Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Ah, fuck.” Taehyung growled as he stormed out of the house, the screen door of the house hitting the frame much harder than he’d meant for it to.

That was fine, his mom was never home anyway, having only scribbled a hasty note for him to nearly slip on this morning when getting ready for his first day of school.

Taehyung was only slightly (read: a lot) offended that she ditched him to walk to school on his first day, but, to be fair, he was seventeen years old and should be able to get to school by himself.

But, he liked to play up the whole I’m only an omega card every once in a while, but mostly when it benefited him.

Unfortunately, it hadn’t been working on his mom recently, especially seeing as he’d been moved out into the middle of fucking nowhere to live with her.

And that was how he ended up in this dump of a town and storming down the side of a gravel road with his converse halfway deep in mud.

Taehyung had never been a rainy day sort of person, but moving from bright and sunny to being thrown into a fucking swamp - not literally, of course, but it felt like it - was too big of a jump.

Plus, everyone knew omegas were much more vulnerable to the cold.

“Hurry up, twerp!”

The omega grumbled in an instant when a flurry of younger teenagers ran past him after one of their friends, leaving him to whine even harder when mud splattered up onto his jeans, leaving the material hardening with dirt.

For fuck’s sake, why did they have to live so close to the school? Just the other day a group of betas had witnessed him slip on his ass when bringing his luggage inside of his house, it was total bullshit.

Whatever, Taehyung sighed and continued toward the small school tucked away down the street, hair already sticking to the back of his neck from the rain.

It was the first day of school and he was already running behind, covered in mud, and was currently speeding full blast down the hallway right into a large, muscular back leaving himself to fall flat on his ass.

The scent of an irritated alpha immediately filled his nose, standing his hair on end and leaving him wanting to roll over in a fit of apologies.

Taehyung really wasn’t one to do such a thing as apologize, not to an alpha after all that had happened to him in the past. It’d taken him way too long to learn how to not immediately submit to an alpha.

“- what the fuck. You fucking idiot. Don’t you look where you’re going?”

Taehyung knew his own scent was now souring, showing his anxiety when the stranger turned around to glare down at him. It wasn’t that he wasn’t used to conflict - the opposite really seeing as Taehyung had an awfully loud mouth - but he’d been wanting to avoid this shit on his first day.

The other boy was staring down at him with these large, almond shaped eyes, his hair overgrown and touching his ears, broad shoulders squared off and brows furrowed, his scent was that of coffee, only edged with irritation. A scent Taehyung was, unfortunately, familiar with.

Within an instant, the scent began to sweeten up, turning into this sickly sweet scent that Taehyung didn’t recognize because by then his own anger was building up.

The omega had a firm scowl on his face, fang-like canines showing at the corners of his lips when the alpha leaned down to offer him a hand, stumbling over his words, “Oh shit, shit. I’m- god, you’re an omega. Fuck I’m so-“

“I don’t have time for your anti-omega bullshit agenda,” Taehyung spat, slapping the hand away.

The alpha seemed to not be registering his words, because instead he looked much more interested in his hand that had been smacked to the side, as if amazed an omega had just smacked him.

Only when Taehyung continued speaking with a growl did he look back at him.

“You can go fuck yourself, you big-eared prick. It was a fucking accident, get over it.”

Taehyung heard a few students gasp in shock, or outrage - he wasn’t sure - but continued storming down the hall once he climbed to his feet, brows pulled together and a pout on his face that was anything but vicious, so he knew he didn’t scare anyone, but they all walked out of his way and cleared a path.

Well, he thought that’s what they were doing for him.

Turns out it wasn’t for him, but instead for the alpha walking right towards him.

He was a tall, lithe alpha, his scent flooding the hallways with cinnamon and a tinge of what Taehyung could only describe as aggression, but not in a dangerous way, in a determined way.

The alpha’s nose was scrunched up as he sniffed and the bucket hat on his head shielded the upper part of his face until he got close enough that he promptly, and quickly, had stopped himself in front of Taehyung. He was a smaller alpha.

But, he was certainly gorgeous, Taehyung could see why everyone was staring at him, looking thoughtlessly at him, because he’d probably fawn over the alpha if he wasn’t dry mouthed and pissed off at the moment.

“You.”

Taehyung raised a brow, moving to side-step the alpha.

“You smell like strawberries.”

The omega immediately pulled his brows together because one, that was a weird way to start a conversation with someone, and two it was completely inappropriate for an alpha to comment on an omega’s scent… unless it was for an ulterior motive. Or, maybe this place had some sort of fetish for scaring the shit out of omegas, because they were doing a good job at it.

“W…what?” Taehyung stumbled.

The alpha smiled, it was this lopsided, silly sort of smile that Taehyung had never seen on an alpha before, and due to that gorgeous grin - unintentionally - Taehyung stared at his plump lips a little too long.

If the other seemed to care, he didn’t show it.

Instead, the alpha removed his hat, sheepishly ruffling out a handful of long, dark brown locks and leaning down a bit to murmur under his breath, “God, I’m ruining this…”

Taehyung swallowed hard, the tension with everyone’s eyes on him too much to bear, “Look, I just want to get through the day-“

“Mine.”

The omega immediately felt his heart sink into his feet at that tone, attempting to back up but instead backing up right into another alpha - the one he’d just cursed out.

In an instant he had this giant, long haired alpha at his back, hovering over him with a stance Taehyung would only consider territorial.

“Jungkook.” The boy in front of Taehyung immediately growled, his lip raising with anger and all traces of what had been a gentleness to the alpha wiped clean from his face, “Get away. You know better than to interrupt a fucking imprinting, dumbass. This is-“

“You’re interrupting mine!”

The growl that resonated from the other was animalistic, a scary noise that only came out in moments of pure anger and primality.

Taehyung didn't know how everyone else responded to that noise, but within an instant he whined in response, the omega in him wanting to turn and comfort the alpha.

He didn’t. Of course he didn’t, this was a stranger and he had no idea what was going on. He only knew that now his legs were wobbling and his backpack slipped from his hand. The world was spinning too fast for him to stand still.

“Jimin,” Jungkook, the alpha continued growling, “I will have to-“

“What the fuck is going on!”

Taehyung had no idea, and wished he did, but all he knew was there was a warm hand wrapping around his wrist and the whispers of the audience faced in and out, he felt his breath coming out in pants heavily.

“You two are scaring the omega!”

“It’s his fault!”

“No, it’s yours, asshole!”

There was yelling then, a very human quality that Taehyung could normally deal with very easily, but he’d already been thrown into an omega drop, and couldn’t physically handle much more than closing his eyes and accepting the hand holding his arm as he was yanked out from between the alphas.

It smelled strong in the hallway, two scents fighting for attention, but within a few moments Taehyung's senses picked up on a very gentle smell. It was a hard scent to describe, like a mix between the forest and old paper - a very clean and calming smell that invaded his nose and refused to leave.

“Sh, you’re okay…”

Taehyung knew he must look ridiculous, eyes closed and shaking as he breathed in this stranger’s scent like his life depended on it.

He could still hear arguing in the hallways but tried his best to instead just listen to the sounds nearest him.

The door shutting, the soft steps walking him further into a room, and the large hand splayed over his spine. A chair squeaked and the alpha whispered for him to sit down.

It had been a long time since he’d had an omega drop, and given the fact that everytime it had happened to him had been forced, well… needless to say he was incredibly shaken.

Not even five minutes ago he'd been trying to find his first class and now he had two alphas that probably hated him, and an entire school that witnessed him completely meltdown.

What a great first day.

“Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.”

Taehyung's eyes snapped open, immediately moving to whisper that he wasn’t going to cry, but quickly realized he smelled exactly like he was going to cry.

His scent was full of pain and when he finally got a look at his savior found that the smell was causing an awfully worried look to cast across the alpha’s face.

His first thought, upon registering that look, was that it didn’t belong on the alpha at all.

“Please,” The alpha stressed the word, grabbing a desk chair and quickly turning it around so the back of the chair was to his chest when he sat down, that way he could lean against it and look Taehyung in the eyes.

Taehyung wrapped his arms around his waist and slumped into the chair, eyeing his backpack that the alpha had placed by the classroom door.

He was embarrassed to look at the alpha too much, not after all that commotion, but he couldn’t stop the way his eyes kept gravitating toward him.

He was beautiful really, his hair was cut short and his cat like eyes covered with reading glasses. His sweater was a size too big for him but Taehyung could still see the broadness of his shoulders beneath his top.

“I like your glasses,” Taehyung mumbled after a good few minutes, mostly because he felt awkward not saying anything after so long.

For a second, the other didn’t even seem to register he’d said anything, he was busy studying him just the same as Taehyung had done, then he startled a bit, laughed, and looked sheepish as he removed his glasses.

“Oh, I forgot I was wearing them still,” The alpha mumbled, giving a shake of his head as he leaned over to grab his own bag and pull out his case. “In the morning, I like to sit and read by my locker, waiting for Kook and Jimin, but uh- yeah, today was very different…”

Taehyung pressed his lips in a line, thinking up a response and tilting his head to read the Min Yoongi written across the alpha’s glasses case.

Yoongi. Yoongi was a cute name, much like the alpha in front of him.

“I like reading too,” The omega murmured softly, pressing his hands into his thighs and looking down at his dirty sneakers, “And I’m sorry, I'm new, I don’t even know-“

“Don’t apologize.” Yoongi said firmly, but gently as he cut him off with a quiet tsk and frowned.

The alpha jumped up just to pull his chair closer, within range so Taehyung could smell him, the omega assumed, because he knew his own scent was probably pushing out all sorts of distress signals that the alpha could smell from across the room.

Alphas always did have a better smell than omegas.

“Seriously, it’s not your fault at all, it’s only natural. Trust me, we’re going to all be really happy - I mean, I’m really happy about this. Oh, oh, God - I didn’t even ask. What’s your name? I'm Yoongi. Min Yoongi. Or Yoongs, or- I’m… ” Yoongi chuckled to himself, reaching up to nervously comb his hair off his forehead, “Sorry. Didn’t really expect this today.”

Taehyung wanted to say he didn’t either, but it was hard to focus with the questions boiling under his skin, and as he breathed in Yoongi’s scent he was finding it easier to gain his confidence.

“What the fuck is going on?”

