Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“OP-T26, registered and cleared for transport. Stand by the back wall,” a masked foreman calls out dispassionately, not even glancing up as Wooyoung picks up his bag and makes his way to the designated wall.

Wooyoung’s chest is tight, nerves most likely, since it is his first time taking a ship after all. He wonders if his constitution is up for it. He thinks his mother mentioned once that she was only seasick for the first few days when she first came to Japan, but the whole thing did not sound pleasant and Wooyoung would prefer not to experience it at all if he can help it.

But mostly he is excited. It is his first time leaving Japan, (first time leaving the facility too), and he will be returning to his mother’s homeland of Korea. This is a big adventure he is undertaking now, and he cannot help but let his imagination run wild with how he imagines Korea will be like. He knows his mother missed it greatly, and he feels honored that he can make new memories in her place back in the land she loved.

He returns to the present at the sound of a small whimper beside him. He looks down to his left and sees a young boy, maybe seven years old, with his fists clenched tightly at his sides as he stands stiffly in the line.

Wooyoung cannot help but smile down at him fondly, reminded of the other children who had been under his care back at the facility. He recognizes why he needed to leave, trusts that the little ones will continue to be cared for under a newer and maybe better caretaker. But it was still difficult for both him and them to be separated from each other, knowing that they will likely never see each other again.

He slowly presents his wrist to the young boy beside him, lifting up his sleeve to expose the small gland just underneath his pulse point. He focuses on being calm and keeps his arm raised patiently, looking at the room with no real purpose as he waits. The kid stopped whimpering and Wooyoung could feel those small eyes gazing sharply at his wrist, both curious and hesitant. Curiosity wins in the end, and the boy cautiously brings his face closer until his nose can pick up the faint traces of calm that Wooyoung emits alongside a tinge of sometime spicy-sweet he holds naturally.

Wooyoung can hear the boy sniff rather loudly at his wrist, getting so close that his cold little nose brushed the older’s skin though he dared not to move so that he wouldn’t spook the boy. But it was clear that the tanuki’s scent had met the boy’s standards (like he always trusted it would), so proper manners needed to be put in order now.

“It’s rude to scent at someone so blatantly,” he comments, loud enough for the boy to startle at his voice but quiet enough that the humans could not hear.

The boy immediately retreats but it surprises Wooyoung slightly that his eyes stare steadily back into his own, small shoulder’s squaring and nostrils flaring as if preparing for a confrontation. Wooyoung glances at the little horns on the boy’s head, intrigued that a child prey hybrid was so fierce in the eyes of an adult.

“He must be an apex hybrid. He will be dangerous in the future,” he thinks. “But he’s too cute now,” he adds, smiling softly at him in reassurance.

“Why don’t you greet yourself properly?” he asks gently. “My name is Wooyoung. What’s yours?”

“K-Keiji,” the boy mutters out.          

“Mh, Keiji. That’s a strong name,” Wooyoung responds, proud at the way the boy’s eyes sparkle under the recognition.

“Hey-oh!” a booming voice calls out, causing both of them to jump and immediately hold themselves straight and forward. Wooyoung pretends he does not feel the small hand gripping tightly at his shirt.

A tall male human with a heavy mustache stands before the line of carefully still hybrids, large hand pointed in the direction of the door that leads to the docks where their ship awaits. “All hybrids proceed to ramp E in an orderly fashion and obey the sailors as they direct you to your places on board. Let’s move!”

They are quite a bit behind in the line, so the two of them need to wait for a few moments before they can follow the rest of the hybrids as they begin to file out the door and towards the ramp. Now that the humans are no longer watching them so closely again, Wooyoung turns to look back at Keiji still clutching to him.

“Ready?” he asks the boy, holding out his hand. Keiji looks at it for a moment but places his smaller hand in his and gives a sharp nod. “Ready,” he says firmly.

“Brave kid,” Wooyoung thinks fondly, leading them both as they followed behind the taller snake hybrid in front of them onto the ship and towards Korea.

Yeosang shifts anxiously, clutching tightly at his soft sweater as he follows Jongho through the throngs of people shouting and loitering in the town market. The two hybrids keep each other in their sights at all times, unusually tense at the reeking smell of humans surrounding them and the feeling the danger that surrounds them if they were to get caught.

