If You Think the Coffee Sucks, Wait Until You Meet the Owner
Chapter 6: Necessary housework

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At some point in the two and half hours Bang Chan was gone, Jisung had wrapped the majority of the comforter around himself, leaving only a corner wedge free that Jeongin was unsuccessfully trying to curl his entire gangly body under. One of Jisung’s stuffed animals had gotten caught up in the blanket twist and was shoved under Jisung’s jaw in a way that couldn’t be comfortable, pushing his cheek and lips into looking even more plump than usual.

Chan took as many pictures as he could in the dim lighting and fetched an extra blanket to cover Jeongin with. A few beats later, Jeongin relaxed from his huddle, still deep asleep, but responding to the additional warmth.

Chan sat at the end of the bed, watching them both sleep. On the typical night, Chan was in dire need of a cool breeze by the time Jisung was stealing the covers with his unconscious death rolls so the habit was more charming than anything else. Jeongin, with his ratty school gym shorts for sleepwear, apparently ran cooler than Chan did, making Jisung his sworn enemy in terms of sleep comfort. Chan opened up the journal in his lap and, using the screen of his mobile for light, and added “separate comforters?” to the list he’d started writing down.

“Bigger bed”, “chairs”, “crib”, “Jeongin - get stuff from home?”, and “full sized fridge” were already there, along with a few other things. The queen sized bed had been snug but comfortable with the three of them — they weren’t exactly big guys — but it would become untenable with a fourth member. And they had to get a fourth member, sooner rather than later. Specifically a beta with a decent job and an open heart.

Of the betas they knew that were available for courtship, Bang Chan was only genuinely interested in one of them. He let himself sit with the idea.

If he was going to be technical about it, Seo Changbin was already disqualified on the grounds of not having a job. He had another semester of university to get through and, given that it wasn’t a topic for polite conversation, he’d never disclosed how much of the money he threw around was his and how much was an allowance from his absurdly rich pack. That opened up the question of what income he’d actually have once he moved out. It wasn't impossible his birth pack would set up him up with enough money to comfortably sustain the soon-to-be-five of them. You know, keeping their son in the life-style to which he was accustomed. It also wasn't impossible his birth pack would take exception to him using their money to support a poor pack and some kid that wasn't biologically his. Betas were not supposed to be the primary breadwinners of their packs. Yes, that was a stereotype and it didn't have to matter, but Changbin's birth pack had a lot of traditional values, so it was bound to matter to them. It might matter to Changbin, too.

Fuck, but Chan hated thinking about someone like they were a bank account.

Especially when that someone was funny, generous, and caring Seo Changbin, with his ridiculous grandma advice and sweet smiles. Seo Changbin, who hadn't shown any clear, unambiguous signs of seeing either Bang Chan or Jisung as more than friends. Especially Jisung, who as far as Chan had ever been able to tell, had negative romantic interest in Changbin. Sure, there'd been some second glances, some telling flares of scent, the sort of flirty jokes friends who objectively found each other hot might make for fun, but nothing more substantive.

At this stage of things, how would he even approach Changbin? Like, hey, join my pack; my primary omega isn’t into you, my second omega has a load of baggage we’re still unpacking, we’re all broke as hell, and we’re about to have a baby. Please give us your money.

What a fucking deal, right?

A noise of concern came from the head of the bed. Bang Chan realized he was leaking his agitation all over the place and closed his eyes to focus on calming his body.

“Hyung?” Jeongin mumbled.

“It’s okay, baby,” Chan whispered, the endearment slipping out without a second thought, “Go back to sleep, it’s still early.”

It was after 7, making it late according to Jeongin’s usual wake up time, but five hours of sleep was not long enough for someone cooking a baby. Jeongin let out a discontent rumble, squirmed over onto his other side, and lifted the blanket in invitation.

Chan hated that he hesitated.

When sleep was especially hard to get, the effort of lying there, trying to force it, was a unique kind of torture. One that, as much as he might wish otherwise, wasn’t always soothed by getting to cuddle up with his loved ones at the same time. The two hours of downtime he’d gotten for what qualified as his “last night” weren’t even a cat nap and by the end of them, he was glad to be getting up again.

