A hand stroked his cheek and Jungwon scrunched up his nose in annoyance, swatting it away and turning onto his other side to continue getting his much needed beauty sleep.

But the prodding persisted.

A weight behind him dented the mattress and an arm and a leg were thrown over him.
Something was messing with his hair, too.

Niki must have started bed hopping again, a habit the boy had been practising ever since ILAND.

"Niki-yah, I wanna sleep." He grumbled and tried to shake the extra weight, not happy that he was woken up so early on a Saturday morning.

But 'Niki' wasn't Niki. And it wasn't morning, but roughly around 4 am.

As the grip on him tightened even further, almost like a snake twirling around a stick, he finally opened his eyes to snap at the intruder.

Jungwon had enough to worry about, and all he wanted was sleep after his mind had plagued him for hours before his worries finally succumbed to a dreamless darkness.

"Seriously, stop. I'm not in the mood."

He was met with a whimpering noise, no words but a pathetic squeak of pain.
Not Niki.

Sunoo was squeezing the dear life out of him, as if he was trying to grasp anything he could to brace himself against the waves of pain that were rolling over him by the minutes.

"Oh shit, Sunoo!"

Jungwon frantically whipped around to see a disheveld and very unhappy Omega clinging to him. His eyes were puffy and red. Had he cried?

"Sunoo, are you okay?"

Another whimper, and the boy screwed his eyes shut, hand balling into fists around Jungwon's shirt.

"Sunoo!?"

It was Jungwon's turn to cup the other's cheek trying to get any indication out of the boy as to what was happening to him. Where was he hurt?

But as Jungwons searching eyes found no wounds or blood and no answer followed his attempt at conversation, the sweat on Sunoos forehead and the intense smell of vanilla flavoured baked goods finally registered in Jungwon's tired brain.

"Sunoo, are you in heat?"

But the boy was still curling around Jungwon in pain, as if the leader was his lifeline. His eyes were squeezed shut and bloodshot.

Jungwon's hands found the older's cheek once more and heat radiated from his skin.
As Sunoo hands unfurled, his eyes also opened, the wave of pain slowly ebbing away for now.

"It hurts. Jungwon, it hurts so bad."
His voice was strained and tears lined his eyes.

Jungwon rubbed soothing gestures along the Omega's back and tried to shush his cries.

"Shhh, I know. I know. It's okay. I've got you."

But he had no idea what to do with the crying Omega in his arms.
He only knew that he'd fight heaven and he'll to stop his pack mate from crying.

Sunoo's pleas for help quieted down a little and as Jungwon thought he could stand up to get the others to help them, the Omega clasped his hands around Jungwon's shoulders and tilted his head upwards, presenting his neck to Jungwon.
He froze.

"Sunoo, you know I can't scent you,"

He tried to speak as softly and slowly as he could, scared he could hurt the vulnerable wolf. Jungwon wished for the first time he could have given the Omega the comfort he needed. Wished he could scent him and protect him like his luna instincts were screaming at him to do.

Sunoo gave a loud sob. The wolf didn't understand why his leader was abandoning him.

He logically knew a puppy couldn't give him the security his Omega was demanding for, the assurance that he was safe and with his pack.

He didn't even know why his urges told him to search out Jungwon instead of his Hyungs, but logic couldn't reach his instincts and he felt a sinking feeling of rejection bloom deeply and darkly in his chest.

"Please!" another sob broke out of the boy as he pressed himself further into their leader.

The commotion hadn't gone unnoticed and as Jungwon held Sunoo against his neck in hopes the movement could mimik what Sunoo was craving for, to show him he wasn't rejecting him, Sunghoon had woken up, confused, but alarmed by the scene in the bed next to him.

Sunoo whimpered into Jungwon's neck, but quieted as the remaining scent of Heeseung that was still lingering on Jungwon build a tiny barrier around the pain.
Lucky for Jungwon, Sunoo wasn't in the right state of mind to wonder about why and how the scent had lingered there.

The lights tuned on and blinded Jungwon for a moment.

"Jungwon? Sunoo?" It was Sunghoon, worry evident in his eye as he ran from the door, where  the light switch was located to their side.