The deer hybrid is not sure why he insisted on following his herd member out here today, even with his antlers having fallen off now that it is well into spring and for once the short stubs of bone are easily covered under a hat. His reserved nature and prey instincts usually refused to leave the safety of their territory, their home hidden deep in the wilderness where no humans, hybrids, or predators roamed. But he had felt unusually restless the past few days and when Jongho had mentioned he was going for a supply run at the nearest town several miles away, Yeosang had jumped at the chance to stretch his legs.

Now that they are here though, flush against the stench of humans that threatens to bring back a stream of terrible memories, Yeosang wonders if this was a bad idea after all.

“Almost done now,” Jongho reassures him, voice low in a way that normal humans would not be able to hear in this mayhem but Yeosang’s ears twitch in response even from under the large beanie he borrowed from Mingi. He hums in understanding and almost forgets his worries as he realizes Jongho is leading them to an apple stand with an old human woman sitting behind the till.

“A bag of your freshest, please,” Jongho says politely, voice cold but soft in a charmingly disarming way.

The old woman smiles with crooked teeth at the sight of his soft cheeks and eagerly shows him the full bag tearing at the seams resting in front of her. It does not budge as she tries to give it to him, but Jongho does not falter as he grabs its head with one hand and slings it over his shoulder. Yeosang takes a secret moment to admire once again the younger’s impressive and nonchalant strength while Jongho pays in cash with his free hand.

Just then, Yeosang turns his head sharply to the side, ears pricking under his hat as they catch the faintest of noises. He distantly feels Jongho responding to his abrupt change, stepping up behind him in a show of steady support even though he does not know what has his hyung suddenly standing at attention. The deer hybrid knows that nothing, not human nor predator, could ever harm him with Jongho here, and it is because of this certainty that Yeosang immediately breaks out into a trot in the direction of the unknown noise that calls to him, Jongho confusedly following in his wake.

They push through the depths of the market until they reach its very center where a crowd of humans gather and talk harshly between themselves at the scene before them. Yeosang barely holds in his own gasp at what they find, and he sees Jongho similarly falter his steps in surprise.

Because a hybrid is standing right there, tail and ears moving freely in the open as he talks with a human. Or at least, he is trying to talk to him. The hybrid is not speaking Korean at all so none of the villagers understand him, though Yeosang knows they would not be likely to listen to him anyway even if they could have.

“He’s Japanese,” Jongho mutters under his breath and thanks to his comment, Yeosang finally remembers why those words sound familiar to him now. He would have been as equally as ignorant as these humans if it was not for Yunho and his constant recounts of his time in Japan and all the abura soba he ate there.

But while most were fascinated by the strange hybrid’s bold actions, Yeosang could not tear his gaze away from the other’s tail. It was long and thick, its fluffy fur coated in an unidentifiable pattern of blond, brown, and black. And it was familiar. Yeosang was sure he had seen a tail like that one before, but this one seems much bigger than the one that comes up in his mind.

Just like that, he recalls a face that he had completely forgotten about until just now and a name comes to mind. “Wooyoung,” he unintentionally utters.

The other hybrid’s head turns quickly, short ears perking on his head as he stares right at Yeosang, startling a breath out of the deer hybrid. The hybrid’s face is like the one he had in his head, (those dark asymmetrical eyes and haunting full lips), but now it is sharper after the many years that have passed since they had last seen each other.

Yet his smile is exactly the same as it was when they were children, the noguri hybrid practically glowing in joy as he shouts, “Yeosang!”

The two disguised hybrids freeze as the humans now cast their probing eyes onto them, wondering what these two young men have in common with an unclaimed hybrid let loose among them. Jongho’s muscles clench, preparing for the worst, and Yeosang feels his instincts howling at him to run away as fast as he can, especially with his antlers and strongest means of defense currently out of commission.

But he knows he cannot leave Wooyoung here, not at the mercy of these humans and their prejudice against their kind. There is a long list of horrible things that could happen to his old friend if they just abandoned him to their mercy.

“Sorry,” Yeosang manages to say as he finds his voice, ignoring Jongho’s pointed look. “He managed to get away from us. We’ll get him out of your way now.”

Wooyoung’s head is tilted curiously to the side, clearly not understanding his words.

