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2026-01-28
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Trial by Grace

Summary:

She dials Jisu’s number before opening the door.

There is a groggy - “Hello?”

“How do we make this work, if we were to… “ - her blood pumps inside her head, she feels about to explode - “How do I…?”

Her voice sounds stupid even to her own ears, she can’t even bring herself to say hello back.

The alpha feels pathetic.

“Have you talked to your doctor?”

“Fuck him. I am not taking that shit anymore, my hormone levels haven’t changed at all for the last three months. I don’t want to sleep without you anymore.”

Notes:

Huge thank you for yael and ddeongies for helping me out with ideas and pushing me to write even more smut than I could think about when I started this prompt... i love you guys <3

Also, this is a big fuck you to anyone who is going with the wave of conservatism we are seeing in fandom spaces, my first yejisu work posted this year that non registered users can read and I can brave the quiet, soft and poisonous fascism we are seeing when related to omegaverse and lesbian/queer works. I want to quote my favorite post ever and just say 'My friend, writing is just thoughts copied onto paper, and thinking is not a crime. Only actual actions can be crimes. What does it matter what other people think about? Literally so what? Why do you want people to be stopped from thinking about those things? Why do you care? Do you feel that an author should provide a list of justifications and excuses before it's permissible for them to write about something? Why? And who do you think should be in charge of that? The government???? YOU???????' Go read it and give it some thought if you felt offended by my questions!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

The ring to the convenience store door makes an awful noise, a mix between a ding and the scratching of the rusty door. 

A girl walks in, but Yeji pays her no mind, which is a mistake, because, even with a mask, her scent is completely overwhelming. Immediately she knows she is in trouble, Jisu and her are absolutely not allowed to meet during the time being. 

She looks up, thinking about running away towards the door, but forgets it all when their eyes meet. 

“Hi.”

Yeji raises a clumsy hand, Yuna’s choice of drink still in her hand, so it mostly looks like she is shaking a can of monster. 

Jisu looks the same. 

It should not surprise her. 

Maybe she put on a little weight, her cheeks fuller, her eyes shining bright. 

“Late night snack run?”

Yeji nods, her cap and mask must make it almost impossible for Jisu to see her face, but the sign is universal and she is unwilling to open her mouth and talk to Jisu. 

“Right” - the girl says, awkward and looking to the side like she is thinking about what to say. 

Yeji keeps her ground, her mouth shut closed. Her heart pounds loud enough for her to be sure Jisu can listen to it, but mostly Yeji just feels a burning sensation of being seen. 

She bites down her lips, bites down the urge to question about the other woman. 

In silence, Yeji moves her feet, clumsy in front of Jisu and goes towards the self checkout. 

“I was hoping to see you.”

The bile comes up to her mouth, something of strength comes back. 

“Why?”

“Because…”

Yeji shakes her head. 

They are not supposed to be together. 

There is a proper alpha claiming Jisu and breaking their bond to shreds. 

“Why are you outside alone?”

“She is in the car.”

Yeji moves her head, looks to the glass wall of the convenience store and sees Jisu’s black sedan outside. 

“Doesn’t she know better than that?”

“I am just buying snacks.”

Yeji laughs, sarcastically, shakes her head. 

“Of course you are.”

Yeji looks at her again, Jisu is close now, closer than she should be. And she feels the familiar pain of having Jisu’s scent wrapping around her, the underwear Manager got for her are completely uncomfortable. 

The hormone shots should’ve helped by now. The doctor said to not see the omega, at all, under any circumstances, so they can have a better recovery. He told her to ‘not worry’. 

“You should go back into the car, Jisu.”

Her breathing starts getting ragged, rapid. 

“No.”

Yeji shakes her head. If she lowers her mask, there will be an overwhelming wave of strawberries, omega slick that will make Yeji shiver. 

“Do you have any idea of what I had to do to convince her to let me come here alone, because I knew you were here?”

“Jisu.”

Yeji knows what Jisu did, because her lips are swollen and her hair is absolutely disheveled. 

“Did you go on your knees?”

She recognizes the burning inside now, anger, alpha instincts. She is jealous. 

Jisu should only look like this because of her. 

“Does it matter?”

She nods. Jisu raises a hand to touch her, maybe lower her mask. 

Yeji grabs her hand in the air - “Don’t touch me.”

And regrets it immediately, Jisu’s skin is a deep contrast against the denim jacket. It is warm, silk to the touch. 

Yeji is weak. 

She brings it to her face, presses it against the mask. 

Jisu lets her do as she pleases. They are only in this mess because Yeji is weak, and Jisu lets her do whatever she wants with her. 

The omega presses their bodies closer, another hand coming to her shoulder, to hold both of them steady. 

“You are hard.”

She nods, growing used to the sensation. 

It started as a stupid sensation, that was all it was. 

A pathetic want to be inside Jisu, but back then, she was young and the other omega was so beautiful. There was so much slick, so much confusion on why it felt so good to move behind her as they danced. 

Then it started. 

A transformation. 

“Is it better with her?”

Jisu shakes her head, moves her face just enough to press her face to Yeji’s neck. 

She whines, Jisu smiles and presses kisses to her neck. 

“Shhh” - the omega whispers - “I missed you so much.”

Yeji drops her hand, and feels her heart swelling. There is heat under her skin, and there is barely anything holding her up other than the way Jisu’s waist feels under her hands. 

The doctor called it a phenomenon, an evolutionary advantage to maximize reproductive opportunities. 

Except they are not in a populational crisis, and they are famous people and… God, this is the twenty-first century for christ sakes. 

So the omega was sent away, Yeji was being poked by needles daily to get her hormones back at their correct levels, and all would be well in about twelve months. 

If only… 

If only Yeji wasn’t blindly in love with Jisu. 

If only she didn’t know how the omega’s mouth tasted, the sounds she makes when they are in bed, or the way she smiles when waking up lazy in the mornings. 

If only Yeji wasn’t also an omega.

“‘Su.”

They both know that if Yeji goes into ‘rut’ it is irreversible. And they were set apart just in time to pull them back to earth. 

A limbo, not a proper alpha, not a real omega. The thing inside her pants might be enough to please Jisu, but not to break a heat. 

So separated they were. 

Other idols don’t talk about this, as taboo as it is. And Yeji has never heard of another omega going through it, or another alpha. 

There are… gossip, talks. But she cannot bring herself to pay attention to them. 

“I am not going to let her bite me” - Jisu whispers, thinking this is what Yeji must be thinking about - “I am… I love you, Yeji. Stop this and let us try, I am sure we can manage it…”

Yeji looks at her, her hair so soft, her skin so sweet. She wants to say yes, slave to her desires.

“Jisu” - the alpha, her voice in a low tone. 

Yeji looks up. 

Her lips are also swollen, and there are marks to her neck. The other girl is smaller than her, a friend of Jisu who the omega managed to trick into this mess with them. They were never introduced, and Yeji does not even want to learn her name. 