"Hyung, he's in heat."
Jungwon explained unnecessarily. It was painfully obvious and Jungwon pitied the other Omega, knowing exactly how shitty it felt.

"Shit!" Sunghoon cursed - something Jungwon didn't hear often - before he tried to take Sunoo out of Jungwons' arms into his own. But the Omega only his further into their leaders embrace.

"Sunoo- baby," Sunghoon coaxed him softly, "dont you want to come to the pack room to nest? We need to get you away from the puppies."

But as Sunoo again didn't seem to care to even acknowledge the older's attempts, Sunghoon turned around to Niki, waking him up hastily.

The sleep drugged boy only took a few seconds to realise what was happening and without much more than a "get the others" from Sunghoon, ran out the door.

Jungwon just kept whispering soothing sweet nothings into the distressed boys ear and Sunoo relaxed more and more with each word.

He wanted nothing more than to tug the hurting boy behind his back and keep him hidden from everyone else.

He unconciously took hold of the extra pillows he used to sleep on and propped them around Sunoo to cushion him in his awkward hold. He also tugged up his blanket to surround the other Omega as well, encasing him as much as he could.

"Jungwon, we need to get him into the pack room. We can't have him trigger an unnatural presentation."

As the urgent words left Sunghoon's mouth, multiple people burst through the door.

Jungwon knew he had to let Sunoo go. But he just couldn't will his arm to leave its place around Sunoo's waist.

"What the hell is going on?!" Jake asked.

"Thank god you're here," Sunghoon sighed. "Sunoo went into heat early."

Jake, Jay, Heeseung and Niki stared at the scene in front of them. They all knew that Sunoo's heat wasn't scheduled for another while.

Heeseung was the first to snap out of his surprise and start moving towards the entangled mess on the Jungwon's bed.

His eyes met Jungwon's for a second, gauging his reaction, gaze softening before he turned to the wolf in pain.

"Sunoo," He cooed. "Sunoo, can you hear me?"

Sunoo shook his head.

Jungwon would have laughed had he not been staring at the approaching figure.

"Sunoo, you need to come with us. It's not safe here. " Worry shone through Heeseung's request.

Again, Sunoo just shook his head. But another wave of cramps hit the suffering Omega, and he pressed his forehead onto Jungwons collarbone, teeth gritting together as he tried to breathe.

"It's okay. It's okay. We're all here. It's okay."
Jungwon continued his mantras as his voice was the only thing keeping his friend from sobbing again.

The others had enough and multiple arms reached for the whimpering wolf.

And Jungwon, Jungwon hated the fact that they were upsetting his pack's obviously acutly hurting Omega.

As hands grasped the blanket to retrieve Sunoo, Jungwon's vision went red, and a deep threatening growl vibrated through his throat.

He must protect their nest. He must protect his pack.

"Stop, he's hurting! Stop forcing him!"

"Jungwon we're trying to help him, dammit!" Jake barked out.

"Well, this isn't helping!"Jungwon hissed back just as frustrated.

Jeongsong spoke up, "Can't  you knock him out?He can stay here, and the babies can go to the pack room."

Heeseung hesitated. But it seemed to be the only option to get the distressed pocketz to cooperate.

He stepped forward, and before he let a waterfall of pheromones render the Omega in heat unconcious, he gestured to Jake. "Get the puppies out of here."

Jake looked at Jungwon apologetically "Jungwon-ah please. Can I?"

Jungwon had to supress every littlest urge within him to allow Jake to take the blanket off and guide Jungwon away as Heeseung installed himself skillfully in Sunoo's arms instead and let his pheromones lull the Omega into a deep trance.

The whimpering stopped as the door closed behind Jungwon and Niki, who were being led straight to their pack room.

Jungwon's hand clenched onto Niki's arm as they finally arrived in the pack room, anxiety thumping through his veins.

Every cell in his body, every particle wanted to turn around and be there for his friend. For his pack.

Niki let Jungwon squeeze his arm as much as he wanted without much of a complaint.

It was 5 am as they both had laid down on the big bed and snuggled up in the blankets, trying to comfort themselves with each other's warmth after the previous events had burned themselves behind their eyelids.