The man he was talking to looks dispassionately at Yeosang, immediately disregarding the hybrid to tell the other, “You should keep him on a leash if you can’t control him. It’s bad for business having hybrids wandering around freely.”

Yeosang grits his teeth, well aware that hybrids do not negatively affect anything this man claims they do. But he ignores it, responding easily, “Of course. It won’t happen again. Wooyoung, come.”

The other hybrid at least understands that much but Yeosang gets worried when instead of immediately coming to his side, the noguri hybrid instead turns the other way, briskly striding to an empty stall across the street.

“Wooyoung!” Yeosang calls out sharply, his lungs tightening with fear the farther the other hybrid moves away from them and the safety they can offer him.

Shocked, he watches as Wooyoung bends in front of a space hidden by the crates filled with seafood and pulls out an entire child that had been hiding there. And not just any normal child the market soon realizes with scandalized gasps, but a hybrid child with two small horns standing proudly from the top of his head.

Wooyoung seems to not hear the commotion he is causing, walking calmly between the humans with the boy’s hand clutched in his own until they finally stand before Yeosang. The boy at least seems to understand the position they are in, eyes darting wildly at all the humans his adolescent instincts recognize as threats, and he even glares at Yeosang, not seeming to recognize the older’s own hybrid nature with his antlers and tail hidden under his clothes.

“Yeosang-ah!” Wooyoung trills, a fundamentally hybrid sound that only puts the people more on edge. “Saranghae!”

Jongho chokes behind him, but Yeosang does not think much about the sudden confession of love, quickly checking them both over for injuries and, when finding none, grabbing hold of Wooyoung’s free forearm tightly and leading him and the kid away from danger.

“And make sure he and that animal brat stay outta here,” the same man calls out to them as they flee the scene, the hybrids not bothering to waste their time responding to just another prejudiced human.

They make it to the road out of the village and once they confirm no one is watching, they veer off into the woods, Jongho taking the lead as he follows the scent trail they left that will guide them back home. He does not speak and Yeosang knows that it will only be until they are a couple miles out that he will be interrogated on why he risked himself in bringing these two strange hybrids with them. The deer hybrid will just have to use the time until then to prepare himself in convincing Jongho to let the two of them come back home with them.

“Yeosang-ah, I missed you so much!” Wooyoung says rapidly, the Japanese ringing unfamiliarly in Yeosang’s ears.

“Sorry Wooyoung-ie. I don’t understand you,” Yeosang placates him, suddenly hit with nostalgia and things he had tried so hard to forget.

He had succeeded in erasing thoughts of his past, at least for a time. But until now, he had not realized that in the process he had also lost such fond memories of the first person he had ever truly cared for.

“Saranghae,” Wooyoung insists.

The Korean phrase, “I love you”, sounds just as smooth as his Japanese and the same as when he constantly used it on Yeosang back in the facility despite clearly still not knowing what it means even after all this time. The thought “I love you too” flies too fast through his mind, gone before he can ever utter those words that had been locked inside his chest since he was born.

Wooyoung refrains from speaking for a while but that does not mean he is silent. He fusses over the boy at his side as they follow Jongho through the dense forest that only animals have ever passed through, making inhuman noises as he rubs his wrist over the boy’s head and wipes some dirt that somehow stuck to his chubby cheeks. The boy takes all the needless grooming and scenting in stride, much more obliging than Yeosang ever was when Wooyoung or any other hybrid had tried to do the same to him when he was a child.

Because of this, Yeosang wonders if this truly is Wooyoung’s biological child, whether born from a female hybrid or by Wooyoung himself, the deer hybrid knowing all too well the purposes his old friend was made for.

But while the boy is clearly a hybrid, the horns show he is not a noguri like the omega and Yeosang doubts that Wooyoung would be able to produce a child like that even if his breeding partner had been a horn-based hybrid. Predator and prey hybrids have always had difficulties in procreating with each other, even with the underlying human DNA they all hold in their genetics, their animal instincts wired too strongly to be able to properly mate and produce a healthy offspring together.

“Why would you do that?” Jongho suddenly asks, never stopping in his stride or even bothering to look back at Yeosang. The avoidance stings and the deer hybrid feels his knees shake instinctively at the tightly controlled air pouring off the younger predator’s shoulders.