“I am sorry” - Yeji says, before thinking much about it, the words burn her inside out - “I… grabbed her.”

She pulls away from Jisu, holds the omega steady, and swallows the burning anger. 

“Go” - she says, feeling the way Jisu is shaking - “I will see you sooner than you think, and it will be okay again.”

Yeji feels Jisu giving up, nods and twirls enough that with a few steps she is falling into the alpha’s arms. 

“Yeji” - the alpha says… she is apologetic, and seems sweet. 

But Yeji can barely pay attention to anything but the way Jisu sighs, hides her tears, the way the alpha has her hands pressed against the meat of Jisu’s waist, to her muscles. 

To what belongs to her. 

“Don’t let her out of your sight again” - she says, back into being Itzy’s leader - “And without a mask or a hat? What if it were a fan? You are supposed to care for her!”

She turns and walks away without looking back, exhausted. 

Yeji bites down her tongue, feels pain, the coppery blood. Anything to avoid indulging in the wish to go back and grab Jisu. 

-

The house smells like christmas, the girls are trying to bake some pinterest inspired cake and it makes everything hurt worse. 

“Yeji!”

She sighs, starts pulling her shoes off and nodding to herself. 

She is at home. 

She is at home. She is not outside, there is no need to be this angry, pathetically small anger that doesn’t stop to beat. 

Maybe it is her heart, this new heart. 

“Did you bring the soda?”

Yeji nods, not even sure what is happening. 

She walked all the way from their usual convenience store to another, one where the cashier doesn’t know her at all, is not kind enough to pretend he is not gasping as she taps her phone to the paying machine. 

Yuna is the one who comes to help her with the bags, looks at her curiously. 

“Are you okay?”

She nods, voice long gone into something small, where she can only cough. 

“Yeah” - she says, rough - “Kind of… The mask helped.”

Yuna nods. The only alpha among them, and somehow, now, the only one who seems able to understand Yeji’s struggles. 

“I told you it would.”

They sit in the kitchen island, and Yeji watches the girls cooking. 

There is batter, somehow, everywhere but she cannot find in herself the energy to be angry or even think too much about it. 

Ryujin pours them a sip, not much more, since production can come back at any moment, and they have to keep up their sizes. It is easier now, with so much stress flooding their system. 

She watches Chaeryeong pour everything in their molds, so properly contained. 

“I saw Jisu.”

Three heads turn to her, all with comically large eyes, surprise shining in their scents and making Yeji sneeze. 

She coughs up, and somehow through trying to breathe properly, tears make their way into her eyes. 

“What the fuck am I doing to her?”

The girls look at each other, lost and absolutely confused about what to do with their mess of a leader. 

And once the tears come, they take a long time to stop. Ryujin pats her back in a rhythm Yeji can’t recognize and Chaeryeong pours more soda into her cup, forcing her to take a sip while Yuna dries her tears. 

“You saw her?”

A nod. Yeji doesn’t even know who is talking to her. 

“What did she say?”

“Jisu things.”

The girls smile, Yuna laughs almost instinctively. 

“Like the sky is blue?”

They joke, trying to make her feel calmer. Yeji just nods along. 

“She said we could make it work.”

The room falls silent again. They don’t like talking about it, and are barely comfortable with the fact Jisu had to leave, that they had to take a hiatus, or how whenever they start to, the room explodes in tension they don’t address. 

“I should’ve gone instead of her, it would've been easier.”

Ryujin clears her throat - “It wouldn’t, not with you being our leader. The story was much more convincing with Jisu leaving for a mental break.”

They continue to breathe, the girls continue to look at her for guidance. Yeji doesn’t seem to be able to hold her shit for long enough. 

“You guys are talking to her, right?”

Yuna nods. 

“I don’t think this shit is working at all.”

Chaeryeong bites her lip. 

“Why don’t you tell her to come back then, unnie?”

Yeji shakes her head - “I can’t… The doctors say it will never be enough…”

Yuna scoffs, Yeji looks up. There is that burning again, their eyes cross, and Yuna truly looks at her. 

“You haven’t tried… You are always telling us about trying one more time, but this isn’t you, unnie, and I am tired of bowing my head and being quiet” - alpha to alpha, Yeji raises her brow - “What do you think will happen in six months when the treatment is done, Yeji? She will come back and you will stop feeling like an alpha?”

The air around them grows cold, warm, intense, all at the same time. Yuna looks so much bigger than Yeji, the handkerchief she used to dry the leader’s tears still in her hand. 

“Yuna…”

Yuna smiles, like this is child play, like she finally is seeing Yeji for what she is. 

The burning inside her chest is intense, her heart pounds, her head aches and screams at her to move, to scent Yuna back into her place in the pack dynamics.

“You smell spicy, unnie, angry. Are you angry?”

Yeji swallows. 

Ryujin shakes her head, walks in front of Yeji and breaks their eye contact. 

“Stop” - she says - “We do not do things like this.”

Yuna shakes her head. 

“Alphas do” - Yuna, their youngest, she understands Yeji - “It is in our nature, right, Yeji-ya?”

Chaeryeong sighs - “Yuna… stop. This isn’t something to make fun of.”

Yeji brings her hand up to her hair, scratches her scalp. There is defeat around the younger girls, and Yuna just sighs. 

“You know I am right, she knows I am right” - the youngest alpha says, voice dripping with sarcasm, with anger for the things they do not talk about - “What is the point of just calling Jisu and she is crying, coming home and Yeji is stinking up the place with her alpha scent.”

The alpha bites her tongue with the mention of Jisu crying. She is absolutely tired, she doesn’t want to fight with the pups. 

“And then what do I do? C’mon” - Yeji sighs, looks at them with her eyes, help me - “Let’s debate this as a group. The doctor said I could never… knot.”

The word is heavy on her tongue, embarrassed, bold. The fight dies in Yuna’s eyes, and the girls look around, find no one to help and end up just sitting down around her on the kitchen island. 

There is a beat, then a whisper from Ryujin. 

“There are toys.”

Yeji groans, this is more than she had ever wanted to discuss with them, ever

“Surely you know, unnie… From before.”

Yeji looks at Charyeong, her eyes shining with compassion. The fire from before is gone, and she feels just the mute deception of not having answers, being less than what they need. 

She shakes her head, the movement small, just enough to make them gasp. 

“Never? You… a heat?”

She looks at her hands, realizing they are holding the other, her own fingers white with the strength of her own hold. 

“Never.”

Yeji knows Ryujin and Chaeryeong are looking at each other, curious, probably telling each other to not ask, even if they want to. 

It is Yuna who breaks apart the silence, eyes showing compassion. Yeji wants to hold her hand, but there is something off in the air yet, something she doesn’t know how to fix.

“It is a fake knot, Yeji, you press a pump and it inflates.”

She nods without looking up. 

“And that would work?”

Ryujin is far too red to answer, but Chaeryeong nods - “We spend our heats alone, it does work.”

