Archive of Our Own ^beta

The moment Chan’s feet stop before his front door, it is as if his body deflates and his spine decides against holding him up any longer. Even the act of going through his pockets to find his keys seems too hard, too demanding, one more step he is unwilling to have added to his day. As he licks his already chapped lips out of habit, Chan presses his fingertips into his eyelids, rubbing away some of the ache that inevitably comes from staring into a monitor for too many hours.

In the darkness of this winter evening, it is as if time slows around Chan. Not unhappily, he leans into the cold air and the tingling it brings to his cheeks and fingers. It is one of the coldest nights they have had thus far this winter, and there are small puffs of condensation that escape his lips in rhythm with his breathing. Even in the chilly air, his skin is too warm, sweat pearling on his nape and rolling down his neck. And yet, in tandem with it, there is a hollowness in the pit of his stomach that is untouched by the warmth of his body, filling every inch of Chan’s being with its freezing touch, begging to be soothed. It has been growing day by day for a week already, and unfortunately, he will not be able to ignore it for much longer.

It’s the suppressant's fault, he knows that, or more like it is their fault and the rut it keeps on suppressing.

It had felt fine the first few weeks, enough to lull Chan into a fake sense of comfort, and to make him forget how ill-advised it was for him to take them in the first place. The side effects had been so negligible that they led him to believe this time would be different than all those years ago. But as if to remind him of the stupidity of his choice, his body has felt wrong in so many ways for days now, enough so that he can’t even differentiate anymore between his usual pre-rut symptoms and the side effects of the medication. Even his wolf feels distant to him, their needs out of sync.

The evidence is that Chan really needs to throw away that bottle and never look its way again. He can't keep pushing his rut forever. He knows it. He has known it for a month now, when he made the dubious choice to retake them for the first time in years. There is the sword of Damocles hanging over his head; it has been since the first white pill touched his tongue. If he continues to swallow those, they will fuck his entire cycle. At least, they will fuck it more than they have already. Which, honestly, wouldn’t be such a problem if it didn’t mean entire months of fucked up hormones and the inevitable doom they filled Chan’s thoughts with.

Minho, who had been around the last time Chan made that choice, would kill him if he knew he had been retaking them. Or maybe he already noticed, smelled it on Chan and chose not to comment. Maybe he decided to let Chan deal with himself for once, and in all honesty, Chan wouldn’t blame his roommate if it were the case. He is also deeply tired of dealing with his own bullshit.

With a deep sigh, Chan finally lowers his hands and lets his eyes flutter open. A hot shower and the comfort of his bed are what are calling out to him. And even though his stomach growls with unanswered calls, Chan is ready to ignore its hunger a little longer if it means he can simply pass out and forget about work, his stupid feelings and the constant reminder of his instincts trying to break out of their imposed restraint.

Once he steps inside the house, in the small entrance off to the side of the living room, Chan is automatically met by the comforting scents of his friends and then the less reassuring sound of piercing human screams and the loud whines of an unhappy canine. With the click of the door behind him, Chan glances toward the ruckus.

“What’s happening?” he asks, with one raised eyebrow. On the living room floor, right in front of the couch, a large white wolf is lying flat on his side, and a fuming Minho is standing beside him. Whatever Hyunjin is doing, his mate isn't happy about it. Chan can’t help but feel amused at the scene, but then the emotion turns deeply sour.

“He just came back from playing outside, and he's all wet!” Minho explains roughly, pushing at Hyunjin's side with his foot. “Go, downstairs," he orders loudly, falling to his knees to push at the oversized and heavy wolf. In his human form, Minho barely manages to move Hyunjin.

Chan nods with understanding, and he scoffs under his breath. Alright. Sure. Hyunjin is again attempting to destroy their floor with the water that is surely soaked up in his fur from playing in the snow. Right. With a roll of his eyes, Chan undresses from his outside attire without paying them more attention as they loudly argue.

“Chan is here now! You saw him! Go downstairs to dry!” Minho shouts, and Chan’s ears ring uncomfortably. His head pulses with the headache that has been growing and taking root in his skull for the past hours.

Annoyed, Chan wants to remind Minho that, clearly, Hyunjin isn’t there simply to welcome him back home. Of course, he isn’t. Why would he? Chan isn’t his mate. No. Minho is. And so why would he need Chan? They aren’t even a pack, and so there is nothing that bonds them together. Chan is just a random alpha living with a newly mated pair. Or at least that’s how he has been feeling since his friends mated some weeks ago. It’s not that Chan had not expected it, truly, but somehow, it still felt like a punch in his guts when his friends both came out of Hyunjin’s room after his heat, with a fresh, new, shining bond between them.

It had been easy at first, living with Minho and Hyunjin. It’s Minho who came up with the idea 3 years ago, following the trend many unpacked werewolves were jumping in, buying property with other wolves until they had their own pack, so they could afford to live out of apartment buildings that weren’t designed for them and their needs. For a while, Chan even felt like they could be a part of a pack together when they would be ready to settle fully. They matched so well, had a great dynamic, and were open with each other.

For most of these years, they basically lived as if the three of them were enough; their personal space blurring at the edges with so much ease, Chan managed to forget himself and stop the ongoing self-analysis he always had going on. When Minho, who doesn’t give his affection easily, would join Chan on the couch and snuggle closer until he was fully buried in his warm embrace, Chan felt as if he was holding a very precious part of the world in his arms. Even Hyunjin always had that little glint in his eyes when he caught them together like this. He loved to remind them how much he adored seeing his two alphas so comfortable with each other.

His alphas.

Chan swallows heavily as he throws his backpack behind the couch. Well, it’s his fault for expecting too much; clearly, Minho is and will always be the preferred alpha. And it’s not that Chan doesn’t want Minho to be important for Hyunjin, it isn’t that he doesn't want them to be together and mated. No. It’s not that. It truly isn’t.

It’s just that Chan always wants more and more and more than what others are ready to give him. It’s just that Chan reads too much between the lines until it slaps him back in the face when he reads so deeply he forgets to actually read the lines, and then gets reality and his own desires mixed up together.

It’s Chan who stopped cuddling, it’s Chan who suddenly spent more and more time alone in his bedroom, it’s Chan who lied and lied when he said he wasn’t avoiding them. Simply because he can’t accept that his friends mated and left him behind, simply because he can’t understand why it happened without Minho even talking to him first, simply because Chan feels lost and doesn’t know if he’s ever going to find his way back or if there is even a path to return to.

Truly, the change in their dynamic is fueled by his deep jealousy, his never-ending need for touches, his constant state of restlessness, and it is all his fault.

And so why would Hyunjin even wait for him to come back home? Why would he piss off his mate just to welcome the unwanted alpha back home?

Chan shakes his head and takes in a deep breath. He’s spiralling. Again. He’s aware of it, but it doesn’t mean it’s easy for him to stop it from happening.

In an attempt to escape his own mind, Chan sniffs the air for the familiar hint of burning wood, which he doesn’t find. Ah. Here. Hyunjin wasn’t waiting for Chan to come back; he didn’t want to go dry downstairs because Minho didn’t light up the fireplace. That’s all.

“Hyunjin,” he says softly, the name thick on his tongue. He barely called the omega by his whole name for years, but recently, Chan went back to it instead of the usual nickname he used to always call him by. “Come downstairs, I’ll start the fireplace.” And then, without waiting for the wolf's reaction, Chan postpones his shower and the call of his bed to head down the stairs.

It isn’t long before the sounds of clicking nails follow him. Since it holds the fireplace, the basement quickly became where they would end up after coming back inside on a rainy or winter day, fur dripping down with each one of their steps. Made of concrete floors, it is perfect for their needs, as they do not have to worry about them soaking up the water.

As Chan settles with fire logs, journal paper and matches, Hyunjin joins him, shoving his wet nose against his neck.

Everything in Chan wants to lean into him, even though the touch isn’t particularly pleasant against his skin, but mimicking his attitude of the past week, he holds himself straight. For a reason unknown to Chan, Hyunjin whines lowly and then licks at the sweat Chan knows is soaking the hair against his neck. His whole body shivers with it, and he almost pushes Hyunjin away, but instead, he simply leans away from the touch.