“He was in danger,” Yeosang responds, knowing that his answer is weak even while being true.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Jongho says, finally stopping in his tracks to face him. The small party of four comes to an abrupt halt and Yeosang can sense Wooyoung watching them pensively. “We could have found another way to get him out. You shouldn’t have drawn attention to us. What if we had gotten caught?”

“But we didn’t,” Yeosang insists.

“Why would you risk it? What were you thinking? Who even is he for you to do that for?” Jongo asks instead, a faint hint of hurt that Yeosang would choose someone else over their pack bleeding through his voice.

And Yeosang hesitates, feeling that brittle wall in his mind caving as the memories press against it like a flood against a cracked dam.

“He’s,” he starts, looking back at Wooyoung and having those dark pretty eyes staring right back at him. Wooyoung had always managed to uncover everything he kept hidden deep underneath his skin, as if seeing right through him, and even years and seas apart, the smaller hybrid still manages to bring his defenses down all over again.

“He’s my friend,” he utters, voice velvety and eyes soft as he turns back to Jongho.

What he finds in the wolverine hybrid’s face is not anger but concern, and it makes Yeosang feel worse. He knows that it would have been put on Jongho’s shoulders to protect the three of them from that mob if they had turned against them and it wrenches Yeosang’s heart with grief just at the thought that something bad could have happened to the youngest member of his herd all because of his carelessness.

Yet this self-reflection does not stop Yeosang from further asking, “We need to bring them home with us.”

He sees Jongho’s mouth bare at the thought, knowing that his instincts are roaring at having strangers invading his territory. In the end, his careful control over his scent dissipates and it seeps thickly into the air with heavy threatening notes. Yeosang tenses, legs clenching in needless preparation to run, and the boy begins breathing quickly in anxiety at the stench of a predator invading their senses, short snorts involuntary escaping from his nostrils while his eyes stay widely fixated on the intimidating wolverine hybrid.

But at that moment, a faint spicy-sweet scent pierces through the threatening haze and Jongho pauses as he breathes in its cloying yet calming air, his own scent slowly fading in response. The boy immediately settles, burrowing himself into Wooyoung’s hip with loud sniffles and loose limbs, and Yeosang himself feels his muscles strangely relax under this scent even though the sweetness carries a hint of predator in it.

“Saranghae,” Wooyoung says with a scolding tone, looking at the two of them as if they were squabbling children.

“Is that all he knows how to say?” Jongho asks, if only to distract himself from asking why this strange hybrid’s pheromones could so easily take down his own.

It was not quite domination, not the way Yunho-hyung or even Hongjoong-hyung do it with that heavy presence that can make even the nastiest of the hybrids submit to them. No, this pheromone wave was subtle, a mere trickle that invaded his senses from behind his pheromone defenses and left him paralyzed by its sweetness. He never realized that something so opposite to domination could be so powerful and so dangerous to the inherent system that governs all hybrids.

“In Korean, yes,” Yeosang responds, feeling equally as disarmed as Jongho.

The deer hybrid had known in theory how an omega hybrid’s pheromones were supposed to work but it had never come to fruition during his time in the facility and he had thought it would still be decades more before O-Pheromones would be practically capable. Yeosang could only look at Wooyoung with amazement. His friend had truly grown and changed a lot since he had last seen him.

The noguri hybrid huffs, pleased with his attempt at pacifying the situation, and immediately begins to move past them to take the lead, his nose raised high to catch the scent trail Jongho was following. He yips when he catches it, immediately turning and marching through the brush perfectly in the direction of their home with the boy at his side. Yeosang and Jongho share a glance before quickly following after them.

The deer hybrid is not looking forward to witnessing how the rest of his herd are going to react to the newcomers they have accidentally brought back with them.

Chapter Text

Wooyoung is not really sure what has been going on for the past couple of days.

The humans on the ship he was on had been fighting, sometimes arguing in Japanese but mostly in Korean and other human noises that he did not understand. The fight had started orally but it must have ended physically because the ship was turned harshly at an odd angle that had Wooyoung bracing against the wall with Keiji tucked safely in his arms.

He had been told that they would be heading north where his new owner would pick him up and take him to his new home, one that was not supposed to be a facility for once. He had been interested in seeing it but where they landed was nothing like the large port they had came from and Wooyoung was unsure if they had made it to the right place after all.