The alpha released a worried sound at how stressed out Taehyung sounded, but when he reached out as if to comfort him, Yoongi thought better of it and clenched his hands into his own jeans instead. “Uh, so…,” He began, but sighed just as fast, “I don’t know if I’m good at explaining this sort of thing, but… wait, I don’t know, maybe Jungkook needs to explain because he is in charge of our pack, technically, but I mean, not that he’s a better alpha. It’s just a term. I…”

“Yoongi,” Taehyung whispered, eyes flickering to the alpha’s and sighing, “Today is my first day here. And so far I’ve been yelled at, tripped, and forced to submit. Please just spit it out.”

At that, Yoongi's lips twisted, “I’m going to kick their asses, I swear to -“

“Min Yoongi how dare you!”

The classroom door slammed open, hitting the wall so hard that Taehyung visibly jumped when the two alphas from earlier came running in.

Taehyung found it rather suspicious how hard the side of Jungkook's face was and how Jimin was now wearing a jacket he hadn’t been wearing earlier, but didn’t have time to say anything.

“Oh good, I was just about to tell the omega you two went rabid. Now you can do it for me.”

Both of the newcomers ignored Yoongi, instead coming at Taehyung like a swarm of bees to honey, making the omega scrunch up his face and try to play off how overwhelmed he was by glaring up at them.

He wasn’t as angry as he was embarrassed about the entire situation, but he was definitely angry - if not for these two idiots he would have been able to hide behind his books as the new boy.

“Hello, gorgeous!” Jungkook cooed in an instant, dropping his bag by the door on his way to the omega. “What is your name? Tell me it all - where are you from? What flower do you like? It’s the-“

“Woah.”

Before Taehyung could blink, Yoongi was kneeling in front of him, placing a hand at his temple and smoothing hair from his face behind his ear, “Don’t look at them. Look at me, just at me, Taehyung. It’s a lot, I know. I’m sorry about them.”

“Hey!”

“Jungkook is just an idiot. One that doesn’t know any limits,” Yoongi huffed, earning the smallest of laughs from Taehyung, who felt like he could pass out at any moment.

Taehyung sucked in a breath then, eyes darting over Yoongi's shoulder to look at the guilty look on Jungkook's face - to be fair, he deserved it considering he’d been so fast to scream at him earlier - and as soon as he made eye contact with Jimin the alpha was surging forward with a hand on Yoongi's arm.

“Let me help.”

Yoongi didn't give up easily, he looked like he didn’t want to move, but only did when Jimin basically pushed him to the side.

“Hey,” The alpha’s nervous grin was back, and his knees touched Taehyung's when he bent down to his level. “I’m really, really sorry. We didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just… we weren’t ready for all of this. I mean, we’re a pack with three alphas, we fight a lot but… I guess it’s good that you’re here, huh?”

Taehyung pressed his lips into a line before mumbling, “What makes you guys think I want to be friends with you?”

Instantly, all of their faces dropped, anxiety creeping into their scents and choking Taehyung, but the omega was now fed up. He was tired and pissed off.

“I’ve been here all of about twenty minutes and so far, what I’ve seen isn’t good. I don’t think we should be -“

“Don’t say it,” Jungkook cut in, not quite a demand, but more so a worried comment. “Don’t. You don’t even know us yet. You can’t reject us yet - not without a chance. That’s… that’s not… it’s- please.”

Taehyung's brows pulled together, confusion coming to lace his expression, but he connected the dots pretty quickly once he actually took a second to register all that had occurred.

It had been hard to digest what the two alphas had been growling over previously, or Jimin’s comments of his scent, because he’d been so stressed out, but now he just… he felt sick.

And happy.

Taehyung was happy, of course he was, but his meeting with them did not go over well, he had too many bad experiences with bad alphas that, truthfully, he’d never even considered the fact that he’d end up with an alpha, let alone three.

He never thought he was that ill-fated.

They were mates, well not yet, but they were supposed to be mates.

They had a choice, if they mutually rejected one another the imprint would fade, albeit painfully.

Taehyung snapped his eyes up to look at Jimin when he heard a whimper, it was incredibly unalpha-like, and he didn’t know who had done it because the looks on all their faces suggested they were all just as terrified of the next words to come out of Taehyung's mouth.

Luckily for them, they didn’t have to hear them, because as soon as the omega opened his mouth to talk, bells began to go off signaling the start of class.

“Shit,” Taehyung cried, jumping up and making a dash for the door, “I have to go! I-we can talk later!“

“Promise?”

The omega frowned at how quickly his stomach churned at the nervous tone from the alpha.

Taehyung swallowed while hiking his backpack onto his shoulder before addressing the three all at once as he asked, hoping to not have to go the entire day having his stomach spin due to the alphas’ sad scents, “Actually… can you help me find my class? I’m going to be so late.”

***

“So don’t open your goddamn mouth around him again, or I swear to god. If you ruin our chances with him I will ruin you.” Yoongi rambled, digging a finger into Jungkook’s chest, right onto a bruise that was slowly appearing.

Jungkook growled, looking up at him through his hair and Yoongi gave him one more look before Jimin huffed, swinging his legs back and forth from his place seated on a fallen tree.

“Kook, he’ll kick your ass all night, just agree to calm down a little,” Jimin requested, “Pretty sure he didn’t want to see us after school because of you, so just chill.”

“How do you know that?” Jungkook spat, angrily standing up and brushing the grass off his clothes.

Yoongi sent him a warning look before turning to walk across the forest to the fallen tree and retrieve his water from his bag.

“Because if Taehyung didn’t like me, then why’d he give me his number?”

Both of them looked Jimin wide-eyed and the alpha merely shrugged, “I have moves when I want to.” Then, he moved to check his phone in his hand.

Jungkook huffed, puffing his chest out as he rushed towards Jimin, “No way. No fucking way.”

Sure enough, across the top of the screen flashed a message of “Oh really? I like the forest. It’s nice.”

Then, before Jimin could open the messaging app, another came in quickly, “I’m kind of obsessed with stars.”

“He likes stars.” Jungkook whispered, leaning into Jimin’s shoulder and trying to read all of their messages as fast as he could, “No way, I love the stars too.”

Jimin didn’t even care to shove him off, not even flinching when Yoongi came around his back to peek at his phone.

He replied with a “We’ll have to take you out here. It’s the best star view in town.”

Then, a second later, Jungkook was whining in his ear and sinking into his arm like an overgrown child. “I want his number! I want it, ask him if I can have it.”

“No.” Jimin said easily.

“Did you ask him for it?” Yoongi wondered, plopping down beside Jimin and curiously looking over his arm again, both of them ignoring Jungkook's tantrum.

Jimin smirked, brushing his long hair back into his hat, “Nope. He just gave it to me, wrote it down and everything, wanna see?”

“No fair! No fair!”

***

Taehyung originally thought that the only thing that was going to be an issue moving here was that it was halfway through the school year, so he was behind in everything the school was teaching, but that wasn’t the case.

Now his issue was the fact that he now had three alphas around every corner.

It was good and bad to have them on his back at all times.

Good because he didn’t get lost on his first day of running around the school, but bad for a number of reasons.

One being the fact that two out of three of the alphas had thrown a complete fit when the school day came to an end and he had to go home, with Jimin being the exception and flashing a cute grin as he mumbled that they’d see him tomorrow.

And another reason being the fact that they scared everyone off.

Taehyung knew he was an attractive omega, he hadn’t exactly been the shy kid in school, but these alphas - mostly Jungkook - took him being looked at for more than a few moments as a personal offense.

“And there’s a diner that we usually go to for lunch,” Yoongi continued, shifting to grab Taehyung's books from his hand while the omega struggled to open his locker. “Or dinner, depending on when we’re all available to meet up. Sometimes we just go to Jungkook's house to play games, or mine.”

At the mention of food, Taehyung felt his stomach growl, but it was his fault for having asked the alpha what they usually did around the area.

There wasn’t much to do in a little town like this, in fact being in a little town like this was hard because all anyone wanted to talk about was him and his newly found imprintship with the alphas.

They were more popular amongst the town, Taehyung had figured out, because apparently Jungkook's father had authority over this territory, therefore his son’s pack were talk of the town no matter what they did.

It was really embarrassing when he made a midnight run to the corner store for dinner just to be rambled to by this loud-mouthed beta about how lucky he was.

He barely knew the alphas so he hadn’t known what to say, especially considering all day yesterday the trio had stayed very quiet, like they were afraid Taehyung was going to explode if they said too much.

To be fair, that was probably the omega’s fault for having insinuated that he didn’t want to mate them.

Still, this little bubble of jealousy swirled when he’d listened to the beta ramble about how Yoongi was incredibly smart, Jimin played that soft and mysterious type, and Jungkook was full of confidence and smirks.

Maybe, just maybe, he’d try to play it more accepting from now on, mostly because yesterday his nose actually hurt from smelling all the anxiety coming off of them.

Luckily, when Yoongi had met him at the entrance this morning, the alpha just smelled a tad nervous, but mostly happy to see him.

“What’s your favorite food?” Taehyung mumbled, “I barely know anything about you guys, but I’m pretty sure by lunch yesterday you guys knew all there was to me.”

“That’s a lie, I know you have more to say other than that you like video games, movies, and candy.” Yoongi argued softly, giving him a small smile as Taehyung closed his locker.

It was only after a moment of looking at him that it occurred to Taehyung. “Oh, you aren’t wearing your glasses.”

The alpha looked a bit embarrassed, sheepishly ducking his head as he motioned down the hallway for Taehyung to go down, “Yeah. Uh, normally I wouldn’t like that to be how you saw me at our first meeting. It’s embarrassing, I know, to be the nerdy-“

“I thought it looked cute.”

Yoongi’s scent immediately flooded the hallway, the alpha trying to keep cool by flashing a grin as he pushed open a double door, “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Taehyung muttered, shrugging his shoulders and licking his lips. Normally he wasn’t this nervous around cute boys, but he was absorbing all of the vibes Yoongi was giving off which was mostly nervous.

The alpha laughed, this happy little laugh that made Taehyung giggle.

He decided then, rather quickly, that he liked Yoongi. He was cute and very friendly.

The same couldn’t really be said about Jungkook, who left a bad taste in Taehyung's mouth from their first meeting.

Jungkook, who Taehyung could see leaning against a brand new jeep, texting.

Taehyung was a bit envious of the alpha not needing a jacket or sweater in the cold, he’d come to school wearing a plain short sleeved tee that left his large arm muscles exposed.

“Hey,” Yoongi commented for them as they walked into the parking lot, the alpha hovering a hand on Taehyung's back like he wasn’t quite sure if touching him was okay.

