𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 || 𝐉𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐧

I

Joshua has always wanted to be a father.

Call him old fashioned, or perhaps a romantic, but he’s been blabbering on about a mate and pups since he was a teenager. He used to offer himself to babysit for his neighbors, ignoring the whispers when they found out he was an alpha, or dodging the praise when they thought his interest was in any way more impressive because of that — he simply just liked kids, loved being around their endless energy and seeing the way each pup grew into themselves, and so it was only natural that he would want to have one (or a few) for himself in the future.

He once thought he’d be married and well on the way to that plan before hitting thirty, but it’s funny how life has a way of derailing your plans. Turns out getting an education and finding a well paying job took a lot longer than he would’ve wished for, and by the time he could safely say he was in a good enough position to consider taking responsibility for another life, he was already 31 and painfully, almost upsettingly single.

The finding a mate part was hard too, if the string of terrible relationships he’s had since college has any say in it. It’s not that he can’t find people who are interested — Joshua knows he’s a good looking and charming alpha, and he’s been told his kindness and mellow spirit can be quite attractive as well, but it just never seems to work out. Jeonghan is quick to say that’s because Joshua has terrible taste, seems to only pick people who anyone from a mile away could tell wouldn’t be interested in starting a family, but the other is convinced he’s just had bad luck so far.

The right person will come eventually, he hopes. Except he’s been hoping for quite a while, and the longer it goes, the more tired he grows of waiting for this plan to work out.

“How hard is it for someone to simply put a pup inside of me?” Jeonghan rants, shaking his chopsticks. “Really, for the amount of alphas I meet with breeding kinks, the number of them that actually want to go through with it are surprisingly low.”

Joshua laughs, pushing another piece of pork towards his best friend and not for the first time feeling thankful that at least he’s not alone in this. Not that he’s happy that Jeonghan has been going through the same struggles as him, jumping from relationship to relationship trying to find one that sticks long enough to discuss little feet running around, but at least when they meet up for their weekly catch up this days, he knows it’s alright to rant without the fear of being judged.

“I feel like most alphas have breeding kinks in a way or another, Hannie.” Joshua offers cheekily around a bite. “Especially during ruts. It doesn’t really mean much.”

Jeonghan huffs, annoyed. “I know that. It doesn’t make it any less frustrating that the same guy who talks big game about making you round with pups goes white in fear at the mention of, you know, pups .”

Joshua laughs again, nodding sympathetically. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Sometimes I just wish we could skip to just... finding the right person and getting down to it.”

“It’s funny, isn’t it.” Jeonghan smiles, a little reminiscent. “We used to talk about how we wanted to get to where we’d have the money and time for a family, and now that we do it doesn’t really change anything.”

Joshua focuses on grilling the meat, but still glances softly at his friend. “Last month you told me you’d look into other options and stuff. How is that going?”

“I did look into it, actually. Taeyong helped me research, and I went to the clinic he and Ten recommended.” Jeonghan says. Taeyong is one of their closest friends, and as an omega married to another omega, he and his husband had the help of a fertilization clinic to get pregnant last year. “But I don’t know if it’s something I want to do. You know I don’t care about getting mated or anything like that before having a baby, but I don’t want to take away the chance of my pup growing up with another parental figure. Besides, I don’t know if I could do it by myself.”