But…well. He could rest his eyes for a bit, yeah? At least until Jeongin fell asleep again.

Chan tucked his pen into the spine of his journal, tossed it onto the TV stand, and crawled in next to Jeongin. Unlike Jisung, Jeongin didn’t coil every limb around Chan and melt into his body. Instead, he sort of tucked himself closer and settled down again with a hum. Chan slung an arm around his waist.

It was nice. The calm, sleepy breathing and scents of his omegas — he had two now! That second relationship was new and still developing, but wow! -- his own scent interlacing with theirs protectively, the familiar quiet sounds of his territory in the morning, the warmth of the shared bedding. Chan slowly felt himself go lax. He didn't have to sleep if he couldn't manage it, but he could lie there and listen. He had time. He had an afternoon shift he hadn’t been able to find coverage for, but that was a lengthy, glorious six hours away. Plenty of time to cuddle his boys, enjoy a leisurely breakfast, and then get on the laundry because nearly all his clothes reeked of distressed omega pheromones. And, in one case he’d not been excited to discover this morning, snot.

The restful almost-nap ultimately lasted for all of thirty minutes.

“Move,” Jeongin grumbled, shoving at him.

Chan swung his legs out of the way. Jeongin stood up, took a step, and swayed alarmingly to the side.

“Whoa!” Chan caught him and pulled him back onto the bed.

“Wow,” Jeongin said, sounding dazed and blinking rapidly.

“You all right?” Chan asked, continuing to hold on to him as if he might pitch onto the floor from a sitting position.

“Yeah, I just got dizzy. It happens sometimes.” Jeongin pushed himself up again and stood still a moment, testing his equilibrium. He patted Chan’s hand on his bicep. “I’m good now.”

Chan let go reluctantly. “We really need to get you to the doctor. There’s gotta be vitamins and things you should be taking by now.”

“Probably,” Jeongin agreed, not sounding enthused, and began shuffling toward the bathroom.

Chan frowned at his back and followed in case another dizzy spell hit him.

Over all, Jeongin had been loud and clear about wanting to have this baby, but he got cagey and vague when it came to things he needed to do while pregnant or making plans for when the baby was there. Chan wondered if Jeongin was more comfortable with the idea of having a baby than the actual physical reality of it -- which, yeah, that would make sense. It was a terrifying prospect for Chan and he wasn't the one who had to give birth to it.

Jeongin made it safely to his destination and Chan forced himself to stop hovering before Jeongin notices and gave him salt. He collected his journal and took it into the studio, where the lighting was better. He added “Innie - doctor’s appointment” to the existing to-do list in bold letters. After that went “inform parents”, “talk with boss”, and “update resume”. He thought for a second and put a question mark after “inform parents.”

Broadly speaking, he was close to his birth pack and was excited to tell them and his siblings about his new relationship. They all loved Jisung and he was sure they would adore Jeongin, too. But they were bound to have a mountain of exhaustive and exhausting questions about his decisions and the prospect of answering them felt like too much to deal with on top of everything else. Maybe he'd give it a few days while the three of them got better settled into what they were doing.

He was drafting out how he was going to deal with Owner Chen about the egregiously delayed raise and had just scribbled in "push him off a bridge" when Jeongin wandered into the room. The omega draped his arms around Bang Chan’s shoulders and proceeded to rub the underside of his jaw all over Chan’s tangled curls.

“Oooh,” Chan exclaimed, delighted and flustered at the same time by the bold declaration of ownership. Jeongin hadn’t been messing around when he said he liked to move fast. Quite the change up from his usual display of dramatic annoyance when Jisung and Chan tried to hug or snuggle him. Exciting.

“Morning,” Jeongin murmured. He leaned down and nosed along Chan’s cheek, the wash of his breath warm. His hands slide down from Chan's shoulders to his chest, shamelessly flattening over his pectorals.

Chan let him get close enough to brush the corner of his mouth, then pulled back and turned to face him. Jeongin blinked at him, lower lip pushing forward in a pout. Chan cupped his jaw in one hand and rested his thumb on that full bottom lip.

