ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ

"kimgyu," jiwoong called out as he walked into the cafe that gyuvin worked at. he let out an exasperated sigh, approaching the counter to find the younger alpha looking for something under there. it was either that or he was secretly texting ricky, but considering how the blonde was not sitting too far away from gyuvin, he assumed it was gyuvin actually doing his job.

the younger alpha's head popped out from underneath, a bag of espresso beans in his hands as he looked at the older, "oh? jiwoong-hyung," he turned around to refill the espresso machine with the coffee beans, "what's up?"

"who has matthew been hanging out with?"

the question made the younger alpha freeze, lowering the bag of coffee beans and placing it down onto the table. he slowly turned around to look at the older, "who— who has he been hanging out with?," he felt his words get caught in his throat, remembering that he had to keep matthew's little secret safe from jiwoong who would go berserk hearing it.

"if i knew, would i ask you, kimgyu?," jiwoong dead panned, rubbing his fringe. he should've known that the younger alpha wouldn't be of any help. he leaned onto the counter, nodding off to the younger to continue what he was doing to which gyuvin obliged, "i saw him the other day with this guy from the party."

jiwoong didn't want to admit he was curious, but he was the slightest bit. he recognized the alpha from the party. the alpha that he had taken matthew away from the first time he saw matthew at a party. he was riding back to his shared condo with gyuvin and zhang hao when he stopped at a red light. he saw the familiar boy as he was looking around, seeing what was up with the night market that had just opened. matthew was with an alpha. the alpha was suspiciously close to him, making jiwoong feel somewhat bothered by it, but the smirk on the alpha's face when he looked at him made him especially irritated.

"he does smell like someone these days," gyuvin noted, glancing at the older alpha who had made way for a group of customers who had just came in, "hi, there! welcome!" he shot a warm smile at them, watching them approach the counter for him to take their order.

"what does he smell like?," jiwoong mumbled, resorting to looking around the cafe since gyuvin was busy with customers now. he glanced at the blonde chinese boy who was busy looking at his notes, subtly glancing up every once in a while to see that gyuvin was busy making small talk with the girls who had just came in. jiwoong watched as the blonde had completely turned his attention to the alpha who was blushing and flustered by all the compliments, being engulfed by pheromones from the omega girls. he rolled his eyes at the sight (or maybe its cuz he was jealous of their relationship).

thankfully, their drinks had finally been finished, which meant that they would leave. jiwoong was ready to walk back to the younger alpha, only to realize that they really had no intent of leaving anytime soon. he raised an eyebrow, seeing the younger alpha getting hit on and being stressed over all the scents enveloping the cafe.

"you're cute," one of the girls giggled, making gyuvin look at his barista friend, ji yunseo, for help who simply shrugged and laughed at the situation that the boy was in.

"t-thanks," gyuvin turned back to girl, rubbing the back of his nape awkwardly. he eyed the older alpha who pretended he didn't see anything as if he wasn't in a five feet radius from him. jiwoong chuckled to himself, looking down to contain his laughter.

"we'll come back tomorrow," another girl chirped, shooting a wink at gyuvin who's ears turned red, "he's so shy and cute, chaehyun." the girl squealed.

gyuvin let out some sort of ragged oh from his lips, feeling flustered from all these compliments. he watched as they finally turned around to leave, before digging his face into the palms of his hands.

"you're quite popular aren't you?," jiwoong spoke up, clearing his throat as he grinned at the younger alpha who looked like he wanted to die from embarrassment.

gyuvin lifted his face from his hands, glaring at the older alpha, "you didn't even try to help me, hyung."

"you'll get used to it. weren't you straight before? why are you so shy in front of a bunch of girls?"

"i was straight before i met my ricky," gyuvin rolled his eyes, turning to glare at the other alpha who was working with him, throwing him a fake punch, "and you didn't even help me yunseo!," to which the boy only shrugged.