Their ship had beached itself on rocky sand and Wooyoung, Keiji, and the other hybrids had to climb down a rusted in-laid ladder on the side of the ship and into the cold salt water to swim towards land. Wooyoung had swam before in indoor pools at the facility to improve his stamina and assist the water-favoring hybrid children with their own practice, but the ocean was nothing like the clear, still waters of the pool. Here, on the bays of southern Korean, the water was murky and choppy, and it took all Wooyoung’s strength to keep his and Keiji’s head above the continuous and irregular waves.

He instinctively tried to release his scent, appealing for help from some of the stronger and bigger hybrids easily coasting by the two of them. But the heavy and briny smell of the sea must have overpowered his pheromones, for no other hybrid stopped to help the weakest links among them. The humans were not helping either, having dressed themselves in life vests and guns strapped to their hips as they motored past on small dinghies that kept them dry and afloat.  

It was left to Wooyoung alone to get the two of them to shore, as it was clear that Keiji was not accustomed to or capable of swimming on his own yet. The current was strong and with Wooyoung’s feet still unable to touch the bottom the two of them had been carried away without anyone noticing. Wooyoung himself had not realized he had been separated from the crew until he finally managed to pull them both onto the harsh sand and looked around to find the beach empty.

His nose was clogged, unable to scent anything beyond harsh salt, and his head was spinning to the point that he could not tell which direction he needed to go to get to them. So, he stayed put, resting his aching muslces and drying him and Keiji off to the best of his ability while they waited for rescue or for his nose to cooperate again.

They had waited for a very long time and still nobody came for them. Wooyoung really did not understand. Didn’t the humans need them? Didn’t they understand the rules?

In the end, Keiji’s hunger took priority over silly humans who did not understand their own rules, rules that even a hybrid like Wooyoung knew by heart. So the noguri hybrid took the boy’s hand, nose fully functioning again, and proceeded to follow it towards the closest source of food.

As he passed through pretty forests, Wooyoung had wondered if Keiji’s prey side would be able to eat the plants available to them here, but he was not sure he wanted to risk it, especially since he was not certain yet what specific type of hybrid the boy was. Wooyoung himself might be able to eat the small rabbits they ran into along the way, but he had never been taught how to hunt or prepare such rugged meals before. Plus, he did not want to scare Keiji with a messy scene, as the boy had watched with childlike wonder all the small birds and rodents he spotted along their path.

No, Wooyoung had decided, it was the safest for them to get human food. And the humans could help them get to where they needed to go and perhaps in finding his new owner themselves.

The human town they had made it to had been nothing like the clean and sleek facility Wooyoung had lived in for all his life. The noguri hybrid thinks he would prefer even the wilderness to this. The smell of humans had never felt so pervasive to him before. It even overpowered the strong scents of raw fish and spices that they had been selling aggressively among themselves. Keiji had not liked the place at all, snorting softly in discontent that Wooyoung painfully agreed with though could not emulate to the same degree.

So Wooyoung had let him hide, trusting his ability to smell the boy even among this thick air, and tried to find someone that could assist them.

But of course it was just his luck that they could not understand each other. Sometimes Wooyoung really cursed his instructors for not bothering to teach him Korean, especially since he had been saved for a Korean owner several years ago. He was equally frustrated with these Korean humans though, who were so ignorant and incapable of understanding basic hybrid language that it kept them from at least being able to choreograph some understanding between them.  

Thankfully, Yeosang arrived. Admittedly, Wooyoung forgot all about his frustrations or even that he needed to get to his owner when he caught sight of his old friend. It was surprising that Yeosang’s head was covered but he then remembered that it was spring and the deer hybrid’s antlers must have fallen off. Wooyoung was a bit disappointed that he could not see them in their full glory, wondering what they would look like since he only ever saw them short and cute when they were kids. He hoped that they would grow back fast enough for him to see them before his owner came for him at least.

The other hybrid that Yeosang was with was a stranger to him but he smelt nice even when his pheromones were threatening. And clearly Yeosang trusted him, since he never ran away or stopped looking at his eyes during their entire confrontation. So that meant Wooyoung trusted him too, especially since the other predator hybrid had responded so cutely to his own pheromones.