“Let me work,” he mumbles, his thoughts a jumbled mess. Hyunjin’s scent is so strong in his nose that Chan needs to bite down on his lip to keep still. The need in him is taking up too much space, his instincts demanding that he shift and bite down the omega’s neck until he submits. Which, Chan knows, would happen easily. He can picture how Hyunjin would pull up a fight, one he would have no intention of winning, and then readily go limp into submission.

He takes in a shuddering breath, one that there is no way Hyunjin doesn’t notice.

The calm he managed to gather just before entering the house vanishes, as the hollowness in him grows bigger. Somewhere at the back of his mind, he knows that all of his thoughts don’t make full sense, he knows that some are influenced by his upcoming and postponed rut, by the medication that never did him any good in the past. And yet, he’s too weak to do anything about it.

Chan has always been so weak.

Maybe that’s why Hyunjin chose Minho instead of him, maybe that’s why Minho doesn’t mind another alpha in his territory, not because he likes Chan, but simply because he is so weak that he isn’t a threat to him, has never been one.

Finally, Hyunjin does move away from him. Chan releases his lip, focusing instead on the task at hand. When he glances the omega’s way, his ears are low, and he turns his head away from Chan. A sign that he isn’t happy about this. Not unlike his behaviour of the past two months, Chan ignores it.

With practiced ease, it doesn’t take Chan long to get a fire going. The scent of burning wood surrounds them, and he sighs into it as it never fails to soothe him and help cover some of Hyunjin’s. It still reassures him tonight, even though it doesn’t manage to make a substantial dent in everything else piling up in Chan’s mind.

“Changbin said you guys are done with that work project.”

Minho joins them beside the fireplace, settling down on the carpet. They keep it there on the side for when they just want to relax in front of the fire. It is black and fluffy, with lots of Minho’s grey and Hyunjin’s white fur visibly stuck in it. It’s only because Chan’s fur is black that it doesn’t show, but he’s sure it is also piling up in there. They should really clean it.

Not that he has been using it much nowadays.

Once Minho sits, Hyunjin finally stops pouting at Chan, letting himself fall back to his side with a frustrated huff. Somewhere deep into Chan, in the parts of himself where he likes to pretend nothing has changed, he entertains the thought of shifting into his wolf form, close to Hyunjin, so that he can lie down there with calmer thoughts. They often did it all together, spent evenings piled up on the carpet. But not tonight, no.

“Yeah, it’s done,” Chan says as he stretches his neck. He works at an entertainment company with Changbin as editor. One of the groups under their care had just filmed multiple music videos, and they had been working on it for so many hours, Chan could probably recall every second of any of them. It’s the main reason why he took the suppressants; he needed to be at work. The second reason… well.

“Good, you can take some days off now, no?” Minho comments, and even though he’s trying to keep his tone casual, there is a threatening edge to it, one easily picked up by Chan’s familiarity with the other alpha.

Taking days off?

The thought of being stuck at home for whole days doesn’t sit right in his chest, not when he will spend them alone. The headache pulses behind his eyes, and Chan wants to groan.

He’s okay.

“Maybe, yeah,” he mumbles, and then he’s up to his feet, ready to leave this and the weird tension that is building up block by block around them. Not for the first time since Minho and Hyunjin mated two months ago, Chan wonders if he should move out. Maybe he can go back to live closer to the city and his workplace, as clearly, he couldn’t live with others without fucking up everything by being too much.

Really, he should have known when he agreed to move in with his best friend that it would end up like this, that it couldn’t last. Ever since they were teenagers, people thought it was funny for Minho and him to stick so close to each other. After all, at that age when their instincts and hormones were at their peak, alphas shouldn’t have been this close. And yet, Minho never left Chan’s side, and Chan never left Minho’s. Because deep inside Chan, he has always known he wanted the other alpha in a way he shouldn’t, in a way that shouldn’t be natural for them. Not that this knowledge ever helped him move past this, it did, however, hold him back from voicing it.

And then Hyunjin came in, found a way into their already established dynamic, until it felt as if he had always been there. And of course, because Chan is only good at tainting with greed everything in his life, he ended up wanting him too, in a different way than he wants Minho, and yet, as strongly. Again, unlike what is expected of him. Werewolves mate with one partner; that’s what has been drilled in their head since their youth. So why is he so different? Why can’t he accept that Minho and Hyunjin will never want him the way he wants them? The exceptions Chan knows exist shouldn’t have given him hope.

The noise in his head fills all of his thoughts, and Chan heads to the stairs with quick steps. He needs sleep; he’s okay, he just needs sleep. He’s being unreasonable.

“Channie,” Minho calls after him, his voice more mellow than it was a second ago. It is careful in a way that burns Chan, and he wants to recoil and hide away from the too-knowing stare, as much as he wants to head back to his best friend and bury his face into the warm scent of his neck to find that comfort he knows Minho always gives him so easily, so much easier than to anyone else. He takes a deep breath as he commands his feet to stop and then hums to show he’s listening. “Eat dinner with us tonight.” It isn’t a request, but an order. It is laced with authority, demanding. Chan’s wolf growls in his chest in protest, and yet, it wants to submit and finally rest.

“I’m not hungry,” he answers instead, as he hurries to climb upstairs.

“Bullshit,” Minho says after him, voice dripping with fake mirth. He has known Chan for about 15 years, and unfortunately, it means that he reads him too easily. Minho can tell Chan is avoiding them; he knows he’s trying to put as much distance as possible between them before he breaks it off completely. He knows. Because he knows all of Chan’s coping mechanisms.

Hyunjin whines as a warning, but Chan ignores both of them as he heads up without a look back. He’s about to climb to the second floor, craving to put as much distance between himself and his friends, but when his work bag comes into view, he stops. Unwilling to have one of the others following him, Chan hurries as he unpacks what he brought back home and puts everything in the fridge: a pudding for Minho and packaged precut pineapple for Hyunjin.

He’s fine.

Once the bathroom door clicks behind him, Chan leans against it. In the silence of the second floor, the tinnitus in his ears is strong. The sweat that has been pooling unnaturally at his nape rolls down his neck, and hair strands around his face stick to his clammy skin. His teeth hurt with the need to bite, and Chan growls low at the back of his throat.

He’s okay.

It doesn’t take long for the last piece of his clothes to fall to the ground, and Chan automatically feels slightly better without the annoying fabric rubbing against his oversensitive skin. Outside the bathroom, he hears the soft steps of Minho crossing the hallway, and even though Chan tenses up, Minho doesn’t stop in front of the bathroom; instead, the steps head toward the bedrooms.

A part of him is disappointed that the alpha isn’t upstairs to check up on him, while another is relieved he can simply head into the shower and shove his face under the water stream.

Time passes slowly as he lets his thoughts roll down his body and down the drain. He wonders, for the first time, if he shouldn’t just continue to take the suppressants until he’s out of the house and alone. To his own shame, Chan can’t remember the last time he didn’t think about Minho while going through them. He does, however, remember when he also started thinking about Hyunjin a few months after moving in together. He never asked help with his ruts, and so it wouldn’t be weird for them to not be with him, no, but even thinking about them in such a vulnerable moment, knowing full well that his feelings would never be reciprocated, with them just outside his bedroom, sounded pathetic.

Yeah.

He could take two pills today, set his head right back up, and then plan a move soon, or at least get a hotel room for a few days.

As it goes on and on, he's quickly depleting their hot water supplies, but Hyunjin and Minho don’t bother him, which Chan is grateful for. It gives him some time to feel somewhat as complete as he can, piecing together the scattered puzzle of his mind, and when he turns off the water, Chan doesn’t feel as close to snapping as earlier.

He dries himself quickly, ignoring his usual skincare routine, and crosses the now dark hallway to his bedroom without dressing up. After two steps in his room, Chan freezes as his nose picks up fresh, prominent traces of Hyunjin and then Minho’s scent in the room. Unsure as to why this would even be, Chan turns on the light.