-

The bathroom has been a struggle since it began. There is a mess of parts inside her underwear, and Yeji is still growing used to it. 

The penis, as the doctors explained, has no value other than reproduction and Yeji still has to feel small and sit on the toilet for a wee. 

It is early in the morning and she has to finish peeing, wash her hands, and take her hormone shot against the side of her ass. 

Instead, she sits on the toilet and googles omega toys. 

There is an assortment of things that make her gag, surprised, warm. The sizes are surprising, even if they shouldn't be, but the assortment of colors is pleasing, and intense. 

Yeji giggles while looking, some make her laugh, but some… 

“Fuck.” 

She is growing hard. 

“Ugh” - she whispers, closes her phone and goes into cleaning up so she can leave.

The hormone basket is underneath the sink, clean and waiting. Yeji doesn’t look at it. Washes her hand and takes none. 

She takes one last look at herself in the mirror, barely recognizes herself. The face staring back at her is hollow, empty of its devotion, no light to her eyes. 

Her tits are barely existing now, only a speck of what they were, and there is much, much more hair everywhere. Shaving for the comeback will be awful, that is why Yuna always complains so much. 

She dials Jisu’s number before opening the door. 

There is a groggy - “Hello?”

“How do we make this work, if we were to… “ - her blood pumps inside her head, she feels about to explode - “How do I…?”

Her voice sounds stupid even to her own ears, she can’t even bring herself to say hello back. 

The alpha feels pathetic. 

“Have you talked to your doctor?”

“Fuck him. I am not taking that shit anymore, my hormone levels haven’t changed at all for the last three months. I don’t want to sleep without you anymore.”

Jisu breathes in, and out. 

Yeji hangs on to her breathing, rests against the closed door, and waits. 

Breathes with Jisu. Can’t wait anymore, the adrenaline feels insane inside her. 

“I can go and pick you up.”

Jisu sighs - “We have to go to a rut center, stay there until we make it work. I don’t… I never had an alpha in rut.”

Yeji shrugs - “It is not like I am a proper alpha… The girls told me to get you a knotting toy and figure it out.”

There is a beat on the other side of the line, Jisu is moving somewhere, probably sitting up. 

“You think your rut will trigger my heat?”

The alpha breathes in - “It did that time, didn’t it?”

Jisu seems to giggle. 

The memory is not a fond one, at least not to Yeji. It felt very curious at first, so much slick, so much of her already inside, the warmth felt blinding. 

It was Jisu who pushed her off. Mid kisses feeling absolutely intense, pushing Yeji until she was out, until she could feel the cold air of the room against the wetness of her cock, all to pull her back on top, to move comfortably.

She knew something was wrong by the way Jisu was breathing, by the way she whimpered ‘alpha’ against Yeji’s lips. Getting off the bed was hard, harder than anything she had ever done. 

That was months ago. 

“Yeah” - a beat - “I already have a… toy.”

Yeji closes her eyes, melts down until she is sitting on the floor. It is impossible for her to control her body now, not like this, she feels it tent against her shorts. 

She shakes her head, this is an important conversation, she is… fuck, she is leaking pre for Jisu, there is slick there somewhere. 

“So, I don’t have to buy one?”

“Not really, I am… more comfortable with this one, I know it will work for this first time, is that okay?”

Yeji sniffles, nods. 

“‘Su, I don’t… I shouldn’t have let you go to her last night” - she feels the burning, it is too early to be feeling like this. 

Yeji closes her eyes, feeling Yuna’s gaze still challenging her, feeling Jisu’s alpha friend looking at her with pity. It manifests into a growl - “You are mine.”

“Yeji…”

“I will call the managers, and the rut center.”

There is breathing on the other side of the line, deep. Jisu is nervous. 

“And your doctor.”

“No. I am letting it be, my body is moving on its own,  let it do what it needs to do.”

Jisu laughs, something of sarcasm to it. 

“I am not asking, Yeji” - the omega says - “I want you healthy, and conscious of what is happening.”

She sighs. 

“Yeah, okay” - a beat - “And then, can I come pick you up?”

Jisu hums - “Yeah. I will see you in a bit?”

“Mhm. I love you, ‘Su.”

The other girl giggles - “Okay sappy, I love you too.”

-

Documents. So many fucking documents. 

“Is this for real?” - Jisu asks from her side - “We didn’t even sign so much shit when we debuted.”

Manager nods - “Yeah honey, but now you are taking a mate and there is a chance of pregnancy. We have to debate it all before.”

Yeji rolls her eyes. They analyzed her ‘sperm’, made her jerk off in a cup to pretty pictures of omegas in compromising positions. She remembers the results - “A chance of zero comma zero zero zero zero one percent.”

Manager looks at her with angry eyes - “A chance is still a chance, Yejiya.”

She bows her head, shuts up and lets Jisu ask the many other questions the omega seems to have. 

“Condoms are non negotiable” - Manager says - “Since you are both opting out hormones.”

She nods, they have never done it with condoms, but… Yeji supposes it makes sense, omegas are only fertile when they are in heat, she only started producing sperm, or whatever it is that comes out of her body, recently.

The Manager puts a box of trojans in front of them, Yeji reads the label, thirty six condoms kept in a tiny box, small size. She grunts in shame, going back into signing an authorization to be sedated if she loses control of her own consciousness. 

The mask makes her nose itch, and she sniffles. 

“According to state laws, you are not allowed in the rut rooms for any longer than fifteen days” - Manager says - “It starts with a five day stay that progressively adds more days based on what the health team thinks is necessary.”

Jisu nods. Yeji coughs. 

“Will they go inside our room?”

Manager shakes her head - “There are biomarker checks associated with your pheromones outside your rooms at all times, on both of you… They will know.”

The alpha thinks this is absurdly complex, and continues signing. Now it is a document accepting a hormone shot at the end of the rut, something associated with replenishing the body of all the calories and vitamins they will spend. 

Yeji signs another, and another. 

She knows she is supposed to read them all thoroughly, because they will tell the difference between Jisu and her knowing what to do in case of an emergency. 

But there is something in the air, something pulsating through her veins. 

The doctor called it instinct. As soon as they dropped the hormone shots, and Yeji was finished with her rut, the alpha would start being accompanied by a licensed psychotherapist, a doctor who accompanies only people like her

He was much kinder when she talked with him over the phone, telling her to not give it up, to feel things as they showed themselves to her. He called the burning she was used to feeling just alpha instinct. 

Now, said instinct is just telling her to sign everything as quickly as possible so she can go back to kissing the scent of the other alpha out of Jisu’s system. 

She is exhausted of the freshness to the strawberry scent, she wants the usual sugary sweet syrup, the one that feels like honey under her tongue. 

The one that is hers. Her flowery mix with Jisu’s strawberry, her own vanilla and something of spring in the air. 

They exchanged maybe two kisses before the Manager coughed up, the one driving them to the rut center, and tossed them an open box of masks. 

