” You took the bottle from his hands when he held it out to you before placing it beside you, “I can’t believe you hadn’t noticed since you haven’t bled and your stomach has noticeably grown.”

“I thought it was something with the cold and I never really paid attention to my body since the winter clothes cover everything.” Was your lame excuse as he started packing things.

He hummed and continued shoving things into his bag while Jongin scooted closer to you. “I told you soooooo.” He sung into your ear but was rudely surprised when he felt your elbow connect with his stomach, Kyungsoo frowned from his spot on your other side and you two quickly stopped bickering.

“You’ll have to stay with me in the medical tent so I can monitor you for the next couple days,” He started but quickly noticed your sour expression, “I won’t tell anyone about the pregnancy, I’ll say it’s because you’re sick or something.” He quickly reassured you. One thing you liked about Kyungsoo was how observant he was, after knowing him for only a short while he already picked up on the nature of your relationship with your mate and the rest of the pack with no questions asked, you were really grateful to have him with you right now. You nodded gratefully before he dragged Jongin out of the tent to go grab their things and some food with the promise to return soon, you settled back under the mountain of blankets they forced on top of you and tried to relax but it was difficult with the sharp pain still shooting through your ankle.

About half an hour later you were startled by the sound of tent flips opening, you pushed yourself into a sitting position expecting to be greeted by Jongin or Kyungsoo but to your surprise Chanyeol was standing at the entrance with a dish of food. You were tempted to ask him so leave but just the sight of food made your stomach growl with hunger. “What are you doing here?” you managed to ask him once he came in farther.

“Kyungsoo told me what happened and I wanted to check if you were alright since you’re my mate and all.” He said before kneeling down at the end of your bedroll and extending the dish towards you. You kept a blank expression on your face as you took the bowl from his hands and took a tentative bite, you almost sighed as the food hit your tongue and you realized how hungry you were.

“I should get going.” Was all he said before turning around and heading back out into the cold, once he was gone you started shovelling the food into your mouth before eventually falling into a deep sleep.

----

After a few weeks you were back walking with everyone else walking along the snow covered trail once Kyungsoo gave you the okay. The morning after you found out you were pregnant Jongin began interrogating you, it was a constant back and forth of what you were going to do and if you were going to tell Chanyeol or not. In the end you finally shut him up by saying you would tell him when you were ready but then the question started circling you, when would you be ready and what would happen if you told him? You were carrying his pup inside of you so you should tell him but at the same time you couldn’t, it wasn’t like it was an out of the ordinary thing to happen, it was in fact expected after the mating ritual but you were still the outcast with the pup of the next head alpha in your stomach. You made Kyungsoo, Jongin, and his mate which he accidentally told not to tell anyone under any circumstances and thankfully your heavy winter layers covered up the steady growing of your stomach which you became more aware of each time you changed. It soon became obvious that you were behind schedule because of the heavy snow and the multiple times you’ve had to stop because of blizzards and soon came the official announcement that it would take up to and extra two months before you reached the wolf village. There had been only a few run ins with rouges which were quickly scared off since even they were smart enough not to be out in this weather but every time you even heard about the sighting of a rogue you got shivers. Thankfully the medicine Kyungsoo gave you was working and you stopped getting sick as often even though you did have off days, it was now when you really missed Irma since she had already went through this multiple times.

Eventually the weather calmed down and even though it wasn’t full of freak snowstorms it was still very cold, the pack began to get excited since you were nearing the end of your journey and getting closer and closer to home but you got even more anxious since you still hadn’t told Chanyeol. Ever since that night when he brought you food you kept seeing each other everywhere, it made you incredibly nervous since your stomach was almost too big to keep hidden and sometimes it felt like he already knew. It was midnight a few days ago when you felt a shove to the inside of your stomach and you quickly rushed to Kyungsoo’s tent, after a few minutes of panicked blabbering to the half asleep healer he was finally able to calm you down and explain it was just the baby in your stomach moving around and kicking you. From that point on the urge to cover your swollen belly with your hands was like second nature and you had to stop yourself from doing it in front of everybody but you still had a little smile every time you felt the pup move around in your stomach even if it could cause you discomfort sometimes.

----

You woke up early in the morning just before the sun rose to a small fall of snow, you sighed as you saw the serene view and since only a few wolves were awake yet you decided to take a stroll. Your layers were thrown on quickly and sloppily with your heavy coat going on last as you were anxious to go out and explore before there were too many people, you also knew that Jongin and Kyungsoo would object but what harm could a little fun be?

A childlike wonder filled you as you took a tentative step out of the tent door and into the undisturbed snow, as soon as you heard the crunch of your boots you took a step and then another, and then another until you were bounding through the trees surrounding the campsite with squeals of joy. The boundless energy you were filled with before didn't last for long as you were soon out of breath and back to walking through the trees but your joy didn't disappear. You drifted between the trees as you let the absence of sound other than your boots through the snow calm you, you let out a deep sigh before letting your hands drift over your still growing stomach. “Someday I hope you’ll love the snow.” You whispered in the sanctuary of the trees. Soon enough your stomach would grow too large to be concealed by your large coat or heavy layers, what would you do then? Would you tell him? These thoughts swan through your mind as you continued to wander, not realizing that you were getting further and further from the camp until an uncomfortable feeling crawled up your body. You stilled and quickly snapped your head  behind you to look around, right when you thought you were safe a warm mass knocked you to the ground. You let out an ear splitting scream as you looked up to see a large snarling wolf that was foaming from the mouth pinning you to the ground.

“Be quiet.” It growled before pinning you harder. You continued to thrash and scream until hoping someone would hear you and come to your rescue as the wolf snapped from above you, your throat went raw and you felt your arms being scratched until suddenly the weight was thrown off you. You rolled to the side to see a familiar black coat fighting of the wolf that was on top of you before, there was snapping of jaws and growls as the wolves wrestled through the snow. Breathing heavily and still lying in the snow you watched them as they left trails of crimson in the snow as they continued to fight on, the rogue that had attacked you and the black pelted wolf were a pretty even match but eventually there was a whimper of defeat and the rogue ran off with his tail between his legs. You reopened your eyes when you felt a wet nose against your cheek that was soon replaced by a warm hand, you saw Chanyeol hovering over you with furrowed brows before there were more footsteps in the distance and another pair of arms wrapped around you. You felt like you were swimming and dreaming at the same time as Chanyeol and one of the other alphas carried you back to the camp, nobody said anything as you lent your head on Chanyeol’s shoulder and let them carry you.

You came back to your senses enough to understand what was going on around you when Kyungsoo came running up to you.

“Get your hands off my mate.” Chanyeol growled before jerking you backwards behind him.

“And I’m the healer so I need to take a look at her.” Kyungsoo stressed as he tried to come up to you again only to be stopped by Chanyeol once more.

“She’s my mate and I’ll take care of her. I know how to treat scrapes and bruises just fine.” He snarled.

“I really think you should let me-”

“NO!” Chanyeol cut him off, “You’d better get out of my way Kyungsoo or your just going to make it worse for yourself.”

You could tell Chanyeol was getting more and more worked up while Kyungsoo was panicking more as each second passes.

“Chanyeol, I need to check if the baby is all right.” Kyungsoo finally blurted out as Chanyeol began pulling you away again.

“The baby?” Chanyeol said as he froze.

“Yes, the baby. Now you better bring her to my tent before something you regret happens.” Kyungsoo warned before you felt yourself being moved again.

----

You woke up to the sound of voices around you and the familiar setting of Kyungsoo’s medical tent.

“She has mild hypothermia and she ended up going into shock but other than that and the few scrapes and bruises she and the baby are fine.” Kyungsoo explained to the other person in the tent.

“Are you sure they’re going to be fine?” Chanyeol asked, he seemed afraid but you couldn’t put your finger on why. “I’m sure.” Kyungsoo answered. The memories of what had happened slowly started coming back to you and you could feel the soreness in your body, you started to shift into a more comfortable position but immediately froze when you heard Chanyeol start talking again.

“If you don’t mind me asking, uh how far along is she?” he asked and you heard some more shuffling before there was a reply.

Kyungsoo cleared his throat and you felt a hand placed on your stomach and then it suddenly disappeared as if it was yanked away. “Around six months I think which means there’s only a few months left.”

There a lull in the conversation and at that point you couldn’t hold it for any longer, you let out a groan as you tried to shift into a sitting position and arms quickly wrapped around you to help you up. Once you were relatively secure with a mountain of pillows behind you Chanyeol unwrapped his arms from around you but didn’t leave your side.

“Good to see you’re feeling better.” Kyungsoo said with a smile.

“I’m definitely not feeling good but I am feeling better.” You said with a half smile before letting out a small grunt of pain when a particularly deep cut caught on one of the blankets. You saw Chanyeol flinch and move his hand out to help you but quickly pull it back as a second thought.

“I’m glad to hear that, you’ll have to rest for a few days which means no more wandering off and as little exertion as possible but you’ll be fine.” Kyungsoo explained as your hand ghosted across your stomach for reassurance as if it might not be there. He turned back and started packing up some equipment as you continued to sit awkwardly as you could feel Chanyeol's eyes rake over you, you swallowed uncomfortably as the tent was still silent except for the sound of shuffling medical supplies but before you could start freaking out Kyungsoo turned back around.

“There’s also something I wanted to tell you two,” He started as he shut the chest of supplies, you both stared back at him waiting for him to continue. “You probably already know but werewolves have a higher chance than humans of having twins, triplets, or even quadruplets and since you’re expecting I thought I would warn you just in case.”

Before you could even begin to think about the information Chanyeol immediately cut in. “When can she move into my tent?” He asked but more like demanded.

“Hold on-”

“Whenever is okay but just let me know.”

“Okay, we’re going now.”

“Hey wait a minute-” Before you knew it arms were wrapped around you and you were lifted into the air blankets and all. You hardly even felt the chill outside before you were gently set down in an unfamiliar tent you were guessing was Chanyeol’s.

“What makes you think that you can just drag me around like this?” You demanded once you were set down.

“First off I wasn’t the one who wandered into the woods and got attacked by an alpha and second, I didn’t drag you a carried you.” He stated before sitting down across from you.

“That doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want just because you’re a stupid alpha!” You exclaimed.

He scoffed, “I’m not the one who didn’t tell my own mate I was pregnant with his pup, unless it wasn’t mine.”

“Do you really think of me like that?” You asked in disbelief.

He let out a emotionless chuckle. “If that wasn’t the issue then why wouldn’t you tell me, huh?”

“I was scared!”

“Scared of what?!” he exclaimed as he threw his arms into the air.

“Of everything! Of your family, of the rest of the pack, of you.” Your voice died down as you said the last few words. Your hands were balled in your blankets and he was fuming as your eyes fell to your lap, there was absolutely no way this was going to turn out well.

“You were afraid of me?” He asked.

You nodded and took a deep breath before answering. “The only reason you mated with me in the first place was to get back at the pack because you were angry and now I get pregnant which is just what they want so why wouldn’t you be angry at me?!”

“So you decided to keep it a secret?” He questioned you.

“Yes!”

“Why would I ever be angry at you for carrying my pup?” Your head shot up at his now soft voice. Your eyes caught on his which now weren’t filled with the flames of anger like before but a soft almost loving look, you opened your mouth to say something in reply but the words caught in your throat when you felt a familiar pressure.

“Oh-” you exclaimed and brought your hands up to your swollen stomach. Chanyeol frowned and quickly scrambled to your side at the first sign of distress. “What’s wrong?” He asked frantically as his hands hovered over you, “Is something wrong with the baby?”

“No it’s just kicking, it’s been doing that a lot lately.” You sighed as you felt another bump against your stomach, you looked up to see Chanyeol staring back at you with a wonderstruck expression hands still hovering. “Do you want to feel it?” You asked in a moment of surprise which seemed to break him out of the trance and look back at you.