Honestly, Taehyung knew they wouldn’t get far with the way they were so hesitant now, and he spent all night feeling guilty about it, so he took a step closer to Yoongi, right into his open arm as he clutched his books to his chest.

He heard the alpha release a quiet breath in response but was unsure if it was nervous or not, because the hand that placed itself on his hip was not nervous, it was possessive.

“Morning,” Taehyung muttered, and only then did Jungkook look up from his phone as they walked closer.

The alpha sucked in a lungful of his scent - not even bothering to pretend that wasn’t what he was doing - and shoved his phone to the side.

“It’s a good morning now that you’re here. You’re looking beautiful.”

“He always looks beautiful.” Yoongi cut in, looking at Jungkook warningly.

Taehyung had a feeling that after he’d left yesterday they’d all had a talk that he wasn’t involved in, and by talk he was pretty sure some arguing was involved if the tension that passed between the alphas said anything.

“Of course he is,” Jungkook hummed, shifting to grab his backpack from his car before closing it and sending Taehyung a smirk, “He’s my mate after all, I knew he’d be gorgeous.”

That smirk was handsome, but Taehyung immediately wasn’t a fan of how Yoongi smelled like sourness at the comment and began to take away his hand.

All this jealousy was not going to fly. This wasn’t going to work out if shit continued this way.

“Hm,” Taehyung hummed, moving to wrap his arms around Yoongi's left arm and addressing Jungkook with an innocent look, “Coming from an alpha that screamed at me in the hallway yesterday, that’s rich.”

“You screamed at him?” Yoongi hissed, “You didn’t say that yesterday. God, you’re such an asshole.. what the fuck, dude. He’s our mate, you can’t talk to him like that I mean come on- ”

Jungkook got knocked down a good few pegs in an instant, shoulders still held high, but the instant he looked Taehyung in the eyes it appeared there was panic setting in. “I’m so sorry. Really. I’m not a morning person and I was irritated. Taehyung, I’m really not normally like th-“

“He is normally like that.”

“- and I would never talk to you like that again,” Jungkook finished, sending Yoongi a glare.

Taehyung didn’t care if he spoke to him like that, but in general Jungkook seemed like he was an alpha people were scared of, just based on yesterday it seemed like the alpha wasn’t the most friendly with others.

They could work on that. Maybe.

Luckily, before Jungkook could face Taehyung's snarky comment that he agreed with Yoongi, he smelled an extremely comforting scent - one that wasn’t full of anxiety.

“Hey, sorry I’m late, someone forgot to pick me up.”

Taehyung released Yoongi in an instant, much to the alpha’s chagrin, because he wasn’t interested in the power play he knew was going to happen in the next few seconds between the two.

“Jimin,” The omega sighed, rushing over to meet the alpha the next few steps, before stopping in place before he threw himself at a mere stranger, acting like a distressed omega.

He knew they noticed it, Jimin looked at the two over his head like they'd have some explaining to do later, but Taehyung was just happy to breathe in cinnamon over the rising warning scents the other two were sending.

“Hi,” Jimin murmured, eyes still filled with sleep as he leaned down to Taehyung with a bright smile, “How are you, little one?”

Little one. Taehyung's ears turned red, and he didn’t know what it was about Jimin - whether it was his scent or just because they had texted a bit - but he wanted to glue himself to his side and hide there all day.

Maybe it was because yesterday the alpha hadn’t really said a peep, just looked at him during class and occasionally chimed in with an explanation when Jungkook and Yoongi explained class schedules and how sometimes the school got flooded from all of the rain.

That was partially what interested him about Jimin, how quiet he was, and why he’d slipped him his number during fifth period.

Even then, Jimin had merely smiled.

Before Taehyung could reply, the alpha was shifting to kneel down with a muffled oh and digging in his bag. “Here, for you.” He handed Taehyung a plastic bag, a muffin squashed inside, “My mom made it for you, when I told her about all this-“

“Hey! We agreed not to bribe him like -“

“So, I hope you like it,” Jimin smiled, seemingly not peeved by Jungkook's growling, “Not much, but-“

“I’m starving this morning,” Taehyung shook his head, pushing his hair behind his ear, feeling like a starstruck schoolboy, “Thank you.”

The alpha beamed, running a hand through his long hair and nodding, “Of course.”

It was silent for a few moments, Taehyung knew they probably looked strange just staring at each other, but he didn’t feel awkward.

“Tae, you can sit here.”

A gentle hand wrapped around his forearm and pulled him to the side, making the omega - begrudgingly- look away from Jimin to watch his steps.

Yoongi was yanking open Jungkook's car door in an instant, the other alpha childishly murmuring that that was my car, I should do it! that the other ignored.

“We still have ten minutes to class,” Yoongi explained quietly, “You can eat here. It’s not good if you skip breakfast.”

“Oh,” Taehyung chewed on his lip, releasing a surprised noise when Yoongi practically picked him up to sit him in the driver's seat, feet dangling over the side. “Thank you.”

Yoongi eye-smiled at him, “No problem, sweetheart.”

Taehyung didn't have a problem with flirty alphas before this, but even he couldn’t pretend that his heart didn’t pick up at such a look.

The omega pretended not to be interested in the three when they moved to the front of the car, just a few feet away to mumble to each other.

He suddenly wished his hearing was as good as an alpha’s, because he was so curious as to what they were saying about him.

Whatever it was that they were arguing over seemed to be something they couldn’t agree on, because Jungkook was slapping a palm on his car with every word and Yoongi looked seconds away from growling at both Jimin and Jungkook to shut up.

At least from this far away Taehyung could just look at them without seeming strange.

He could see a bright purple bruise on Jimin’s jaw that he hadn't noticed earlier, and he suspected that the greenish color on Jungkook's arm was the shape of a hand. The likelihood that Yoongi bore a mark similar went up when the shorter alpha leaned over to poke an angry finger into Jungkook’s chest.

Taehyung didn't know who he suspected was the strongest, because although Yoongi had been the friendliest to him, even Jungkook looked like he could cower under his gaze.

After a few minutes of eating his muffin, he got bored of watching the three argue and instead turned his attention to look around Jungkook’s car.

It was a really nice car and pretty clean, the only things scattered about were a few old water bottles, gum packages, and receipts.

Taehyung tried not to snoop too much, but tilted his head to read a receipt for a haircut dated for late last night. He wondered, unintentionally, if the other had gotten it for him.

That thought made his stomach sink, because the truth was he hadn’t even noticed he’d cut his hair, even though it wasn’t a big change. But, the other part of him felt a surge of happiness to have assumed that the alpha was trying to impress him, if that’s what Jungkook had been doing.

Taehyung snickered to himself, feeling ridiculous at his own train of thought.

“You look small in my car.”

Jumping, the omega quickly tried to pretend he hadn’t been snooping about, twisting to look at Jungkook with wide eyes.

The alpha didn’t smell too happy, so Taehyung assumed their little meeting didn’t go over well, but he did have a smile that seemed genuine on his face as he leaned both forearms on the frame of his car door, essentially trapping Taehyung in.

“I mean,” Taehyung muttered, licking his lips as he closed the now empty ziplock, “You’re just really big, so..”

Taehyung could see the alpha light up with some sort of sultry comment, his smirk coming through and he wondered if it was about to be a horrible line, like want to see what else is big? because Taehyung knew alphas like Jungkook. The big-headed, flirty ones that had no boundaries.

As soon as he had that thought, he felt guilty for judging him so quickly.

Then again, Jungkook did very little to disprove that thought when yesterday he’d snapped his teeth at anyone who stared too long.

“Where did Jimin and Yoongi go?”

And just like that, Jungkook looked less confident.

“Class starts in a few minutes, I have my first period with you. I told them to get lost, it’s my turn.”

Taehyung was sure it was supposed to be a joke that he’d said that, but he didn’t put it past the alpha to tell them to go away.

“Oh,” Taehyung hummed, shifting in place.

Jungkook didn't seem to like that response, at least not by his scent souring the smallest bit. “I can go get them-“

“It’s okay,” The omega shook his head, fiddling with the corner of his textbook.

Jungkook looked at him for a second, a small sigh coming out of his mouth before he came closer, large hand coming to Taehyung's knee to move his legs so he had space to lean into the car.

The omega jolted, because he hadn’t been expecting the contact, but he saw Jungkook catch that reaction and frown.

“Do you not like me?”

“What?” Taehyung muttered, entire expression turning blank as he looked at Jungkook, trying not to pay attention to how close the alpha was. “Why do you say that? I’m just… I barely know you is all…”

“I’m imprinted to you, I mean…” Jungkook pressed his lips together in a fine line, a way that made his dimples sink deeper, “Omegas usually agree to the mating bond or mate within, like, a day of meeting. Sometimes both. Yesterday you didn’t even want to be near me, today you -“

“Are you saying you expect me to just…” Taehyung released an incredulous scoff, “Mate with you straight away? Are you calling me a whore?”

Jungkook's face dropped in an instant, “No! Of course not! I just mean… you’re not really responding to my scent at all. Not really reacting as an omega does..”

“Because I’m not falling to my knees over you, that means I’m not interested?” Taehyung huffed, rubbing his eye before yanking his books to his chest. “For someone that made me omega drop yesterday and didn’t even take care of me after, you’re really digging yourself a hole. First I’m an idiot, now I’m not really an omega. That’s nice. Move, I need to get to class.”

“Ah, fuck. Fuck fuck fuck…”

Taehyung dropped out of the car, dipping under Jungkook's arm and trying not to notice the alpha’s panicked scent or turn around to respond to his mumbled curses.

He knew that Jungkook probably didn’t mean it that way, but Taehyung was sick and tired of alphas like this - like him.

In fact, Taehyung didn't know how he’d handle someone like Jungkook, not after all he’d been through the past few years.

Jungkook wouldn't understand what it was like to be an omega, wouldn't understand his experiences. To him, Taehyung was probably just a prude omega for not immediately jumping into his lap screaming alpha!

And the scary thing was that Taehyung wanted to do that. Everything in him screamed to turn around and let Jungkook have his way on the spot, to drown himself in the alpha’s scent.

It was unfair how uncontrollable an omega’s instincts were. In fact, sometimes Taehyung wished he wasn’t an omega at all.

***

“So what did you say to him this time?” Jimin asked, throwing a Spider-Man themed ball between his hands as he leaned against the frame of Jungkook's jeep.

Jungkook released a grunt of a noise, crossing his arms as his eyes focused on the Kindergarten sign, “Shut up.”