The noguri hybrid could smell faint hints of other hybrids on the two of them as well and he felt his steps lighten as he led them on the path of their scent trail deeper away from civilization. Wooyoung was more excited to meet the rest of Yeosang’s herd than he ever was to meet his new owner.

Yeosang thinks it is a bit ironic that a predator hybrid like Wooyoung feels the need to hide behind a prey hybrid like him when they finally breach the edge of their territory and the thick scents of apex predators warn everyone with a working nose to stay far away. In terms of human size though, Yeosang is bigger than Wooyoung overall which gives the deer hybrid a twinge of pride that has his shoulders straightening even under Jongho’s judging eyes.

The wolverine hybrid takes the lead once more, not fazed in the slightest and actually comforted by the scents of his apex predator hyungs’ covering and protecting him now that they are back in their home turf. The other three follow close behind him. Yeosang knows it is still a while until they actually get home, located deeper within their large territory and hidden among the mountains, but his steps are lighter as he instinctively understands that he is free from humans once again and protected by his strong herd.  

They could tell when they were approaching their home as the scents of his herd grew stronger, filling the space naturally as if they were always present. But when they called out to let their presence be known, only Seonghwa called back in response from somewhere deeper within their den.

Yeosang was not sure how receptive Seonghwa would be to their unplanned guests. While the oldest was the only other prey hybrid in this pack alongside Yeosang, he was one of the most temperamental out of them and may turn Wooyoung away out of principle. Yet the deer hybrid was betting that Seonghwa’s soft heart would win over his pride in the end when Wooyoung and the boy stood before him like lost fawns.

They can hear the taller hybrid’s steps as he comes to greet them and Yeosang and Jongho hold their breaths when their hyung comes to an abrupt stop when they are finally in his sight. The large smile Seonghwa was wearing dropped comically fast, round eyes narrowing intimidatingly as he takes in the sight of the unknown predator hybrid before him. His long tail twitches against his legs and his tall, pointed ears swivel erratically even though none of them dare make a sound.

“Hyung, this is my old friend Wooyoung,” Yeosang introduces awkwardly.

Seonghwa raises his eyebrow in question, and the deer hybrid knows exactly what he is asking: since when did you have any old friends?

It is admittedly Yeosang’s fault that he has been so secretive about his past, at least the parts that are not widely known on the internet, that gave rise to this surprise. But he had chosen not to talk about his life even to his trusted herd since he thought it was more efficient to simply erase it from his own mind altogether. It helped that Yeosang’s memory and attention span was never that great in the first place, perhaps a quirk derived from his animal nature.

“Konnichiwa!” Wooyoung announces loudly, bowing ridiculously low to the horse hybrid in greeting.

Seonghwa only gapes at him, speech frozen as he tries to process what is happening. He looks to Jongho for guidance but the wolverine hybrid pretends he does not notice, too busy admiring the air around them to deal with this situation.

“Where’s the rest of the herd?” Yeosang asks, redirecting Seonghwa’s attention and finally giving the horse hybrid something to talk about. They all realize that the rest of them must not be home, as the other four predator hybrids would have immediately rushed the entrance at the mere sense of the new presence. 

"Hongjoong went foraging with San. Yunho and Mingi went to patrol and lounge somewhere under the sun. It'll be a while longer before they're back," Seonghwa replies, still staring suspiciously at Wooyoung. 

At least he was until a small head with two horns at the top peaked out from behind the noguri hybrid to stare up at Seonghwa with round eyes. Yeosang could see in real time how the horse hybrid practically melted at the sight of the child hybrid. He glanced at Jongho and the both of them shared a knowing look that there would be no problem now in the eyes of their hyung with the two of them staying in their home.

Seonghwa was quick to move them out of the entrance, seating them on the special soft couch that causes fights over who gets to sit on it at any given time, and provides them with snacks and refreshments. He practically lit up as he watched the boy inhale at the cookies and crackers he had made just yesterday and his smile was proud when Wooyoung complimented his cooking with a boisterous, "Oishi!"

And it was only thanks to Seonghwa that none of the rest of their pack immediately created a fuss when they sensed strangers in the middle of their home. The horse hybrid managed to wrangle the other four predators with frightening ease, and it was no surprise that it was Hongjoong, the little skunk hybrid, who gave the oldest the most trouble in trying to soothe him. Instead, the apex predator hybrids Yunho and Mingi waited patiently and ensured that San would not pounce the moment they stepped into the common area where Wooyoung and the boy were waiting to meet them.