"Hyung?" Niki whispered into the darkness as they laid facing each other, even though they couldn't see their faces.

"Hmm?" Jungwon hummed, not trusting his voice.

Niki hesitated before reaching out to find the others hand and give it a squeeze, reassuring himself he was really there.

"I'm scared." He sounded tiny. The way he looked when he first met the young boy.

Jungwon held his breath and put a little pressure into their linked hands aswell.
"Why?"

"Everything is going so fast now. You weren't okay, suddenly Hyung is in heat and then I also heard the hyungs talking about how you're going to present soon."

Jungwon interjected with a mumbled "I'm fine."

"I just - I'm scared everything is going to change. I'm scared something bad will happen." Niki paused.

"Jungwon, I think they're wrong."

Jungwon stiffened as Niki didn't elaborate further.
The sentence seemed so loaded with emotions and lacked any formality, that Jungwon had a feeling, Niki knew. Even if he didn't understand what it meant just yet. And Jungwon hoped he never had to find out.

Jungwon pulled the youngest closer, embracing him in a hug.

"Niki, everything is okay. Hyungs can handle it." Jungwon promised, hoping he could actually keep it.

"And whatever might happen, it doesn't mean that it'll change us.
You're still going to be Niki, and Sunoo will still be Sunoo after his cycle, and I will always be Jungwon, and I'll never treat any of you differently, okay?"

The puppy released a shaky breath and nodded, hiding into Jungwon's chest, despite being much taller than the leader.
If Jungwon felt any tears staining his pyjamas, he didn't say anything.

And it was 7 in the morning when Jungwon finally fell asleep again alone with Niki, snoring ever so slightly, and none of the others in sight.

Jungwon fell asleep feeling empty, limbs heavy from exhaustion.

----------------------------------------------

The next time Jungwon woke up, it was already past noon, the sun already starting to recline again as it shone through the single big window into the room. Niki was still sleeping.

A little ache in his head and stomache reminded Jungwon that it was time for him to get up and eat and hydrate as he hadn't exactly kept to a usual schedule with everything that was going on.
And a shower would be nice too.

He absentmindedly lifted his shirt to his nose to take in the damage done and dropped the material hastily as he realised that instead of his usual washing detergent, or even a scent of musky sweat, his shirt, and even more his wrist of the hand he had used to lift it, smelled like a deep caramel. Sweet and soft, but also homey.

SHIT
When was the last time he applied his scent neutraliser?
Jungwon recounted the last days, desperately trying to remember, but he had slept the entire day, and yesterday he was still bathed in Heeseung's scent that he hadn't even deemed it necessary.

His mind spewed curse after curse as he hastily untangled himself from Niki, pulled the blanket back over the younger and ran towards the bathroom as fast as possible.

"Jungwon-ah?" He heard Sunghoon ask as he raced through the hall and closed the bathroom door, making sure he locked it twice and opened the window for good measure.

On the other side he heard steps, and then 2 knocks follwed.
"Jungwon? You okay?"

Jungwon stared at himself in the mirror above the sink and searched for an answer that would buy him some time.

"Yes, Hyung. I'm fine — just really really needed to go to the toilet."
He tried to sound embarrassed instead of scared, but he doubted it worked as he heard a huff.

"Well.. if you're sure? Ehm, Jay's making food right now. Can you wake up Niki when you're done?"

"Sure" Jungwon let out a breath he was holding and his eyes immediately started searching for the spray bottle, hoping it was somewhere underneath the discarded towls and Sunoo's skin care products, before remembering where he had hidden it.

He found it in the cabinet under the sink  at the very back, where he put it, knowing none of the boys ever used the cabinet.

The zylinder shaped, bottle spray bottle felt cool and grounding in his hand as he turned on the faucet to overshadow the noise of when he finally applied the mist that placed itself on the surface of his scent glands like a safety blanket, that relieved him from all his worries.

He sighed as the invisible weight lifted from his shoulders and turned off the water.
He felt a little sorry for wasting all that water, but he selfishly also didn't care enough to stop doing it, if it enabled him to keep up his pretence.

Another glance into the mirror reminded him of the fading redish blotches above his collarbone that were the physical proof of his and Heeseungs's accident and Jungwon glared at it.