“Can I?” He asked and you just giggled at his excited expression and grabbed his hands to guide them to your stomach, he hesitated when you pulled your sweater up to reveal your stomach so he could feel better. You just sighed and placed his hands onto your stomach shivering when his cool hands touched you, he gave you a concerned look and you just smiled before shifting his hands around so he could feel it. The look of pure shock on his face when he felt the little bump against his large palm was enough to make a huge smile burst out onto your face and you felt your heart lift as he began running his hands across your stomach trying to find it again with his smile growing every time he felt it again.

“That’s amazing,” He breathed out, “I wish you would have told me sooner.”

“I’m sorry.” You whispered as your eyes fell back to your lap, you hung your head back down for a few seconds before he wrapped one of his hands around yours while leaving the other one resting on your stomach.

You brought your head up to meet his before he started talking again. “You don’t have to apologize, even though I may not understand completely I understand enough to know it was my fault too. I should have never said those things to you on the night of the feast, especially since they weren’t all true.” He took a deep breath before explaining. “I didn’t specifically choose you as my mate to piss off the pack, I could have chosen any omega other than Chaeyoung and it still would have pissed them off but I decided to go to the first omega I was drawn to which happened to be you even if you were the farthest away. I guess remembered you from previous celebrations since your peaches were always my favourite and you always looked so happy when dancing with your friends.”

“I shouldn’t have said the things I said to you either, we’ve both had hard lives in different ways and it was unfair to put my troubles before yours.” You confessed shyly. This was the most civilized conversation you’ve ever had with your mate and it only took you almost getting killed.

“How about we start over with a clean slate?” Chanyeol proposed. “We haven’t really had the best run but after seeing you laughing and having fun with Kyungsoo and Jongin I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous and don’t you think that this little guy deserves it?” He asked angling his head to your stomach.

“Ok.” You agreed. Ever since you left the human village the feeling of hate you’d once had for Chanyeol was replaced more with curiosity and admiration as you saw him lead the pack, of course you still had a pang of jealousy whenever you remembered the night of the feast with him and Chaeyoung but it gradually disappeared as you saw him refuse her attempts time and time again.

A bright smile grew on his face when he heard your answer and the pure joy you saw was making your heart flutter before it was interrupted with a huge yawn.

“What time is it?” You asked once he reopened his eyes, it was dark outside when he carried you to his tent but you couldn’t gage what time it actually was.

“I think it's around one in the morning.” He said sheepishly.

Your jaw hung open. “I was out for that long?”

“You were really cold and Kyungsoo said you were in shock and it was really scary.” He explained from his seat beside you.

“So you were awake that whole time?” You asked and he only nodded. “We’re going to sleep now.” You ordered before shuffling over on the bedroll and pulling him down next to you, you could see the dark circles and worry under his eyes which only strengthened your resolve.

“But what if something-” He tried to protest as you threw the blanket over him and cut him off.

“If you don’t sleep I won’t sleep.” That seemed to shut him up as you blew out the lantern and buried yourself under the blankets. You hadn’t slept very well for the past few days, whether it be the pup in your stomach kicking nonstop, the cold, or just general discomfort you hadn’t slept and you were thankful for the chance to now. You felt a warm arm thrown over to you and land on your stomach before it was followed by soft snores and you knew Chanyeol had fallen asleep.

----

There was only about one month left till you reached the village and everyone was getting more and more excited as well as you. Chanyeol had taken to hovering around you like a parent making sure you were fine every second of everyday as much as he could, long story short he was incredibly clingy whenever he could afford to be. After the news got out that you were pregnant it travelled through the pack like wildfire and the next day you two must have been congratulated by everyone in the pack except for the other omegas of course which were fuming with jealousy. Jongin and his mate were ecstatic when they figured out and immediately volunteered to be your personal babysitters whenever you needed it.

From that night on you shared a tent with Chanyeol since he could barely go a minute without making sure you were alive when you weren’t hiking, eventually you had to tell him to stop worrying since it was getting to be a little too much which almost turned into another argument but thankfully didn’t. In the next month you and Chanyeol got a lot closer than before and you realized he wasn’t a stone cold alpha but still a fun loving child at heart. Your stomach grew steadily over the next month and it looked like you were about to burst which was also accompanied by a whole new onslaught of aches and pains.

----

The day you finally arrived in the village it was amazing, mates threw themselves together and families embraced with tears of joy, cheers went up in the crowd when everyone was finally home and the families who were reunited made you couldn’t wait till you had one of your own. When the news that you were Chanyeol’s mate and that you were pregnant travelled through the wolf village there were whispers but they were easily outshined by the onslaught of congratulations. The feast that was thrown that night was completely different from those held back at the human village, the dancing and food was all the same but there were different traditions with the wolves. After everyone was finished eating and all the traditional dance performances were finished the new mates who arrived were lined up and given congratulations, gifts, and wishes of joy and fertility from the pack before being carted off to their houses with the doors locked behind them. It was a flurry of hoots and hollers as older omegas from the village grabbed your arms and older alphas and betas grabbed chanyeol’s and took you back to the small house that was given to your mate before he chose one of his own. After the door clicked shut you observed the surroundings in the house that was more like one large room, there was a large bed covered in lush furs right in the center with a small table and a wash basin off to the side. A few candles gave off a soft glow and there was a small door off to the side which you only hoped led to a bathroom, Chanyeol moved from beside you and kicked off his boots before collapsing on the large bed.

“I really don’t understand this.” You stated before kicking of your boots as well and shedding your layers before sitting down. “I mean why would they lock us in a room together?”

“Well,” Chanyeol chuckled, “Most wolves get told about it by their parents but it’s kind of like an insurance policy after the mating ritual.” He explained, you felt heat rise to your cheeks as you understood what he was insinuating and ducked away which only made him giggle. “Don’t worry, I don’t expect anything since we just came back from a long journey and we already have a bun in the oven.” He assured you.

You sighed and leaned back next to him on the bed. “I have a question.”

“Ask away.”

“Do we have a house or are we going to have to stay here?” You asked before wiggling over as close as your belly would let you, you saw a huge smile find its way onto his face. “Why are you smiling like an idiot?” You demanded before he let out a chuckle.

“You said ‘we’.” He told you.

You felt a blush rising on your cheeks again as you realized what he said, you tried to duck away again but he caught you and pressed a soft kiss against your cheek which was followed by another one against your lips.

“Don’t worry, it was cute and I loved it.” He assured you which made you smile. “And to answer your first question, we do have a house and we can move in as soon as you want.”

“Tomorrow?” You immediately asked which made him laugh a little.

“Tomorrow is perfect, I just hope you like it.” He agreed and kissed the top of your head.

“As long as it’s with you and this little one I’ll love it.” You told him before snuggling even closer than you already were, you two stayed like that for a few more minutes before he started talking again.

“Do you think I’ll be a good dad?” He asked.

“Of course I do.” You answered almost immediately. “You are one of the most loving and strong people I have ever met and I think you’ll be great.”

“Thank you.” He sighed. “Fo what?”

“For everything, at first I thought I would just mate with you once then ignore the fact completely but now I’m so glad that we’re going to have a family and I couldn’t have picked anyone better.”

“You’re going to make me cryyyyyy.” You whined and he chuckled, “I couldn’t have asked for anyone better either, at first I thought you were a spoiled brat that was the worst of the worst but now I think you’re my favourite person in the entire world.” You sniffed.

“You’re my favourite person as well but your title might be stolen when that little one decides to make an appearance.” he teased and you faked a small pout. “I’m just really sorry because now that we’re back I'm going to have to be away a lot since now everyone and their mother is preparing for me to be appointed head alpha and tensions with the rogues are rising especially after all the run-ins we had on the journey.” He explained.

“I understand and I’ll wait for you.” You assured him, “Just keep the pack safe.”

“Yes mam!”

You giggled and both eventually fell into silence that was soon replaced by soft snores, deep breathes, and dreams.

----

The house was beautiful, you couldn’t have asked for anything better. It was on the edge of the village in a little clearing at the edge of the forest, compared to some of the giant houses other wolves had yours was small but perfect for your small family. There was three bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and Chanyeol assured you that there was room to expand if it was needed but the best part by far was the little fenced off area in the back which was already set up perfectly for a garden. A bashful blush made its way onto his face when he admitted he sent a message ahead with a few of the runners who arrived back at the village first asking for it to be built before you returned. You giggled and squeezed him tight before immediately heading to the shed where all the supplies you’d brought with you were already all set up and you got to work with Chanyeol helping you here and there.

That night Jongin, his mate, Kyungsoo, and his friend MInseok which you had met at the feast the night before all came over for dinner that also doubled as a housewarming party.

“You really should have entered that pie contest back at the festival of fallen leaves!” Chanyeol exclaimed as he devoured another piece of pie. “This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted!”

“You’re just saying that because you haven’t had any decent food in like six months idiot.” You teased him which brought out laughs around the table. The night followed similarly until you bid everyone goodnight and collapsed on the bed beside your mate, immediately falling asleep.

The next month followed much as Chanyeol had warned you about with him rushing around and only seeing you in the mornings, evening, and rare times when you he had a day off. You felt somewhat lonely during the days but your newfound friends helped you and when you saw your mate you immediately forgot about all your worries. News travelled fast through the village when it was announced that the pack from the other side of the river a few miles away would be coming so that a treaty would be formed. Most people thought it was to avoid a war between the two packs but Chanyeol confessed that it was really to provide protection from the growing threat of the rogues that was looming over both packs., they had gotten more violent with more attacks regularly on hunting parties and travellers. Although he hadn’t said it outright you could tell they were preparing for a war which was making you increasingly nervous for you, the pack, and the pup.

----

It was one of the days where you were feeling good enough to move around without your giant belly weighing you down, you could feel your due date approaching faster and faster while Kyungsoo warned you to take it easy since you were finding it harder to do even small tasks. You were out watering your plants in the garden when you heard the crunch of gravel behind you, today was the day the envoy from the other pack was supposed to arrive so Chanyeol had left early that morning.

“Y/n!” Jongin called out as he reached the edge of the gate. “One of the wolves from the other pack is asking for you in town!”

You frowned wondering why a wolf from the neighbouring pack would ask for you but set down your watering can and wadled behind Jongin as fast as you could with a few breaks here and there to the center of the village. You were leaning against Jongin who was probably the only reason you were still walking as you approached the crowd. You could hear the questions from a few feet away as people were chatting with the visitors, Jongin was about to leave you on a bench to go find the wolf when you saw the crowd break and someone walk out. The She wolf was definitely and alpha as she walked through the parted crowd, as soon as her eyes landed on the two of you she broke into run heading in your direction which shocked both you and Jongin but decided to go with it.

“Y/n!” She called out as she got closer. You caught a whiff of her scent in the wind and were vaguely aware of all the eyes following her before you shot up from the bench and waddled over to meet her. You two immediately threw your arms around each other and embraced as best you could with your huge belly in the way.

“Mom.” You whispered into her shoulder as you inhaled the familiar scent that you hadn’t known since you were a baby. Once you broke apart you grabbed her hand a brought her over to where Jongin was still standing at the bench very confused trying to get away from all the eyes.

“Jongin, this is my mom.” You introduced her to your friend and the look of shock on his face when he realized what you said was priceless. Introductions followed quickly after before you finally asked the important questions.

“How did you get here?” You asked once you were all sat down.

She let out a long sigh before replying. “It’s a long story.”

“We have time.” Jongin assured her.

“Well, everyone thinks that I was banished from the pack because Y/n’s father was a rogue who attacked me but that’s not really true. As you know alpha relationships rarely ever work out and are generally frowned upon and that’s part of the story but not all of it. Before either of you were born and before your current head alpha was the leader there was a competition for who would be the next leader, I was one of the candidates. During the competition I fell in love with one of the other candidates and became pregnant with you, I didn’t tell anyone who your father was to protect him but I was quickly removed from the competition. After many months had passed the new current head alpha was selected as a leader and the competition ended around the same time as you were born. He always held a grudge against me throughout our whole lives and once he gained power he fabricated the story that your father was a rogue and banished me but not before I left you here. I ended up joining the pack across the river after I told them what happened but I couldn’t come get you since tensions between the packs were high until now when your next head alpha is taking over and the threat of rogues is growing.”