“He mentioned mating to him already!” Yoongi yelled from the inside of the car, making Jungkook turn to send him a warning look.

Jimin whistled, “You’re digging a hole, dude.”

Jungkook rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath a yeah, I know. That’s what he said too. Then, Jungkook shifted to grab his phone that was vibrating nonstop, sighing when he looked at the screen.

Jimin side-eyed him, only looking away when Yoongi jumped out of the car with a mutter of, “Minjun will be out in five, don’t worry, Kook. You won’t be late,”

Shrugging his shoulders, Jungkook said, “It’s cool. It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine,” Jimin argued quietly, “All he wants you to do is stand there so he can lecture you about random shit. He’s a drunk, Kook.”

“He’s a Head Alpha,” Jungkook stated, almost immediately rolling his eyes because of how stupid he sounded. “He’s my dad.”

“He’s also a huge dick,” Yoongi chirped, “Come on, Namjoon has offered for you to move in with him tons of times. He only comes to the house to see you, and to pick up Minjun occasionally.”

“Nah,” Jungkook clicked his tongue, “We need the house. It’s the pack house-“

“Shut up, my house is always open.”

Jimin looked between the two for a good minute, watching them look at each other - not with warning or anger, but with a mutual understanding between them - then he quickly reached for his phone atop of the jeep when it vibrated.

Little One: yeah, share my number with them so we can make plans and such… just warn them that I’ll annoy them to death hahaha!

Jimin laughed, “Hey, Kook, I got something to cheer you up.”

The alpha barely grunted, just looking at his watch for the fourth time in the past five minutes.

“Tae says you guys can have his number.”

Jungkook’s head shot up, “Really?”

Jimin grinned, shrugging as he pulled up Taehyung's contact and turned to show them both, “Be prepared for a lot of random animal photos. He really loves them.”

Chapter Text

“They have the best burgers here. I swear, they’re amazing, but Jungkook swears by their milkshakes, so you’ll have to try one.”

Taehyung was listening to Yoongi, he was, but sitting in Jungkook's car was nerve wracking. Being flooded with the one scent that he hadn’t begun getting used to was difficult.

He knew the other two could feel and smell the tension, but the past two days they hadn’t mentioned anything at lunch at school or between classes, the only time it was even insinuated that they knew what was going on was Thursday, when Jimin had whispered if Taehyung was okay while they walked to their shared science class.

The truth was Taehyung was not okay.

The past week he’d made it his mission to try and get to know them all, but everytime it came to it he didn’t say anything. Not even when Jungkook yelled at someone to change him spots so he could sit beside Taehyung during Math, or when the alpha attempted to flirt with him against his locker.

Taehyung didn't intend to shut him down, but Jungkook didn’t seem to know when to say sorry and when to flirt.

Even in text, all he seemed to do was push Taehyung's buttons.

It seemed none of the alphas realized that Taehyung was beginning to feel the effects of not getting too close to them.

Other than sitting beside them in classes, or at lunch, they didn’t even attempt to touch him, or offer their scents to him, but Taehyung was realizing it was his own fault.

He had known they were nervous the entire time, could smell it, but he also knew they could smell that he was nervous too and he’d expected the alphas to make the first move.

Which was ridiculous considering he’d basically told Jungkook to fuck off when the alpha did make a move.

Taehyung felt like shit.

“You cold?”

Taehyung looked away from where he’d been staring at the middle console, shifting to look to his left where Jimin was.

They’d all told him to take the front seat, but Taehyung had practically thrown himself into the backseat when he saw the beginnings of an argument ensue between them. Plus, he was the smallest, he fit easily into the back; seeing Jimin shift to fit into the backseat made him feel bad for the smallest alpha cramming in, even though honestly Taehyung was sure Jimin was the smallest of them all.

(He'd never comment on it though, didn't want to hurt his alpha pride.) 

“Oh, I’m..” okay, he wanted to say, but quickly thought better of it once his eyes scanned Jimin’s fingers that were already reaching for the zipper on his jacket.

He definitely wanted to be surrounded by that cinnamon rich scent.

“Um, a little,” Taehyung lied.

Jimin’s eyes were hidden by his bangs, but Taehyung suspected they were happy with his response, based on his scent.

“I’ll turn the heater up,” Yoongi muttered in the front.

Taehyung hardly acknowledged that, just watching Jimin unzip his jacket before the alpha offered it to him with this handsome, closed-mouth smile. “It’s a few sizes too big.”

That was completely fine with Taehyung, who immediately reached over for it, unbuckling to have more room to tug it on over his sweater.

Taehyung could feel eyes on him when he whimpered upon taking in Jimin’s scent, it was instinctual, he was drowning in a rich cinnamon scent and the wolf in him was singing.

Then, as soon as he was shifting to sit back, his face red with embarrassment at his own noise, the car jerked, Jungkook cursed, and Taehyung went tumbling.

At least he would have if not for Jimin grabbing him before he could potentially get hurt.

“What the hell, Kook! The light was red.” Yoongi huffed.

“Fuck off, you were staring at him too! You didn’t fucking notice either.”

Taehyung knew everyone could smell his panic, just because it had freaked him out to slam on the brakes so fast, but it was disappearing quickly, all due to the fact that Jimin was holding his waist tightly and he was practically yanked into the alpha’s lap.

“You okay?”

Taehyung breathed in, eyes wide as he shifted to grab onto Jimin’s shoulder, shifting to sit fully in his lap seeing as he was half kneeling on the floorboard of the jeep. “Yeah.”

“Yeah.” Jimin repeated, wrapping both arms around Taehyung and sucking in a deep breath, “You’re okay,” He assured, more to himself than anything, before he used one hand to brush Taehyung's hair from his face and gently raise his chin to meet his eyes.

God, Jimin was gorgeous.

He didn’t look at him this closely, not sitting on his lap, feeling the muscles in his arms that wrapped around him, or feeling the roughness of his hand that ran down his cheek.

Taehyung could have kissed him then, he should. They were mates, and a week was way longer than imprinted pairs normally lasted without at least being hands-on with each other.

He knew Jimin noticed his look, that or he smelled the tinge of want Taehyung gave off, because the alpha’s arm around his waist tightened, bringing Taehyung closer until he could feel the warmth of his breath.

For fuck’s sake why wasn’t Jimin kissing him - Taehyung was waiting for it, he smelled like him, he smelled like want, the omega clearly wanted something from him.

Jimin’s fingers lingered down the side of his jaw, hand cupping his face with his thumb running gently beside the corner of his mouth, “Is it okay if-“

“Alright! We’re here, get out!”

Taehyung released a surprised noise as Jungkook jumped out of the front seat and yanked the backseat door open.

“I’m starving, let’s go, let’s go..” The alpha ranted, grabbing a spear umbrella from under Jimin’s seat and not even looking at the pair.

Jimin growled, a noise from deep in his chest, and reluctantly allowed Yoongi to help Taehyung from the car.

The alpha immediately bypassed everyone to walk up to Jungkook - who was speeding ahead - and punch his arm, hissing asshole just loud enough for Taehyung to hear it.

“Guess we don’t have to play innocent now, huh?”

Taehyung laughed. “This whole time you guys were playing innocent? Oh, no. Did I release a beast?”

Yoongi hummed, a small smirk playing on his lips as he tossed an arm around Taehyung's waist, tucking him into his side as he commented, “Well if you’re going to let Jimin hold you, it’s only fair that you share the love.”

“You consider that love?” Taehyung smiled, playfully slipping out from under Yoongi's arm, “Trust me, that was nothing. ”

Yoongi growled a playful sound as he pretended to chase after him, making it to the entrance of the diner with his arms around Taehyung and basically carrying the laughing omega inside.

“Ah! Yoongs, I’m falling! ” Taehyung giggled, kicking his legs and faking that he couldn’t stand on his own feet as he was manhandled into the diner, “Help, help, he-“

He was cut off when the alpha abruptly turned him around, hugging Taehyung into his chest as Yoongi laughed.

Taehyung grinned, giggling as he laid his cheek against Yoongi’s shoulder, arms wrapping around the alpha.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what you consider loving on someone is.” The alpha teased as he pulled away from the hug to look at the omega.

Not for the first time, Taehyung mused that he really liked Yoongi.

Taehyung smirked, nose scrunching a bit as he murmured, “You should hope you get a chance to find out.”

Yoongi pretended to bite at his cheek then, making the omega laugh harder as the alpha took his hand and began tugging him down rows of booths, letting Taehyung hang on his hand even when he gave the omega a gentle push to climb into a booth.

Jimin and Jungkook were already on one side, sitting a good foot distance between the other with Jimin shoved up against the wall and Jungkook fiddling with a fork at the edge of the table.

Ugh, Taehyung could have groaned aloud at the sight. Alphas were children, he swore.

“Already ordered, hope you like strawberry shakes,” Jimin sat up as soon as Taehyung was across from him, “We figured, because of your scent..”

“I love strawberries.” The omega smiled, breathlessly giggling as Yoongi spread an arm across the back of their seat, like an invitation for Taehyung to cuddle into his side.

Jimin smiled in response, watching Taehyung fiddle with the end of the long jacket sleeves before the omega turned his attention to Jungkook, glancing at him only to see the alpha staring at him.

Taehyung cleared his throat, “So do you guys come here every Friday?”

He was looking directly at Jungkook, but the alpha didn’t reply, not until Jimin elbowed him.

“Oh,” Jungkook huffed, “So it’s my turn for attention?”

Taehyung's stomach dropped, and immediately both of the other two started scolding Jungkook, but the alpha just stared at him.

He couldn’t tell if Jungkook was purposely trying to hurt his feelings, but Taehyung knew that Jungkook was trying to cover up how hurt he felt too. Still, Jungkook had such a bad way of handling rejection - if that’s what the alpha considered this to be.

“You’re such an asshole,” Taehyung whispered to himself, shifting to sink into his spot leaning against the wall.

“I am, but I’m also not the one that wanted to reject their mate within five minutes of meeting.”

Taehyung hissed, fangs on display as he burst with anger, “God, you’re such an alpha! I swear to god- don’t you see I’m fucking trying? You’re the one that seemed pissed off I didn’t offer to fuck you at first sight!”

Jungkook furrowed his brows, completely ignoring Jimin and Yoongi who warned him to shut the fuck up, “You call this trying? You barely even look at us, you don’t want to talk to us. You avoid us after school. You’re doing a shitty job at trying. Just say you don’t want to be mates and let us go find someone else.”