He refused to call it a 'Hickey' the word sounded filthy.

If anything it was a battle wound, left behind from when he fought his inner wolf for controll and temporarily lost.
But he won't lose again.

He grabbed one of the concealers Sunoo was given by one of the make up Noonas a while ago for when he had to film a vlog at home.

It was too light for his skin, but it was thick enough to eliminate the redness, and that was all he could ask for.

It felt better than wearing a mark by your bandmate that only found its way there because you kept lying straight into his face.
He didn't feel like he deserved a mark, if he was only rewarded it when pretending to be something he wasn't.
If he couldn't ever be what they expected.

I think their wrong
Nikis word echoed in his head and he shook his head and walked out of the bathroom.
Only Jungwon was wrong.
His Hyungs only wanted what was best, what everyone around him believed was right.

Jungwon was glad to spray his scent away and swallow suppressants if it meant that the world was fine...

HIS SUPRESSANTS

Jungwon could have cried when he realised that not only his food, water and neutraliser intake had gotten mixed up, he also forgot to take his pills.
Ever since Heeseung had distracted him as he was on his way to get himself a glass of water for said pill, he completely forgot.

He could have hit himself in that moment as he walked to the wardrobe, reached for his bag and slipped the little bottle of pills into his pocket and went back into the pack room,as his own was occupied by Sunoo and the kitchen was Jay's cooking space.

He silently slid into the room and luckily, Niki was still asleep.

With no better option available, jungwon swallowed two pills dry, hoping his mistake wouldn't allow a surprise heat to break through.
He really couldn't afford that right now.

Screwing the lid back onto the bottle of pills and hiding it back into his pocket, Jungwon turned to Niki.

He kneeled next to his face and blew a stream of air into his sleeping face.

Niki's eyes twitched and his nose scrunched up cutely, but despite letting out an annoyed "hmpf", the boy didn't seem to wake up so easily.

"Niki-san!"

He shook his shoulders a little.

"Niki, wake up. You need to eat something."

The puppy groaned, opening his eyes one by one and glared at the older.

Jungwon chuckled.
"Come on."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes. Jay's cooking. You know how he gets if we don't eat his food."

Niki groaned again and blinked against the light. He slowly lifted himself off of the bed, wrapped himself in the blanket as he stood and went over to the window.
"It's so stuffy in here."

"If you're warm then maybe take of the blanket" jungwon laughed as he walked towards the room.

"No, stop judging me."
Niki complained, hiding up to the nose in the fluffy material before following his leader.

The kitchen was empty except for Jeongseong, who was setting three plates on the table and prepared 4 more on the counter.

"Where are the others, Hyung" jungwon asked as niki simply slumped into a chair.

"They're taking care of Sunoo, he doesn't want to be alone."
Jungwon could here in the way Jay had said it, that he wanted to be there with them too.

"Oh" He paused.

"Is Sunoo okay? Can I go back to see him too?"

"Jungwon, you know you can't. His heat pheromones could trigger your presentation and you know how dangerous it can be for your body if it's not developed enough. You puppies need to stay as far away from him as possible right now."

Jungwon bit the inside of his cheeks as he wanted nothing more than go back and whispered more encouraging words into the omega's ear.

He knew the pain, that none of the others could fathom. The feeling of need for your pack to be there, when you felt your sanity slipping bit by bit.

"How are you feeling by the way? You're not feeling any different, right?"

Jungwon shook his head. "No, I'm okay."

Jay set three glasses of water at the table and finally settled down himself.

"Thank you for the food, Hyung."
He appreciated his Hyung taking time away from Sunoo to care for their youngest.

"You're welcome." Jay smiled at him and then looked over to Niki before laughing.

"Niki, at least take the blanket off while you eat!" Niki looked ready to fall asleep and let his face fall straight into his food.

Niki grumbled something in response that sounded somewhat like a "no way."

"Niki," Jungwon laughed, scolding the maknae " it's way to warm in here for you to be needing that. Eat your food properly."

Nikis head wiggled from side to side in his blanket burrito.

"But it smells so good." the youngest whined, half of his face still hidden into the blanket.

Jungwons smile dropped within a second.