Sunrise ||| Ateez

25

In the days and weeks following San's injury, things seemed to fall back into a semi-normal routine.

Things were tense between Seonghwa and San, but they just avoided each other to make sure there was no more conflict.

Wooyoung made an effort to try and open up to the others. He ended up bonding pretty quickly with both Yunho and Yeosang as he went to them for parenting advice.

Wynter was growing up so fast, he almost couldn't handle it. She was getting louder and more talkative too, as if she was trying to carry on a conversations with the others.

One day, he was sitting on the living room floor with her and Grayson, watching them try to interact while waiting for Yunho to come join them.

Wynter picked up a small toy wolf and pounded it against the ground, crying out each time it made contact. Then she beamed as she held it up for Wooyoung to see.

"Wolf." Wooyoung said with a smile.

"Woo woo woo!" Wynter said as she waved the animal around.

"That's right baby!" Wooyoung praised and ran a hand through her thick black hair. She really did take after Seonghwa.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm here." Yunho groaned as he lowered himself to the floor. Grayson watched him with wide eyes. That was the phase he was in right now, watching everything.

"It's ok. I don't mind." Wooyoung said, grabbing a toy lion and walking it up Wynter's leg.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a moment before Yunho cleared his throat. "So... How are thing's going with Seonghwa?"

Wooyoung pursed his lips and focused on his daughter. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh come on. It's obvious that he cares for you. Are you still giving him the cold shoulder?"

"It is? I haven't really noticed..." Wooyoung looked to the side. He still felt like Seonghwa was more concerned about Wynter than him sometimes.

They had never really talked about San's bite after the bear-bomb was dropped, so he had no idea what the alpha would have done if San had attempted to claim him.

He could feel Yunho's eyes on him, but thankfully the beta didn't say anything else.

A short time later, Wooyoung felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise at the same time that the front door opened.

Seonghwa walked in carrying an armful of groceries. He smiled at the omega before turning into the kitchen, followed closely by Yeosang and Hongjoong.

Then Seonghwa appeared by his side. "Here, I got you something."

Wooyoung turned to see a bag of his favorite chips and a bag of trail mix. He could feel his cheeks turning red as he took the snacks. "Th-Thank you. You didn't have to do that."

"I know, but you said you missed them." Seonghwa said softly as he sat down and rubbed the back of the younger's head.

Wooyoung felt his wolf churn at the contact and leaned back into the touch.

Maybe Yunho was right...

And apparently he felt the need to gloat about it too.

He and Yeosang started teasing Wooyoung every second they could. They wanted so badly for Wooyoung to just give Seonghwa a chance and see them happy together instead of this 'dance' the two of them would do.

Wooyoung hated that word... Mostly because he didn't even know how to dance, but also because he didn't know what it was that he needed to be doing.

He cooked and cleaned for Seonghwa, took care of Wynter, got him things that he needed, slept by his side at night with Wynter in between them...

"Yeah that's the first thing that needs to go." Yeosang said as he and Wooyoung stood at the stove one night. "She needs to learn to be by herself. And that way you can cuddle into your man."

"Would you stop?" Wooyoung whined, hiding behind his hands.

"Nope." Yeosang popped the 'p' and smirked at Wooyoung.

The younger growled and shook his head while walking out of the kitchen. He ducked into his bedroom, wanting to pull on a light jacket. Even though spring was in full bloom, he still found he got cold a lot...

He reached for one of his hoodies and pulled it over his head, loving the way it enveloped him like a warm hug, and was about to leave when he saw something sitting on the bed.

A single, deep red rose was sitting on Wooyoung's side of the bed.

He brought his sleeve covered hands up to his mouth and hid behind them as he stepped forward.

There was no mistaking it, it was on his side of the bed.

Wooyoung smiled as he lowered one hand and shook it out of his sleeve to grab the stem. He brought the flower to his nose and inhaled.

It smelled so sweet and it instantly relaxed him.

He could feel the blush creeping into his cheeks at the thought of Seonghwa taking the time to lay this out for him in a place where he was sure to find it.

Maybe he did care...

Are you ok? Seonghwa's voice came into his head and made him jump.

Y-Yeah, why? Wooyoung internally cursed himself for stuttering over their link.

I can feel you're heart racing...

The omega could have sworn there was a hint of a smirk in the alpha's voice. I'm fine. He answered quickly.

Wooyoung turned to leave, smelling the rose one more time, before he gingerly set the flower down on the end table where he would see it every night.

He could fee Seonghwa's eyes on him as he walked past where the alpha was sitting on the couch with Hongjoong and Jongho, but he made sure to keep his eyes adverted as he hurried into he kitchen.

"Cold again honey?" Yeosang asked, taking in the fact that Wooyoung was being swallowed whole by his hoodie.

Wooyoung just hummed and nodded as he started pulling down plates.

He found a rose somewhere in the house every day for the next eleven days after that. It was always when no one else was around and in a place Wooyoung would easily find.

How Seonghwa was doing this, Wooyoung had no idea, but he loved it.

Neither one of them spoke of it at night either. Seonghwa was always fast asleep when Wooyoung came to bed after feeding Wynter. Part of him wondered if the alpha was faking it, but then again, he had taken on more patrols since the bear trap incident, so he was usually tired these days.

On the day he found the twelfth rose, there was a small note attached to it with delicate slated writing.

'Meet me out back at half past five. Please.'

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Written by flamewhipper