His eyes widen, his mouth dropping open in surprise at the sight that meets him.

There is a nest in his bed.

There is only one person here who knows how to build a nest properly, and that would be Hyunjin. Which means the omega built a nest with all of Chan’s favorite blankets and cushions for him. Chan’s heart picks up, beating too loudly against his chest; Hyunjin even added some of his own blankets to the mix.

What the hell?

Why would Hyunjin build a nest for him?

Except when mated to them and ready to help them through their ruts, omegas rarely build nests for alphas.

This, what Hyunjin did in his room, should have been reserved only for Minho and no one else. Especially not for the only other alpha taking space in their home. And so, he doesn’t understand what is happening.

He stands still in the doorway for a long moment, the puzzle pieces scattering once more in his mind. And then, it hits him. Minho’s steps earlier were heading to the bedrooms. Fuck.
Chan knows what he did, and he knows why it also smells like Minho in here, even though the traces are faint.

“Min!” he shouts, growls really, as he pulls open the nightstand's first drawer, only to find the bottle of pills that had been there this morning, missing. “Minho!” Chan turns on his heels, anger rising in his chest. What is this? Steal his stuff and make him a nest as an apology? Is it what it is?

Chan doesn’t have to go far to find him, as his friend pushes the door ajar before he can even reach it. Unlike Chan’s anger, Minho seems calm, on the edge of boredom. He leans into the doorway, and then he glances back toward the hallway. “Stay out of it, for now,” he says above his shoulder. Standing with a frown, Hyunjin sighs, but he stays put.

Once he’s certain Hyunjin is listening, Minho then gives Chan his full attention.

If he didn’t know his friend better than anyone else, Chan’s wolf would be insulted at the laid-back attitude, but when it comes to Minho, he knows it is only a facade. In reality, he is alert and ready to pounce or shift at a moment's notice.

“Searching for something?” Minho taunts him, and he raises an eyebrow, waiting to see if Chan will bite the bait and admit to taking suppressants again.

“Give them back,” Chan demands, unwilling to have this conversation now. He just wants to take the pills and sleep. That’s all he wants.

“No,” Minho scoffs, as if he has any right to Chan’s choices. As if he is Chan’s alpha, which he isn’t, which he will never be. “I’m not giving you back your drugs,” he spits, and his disdain is evident, so damn evident that it hurts Chan more than he’s willing to admit to himself. Bitterly, he wants to laugh at the part of himself that wants to please Minho, that wants Minho to agree with his choices.

“You have no right to choose for me!” Chan growls instead, as he takes a step forward. His wolf presses close to his skin uncomfortably; it wants to come out and force Minho down, it wants to stop this stupid argument.

At that, Minho straightens, baring his teeth. “No?” he scoffs, and glances at Chan’s closing fists with the attention of a predator keeping track of its prey. “You promised me you wouldn’t take that shit again. They fucked you up back then, and they are fucking you up now.”

It’s true, Chan did promise Minho he would never take suppressants again, but that was before his best friend decided to mate with Hyunjin without even talking to him about it.

“They are not-”

“They don’t fuck you up?” Minho cuts him off, and he takes a step forward, and then another, only to press his index into Chan’s chest. “Yes, they do,” he argues, locking their eyes together. If they have to fight it out, Chan’s ready. It wouldn’t be the first time they get physical to resolve an argument. “Or else you will have to explain to me why you’re ignoring us. I know you, I fucking know you, and this is how you cut people out of your life.” Minho shakes his head. “You put as much distance as you can so that the cut isn’t as abrupt.” He stops to gather his thoughts and grimaces. “Well, I got news for you, Chan! You can’t do that to your best friend of 15 years without causing damage or them noticing!” He presses his finger deeper into Chan’s chest, enough for it to turn painful.

“It’s not the pills!” Chan screams with everything he has been bottling up. He shakes his head and laughs pitifully. “It’s not the fucking pills.” Are they messing with his body? Probably. He sweats too much, his skin is too tight and sensitive, and his thoughts might be more and more self-destructive, but it didn’t start with the suppressants.

“Then what? You keep pushing Hyunjin away, you keep yourself in your bedroom, you don’t talk to us anymore. To me.” Minho closes his hand into a fist, pushing at Chan’s chest with it. He opens and closes his mouth, and this is when Chan can see that he’s hurt too, searching for the reason why his best friend is slipping through his fingers.

And it would be a lie to say this doesn’t get to Chan too; it does, it truly does. The problem is that Chan wants so much more out of Minho, so much more than he can have. And so what else can he do? Act as if everything is normal? As if he doesn’t want them so much, it feels like someone has been crushing his heart relentlessly for weeks now. Is he supposed to scent Hyunjin like he used to do, even knowing that he’s Minho’s mate?

“I’m trying to have some respect for you!” he finally snaps, and he grabs Minho’s shirt. His body feels so wrong. He wants to crawl into a ball and forget he exists.

“How the fuck is that having respect?” Minho asks, truly confused. He pushes into Chan’s chest again. “How?”

“Wait.” For the first time since the beginning of the conversation, Hyunjin butts in. “Ooh, see, wow, I knew this would happen.” Hyunjin laughs, actually laughs and shakes his head. “Respect Min by not cuddling his omega, is that what you mean?” he raises his pierced eyebrow and leans into the doorway.

He actually rolls his eyes when Chan numbly nods, hands falling to his sides, limp. The simple gestures, the clear judgment, leave Chan slightly taken aback.

There is something Minho picks up on that Chan isn't aware of as he turns silent all of a sudden, and then he steps back to look straight into Chan’s face after the nod. His lips are pressed tight until they turn white under the pressure.

“Ugh, you stupid alphas,” Hyunjin complains, and Chan doesn’t understand anything anymore. The guilty look that crosses Minho’s face doesn’t help. “Ugh, I say.”

“I… don’t understand why I’m being stupid?” Chan asks with a small voice, and Minho looks up at the ceiling in a silent prayer. He truly doesn’t understand. Isn’t he doing what he should be doing?

“Don’t worry, you’re the least stupid here,” Hyunjin, for once, doesn’t even flinch under Minho’s deadly glare. The protective growl that comes out of Chan’s throat is instinctual, and he shuts it down as quickly as he can. Minho doesn’t seem to notice, or care. “Now. Chan, head into the nest. Your nakedness is distracting,” Hyunjin commands, and Chan swears he looks straight at his dick. “You,” he points at Minho. “Sit down.” And then he points to the ground.

“I’m not going to-”

“Yes, you are. Chan is close to his rut, so you will give him some space,” Hyunjin cocks his hips on one side, and then pushes his long dark hair away from his face. At this moment, he looks sure of himself, and it is a reminder to Chan that omegas are really good at reading the room and taking care of their pack. If possible, Chan falls a bit deeper for him, which is seriously a curse and the worst timing in recorded history.

There is a knot that unties itself into Chan’s chest the instant Minho sits his ass down on the floor with an unhappy growl. Suddenly, it is as if he’s in control of his room again. He had not even noticed how tense he had been just before because of Minho’s body language, but apparently, Hyunjin had picked up on it.

“Come on, I said,” he is softer with Chan than with Minho, and there is something in his stomach that mellows at it, a piece of the hollowness being filled. “Nest.” When Hyunjin reaches to guide him into the bed, Chan doesn’t resist, and when Hyunjin starts fussing over the placement of everything and makes sure to cover him properly with the blankets he knows Chan prefers on his skin, Chan blinks a few times, his thoughts settling down slowly against his will.

“Here, better,” he coos at him, and then asks. “Can I sit down?”

Unsure about what is happening, Chan finds himself nodding in agreement.

Wasn’t he just fighting with Minho a second ago?

Hyunjin smiles softly and then sits down at the edge of the bed.

“Okay, first,” Hyunjin glares in Minho’s direction, and Minho, unlike himself, doesn’t hold the stare well. “I told you this was a bad idea.”

“I just thought-”

“And you thought wrong, obviously,” Hyunjin sasses him, and it seems like the omega is probably right, because Minho simply grits his teeth and accepts this.