Everyone was silent for a few moments when she finished.

“I’m just glad you’re finally back.” You breathed out before leaning your head against her shoulder.

“I am too pumpkin but let's talk about you, you’re about to burst!” She exclaimed. “When are you due?”

“The healer said anytime now so I’m just waiting.” You told her.

“Well thank goodness I got here now before I became a grandma.” she teased, “So who’s your mate.”

“Chanyeol.” You whispered.

“Chanyeol as in the next head alpha?”

You nodded your head and she squeezed your shoulder. “You got a good one darling, he mentions you at every turn and you can tell he loves you a lot.”

----

Chanyeol was obviously surprised when you introduced him to your mother but welcomed her with open arms even after she explained the circumstances of your heritage. She ended up staying in one of the extra bedrooms in your house and you were thankful for all the time you had together after so many years of lost time. You learned that she had kept tabs on you through her whole life and you got your green thumb from your father since she couldn’t keep a plant alive for more than a week no matter how much she tried to help you with your garden. At the end of the week you felt like you had known her your whole life until you woke to her shaking you awake.

You opened your eyes groggily to see your mother standing and looking panicked above you, it was only you two in the house since Chanyeol had night watch.

“Y/n an army of rogues were spotted at the border and are moving to attack, we have to go now!” She whispered hurriedly. It took a few moments before you realized what she said and pushed yourself up from bed as best you could and threw a sweater over your nightclothes before following her outside. Your arm was around her shoulders and she was supporting you as you did your best to move forward, breathing heavily. You both heard the crunch of gravel and caught Kyungsoo's scent coming towards you with a sigh of relief.

“I’ll take her, you go help the others!” He called to your mother before she let Kyungsoo take her place.

“Make sure Chanyeol is alright and promise me you’ll come back, I’ve just gotten you back and I can’t lose you again.” You said with teary eyes while squeezing her hands.

“Stay safe.” Your mom whispered before pressing a kiss t your forehead and quickly turning to her wolf form before running away.

“The rest of the omegas and children are in the medical center so we have to get there, okay?” Kyungsoo told you and you nodded. You managed to walk for a few more minutes and were almost to the medical ward before you felt a wave of pain in your stomach and liquid drip down your legs, you let out a groan of pain and looked over at Kyungsoo who was staring at you with wide eyes.

“What’s happening to me?” You whispered as the pain slowly disappeared again.

“I think your water just broke.” Kyungsoo said. You two stared at each other in shock for a few seconds before you heard a howl of pain from the forest and broke out of your trance.

“We need to get to the medical ward because this pup is coming now, can you still walk?” He demanded. You nodded and he wrapped his arm under your shoulders and took most of your weight onto him before starting to move again. You made it a few more meters before another wave of pain washed through you and you let out a low hiss but kept moving. A few minutes later Kyungsoo burst into the medical ward with you on his arm.

“WE NEED HOT WATER AND TOWELS NOW! PREPARE ONE OF THE ROOMS!” He called out to the room of frazzled omegas and children who immediately jumped into action. You were taken by two omegas into a room with a bed and full of medical supplies as others rushed around you gathering supplies.

“It hurts!” You cried out as another wave of pain washed through you and Kyungsoo came and clutched your hands.

He winced as you squeezed them but didn’t make a move to pull them from your grasp. “I know it hurts but just a few more minutes and you can push.”

“Okay…” You breathed out as the pain slowly faded again and you leaned your head back breathing heavily.

“Y/n, I want to warn you that it might be multiple pups so you have to be prepared.” He told you as you let out a low groan, you nodded before he gave you one last squeeze on your hand and disappearing out of your sight. You could hear the battle that was going on at the edge of the forest echoing through the valley, you could hear the battle cries or many wolves and the vicious growls, even the howls of pain and in that moment all you wished for was Chanyeol to be ok.

----

‘Where is Chanyeol?’ she growled to her packmate as she approached the thick of the battle.

‘Where he always is, at the front lines.’ the wolf replied.

She let out an annoyed huff before shaking her head, ‘That boy better survive or I’ll find him in the afterlife and kill him again.’ She growled before bunching her muscles and taking off.

----

Chanyeol let out a hiss of pain as the rogue who was on top of him slashed up his leg. He had been fighting since the first rogues had been spotted over an hour ago and hadn’t been able to figure out anything going on outside of the battle. He’d been in wars before and even if they knew this was coming and were preparing for it he was always shocked at the reality of war, Y/n had been circling through his mind since the first sighting. She was pregnant and had no battle experience but if anything ever happened to her he knew there was no way he could live with himself so he had to get back to her as soon as possible.

The rogue on top of him let out a surprised howl as he was thrown off by another alpha throwing herself into him, he immediately flipped onto his feet ignoring the searing pain and went to go help the alpha he recognized was Y/n’s mother finish fighting off the alpha. Once the rogue was running away with its tail between its legs Chanyeol was yanked behind a large bush.

‘Promise me you won’t get yourself killed.’ she hissed ‘You can’t leave Y/n and your pups alone.’ ‘I won’t I swear.’ He told her.

‘Good now we have to get back out there and finish this.’

----

“Now push!” Kyungsoo exclaimed as you grip on the sheet tightened, you had tried to wait but the pups refused and you had to start pushing. You let out another anguished scream before the pressure suddenly released and you heard a cry.

“It’s a boy!” Kyungsoo called out but you cut him off with another scream as the pressure returned again.

“What’s happening?’ You strangled out as you couldn’t stop yourself from crying out.

“It’s twins, you need to push again!” Kyungsoo called out as you yelled again. You pushed as hard as you could until it felt like you might actually explode before the pressure was relieved once again and didn't return.

“It’s a girl.” Kyungsoo whispered as he placed the two crying babies on your chest. “One girl and one boy.”

You felt tears prick at the edge of your eyes as you looked down and the little wiggling pups who were lying on your chest “Thank you,” you managed to say through ragged breaths, “Is the battle over?”

“Yes, somebody just went to go find Chanyeol and he should be here any second.” He said in a soft voice. “Just rest, you did a really good job.”

Right as he finished his sentence the door burst open and Chanyeol came limping in and collapsed beside you, you could see the tears that were already streaming down his cheeks as he looked at the scene before him.

“They’re so beautiful.” he whispered as he reached out a finger for a tiny hand to grab, he gave the biggest smile you had ever seen as a small fist latched on and refused to let go. “You can’t believe how happy I am.” He told you before pressing a soft kiss onto your lips. “I can’t believe we had twins.”

“Are you okay?” You whispered before reaching up and brushing a stray lock of hair out of his eyes to see the blood dried on his forehead and the bruise blooming on his cheekbone.

“I’m okay don’t worry,” He assured you as he grabbed your hand and held it in his own, “You rest and I’ll go get checked out by Kyungsoo when you’re asleep.”

“But what are we going to name them?” you asked him and he chuckled.

“How about Daewon and Miso?”

“That's perfect.” You sighed and looked at the little pups as they wiggled around.

----

Epilogue

Daewon and Miso were almost a year old when the trail was finally travelable again. The previous head alpha was one of the many casualties in the battle so immediately after Chanyeol was appointed as a replacement, he kept the treaty with the pack across the river in place which had rapidly grown into a close bond between packs. The day when your mother left with the rest of her pack full of tears and sad goodbye, Chanyeol had offered her a place in the pack if she wanted to stay but she declined saying that it wasn’t her pack anymore. You made her promise to visit as often as she could which she happily agreed to before sending her off, you would miss her but you knew that it was what’s best. As your two pups grew your garden did as well until it was flourishing with plant life of every sort but it was still nothing compared to your farm but you knew it was being taken care of well by Irma. You and Chanyeol had never been closer with your little family and now Jongin and his mate were expecting a child of their own which they couldn’t stop asking questions about. It was easy to say that Chanyeol had proven himself wrong and was the best father your pups could have ever dreamed of as he could always make them laugh even when he was grumpy from the many, many sleepless nights.

Now he had proven himself once again as you were all greeted by the human village as you returned for the festival of flowers. You heard the telltale scream before you saw Irma hurtling towards you through the crowd with Songho in tow only to freeze right in front of you when she saw the sleeping baby in your arms.

“When did this happen?” she asked excitedly when she saw the little one yawn.

“Mating ritual.” Chanyeol cut in with a smirk which only surprised her more when she saw the second sleeping baby in his arms. You knocked your shoulder into his and he faked an injury as a blush rose to your face, of course there had been many other encounters after that but it still made you embarrassed when he brought it up.

“There’s two.” Irma whispered in disbelief.

“Daeho,” you said gesturing to the little wriggling baby in your arms, “And Miso.” You said gesturing to the little bundle in Chanyeol’s.

“I knew you’d be a great mom!” She exclaimed before throwing her arm around you as carefully as she could and shooing the two men away. “You have to tell me everything!” She exclaimed before the two of you followed the men who were chatting a few feet ahead as you all headed to the farm. You told her about your whole journey in as much detail as you could muster as you slowly walked down the road, she listened intently making a few comments here and there before launching into her own story.

The farm looked the same as you remembered it in the spring, flowers covering the fields and the river running by with the addition of the second house a little farther away. Irma’s family was just as chaotic as you remembered and the festival was beautiful with flowers covering the entire town and delicious food everywhere. You danced and sang till you felt like you couldn’t walk or talk anymore, It felt like you’d returned back to your childhood as you leaned your head against Chanyeol’s shoulder. You ditched the town festival early and were sitting in the flower lined riverbank with the two sleeping pups in your arms.

“I love you,” you sighed into his shoulder as you listened to the rush of the river and the music from the town in the distance.

“Then why don’t we expand on our little family?” He teased and you elbowed him.

“You’re such a dog.”

“I was just kidding,” He wheezed as you placed your head back on his shoulder, “I love you too and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.” He whispered before placing a small kiss on each of your cheeks, your forehead, your nose, and the leaning down to capture your lips with his.

[toaarcan]

RvB 15-17 Condensed

The working title for this was “RvB 15-17 but not crap”.

Now, this might seem a little presumptuous to include Season 17 in this, which, at time of writing, has yet to be released, buuuut I’m basically mashing S15 and S16 into a single block which would make S17 actually the sixteenth season in this version. So the rewrite is that Season 17 happens a year earlier.

Now, I have my problems with RvB 15-16.

I don’t want to start off on such a negative tone, but I feel like I need to establish that before we go ahead.

While Season 15 was at worst, a mediocre RvB Season with tonal problems and inconsistent characterisation for our leads, Season 16 is all of those problems made worse. Like, it’s not Season 9 bad, but it’s still bad, and while I’ve mostly covered those issues in past posts, I haven’t really covered how much the setup for the climax is just plain stupid.

Like the setup for the finale, and thus Season 17, is as follows:

Atlus: Don’t do the thing.

Wash: Don’t do the thing.

Huggins: Don’t do the thing.

Carolina: ... Alright guys let’s do the thing.

[Time breaks because they did the thing]

It’s a little more complex than that, but not by much.

Now, I ummed and ahhhed over how to make this work for a while, but ultimately, I came to the conclusion that this is how I would do it.

For starters, 90% of Season 16’s plot is getting dumped. If not all of it. Legitimately all I’m keeping is the ending. Sorry, it’s not exactly a big loss.

Second off, I’m not heavily altering Season 15. While there’s definitely a good Season 5-13 tier plot that could be told with a fake BGC, this isn’t it, and attempting to alter that leads into a completely different set of stories. So Season 15 is mostly unchanged, just assume Temple is actually a competent villain and the plot isn’t driven entirely by the BGC being dumber than usual for a week.

So the timeline is now Season 15 -> Paradox -> Season 17.

We’re also scrubbing Wash’s injury from Season 15. It’s going to be an unnecessary complication for the lead-in to the next season anyway. If we’re going straight for the time paradox, then having Wash be injured is kinda pointless. Given that Season 16 ended on a warped Blood Gulch way before Wash ever showed up, there’s nothing to gain by having him out of action. He’s already imperilled enough by time being fucked.