"so who is that alpha?," jiwoong asked, getting back into what they were talking about before they were interrupted, "also make me a hazelnut latte."

"you like that?" gyuvin scrunched his nose, not remembering the alpha to order anything like that before, mainly because the alpha hated anything sweet in his coffee, "and why are you so curious about the alpha he's been with? i thought you didn't care about matthew anymore."

gyuvin actually had quite some intel since he grew somewhat close to the omegas ever since that day. but, he wasn't someone who would tell the alpha so easily, considering how he still couldn't possibly forgive jiwoong for not taking care of ricky's beloved friend. seeing a frazzled chinese boy with blonde hair and the scent of sour strawberries made his heart break.

gyuvin glanced at the older, looking at his confused expression. the alpha couldn't possibly just be interested just because. he never asked about his flings ever again after he had used them. he smirked to himself, turning around to extract the shot of espresso into the cup, then adding the milk and the ice.

"just curious," jiwoong finally mumbled in response, scratching the back of his head. he sighed, wanting to smack himself for being so curious about something that shouldn't matter at all, "never mind, then."

"do you like him?" gyuvin raised an eyebrow, sliding the drink across the counter to the older alpha. based on jiwoong's subtle burnt brown sugar scent, he could tell that the older's emotions were feeling mixed, a mix of anger yet subtle concern. the thing about scents is that you can never really hide them, much to jiwoong's distaste.

"what the fuck," jiwoong sounded baffled, looking at the younger in disbelief with arms crossed in front of his chest, "of course i don't! don't go thinking things just because i asked you a simple question," jiwoong clicked his tongue, grabbing a straw from one of the cup holders and tearing the paper coating off, sticking the straw into his drink.

gyuvin smirked to himself, raising an eyebrow in amusement as he chuckled to himself softly. the older's somewhat puzzled and flushed face said otherwise. he glanced over at the blonde who looked preoccupied in his work. an unknowing smile made his way to his face as he stared at the cat-like eyes looking into the computer screen, the wings from the eyeliner making him look seductive as ever. he'll ask ricky if he could ruin his makeup later.

"ya, kimgyu," yunseo punched the alpha in the shoulder, making him snap out of his trance, "if you keep staring at the pretty omega over there again, i'm firing you."

"ouch," gyuvin pouted, stealing one last glance at the omega who he had caught the attention of who looked at him with a confused expression, "only i can call him pretty."

jiwoong side eyed the boy after hearing that, turning back around slowly to look at him with a disgusted face, "and you say you don't like him?"

"it's cuz he won't let me court him," gyuvin mumbled, picking up the rag and cleaning the counter tops, "also, i don't think matthew likes the new alpha he's hanging around. i think they're just friends by the look of it. not like you should care anyways."

jiwoong swore his scent didn't spike after hearing that. maybe it was just a relief that the boy was not getting into any trouble. it'd be a hassle if he did get into trouble. that would mean jiwoong would have to butt in and do something. oh wait. he's not even supposed to associate himself with he boy anymore. why is he thinking about this?

jiwoong cleared his throat after taking another sip of his sweet drink, "oh. cool," he tried to compose himself, taking a deep breath and exhaling before turning back around to look at the alpha who was busy making some sort of pink concoction from over the counter, "hey, kimgyu. i'll see you later."

"yeah, hyung," gyvuin replied back, too focused on the strawberry smoothie he was busy making to hear the older walk away or the new wave of guests who had just arrived into the cafe. yunseo might just have to hire someone new.

after what he had discovered from gyuvin, he felt a wave of stress come off his shoulders. he was glad to know that matthew wasn't in some other alpha's arms. part of him wanted to smack himself and make him forget about the boy, but he really couldn't. and the other half of him just wanted to find a new fling, fuck them, and leave them just as he did with matthew. except, he hasn't been enjoying his time with his new flings.

he's flirted with several girls and invited them to hotels for a quick one night stand. strangely enough, he didn't exactly enjoy it as he normally would. he found himself less pent up and horny than usual, finding all the girls to be such a turn off. he even growled and made a girl leave the hotel room because he was so frustrated. maybe he should've tried boys instead. where did his normally high sex drive, go?