“Can someone explain to me what is happening?” Chan asks, because he’s slightly tired of being kept in the dark. It’s also the longest he has allowed them to be in his bedroom for a while now, and with his rut pressing so close to his skin, it is a lot for him to digest.

“Remember how we mated in my last heat?” Hyunjin asks Chan, but he doesn’t give him time to answer. It’s not like the alpha has to answer anyway; he remembers the day very clearly. He had felt so confused and betrayed, not because they didn’t love him back - or mostly not because of it - but because Minho had not even talked to him about it beforehand. “Well, that was an accident,” Hyunjin explains. “Not that we both didn't want it,” he hurries to add. And all the noise in Chan’s head comes to a screeching halt. “I thought it was really dumb to do it without talking to you, but in my last heat, I will admit I got a bit too excited about Min biting me.” He glares at Minho again, but this time, Minho simply shrugs as if to say he doesn’t regret it. “And then I told him to talk to you, because it should have been a group conversation, but he didn't.” He scoffs, insulted.

“I’m,” Chan starts slowly, bringing the peach blanket Hyunjin brought from his bedroom closer to his chest. It is also then that his brain decides to catch up with what the omega is wearing: a long hoodie and a pair of underwear. The hoodie is Chan’s. It doesn’t help the flow of his thoughts. “Unsure, I understand why you’re telling me this.” Because it can’t be what he thinks it is, he’s again reading too deeply between the lines, he’s again too greedy.

Hope truly is an ugly thing.

Hyunjin rolls his eyes, and Minho looks away.

“Min wants to mate you, but he thought you wouldn’t want to mate another alpha that easily, and so instead of telling you right after we mated, he waited like a dumbass,” Hyunjin says, and it sounds almost casual, and not at all as if he’s reorganizing all of Chan’s brain chemistry in one single sentence. “Mister wanted to court you properly, said that you were too much of a romantic and would probably prefer that.” Hyunjin huffs. “As if he took the time to court me. You definitely do a better job at it.”

“You…” Chan blinks, and then his eyes move from Minho to Hyunjin, and then again. “You guys want to mate me?” he asks dumbly, and it’s automatic, his ears are too warm. “I have been courting you?”

“I told you he didn’t realise he has been doing it all this time,” Minho chimes him, but Chan is relieved that the other alpha also has the decency to look embarrassed, his ears probably equally red as Chan’s. “Jinnie kept saying you’d at least know his interest in you since he allowed you to take care of him for one of his heats, but I knew you would not.” Minho rubs at his face and then glances away. “I planned on courting you properly before your rut, but you started avoiding us,” he deadpans, and then he shrugs.

“Please, Chan,” Hyunjin deadpans. “All the gifts? The food? The candles? Art supplies? You literally scent me the moment I ask.” And it is true that, said like that, Chan has been courting Hyunjin for months now. It’s not that he consciously decided to do it; it had been stronger than him.

“And you guys couldn’t just tell me that?” Chan asks, and he doesn’t know if it is the right question to ask at that moment, but this is the one that strikes him as important. Because Chan had thought for so long that Minho would never want him like that, and the one time he should have been his blunt self with Chan, he decided to do it Chan’s way to cater to his romantic side, and he managed to fuck up.

“No, I wanted you to be happy with it,” Minho starts, but then Hyunjin sighs, and the alpha groans. “Maybe, okay, I probably should have just told you I wanted to bite you and get it over with.” He rubs at his cheek, in all likelihood annoyed at how red he knows they are.

“See, stupid,” Hyunjin mumbles, but then he reaches for Chan’s cheek to push back some of his curling hair away from his face. “You two are so clearly in love with each other, it’s painful to watch. I told him I would tell you if he didn’t, but he has been really serious about that courting thing,” he explains, and then shakes his head again. “Ugh, do you know how hurt Min has been since you started avoiding us? How worried has he been since he realised you have been taking suppressants again?”

Chan opens his mouth, and then he closes it. He has been so caught up in his own thoughts, in his own hurt, that he seriously convinced himself that he was doing the best for everyone. In the end, Minho and Hyunjin would have each other and be fine. That's truly what he thought.

Minho. His best friend. Another alpha. In love with him.

“But… but… you guys mated…” Chan mumbles, and even though Hyunjin is telling him all this, what does that actually mean for them?

“And what?” Minho chimes in, this time holding Chan’s stare with his own. For the first time since Hyunjin came in, he looks determined again. “Who says we can’t too? Who says you can’t mate Hyunjin too?” Hyunjin smirks at this, and he looks satisfied with Minho butting in.

So many people say that, Chan wants to answer, so many of their own kind. And yet, he also knows of others, those who mate with more than one wolf. The bite still holds the bond, no matter if they are two, three, or four. His teeth ache at the possibility, the rut he has been suppressing presses closer, trying its best to undo a month of medication that has been failing him more every day. His thoughts are still clear, but he knows that if he doesn’t take another dose soon, they won’t be for much longer. Chan’s instincts are too close to his skin at all times, it has always been a stupid idea for him to try to discard them.

Chan frowns, and he takes a moment to gather and pull himself together. He and Minho have been acting too close for a lot of people's comfort for literal years; the moment they could move in together, they did. All the cuddles, all those years of scenting each other, even though many unmated and unpacked alphas recoil at the idea of it coming from another alpha. Maybe Chan should have accepted that he hasn’t been reading between the lines with greed.

And then Hyunjin, Chan still remembers the fall day when he had asked Chan to help him with his heat. In that moment, Chan had received so much trust from the omega, and yet, once it was done, he hadn’t thought Hyunjin had been waiting for more out of him. Not that he ever managed to get out of his head how pretty Hyunjin had been, how good he had sounded, how much Chan had wanted him to feel good and to be taken care of.

So many instances where Chan had been wrong.

Mating?

Now?

Chan doesn’t think he minds the idea at all. They are wolves; they rarely change their minds when it comes to those they love so deeply. If Hyunjin and Minho want to mate him, Chan is more than happy to oblige and offer them his bite. The thought of getting one in return, no, receiving two in exchange, wakes up his wolf, and Chan’s thoughts clear a bit more as it pushes against the veil he had self-inflicted on himself.

“You… really want to mate me?” Chan asks, and he is embarrassed. Excited too. So damn fucking hopeful. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Hyunjin says, and he chuckles, his cheeks reddening. “Thought I had been clear, but apparently I forgot how low your self-esteem is. Min caught on quicker than you.”

On that, Chan can’t argue. It’s not that he didn’t see the signs; it truly isn’t that. It’s that he didn’t dare believe in them for too long. He is really good at fucking himself over.

Minho hums, and even without Hyunjin’s permission, he gets up. This time, Chan doesn’t feel threatened; he even waits, expectant, pleased.

“I’ve been wanting to mate you for years,” Minho breathes out, honest, but he doesn’t shy away. “So, what’s your answer? We’re waiting.” He licks his lips. “I’m waiting.”

Ah. Yes. Chan hasn't been clear, has he?

“Yes, of course.” Because there isn’t a damn world out there where Chan isn’t going to jump on this opportunity.

Minho smirks, and then he leans forward to grab Chan’s face in his hands. “Let’s continue to confuse people. What do you say, Channie?” He looks down at Chan’s lips, bringing his own so close, Chan can feel his breathing. There is so much want coursing through him, so much that he has been waiting for, that he doesn’t answer, instead closing the gap between them, their lips crashing together.

It’s automatic, Minho groans into it, scrambling to climb on the bed in the nest with him, and Chan happily lets him as he reaches for his waist and brings him closer until his best friend is pressed against so much and so little of him at once.

“I think that’s a yes,” Hyunjin comments, pleased, and Chan hums into the kiss, unwilling to break it. Even from the side, the omega reaches for them, smoothing his hands over both their thighs, as if unable to keep his touch to himself anymore. It sends a wave of arousal right through Chan, and he whines before he can hold it in.

Minho bites his lower lip as he smiles in that devilish way of his.

“You guys are not fucking now. I’m still not sure Chan’s head is right,” Hyunjin warns them, even though it is partly his caresses that drive Chan crazy.