“But wait,” I hear you say. “If Wash and Locus are with the heroes when they take on the Blues and Reds, surely they catch up to Temple quickly enough that the time machine doesn’t get turned on!”

Ah, but that’s the beauty of it. Whether the time machine is turned on or not is not the focus of the paradox here. And because that’s not a vital plot point, we’re free to have the characters just Travel At The Speed Of Plot, and arrive precisely in time for the actual climax.

You see, rather than changing history around Wash’s injury and thus fucking the timeline up, the key to the paradox is Church. Specifically, what happens when Church is removed from their history because someone pulled him into the present before the events of Blood Gulch really happened.

In the actual show, when Church appears in the portal, Tucker tells Caboose to pull him through, and Caboose refuses, instead bidding farewell to an extremely confused Alpha and allowing the portal to close. It’s a big moment for Caboose’s character, and it’s one of the parts of Season 15 which is pretty well-executed.

Obviously, I’m not going to overturn that and have him not have the growth. So, how does Church end up being pulled through?

“Tucker did it!”

Now, I’m not a big fan of Joe’s Tucker. In fact, that’s an understatement. I hate the way Joe writes Tucker, and I’d rather not fall into that same trap, so I’m going to explain in detail why Tucker would make this mistake.

 1) Tucker just had Epsilon die on him. Inside his head. And at the same time, the other remaining pieces of Epsilon all faded away too. And Tucker didn’t even notice it was happening, by the time he realised what was going in, the fragments were gone and he was left in a very empty and very non-functioning suit of power armour. Given how heavy this armour is, with it non-functioning, Tucker was probably unable to move until his friends removed most of the suit, so he was trapped in a coffin that was emptier than it should’ve been.

2) Struggling to cope with his grief, Tucker does something frankly stupid and activates the Temple of Procreation.

3) A while later, Tucker is starting to recover from his friend’s death, when Dylan shows up and he finds out in short order that A) Someone is committing terrorist acts while disguised as him and his friends, B) The planet he sacrificed so much, and Church gave his life for, is being blamed and might be invaded, and C) Church might be alive. This effectively halts Tucker’s recovery.

4) The consequences of his fuckup with the Temple of Procreation come back to haunt him, and suddenly, something Tucker has always been proud of- that he’s a great father to Junior- is called into question because he’s now an absentee dad to a fuckton of Chorus babies, which deals a blow to the poor man’s ego.

5) Shortly after that, the fiasco where Temple manages to manipulate him happens, and it makes things even worse for him. He should’ve seen through it after Felix, but he didn’t. And now, Wash and Carolina are hurt because of him, and the message from Church was a fake.

6) Finally, after all of this, he’s face to face with Church, and he has the chance to save him, and while maybe he could follow Caboose’s example… there’s one key problem. This isn’t Epsilon, it’s Alpha.

Y’see, there’s a big difference between those two. As has been pointed out before, Epsilon was always kind of a total prick to Tucker. A lot of this can be chalked up to Epsilon’s knowledge of the BGC coming entirely from Caboose, who purposefully left Tucker out of his recounts of their many adventures.

But this isn’t Epsilon. It’s Alpha. Tucker’s best friend, Alpha. Alpha, who went off and died without Tucker being there. Without Tucker ever getting a chance to see him once again. They got separated and one year later, Alpha died, in denial about a fact that Tucker had figured out long ago. Maybe Tucker could’ve helped save Alpha if he’d been there. Maybe Alpha wouldn’t have had to leave the safety of Wash’s suit and end up vulnerable to the emp if someone else had been there to hold the Meta’s attention.

 Tucker decides to save his friend. He’s at the end of his rope and after all the crap he’s been through on this journey, which he set out on because he wanted to save Church, he’s going to damn well save Church.

Additionally, by tying Tucker into the portal scene properly, there’s now a proper narrative throughline from the characters receiving Church’s message to the portal. Caboose has been covered, but Tucker hasn’t.

 Time paradox.

Despite his best intentions and hopefully understandable motives, Tucker has just pulled Alpha-Church out of their history before it even got started. And given how much of Seasons 1-13 was motivated by Church in some form or another… well, they’ve just unmade themselves.

The final twist is that time isn’t rewound to Season 1. We don’t need to see that. Season 1 retreads aren’t needed. If they want to remake Season 1, they should just bite the bullet and do a full remaster of the early Seasons to clean up the audio, rather than forcing new Seasons of the show to ape it.

Instead, we see a Blood Gulch wherein the same amount of time has passed since S1E01, but with none of the elements that Church brought in having happened.

Tex never goes to Blood Gulch. She spends her time hiding from Freelancer and desperately trying to find her other half, whom she was ripped away from and now will never be able to reunite with.

Tucker loses his friend, and is left with Caboose, who already doesn’t like him.

Caboose, for his part, doesn’t get brain damaged by Omega, but he still has his air shut off and Church still convinces him to drink Scorpion fuel, so he’s not doing much better.

Kai probably gets deployed to Blood Gulch faster, since Blue team is undermanned. She’s stuck in an empty box canyon with the rest of them.

York lives on, not getting recruited by Tex, until the Meta comes for him. The Meta takes Delta and leaves York to die alone.

Wyoming is not sent after Tucker, and doesn’t get the chance to formulate the plan with Omega.

Junior is never born.

Because Wyoming’s plan doesn’t happen, Wash is left to try and combat the Meta without the aid of the Reds and Blues. He fails.

The Meta remains free to hunt down and murder its former comrades. Like Tex, it ends up searching endlessly for the Alpha, which it will not find.

Without the Project’s downfall, and without Epsilon’s activation, Carolina remains in hiding.

The Director remains in hiding, endlessly repeating his attempts to perfect his remake of Allison. He never finds the answer.

Chorus is destroyed by perpetual civil war, all according to Hargrove’s design.

And as the galaxy darkens, people who would’ve been friends die or are left alone to rot, and the Project that put them there tears itself apart until only Tex, the Meta, Carolina, and the Director remain, scattered to the winds and pursuing impossible tasks, Blood Gulch remains. Its purpose is lost without Alpha, and the Project is gone, but with no new orders, VIC perpetuates the “war” between Red and Blue teams, and so it goes on. Static. Unchanging.

Cue the ending, and the setup for the next season. A Blood Gulch without Church.

[erinhime83]

This one’s a little bit more timely, but that may or may not have been because I didn’t have to do as much art for these guys.  >.>To be honest, I was going to save Aerona for last, but then I gave myself an idea for Omega over there, and I didn’t want to do the last three person design just yet, so I figured I’d do these two, since they’re not really paired with anyone.

So…Aerona’s one of those characters whose backstory hasn’t changed.  Like, at all.  At least up until the events of where the original story would take place.  She’s the middle daughter of a king, and she was best friends with Dylan growing up.  The two of them didn’t really have anyone else, with the exception of maybe Alizéa, but neither of them like her that much.  Aerona, though, had an easier time making friends, being a little more open to people, since her positon isn’t quite as cut and dry as Dylan’s.

Recently, though, with a combination of her sister not really wanting it and her father thinking she’d be better for the job, Aerona has been named heir to the Helian throne.  One of the things about the three monarchies is that, a couple generations ago, it was decides that, when an heir turns 25, they inherit the throne.  This was mostly done because they decided at that point, the previous rulers had been ruling long enough, and it’d be time for the next generation to take over.

(Does this lead to several kings and empresses delaying having children so they could be on the throne longer?  Well, obviously, but not this time around.  Funnily enough, this is the first time the heirs are actually close enough in age that they inherit the thrones within a few years of each other.)

I was having a bit of difficulty with this, because I’d actually have a very short window from when Kai turns 25 to Aerona, but then I just decided that, no, actually, she is a year younger than Dylan and everyone else.  So she has a year before she officially takes the throne.  Alizéa is already queen, and Delany would take the throne a year after.  So it all works out. 

Even though she’s heir, she still lives her life that she did, with careless abandon.  She gets way too excited about things, and wants to know everything about the humans and Dylan’s life with them.  She is partially (read: wholly) responsible for the humans ending up on Aethos, and she feels like it’s her duty to make sure they’re comfortable after they decide to stay, which is why she hangs around them.

She is also married to Gaius, him barely getting acceptance from her father, and then King Uwain turns around and names her heir.  Gaius is sort of baffled at this, but just sort of goes with the flow, and continues to allow Aerona to do whatever.  Not like he has much choice, though.

Omega…I keep trying to get them out of the story, since I didn’t like the mysticism aspect they brought with them, but then I had a random thought – what if, instead of Discordia working with Strife’s brother, Loki, she instead was working with a crafty Thanatian going by the name Alpha?  Which, of course, gave Omega a place in the story.  Not working with Alpha this time, but actively trying to stop her, since she feels like it’s her duty as her twin.

I couldn’t figure out how Omega would hide on Aethos at first, before deciding that she breaks the taboo and disguises herself as a Helian.  I mean, this is exactly what the Helian are afraid of with the technology, that a Thanatian would disguise themselves and infiltrate the planet.  Which is why Mickel’s not allowed to look human once they discover what he is.  But considering Omega isn’t there to, you know, cause harm, she’s over looked for the most part (despite the fact that she doesn’t have the correct eyes).

She’s good at hiding herself, mostly because she’s interested in learning about difficult cultures and she doesn’t, you know, think her species is better than every other one because they seeded the species on each planet. 

I’m still trying to figure out her actual role in the story/group, but I have time to do just that.  ;P

I really like her Helian design, though.  I was this close to saying ‘screw it’, and making the two of them Helian, but I like the idea of her infiltrating and Alpha being strange and working with a Nemesite.  And yeah, the royal dress isn’t anything new, but I wanted to add another outfit for Aerona with minimal effort, so…there ya go. 

I guess there’s one more set of these to go, but God knows when I’ll actually get that done.  >.<

[chaosbcrne]

      He put on a heavy coat for the occasion, and had to bring along an also inconveniently heavy backpack to get proper readings onsite in case the source wasn’t obvious. With that hindering his movements on top of having to work his way through increasing amounts of snow, it took a while to actually get there.

      He recognized it from a distance, coming in from the same woods as he had all that time ago, recognizing the damaged but high steel walls that used to serve as a defense. The lights were all out, though, and several feet of snow covered everything he could see from his spot just outside the perimeter of the base. There were no footprints beside his own, either. It looked effectively abandoned.

      His communicator beeped. “How’s it looking ?” It was Holly. “We’re starting to lose you on the radar.”

      “No heat signature,” he responded, checking the scan on the small device. “But then again, I doubt anyone out here would be radiating heat.” He’d put on finger-less gloves for this mission so he could still handle delicate electronics despite the numbness inflicted by the chill, but he’d found himself hiding his hands in his pockets as a reflex more often than not.

      “Pay attention,” Holly said, as if she was advising a beginner. “Listen closely.”

      “I can’t hear shit. The wind’s picking up again.” He checked the radio device tucked in one of the backpack pockets, but it was just static. If there was anything emitted from that base, he wouldn’t be picking it up out here. “I’m going in.”

      “Keep me posted.” Holly’s voice turned into static as well.

      He went in through the hole Omega had blown for an entrance a year ago, corroded metal and blasted wires still sticking out here and there. The first few things that came in sight were ravaged and swept over with snow and dirt. The station hadn’t been restored, that much was for sure. There was no way to tell if someone had made off with any equipment that might have been left out here after the seize, but there was definitely some of it left. Whether this catacomb of a base was still a target for greedy criminals was still up in the air. 

      He ventured on carefully, always listening for noise and checking around the corner before turning it. Eggman had submitted the place through the good old self-destruct treatment when it had been under attack, meaning the central portion of the building and its roof had been completely wiped out. It wasn’t very useful in terms of finding whatever tool may have given off that odd reading they’d picked up hours earlier, but it was practical in the sense that a good part of the indoors was littered with snow, making it easier to tell that no one had been around here recently.

      “There’s no one here,” he concluded into his watch, but he received nothing but static as a response. “Holly ?” Still no answer. Huh. They could hear one another just fine just outside these walls. Was the radio reception that bad in here ?

