* * *
Then, right away, he grimaced.
No matter how much he had blurted it out in the heat of the moment, ‘cycle partner’ and ‘fuck buddy’ carried completely different nuances.
He knew that subtle difference better than anyone and regretted stirring things up unnecessarily.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
I misspoke. I’m sorry.
He was about to apologize like that.
“Fuck buddy…”
Cha Joobin echoed Yoochan’s words, one side of his lips curling into a smirk.
His expression hardened as if he couldn’t believe it, and his cheek puffed out as he rolled his tongue inside his mouth.
Yoochan scratched his head awkwardly.
They say people should keep their cool, but with his heat approaching, their slightly relaxed atmosphere was now freezing over again, both on edge.
Yoochan sighed sharply, his breath trembling as he scratched the back of his neck.
He knew more than anyone that an apology was the best solution, so he lowered his gaze.
“I misspoke. I’m sorry. Saying ‘fuck buddy’ was a bit—”
“It’s fine.”
Though Cha Joobin cut him off abruptly, this time, it was justified.
His expression still showed hints of hurt, and that made Yoochan feel uneasy.
But it didn’t last long.
Cha Joobin slammed the bedroom door shut, as if he had nothing more to say.
Yoochan, left standing there, could only feel a wave of helplessness wash over him.
“…Fuck buddy.”
Come on, even thinking about it again was ridiculous.
Cha Joobin let out another exasperated sigh as he sat down on his bed and picked up his phone.
With Yoochan’s heat right around the corner, his job was to adjust the schedule like Yoochan had mentioned.
After going to this much trouble for him, really?
“Fuck buddy?”
Seriously.
Joobin let out another annoyed sigh and immediately sent a message to his manager.
[Manager: Please clear my schedule for the next week.]
[Manager:
Out of the blue? Are you okay?]
His phone buzzed with a response almost immediately, displaying the not-so-welcome name ‘Manager’.
He wasn’t in the mood to answer, so he declined the call, which prompted another flood of texts.
[Manager:
??
Can’t answer your phone?
I heard you’re home]
[Me:
Yeah, I’m at home.
I’m not sick. Hyung’s going into heat soon.]
[Manager:
Ah, got it.
But why are you adjusting your schedule?]
Shouldn’t that be obvious? Why do I have to explain this?
Cha Joobin sighed again and dropped his phone on the bed.
He didn’t feel like continuing the conversation.
His manager had always been flexible with their schedules whenever their cycles aligned, and it was an industry norm.
But suddenly asking ‘why’?
He couldn’t find the words to respond, so he just stared at the conversation window.
More texts quickly followed.
[Manager:
ㅋㅋ so you guys are handling the cycle together, huh?
Well, it’s safer that way, I guess.
But ㅋㅋㅋㅋ aren’t you guys still fighting?]
“Ugh.”
Now it was obvious. His manager was teasing him.
Joobin’s face twisted in frustration as he tossed his phone aside.
He had already achieved his goal of getting the schedule adjusted, so that was that.
Flopping onto the bed, Joobin clicked his tongue as he recalled what Yoochan had said.
Fuck buddy.
How could he call it that?
Sure, it was my fault for poking at him by using ‘cycle partner,’ but calling it ‘fuck buddy’ in return was just too much…
“…So we’ve really broken up.”
Since they’ve broken up, even if they mixed their bodies for the cycle, all they’d be was fuck buddies.
But still, we spent so many years together…
Joobin puffed out his lips in frustration before rolling over.
Burying his face in the pillow, he soon found it hard to breathe and had to lift his head.
Resting his chin on the pillow, he blinked, still sporting a grumpy expression.
“I don’t know anymore.”
His head felt foggy, like he was lost in the mist.
Probably because he hadn’t gotten proper sleep these past few days.
It was inevitable, given that Yoochan, who was about to enter heat, had been constantly releasing pheromones right next to him.
Joobin thought back to how close they’d been in recent days.
During their first shoot, although they were acting for the camera, it hadn’t felt like any real emotions were exchanged. But this time was different.
Yoochan smiling brightly after hitting a strike, laughing fondly while reminiscing about the past, responding playfully to teasing, and giving him such warm looks…
“…Damn it.”
Joobin squeezed his eyes shut.
There was nothing good that could come from thinking about this.
His face quickly settled into a calm expression.
Meanwhile, the phone he’d left facedown buzzed again.
[Manager:
Schedule’s adjusted. You’ve got a busy week next.]
Joobin glanced at the screen and nodded numbly.
What does it matter if Yoochan’s going into heat and my schedule’s tight?
He replied with a brief ‘Yeah,’ and quickly got a response that the manager would follow up with the details later.
To that, he just answered with another simple ‘Yeah.’
“Did you get the schedule adjusted?”
Yoochan asked as he looked toward Cha Joobin, who was walking out of the room with his hair all messed up.