“Hi,” Chan said in a low voice. He brushed his thumb back and forth. “Did you want something?”

Jeongin’s beautiful slim eyes flicked down to Chan’s mouth and then away to the side.

“Oooh,” Chan breathed out, softer this time, “Did I make you shy? You were so bold before, but you can’t handle being put on the spot?” He pushed his thumb up to touch the bow in Jeongin’s upper lip and watched Jeongin’s pupils expand. Lust pooled pleasantly in his belly. He was going to enjoy this so much. “Or are you trying it out to see what works on me, hmm?”

Chan leaned in, tilting his head so their noses wouldn’t bump, and spoke close enough for his lips to brush against his own thumb. “Baby, you’ve already got my attention.”

Jeongin exhaled, lips parting enough for Chan to feel the faintest hint of teeth and tongue. Chan lingered there another beat, and then moved to kiss Jeongin’s cheek, just under one glimmering, half-lidded eye, and withdrew, dropping his hand away entirely.

He couldn’t repress his self-satisfied smile, both at the candy-sweet bloom of arousal in Jeongin’s scent and at his open-mouthed, dazed blinks while he caught up to what just happened.

A breath later, Jeongin’s mouth pressed into a flat smile. “Oh, I was wondering why you cared about taking it slow. It’s because you’re a tease.”

Chan broke into high-pitched, abashed laughter, unable to contain himself.

“I really am,” he admitted, half-hiding behind his hands. Now he was the one who was shy about being put on the spot.

“I knew this was going to be tiresome,” Jeongin said, half-laughing, and made to leave.

“No, no, don’t go,” Chan wailed, reaching out long arms to catch at Jeongin’s shirt and sleep shorts. Jeongin tolerantly let himself be reeled in to stand between Bang Chan’s spread thighs. Chan settled his hands on either side of Jeongin’s waist, pulling the fabric of his shirt taunt against the swell of his belly. He ignored the urge to nuzzle into it.

“Does it bother you?” he asked, no longer messing around, “I don’t mind going at your pace if that’s what you want. For myself, I like buildup. I like savoring —” He slid his hands up and down along Jeongin’s sides, tempting warmth sinking into his palms. “— the process of seducing you, but if that’s just going to frustrate or upset you, it’s not worth it.”

Jeongin’s playfully annoyed expression fell in surprise.

“It’s not going to upset me, hyung,” he said, “I would only get upset if I thought you looked down on me for wanting sex right away.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Or if you put the same restrictions on what I do with Jisung.”

“What happens between you and Jisungie is for you and Jisungie to decide on," Chan said firmly, "I won't get involved unless you ask me to.”

“Then it’s fine,” Jeongin said, but Chan didn’t miss the way muscles in his back relaxed. It wasn’t uncommon for pack alphas to want to dictate the relationships between their packmates, so Chan didn’t fault him for being worried. “I can’t say I see the point. We both know what we want and I’m not going to get any more seduced.”

He put his fingers in Chan’s hair and lightly ran his nails over his scalp. Chan let his eyes fall closed with a hum of contentment, the touch sending shivers up and down his spine. He wondered how far he’d derail the conversation by admitting that by ‘seduce’, he’d meant more along the lines of ‘drive you to the edge of desperation’.

“But,” Jeongin went on, “Now that it’s come up, I'm curious to see if I can tempt you into breaking faster.”

The giggle that escaped Chan was embarrassingly close to a squeal. He gave into desire and wrapped his arms around Jeongin’s waist, pulling him close and pressing an ear to his middle.

“Innie-ah,” he cooed, “I like you so much.”

Jeongin huffed and kept playing with his hair. Chan rocked them slowly and breathed deep, soaking in his body heat and enjoying how strongly Jeongin smelled right now, still fresh from bed as he was. Like this, he could hear Jeongin’s heartbeat and the slightly funny gurgle of his stomach.

“I like you, too,” Jeongin said at last, adorably shy again. Bang Chan peeked up at him as best he could from this angle, catching his tentative, but unbearably sweet smile.