The omega growled, an irritated and throaty noise that was made both because he was upset and because he was angry at the thought of Jungkook wanting to get rid of him so easily.

Jungkook really was an asshole, all he did was let his emotions take control of him and take it out on Taehyung.

The implication that he wasn’t worth being mated to and was so easily disposable was enough to make Taehyung snap.

He pretended to ignore Jungkook's eyes then, and turned to Yoongi, the closest to him, scooting up against him and taking the angry scent coming off of Yoongi as motivation.

“Consider this as me trying,” Taehyung muttered, cupping Yoongi’s jaw to force the alpha to look at him before promptly leaning up to press a chaste kiss onto his soft lips.

The alpha under him froze, meeting Taehyung's eyes when he pulled back, noses brushing once before Yoongi was surging down to kiss him firmly, a hand sprawling on the back of Taehyung's head to hold him.

Taehyung moaned a shocked sound, hands hurrying to clutch Yoongi’s top as the alpha separated his lips to slot them together.

Yoongi was an amazing kisser, something that made Taehyung slightly jealous of anyone who he’d ever kissed, because he felt his head spin with the ferocity with which Yoongi put into kissing him.

Only the sound of the table creaking made them separate, with Taehyung feeling Yoongi let out this cute, happy chuckle against his mouth and the alpha refusing to let him separate without a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth and a whispered, “Better get used to that.”

Taehyung's cheeks reddened when he had to turn and face the other two, with Jimin looking at him beckoningly and Jungkook - well, Jungkook looked angry. With angry being an understatement.

“I missed out in the car,” Jimin commented, releasing a playfully dramatic noise as he leaned on his elbow, brushing his hair from his face. “To be fair, we had a deal - you had to make a move first.”

Taehyung licked his lips, an action they most certainly noticed - with Yoongi almost immediately shifting to play with the ends of Taehyung's hair, probably rubbing in how close they’d just become - and found Jimin’s foot under the table, hoping he wasn’t too jealous.

He didn’t need two alphas fighting all the time. One was more than enough.

Based on the wink Jimin flashed at him and the hand he offered Taehyung across the table, he wasn’t upset. If anything, he just wanted a turn later.

“You don’t have to rub it in.”

In a second, all two of the alphas sighed and turned to Jungkook with warning looks, ones the alpha took with a growl before he stood up. “Fine. I’ll take a break and cool off.”

Taehyung felt horrible when Jungkook stormed off, a part of him immediately sinking.

“Is he… always like that?” Taehyung mumbled cautiously, hoping he didn’t sound irritated, even though he was.

“Possessive?” Yoongi asked, then laughed and added, “Or annoying? Angry? Rude? Yeah, he’s pretty much always one of those things.”

“Jungkook is just used to getting what he wants.” Jimin added, leaning across the table with both hands to play with Taehyung's fingers, holding his own against the omega’s.

The realization that Jimin’s hands were large enough to fit perfectly around his waist was a thought for another time.

“Yeah, I can tell,” Taehyung muttered, “I’m sorry. I’m not. I don’t usually fight with people this much, I just… don’t get along with alphas like him. Am I being too hard on him? I mean, we’re all nervous. It’s scary. I just moved across the city to come here and just… ran into your pack, ruining everything-“

“You didn’t ruin anything,” Jimin argued in a second, quickly cutting him off and squeezing his hand, tugging his hand until Taehyung looked him in the eyes. “This is perfect timing, really. We need an omega to keep us in check.”

“Us meaning Jungkook,” Yoongi commented, chuckling under his breath without any humor as he added, “Lately things have been bad for him. At home, at school. He’s just… he’s not Jungkook lately.”

Taehyung certainly hoped this wasn’t the Jungkook he had to get used to, because he couldn’t handle doing this all day, arguing and making each other mad. He couldn’t.

“Maybe…” Jimin began hesitantly, “Maybe you can go cheer him up?”

“You want me to cheer him up?” Taehyung repeated, raising a brow, “I just pissed him off and you want me to go?”

Jimin shrugged, “If we go he’s just going to start fighting again.”

“So that’s why you’re all bruised.”

Yoongi laughed, feigning a groan of exhaustion as he dropped his face into Taehyung's shoulder, huffing, “I’m so tired of kicking his ass every time.”

Taehyung burst into giggles, reaching back to pet Yoongi’s head and down the side of his neck. He could feel the alpha shiver in response to that.

“Okay! Okay, I’ll go… just know, next time I’ll be the one to kick his ass.” Taehyung chided playfully, touching Yoongi’s knee as he squeezed out from the booth.

He knew Yoongi noticed that Taehyung pressed himself all up against him when he pushed through, but nobody ever said Taehyung wasn’t a possessive omega too.

“Oh!” Jimin chirped before Taehyung ran out, looking a bit upset as he jumped up, “As beautiful as you look, and as much as I love it, probably best to lose the jacket.”

Taehyung pouted his lips a small bit, but knew he was right.

“Just know,” The omega mumbled as Jimin unzipped his jacket, “I loved it while it lasted.”

Jimin chuckled at his dramatics, smiling wide as he leaned down to Taehyung, tweaking the bottom of his chin, “Oh, trust me, little one. This is not the last time you will wear my clothes.”

“Our clothes!”

“- our clothes,” Jimin corrected to please Yoongi.

Taehyung smiled big at the prospect, staring at Jimin a moment longer, expecting some sort of a kiss or even a hug, but once he realized that’s what he had been waiting for he could have smacked himself.

What kind of omega was he becoming, sitting here begging an alpha to give him affection.

“I’ll just…” Taehyung mumbled, quickly turning to run out like he caught fire. His ears reddened when he heard the two immediately begin a conversation with, Aish, he smells so good when he’s flustered, too cute…

He should have known that they could tell exactly what was going on inside his head at all times.

Taehyung was definitely going to smack himself when he got home, he seriously needed to control himself better.

He found Jungkook towards the back of the diner, sitting on a bench in the waiting section outside and typing on his phone with a stressed look all across his face. The omega sighed, gathering himself to join.

Taehyung came closer, taking a seat on the other end a seat away from Jungkook, crossing his arms and looking towards the alpha.

Jungkook didn't even look up, the only sign that he noticed Taehyung was there was when he sucked in a breath and it seemed his shoulders relaxed a small bit - it was a reaction that made Taehyung smile because even if Jungkook was mad at him he was still inclined to relax near him.

The omega scooted closer once, then again, closer until he was only a few inches away before Jungkook finally looked up from his phone, giving him a blank look.

“… ‘m cold.” Taehyung whispered, this time not a lie seeing as it was always freezing cold here.

Jungkook huffed, “So go get Jimin.”

“I don’t want to.”

The alpha huffed again and Taehyung swore if he did it one more time then he was going to smack him. “Seriously, Taehyung. I’m busy, I don’t have time to argue with you again. Just go inside and see them instead. You like them more anyway.”

Taehyung frowned, tucking his hands between his thighs because he was cold, “I want to sit with you, Jungkook.”

“Just stop-“

“I want to sit with you, alpha.” Taehyung whispered, pressing his lips into a line and hoping he didn’t smell absolutely miserable now, but just a few minutes ago Jungkook had implied that he was expendable and now he was trying to get him to go away. “Do you not want me to sit with you ?”

Do you not want me?

Instead of replying, Jungkook kept quiet as he put his phone down and moved to remove his hoodie, flashing golden abs in the process, before putting it in Taehyung's lap without a word and going back to his phone.

Taehyung chewed on his lip as he slipped it on, messing with his long sleeves and breathing in his scent before scooting closer, leaning against Jungkook’s arm.

“Taehyung-“ Jungkook began, sighing.

“I want to sit with you, alpha.” Taehyung repeated, knowing he was submitting to Jungkook by referring to him as such, but he just wanted him to cheer up now, and stop being so… well, irritable.

“You’re too busy to sit with me?” He added softly, forcing himself into Jungkook’s chest, “Who are you talking to?”

Taehyung knew he must have put up a big internal fight not to immediately grab him, but whatever thought that passed through Jungkook’s mind had the alpha pulling him into his lap.

“It’s my dad,” Jungkook whispered, both arms wrapping around Taehyung's waist so he could continue his message, only with the omega on his lap and with his chin on Taehyung's head. “He’s the Town Head Alpha. Owns the territory. Very busy. Has me do stuff for him.”

“Oh,” Taehyung hummed, resting his head on Jungkook’s chest and sinking into his scent, “My mom isn’t home that much, it must be nice to talk to your family a lot.”

“Not really, we don’t get along that much.”

“Same here. Family sucks.”

Jungkook looked rather interested in that, he nearly immediately locked his phone and moved to slip it into the large pocket on the front of his hoodie Taehyung had stolen, like he didn’t even want to see it anymore.

“It’s not safe for an omega to be home alone these days. Hopefully you and your mom are safe.”

Taehyung could’ve gone to sleep just from the vibration of Jungkook’s deep voice against his side, but he forced himself to stay awake and look up at him. “My mom is… she’s not home a lot, if at all.”

“Oh, Yoongi's parents too. It’s just you two?”

“Yeah, my mom is a beta and works at the police station and my dad is an alpha, he… nevermind. Are you hungry now?”

Jungkook noticed, he knew Jungkook noticed that he cut himself off and that Taehyung's scent spiked with anxiety, but the alpha didn’t comment - which was surprising to Taehyung considering how large of a mouth Jungkook had thus far.

Instead, Jungkook leaned his head against Taehyung's temple, releasing a tiny laugh before mumbling, playfully, and without any heat, “Starving, but not for food. Mind if I eat you?”

Taehyung laughed, because unlike all of the other times, this time Jungkook was flirting to distract him. To make sure that he wasn’t anxious; he picked up on his emotions and used that to protect him.

Jungkook wasn’t just flirting to force Taehyung to give him attention, or because he was angry and jealous.

“I think I might be too small for you.” Taehyung replied, smiling wide.

Jungkook grinned, dimple deep as he tsked and reached up to pet Taehyung's hair from his eyes. “Trust me, you’re just perfect.”

“No, far from it really.”

“You don’t need to worry about things like that, I want you no matter what.”

Taehyung knew he was serious then, no longer joking, but he still released a small giggle, an embarrassed sound because he was flustered, but he looked Jungkook right in the eye as he replied, “I want you too.”

“Really?” Jungkook mumbled and the genuine confusion to his voice hurt Taehyung's chest.

