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It’s hot and sweaty. There are bodies pressing everywhere – someone jostles his shoulder for the fourth time and steps on his toes for good measure, too. The crowd is filled with anticipation, an excitement that Junghoon does not share.
Why is he in a gaggle of people again?
That’s right, because his friend group has insane ideas and even more insane commitment. Their latest one to take the cake: joining their school’s annual mating run.
A muffled voice comes over the speaker to announce they’re starting the event. A shrill whistle blows one, two, three times, and they’re off.
The crowd surges forward like a living, breathing creature. Junghoon watches students of all different secondary genders and scents cross paths as everyone rushes to find an ideal spot. Hidden enough for a worthy partner to prove their tracking, open enough to welcome anyone attracted by the hider’s scent.
Junghoon lightly jogs. He has no qualms about how he should be found, not when he has no significant other looking for him anyway.
He waves goodbye as Jinsik heads for a grassy field. He boosts Junmin up a rock ledge. He doesn’t even see where Seeun and Yechan sprint off to.
All his friends have someone waiting to run to them.
He doesn’t, and that’s okay.
Junghoon let himself be bullied into registering for the mating run anyway, seeing his friends so enthusiastic and predicting he would fear missing out the experience if he didn’t join them. Now, as he looks alone for the nearest source of water, he slightly regrets it.
He convinces himself it’s a good way to detox in nature, and that these few hours spent would only have been wasted doomscrolling if he didn’t go. True, and true.
But it doesn’t mean he won’t be lonely.
The nearest source of water, as it turns out, is a stream cutting through a corner of the marked territory. It’s far. It’s perfect.
Junghoon makes a space for himself on the bank, facing the stream. He contemplates the safety of quenching his thirst using the stream water; common sense wins over and he ultimately decides against it. He plucks a blade of grass from the forest floor and starts picking at the fibers.
A distant whistle signals that the other half of the mating run has started.
Now, all there’s left to do is wait.
Junghoon’s been staring at the same spot for the past hour, half-captivated by the flow of the water in front of him and half-daydreaming.
He doesn’t know how long it’s been since the mating run started (his repeated refusal to wear a watch coming back to bite him), but he’s heard the howls of partners successfully found and the constant rustle of wolves prowling the forest.
The blades of grass he’s been fiddling with have long since disintegrated.
He finds me, he finds me not. He finds me, he finds me not.
Who is he kidding? There is no one out there looking for him. No one who could look past his frosty exterior besides his friends; or people who could, and then couldn’t get past his awkward personality. He doesn’t even have an enticing smell, being an average beta with a fairly normal, diluted coffee scent.
Well. There is one person. A warm, gentle-hearted alpha by the name of Choi Hyun-
No. Junghoon dares not imagine it.
Their school president is only friendly to him because he’s friendly to everyone. Smiles brightly in anybody’s direction. Buys the next person-in-line’s coffee just because he feels like it. Junghoon is not an exception just because Hyunwoo greets him by name when he sees him. Surely, Hyunwoo knows everybody’s name.
Junghoon’s wolf senses alert.
The crunching of dried leaves.
Huffed breaths.
He doesn’t turn. It’s just another alpha, he’s sure, passing by and looking hard for their partner. Junghoon tucks his head down.
The footsteps continue, get louder, and stop just shy of where Junghoon is.
For a moment, both parties breathe together – one laboured, and one slow. When he’s sure for some reason, that this alpha is not going away, Junghoon risks a look back.
It’s Choi Hyunwoo.
Panting with his hands on his knees, visibly sweating with effort. Yet his eyes shine with something in them, something that looks like victory.
And his gaze is directed straight at Junghoon.
Junghoon rises to his feet.
“Junghoon-nim. Junghoon-ssi.”
Hyunwoo’s voice is nothing short of awed, wonderment colouring his voice. As if finding Junghoon was something he didn’t expect to happen and is grateful for. Why does he sound like that? Why does this situation both confuse him, fill him with dread, and yet at the same time, ignite him with hope?
Junghoon nods politely. “Hyunwoo-ssi. Were you looking for someone? Um, I haven’t seen anyone head in this direction… and my nose is weaker than yours so I can’t tell for sure, but I’d be happy to help you find that person if you’d like.”
Saying it makes something small sink in his chest. When he ponders about it, he thinks it’s the minuscule but unrealistic hope that Choi Hyunwoo would have been looking for him.