Heart melting, Chan squeezed Jeongin in a careful hug, getting a soft “ouh” of protest. He enjoyed the closeness until Jeongin shifted restlessly in his hold. He planted a kiss on the developing baby bump and withdrew.

“I see how it is,” Jeongin said, “They get a kiss, but I don’t.”

Chan cocked his head. “Do you want a kiss?”

Jeongin eyed him. “Will it be on the mouth?”

Bang Chan made eye contact with him and sniffed.

Jeongin turned around and walked out of the room. Chan cracked up all over again.

“What?” he called through his cackling, “Innie-yah! Come back! Aren’t you going to tempt me?”

“I have decided to become a pious omega.”

“Oh, so cold —”

“I am sleeping!” Jisung shouted suddenly from the main room, voice thick with sleep and ornery with being disturbed. Oops.

“Sorry, hyung," Jeongin called. He stuck his head back into the studio long enough to point accusingly at Chan.

Chan was still breathless with laughter when he climbed onto the bed and to nuzzle contritely into Jisung’s neck. Jisung flailed within the comforter cocoon, trying to free an arm to either hug him or swat at him, it was even bet as to which. The effort was short-lived, though, and within seconds, his breathing had evened out again. Honestly, Chan was surprised he’d woken up at all. Them leaving the bed earlier must have kicked him out of his usual deep sleep.

Jeongin stayed up long enough to heat and devour a container of rice, then rolled back into bed with Jisung. Bang Chan returned to his planning. He’d worked up a basic draft of what to say to his boss without the violence, revised their budget, updated his calendar to include taking his omegas out for a — cheap but hopefully nice — date in the next week, sent Changbin and a couple other friends lengthy texts about the new relationship status, and gathered all the laundry into carry bags by the time it was 10 am. Jeongin was already up and about again, leaving Han Jisung to be ground zero for Chan’s ‘time to be awake’ cuddles.

When the cuddles proved insufficiently rousing, as they usually did, Chan went to work unwinding him from the comforter, ignoring his tragic whines in the process.

“Sungie, my love,” Chan said, voice over-sweet, “We need to wash our clothes. Everything I own smells like suffering. Sweetheart, I had to wear yesterday’s clothes so I wouldn’t have to breathe sad omega all morning."

“No, I don’t wanna, we can do laundry later,” Jisung said into the stuffie he’d shoved his face into. He jerked up part-way onto his elbows, eyes wild. “Hyung, don’t wear your Nirvana shirt.”

“Why not? Why can’t I wear my Nirvana shirt, baby?” Chan laid down on top Jisung, pressing him back down into the mattress with his full body weight. Jisung wailed like he was being steam rolled. “Did something happen to my shirt, my love? To my favorite shirt?”

“Shut up, it’s not your favorite! You cut half of it off— aaahaha, don’t tickle!”

They dissolved into wrestling, Chan echoing Jisung's screams whenever he was the one getting pinched and poked in the sides and underarms. Jisung had worn a tank top to bed and with the tousling, it got shoved up under his armpits, showing off the slim line of his deliciously tiny waist. Chan took advantage of it by ducking down to kiss just above his belly-button, and again where the dividing line between his abdominal muscles started, and finally, all the way up to claim his mouth. Jisung’s tense fighting position went limp and he returned the kiss eagerly, licking into Chan’s mouth. The kissing soon turned lazy rather than stirring, a fond exchange of affection.

“I still don’t wanna do laundry,” Jisung grumbled once they’d parted.

“Neither do I, but we gotta,” Bang Chan said. He climbed back off Jisung and stood, pulling the comforter with him as he went. Jisung was partially lying on it and got dragged several inches toward the edge of the bed before it got worked free from under him. “Come on.”

While they played around, Jeongin had slipped past the bed and gotten the curtains pushed open. He now stood backlit by the windows, arms crossed as he watched them. Chan wondered if he’d watched them the entire time instead of turning away like he normally did. Chan hoped so. He liked putting on a show and Jisung had a whole thing for it, to the extent that they had an elaborate fantasy about livestreaming one of his heats. It was going to be fun learning what Jeongin was into and seeing how his involvement changed up their dynamic.