      After another swift look around, he deemed it safe to drop the bag and start setting up a bigger device to get better readings. Everything came out as a straight line. There was absolutely nothing coming in. He tried getting through to headquarters again to deliver the news, without success. The interceptor also stayed still. Wait, what ?

      That’s when it hit him. There was nothing coming in, but there was nothing going out, either. The device he’d set up wasn’t even picking up on his communicator’s waves, and he was standing right next to it. There was nothing natural about that. 

      He turned around to scan his surroundings again, suddenly hit by the unpleasant feeling that he was being watched. He disassembled the receptor quickly and headed back out, repetitively signaling for headquarters to come in until finally his calls made it out and he received a response.

      “Did you find something ?” It was Holly again. 

      “I found nothing. Literally. There’s something here that makes it so radio wavelengths can’t be read. I think someone installed some kind of device somewhere that emulates radio silence,” he explained, sending back to base the short null reading he’d recorded.

      “Couldn’t it be something the doctor set up himself that happens to still be working ?”

      “No, we could communicate just fine when we stormed that base last year. Whatever’s causing this was installed after that.”

      “Why would anyone do that ?”

      “To pillage this place while going under the radar. Either they’re shifty enough to not need radio communications at all, or they were crafty enough to design a special frequency they can read over the nulled one.”

      “You’re saying someone’s still frequenting that place ?”

      He was quiet for a few seconds. “I don’t know. It doesn’t look like it, but I have trouble believing anyone would leave a handy item like that behind.”

      “...Alright, come back to headquarters, we’ll send a proper team to investigate-”

      “No,” he interrupted sternly, wanting to roll his eyes at her suggestion of dragging this out for even longer. “I’m gonna look for it now while I’m here. I can use both trackers to see where exactly communications get cut off and set up a perimeter. I’ll get a clear idea of where the source should be.”

      “That’ll take a while.”

      “Not as long as waiting for you to come out here.”

      “You’re gonna freeze to death out there.”

      “I can hope.”

      “That’s not funny.”

      “Not trying to be funny.”

      He got no answer after that, so he figured that was the closest thing to a ‘good luck’ as he’d get. He had his work cut out for him. It was a very slow process, taking one step forward, two steps back, sending signal after signal between his different communication devices to see where exactly the readings were blocked out and draw the line - literally. He had no actual equipment to set a perimeter, so he just traced a line in the snow, doing his best to make it obviously different from his more and more sluggish footsteps. And he had to keep up the pace. With the wind growing stronger every few minutes, his work could be all gone within an hour or two.

      That’s about how long it took, in the end, and he had to freshen up his drawing once he’d come full circle. It would have taken an aerial view to pinpoint the exact location of the source, but he could at least climb up one of the damaged walls to get an approximate idea.

      He was eager to go back inside by then. Even if it was just as cold, the walls provided shelter from the wind and the snow, to an extent - something he’d taken for granted on his first visit. He located what he was looking for rather quickly, thankfully. It was in the corner of an half-blasted room, just outside the circle of completely roof-less and decimated portion of the building. He wouldn’t have noticed it at first, but it was all too obvious now.

      It was built from the remnants of one of Eggman’s robots. It made sense, come to think of it; the doctor knew how to program his creations so they were unhackable through air waves alone. That particular function had just been re-purposed by a third party.

      A third party rather confident as to its success, apparently, as they hadn’t designed any complicated way to put it out of function. If Shadow had been worried he’d have to destroy the engine to get any kind of readings around here, he was quickly proven wrong when he deactivated it with the simple press of a button. Good, he thought, satisfied. This way he could take that back to headquarters too, after the fact.

      He set up the bigger receptor again, and it lit up like a Christmas tree this time. It was nothing he could decipher - probably the encrypted frequency whoever was behind this used to bypass their own technology - but it was something. He recorded it for several minutes, and remembered to plug in an extra memory chip to save a copy for a certain fox. 

      He used the breather to try and warm up a little bit, rubbing his hands together and hiding his nose and mouth into his overgrown chest fur now that he wasn’t active or on high alert. He paced around both electronics as he waited for an undetermined period of time, eventually starting to wonder for how long the radio-canceler device had been sitting here. Then he began taking notice of what else was in the room. Several large fans placarded to the few still-existent walls, all lacking the frosted texture covering everything else in the building. Like they’d been put in recently, or were maintained frequently. Like... someone was regularly trying to erase their footprints...

      The feeling of being watched returned to him at once, along with the realization that he had his back to one of the doorways of the room. He turned around just in time to see a flash of claws slashing at his face, barely missing his eye and scraping right beneath his nose and over his mouth instead. He jumped back in recoil, warm blood seeping out over his lips already, and took in the newcomer who seemed just as shocked to be facing him. 

      She was a snow leopard, and almost twice his height, as far as he could tell. She held some kind of oddly-shaped yellow weapon, but that was as far as his observation got. She pointed it at him, and he didn’t wait to figure out what it was to pivot around her and out of the way. It fired an electrified-looking rope, and he realized - it was a Wispon. The split second it took for her to pull the electric string back in was all he needed to slam into her with built-up momentum, making her lose her balance and fall over. He grabbed the Wispon and jumped back at a safe distance; despite the cold, he could definitely feel the sting those sharp claws had left.

      “This doesn’t belong to you,” he said, tossing the weapon out of both their reach.

      “They gave it to me, didn’t they ?” she replied maliciously as she got back up on her feet, and Shadow immediately decided he didn’t like the sound of that at all. 

      She was quick on her feet for someone her size, but still no match for him, even with his heavy leather coat on and mildly torpid limbs. He strafed around her quickly enough to keep her disoriented, and when she got fed up with watching him dance around and tried to lunge at him, he just dived and knocked her feet from underneath her. She toppled over again, and this time he didn’t wait to jump on top of her and pull her wrists into a pair of handcuffs. “You can thank Chaos I had these in my pockets,” he said, drawing a dark kind of amusement when she struggled to get back on her feet and failed because she couldn’t press her hands to the ground. “The Wispon cord would have been even less comfortable.”

      “Screw you,” she spat, and he could almost hear the roar underlying her voice.

      “You’re welcome,” he shrugged, retreating back to the corner where his devices were still recording readings. And he messaged back headquarters, requesting some assistance to take someone into custody. Holly sounded very alarmed, but his overly confident tone seemed to reassure her. He was good at doing those after completing an assignment.

      He waited for backup sitting next to his immobilized victim and casually toying with the one weapon he’d brought along - his favorite knife - so any of Stellar’s friends, as he eventually learned that was her name, wouldn’t get any ideas about attempting a bold rescue. If she had any associates at all, that is. She wasn’t too keen on talking, and he wasn’t too keen on pulling out his interrogation tactics. Not until proper G.U.N. specialists had had a go at her, anyway.

      He had enough on his mind, with the implication that she used to be a part of the Resistance. Had she gone rogue, and sided with the enemy ? Or was she simply using their technology for selfish, illegal endeavors ? Either way, he wasn’t fond of the idea that a bunch of morally compromised people were now roaming around the globe armed with Tails’ designs. 

      If nothing else, though, the thought reminded him to grab the second memory chip and hide it in his clothes before backup showed up and took hold of both his prisoner and his equipment.

      Holly herself was among the agents present, surprisingly enough. Also surprisingly, she seemed more concerned about the deep scratches on his muzzle and the frost covering his coat than the state of the mission. “I’m supposed to tell you to go back to base and file in your report,” she said after he gave her a proper explanation and she expressed her concerns. “But I’ll cover for you if you want to just go home and do that another day.”

      Shadow just blinked at her for a moment, deciding once and for all that she reminded him of Rouge, in some ways. Her outburst of gratitude - or at least, that’s what he assumed that was - was nearly enough to motivate him to just go file in that report and get it over with. Nearly. But it seemed bad form to refuse such a generous offer, especially now that he’d been out here for several hours and that half of his face was likely covered in frozen blood. He could use some warmth, and some rest.

      “You don’t have to tell me twice,” he agreed with a nod, and began diverting his course towards his little home of an apartment rather than sticking with the rest of the agents walking back to the vehicle that would be returning to headquarters. “Good luck with that,” he added without turning back.

      He wasn’t sure if she’d heard him, what with the strong winds that seemed to reduce by half how close people needed to be to stay within earshot. But he figured she had, because he could have sworn somewhere through the gusty whistling, he heard her say “Thank you.”

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

*

When Ryner's nurses arrive, Keith helped Lance down into the wheel chair they'd brought with them, before looking to their sons

"It's alright, I'll be able to hold them"

"No... I'll take Laneith, I haven't had a proper cuddle with him"

Lance smiled, watching his every move as Kelance was placed into his hold. Moving the blanket down from their sons face, Lance's fingers ghosted over his cheek

"Being a mother suits you"

"I don't know about that, I don't even know how old they are, especially given we were in pods"

"I would say a few vargas at best... as for their official date of birth, I'll ask Hunk. He'll know"

"Thanks..."

 Keith wondered if this was what Lance meant when he said he couldn't stand having anyone near their pups. He knew the hospital staff needed to help Lance, but trailing behind his mate, he wanted to tear them away from him. The walk down to the hospital nearly proved too much for his alpha. He hadn't growled at anyone, but he had flashed his teeth at patients as they'd walked. As if sensing they were all seeing something that they shouldn't, at least in Keith's mind they shouldn't be looking at his mate and pups, people turned away from them, allowing them to travel through the corridors uninterrupted, until they finally reached their destination. Wheeling Lance in to the small, but bright room, both nurses bowed at them 

"Congratulations on the birth of you children. Ryner insisted you have a private room, and their a bathroom facilities through the door to the left. We do have a slight back log in patients today, so please rest, and if you need any assistance at all, let us know"

Keith forced himself to smile and play nice 

"Thank you both. We should be fine"

"Excellent. Hopefully we'll see you both soon"

 Leaving them alone, the first thing Lance did was yawn

"Sleepy?"

"Just a little... can you come take Kelance from me?"

Laying Laneith down on the hospital bed, before retrieving Kelance. Gathering the blanket off his lap and exposing his almost naked form, Lance obviously had something in mind

"You're supposed to be resting"

"And I will... but... bathroom. It's right there"

"Lance..."

"Keith, I'm covered is all kinds of fluids I don't want to think about and I feel so gross. I don't want the pups getting sick because I'm dirty"

"Just wait a moment. They need a bath too, let me check the bathroom out, and then we'll figure out how to do this"

Sinking back into the wheelchair, Lance nodded

"I wonder if it's too much to hope that there's a bath"

 The bathroom was very basic, and designed for everyone in mind. There wasn't a bath, but the shower was wide enough that he'd be able to help his mate, and thanks to the low counter running across the length of the furtherest wall, they wouldn't have to leave the pups unsupervised

"What's it look like?"

"I think we can make this work. We'll have to use the sink to clean the pups up, or maybe just shower with them"

"Can you shower with a newborn?"

"What else do you with them? Not everyone has a bath"

"Ugh. I'm too tired to think"

"Then stop trying to"

 Moving Laneith and Kelance in first, Keith then helped Lance into the bathroom. With a shower stool already in place, he helped Lance out of what was the most disgusting pair of boxers he'd ever seen. No wonder his mate wanted out of them so badly. Maybe he should have thought to change Lance's clothes before placing him into the healing pod

"Stop staring. You've seen it all before"

"I... I know. I just..."

Eyeing the boxers on the floor, Lance nodded

"Birth... yep. Blood, goop and all sorts of lovely stuff. We should probably just bin them"

"Yeah... I'll take are of it once I get you settled"

"I'm sorry I'm so sleepy"

"Baby, your body thinks you had two pups not that long ago, I'm pretty sure you're allowed to be exhausted"

"Mmmm, maybe, but I haven't even got to hug or kiss you yet"

Sinking to kneel between Lance's legs, Keith reached up and took Lance's face in his hands so he could finally kiss his mate. It wasn't hot and heavy, nor was it hungry desperate, it was just a simple kiss to say "I love you". Smiling as he pulled back, Lance hummed happily

"Better?"