-

Their room is somewhat uninteresting. 

Yeji hates the way her arm burns from the biomarker collection the nurse just did. And she is itching to lay down, get off her denim pants and back into the comfort of her boxer shorts. 

Manager got her a whole new set when she decided to stop the hormones, and laughed as if it was a joke instead of a necessity; something about Yuna only wearing pink jockstraps. 

They are comfortable now, or are at least beginning to feel comfortable as she produces less slick, more constant boners. 

Boners. 

She blushes. 

“What are you giggling about?”

Jisu is already laying down on the bed, one of the only pieces of furniture they have in the room. 

“Nothing really” - she says, putting their bags on the ground beside her feet. 

The omega watches as Yeji crosses the room, walking towards open arms and a teasing smile. Jisu opens her legs, an invitation for Yeji to lay on top of her, to kiss and see how it feels after so long apart. 

She shakes her head. 

“I want to look at you for a bit.”

Yeji is not sure where Jisu’s mask went, probably crumbled somewhere on the floor of their apartment. She smiles, moves her hands to her ears, pulls the elastic swift in her movements. 

Jisu’s scent should be a crime, should be bottled and sold as a sexual pheromone, as home, as love. 

It is sweet, it penetrates her mind like a bullet. 

Jisu watches as she sniffs the air, and there is a moment there, of silence, of things they can communicate without speaking. 

“God” - she says, to herself, or to others, or to God himself - “I have no idea how I went so long without you.”

Jisu laughs - “You were being a martyr, it seems to be in your nature to not know how to just be.”

She pulls her shirt off, in the middle of clothes, says back to Jisu - “The only thing I know how to be is yours.”

“You are a psycho.”

Yeji smiles. Throws everything into the ground to look at Jisu and taste more of her scent. 

“They are smaller” - Jisu says, looking at Yeji’s skin and licking her lips - “What did they say about these changes?”

“That they will happen, my body is set to change more now that I stopped the blockers.”

She shrugs, does the most stupidly alpha stuff and flexes her arms, poses like a body builder to make Jisu laugh. It works, enough so to make them melt into a comfortable snickering. 

The alpha just looks at first, as Jisu’s arms get more comfortable against her chest, as the omega’s breast moves up and down as she breathes. 

“You smell so good” - she says, partially because it is the truth, partially because she cannot think when she is with Jisu. 

The omega blushes, looks up and blinks slowly. 

“You could taste it, directly from me, you know?”

It is enough to make Yeji rest, to smile and climb on top of Jisu like she's done multiple times.

Their lips meet without needing to practice, the touch familiar, soft, warm. And so, so hot. Jisu’s lips seem to always make her forget who they are, what they are doing, where they were supposed to be. 

Instead she just lets herself feel it; The omega’s knees bent, hugging her waist, their sexes touching despite the barriers, her chest, now mostly flat, pressing against the soft cotton of Jisu’s sweater. 

The omega’s hands travel to her waist, pull her closer and drag at her skin. Jisu seems to be equally addicted to their love making, maybe even missed this as much as she did. 

Yeji can tell as much by her hands travelling up, scratching skin, squeezing muscles, copping a breast. She moans, the first of the night, when Jisu rolls her nipple between expert fingers. 

The omega swallows the sound, and moves her hips to press against Yeji’s boner, the sensation maddening, the feeling of just wanting and wanting even more. 

One hand goes up, holds her steady just beside Jisu’s shoulder, the other moves in a trance. Yeji wants to touch skin, wants to grip it with her fingers and bite it. 

She moves, touches a portion of Jisu’s cotton pants, slithers her finger in a gap and finally finds skin. The omega’s tummy is soft against her, just the right amount of fur that's been growing, the fat that is new and welcomed. 

“Did she fuck you?”

Jisu blinks up, like she didn't understand the question. Yeji is not even sure where it came from, or how she separated their lips to ask. But now it is there, stupid and loud, much like the obnoxious bleeding of the instinct inside of her. 

“What?”

“Did she fuck you, like this?”

Jisu swallows, Yeji watches it happen. Her throat bobs and the alpha looks, licks her lips. Everything in her mouth tastes like strawberry, shortcake, syrupy running honey that makes her thoughts hazy.

“Answer me.”

Jisu nods, hands still resting on the alpha’s ribcage. Yeji burns, and it feels good, intensity and energy burning inside out.

“What did she do?”

Jisu falls back onto the bed with a big huh sound, her eyes remain open as she looks at the ceiling. Hands go to rest on top of her chest for only a minute before she sits up, flexes abs Yeji knows are hiding in there, and pulls her sweater off. 

“Why am I not surprised you got into rut and got all jealous?”

Yeji wants to argue, she is not jealous, she is… possessive. But suddenly Jisu is naked, and there is just… tits, perky and calling to her mouth. 

“Fuck.”

She forgets all about the other alpha, sits on her knees and allows her hands to go up to them. Perfect fit, as always, inside her hand. 

“You are such an alpha, Yeji.”

She nods, squeezes and feels on cloud nine. 

“Take more off.”

Jisu rolls her eyes and Yeji just crashes their lips together. A perfect match, warm that was once cozy but now just feels like fire under her skin. Their tongues touch, the taste familiar, the only one Yeji has ever had. 

“More.”

Jisu raises her hips as Yeji moves her hand on instinct, pushing them down while kissing lips. It turns messy in a second, too much tongue, too much of Jisu’s slick scenting the air. 

Her mouth goes south, kisses Jisu’s chin, jaw, and her neck. Tastes the scent, the strawberry with her tongue and feels her mind swirl into it, her hips move accordingly. 

Jisu helps her with the pants when Yeji loses her focus and worries more about palming skin, groping muscles, feeling the gentleness of the omega. 

The girl has more control than her alpha, Yeji doesn’t mind, as long as she can smell Jisu’s skin and have something touching her lips, she is alright. 

“Wait, baby, let me take this off.”

She sucks a hickey on Jisu’s collarbone while holding herself ‘steady’ enough to allow the omega to shimmy out of her pants, panties. Yeji hears Jisu throwing them somewhere in the room, doesn’t give a flying fuck. 

Not now with the scent coming into her nostrils unfiltered, raw, woman, omega and hers

“This is mine” - she groans, feeling feverish, not knowing what she is truly talking about. 

“Yes, yes” - Jisu moans, moves her face to capture Yeji’s lips into a kiss again - “Yours.”

They whine unto each other when Yeji fits back between Jisu’s legs. She can’t feel anything, not properly, not with this damn denim on. But the alpha feels drunk on the sensation of Jisu against her, of knowing Jisu can feel. 

“It is bigger” - the omega says, hands moving to palm her ass, press them closer. 

“Doctor said it would…” - she whines when Jisu squeezes, letting the omega feel the bubble of her shape. 

This too has changed, everything, from the way she walks to the way she breathes. But nothing changes about the way she kisses Jisu, hungry, feverish. 