"haaaaa fuck," jiwoong mumbled, taking his dick out of the beta's mouth. a trail of the boy's saliva had connected to the tip of his dick, quickly snapping and landing onto the bedsheet under jiwoong. he was sitting at the corner of the bed, the beta at his knees sucking his dick and somehow he couldn't figure out why he couldn't finish.

"jiwoong?," the boy looked up with a pout on his face, lips still glossy from all the sucking he had done around jiwoong's cock.

"leave," jiwoong breathed out, getting up to pull up his pants. the boy on his knees was baffled, unable to utter a word out. jiwoong couldn't care less, fixing his belt while looking into the mirror of the ever so familiar hotel room he's been in countless of times. he turned around to look at the beta who was still naked, on his knees, and looking at the alpha in confusion, "what? i said leave."

"but we didn't finish," the beta mumbled, slowly getting up to reach for his clothes that were discarded not he floor. jiwoong only laughed pitifully, a long sigh following after his laugh had faded.

"i'm not feeling it," jiwoong shrugged, walking over to the table to grab his keys, his helmet, and jacket. he really wasn't feeling it. he needed to have a good fuck somewhere, but once he did find someone who was perfect for the job, they weren't so perfect anymore when he got with them. he's never spaced out when someone was sucking his dick before, and he's starting to believe his dick might be dysfunctioning.

oddly enough, none of them compared to his sex with matthew. he was starting to regret leaving the younger boy behind. every little thing reminded him of why matthew would be such a perfect partner. a perfect, sex partner that is. was it some sort of emotional bonding he had with the younger? it couldn't be.

he wasn't convinced he had feelings for matthew. or maybe it's because he didn't want to. he didn't catch himself hanging around his friends more for more intel regarding matthew since he didn't have the balls to approach the younger. it was an oath he had. he would flirt, fuck, and forget.

but why couldn't he get matthew out of his head?

he blamed his inner alpha for scowling and growling under his breath when he saw matthew laughing and smiling with the same alpha he saw a week or two back with matthew. seeing matthew happy with another alpha definitely ticked him off, but he blamed it on his raging hormones and his biological needs. though when he was close enough to the canadian, he noticed something weird.

it was as if matthew had a scent. if he recalled correctly, matthew was a beta and betas don't normally emit scents such as that of ones that matthew had. it smelled sweet, somewhat familiar to what he had smelled before but he couldn't put his finger on it. betas were supposed to have neutral tones.

"what're you doing?" hao jabbed him in the arm with his elbow, making the boy snap out of his thoughts. jiwoong was staring into blank space, rather than his economics textbook that he should be reading and annotating.

"oh," jiwoong shook his head, looking at the red-haired alpha, "nothing." he leaned his head into his arms, looking at the textbook pdf on his laptop screen that clearly he was not processing a single word into his head.

hao raised an eyebrow in suspicion, before looking at gyuvin who was too immersed in his phone that was sitting on his textbook, "what're you doing?"

"texting ricky," gyuvin replied unconsciously, fingers moving at the speed of light once he saw the chinese boy's response to his long string of texts.

"you guys should be studying for midterms," hao rolled his eyes, scrambling to organize his scrap paper from all of the unreal organic chemistry drawings on there, "not spacing out or texting your boyfriend. ricky should be studying too. i'll be having a chat with him later," hao mumbled to himself, shaking his head at the thought of the chinese boy being too occupied in gyuvin to not study. he had rented out the study room in the library for the three of them and it seemed like he was the only one using it.

jiwoong hummed, closing his eyes as he continued where he had left off in his thoughts, before letting out a loud groan in frustration. he couldn't focus on his studies when his head were filled with all thoughts of matthew. matthew this. matthew that. why couldn't matthew just leave his thoughts forever? the sole thought of matthew being with another guy bothered him. having that alpha's scent on him ticked him off in the wrong ways.