Ever since he’d stormed off into the bedroom the previous night, he hadn’t made a sound, completely ignoring the fact that Yoochan had been pacing in the living room the whole time.
The anxiety persisted into the morning.
Gong Yoochan rubbed his nose nervously, rolling his eyes to gauge his reaction.
His gaze had seemed slightly disappointed yesterday, but today, thankfully, nothing appeared to have changed.
“Hey, they’ve cleared my whole week for me.”
“Good thing it worked out. Thanks.”
Gong Yoochan smiled awkwardly.
After all, the schedule had been adjusted because of him, so he felt he had to express his gratitude.
Yet, Cha Joobin, acting as if nothing were out of the ordinary, casually came closer and rummaged through the refrigerator beside him.
“But.”
“What?”
“How could you think of going out and leaving me behind? If I went into rut, were you just planning to ignore me?”
Oh. I didn’t think that far ahead.
Gong Yoochan scratched his cheek, at a loss for words.
No matter what, though, he doubted he could have ignored Cha Joobin if he had gone into rut, and was about to shake his head when Cha Joobin suddenly stepped back, as if asking what he expected.
His face was utterly expressionless, as if he hadn’t expected a real answer anyway.
In his hands were two packs of bone broth—one of Gong Yoochan’s favorite foods, personally boiled by Cha Joobin’s grandmother in the countryside.
Upon seeing them, Gong Yoochan’s eyes lit up.
Just the sight of it made him feel like his condition was already improving.
“When did she send it? I didn’t see it before we went to Taean.”
“Two days ago. Manager-hyung got here early yesterday and put it in the fridge.”
She must have hurried to send it after hearing that Cha Joobin’s next project had started filming.
Gong Yoochan was about to decide to call her soon, but then froze for a moment.
Wait. We’re broken up now… Is it okay to call so casually…?
Maybe I’ll just send her a brief message instead, he thought, reaching out to take the bone broth from Cha Joobin’s hands.
Thwack.
With a rough scraping sound, his hand was slapped away.
Startled by the force, Gong Yoochan looked at Cha Joobin, who now had his brow furrowed in irritation.
“Quit being a bother and move out of the way.”
The sharp tone, which he hadn’t heard in days, snapped Gong Yoochan to attention.
He stared at Cha Joobin in shock, realizing that he had momentarily forgotten the harsher way he’d been speaking to him lately, even though he had been somewhat kind over the past few days.
“I was going to heat it up myself.”
“If you’ve got the energy to warm up soup, then why don’t you deal with your pheromones first?”
Does breaking up mean he doesn’t even see me as an alpha anymore?
Cha Joobin added in a low voice, deliberately twisting his head in the opposite direction, as if he couldn’t bear to smell Gong Yoochan’s pheromones anymore.
The wave of hurt that swept over Gong Yoochan felt overwhelming.
He used to say my pheromones were the best thing ever.
With his heat approaching, there was no way to suppress his pheromones.
It wasn’t as if Cha Joobin didn’t know that, so having him openly criticize him now was enough to make Gong Yoochan feel miserable.
Maybe it’s best if I just step aside, like he said.
Gong Yoochan decided it was better to avoid further confrontation and turned to walk away, stepping around Cha Joobin’s hardened expression.
He was heading toward the dining table to sit down.
But suddenly—
“Whoa, whoa…”
His vision spun as a hot wave of heat surged through his body.
His legs gave out beneath him, as if someone had struck his knees from behind, and he crumpled to the ground.
“Hyung!”
The same Cha Joobin who had been frowning and throwing out harsh words moments ago quickly sprang forward to catch Gong Yoochan before his head could hit the dining table.
His heart pounded with fear.
“Huuuh, ah…”
As Gong Yoochan exhaled a long breath, his pheromones began to pulse heavily into the air.
The atmosphere, which had previously felt light, suddenly became heavy and suffocating.
“This… isn’t right. You should’ve had the bone broth before your heat hit…”
Cha Joobin stared back and forth between the dazed Gong Yoochan and the milky broth, his expression filled with worry.
He had intended to make sure Gong Yoochan was prepared before his heat began, knowing how much energy it drained him.
But now…
Without warning, Gong Yoochan’s pheromones, heated by the onset of his heat, began to tug at Cha Joobin’s own alpha instincts, making him crave closeness.
Their lips met without either of them really deciding to do so.
“Hyung, let’s go to the room. It’ll be more comfortable there.”
No alpha could resist the scent of an omega deep in heat, especially not when that omega was Gong Yoochan.
Cha Joobin spared no further thought for the bone broth and instead scooped Gong Yoochan up, carrying him into the bedroom.
The moment they reached the bed, neither could hold back any longer, and they rushed into each other’s arms, driven by a mutual hunger stoked by their overwhelming pheromones.
* * *
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😥