The omega’s fingers go to her belt, feel her waist for the button of her pants. Yeji groans, because the pressure feels good, close to where she really wants Jisu to touch and she melts, moves her hips and goes to kiss Jisu’s chest. 

“‘Su…”

The movement is far too easy, they are far too used to it, the zipper opens with a bit of struggle from the omega as they breathe the same air, the pants immediately go saggy, and it is easy for Jisu to find the little hole in her shorts. 

“It is way bigger” - Jisu says, out of breath, teasing the tip with her fingers and making Yeji see stars. 

“Sensitive” - the alpha says, already bound to senseless words - “Sensitive, please.”

She is gonna bust just like this, embarrassed and half naked, not even inside Jisu yet, not even allowing the omega to see it in all its glory. 

Jisu takes no pity for her. 

“Come on, baby, do you wanna cum for me?”

The alpha whines, nods, licks more skin, sucks a nipple into her mouth, whatever it is to make her feel better, to make Jisu make pleasure sounds that make her shiver. 

She humps Jisu’s hands, finding more friction into the space between the omega’s fingers, whines. 

“I love you” - the omega says into her hair before squeezing her head and making Yeji see stars. 

It is quite pathetic, a small and tiny amount of a semi clear fluid shooting into the space between Jisu’s hand, cunt, and the bed. It feels sticky when it lands on her shorts, and when Jisu wipes most of it on the covers. 

Immediately, Yeji wants to go again. 

“You love me?”

The omega laughs - “That is what you are thinking about?”

She nods, raises her head and captures Jisu’s lips in a kiss. 

“I love you too.”

-

Jisu is resting on top of her when Yeji first whines.

“What?”

She pulls the omega down towards her, kisses her neck, now marked. Yeji wants to see her under the day light, or under the moon. She has long lost a sense of time, locked inside this windowless room. 

“Baby…” - Jisu’s hands come to caress her face, bringing her to look at the omega’s eyes. Yeji can’t see properly - “Tell me what is wrong.”

“Uncomfy” - She moves her hips, raises her hips and Jisu consequently - “Condom.”

The omega laughs and Yeji looks up, confused, warm. 

“You are being mean” - Jisu nods, kisses her cheek. 

It is the movement that makes Yeji growl, her first ever, alpha sound moving from the inside to the outside to surprise Jisu and herself. It feels good, delicious even, to express her want in a way that feels proper.

The omega tries to move, to raise her hips so she can put a new condom on Yeji, she knows this, she isn’t stupid… the alpha just can't bear thinking about not being inside Jisu. 

“No” - she says, hands moving to hips, pulling the omega down with brute force - “Don’t move.”

The omega submits, stays put under Yeji’s hands, her face is soft, passive, though there is something tense in her eyes, something of her not knowing this Yeji, where to go, what to do. 

The ‘sorry’ melts inside her throat, she is not sorry, she shouldn’t lie. Jisu shouldn’t move. She wants the omega here, close, naked on top of her, hands on either side of her face, resting herself up, allowing Yeji to look at her neck, her collarbones so sharp. 

There is only a beat of silence here, Yeji groans. The condom feels tight, stupid and blatantly uncomfortably wet. 

“I will change it” - she says, she is still hard, and it will just feel more uncomfortable with Jisu taking it out of her. 

The omega nods, and this time Yeji allows her to move. She rolls, lays down on the pillows beside Yeji, and the alpha just whines, closing her eyes. She feels the wet cold air immediately, and looks down. 

“How are you still hard?”

She shrugs, it is definitely enough now, especially with the condom on, making it look snug and proper. Yeji can see the seed pooling on the top, knows she has to pull it off and tie its end, open another one, roll it down. 

Jisu keeps talking - “I am not going to be able to walk after this, at all…”

She doesn’t acknowledge the omega, merely looks at it. It looks like a proper cock, small but definitely much, much different than how it was months ago when she and Jisu merely started hooking up. 

The condom comes off with a sigh and a worried expression, she doesn’t tie it and merely throws it on the floor. 

“Ew, Yeji…”

The omega giggles, but the alpha just looks at her, smiles because she is smiling. 

“I will clean it up, later.”

They look at each other and Jisu moves, caresses Yeji’s face with her hand and kisses her cheek. Their legs touching, warm and sensitive, the alpha’s hand goes to her waist, moves to the side so they can kiss gently. 

It turns into warmth, rapidly building into fire, into hands scratching her scalp, her back. There is barely any air inside her lungs, but Yeji keeps kissing, lowers a hand to raise Jisu’s leg to open her and let the alpha put it back in. 

The head caresses her entrance and Jisu whines - “Wait, Yeji-ya, wait.”

The alpha sighs, sags against Jisu. 

“I know, I know…” - it is hard to break apart from the omega, but something inside her knows this is the proper way to do it. 

The plastic tin foil of the condom shakes in her hands when she finds it somewhere in the bedside. She doesn’t remember setting the box there, but her brain knows it is there.

Yeji doesn’t want Jisu to do it, because every time she does it they just waste it with how fast the alpha’s orgasm accumulates in her and blows it before she has a chance to feel the omega as she wants to. 

“Do you want me to open it for you?”

She growls, and Jisu laughs. 

“Okay, okay” - a kiss to her nose, Yeji’s hand touches Jisu’s stomach when she rips the little package open. 

She squeezes the latex with her fingers, gathers the lube from the package and feels everything a little too sticky to be pleasant. 

It isn’t nice when it unwraps around her, she has to move her hand, her hips, fist it and make sure it is in the right place. Under Jisu’s watchful gaze is even harder, she feels nervous, she wants the omega to enjoy her. 

“It is still so hard.”

Yeji rolls her eyes, and doesn't bite the praise. She doesn’t feel the comedy inside, just wants to be inside the omega and breathe strawberries in. 

“Shut up, ‘su” - she says, turns, and grabs the omega’s right thigh with ease, the other hand going down to the base of her member, to line up and go back inside - “This okay?”

It goes in with surprisingly ease, the movement used, Yeji is not even sure how she is doing this for so long. How isn’t she passed out, sleepy or out of breath. 

It is, at most, warm, wet, and cavernous. Feels tight and somehow, sweet, and intense. Jisu’s breathing against her face only serves to intensify what she is feeling, how quickly she falls into the grinding, sweet movement against her hips. 

She moves little, focusing on moving Jisu’s hips with her hands. The alpha wants Jisu on top again, because it feels the best, she can just plant her feet against the bed and thrust up into the heat without letting the omega do all the work. 

“Fuck.”

Their lips find each other and Yeji feels as the omega grinds back into her, it is easy to get lost in it, to let Jisu have her, find pleasure in her skin, to use the alpha as just a means to an end. 

It is not long, Yeji is not striving for long, or for anything other than the ability to breathe. She can make Jisu cum later, when they are at home, in their bed, their nest

Right now, Yeji needs to squeeze the softness of Jisu’s naked ass and rut into her until their scents finally feel mixed, fluid and blending into each other. Their overwhelming sweetness, finally, back to her. 