With a final groan of misery, Jisung sat up, his hands flopping down in the space between his akimbo legs like a puppet with its strings cut. His hair was a fluffed-up cotton puff and his face was pink-cheeked and marked with a crease from the pillow case. It was such a cute visual, Chan considered tumbling him back into the mattress and calling off all responsibilities for the day.

Before he could come anywhere close to acting on that impulse, Jeongin approached the bed.

He braced one knee on the edge, threw Chan a look to make sure he was paying attention, and leaned in to Jisung. The other omega went round-eyed and pouty-lipped and bent forward to meet Jeongin part way. It was chaste as kisses went, particularly in comparison to what Chan and Jisung had shared, and Jisung was visibly nervous. Chan could see how Jeongin picked up on it and became cautious, going lighter on the kiss than Chan suspected he'd originally intended to. They both tittered awkwardly on parting.

Chan hoisted up the comforter and turned away, occupying himself with folding it up and wedging it into the remaining space on one of the carry bags. He’d gotten so used to how confident Jisung was with him nowadays that he’d almost forgotten how unsure he was at the start of their relationship. It was cute to see that side of him again. Behind him, he heard Jisung say “wait, I can do better than —” and Chan went to check if there was anything else he wanted in the studio.

The two omegas were still on the bed, heads close as they traded whispers, when he got back.

“Come on, we gotta get moving before it gets any later,” Chan said, clapping his hands. He hated interrupting them, but chores and responsibilities called.

They decided to have breakfast at a restaurant across from the laundromat and count it as their first official date. Jisung advocated for it the loudest, referencing the “fat wad” of Changbin’s cash he had on hand, which made for a fast turnaround from trying to send it all back yesterday.

“Oh I’m still panicking about it,” Jisung assured Chan in the entrance way, mask tucked under his chin as he hopped around trying to shove his foot into his other shoe, “But I’ve decided that if I’m going to panic, it’s going to be on a full stomach.”

Chan agreed and made a mental note to revise the budget again.

The pile of clothes Jisung and Jeongin had sat in bore the brunt of their crying fit and needed to be washed with the heavy-duty, baking soda based detergent. The rest could be fine with a mild soap that wouldn't remove important scent marks. Jeongin brought along his own clothes, since he only had a week’s worth anyway, and they added in the towels and comforter since there were three of them to handle the extra loads.

“How much got left behind at your dorm?” Bang Chan asked him once all the clothes were in the dryers and they were sitting around the table at the restaurant, waiting for their pot of spicy beef stew.

Or not-that-spicy beef stew, in this case, because despite twelve years of living in the country, Chan still couldn’t handle what constituted spicy by local standards.

“Not a lot, mostly text books and clothes,” Jeongin said. The older two were watching him gamely struggle with cutting the kimichi for the table. He was not doing well. “I had a couple of Lego sets I was working on, but I brought my laptop and that was the most important thing.”

“I’m sure there’s some way we can go back and get them.” Jisung tore off a piece of jeon with his chopsticks without looking away from what Jeongin was doing to the kimchi. “Even if your bed was already let out, which I doubt, your roommate might have held onto your stuff. Unless they like, hated you or something.”

"No, my parents got me a private room off-campus." Jeongin let out a little grunt of triumph and finally managed to get through a particularly thick section that had kept folding around his shears instead of slicing. “They didn’t like that the university was co-ed and were hoping to avoid, you know, this.”

He gestured down toward his middle with the prongs, flicking brine on himself in the process.

Chan’s forehead crinkled. “How was that supposed to help? The dorms weren’t going to be co-ed.”

Jeongin sighed. “They didn’t want me sharing a room with some wild omega who might bring alphas and betas around or pressure me into going to parties. Or so they said.” With a final clip, he set the prongs and shears to the side and put the plate of mangled kimchi in the middle of the table, next to the butane burner. “Really, it was only because they didn’t want me going in the first place. A couple of months later they were telling me the private room was too expensive and to find someone nice to share with for next semester.”

“I’m surprised they let you live alone anyway,” Jisung said, “Aren’t omegas supposed to be too needy and fragile to live on their own? Which I am, by the way,” he added, pointing at himself with his chopsticks, “Not because I’m an omega, though, I’m just bad at being alive.”