"and what's wrong with you?," hao rolled up his piled of scrap paper into a roll and smacked the older's head, making him rub the spot on his head, "i've never seen you so stressed in my life over something that's not school related, jiwoong."

"oh fuck off," jiwoong mumbled, rubbing his head to soothe the pain, "fucking betas . . . omegas . . . whichever one they are."

gyuvin looked up on his phone, raising an eyebrow, "matthew?"

"definitely not."

"are you finally in a relationship, jiwoong-ssi," gyuvin chuckled in amusement, looking back down at his phone to see that ricky had sent him a quite scandalous looking selfie of him just after he had finished his shower. he picked up his phone, although it was too late since jiwoong let out a gagged sound and hao rolled his eyes.

"not any better than you and ricky are," jiwoong snorted, leaning back on his chair to stretch his limbs out, hitting gyuvin's long legs when he extended his legs. he smirked at the younger who was immersed in his phone, staring at the picture on the screen with his finger playing with his lower lip.

"you guys are weird," hao remarked, shuddering as he packed up his things in his bag.

"you're acting like you don't get jealous when hanbin-ie hyung is devoting his attention to eumppappa," gyuvin snickers, throwing his head back laughing at the memory. zhang hao's cheeks turn red as he looks away from the two boys teasing at him now. he admit that he was annoyed than hanbin was doting on the dog in front of him when all he wanted was the boy's attention after a long day at school.

"w-whatever," hao mumbled, picking up his bag and slinging the strap over his shoulder, "ya, let's go." he pushes his chair in, waiting for jiwoong to pack his things up, while gyuvin scrambles to stuff his papers into his messenger bag that was already super unorganized.

the trio left the library, heading back across campus to the parking garage where their bikes were. jiwoong was busy, still stuck on his previous thoughts about matthew, meanwhile gyuvin was giggling like some teenage boy who got his first selfie from his crush and hao was trailing behind them, busy texting on his phone until he had gotten a call.

the ringtone made jiwoong turn around, slowly down his pace and gyuvin look up from his phone. zhang hao mumbled something about how it was hanbin calling him and for them to be quiet, to which both boys had no problem with.

"hanbin?" hao's voice sounded concerned, almost worrying, "hanbin, what's wrong? are you okay? hanbin, breathe."

jiwoong raised an eyebrow, stopping his tracks which made gyuvin bump into his back. the two turned around, waiting for hao to take small steps and reach them. the concern in the alpha's voice and the waver in scent was nothing to be messed with. something bad must've happened.

"matthew?" jiwoong's ears perked when he heard the boy's name, pupils dilating as if he was waiting to hear any mention of the boy all day. hao glanced up at him, seeing the worried expression wash over his face as he continued to process what the omega was telling him from the other side.

"i'll be there soon, okay? don't move." hao quickly hung up the phone, looking at the two alphas who were confused, "matthew's in trouble"

"what happened?," gyuvin asked, tilting his head to the side as he lowered his phone, "is it serious?"

jiwoong looked invested in the conversation as well, making hao bite his lower lip. the auburn haired alpha didn't know if it was the right decision to tell jiwoong, especially knowing how jiwoong would react to omegas. but from what he heard on the other line, hanbin was saying about how intense the boy's pre-heat symptoms were, and jiwoong might need to help him since it was matthew's desire. or, at least hold him up so that they could get his pills.

"he's . . . he's going into heat," hao said hesitantly, looking at the change in expression from the taller alpha. he gripped onto the strap of his violin case that was resting on his shoulders, nervous as to how the alpha would react, knowing he would have to stand his ground.