She nods, along, is washed away with the sounds the omega is making, and spills inside the condom. There is a beat here, it keeps going, longer than the usual, than the ones before this one. 

They look at each other, Yeji spasming with the tidal wave of the sensation. 

“Baby?”

She grunts, moves more of Jisu towards her, to the pressure that is pulsating there. Could it be? She tries to put more inside, feels it swelling just a slither, just enough to let her feel the extra firmness there. 

“Holy fuck.”

The alpha closes her eyes, feels the instinct, walks towards it. Jisu pulls her close, hugs her shoulder and lets Yeji hide her face against neck and chest as they move until the alpha is on top of her. 

The omega opens her legs, only to lock them around Yeji’s hips, move more inside. It feels bigger, harder. Proper. They lay there, missionary, feeling around, inside, closing it. It is not a knot. Not with how Jisu can lower a hand and try to feel around it. 

“Omega…” - Yeji warns. 

This might be the closest they ever get to a knot, and with the amount of times they fucked this feels like a last resort situation of her body. 

“You are growing into it.”

Yeji snorts, Jisu groans. The sex joke was unprepared, unprompted and not what the omega meant, but somehow it is exactly what they needed to hear. 

Pulling out feels painful, even if she can do it comfortably. They are not locked in place, but the sensation is enough to make her nod, joke around and feel. Yeji melts against Jisu, kisses her neck, her scent gland. Her mind is putty. 

“Can I bite you? In your heat?”

Bitings are unusual in idol pairings, surprising and somewhat sacred between people like them. Jisu moves and kisses her temple, her forehead. 

“You want to do that?” 

It is organic to scratch the omega’s neck with her canines, the opposite of gentle, but the summer of their union. 

“Yeah.”

They snicker, softly giggling. 

-

Jisu is standing, far from her grasp, looking angry and somewhat stern. As Yeji sips from a liquid IV while somehow munching on energy gel that went hard from being left too close to the aircon. 

“I am eating.” 

Jisu nods.

“You are not touching me until you have a granola bar.”

Yeji nods, and the granola bar Jisu throws to her is more of a protein bar, something pumped with vitamins and whatever that is shelf stable. Her sight is better now, so is her ability to stay still and scarf down the most stupidly amount of calories before another wave hits her and Jisu is thrown around and used. 

“How do you feel?”

The omega looks at her, surprised with the question, but something in her scent tells Yeji she made the correct decision asking it. Jisu enjoys being taken care of, and she loves taking care of Jisu. 

“Sore” - the omega munches her own protein bar, sips from an orange liquid IV - “I thought you'd be more out of it.”

Yeji hums, opens the protein bar without shaking hands, the drink is definitely helping her breathe. 

“Can we talk about it?”

She looks up, bites down the granola that is sweet, white chocolate. 

“Hm?”

Jisu blushes, drinks more and Yeji just looks at her. She is getting hard again, sighs and drinks another sip. 

“The knot.”

Yeji hums, looks at the protein bar with disgust. The sweet chocolaty taste is gone, now it mostly tastes like a bland piece of cement. She wants the strawberry in the air, to see Jisu naked again. 

“It wasn't a knot” - she says, despite how hard it is - “It was just, something.”

“It was something” - the omega says, pensive, and drinks the last sip of her bottle - “Can I see it?”

Yeji blinks, already feeling light headed. She is sitting naked on the bed, they pushed the duvet off and away, because it was wet and sticky. Jisu went for a wee as Yeji watched it deflate back into its normal little shape. 

Now, with the waves of rut creeping back to her, it is growing on its own, soon enough for her to fist and unwrap the condom around before burying inside the omega and hopefully fucking the anxiety of rut out of her system.

“See?”

Jisu has a twinkle in her eyes, and Yeji is barely able to swallow whatever lump the granola bar turns into her mouth.

“Up close, you know?”

She feels the penis grow with Jisu’s words, tense and wanting. She nods, and doesn't know what else to say. 

“I don’t…” - Yeji doesn’t know what she is talking about, the idea feels nice, and she can’t deny that she has watched it on her phone; a woman on her knees.

It feels degrading to have Jisu in front of her, looking at her with big eyes and a warm touch. The girl picks the bottle from her hand, their touching hands feel electric, and somehow inside Yeji a whine grows. 

“You have to finish first.”

She nods, mouth dry, and opens her mouth to swallow the flavored water when Jisu tips it inside her mouth. Yeji keeps her eyes closed, not sure she can manage to look up at Jisu without choking and making an embarrassing mess. 

“Good girl.”

She lets Jisu feed her more, the last piece of the granola bar while Yeji bites it down and licks her fingers. 

“Open your eyes for me, baby?”

She struggles with the order, her eyes feel hazy and heavy, too sleepy. Still, she powers through, Jisu wants to see her eyes and she wants to see Jisu. 

“Pretty” - she says, when her gaze goes up and she sees the corner of Jisu’s lips curling up in a big smile. 

The omega is marked, scented, nothing about the other alpha, all of this is Yeji's. So she just smiles back, swallows, opens her mouth for more water. Jisu feeds it to her happily, tilts the bottle ever so gently and lets Yeji sate herself. 

She doesn't finish it, two sips left to it, but her mate seems content enough to close it and put it on the side table. Yeji just looks at her, surprised with how much just looking at Jisu does it for her. 

The curves, the hair in a ponytail that once was high and just melted into something messier and lowered as they tidied up the room. God, the way Yeji wants to see her on her knees. 

“Jisu” - her mouth dances on the syllables, pronouncing it softly, she wants… wants and wants.

The omega hums. 

The alpha continues to talk, to convince her - “You said you wanted to see.”

Jisu smiles, nods.

“Do you want me to?”

The alpha nods, nervous. She wants so much and resorts to looking hungry, out of breath, as Jisu gathers her hair, black against her ivory skin, and puts it in a high and neat pony tail. 

“Fuck.”

Her mate laughs - “I am not even on my knees.”

Yeji feels feverish just with the insinuation - “I could cum just by looking at you.”

“You are so dramatic, gosh.”

Yeji just raises her hands, finds her strength to grip Jisu’s waist and move her head, pull the omega into her, kiss the space between her breasts. 

Jisu melts inside her hands and the alpha feels the air leaving her when she hears the omega’s knees hit the floor, between her legs. 

Her dick twitches. 

“Stay like that, wait” - she says, lowers her head, kisses Jisu square on the mouth, while moving her hand. 

She pumps her length, plays with herself, mouth against Jisu’s. Yeji doesn’t want to cum yet, but she feels something inside her embarrassed to let the omega go down on anything other than throbbing virile reproduction. 

The girl’s hands rest on her thighs, the touch is enough to make Yeji feel immense, larger than life, she can’t believe she got Jisu, her precious omega, on her knees. 

They break apart, breathing air almost desperately. Jisu’s eyes are shining, wet with desire. Yeji is melting, she can’t think about anything. 