At the warning, the two alphas break apart as one, both their heads snapping toward the omega with indignation.

“I’ve been waiting for this for years!” Minho argues, the edge of a whine to his words. And even though Chan wants to agree, his mind is busy looking at the red of his lips, at the gloss on them. His doing. It’s his doing. He’s the one kissing Minho. He could laugh out of sheer amazement. “Chan, tell him your head is right.”

“My head is right,” he says, with way more confidence than he should have, because he, in fact, isn’t sure if his head is right.

“Uh-huh,” Hyunjin hums, completely unconvinced. Then, he moves toward them, climbing further into the bed, and he grabs both their chin. He kisses Minho first, and then he turns a bit more shy as he presses his lips to Chan’s. “I’m saying: dinner, anti-suppressants, and then you guys can get your dicks up if you want,” he murmurs into the kiss, and before Chan can grab for him and keep him there, he’s out of bed with a cocky smile.

“Food, anti-suppressants, annnnnnd then I might be lenient,” he winks at them, and cackles when they both groan.

Still, Chan doesn’t lose everything, as Minho smashes his face into his chest in his despair, still warm against him.

Anti-suppressants sound great; he really wants his thoughts back for this.

“Fine, Hyun, fine.”

***

“So,” Hyunjin asks from his seat in Chan’s lap. From the moment Chan finished his plate, finally calming down his stomach, the omega had been up and in his space.

Seated across the table, Minho seems perfectly content with the display. “Your rut,” Hyunjin continues, and he chuckles as Chan tenses up under him. “Want to take care of it alone, or?”

No.

He really doesn’t want to take care of it alone.

“Yes, Chan, want some help?” Minho adds happily, he smirks at the thought, and Chan would pay a lot to know what he’s imagining. He hopes Minho will show him.

It’s embarrassing how easily they affect him, how easily Chan can imagine them with him as his thoughts will be filled with cotton candy while his body trembles with needs and so much want. He literally cannot think of something he’d want more than for them to be with him through his rut. Chan licks his lips, pressing his cheek between Hyunjin’s shoulder blades as he hums.

“Wow, so much enthusiasm,” Minho comments sarcastically, and Hyunjin shakes with silent laughter on top of Chan.

“What is in those anti-suppressants?” Chan complains. His mouth is pasty, and instead of the perpetual state of warmth he has been stuck in for days, his body now shivers with a cold that doesn’t touch his skin, but instead fills him up from the inside. And he’s tired. Exhausted even. “That’s fucked up.”

Hyunjin hums. “Min said you really did badly last time you took suppressants, so I thought they could help. Lixie said that you might feel worse at first, but then it should at least clear up the drugs from your system quickly,” he explains, rubbing the tip of his fingers into the side of Chan’s thighs. “You should probably sleep it off.” Yeah, he probably should. It definitely sounds like a plan.

“Aww, the poor baby,” Minho teases him. Still, he picks up the plates and doesn’t ask Chan to deal with the dishes as he normally would, so somewhere, he must truly pity him.

“Fuck you,” Chan mumbles against Hyunjin’s back, tightening his embrace around his waist, and it is only then that he realises he has closed his eyes. “Are we going to mate in my rut?” he asks, the sleepiness causing him to feel way braver than he has recently.

“Do you want to?” Hyunjin asks excitedly, and he ignores Chan’s protests as he twists into his lap until he’s sideways. Chan settles for shoving his face against Hyunjin’s shoulder and is about to close his eyes again when the soft touch of fingertips against his neck wakes him up. “I want your bite to show.” And if this isn’t one of the hottest things he has ever heard in his life, he doesn’t know what is. Even though his body is confused, heat pools down in the pit of his stomach, and Hyunjin smiles knowingly when Chan meets his gaze.

“Your neck?” Chan asks hopeful, pushing himself higher so that he can nuzzle right under Hyunjin’s jaw. It isn’t unfamiliar to touch the omega that way, but it is still as if he’s discovering a new territory. The meaning behind the touches holds so much more. His nose is so close to Minho’s bite, so close to their mating bond, and still, when he looks back at the other alpha, he simply leans against the kitchen counter, looking at them with interest.

“One side is just for you,” Hyunjin giggles, and he laughs louder when Chan growls into his neck. He’s so damn impatient. “Someone is excited.”

“This is crazy,” Chan says, because it is. A few hours ago, he was planning his move out of this house and away from Hyunjin and Minho. Now? They are planning his rut and their mating.

“What about you?” Minho asks, and he leans his head on the side. “Where do you want your bites?”

Bites.

Plurial.

The shiver down his spine is purely made of thrill.

“Neck.” Chan doesn’t hesitate, as no part of him doesn’t want the bitemarks on full display. The answer must be pleasing, because Minho’s smile turns slightly unhinged. “Where is yours?” Chan asks because he has never seen it. After all, he has been avoiding them since then, and it isn’t as obvious as the one on Hyunjin’s neck.

“Shoulder,” Hyunjin answers for Minho. He shakes his head before leaning forward to nuzzle into Chan’s hair. “The bitch likes to see his bite on display on me while he keeps my bite hidden, only for himself to see. Some power trip or something.”

Yeah. Okay, that does sound like something Minho would do. Put his claim on someone for all to see, but keep some kind of control on who can see his partner’s claim on himself.

Somehow, Chan doesn’t mind; he is even totally into this. He doesn’t mind being one of Minho’s trophies. Whether his bite is on display or not, Minho will be his too.

“Want mine there too?” Chan asks, and his heart beats faster at the idea. He already wants to pierce Minho’s skin with his teeth; he has been waiting so long for this.

“No,” Minho answers easily, and he steps forward until he can lean in and cage Chan and Hyunjin against the wooden chair. “Thigh,” he continues, and the glint in his eyes says he knows Chan likes the idea. “Don’t you want to mark them, Channie?”

Yes, fuck he likes them. Lover or not, Chan has never stopped being vocal about how nice Minho’s thighs were.

His mouth waters.

“Yeah,” he says breathlessly, and if there wasn’t such exhaustion clinging to him, he would grab Minho and bring him upstairs right away.

“Good, that’s settled.”

Hyunjin laughs and claps his hands softly, and Chan knows they are all on the same wavelength.

He’s looking forward to the anti-suppressants doing their job.

***

It takes three days.

Three days for Chan’s body to burn through the remaining effects of the suppressants and for his hormones to get back into working order. Days Chan mostly spends in his bed, in the nest Hyunjin constantly fusses over.

Taking days off to get to his rut feels stupid, but well, he kind of brought that upon himself.

On the third morning after taking the anti-suppressants, Chan wakes up alone in bed, face buried into the nest. The shirt he’s wearing sticks uncomfortably to his skin, as sweat soaks it up. But really, this isn’t what catches Chan’s attention first. The moment he shifts to glance at the time, there is a whine out of his lips, the friction of his underwear against his hard-on enough to make him shake with the sensitivity of it.

Shit.

Chan presses his eyes shut, trying his best to wake up fully, but there is already a fuzzy veil over his thoughts.

It’s almost 3 pm, which is probably why he’s alone in bed, but Hyunjin and Minho’s scents still cling to his sheets, where they have been spending the previous nights. He doesn’t know if any of them are available, or even home, but Chan, now knowing he can ask for them, doesn’t waste much time wandering out of bed. His clothes, however, don’t make it out of his bedroom. Once he’s standing, Chan throws his shirt over his head and removes the brief that keeps rubbing against his erection, and only when he’s naked does he head out.

Chan barely has time to finish going down the stairs in search of one of his partners when Minho comes out of the kitchen, already reaching for Chan. “Hey, seems like you have a little problem to take care of,” he teases. His expression is calm, but the way he swallows heavily is evident. He isn’t immune to Chan’s scent. “Can I touch you?”