"Much. Now hurry up and strip down so we can shower and bath the twins"

 Shower time was a whole other experience. Lance wouldn't hold the pups until he was convinced he was actually clean, but his exhaustion made his movements clumsy. Taking over from him, his mate would wince and his each time his hands moved anywhere near his lower back or between his legs 

"Baby, I need you to stand so I can clean up the back of you"

"You'll have to help me, I'm sorry"

"No, it's ok. I love you baby, so you have no reason to be sorry"

Helping Lance to stand and place his hands on the wall, it was easier for Keith to move around his mate than it was for Lance to simply turn his body around. Eyeing the caked on blood and... quiznak only knew what, he sank back down to his knees

"This is probably going to hurt"

"I know... but I want to be clean"

Making sure his hands were thoroughly soapy, Keith started by massaging at Lance's lower back and working his way down. Lance's arse was heavily bruised, and his lovers opening still torn and red raw looking. His thoughts had been right, his mate hadn't healed completely. Cleaning each tear took time, but it was better that he do it now and get it out the way, than put Lance through all this again. The largest of the tears looked incredibly painful, extending from Lance's opening and stopping millimetres before his testicles, as far as he could see it was just the skin that had torn, but none the less, his mate would be hurting for some time to come

"Keith... I need to sit"

"Ok baby, I'm just about done, and then I'll wash down and we can see about washing the pups"

Whining, Lance was clearly at his limit, half falling, Keith caught him and guided his mate back down to sit

"I don't think I want to know what it looks like down there"

"Probably not"

"I feel like one big bruise, and like some came at me with a cheese grater"

"That's a pretty accurate description"

"I meant on my arms"

"You did a pretty good job of them too. Will you be able to hold a pup?"

"Yeah... I'm not missing out of bath time"

 Bath time was probably just as traumatic for the pups as it was for the pair of them. Laneith pooped while in Lance's hold and despite the water washing away the mess, it stank. Lance was laughing and crying at the same time over it. If that wasn't enough, he'd nearly forgotten to adjust the water temperature, which was on the hot side because Lance preferred hot showers. So once they finally moved past nearly burning the pups, Lance getting pooped on, Keith nearly getting soap, which he had no idea where it came from, in Kelance's eyes as he cleaned his sons hair, the novelty of washing their son's was much more exhausting than exhilarating. Lance was barely even awake by the end of it, leaving Keith to dry both pups and bundle them back into their blankets, before drying himself down, and finally getting Lance out the shower. Didn't like his mate not having anything to cover him beneath the sheets, but with only one one towel between the four of them, it was completely saturated by the end of it, so he was forced to leave Lance naked. When they other's came, he'd have to make a list of things they needed so Allura could collect them.

  *

Waking to find Keith curled around him and their pups pretty much right in front of his face, Lance couldn't even remember falling asleep. He did remember Keith had cleaned him up, and for that he was way beyond grateful... it was another few moments before he wriggled against his mate, taking Keith's hand into his. He hadn't fully believed Coran when the man had told him Keith was alive, as it was, he was still struggling to believe he and the pups were alive. If it wasn't for the pain in the lower half his body, he'd think this all a dream. A wonderful kind of dream. Sighing softly, he closed his eyes again, feeling Keith's lips against his nape as kissed the spot softly 

"Hey baby. How are you feeling?"

"Sleepy, but better. Thanks for helping me shower"

"That's alright, you fell asleep pretty much the moment I got you into bed"

"I was wondering how I ended up here... did you get some sleep?"

"A few vargas. The doctor on duty came to see you not long after you fell asleep, so he said he'd be back in the morning"

That posed a slight problem. Doctors meant questions and questions led to being poked at. He really didn't want to have to show anyone the mess down there, even Keith just saying the word doctor sent his omega into panic mode... despite the fact he clearly needed help 

"Baby, what's wrong?"

"Keith... what do I do? I... I don't want to be touched... I don't want to show them..."

"Baby, it's ok. They've seen it all before"

"I don't care... please don't let them touch me..."

Sighing softly, Keith's hand squeezed his 

"Baby, you need to let them do their job. You've got some pretty bad tearing down there. Look, if it's Ryner or anyone we know, I won't let them look..."

"I don't want anyone to see"

"I know, and I don't want them touching you either, but as it is you need help. If it's just a cream or an ointment, I'll apply it for you. If it's a tablet, that's even better. But baby, you haven't eaten anything or drunken anything since before I came home. Those three bags of fluid aren't enough, not with the pups to feed"

"I don't think I can eat. My stomach feels really gross"

"When the doctor comes we'll talk about it. Is that ok?"

"It'll have to be... I don't want to do anything that will endanger the pups"

"I know. Now you're awake, do you want to try feeding them? They're probably going to wake up and demand food soon"

"You're not going to leave are you?"

"What? No, I'm not leaving, but I do have to slide out of bed so you have space to move"

Sniffling, Lance nodded, missing his mates warmth the moment Keith was gone from beside him. Sitting up was awkward and hurt like hell, but taking Kelance into his hold made it worth it

"Is it crazy how in love I am with these little guys?"

"No baby, I'm kind of completely in love with them too. Even after changing a nappy"

"We'll have to ask the others to bring stuff down from the castle, both of the blankets feel wet"

"You go about feeding him and ill clean up..."

"You can't tell them apart, can you?"

Keith clearly didn't want to admit he couldn't 

"Come here"

Unsure of why he was moving to peer over his shoulder, Keith still did it anyway

"Kelance has a tiny birth mark right here, and I think his markings aren't as dark as Laneith's"

Showing Keith the birth mark behind the pups ear, Keith rubbed his cheek against his

"I never noticed"

"I don't even know how I did... they... they didn't have the best birth"

"I know. I saw the sensor footage, don't worry no one else did"

"Someone must have. I didn't put myself in that pod"

"It was mum. She found you. She also watched over you while I was gone... no one but her saw you like that"

"Good... thanks good. I know giving birth is normal, but... it's still kind of embarrassing. I have no idea what was going on down there, but... I remember screaming and screaming"

"I'm sorry I wasn't with you"

"You're mad at me, aren't you?"

"Not mad, more like confused. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because they were so small, and we didn't exactly have a way to stop the labour. I could... I could barely feel them... so I thought it was already too late"

Breaking down, Lance cried softly as Keith wrapped his arms around him

"Shhh, it's ok. You don't have to think about it again"

"I do! Everyone's going to ask me why and I don't want to tell them that I wanted to be dead with you and the pups"

He felt so guilty about it all, even if he'd honestly believed they were dead. Hunk was going to feel so betrayed, never mind the rest of their friends 

"I know baby, I know. Here, let's feed Kelance"

 With both their pups fed and laying up against beneath the blanket, Keith moved to spoon up behind him again. They'd barely been awake a varga, maybe even two at a stretch, but Lance could barely keep his eyes open. He didn't want to fall asleep, but it the arms of his mate he was feeling so warm and safe, and it wasn't long before he lost the battle.

  *

When the doctor returned in the morning, Lance was still sleeping. Smiling softly at him, the old Olkari man hobbled into the room 

"How's he doing?"

"He's still really exhausted. He woke up for a couple of vargas, before falling back to sleep"

"Your friends have all been hassling the staff, they want to come visit"

"Not just yet. His... we have second dynamics, that's how he was able to fall pregnant and give birth because he's known as what's called an omega. Along with this, we have this voice inside our heads, well it's kind of like another us. His is an omega, mines an alpha..."

He had no idea if the man was understanding what he wanted to say

"... his omega is panicking over having anyone near his pups at the moment, and because of his past, he's prone to panic attacks and episodes"

"So he's scared?"

"In a way. Can you please let them know? And... is there any way we get some clothes or even just some pants for him, and some blankets for the pups? I can ask them to bring everything we need down, but for now he just needs something"

"I'd really like to examine him, is he going to be ok with that?"

"I don't think so. But it's bad. He's really torn up down there, and he feels pretty sick"

Frowning, the old man hobbled over to Lance's side. The moment he placed his palm down on Lance's forehead, the omega jerked backwards as if he'd been struck

"Lance. Lance, baby, it's ok"

"Greetings Red Paladin, you've got nothing to fear from an old Olkarion like me. Your partner says you're not feeling great"

Looking over his shoulder at him, Lance glared 

"Sorry baby. It's his job"

[comic-critic-squad]

did you know thesodasmuggler also believes the alpha omega wolf theory that was debunked long ago ? i hear theyre an ex fan of kique. i hope their comic wont be influenced by asmundr and home.

The Dreyrugr is bad.(Also, pretty sure Soda is still a fan. She’s in the Home Discord, but then...her friends who’re friends with us have said she doesn’t like it, so, uh...okay. Who knows.)

Anyway, before anyone asks why TD is bad because I know how y’all are, here's my screaming back from when I read it:

Dr. Salt-01/07/2018

So I'm going through Soda's comicStarting at the beginning and justwow have I ever mentioned how much i just L O V E historydump prologuesbecause oh boy. oh boy do i do.also jesus CHRIST this comic needs a copy/line editor 

watch me go volunteer in the comments all "hey dog your dialogue and narration is incredibly clunky and outright bad at some points soooo hire me."these people really need to make a script for their whole comic before they start it, go through drafts, and get inputand fucking get someone to check their text for mistakes and shit because MAAAN it's obvious a lot of these people know more about art than anything elsebad dialogue is my kryptonite...I mean, I personally wouldn't go with "arduous" there because that's...not usually why people use it...but anyway

I HAVE TAKEN ISSUE WITH EVERY LINE OF TEXT SO FAR JFC 

First thing first: this entire prologue is unnecessarythat said...Actually, nevermind. I tried moving around parts of that sentence but it's so fucking bad and "uh, obviously" that I can't. It needs to be entirely rewrittenAnd not state...really fucking obvious shit...this could've been shortened to "however, survival brings competition" 

i repeat: i have taken issue with every single bit of narration thus far   

why is she is writing like...thatONCE AGAIN THIS IS IGNORING HOW ENTIRELY USELESS THIS PROLOGUE ISit's like she's giving a sixth grade biology lessonreally? if a species fails to adapt they're weak? WHO'DA THUNK

Dingo-01/07/2018

OH ITS THIS COMIC THAT I DESPISE THE DIALOGUE OFThe prologue is so badLike bro

Dr. Salt-01/07/2018

i'm fuel of copyeditor ANGER todaylol, cliches

I used to not get why editors harped on about getting rid of cliches in writing but now I'm on board

Dingo-01/07/2018

I’ve seen that line used more then once in some comicsOr movies for that matterIt’s ridiculous

Dr. Salt-01/07/2018

askfjsf REMOVE "DOWN"

Dingo-01/07/2018

UGH

Dr. Salt-01/07/2018

i wish i had enough energy to do a prologue rewrite but it's easier to scream about this instead

Dingo-01/07/2018

It should be “WHEN IT COMES TO DESPERATION” like the down is so unnecessary manScreaming is good

Dr. Salt-01/07/2018

this is fucking bad

literally what the fuck is that second clause referring toafter reading this, my new opinion is even comic writers need to hire editors for their stuffi'd really only ever thought about editors in the context of literature but HOO BOY not anymore

GreatHornedOwl-01-01/07/2018

that word vomit makes no sense

Dr. Salt-01/07/2018

it's all shitwealreadyknow.jpeg, toooh my god

GreatHornedOwl-01/07/2018

like, im dyslexic af. but 'battle for dominance over survival' seems so odd

Dr. Salt-01/07/2018

https://thesodasmuggler.deviantart.com/art/The-Dreyrugr-Page-5-638601038?ga_submit_new=10%253A1476050769

the whole thingshe really used thattwo cliches in the prologue aloneI can tell I'm really gonna enjoy this thrilling talefinally past the prologue

GreatHornedOwl-01/07/2018

they need to source their quote because they didn;t come up with that

Dr. Salt-01/07/2018

now I get to FEAST MY EYES on the dialogueit's a common phrase that I don't think anyone knows the sourceI see it all over facebookkill me

GreatHornedOwl-01/07/2018

i've seen people claim it came from this comic on CS

Dr. Salt-01/07/2018

i googled it out of curiosity and suppoooosedly Zig Ziglar coined it"author and motivational speaker"i can really see how these are two species that have been at war for centuries and truly despise each other

"get lost!"such anger

😩-01/07/2018

That smilodon is apparently a vampire

Dr. Salt-01/07/2018

https://thesodasmuggler.deviantart.com/art/The-Dreyrugr-Page-9-640365984?ga_submit_new=10%253A1476588895

uh whatso are they just sacrificing themselves for no fucking reasonwhy not just fucking run and tell the dude yourselfwow, well that was the most contrived reason just to have a fight scenethe fucking wolf ran anyway and was attacked while running so why not have just had that happen from the start

GreatHornedOwl-01/07/2018

i hate that trope. where two idiots will sacrifice themselves so one can get away, but the one is a coward who freezes

Dr. Salt-01/07/2018

KJFHSHDFHDJGFHDGFDF

YOU CAN REALLY SPOT A KIQUE FAN, MANi...hate...

this immediately made me think of that line from Asmundr where one of them was like "only ranulfr can make the ground shake like that"

"let's talk about something both of us already know" 

"We did what we believed right. I don't doubt they could return either, but whatever happens, we'll be ready, father."removed six words from that and kept the same meaning. come on, soda.

can you say C L U N K Ythese characters are just as emotionless as Home's charactersokay looki know relatively fuck all about technical stuff with comicsbut these speech bubbles threw the fuck out of mei didn't realize the left bubble was supposed to be read second 

i went back to the preceding panel and was ???? "act like one" what?i had no idea what "corpulent" meant, but the context made me think it meant something like wretched

no. it means fat.