In the end, all nine of them managed to settle relatively calmly, most of them on the floor while Yeosang, Jongho, Wooyoung and the kid stayed on the couch, as the deer hybrid begins to explain to his herd just what exactly is going on.

“Remember how I mentioned I was born and raised in a facility before the Kang’s adopted me?” Yeosang began, voice rough as he forces the words out of his mouth.

He sees Hongjoong’s lips twitch and the deer hybrid knows his hyung is fighting the instinctive way he wants to say that Yeosang had been bought, not adopted. Yeosang knew that, had known that from the beginning, but he still could not help but call it adoption anyway; it did not feel as cruel this way even if it was a nothing but a lie.

But his hyung manages to keep his mouth shut, mostly thanks to Seonghwa’s fierce glare, as he too was well aware what Hongjoong’s words would have been, all of them having it heard one too many times in the years they have been together.

“We remember, Yeosang-ah,” San says softly, elbows on his knees as he leans forward to focus his full attention on him.

“Well, what I never said was that the moment I was conceived I was put into the Omega program, a prototype series of hybrid experiments they were conducting to create the perfect breeding subjects,” he states bluntly, feeling his herd members tense in response to the image he presents to them.

“Damn humans,” Hongjoong growls lowly, the deep reverberation causing everyone to freeze, even Wooyoung and the boy who sit on the farthest side of the couch and the closest to Yeosang.

The noguri watches Hongjoong with wary eyes, exposing his neck in a submissive gesture while his arm braces in front of the boy in case the stronger predator feels inclined to attack the weakest one among them.  

“Hongjoong!” Seonghwa scolds sharply and the skunk hybrid immediately ceases growling, looking apologetic when he realizes exactly how their newest additions had responded to him. “Continue, Yeosang-ah,” Seonghwa adds, voice soft and scent relatively calm even with the heavy topic of discussion.

“I was a failure almost right away. While I fit the beauty standards they wanted for omegas and was overall a healthy hybrid specimen, the serum they gave me when I was in the womb never managed to infiltrate and convince my cells to grow the necessary reproductive parts to be a carrier. In fact, they ended up doing the opposite of what was intended, letting my body have a tendency for quick and heavy muscle growth and stronger antlers than normal as I grew up. It was a mercy in the end, even if it led me to the Kangs and all that mess,” he states clinically.  

“You’re not a failure Yeosang,” Yunho finally speaks up, letting the words settle like a brand on his skin.

The deer hybrid gives a small smile, saying “I know,” before his smile drops as he continues. “Wooyoung was part of this same program as me but in the Japanese branch. They had a better formula there. A successful one,” he clarifies, watching as his herd realizes the meaning behind his words.

They turn as one in Wooyoung’s direction, the only sign that the noguri hybrid senses their attention on him being the way his tail cannot help but shift in caution. The boy though stares back at them, with dark eyes and his small hand displayed protectively on the older hybrid's hip as if they are a threat.

“So, he can get pregnant?” Mingi asks, eyes narrowed thoughtfully and intensely on Wooyoung as they rave over his body in interest. Jongho kicks him, Mingi yelping at the hit and rubbing at the spot with a childish pout.

“He’s capable of breeding female hybrids and being bred by male hybrids. Humans too,” Yeosang adds, smelling the wave of disgust the others emit at the thought of a human touching one of them in such a way.

“Last I heard, he had been promised to a rich man, so he had been left off of the normal breeding programs until his heats were fully settled and his adopter was ready to pick him up,” Yeosang mentions, turning to look at his old friend with a sad gaze. He was glad at least that Wooyoung was here with them now, safe and hidden away from the human hands that would trap him.

“How do you know all of this, anyway? Didn’t you say he was in Japan all this time?” San asks him, not accusingly but merely curious.

“He was,” Yeosang confirms. “When I was in the facility here, they did some kind of exchange program and I was one of the hybrid children that were sent to Japan for a while. I think the reason was because I never ended up adapting to the serum as expected so they sent me there to see if the Japanese could make it work. That was where I met Wooyoung, the prime example of a successful omega hybrid and my first friend.”

“But how did he even get here?” Mingi asks.