“Let’s start over,” Taehyung proclaimed, shifting to wrap both arms around Jungkook’s neck, “Hi, I’m Kim Taehyung. We’re mates! Please take care of me.”

He felt Jungkook’s laugh when it tumbled out, he wasn’t sure if it was an incredulous laugh or happy because Jungkook’s scent was flooded with a million different emotions.

“Oh, baby.” The alpha crooned, leaning closer, “I can definitely take care of you.”

Taehyung's eyes lit up as he leaned over to press a barely there kiss to Jungkook’s cheek before jumping up before the alpha could register it and shaking his hoodie sleeves at Jungkook.

“I’m starving, alpha! I’m wasting away! I’m going to turn into a skel-“ He began to ramble.

“As if I would let that happen!” Jungkook cried playfully, accepting both hands with a tsk and pulling him to stand between his knees. “First, let’s get these sleeves rolled up, my hoodie is too big.”

“I like it.”

Jungkook looked up from his sleeves to smile a genuine, happy smile, “Me too.”

Taehyung liked this Jungkook much better.

***

It took three seconds for all three alphas to jump up and rush across the room, all of their phones laid out on the white granite countertops.

One after the other began to buzz and they went running to the sound.

“I knew he’d do it!” Jungkook laughed, turning to shove his phone in Yoongi's face seeing as he was nearest to him, “Now you ask, let’s see if he sends the same picture.”

Jimin snorted under his breath at the pair, giving a roll of his eyes as they began to argue over whether they thought Taehyung would send them both the same selfie.

“He’s asking if we’re together because you just asked him for one too,” Yoongi complained, turning to hit Jungkook’s arm, “Now I look weird, asshole- oh never mind he sent on!”

“Is it the same?”

Now Jimin was curious, coming around the counter to poke his head over Yoongi’s arm.

“Different!” Jungkook cheered, “That's good, right? Means he put effort into taking a different one.”

Jimin looked at him strangely, “Weird logic but I guess so.”

The tallest alpha cheered again, turning to rush back towards the couch and sinking into the cushions. Meanwhile, Yoongi stared at the photo with squinting eyes.

“He has a beauty mark.”

“Huh?“

“There’s a beauty mark, by his nose,” Yoongi commented, brows scrunched together as he zoomed in a bit and then turned to show Jimin. “It’s so cute.”

“You guys are so weird,” Jimin commented, shooing the phone out of his face.

Yoongi shrugged, “Literally nothing you say to me can ruin my day, I got to kiss him - he tastes like strawberries by the way, in case you wondered.”

Jimin rolled his eyes when Jungkook sat up to yell a hey! Don’t rub it in! and then went back to his phone as the two began to talk about Taehyung's lips.

Then, with a mumble of fuck it, Jimin decided he really was curious if Taehyung would send him a new selfie or not and whether this beauty mark existed.

Chapter Text

“Jungkook said your parents aren’t around much.”

Yoongi looked up from his textbook, reading glasses showing Taehyung his own reflection for a second and the omega’s first thought was ew.

His hair was all matted down and shirt soaked from his walk to school. It was pouring this morning, and his walk to school was very adventurous with the wind flipping his umbrella inside out and his rain boots filling with water.

Still, the alphas had approached him with all the enthusiasm in the world, including Jungkook nearly slipping to pick him up in a hug and a million and one murmurs of how pretty he was this morning, which was definitely not the case.

To be fair, they hadn’t seen each other all weekend, which was a long time for imprints. Taehyung had felt horrible about that, but he’d spent all weekend unboxing his things.

To make up for that, Taehyung promised he’d start spending time with them after school and whenever he had the chance.

He knew Jungkook was right and if he didn’t start showing that he was trying, they’d all start thinking this was rejection.

It wasn’t. Not at all. It was just that Taehyung had way more to deal with about himself before he could even begin to think about things like mating… or falling in love.

Being imprinted, it was hard to avoid either of those things.

Even just sitting here, in study hall, and waiting for the other two to come join them to go out together, he wanted to jump Yoongi's bones and the alpha wasn’t even doing anything.

He was simply checking his history homework and occasionally looking up at Taehyung who was reading his own book, but just that was enough to show that Yoongi could definitely feel the tension between them.

This was the problem with not immediately mating, it just made them want each other more.

“They aren’t,” Yoongi hummed, “That’s why we usually go to mine for games and meetings. But today we have to go by Jungkook’s, Jimin’s brother needs a babysitter.”

“Jimin’s brother is at Jungkook's?”

Yoongi shifted then, looking a bit uncomfortable as he muttered, “Yeah, we all usually watch him. Me and Jimin usually share my car, going to pick up his brother from school and shit. It’s.. it's Jimin's story, so yeah. You wanna put our stuff away?”

Taehyung got the hint and immediately nodded and dropped the subject, gathering his things when he noticed a group of people staring at them from a ways away.

They weren’t even being shy about it, just muttering to each other when Taehyung heard the muttering of, not that pretty, they didn’t mate yet, and I give Jimin a week before he's gone.

“Jimin?” Taehyung mumbled, turning to Yoongi with a raised brow, because if he heard then surely the alpha did.

Yoongi looked all kinds of uncomfortable, rubbing the back of his neck and chewing on his cheek before he reached over to take Taehyung's book and put it with his own. “Let’s go.”

“Yoongs,” Taehyung huffed, knowing he sounded like a whiny child, but he couldn’t help it. “He’s my mate, tell me.”

The smell that came off of Yoongi was nothing short of overjoyed to hear such a thing, his lips turned into a heart shape when he smiled and wrapped an arm around Taehyung as they stepped into the hallway. “Say it again.”

“Yoongi!”

“Aish, fine,” Yoongi feigned exasperation as he removed his glasses, “You’re not going to like it though, so I think it’s best if we just…”

Taehyung turned to him with a pout, completely milking it as he pushed himself in front of Yoongi's locker before the alpha could open it.

“That’s not threatening at all,” The alpha released a fond noise and tapped Taehyung's nose before gently pushing him out of the way, “Do that again, baby, and I’m just going to kiss you.”

Now that was not a threat either, in fact the thought made Taehyung nearly immediately forget what he was pouting over in favor of setting up against his locker again.

“Now you’re asking for it,” Yoongi warned, a smirk beginning to play at his lips as he leaned his forearms beside Taehyung's head, pressing his chest against the omega’s, “I’m really enjoying this, you know?”

“You say that, but you’re not doing anything,” Taehyung huffed brattily, “So either make good on your-“

Now this Taehyung really enjoyed, getting Yoongi riled up until he burst and attacked his lips. He could get used to this - the feeling of sharing warm breaths and the hands that grabbed his waist to pull him closer.

Yoongi proved himself to have very low patience when it came to him, but Taehyung didn’t mind when his teeth nipped at his bottom lip; it only made him release a soft, muffled moan.

He wanted Yoongi so badly. God, he wanted him to pull him into a classroom and -

“Room for two more?”

Taehyung felt the huff of irritation Yoongi gave against his lips, but the alpha didn’t pull away instantly, instead he made a show of pressing a kiss to Taehyung's mouth again, then cheek, before pulling away.

“I need to talk to you,” Yoongi said immediately, leaving Taehyung to suck his swollen bottom lip into his mouth.

When he met eyes with Jimin, the other just looked confused, and slightly irritated because Yoongi had cut in before he could get to Taehyung, but Jungkook surprised him.

Instead of his face being full of anger and scrunched up with jealousy, he smiled, brushing his hair from his forehead when he commented, “That’s two for Yoongs, zero for us.”

Taehyung was relieved to hear it wasn’t said angrily, but more so joking - even though he could still smell a bit of jealousy, but that was going to be a given when there was one of him and three of them. “We don’t need to keep score, it’s not a competition.”

“True,” Jungkook commented, releasing a grunt when Yoongi grabbed his arm trying to pull him away. “We already won everything when we won you.”

Jungkook was going to kill him.

Taehyung was so positive that Jungkook was going to kill him if he continued being a flirt without all of the angsty, jealous alpha undertones.

The omega watched the three for a minute, getting a bit irritated that they kept going on with their meetings without him - but, to be fair, he wasn’t technically part of their pack yet. He hasn’t verbally accepted any of their imprints and made it permanent.

Thinking about that, the fact that this wasn’t permanent yet, was nerve wracking.

All they had to do was mutually say they rejected the imprint and that was it, they’d be in severe pain for a while, but things would continue on.

When Taehyung was finished traumatizing himself with his thoughts of being forever alone, he was met with all of them coming back over, a visual dullness settled over them.

“Uh, everything okay?” He asked.

“Baby, baby, don’t worry.” Jungkook cut in quietly, wrapping an arm around him and leading him towards the exit, “We just need to talk to you real quick.”

The baby baby in itself was worrying, but Taehyung tried not to mention that he was only worried because they smelled worried.

“Jimin is going to do it.”

Taehyung raised a brow, watching the three exchange a look as they got to the parking lot before Yoongi was handing Jimin his car keys and mumbling about riding with Jungkook.

Then, Yoongi came to Taehyung to press a kiss onto his mouth and breathe him in.

“See you in thirty.” Yoongi said, leaving Taehyung with a confused look as he turned to Jungkook, waitingly.

The alpha just shrugged, giving a tiny smile before opening his arms in offering.

Taehyung did accept the hug, just because he heard his heart pounding in his ears and wanted a bit of comfort.

Nothing was comforting about how quiet they were being, it was nearly like the first day they met again, but even then they’d attempted to fill the silence.

“Jungkook,” Taehyung mumbled, pushing against the alpha when he didn’t let go, “I’m going to see you in a few minutes, I’ll be back.”

Jungkook made a grumbling sound, releasing him with a kiss onto his cheek and a look directly at his eyes, but he didn’t say much more.

“Drive safe,” Was all he muttered to Jimin, to which the other tried to ease the tension with a, “dude, I’m a better driver than you,” as he accepted Taehyung's hand.

Jimin was always the easiest to be around when they were being anxious or suspicious, because he was so good at controlling his scent to the point that it was annoying to Taehyung that he couldn’t smell how he felt.

If Jimin was distressed and he couldn’t smell it, then he couldn’t comfort him. That bothered Taehyung.

Taehyung chose to stay quiet when they climbed into Yoongi's silver car, only mumbling a soft, “it’s cold,” when he reached for the heater as soon as they got in, at the exact moment Jimin did too.

The alpha smiled a bit sheepishly before taking his hand and laying their intertwined fingers on the middle console.