"what?" jiwoong gawked, baffled at what he had just heard. his lips were parted, jaw almost hanging off his face with a confused expression at to what he had just heard. he eyed gyuvin who looked at hao nervously. gyuvin and hao were both eyeing each other, not knowing what to tell jiwoong when both of them knew, "wow. fucking great. so both of you knew and you didn't tell me?"

"you said you didn't care about him," hao muttered, looking down at his feet after hearing the harsh tone of the older, followed by a distressed scent filling his nose.

"i fucking hooked up with an omega," jiwoong spat, rubbing his fringe in distress. he couldn't tell if he was more angry in the fact that he hooked with with an omega or if matthew was in danger because of his heat. it wasn't normal for omegas to barely emit a scent, and being around matthew before made it clear that he acted like a beta, "and you're telling me to not care about that? i could've fucking gotten him pregnant i . . ." jiwoong let out a sigh, "where is he?"

"hyung, calm down," gyuvin put his hand on the older's shoulder, trying his best to console the situation before hao and jiwoong fight again. they had only started talking to each other again, and gyuvin being in the middle of it made him petrified at what the two dominant alphas could do. gyuvin looked at hao who had his arms crossed in front of his chest, "hao hyung, where are they?"

hao pressed his lips into a line, hesitating to tell the two alphas. one looked like he was genuinely worried and the other looked as if he would pounce onto hao any second if another word didn't come out of his mouth.

"just fucking tell me!," jiwoong grabbed the collar of hao's shirt, feeling his inner alpha growl. obviously, it had no effect on the other alpha at all who was just as dominant as he was. he was getting impatient waiting for the alpha to respond.

"jiwoong hyung," gyuvin pried the older's hands off of the chinese, but instead of doing it successfully, he got pushed to the ground by the alpha. hao let out a growl, grabbing jiwoong's collar but obviously jiwoong being the stronger and taller one here had the upper hand and slammed him against one of the brick poles.

"don't fucking bring gyuvin into the mess you made. he's your friend!"

"tell me where matthew is before i kill you," jiwoong's eyes were glowing red, gripping at the fabric of hao's shirt tighter, "i said now! zhang hao!" jiwoong was throwing a fit at this point.

"i'm not letting you touch matthew if you're going to act this way," hao yelled, strengthening his own grip on jiwoong's shirt. he didn't want to show jiwoong that he was clearly the weaker alpha. it would only make jiwoong's ego grow and his inner alpha to go insane. clearly jiwoong wasn't thinking straight right now.

"i need to go to him! he needs me!"

"he doesn't fucking need you! he needs a capable alpha who'll treat him right!"

gyuvin who was still petrified on the ground and not knowing what to do, feeling his throat dry. their scents were clashing, yet the youngest alpha there knew it was up to him to break up the fight before the two alphas would be eating at each other. he pushed himself up to his feet, bringing his body between the two and pushing them away from each other with all of his might. the two alphas were clearly in their own zone as they wouldn't let go of each other until gyuvin let out an abrupt yell of frustration.

"fuck! let!—," gyuvin punched jiwoong in the face, "go!," he turned to hao and kicked him in the stomach. that seemed to have done the trick since they had finally pulled apart from each other, holding the spot that gyuvin had done damage to and gyuvin's hits definitely packed a punch.

"gyuvin," jiwoong held his bruising cheek as if he just snapped out of his daze. hao looked at the youngest alpha in shock, wincing at the pain at the kick that gyuvin had just sent at him.

gyuvin balled his hand into a fist, trembling as he started to speak. he was always the youngest alpha of the three, meaning that he never had to speak up and scold the older alphas like this.

"how are you two going to fight when our friend needs us? and why are you fighting? we're friends!"

ᰔᩚ 𝓼𝓮𝓾𝓷𝓺𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓼
𝓹𝓾𝓫𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓱𝓮𝓭: 02/09/2024 ᰔᩚ

a/n : i spoil you guys too much with a 4K+ update hehe but happy lunar new years to anyone who is celebrating!! may this year be filled with luck, good fortune, and prosperity !! :3