“He only speaks Japanese so we’re not sure,” Jongho says.

“They might have been finally sending him to that rich guy who bought him,” Hongjoong theorizes.

“And what? He just got lost on the way like a package?” Mingi rebuts.

“He may have ran away,” Seonghwa says but Yeosang shakes his head.

“No, Wooyoung wouldn’t have run away. He doesn't think about humans like we do. He would've gone willingly.”

“What is he stupid?” Jongho scoffs.

“No!” San defends and Jongho immediately deflates under his hyung’s indignation. “Not all humans are bad. He was probably treated well and liked them enough to stay with them.”

“A nice cage is still a cage, San-ah,” Hongjoong intones softly and San’s shoulders dip under the grief he tries so hard to keep within him.

“Why don’t we just ask him?” Yunho offers, bringing them back to the present and not waiting for a response as he turns to face Wooyoung. The noguri hybrid looks at him with wary eyes and does his best not to buck under the direct stare of the large bear hybrid.

“Can you tell me how you got here?” Yunho asks him in Japanese.

Wooyoung immediately perks up at the familiar language, dismissing all of his caution and excitedly leaning forward as he begins to speak too fast about his journey.

“Slow down, jagiyah,” Yunho orders with a low tone, his dominating scent pulsing just slightly to give his words more power.

Wooyoung’s mouth is left gaping mid-sentence and the pack witnesses with amusement as the omega’s neck and ears flush in response to their handsome bear hybrid.

“Now, tell me again, slowly,” Yunho says.

The pack watches as the noguri hybrid beings to talk again, only a little slower this time but Yunho does not interrupt or correct him so it must be clear enough. The smaller hybrid waves his hand in dramatic synchronicity with his words and Yunho’s face turns down pensively the longer the story goes on. After a few minutes, he says, “Arigato,” to the hybrid before turning to interpret for the rest of them.

“I think the transport ship he was on from Korea was hijacked. Either by pirates or terrorists looking to kidnap and sell hybrids on the black market.”

“Fuck,” Jongho swears.

“How did he even make it out of that?” San asks worriedly.

“They beached the ship and made the hybrids swim to shore. Wooyoung and the boy were swept away by the current farther south until they got on the beach. Apparently nobody was watching them or noticed them disappearing,” Yunho recounts.

“He was lucky,” Seonghwa gravely points out.

“He says he was supposed be taken up north,” Yunho adds with a frown.

“Like North Korea-north?” Mingi clarifies.

“I think so.”

“That’s... They treat hybrids even worse across the border. Whoever his new owner was supposed to be...,” Jongho trails off, opting to let their imaginations speak for themselves.

“But he’s with us now. Right?” Yeosang asks, voice tinged with a strained hope.

“For how long?” The seven of them look at each other and cannot find an answer.

“Well, he and the kid can stay for now, at least. We have the room,” Seonghwa states, giving the room wide boba eyes at the thought of a child wandering around unprotected.

“Yeah, so far no one knows what has happened to him. They might think he just drowned or was captured by pirates never to be seen again,” Yunho mentions logically, casting his vote for the two outsiders to stay.

“Can he?” Yeosang pleads, staring at Hongjoong, their unofficial leader, for permission.

The skunk hybrid’s face shows nothing as he thinks about what to decide, knowing that the rest will follow his lead. He turns to Jongho and asks, “No one saw you or followed you?”

“No one followed us,” Jongho confirms.

He does not mention that the full market crowd saw the noguri hybrid in broad daylight leaving with the two of them. Yeosang keeps his eyes forward and his mouth shut.

“Fine, he and the kid can stay. If they prove themselves and do not interfere with our instincts, they can even stay for as long as they'd like,” Hongjoong concludes.

Yeosang lets out a sigh of relief, looking at Wooyoung with a happy smile that the noguri hybrid does not understand the reason for but has him smiling back just as brightly. He does not seem surprised in the least when Yunho informs him that the two of them will be staying, replying confidently, “Of course, I’m staying! Yeosang-ah’s here and I need to meet his pack. Don’t worry, I’ll be useful.”

The deer hybrid knows that the two of them have changed a lot and that living together again probably will not be the same as it was back in the facility when they were kids. Yet he knows nonetheless that life around the house now is going to become a lot more interesting with Wooyoung in its midst.