“Why’d we take two cars?” Taehyung asked softly.

Jimin hummed, thumb rubbing over the back of Taehyung's knuckles, “I want to talk to you.”

The omega shifted to turn his knees towards him, restrained only by the seat belt from moving closer, “Is this about what those people were saying? Did Yoongs tell you? I was so confused…”

“Okay, first of all,” Jimin began but quickly stopped, an irritated expression taking over his face, but it wasn’t towards Taehyung, it was towards himself.

Taehyung knew that look, he did it everyday.

The alpha huffed, turning out of the parking lot only to drive for a moment before pulling off to the side of the road, obviously frustrated.

“Taehyung,” Jimin muttered, putting the car in park and unbuckling to shift and turn to face him, “I want you to know that this… this isn’t like that, some sort of hookup. For us, it’s not, I swear… but what people say.. we can’t control it, and I can’t lie and say they’re wrong when they assume things…”

Taehyung felt his entire body tense up, because he understood what Jimin was getting at and it would be a lie if he said it didn’t bother him.

On the other hand, he wasn’t stupid, they were attractive alphas, anyone would happily be with them.

“You… had sex a lot?”

Jimin pressed his lips together, turning to lean his arms against the steering wheel, “I was going through a lot at the time, I’ll… I’ll explain it all, if you want, but-“

“And Jungkook too?”

“Jungkook was always more of a…” Jimin searched for the word before murmuring, “… picky alpha, but, I mean, yeah. Yeah he’s… there will be talk about him too. And uh, Yoongi is.. he’s a hopeless romantic, he never was a hookup kind of guy, but that’s not to say he’s innocent, just that you won’t hear as much about him.”

Taehyung didn't reply, but not because he was upset. The truth was, he was mostly… nervous.

Nervous that he wouldn’t be good enough for them, but almost all of his anxiety was because he had the same assumption everyone else seemed to have too - they were going to get tired of him.

Taehyung was boring, he knew that; he came with a ton of baggage and so little to offer to them, they’d realize within the month that he was nothing.

At the same time, he felt horrible for thinking that of them, because it was obvious they’d all been anxious to see his reaction to it.

It would be naive of Taehyung to claim he thought he’d get mated to someone innocent and untouched.

Since they’d admitted as much to him, it was only fair that Taehyung let them know he, too, wasn’t some innocent omega.

“It’s okay.”

Jimin’s eyes widened a bit, “… it is?”

“I mean,” Taehyung mumbled, “It’s going to… be hard to hear everyone talking, but if you went to my old school, it’d probably be the same… so…”

“Oh,” Jimin mumbled, then quickly turned to him with an even louder, “oh? You… you too?”

Taehyung's cheeks flushed under the attention, shoulders coming to his ears in a shrug as he picked at a hole in his pants so he didn’t have to look at Jimin. “I mean, not a lot… but I have, you know, hooked up.”

It was his turn to be anxious when Jimin didn’t reply immediately, but he didn’t smell any sort of bad reaction on the alpha, if anything he only smelled relief.

“That’s.. good.”

Taehyung twisted to look at him through his hair, “Really?”

“Really.” Jimin replied, licking his lips once before brushing his hair from his face, letting the long locks almost immediately fall back into his eyes. “It’s better. I mean, to handle all of us. That’s not to say I’m not jealous - god, they’re going to be so jealous when they hear too - but I’m worried about hurting you, you’re so small and - wait, I’m not assuming we’re going to have sex… goddamn it, Jimin shut up.”

Taehyung couldn’t help it, he threw a hand over his mouth in an attempt to stifle a laugh, but it flooded right through his fingers, drawing the alpha’s attention instantly.

Jimin chuckled too, “Sorry. I can’t help it, you know? We’re imprinted so… I’m jealous and I think too much.”

“So you think about having sex with me?” Taehyung teased, immediately giggling at the redness to Jimin’s ears, but took pity on him after a second and added, “For the record, you’re much more handsome than any of the people I’ve been with.”

Jimin’s lip quirked up, “Yeah?”

Taehyung nodded, chewing on his lip as he shifted to lean closer to the middle console, reaching over to touch his hair. His hair was so soft, and so long, Taehyung wanted to force Jimin to lay down and let him play with it.

But right now, his thoughts drifted the other direction, wondering what it would be like to hide his face in it in a useless attempt to stifle his moans.

“Don’t,” Jimin murmured, reaching over to place a finger to Taehyung's lip, tugging it from his mouth, “You’re… you're really pushing me, you know?”

“Ugh,” Taehyung sighed, shifting even closer, “What’s up with you alphas not doing anything? Just kiss me already.”

It seemed that’s all Jimin wanted - confirmation - because he was leaning over in an instant, hand brushing along Taehyung's neck and sending shivers down his spine before he connected their lips.

Jimin tasted like candy, sweet from the snacks they’d shared during class today, and his grip was just that - gentle, sweet, and cautious when he pulled back a bit to make sure Taehyung was okay, opening his eyes to look at him before smiling.

“Don’t be so scared. I’m not going to break, alpha.” Taehyung commented, bumping his nose into Jimin’s own and pressing his own kiss against plump lips.

He kissed Jimin, making sure it was a proper kiss by cupping the alpha’s jaw and not releasing him until he felt Jimin smile against his lips.

Jimin was cute. Even more so when he was so happy he could barely stop smiling.

***

“Mini! It’s Mini! Jun, it’s Mini!”

Taehyung raised his brows curiously when they pulled up in front of a large, off-white colored house, of course he knew Jungkook was well off, it was obvious, but the little boy bouncing in the doorway was unexpected.

Until he remembered the earlier mention of Jimin’s brother.

He was cute, just like Jimin.

The boy couldn’t have been older than six, and he was waiting in the front doorway bouncing as he held the doorknob, wearing only a pair of Spider-Man pajama bottoms.

“Hey! It’s raining!” Jimin yelled from the driveway, holding his umbrella over Taehyung's door and helping the omega out, “You better get that bottom inside, Minjun!”

Taehyung could hear the tiny giggles that followed, then a loud squeal as they approached the door.

“Your brother?”

Jimin nodded, closing the umbrella underneath the porch before turning to Taehyung with an opened arm and tucking him into his side, “Jungkook's dad isn’t home, you don’t have to worry.”

Taehyung wasn't worrying, but the thought of asking why he should worry came and went the second he had a six year old blinking up at him with big puppy eyes.

“Pretty!” Minjun screeched, smiling this big, toothless smile before coming to Taehyung's leg and pressing his cheek into it, “Mine.”

“Yah!” Jimin yelled, bending down to scoop up the child over his shoulder, resulting in a handful of squeals, “He’s mine, you little punk! You don’t even say hello to people anymore, huh? What has Uncle Jun been teaching you?”

“He’s ours,” Came a deep voiced correction.

Taehyung grinned, smiling up at Jungkook when he came to the entryway, he was now wearing sweatpants and an old top. Taehyung liked that look on him - casual and relaxed.

“Hey,” The omega muttered, putting hands on Jungkook's waist when the alpha invaded his space. He didn’t mind it, not when Jungkook's scent was so relaxing that it was contagious.

Jungkook hummed, looking him over from head to toe before cupping his chin, “Was worried you wouldn’t come after he told you.”

Taehyung tsked, “Don’t worry.”

If possible, Jungkook's eyes brightened up more, thumb brushing over Taehyung's bottom lip for a moment.

The omega was highly aware his lips were swollen, he was sure it was Yoongi's fault rather than Jimin’s, but he didn’t mind - in fact, he was completely fine with it. He could get used to having swollen lips pretty quickly if it meant getting so much affection.

“When’s it my turn?”

Taehyung laughed, playfully swatting Jungkook's hand away only to sink into his chest with a teasing, “Your timing is never good, Jeon Jungkook. Try harder.”

In response, Jungkook pretended to growl at him while he picked him up, making Taehyung scream and latch onto his shoulders.

“My shoes! Jungkook, my shoes are wet-“

“Don’t care.”

“I’m wet! It’s storming-“

Taehyung was cut off when Jungkook deposited him onto the couch, making the omega huff and playfully pout when the alpha abandoned him to move and take off his shoes, carelessly throwing the muddy rain boots onto the white tile floors with a splash of mud falling off them.

The omega was going to complain, but he didn’t have time to before there was the smell of milk filling his nostrils.

Minjun smelled really good - like a baby - and the child did absolutely nothing to change Taehyung's mind about him being a baby when he giggled and shoved a book at him. “Nigh-night time?”

“It’s only six, buddy,” Jungkook commented, slipping onto the couch beside Taehyung's head, “This is Taehyung. Say hello, Taehyung.”

Taehyung shifted to sit properly, leaning over to the child’s level to look at his book, “Oh, it’s The Little Prince, do you like it?”

Minjun smiled, pressing his few top teeth into his bottom lip, “It’s da best!”

“It is, huh? Almost as cool as Spider-Man!”

Minjun gasped, putting his book on the end of the couch before tugging at his pajama bottom, “I have Spider-Man! He’s cool! Shooting da tings like pew pew!” He screamed, pretending to shoot webs.

Taehyung heard Jungkook laugh and scrunched up his nose to hide his own giggle.

“He refuses to put a shirt on.”

For a second, Taehyung got worried at the newcomer, startling to look at the staircase in the corner of the living room. That was until he felt Jungkook’s hand sneak onto his knee, then Taehyung knew it was okay.

“Oh,” The man coming down the stairs was handsome, “Hey, I didn’t know… wait-“

He paused, a small smirk taking over his lips that seemed oddly familiar.

Everything suddenly seemed self explanatory when Jungkook warned, “Namjoon, do not-“

“Aren’t you gorgeous!” Taehyung had no choice but to pay attention to the man, who he now smelled was a beta, when he came closer, coming over to cup his face. “You’re way too pretty for Jungkook-“

“Shut up.”

“- no wonder the boys wouldn’t stop growling at each other. Aish, you’re so pretty-“

“And this…” Taehyung sighed with relief when he heard Yoongi's familiar, even toned voice at the staircase. “Is Namjoon, Jungkook's older brother. Please don’t scare him off, Jun.”

Namjoon scoffed, pointing at himself as if to say what, me? before looking at Taehyung and rolling his eyes, “Pff, alphas, so rude - am I right?”

Now that was a sentiment Taehyung could agree with, so he snickered and nodded to the beta. “They’re the worst.”