“Yes, please,” he says without thinking, and he sighs as Minho grabs his arms and pulls him slowly back up the stairs he just went down. “I just, I didn’t know wh-”

“I’m here,” Minho cuts him off with an amused scoff, but Chan doesn’t feel insulted, mind focusing only on Minho and the too many pieces of clothing that cover his body. “Do you want me to get Hyunjin?” Minho asks him as he pushes Chan into his bedroom, and guides him back to the nest he just left. “You know he doesn’t like getting fucked, but he will let you fuck his thighs if you want.” Minho pushes Chan’s hair away from where it sticks on his forehead. His demeanour is calm and controlled, but his scent drips with growing arousal.

It wreaks havoc on Chan’s thoughts. His cock twitches.

Minho wants him. Minho is affected by him. Minho, an alpha, wants Chan in his rut.

He shakes his head. And then nods, but then he shakes his head again.

Hyunjin, he does want Hyunjin, but this isn’t what he has in mind right now.

In the depths of his rut, by himself, Chan has always known one thing about his desires. One thought kept coming back again and again.

“I want you to fuck me,” he demands, because it has been the one thing that has been a constant in Chan’s rut for years and years.

He wants Minho to fuck him. He has always wanted Minho to fuck him. As much, if not more than he has wanted to fuck Minho.

Maybe they were made for each other, Hyunjin as an omega who actually doesn’t like getting fucked and refuses to get a knot, and Chan as an alpha who isn’t above begging for it.

Not waiting for an answer, Chan grabs Minho by the back of the neck, pulling him into his bed with him. Asking to get fucked doesn’t mean Chan has to be submissive, and so he pushes Minho into the mattress, grabbing his wrists to force him to stay on his back. Too many clothes, definitely too many, Chan thinks, as he leans forward to rub his cheek against Minho’s.

“You want me to fuck you?” Minho mutters, arms pinned around his head, and when Chan pulls back, his eyes are dark. Minho pushes against Chan’s restraints. “Want me to fill you up, Channie?” He smiles content at Chan’s inhale and the low whine he can’t control.

Yes. Yes, he really wants that.

Unable to hold back, Chan ruts down, the slight friction he gets from Minho's cargo pants too rough and yet so good. He wants more. He needs more.

“Don't want to answer me?” And even though Chan holds him down, Minho pushes their foreheads together. “Want my knot?” He smirks as Chan nods against him. “Then I will need fewer clothes, baby.”

It's automatic, Chan eagerly releases him so that he can thug at his shirt. As it comes off, Chan's attention zeroes in on the bite that colors Minho’s shoulder, and he puts his need for Minho’s pants to come off to the side. It healed in purple tints, just beside his collarbone, and before he even thinks about it, Chan runs his tongue along the lines of it.

Under him, Minho gasps, his scent turning sharper, and he fists Chan’s hair to keep him there. To the sound of it, at the fingers threading into his hair, Chan’s cock drips with precum onto the dark pants. He craves to know how sensitive it is, to know how intimate it is for Minho to have someone other than Hyunjin abusing the skin of his mating bond.

“So good,” Minho hums, and when he pulls at Chan’s hair so that he stops once his teeth bite slightly too hard, he presses their lips together, and then raises his still clothed thigh so that it rubs against Chan’s arousal.

A satisfied sound rumbles out of Chan as he arches into the friction, Minho swallowing up the noises that dribble out of his mouth. In the middle of the kiss, Minho bites down on his lower lip and spreads his hands on the expense of his back to rub at the warm skin. Chan shuts his eyes, gasping. Minho’s scent, the press of his thigh against his cock, the knowledge that Minho agreed to fuck him; it is all so much that Chan is lightheaded.

“So sensitive. Tell me, have you taken a knot before?” Minho asks against his lips, curious. He grabs at Chan’s waist to help guide his movements, until Chan is left whimpering as his dick rubs again and again against the clothed thigh.

Answer Minho, he tells himself, but instead all of his focus is on the sensation in his groin, on the precum leaking against his stomach and dripping down his length. His body asks him to search for the release, and so Chan doesn’t stop the movement until Minho lowers his thigh and holds Chan's waist up with a strong hold.

“No, fuck, no, don’t stop, Min,” Chan moans, and he bucks his hips into nothing. The cold air that hits his cock is not what he wants. It is not what he needs. He’s so hard, the tip red and angry.

“Answer me,” Minho demands, raising an eyebrow as he pushes Chan into a sitting position so that he can get rid of his own pants. “Want this?” Minho teases, as his dick springs free, already half hard without being touched. Chan loves knowing he did this, that he’s doing this to Minho. And yes, he really wants it. “Then answer.”

“What is the question again?” Chan asks, distracted. Now that Minho is fully naked and sitting in the nest, his back against the headboard, he feels the bridle of his control failing him. His jaw hurts with the urge to bite, and so he leans forward between Minho’s thighs, ass in the air shamelessly, tongue darting out to lick a stripe on his left one and then nibble at the skin. His teeth hurt.

His mate. Minho could be his mate right away.

“Did you ever take a knot?” Minho asks with fake exasperation, and Chan thinks it’s the second time he asks. He isn’t sure.

“Yeah,” Chan answers honestly, and then gasps as Minho grabs his hair and bends his neck so that he’s looking up and directly into his eyes.

“Who?” His stare is dark, jealousy so thick Chan can taste it.

“Felix,” Chan breathes out, face flushing. One drunken night, Chan had confessed to Felix that he sometimes thought about taking a knot, and the beta had offered right away. Because why not? Chan wanted to try it, and Felix had a knot to offer.

“Felix?” Minho repeats with a scoff, a growl rumbling in his chest. It wakes something up in Chan’s stomach, a liking to this clear show of possessiveness.

With his fist into Chan’s hair, Minho pushes his face closer to his dick. If anything, it simply causes the precum of Chan’s cock to drip down faster. So close to Minho’s arousal, Chan closes his eyes and nudges it, and then he flattens his tongue against it to taste it. He wondered an embarrassing amount about it.“I guess I will have to fuck you until you forget about that knot,” Minho says with a hiss.

Chan’s dick twitches at the thought, and yes, yes, he wants that.

“What have I been missing?”

In the position he’s in, Chan can’t see Hyunjin as he enters the bedroom, but a whine leaves his lips with the need to have the omega close to him too.

“Chan was letting me know he already took Felix’s knot,” Minho explains, his hips bucking up as Chan forgets about his own arousal to surround the head of Minho’s cock with his lips. It isn’t that Chan isn’t desperate for release; it isn’t that his ruts aren’t intense and driving him nuts, no. It is that Chan is usually so close to his instincts to begin with, that he doesn’t let himself be fully consumed to the point where he wants to fuck an omega and be done with it. And if there is something Chan loves, it’s to unravel his partner until they are left trembling under his touch.

“Oh, really now?” Hyunjin laughs as the bed dips on Chan’s right. “Whoa, must hurt your pride.” He settles beside them and then leans to kiss his shoulder. Chan is really pleased to find out Hyunjin got rid of his clothes before coming in. From between his legs, there is already the sweet scent of slick pooling between his lips.

“He asked for m-mine,” Minho answers sharply. “Felix is never touching him again.”

“So possessive.”

Chan hums in agreement, as he takes Minho deeper and deeper in, tongue flats against his length. The muscles of Minho’s thighs tense at the pleasure.

“S-shit,” Minho inhales sharply, pulling at Chan’s hair again. He bucks his hips, and Chan dutifully relaxes his throat so that he can take him more easily. There is spit that drips down the corner of his stretched lips. “He needs to know who he should have a-asked in the first pl-place.”

“I want to see that.” Hyunjin kisses Chan’s temple. “You look so hot, love, so damn hot.”

Chan moans, his cock pulsing between his legs, asking for attention.

Minho confirms it with a hum, slightly breathless. When Chan looks up, the alpha is looking down at him through fluttering eyelashes. “Look at you, wetting my cock so it’s ready for you.”

It’s too much and not enough at once, and Chan finds himself lacking air. Not in a bad way. No. It is just enough so he loses himself even more into it as he comes back up and curls his tongue around the head. Minho’s unsteady breathing under Chan’s ministrations is music to his ears.