Jarl-Shipumhard-01/07/2018

long ass body

Dr. Salt-01/07/2018

why are these characters all hyper-aggressivealso i still have no idea who's who;KKDASFL;KJASDF IM SCREAMING LMFAO

YEP, THE QUALITY TRULY REMINDS ME OF ASMUNDR AND HOME, TOO

Dr. Baron O’Beefdip-01/07/2018

Why are some of these pages so dark?

Dr. Salt-01/07/2018

no idea but that's part of why i can't tell these fuckers apartall of them have dark designs and look the goddamn sameis this the leader or a kid complaining to their parent

Dr. Baron O’Beefdip-01/07/2018

I care so little for these characters. I can't even keep track of their names.

Swamp Ass-01/07/2018

Same.

Dr. Salt-01/07/2018

finished it and that was the most disjointed comic I've read so farat least Home is pretty easy to keep track ofbut that...bad transitions

[sosexyalmostevil]

Sapphy Out of Context

"Yeah. Go ahead and murder everyone."

"This is how you don't order a pizza."

"I'm raging so hard it's giving me swamp ass"

"Uhh it's pronounced min-i-a-ture."

"That's my fetish..?"

"Ash. Unlike Knuckles, I chuckle."

"Good thing you know that bobble head cheat. That'll fix all our problems."

"How do you summon Satan in this?"

"We have a mystery on our hands, gang."

"I dropped my MAGNUM DONG"

"I'M COOL CAT AND I LOVE ALL KIDS"

"And I thought Claire was a huge furry."

"Happy Happy Joy Joy. You died."

"I always thought Robbie Rotten looked like Waluigi."

"I believe you're talking about Risky Business."

"Of course you'd make Gene Simmons a magical girl in that situation."

"You do realize that Big the Cat is voiced by Duke Nukem right?"

"I think Yzma is somewhat attractive."

*singing Roxanne*

"Hey at least you're better at this than your feet smell."

"Excuse me. I take pride in running around in nothing but some short shorts."

"Was that a JoJo reference? I don't get it."

"My spidey senses are tingling!"

"Every Villain Is Lemons."

*Singing Bad Reputation*

"A wise man once said What ever happened to predictability? The milk man, the paper boy, the evening TV?"

"If only Peter Griffin was here to sell butt scratchers..."

"Why doesn't Ganondorf like the internet? Too many Links."

"Do you remember Trollz? With a z?"

"It's not like there's money RIGHT THERE"

"Spiderus from that Miss Spider show gave me chills."

"The real question is can Bumble make it to elf practice?"

"Ashlynn? More like ASS-lynn!" *chortles uncontrollably*

"Do you know da wae?"

"I didn't stay up all night eating fruit snacks to hear you sing about fireworks."

"And if you look to your right you'll see a dickclam"

*To the tune of Meow Mix* "I like killing. I like murder."

"You're not letting me sing about sausage."

"Some say I look like Weird Al, for your information."

"You know that song that's like that Complicated song but is about being constipated?"

"I watched the Bee Movie and if a be starting talking to me I'd run and hide behind Jigsaw."

"TIM BURTON DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH CORALINE SO THAT'S WHY I'M GONNA WIN MARIO PAR...ty... god dammit..."

"I tried to write a Creepypasta, but it came out as a Semi Disturbing Penne Noodle."

"So was Filbert from Rocko's a turtle or an armadillo?"

"George CAN'T SAND YA!"

"If you'd excuse me, I'm off to snort midis."

"Wrong way, asshole! ...and he's dead..."

"Tra la LAAAAAAA!"

"And he's off! Never mind. I died."

"Let me show you how to destroy everything in your path no matter how strong they think they are. Observe as the bodies of your enemies line the streets! FOR I AM JETHRO DESTROYER OF ALL EVIL!"

"The Lorax but is a mediocre movie except nothing actually changed because it was already a mediocre movie."

"Remember that one time Dorothy and Sophia dressed as Sonny and Cher?"

"What do you think this is, Ash? Denver the Last Dinosaur?"

"I honestly thought the first Alpha and Omega was kinda meh."

"Uh oh. It's the fun police."

"John Goodman has been a caveman, a dinosaur, a bear, and a monster. I know what I'm talking about."

"Angela Anaconda was before the Digimon Movie and that was the worst part of the movie."

"How many references to KISS are you gonna make today?"

"Ka-chow! You're fucked!"

"What was the one season of Digimon where they became Digimon?"

"It jumps right out at you like a rat in your underwear drawer!"

"Holy Masked Potatoes, Batman!"

"Don't you fucking vore me you... Goomba!"

"Mama it's not Digiorno..."

"He's like Sorry, guy. Linkle has gone to tinkle."

"How much will it cost to get a blanket with Sailor Moon with a speech bubble that has a pot leaf on it? I really want that."

"Let me bestow an ancient maneuver upon you. It's called the Suck and Cuck."

"I know who lives in a pineapple under the sea and it's not Spongebob."

"Remember when we were doing that thing with race cars, lasers, and airplanes? We also might've rewritten history."

"Have you ever noticed Toad and Chode rhyme? That's because they're ONE IN THE SAME!"

*Humming Dude Looks Like a Lady*

"Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shapeshifting master of darkness unleashed an UNSPEAKABLE evil, but a foolish samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, i tore open a portal in time a flung him the future where my evil is law now the fool seeks to return to the past and undo the future that is Aku."

"Crank that Marilyn Manson!"

"Turn down for HWAT?"

"But I wanted Gabumon! Not Piplup!"

*Singing off key* "They say we're young and we don't know We won't find out until we grow Well I don't know if all that's true 'Cause you got me, and baby I got you"

"I sexually identify as a woozle, check your privilege."

"When in doubt, bomb it out!"

"Are you a Royal or Rebel, Ross?"

"I read a cheat saying that you could evolve a Pikachu into Pikablu. It was on a bootleg cereal box called Blessed Glamour."

"Are you threatening me with that pool noodle?"

"It feels good to be bad, baby!"

"What could possibly go wrong?"

"I called PC Optimizer Pro."

"..Not my proudest fap..."

"Excuse me, I proudly fapped to that."

"You'd make a sucky knight."

"Watching Corpse Bride made me realize I want to fuck Emily. Yes, that's the corpse. It's not my fault they designed her to be so hot."

"Top 10 Anime Betrayals"

"Wacka Wacka Doodoo Yeah!"

"DK wants K. Rool to go back to writing his erotic Neopets fanfiction, obviously."

"You know how at the end of Dora she asks what our favorite part was? My favorite part of the adventure was when Mads turned on a chainsaw in the other room."

"First I must make a wish."

"Don't look up Cool Cat on R34 it's horr- ...you're looking it up aren't you?"

"If life was a cartoon, you have no idea how hard I'd hit you with a frying pan."

*Loud, reality-warping screams*

"There's an article on SpellsofMagic on how to summon Pokémon. Not even halfway joking."

"I hate Mars Bars."

[thexgrayxlady]

Shepard Traitor Soldier Spy - Chapter 3

Notes: So apparently Tumblr doesn’t show links in the tags. Whatever. Also this hellsite fucks with my formatting.  I'm still not sure if I'm going to stick to a schedule for this. I'm trying for weekly updates, but we'll see. My work schedule is weird. Also I really enjoy writing Shepard and Garrus interacting. This chapter's title is from Owl City's Bombshell Blonde.

Summary:  If there was one thing Mira Shepard hated more than getting into getting into a fight, it was getting into a fair fight.

Live to Die another Day

Lawson told her she should go after the scientist first. It was a pitifully small act of rebellion, likely to backfire, and incredibly petty, but she instead opted to go after Archangel. She looked Lawson dead in the eye as the woman gave her what was likely a very well planned out speech, designed specifically with her psych profile in mind, in order to get her to go along with Doctor's Orders.

She got a sort of perverse pleasure out of responding with a simple, "No."

"If you're not going to listen to me, at least take me with you on this assignment," Lawson said. "You're letting your preconceived notions about Cerberus cloud your judgement."

"Doctor Lawson, this is nothing personal. If it were, I'd bring Kisumi," she said, examining her armor. "The squad needs to pass for mercenaries. Zaeed is a mercenary and Lieutenant Taylor did his time with the Corsairs. Nothing in your file indicates that you are more qualified for the job than either of them."

"Commander, after the stunt you pulled on the citadel you obviously need to have someone who's more experienced in…"

"I understand the difficult position I put you in with your employer by leaving my squadmates on the Citadel," she said, setting down the shoulder piece and checking her helmet's air filters. If she had to die again, it wouldn't be choking. "However, should this mission go wrong, and you, Taylor, and I are on it, it will be even more difficult for whoever's left to explain how the Illusive Man's hand picked team was killed."

"Do you really think I'd be so incompetent as to let the two of you get killed?"

"No, but anybody can get a lucky shot and there has to be a backup plan." If she had her way, she had at least four going into even a basic operation. "And if something happens to you then who runs the Lazarus cell?"

Then she stopped checking her gear and looked at Lawson for a split second, her expression a calculated blank. Just long enough for Lawson to see the gears turning in her head. Just for long enough for Lawson to never feel safe on an away team with her again.

Lawson knew exactly how easy it would be for her. She had a cloak and a sniper rifle. When the mercs moved on Archangel, things could get messy. All Lawson would have to do would be to take her eyes off of her for a second and it was very difficult to track a ghost when you had bullets coming at you from all sides.

"What do you think Lawson," she said, holding up her chest piece. "I would be correct in assuming I could requisition funds for something that doesn't scream, "I'm a Marine! Shoot Me!" wouldn't I?"

X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X

"Bet mine's bigger," she said, sliding her pistol across the table. "Sayyida al Hurra, Reds. This is my associate Jacob Taylor and I trust you know Zaeed Massani." There was no point in pretending he was anything else.

"I thought the Reds got picked up by C-Sec a couple years ago," the man said, taking her gun and inspecting it.

"It's a lot easier to move Sand onto the Citadel if they think you're all either dead or in lockup," she said, a cocky smirk spreading across her face. Finch was like Anderson. He never saw the knife until she pulled it out of his back.

"You're a long way from Citadel space Sayyida," he said, checking her SMG and sniper rifle as she passed them over. "What are you doing on Omega?"

"With old guard gone, you could say we're finally looking to expand our avenues of interest," she said. "A friend," she gestured to Zaeed, "told me Blue Suns were looking to subcontract. Consider this our job interview."

"If you can handle it," he said. "Shuttle's by the space port. We'll talk payment after the job's done."