"Hey, hey," Bang Chan protested.

“That’s what my uncle insisted,” Jeongin said, making a face at the memory, “But the rest of the pack decided it was less bad for me than staying with someone who might lead me astray. Or they decided it was the natural consequence of my decision, I don’t remember. Anyway, my stuff is safe there for now, but my parents were the ones who signed the lease. They’ll probably work on breaking it today and then the landlord will throw everything away.”

“I bet we could find someone to go over and grab it for you,” Chan said, “I know you don’t want to go and risk running into anyone, but you deserve to have your belongings, Innie.”

Jeongin went quiet. The waiter arrived with the pot of stew and set it heating on the butane burner, leaving them to it.

“Let me try calling the landlord first and see if they’d be willing to hold my things,” Jeongin said, “My parents could break the lease at any time, so there’s no point in sending anyone over without knowing for sure if anything is still there.”

“Can you call your landlord now?” Chan asked.

Jeongin he could indeed and went outside to make the call. Jisung trailed after him without a word. Chan watched them go and decided he wasn’t going to tell Changbin that he might be right about Jeongin and Jisung needing to occasionally spend time apart.

Jeongin was nodding when they returned. “The landlord hasn’t heard from parents yet, but they said they won’t change the door code for a few days either way. They normally pay a service to trash everything, but they’d rather someone come pick it up so they don’t have to bother.”

“Great,” Chan said, “I’ll see who's up for helping."

He filled a bowl with the pipping hot stew and handed it over to Jeongin, who was by now used to the ‘youngest eats first’ rule at Bang Chan’s table. Jeongin took a careful taste, worked the flavored broth around in his mouth for a second, and pulled his lips down in a shrug.

“It’s good,” he said, “There’s almost no kick at all.”

“Really?” Chan asked suspiciously, taking up a scoop for his own bowl after passing one to Jisung. Chan took a mouthful and chewed the chunks of beef and fern. The spice hit a beat later, burning against his lips and tongue, but well within his tolerances.

“It’s still spicy to you, isn’t it?” Jisung demanded.

Chan broke into an embarrassed smile and looked away. “No."

Jisung leaned over the table to stare him in the face. Chan turned his head away further to avoid him.

“There’s a little burn," Chan admitted.

Jeongin took another bite and frowned deeper. “What burn?”

"He eats like this all the time,” Jisung said, falling back into his seat and pulling his legs up onto the chair, “I’d say growing up in another country ruined his taste buds, but Changbin-hyung is almost as bad.”

“Hyung, you grew up in another country?”

Since it was the first time Chan's childhood in Australia had come up, he took the chance to rave about his hometown and his dog and his many siblings still living and growing up there. The topic moved on to Jisung's family next, about the older brother who looked after him in Malaysia for a few years, and the loss of his birth pack to a hit-and-run accident, and how he'd lived with Detective Seo, the lead investigator on the case, for some weeks after.

"They never found the driver?" Jeongin asked, wet-eyed and aghast.

Jisung shook his head without looking away from his bowl, the tendons in his neck jumping. "When I was a teenager, I was obsessed with finding the driver and bringing them to justice. It was the only thing I cared about for a long time and it was ruining my life. I still hate that person, but I've tried to let it go." He took the hand Chan put on his thigh and laced their fingers together. "In the end, hating them won't bring my pack back."

Jeongin calmed down after they switched to talking about apartments and their dream place versus what they could afford in reality. They talked so long, the timers for the dryers went off before they'd finished eating. Bang Chan all but strong armed Jisung into coming with him to get their clothes while Jeongin babysat the remainder of the stew and side dishes. It was more harrowing to leave him behind than Chan liked, but they got it done and came back to wile away another lazy hour in the restaurant while the scents of detergent and good food and each other mingled in the air around them.

Over the next four days, a number of things happened and a number of other things didn't happen.

Jeongin went to his first pregnancy check-up. It took some hand-holding to get him to make it. He was nervous about being judged by the doctors and nurses and he was afraid that because he'd put it off going so long, there might be something wrong with the baby that he could've caught earlier if he'd been more responsible. Chan said that should make him more willing to go right away, to which Jeongin said no, it just made him want to avoid it more. This twist of logic had Jisung completely relating and Bang Chan taking a walk around the block to calm himself down.