“You need to relax if you want to take Min’s knot.” Hyunjin hums. He scoots closer until he’s against Chan’s side, and then he leans to kiss his shoulderblade. When Hyunjin reaches between his legs, fingers wrapping around his dick, Chan has to come back up to catch his breath, his body tensing up at the needed friction. As he loses himself in the touch, his eyes shut close and he presses his cheek against Minho’s cock, keeping his hips up. He even spreads his thighs more so that Hyunjin gets better access to him.

“Hyun-n, please,” he says, begging really. He moans loudly when Hyunjin obliges and thumbs into the tip, spreading the precum around messily. The slide is easier with it, way nicer than what he got earlier, and Chan wants nothing more than to fuck into Hyunjin’s hand until he comes undone.

He chases after it fast. He is so sensitive. His head spins with the knowledge that Hyunjin and Minho are beside him. With him. Taking care of him. So ready to make him feel good.

“Yeah, like that,” Minho encourages him. Slowly, he moves Chan’s head from against his groin, so that he can rest it against his thigh.

Chan's teeth hurt. He moans deeply. His knot grows between his legs, and the drag of Hyunjin’s fingers against it is so good, so damn good that the heat in the pit of his stomach builds fast, too fast.

“Why don’t you claim him?,” Hyunjin encourages him sweetly. “You can.” He tightens his grip around Chan’s knot. It is near painful, and yet, it is everything Chan needs. His whole body shakes with it. He opens his mouth in a gasp. His teeth are so close to Minho’s thigh, so damn close. “His thigh is right there.” Even without seeing it, Chan knows Hyunjin is satisfied.

Can he? Can he really bite Minho now?

And as if he’s reading Chan’s mind, as he too often does, Minho rubs at his nape. “What are you waiting for? Changed your mind?”

No, he definitely didn’t.

Chan darts his tongue out and licks at Minho’s thigh with little huffs as pleasure still hits him each time Hyunjin strokes him. Chan wants to register this to his memory; the tensing muscles of Minho’s thigh, the omega’s fingers around his cock, the deep ache in his teeth.

He opens his mouth wider, pressing his teeth with little to no pressure into the top of Minho’s thigh, where he knows it is safe to bite. In answer, Minho growls impatiently, and it is the only sign Chan needs to give in and bite down. His mind sings as there is only one thing he can think about, the taste of blood sweet on his tongue.

Mate.

Minho’s fingers tighten in his hair, pulling at it through the pain, and he gasps. Under his bite, Minho stills, as one part of the bond settles between them, as he submits to Chan and accepts the bite of another alpha. When Chan releases him, Minho is trembling, but his body slowly relaxes, and he releases the breath he has been holding as Chan starts to lap at the wound with care until the blood stops swelling up.

“Fuck,” Hyunjin murmurs, and he releases Chan’s arousal when Minho grabs at Chan so that he can pull him up.

Minho’s eyes are blown wide as he takes in Chan, whose wolf is clawing at his core to be claimed back.

Mine, mine, mine, Chan’s mind chants as he looks at Minho, almost forgetting how painful his arousal is in the moment. His rut takes a step back, the need to have Minho's teeth in his flesh pushing it aside.

“Your turn,” Minho warns him with a grin. Now that he has his own mark, he seems in a hurry to give his own too. “Finally.”

Minho leans into his neck, and because he never gives anything easily, he licks at one spot steadily until Chan is left gasping and his hips buck up.

Now. Fuck, he wants it now. But instead of giving it to him, Minho wraps his hand around Chan’s dick. “Come to my bite, Channie.” And with his fingers stroking up Chan until he’s left whimpering and so close, Minho finally bites down.

It hurts, but it’s also so warm, so damn warm and then he feels it; the bond settles. Chan shuts his eyes close, and as Minho’s teeth are still in his skin, he comes like he was ordered to.

As his mate ordered him to.

“I was the one jerking him off,” Hyunjin complains beside them. “Selfish.” His voice betrays him, however, as his tone is thin and breathy. When Chan opens his eyes again, once Minho releases him, and his body finally has permission to let go of some of the tension it has built, he’s hit by the overpowering scent of Hyunjin’s slick.

He liked this.

“Too bad for you,” Minho answers back, voice hoarse, and then he busies himself cleaning Chan’s wound with his tongue.

Chan’s cock hasn’t even finished leaking come between him and Minho, and it is already twitching back with interest.

Though, before he can pay it attention again, Chan really really wants to kiss Minho. “Min,” he says breathlessly. There is something that thugs in his chest when Minho meets his gaze. With the bond filling him until there is no empty space left inside of him anymore, he can’t remember how the past weeks have felt, how lonely it has been. He basks in the feeling. “Kiss.”

For all the times Minho tries to keep his cool, this time isn’t it. He hurries to grab his face and push their lips together. The kiss is slow, and Chan truly turns liquid into it, using this time to recuperate from the bites and his orgasm. The first one of many to come if his rut has any say in this.

The slide of their lips is messy, too eager, but it is perfect.

His mate.

“Still want Min’s knot, Chan?” Hyunjin asks, and the touch on his back is soft enough that he knows it is him that is tracing patterns into his skin.

“Yes,” he mumbles against Minho’s lips. They stretch into a smirk at the answer. “And I still want your bite,” he adds with a content sigh.

Hyunjin nuzzles his cheek, with a grin. “Good, me too.”

When Chan breaks the kiss, his mind slightly clearer than when he woke up, it is to look down at Minho’s red and angry arousal. Unlike Chan, it has been left unattended for a while now. He has to hold back from going down again to lick at the precum that pools at the tip and slowly slide down the head.

Unlike him, Minho isn’t in a rut, which means Chan can’t push him too far if he wants him to fuck him. There is the beginning of a knot forming near the base, but Minho clearly has more self-control than Chan, because it stays in the early stage.

“I’m going to prepare him for you,” Hyunjin announces sluggishly. He steals one kiss from Chan and then he doesn't wait for an answer to crawl behind him. “You get to fuck him, so I also get to.”

Chan swears both him and Minho have their breath punched out of them. Yeah. Yeah, he really likes the idea. He wants both Minho and Hyunjin.

“Ready for more?” Minho asks him, pressing their lips together again. “Want Hyunjin to fuck you with his own slick?”

Oh.

Oh, fuck.

Even though Chan really wants to whimper at the idea, he bites down on Minho’s lip and holds it back in. “Didn’t know you had such a dirty mouth on you,” he comments. His nose crickles when Hyunjin opens his legs further, maybe to reach between them and coat his own fingers, his scent so strong it blurs Chan’s thoughts once more.

“I’m full of surprises.” Minho cocks an eyebrow, amused when Chan stops kissing him properly, too focused on the scent of Hyunjin’s cunt.

“Ass up, baby,” Hyunjin orders, and Chan hurries to his hands and knees to listen to the omega. In this new position, Minho slides down in bed until he’s lying down under Chan. Behind him, Hyunjin straddles Minho’s shins and settles down on them. “Good.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised, I just didn’t kno-ow,” Chan explains, his words cut the whimper that climbs up his throat too easily. All thoughts of holding up this conversation vanish.

The press of fingertips against his entrance is moist as they rub on the sensitive skin. And to know why they slide so easily around, it breaks a part of Chan. If he can’t fuck Hyunjin, if he can’t bury himself deep into the omega and the slick that always pool so generously between his legs, than this is definitely the next best thing.

“Tell me if I go too fast, hm?” Hyunjin says, and Chan can hear the wet sounds when he gathers some more of his own slick, his breath itching, before he presses a finger into Chan.

Blood rushes back to his dick.

Minho smirks under him, and he reaches to rub his hands over his chest. His grin grows when it becomes obvious Chan pushes back against Hyunjin’s finger each time his touch catches on his nipples.

“A-ah.” Fuck. Fuck. Hyunjin presses another finger into Chan, and the only thing he can think about is how much more he wants. It is too slow. He wants more now, the stretch isn’t enough. “M-more.” He doesn’t care that Hyunjin just added the second finger. He can take three.

“Damn, want my knot that bad?” Minho teases him, but his eyes are blown, and his scent drips with desire. His dick between his legs is still red and swollen, aimlessly leaking.