“Can I try something?”

She nods, would do anything for Jisu right now, if she asked her with these pleading eyes. 

“Wait.”

Yeji puts her hands behind her back, rests against them and lets the omega go. She watches as Jisu moves, back on her feet, and up to go somewhere in the room, looking for her bag. 

The alpha knows what is about to happen when the second Jisu bends and she sees the girl has no panties on. She groans. 

“‘Su.”

The toy appears like magic, and Jisu smiles. 

“Do you know what this is?”

There is no voice for her, and still Yeji nods. And somehow, it isn’t much bigger than she is. 

“Flexibility comes in handy sometimes” - the omega says when she sees Yeji looking at its size - “You… I want to.”

Yeji nods - “You want to ride it?”

The omega shakes her head, and the alpha opens her eyes, surprised. 

“You just want to be filled?” - she gasps when the omega nods, and finds herself nodding along enthusiastically - “You, really? How…?”

She watches as the omega brings it to her, motions for Yeji to open her legs. The alpha does it without questioning, and only looks, intervenes only to help Jisu take off her shirt, to steal another kiss before throwing the shirt somewhere in the room. 

The toy, the strap, the… whatever the name is, is black, curved up and suspiciously thick. Her hand shakes from where Jisu is gripping it, and she watches the omega close her eyes in concentration, kneeling and melting into the toy, Yeji doesn’t know what to watch, it goes inch by inch, disappears inside her. 

Jisu remains quiet for another moment, as she goes whenever she is riding the alpha, whenever it is too much, feels too big; Yeji brains remembers her that Jisu feels like this in the mornings, when they are barely awake but it feels too good to do anything other than putting inside. 

The omega opens her eyes, and Yeji looks into them. 

“Hi.”

She lowers her head, pecks Jisu’s lips and feels as the omega falls back into herself. Cold fingers touching her remind Yeji of her own desire, and she bucks her hips without wanting to, more goes into Jisu’s hand. 

“Eager, aren’t we?”

Yeji nods, and feels her hand going to Jisu’s hair, to mess her ponytail, or just to grip it, drag her head towards the throbbing head of her cock. 

“Please? It won’t take much” - she warns. 

She wants her touch to be gentle, she is too conscious to blame it on the rut if she is rough. Yeji hates being hard on Jisu, they’ve fucked too much for her to pretend she doesn’t know the omega hates when she does it. 

Jisu looks at it, toys with the head by blowing air on it and smiling when Yeji whines; The omega takes her cock into her mouth, and it is warm enough to make Yeji feel breathless. 

Jisu seems to know what to do, the correct attention to give, and Yeji’s head explodes with her tongue working against the bottom of the alpha’s cock, she pulls back expertly to give special attention to the tip. 

Yeji feels her hand tightening on Jisu’s neck. 

“Fuck.”

She spills inside Jisu’s mouth and somewhat is sensitive enough to shake while the omega cleans her, and drinks till the last drop of her semen. 

Yeji falls back into the bed, looking up to the ceiling. Her pheromones spike, she knows because Jisu kisses the inside of her thigh. But she can’t help it, can’t help the feeling, the instinct, the scent. 

“You did that with her” - Jisu had never been on her knees for Yeji - “She taught you.” 

The omega sighs, and Yeji looks down to hear her moving, the toy makes a noise as it leaves her core, touches her folds and is left on the ground, used and wet. 

Jisu sits on her heels. 

“Are you serious right now? You told me to go with her!”

The orgasm is bittersweet, closing her eyes and looking at the ceiling is bittersweet, not having Jisu inside her arms. 

“For a heat cycle!” - she says, instead of deescalating - “You had to stay with her for months? Had to fuck her on the car on a convenience store parking lot?”

She sits up just as Jisu raises to her feet. They look at each other with the reality that Yeji’s rut is ending, and they didn’t talk at all during the last ten months. 

“Maybe I wanted to” - the omega says, her voice tense and unforgiving - “Have you ever thought about what I wanted to do? That I wanted to be touched in the parking lot?”

Yeji growls, because this is unfair, this is mean. 

“You don’t.”

The omega shakes her head, her hair free itself from the ponytail with the movement, and she turns around to look for her shirt. 

“You have no idea what you are talking about, Yeji.”

She watches Jisu fling the shirt in its correct side, and put it on with an angry movement. It engulfs her body, keeps her modest again. Yeji feels even angrier. 

“I do!”

The omega looks at her, the strawberries rotten in her scent, her face morphed into an angry scowl. Yeji reaches out, her own face feeling tense, she raises to her feet. 

They both realize at the same time how small the room is, how close they are. 

“I know you.”

Jisu laughs, walks closer. Yeji feels the anger blooming, her nose itches when Jisu gets too close. 

“You know… a version of me that you left alone during a heat cycle.”

“Jisu…” - it would’ve been better if she had slapped Yeji - “I…”

You left me alone, you called her to come and stay with me” - a beat, Yeji watches Jisu understand what she is saying and keep going - “You decided to go on with this fucking mess of a treatment, you pushed me back into her that night” - the omega pushes her chest with two pointed fingers - “And for what!? To give in over jealousy?”

Yeji grabs her hand, her wrist. They both look at  it, their eyes staring at the way Jisu’s hand is small against Yeji’s, pleasant to her eyes. It feels right. 

“I know you, because you are mine.”

Jisu’s breathing is already fast, and gets more the closer Yeji pulls her. 

“That doesn’t fix anything.”

The alpha gets pleased when Jisu blushes, with how hard it is for the omega to stutter those words, with how the strawberry smells sweet again. She might be mad, they might need to talk about it further, but Yeji is not going back. 

“It fixes everything” - she whispers into the same air Jisu is breathing - “I just had to realize it” - Yeji moves, bows her head to drag her teeth against Jisu’s scent gland, to scent her, to mark her territory - “That I am what I am because I am yours.”

A hand moves to Jisu’s waist, grips it, pulls the omega to feel what is pulsating for her, because of her. 

This would never have happened if Jisu wasn’t hers, her body wouldn’t have morphed it for any other omega, maybe she would have found love, something ordinary… but God, nothing like what she feels for Jisu. 

“You can’t throw it in my face after I did what you told me to do.”

The alpha nods, kisses her cheek - “I am pretty sure you can remind me whenever I step out of the line.”

Jisu is the one who turns her face, kisses Yeji with something much, much softer than they have kissed like the past week. The omega moves a hand to her face, to her neck. 

They kiss like that, too soft, too gentle. Yeji’s rut is done, they both know it. The nurse will come in soon, warn them they are about to be discharged, give them phones and whatever else, tell Yeji to call the manager to come pick them up. 

It is Jisu who sits on the bed, lays back and pulls the alpha on top of her. 

“We don’t…” - she says, already falling inside the omega’s arms. 

“Stop” - Jisu tells her - “I want it.