"I look forward to doing business with you," she said, taking her weapons back and holstering them.

Some kid bumped her on her way out. She took one look at him, skinny, too big ears, a pistol with kickback he probably couldn't handle, and told herself that she took the gun and crushed it like a cheap beer can so that she had to fight one less merc to get to Archangel.

X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X

If there was one thing Mira Shepard hated more than getting into getting into a fight, it was getting into a fair fight. Fortunately, this was a loosely allied group of mercenary factions. They trusted each other about as well as she could handle an assault rifle and with the right words, they'd do half her work for her.

This would work better if she had more time. She could be more subtle if she had more time. As it was, she was using a sledgehammer to do the work of a surgical scalpel. If she had at least a week behind enemy lines, she could have half of them dead before they hit the bridge and the other half spooking at their own shadows. As much as she would have liked a week, she could make do with a few hours and Archangel already had the leadership jumpy.

Eclipse would be first across the bridge. She quietly let slip to Taylor as they were walking through their camp that Blue Sun must value them about as much as they did the freelancers, but she was grateful she wasn't in between Blood Pact and their pay day.

Then it would be Blood Pact. Again, Eclipse would be first across the bridge. They'd get credit for taking down Archangel and the Blue Suns would get credit for organizing the whole thing. As one of the krogan was walking by, she whispered to Zaeed that she thought that the Blue Suns were afraid of the Blood Pact getting to Archangel and just loudly enough for the Krogan to hear, he agreed.

Blue Suns would be the hardest to crack. They ran more like a corporation than a mercenary group. Before joining up, she sat in a hole in the wall noodle shop and studied what little data on them she could get past Cerberus censors and questioned Zaeed about what he remembered from his time with them. He'd been cagey and while she'd been able to remove the worst of the monitoring software from her Omni-tool, the blocks were strong as ever. She would have to make do with sabotaging their hardware.

Still, it wasn't a waste of time. She wasn't going to eat anything provided to her by Cerberus. It would be all too easy for them to slip something into food to make her compliant. Cheap noodles wouldn't be her first choice of first meal, but she wasn't in a position to be picky.

She was surprised they left the YMIR units as unsecured as they did, but they had no reason to suspect anybody would hack the mechs and she wasn't about to look a gift mech in the charge port. She set Jacob and Zaeed to watch the door while she cloaked and went to work.

The YMIR units had a notorious short circuit in their head. One lucky shot would take out not only the mech, but any surrounding combatants. She could rewire it to blow as soon as it booted up, but there was no fun in that. Reprogramming the friend-or-foe targeting would be more difficult, but ultimately more rewarding.

If it started firing on its own masters, it would deepen the rift between the factions. Any survivors would wonder why it turned on them, they could continue with their mission, but they could also bolt or go out for revenge. Any outcome would be acceptable. Moreso if they chose to go after the other mercs, but any who remained after the mech was done with them would be tired and worn down, easier to pick off.

Plus, hacking the mech's targeting systems would make her feel better about not being able to hack into Cerberus' databases.

She finished the hack and on her way out of the room, rifled through the crates for good measure. Taylor gave her a look, but she ignored it. If he wanted to judge her for picking up the odd loose credit chit or datapad, she could remind him that he was part of a terrorist organization.

Then there was the gunship. If that got off the ground, it could be a bit of a problem. She did not like the odds of the three of them plus a vigilante who may not want to join them versus a gunship, plus whatever mercs were left over.

She would have to wait for the other freelancers to clear out, then there was only Sargent Cathka. If she could get herself alone with that ship for a few minutes, she could do some truly beautiful work. She didn't have time to ground it, but she could jam the guns, sabotage the cooling system, overload the steering, disable the shield generators, all manner of chaos.

She checked in with the other freelancers and slipped under the rail to talk to Cathka. He asked why she wasn't with the other freelancers, she told him she wanted to get as much information on their situation as possible. She asked her questions, mostly about the bridge and what he thought about Archangel's capabilities. He answered, then they got the signal to move on Archangel's position. The rest of the freelancers made for the bridge.

She hung back and found that in a pinch, an electric welder made an excellent stun gun.

She asked Jacob to drag Cathka behind some crates while she figured out what to do with the gunship. It was only a matter of time until they found his unconscious body and she intended to be as far away as possible when that happened.

Cathka left his screwdrivers within easy reach of the console. Having something solid in her hands as she worked felt calming. She liked hardware, didn't get enough chances to work on it. This kind of work, sabotage and infiltration was far more in line with her skillset than a straight up firefight.

She started pulling wires loose, but leaving them just enough in their sockets so that it looked like nothing happened. She smiled because she was six years out and she still hadn't lost her touch.

She allowed herself a moment to relish the warmth spreading through her chest as she shorted the battery and the thrill of evading detection. She never thought she'd thank Cerberus for giving her a chance to truly shine again, but the work felt good. It felt like home.

She wanted to take her time with this, give the task the care and attention it deserved, but she would have to settle for one quick, yet difficult to detect solution. Decoupling the shield generator would be the best she could do in two minutes.

She could only hope that the pilot saw the unconscious Sargent and thought better of getting in the gunship.

X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X

"Taylor, Massani, hang back," she said, taking cover behind a crate.

She watched the other freelancers cross over the bridge, watched too many fall to sniper fire. Archangel was just as good as the mercs made him out to be. Between the Reds, Alliance Intelligence, and Special Forces, she'd been shot at by many people. Very few could match the speed and accuracy with which he placed each shot. Even if he was exhausted and making mistakes, she had to admire his skill.

She thought better of having Zaeed and Jacob cross the bridge with her. She could cloak. They couldn't. She could get to Archangel without being mistaken for one of the mercenaries coming to kill them.

She cloaked and peered through her scope. One of the bomb techs made it through to the building. She was working on something in front of a couch. The mercenaries were clustered. If she could shoot it, she could take out the tech and a good number of the freelancers. It would blow her cover, but maybe it would be better to do that here than in the middle of a bunch of pissed off freelancers.

"Alright," she said, ducking back down and turning to her squad. "Both of you stay here and give me cover. I'm going to clear a path. Follow on my order."

She made sure her rifle was loaded, then took the shot. As the explosion ripped through the building, she jumped the crate and rushed the gap. She took cover behind a pillar and checked her SMG before getting a look at the room.

There were two freelancers left downstairs, one staggering to get their bearings, and she didn't know how many on the second floor. The concrete prevented the fire from overtaking the building, yet the shouldering couch provided enough smoke to give her some cover. She leaned out to get a better angle on the more oriented mercenary.

Pain ripped through her shoulder and she dropped to her knees.

"Secure the O2 line with one hand and firmly hold it in place, while with the other, turn the locking mechanism…"

She shook her head and took a moment to breathe, remind herself that she could. She didn't have a dislocated shoulder and she didn't have an airline to secure with one hand. She didn't have time for this. Archangel hadn't finished the job, but that didn't mean that the freelancers couldn't.

As she scrambled back to her feet, one of the freelancers glowed bright blue before being pulled onto the bridge. Behind her there was a crack of sniper fire, whether it was Zaeed or Archangel she didn't know.

"Commander?" Jacob said. "You still there?"

She still didn't trust or like Jacob, but she knew where she stood with him and unlike Lawson, he had no delusions about the darker side of Cerberus. He was an honest man, but not a true believer. She wouldn't trust him at her back outside of a firefight, but so long as he was ostensibly on her side, she could work with him.

"Not my first time getting shot," she said. The Cerberus armor she'd borrowed held up remarkably well. "Nor will it likely be the last."

She made short work of the last freelancer in the room, then signaled for her squad to follow up the stairs. As she finished hacking her way through a blood-spattered door, as a point of professional pride, she was almost tempted to double tap the mercenary responsible for bungling the lock so badly she had to work around not only Archangel's safeguards, but his own crappy safecracking code.

"Archangel?" she said, entering the room, her squadmates close behind.

The Turian turned to her and settled onto a crate. His posture was a failed attempt at confidence, what was supposed to be a casual lean looked more like a tired slump, and his hands shook as he began to remove his helmet.

Somehow, she was not surprised to see the face under the helmet, nor the trouble that he had gotten himself into.

"Garrus?" she said, dropping her SMG to her side. She wouldn't thank Lawson for stopping her from looking him up on the Citadel, but she was glad she hadn't wasted her time and a lot of worrying.

"Shepard," the Turian said. His voice wavered. Whether it was exhaustion, blood loss, or shock at seeing her she couldn't say. "I thought you were dead."

"I got better," she replied, breaking out in a rare grin. "No thanks to you by the way."

"Concussive rounds only, I had to make it look good," he replied. "Didn't want the mercs to get suspicious."

"If you say so," she said. "Garrus, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied, wincing as he shifted on the crate.

"I can explain later," she said, setting up her gear near the balcony. "Right now, you've got all the major mercenary factions on Omega waiting on the other side of that bridge for you, so unless you've got another way out, we're the cavalry."

"I'm stuck up here," he replied. "Still, it's good to see a friendly face."

"I'd say it's about time for you and me both," she said, holding out her arm to help him off the crate. "Getting in here was easy, getting out's going to be another story."

"The bridge's worked so far, these morons have nowhere to hide, forcing them to group up and walk in a line, but it works both ways. If we try to leave…"

"Then we're the morons with nowhere to hide from dozens of assault rifles," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "So we're going to have to shoot our way through three of the most powerful mercenary factions on Omega to get out. Fantastic." She'd prepared for this. It didn't mean she had to like it.

"It'll be just like old times Shepard," he said, setting the rifle on the railing.

"You want to know how many times I almost died in the old times?" she said.

"Hey now, you got better," he replied. His laugh sounded more like a cough. "Let's get a look at what these guys are up to…" He put his eye to the scope. "Looks like they know their infiltration team failed. They're gearing up for round two."

He handed her the rifle so she could look. Eclipse mechs walked through the gates. The LOKI model shared a key design flaw with the YMIR mechs and Eclipse hadn't thought to protect the heads.

"We've got company," she said, tossing Garrus his rifle. "Massani, set up on the far end of the balcony. Taylor, go with him. Anything that gets to the building, pull it back. If I need you to, both of you be ready to fall back to the steps."

She would stay with Garrus. He looked unsteady and she knew what days of being trapped with no sleep and little food and water would do to a person.

"I'm impressed Garrus," she said, settling into position next to him. "Every single merc in Omega and they're all here to see you."

"It wasn't easy Shepard," he replied, reloading. "I really had to work on it."

As much as she would have liked to keep up the banter, there was work to be done. Zaeed's swearing told her that the enemy had deployed rocket launchers. They would have to work quickly, take them out first.

Then a tell-tale noise told her that Eclipse was deploying the YMIR unit and she suppressed a grin. It certainly wasn't her best work, but from the shouting below she could tell that she'd done at least a satisfactory job.

"Shepard, you look way too proud of yourself," Garrus said, leaning against the wall to catch his breath. "What did you do?"

"A good job," she said, grinning as she reloaded.

Then from the other side of the bridge came a surprisingly clear shout of, "Fuck this! You're not paying me enough!"

"A very good job," she added.

X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X

The floor around his head was blue and her heart was in her throat, but she had to keep going. She didn't think this through. She didn't prepare enough. She let herself get cocky and let herself think that just damaging the gunships's shields would be enough. She had the opportunity, she could have done more.

"Garrus," she said, dropping to her knees beside him and prepping the little medi-gel she had left. He moaned, she didn't know if she should take that as a good sign. "Come on Garrus. I didn't come all the way here just for you to die on me."

She had basic first aid training and Kaidan had walked her through more complicated procedures. As she looked at Garrus, she knew that his injuries went far beyond her meager skillset, but she couldn't help him if she panicked.

"Jacob," she said, willing her hands steady as she gently tore the medigel pack open. She kept her voice level, emotionless. "Radio the ship. Tell Dr. Chakwas to get the medbay prepped, dextro materials only, Turian fluids, and that if Lawson gets within twenty yards of this patient, she can take a walk into the airlock with a faulty helmet."