“Actually,” Hyunwoo’s tongue darts to wet his lips – and he looks… embarrassed? Nervous? “I was looking for you.”
Screech. Junghoon’s mind blanks.
What?
“Haha, president-nim. That’s so funny. Ha. You can’t have been looking for me, no one is. Who are you actually looking for?” Junghoon tries to keep his voice level. The possibility that the most popular boy in school, the most sought and chased after alpha in the hallways, could be looking for him is too insane to comprehend. It’ll make for a funny, if demoralising story, to his friends tomorrow.
Hyunwoo’s face suddenly drops. He straightens up and looks, looks at Junghoon, and opens his mouth to deliver the biggest bomb of Junghoon’s life.
“Kim Junghoon. I searched for you. You specifically. I scoured this whole forest, every tree and rock, ignored every other omega and beta and even alpha I passed along the way, looking for you. And I found you. Just when I was about to lose hope, I saw you. Of course you chose the one hardest place to detect a scent, in the furthest place from the start line… but it was worth the trouble. You are always worth the trouble.”
He doesn’t know what to say.
He’s sure his mouth is open and expression wiped of any coolness. He’s simply in shock.
Junghoon knew hiding by the water would scatter his scent, render it almost undetectable – in fact, he purposefully did it, believing that he would be out of the seekers’ way, that he truly didn’t need or want anyone to find him, that he would start and end this mating run alone and with no partner.
And then Choi Hyunwoo comes in, accomplishes the most difficult quest to find him, and tells him he searched for Junghoon specifically.
“I- I know this may seem a bit sudden, and that we’ve only ever exchanged passing conversations, but I’ve been enamoured with you, Kim Junghoon, for a while. Your smile, and your laugh, and- and your quiet dedication. We barely know each other, but I want to get to know you more,” Hyunwoo confesses.
“Will you let me?”
Mustering all the strength he has in his body, Junghoon manages a tiny nod.
Hyunwoo takes a step towards him. Like this, with nothing but air in between them, Junghoon’s inferior beta nose can pick up the scent of tea; strong, yet soothing, like everything Hyunwoo as a leader appears to be.
An alpha is crossing his personal space, and yet – he doesn’t want to shy away like he normally does. He and Hyunwoo may not know each other that well, but he could spend the rest of the school year learning about him. He finds that he really, really wants to.
And somewhere in his thoughts, he realises that he had selfishly, secretly hoping for Hyunwoo to find him all along.
Hyunwoo takes one step closer. They’re eye to eye now. Junghoon is a tad bit taller than him and has to tilt his chin ever so slightly down. It pleases something in him without knowing why.
“Is this okay?” Hyunwoo whispers.
Junghoon nods.
Hyunwoo licks his lips again, and Junghoon can’t help but be drawn to the movement.
“It may be a bit fast for us, but. You know that if someone finds their partner during a mating run, they get to claim their prize…”
“Kim Junghoon, may I claim you as my prize?”
Junghoon swallows, and with an almost imperceptible whisper, he says yes.
And then they’re kissing.
Hyunwoo’s lips are gentle and soft, smoothed with the lip balm he uses. The kiss is shy and sweet, and it makes Junghoon’s toes curl. A palm cradles his jaw. His whole body lights up; the forest vanishes until it is nothing but them and where their lips meet. Hyunwoo and Junghoon, Junghoon and Hyunwoo.
They pull apart with a breath. When he finally reorientates himself, Junghoon finds his hand clutching Hyunwoo’s shirt. His face heats, and he hurriedly unclenches his fist, smoothing the wrinkles at Hyunwoo’s side.
He opens his mouth to say something, a line to try and diffuse this tension that he feels, but Hyunwoo smiles up at him, and he looks so content, with tea and coffee swirling around them, that Junghoon cannot bring himself to end this moment.
“Hyunwoo-hyung. Can I call you hyung?” He dares to ask. His voice cracks halfway.
The other boy laughs with delight. “Yes. Yes, of course. Then I can call you… jagiya?"
Junghoon sputters. He turns even redder, if that is even possible. Hyunwoo’s laughter rings in the trees.
“Joking, joking. That’s too fast. We’ll get there someday, maybe.”
“But for now, we have all the time in the world to get to know each other.” He smiles. Junghoon smiles back.
He looks forward to how his friends will react tomorrow.