The appointment happened the next day and went well. Jeongin and the baby were wonderfully healthy, aside from the typical pregnancy concerns, and they all got worked up during the ultrasound. The doctor had a whole list of advice for them and visibly sighed when Bang Chan asked if having multiple omegas in a pack caused any issues when one was pregnant. They explained that everyone in a pack got more protective and sensitive during pregnancies, but there was no evidence suggesting omegas were unusually susceptible to this, a factoid Bang Chan wasted no time blasting Seo Changbin with. The only touchy moment of the visit came when one nurse handed the ultrasound print-outs to them with a pointed comment about being sure to show their beta later.

It was back home at the apartment that Jisung, who’d been cheerful and funny and upbeat all day, nearly sending the nurses into hysterics multiple times, had a full-fledged panic attack. The rest of that day was rough, not the least because Jisung felt so bad about ‘ruining’ Jeongin's first time seeing his baby.

“The baby looked like a melted action figure, hyung,” Jeongin said bluntly, “I’m more worried about you.”

Mouth trembling, Jisung said, “Channie-hyung cried over that melted action figure for twenty minutes.”

Tucked around him in their bed, Chan said, “I’ll cry again if you keep calling them that.”

Jeongin’s older omega brother, who lived with his mated pack in Daegu, contacted Jeongin of his own accord to make sure Jeongin was doing well. Unlike their parents, his brother had many questions about Jeongin’s well-being and few judgements to pass, apologizing that he wasn’t in a position to help out. Jeongin was touched, but confused, saying his older brother and beta mother were close and told each other everything, so he’d thought his brother would share her opinions.

Chan hoped it meant Jeongin had someone in the family on his side, but warned him that anything Jeongin told his brother could make it back to their birth pack. Like his words were a premonition, the landlord for Jeongin’s room called an hour later to say the pack broke the lease and he had three days to get his stuff. Jisung was convinced the two incidents were connected. Chan insisted they couldn’t know for sure and called up one of his high school friends who owed him a favor. She agreed to take a couple of her girls and go fetch everything.

That friend returned a few hours later with trash bags of clothing, bedding, and toiletries, a few partially assembled Lego sets, and a couple boxes of books. Jeongin underplayed it, but the other two could tell he was happy to have his belongings again.

Sex continued to not happen and it was only partially Bang Chan's fault. There was enough going on between the coffee shop being unusually hectic, Han Jisung working on lyrics while finding places to wedge more livestreams in his schedule, and Yang Jeongin's emotional everything that they were all more tired than anything else. On the other hand, Bang Chan was able to return to his preferred state at home, which was to say, buck nude -- a change that prompted Jeongin to say, "It feels ungrateful to complain, but it's like he's attacking me."

Apart from Chan's high school friend and her two packmates, there hadn't been time to introduce Yang Jeongin to any of their other friends, a fact that was driving Seo Changbin absolutely up the wall. He kept threatening to invite himself over and Jisung kept reminding him that he was the one who said he didn't want to hang out in Chan and Jisung's "sex den" the first place. Chan suspected they were just riling each other up for shits and giggles at that point. Jeongin broke the stalemate by asking for Changbin's number and the two had been texting ever since.

Another thing that continued to not happen was Chan talking to Owner Chen about his salary and in this case, it wasn't for lack of effort. Chan called him twice a day, first on his "business mobile" and then on his personal, deathly-emergencies-only mobile, and got no pick-up or return call from either, which didn't bode well for the theoretical situation of an actual emergency. At this rate, he might as well wait for Owner Chen to show up for his one-Saturday-a-month visit in two weeks. Bang Chan had been struggling for years to internalize how far the man had fallen from the involved and active business owner of Chan's memories, but this was a particularly stark example of it.

Thus, it was hard to say what exactly he felt when, just before noon on the fifth day, Cho Hajoon called him and said in a rush, "Hyung, hurry! Owner Chen is here and he's looking for you."

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