“Apparently.” Hyunjin chuckles at Chan's annoyed growl, and then laughs at the moan that replaces it when he adds the requested third finger.

The stretch burns, and yet the slide is so wet, the fingers fucking in and out of him covered in the omega’s slick. As soon as Chan is used to the burn, he’s rutting back against them, searching for more.

“Never knew an alpha in rut begging to take a knot would do it for me,” Hyunjin murmurs, and he kisses his lower back, just above his ass. “The more you know.”

“I’m not surprised,” Minho answers back, almost numbly. He runs his fingernails over Chan’s stomach. Chan sighs happily at the slight pain, at the red lines the scratches leave behind, his stomach tensing up.

It takes one hit against his prostate for Chan’s eyes to fill with tears. His mouth falls open and he gasps out.

“There, more, there,” he whimpers, but instead of giving it to him, Hyunjin removes his fingers. Chan winces as he clenches around nothing. “No, Hy-Hyun, no, do-don’t stop, don’t.” The words spill out of his mouth without control. He needs to be filled again, he needs this pleasure to build up in him again.

He needs it so bad.

“Can’t come without getting fucked by your alpha, love,” Hyunjin teases. He slaps his ass playfully and Chan whimpers embarrassingly. “Take him from behind, I want to have access to him once you guys are stuck together.”

“Sure,” Minho answers darkly.

Minho. Yes. He needs Minho.

Without having to exchange any words, Chan is quick to move aside so that Minho can sit up. When he settles behind Chan, the latter is already on his knees and forearms, ready for him.

“So good for me,” Minho purrs, and after fisting his own dripping hand, Hyunjin having taken care of this, he grabs Chan’s waist in a strong grip.

In the nest beside him, Hyunjin lets himself fall there, and when Chan glances his way, one of his hands is between his own legs. He smiles lazily. “Don’t mind me, just enjoying the show.”

Chan wants to keep looking, he wants to see Hyunjin frown as his fingers rubs against his clitoris, he wants to see as the breath gets stuck in his throat, and he wants to admire the scrunch of his nose as he comes to Minho fucking Chan.

But at the first press of the head of Minho’s cock against his entrance, Chan loses his train of thought. The pressure against his rim is minimal, not enough to truly do anything, and yet Chan’s body trembles with the need. He grips the blanket under him, and he pushes his face into it.

“Minho, Min, please,” he begs, because there is nothing he needs more than to have Minho filling him up. Chan wants Minho to use him, to fuck into him until he reaches the peak of his own pleasure, he wants to show Minho how well he can take him, and then he wants to feel Minho’s cock as it pulses and spills in him again and again.

His own dick drips with precum. It is fully hard once more.

Minho grabs so strongly on his hips that there is no way the imprints are not going to leave bruises. Chan’s wolf relishes the feeling and the thought.

Finally, Minho pushes against Chan’s rim, until his head just barely breaches his entrance. And then, he stops again. It frustrates Chan so badly that he whines out. Minho’s cock twitches at the sound.

Fuck. He needs it.

And so Chan pushes back against Minho, and as more slides into him, it is as if something snaps inside his new mate. With his hold strong, he slides into Chan with one smooth slide until it reaches the beginning of his knot. It tears a moan out of both of them, and Chan gasps as Minho pushes deeper, his knot dragging along his rim.

“F-fuck, M-in,” Chan closes his eyes, all of his focus on the burn, on the pain mixed with the pleasure, and it feels so right. So damn fucking right. It is only made more perfect by Hyunjin’s whimper beside him. The omega reaches for Chan, pushing away his hair from his face, and then he nuzzles his cheek.

“Feel so good, Channie,” Minho praises him, voice trembling, and Chan doesn’t have it in him to be embarrassed at how fast his hips buck at it. “You will take my knot well, won’t you?”

Chan nods as best as he can, all of his words leaving him once Minho picks up the pace and truly starts fucking into him with barely any restrains. It should be Chan who craves it, who wants to be buried deep into someone; it should be him who can’t control his pace. But instead, Chan is perfectly content to be on the receiving end, his wolf happy to be so close to Minho, to please Minho so much. And he’s perfectly delighted when Minho establishes a fast pace, he preens knowing that Minho is this affected by his rut even though it isn’t an omega’s heat.

They are left a mess of quick breathing, moans and whimpers. And the only things that matter to Chan are the knot that grows and gets caught on his rim more and more, the trembling of Minho’s hands on his hips and the scent of Hyunjin’s pleasuring himself to the show in front of him. With each trust, Minho loses a little more the ability to pull out, but he doesn’t stop fucking Chan fast despite having to rut into him with shorter, deeper trusts.

“A-ah, sh-shit!” There. Yes. That spot. Chan pushes back sharply, small moans spilling out of his mouth as Minho understands and keeps hitting that spot relentlessly.

He screws his eyes shut so hard, overwhelmed, that there are stars behind his eyelids.

He’s so close.

So damn close.

“Come on, baby,” Hyunjin murmurs against his cheek. “Come to Minho’s cock. You can come like this, right?”

Yes.

Yes. Chan doesn’t need to be told twice, the pleasure in his guts so pressing, that it takes two more short trusts and he’s spilling again, coming untouched. His mouth opens unto a silent cry.

Stuck into a haze, Chan barely notices how Minho leans over his back, so much closer, even deeper. His trusts are erratic, uncoordinated in their search for just the right amount of friction as Chan clenches around him.

Beside them, Hyunjin tenses up with a shuddering breath, and Chan whines knowing he just came too. It is so much, so damn much, and Minho is using him, searching for his own pleasure, and Chan loves it.

Loves all of this.

With one last thrust, Minho growls deep in his throat, and he gaps as he tips over the edge. The feeling of Minho’s cock as it twitches inside of him, draws a whimper out of his throat, and he can picture how full he’s going to be.

They will be stuck there for a bit, but it only pleases Chan further. His mind is quite numb, his wolf stills in his chest for the first time since he woke up. His rut isn’t done, but for now, he’s satisfied, body shaking out of pleasure and overstimulation.

His new mate releases a shaky breath, as he carefully tips them to their side, and he cuddles close against his back, his knot still linking them. He nudges his nose into Chan’s new mating bite, and then licks at it again in a show of possessiveness.

Chan basks into the feeling.

“That was hot,” Hyunjin slurs, and he crawls closer to them until he’s pressed against Chan's front. He definitely ends up partially in the mess Chan made into the nest, but he doesn’t seem to give a fuck about it. He laughs at Minho, who doesn't stop licking Chan’s neck and the swollen bite. “I wanted access to Chan's neck to bite him too, but you tipped on the wrong side. “ Hyunjin huffs, but he doesn’t truly seem mad. “Gotta have to wait for your freedom.”

“My turn,” Minho growls from behind him, and his hips press forward in a show of possessiveness. It draws a gasp out of Chan, and he buries his face into Hyunjin’s neck. He’s so tired. He feels so good.

“Yeah, yeah, and then later you will share with your mate,” Hyunjin sasses him, and he reaches to pet Chan’s hair. “Need a nap?”

Ah. Yeah. That sounds good. Chan is so content, so comfortable, so filled, that he thinks a nap before his body inevitably wakes him up again with pressing needs is a good idea. A really good one.

“I need one too,” Minho mumbles behind him, and although he isn’t licking at Chan’s bite anymore, his lips are pressed close to it.

“M’kay,” Hyunjin sighs, and since he’s the only one who can move around freely, he picks up some of the clean blankets around and then proceeds to cover them so that they don't get cold. “Here.” There is pride in his scent, and Chan thinks Hyunjin deeply likes to take care of them. It’s cute. He takes back his spot against Chan, snuggling close until he can kiss him softly.

Chan can’t wait to mate with him too.

But for now, buried into Minho’s and Hyunjin’s arms, sandwiched between them, he is content to just close his eyes and let go for a bit.

It’s going to come soon enough.

No need to feel cold anymore.

When he goes back to work next week, it will be with not one but two fresh bitemarks on his neck.

And this might beat even the warmth of the fireplace downstairs.

Chan thinks he could get used to this.

Chan thinks he will get used to it.