Yeji smiles into her lips, afterall she did tell the omega to correct her whenever she behaved stupidly. So, with their lips tasting each other, with the taste of jizz and sweat being washed by the sweet strawberry that is Jisu, the alpha lowers her hands to pull the omega’s shirt up just enough. 

They touch, wet and already fitting close. 

She raises her head, finds some focus by blinking hard and letting Jisu kiss her jaw, and neck. Yeji finds it difficult to gather the strength to take her hands off Jisu and move to stumble and find a condom package they can use. 

“No” - the omega says just as Yeji grips the tinfoil like plastic with her fingers. 

“No?”

Jisu shakes her head, a subtle movement, and just moves to capture Yeji’s lips back on hers. 

“Just us, please?”

Yeji kisses her. 

It fits in in a sensation that takes the air out of the alpha’s lungs. She doesn’t remember Jisu like this, being inside her feels like a hit of joy she didn’t know she would ever experience again. 

The first time they did it, like this, it was different, they were a completely different pair, Yeji’s genitals worked differently and yet the same way they do now. 

Jisu moans. 

Yeji’s hips move in small thrusts. 

“This feels good” - the omega whispers against her cheek - “I missed this, with you.”

“Yeah?” - the alpha checks, because she can’t fathom the idea of this feeling good to Jisu, there is barely any friction to her clit, the thrusts are small, and she is not holding her weight properly to be able to piston her hips and make the omega cum. 

Jisu kisses the skin of her ear, the soft part of her cheek. 

“Yeah, I missed your weight on top of me, how warm it was.”

Yeji nods, she won’t cum, this feels like too much, but being inside Jisu is enough, the connection is enough. She will rub one out remembering this later, later when they are home. 

She puts more weight inside Jisu, falls to the front and makes the omega laugh when she groans, holding her naked thighs. 

“Can we just stay like this?” - the omega asks. 

Yeji just whines, says yes in their own language. 

-

Ten months and fifteen days were all Yeji allowed them to spend without Jisu, and the girls were supposed to be kind enough to not remind her of this failure as she opens the door into the dorm for Jisu to walk in, merely a day after leaving the heat center.

“Surprise!” - three voices yell just as Jisu raises her hand to look for the light switch. 

The room swims in the yellow brownish tone of the lightbulb, and Yeji, standing directly behind Jisu, takes most of the brutal impact of the welcoming sign. 

We hope you got laid! Written onto white paper with red sharpie.

Jisu starts to laugh as the girls jump up and down. Chaeryeong is holding the cake, a small thing filled with sugar that Yeji will not allow them to eat now that the comeback is in motion.

The Manager already made her take fast notes in the car while they were riding back to the dorm. Something stupid and cheerful that will make the fans happy. Yeji only remembers having to write, because Jisu kept smiling and unconsciously making the alpha lose her focus.

Ryujin is holding an assortment of pink balloons, helium filled that make it hang pretty around the living room and shine with the lights. Yuna is the one to come and offer Jisu a party hat. 

It comes out of nowhere, Yeji is looking at the sparkly shimmer of the balloons and laughing at Jisu’s panic, and suddenly Yuna is too close, their scent clash, mix and something falls to the wrong side. 

Yuna looks down, and there is something instinctual to Yeji’s movements. But the girls seem blind to it, confused, surprised by the reaction of the older alpha, now not only their leader, moving in to hold Yuna’s elbow. 

The omegas disappear in an instant, understandably, Yeji seems to realize, even unconsciously, that her and Yuna follow a different rule now, a different behavior. 

Yeji sniffs Yuna’s alpha scent. It is far too muted, like someone who just freshly mated, and she will have to ask about it later. The girl releases the hat, and it falls on the ground with a thud as Yeji moves towards her. 

It is surprisingly easy to move into this new skin, this new confidence, this new and more humane way of being.  There is no warning from the omegas, no stopping, they know this isn't a fight, just claiming, setting the pack order.

Her nose goes to Yuna’s temple, she sniffs there until the youngest is giggling, their scents more intertwined, their positions in the pack more defined. The mine muted but noticeable. 

Ugh unnie.”

She smiles, kisses the girl’s cheeks, and lets the girl hug her close. 

“You were being so mean… I missed you.”

Yeji nods, shakes her head with shame, and inhales more of the young alpha’s scent.

“I am sorry, can you forgive me?”

Yuna nods, kisses her cheeks with a loud kiss. The room falls back into place, and Yeji feels as if she can breathe. They needed this, she needed this. 

The chocolate cake, the light tone of celebration and a freshly cleaned apartment, scent suppressants and wet towels hung to dry close to the warmth of the kitchen. 

Their home, as it has always been. Now complete with the light strawberry that is so characteristically Jisu’s. 

And as it is customary, the girls are already draped around her, wanting a kiss and a scent from the older omega, the one that was responsible for them for so long. 

Yeji watches as Yuna leaves her arms, and just naturally goes to the pile of human warmth forming on the couch, the cake forgotten on top of the coffee table as the omegas self regulate to Jisu’s new claimed scent. 

Ryujin has her face pressed to the side of Jisu’s chest, like she wants to melt right inside the omega and rest there until she is ready to come out. 

Chaeryeong is holding both of them, nose pressed to Jisu’s cheek and breathing in her scent, regulating herself, claiming the omega as pack again. 

They are whispering about something, Jisu is humming, eyes closed and a smile adorning her face. She is the one who taps her own belly for their youngest to come and pile on top of the omegas.

Yuna lays down with most of her lower body out of the couch, but her face goes as if natural to rest on top of Jisu’s belly, to smell the omega and become claimed again. 

Yeji just stands by, watching, somewhat blinking tears away she didn't know needed to be shed.

Jisu opens her eyes, looks at her with a quiet desperation of the one being smothered by the pups, mouths I can't breathe

Yeji blinks, laughs - “C'mon girls, let's go eat cake, we have to celebrate the day!”

All she gets is a grunt from Chaeryeong, Yuna sniffing at Jisu’s belly button and Ryujin loudly whining. Well shit, Yeji thinks, and jumps into the pile, holding them all with her arms.

Notes:

So, for starters, I feel like the plot is pretty clear and understandable, but I would like to analyze it based on the title of the work, as a trial of grace. It could be interpreted in two ways, the more faithful one where as Yeji struggles with her condition, she slowly adapts into it and sees it as a 'blessing' for it comes from a place of love; and the more realistic one where Yeji needed to develop the resilience to deal with who she is, and what she identifies herself with through a trial: spending time away from the one she loves in proof of her worth towards a path of grace. Anyways, this fic was a blessing to work with, such an incredible prompt on working with the OTA Yeji and her general relationship with the members going from leader, to parent figure, to friend and the many other roles she inhabits during the passage of time in this work. I have very little to say about Jisu in here, because I think as an audience and my readers you are the one who gives the tone and the meaning of the work as you see it. Hopefully you have enjoyed this work!
See ya and a happy and free 2026 to us all :))