The beta laughed, reaching over for his keys on the coffee table, “Now with that attitude, I think you can survive them, but let me know if you ever need some help kicking some ass.”

“Noted.” Taehyung agreed, releasing a quiet laugh when he heard a few complaints, watching Namjoon shove Jimin on his way to the door for no reason, but the alpha merely tried tripping him in response.

It seemed they spent a lot of time here, at least it seemed Namjoon spent a lot of time with them if how fast he was willing to tease the boys said anything.

That must be nice, having a full house all the time.

His own house was mostly silent.

“So, Namjoon is-“

“Weird,” Jungkook suggested while Yoongi helpfully added, “Annoying.”

Taehyung snorted, “I was going to say nice, but whatever you say.”

“Nice? Namjoon?” Jimin mumbled, a confused look taking over his face as he carried two boxes of pizza into the living room, “Namjoon is literally the devil in hiding, his mate is even worse though - Seokjin will talk your ear off.”

“I’m okay with -“

“No! No! No!” Minjun began yelling, coming running around the couch once again, the pile of Spider-Man toys he’d been collecting abandoned on the floor as he came running in to jump on the couch, “No want!”

Taehyung raised a brow, turning to look over the back of the couch at Yoongi.

The alpha just held up the child’s discarded pajama top and rolled his eyes, “Minjun, it’s cold you need to wear a shirt or you’ll catch a cold.”

“No.”

“Minjun, I’m going to count to five-“

“No.”

“Let me see it,” Taehyung muttered, jumping up from the couch to accept the top.

Minjun whined when Taehyung came to his side, pouting as he pressed his cheek into the couch. Still, he looked at Taehyung interestedly when he knelt down to his side.

“Hello? Are you awake? Is it sleepy time?” Taehyung chided playfully, tapping a finger at Minjun’s cheek until he giggled and shifted to pull his thumb to his mouth. “Minjunnie, is it okay if I take this Spider-Man shirt? I love it so much. Do you think it would fit?”

Immediately, the child whined, shaking his head, “Mine.”

“It’s yours?” Taehyung gasped, “I didn’t know! You weren’t wearing it so I thought I could have it.”

Minjun shook his head, immediately shifting to sit up for the shirt. “Mini gotted it.”

“Mini got it for you?” Taehyung asked, eyes flickering to Jimin who was hovering over the back of the couch, the alpha ducked his head sheepishly at the nickname, “If he got it for you, then you should wear it, huh? What if someone takes it!”

Gasping, Minjun tossed his arms up, “Not nice!”

“It’s not nice if someone takes your stuff,” Taehyung agreed, taking a seat beside the child to roll his shirt over his head, “So let’s keep track of our things, that way nobody steals them.”

Minjun humphed an agreeing sound, yanking his top over his belly before twisting to climb into Taehyung's lap and reach over for his book as if he’d been invited there.

“Aish, Minjun…” Taehyung heard Jimin complain, sounding embarrassed, but he didn’t mind, Minjun was just a child.

“It’s fine.” Taehyung assured softly, taking to petting Minjun’s hair as the child looked at his picture book. “He’s cute.”

“He’s a demon,” Jungkook warned, leaning over towards the table to begin plating some pizza.

The omega laughed, “I thought you were a demon at first too, but you managed to prove me wrong,” He teased.

At that, Jungkook smirked, looking up at him he replied, “I can be a demon if you’re into that, just come upstairs and I can-“

“Shut up,” Yoongi growled, reaching over to shove Jungkook's arm, “Minjun is five. He doesn’t need to start asking what the hell you’re talking about. We just got him over his cursing phase.”

Five. Hm, he was definitely a tall five year old.

Jimin snorted at that and ignored Minjun’s protests as he lifted the boy from Taehyung's lap with one arm to sit him on the floor. “You know the rules, only eating in the living room if you sit at the table.”

Minjun pouted, then whined, “Spider-Man time!”

“This is the fourth time this week… can’t we watch Iron Man?” Jungkook protested.

“No!”

Begrudgingly, Jungkook reached over for the remote.

Taehyung didn't mind when Yoongi came over to squish in on his other side, handing him a plate and flashing him a handsome smile, but he knew it was coming when the alpha hooked his chin over Taehyung's shoulder to whisper a soft. “Everything’s okay?”

To which Taehyung turned his head to press a kiss against Yoongi's cheek and then flashed him a smile.

And when Taehyung leaned back into Jimin’s arm and Yoongi laid a hand on his knee, he felt at home. The only problem was figuring out how to add one more person.

Three was an awfully big number.

Chapter Text

It was pouring today, storming so badly that Taehyung couldn’t focus on the teacher rambling about the homework for today because it was thundering outside.

So his eyes had been wandering around his desk for a while, but it was boring.

Looking at Jungkook’s desk, however, seemed far more interesting.

The alpha didn’t speak much during math, mostly just looking nearly half asleep or laying on his arm to look at Taehyung - to which the omega pretended not to notice - but, honestly, Jungkook was pretty good at math.

Taehyung ended up copying all of his homework in the hallway this morning upon realizing he’d forgotten to do his own and he’d only missed a few problems.

The omega shifted to lean a little closer, eyeing the inside of Jungkook's backpack as the alpha pulled it up onto his desk to dig inside, the action making Jungkook turn to look at him in a split second, brow raised.

Taehyung backed down with a small, embarrassed grin and tucked his hair behind his ear.

Jungkook scrunched up his nose in a near-silent laugh before leaning closer. “Looking for something?”

“Bored.”

The alpha hummed, leaning on his arm towards Taehyung more, “Me too.”

Taehyung sighed, leaning down so his cheek rested on his arm and looked at Jungkook's smart watch, eyes widening when it lit up.

Boredom getting the best of him, Taehyung reached over for Jungkook's watch, curling cold fingers around his wrist and curiously swiping at the touchscreen.

If the alpha had a problem with it, it didn’t show, Jungkook only moved his hand onto Taehyung's desk as he turned to write down their homework pages on the corner of his notebook.

The omega scrolled through his apps, finding himself looking through Jungkook’s pictures which consisted mostly of shirtless pictures - very nice once of Taehyung said so himself - and random memes, but what caught Taehyung's attention was a few photos of a group of young boys.

He recognized Yoongi easily by his cute defined cheekbones and heart shaped face, and Jungkook was easily the tallest one with deep dimples in one cheek, Jimin was sitting on a pile of grass with this cropped hairstyle that made Taehyung giggle - it was too cute.

“You guys knew each other for a long time.” Taehyung mumbled, glancing at Jungkook.

The alpha gave a closed mouth smile, removing his hand gently to offer his fingers to Taehyung while nodding towards the door.

“We grew up together,” Jungkook muttered when Taehyung accepted his hand, grabbing his textbooks in one hand. “Ever since Yoongi stole Jimin’s bear lunch box in kindergarten, we just knew we’d be together.”

“What about all those other boys?”

“They’re Namjoon’s pack, you’ll see them-“ Jungkook cut himself off with an annoyed expression as he quickly yanked Taehyung to the side upon the omega getting slammed into while walking down the hallway, eyes narrowing as he barked a watch it!

To which Taehyung quickly curled his fingers into Jungkook's tighter for his attention, “It’s okay.”

The last thing he needed was to start fights, he was still the new kid, and would be until the next new kid came along, which was unlikely given how small the town was.

“It’s not,” Jungkook argued, but must have thought better of it because he was quickly shaking his head and letting go of Taehyung's hand to instead wrap an arm around him. “Let’s just go before my temper gets bad.”

“It’s not bad enough already?” Taehyung teased.

The alpha’s lip did quirk up a small bit, pinching Taehyung's cheek making the omega squeal a laugh. “Don’t push it.”

Taehyung wouldn’t push it, just because Jungkook was cute when he pulled away to struggle opening up an umbrella for them.

“It’s fucking cold,” Taehyung complained the second Jungkook was tugging him outside, gripping the alpha’s sweatshirt between his fingers and stalking beside him quickly, trying not to slip on the wet pavement while also trying not to fall behind and get soaked.

“Let’s just sit here…” Jungkook mumbled, pulling himself away from the umbrella a bit to open the passenger seat door and give Taehyung his arm.

The omega nearly scolded him for getting himself a bit wet just to help him in the car, but thought better of it because without the alpha’s help he’d probably be slipping all over the place.

Taehyung went to crawl further into the car, but stopped at a quiet tsk, twisting to drop his bag in the floorboard and eye Jungkook confused.

“Need to wait for the others.”

“Just wait inside.”

Jungkook licked his lips, looking Taehyung up and down before shaking his head, pressing his umbrella into the open doorway to cover himself, “Honestly, I don’t think I have enough self control to sit in a locked car with you.”

Taehyung couldn’t help the way his cheeks flushed, trying to play off his flusteredness by rubbing his cold nose and sheepishly scooting back towards the door. “Don’t worry…”

“Trust me, you need to worry,” The alpha laughed quietly, pressing his hip against the door and adding, “You smell so good.”

“You… you can’t possibly smell me, it’s raining too much, just smells like rain and trees today.”

Jungkook must have noticed Taehyung was getting slightly flustered at all his comments, so he just smiled and offered his bag for the omega to toss into the floorboard, which he did, but not before getting a big whiff of anxiety off Jungkook.

About what, he had no idea, but Taehyung hated the smell of it almost as much as he hated the idea of Jungkook reverting back to that jealous, angry shell of his.

Lately, he’d been so good at sharing and Taehyung hadn’t really seen that same anger he’d witnessed the first few days with him.

Recently, he’d really liked this Jungkook. The flirty, but protective alpha, rather than the jealous and irritated one.

“Alpha,” Taehyung mumbled, squirming close to the opened door to throw arms around Jungkook's waist and burrowing into his stomach. “‘m bored.”

“Hm? Can’t hear you when you’re hiding, baby.”

Taehyung smiled to himself triumphantly when the alpha shifted to hold his umbrella on the other side in favor of petting his hair.

He was bored, cold, and lonely, but at least flirting cured two of those things.

“I’m bored,” Taehyung complained, shifting to rest his chin on Jungkook's stomach and look up at him, pouting a bit, “And hungry.”

“Poor thing,” The alpha commented, looking more than willing to indulge him, running fingers down the side of his neck before reaching back to yank his phone from his pocket, “Here. I paused your game from break time for you.”

Taehyung smiled big, positive it was a goofy grin when Jungkook chuckled and gave his phone to him.

He didn’t have one of these fancy, brand new phones that Jungkook did, so the alpha so graciously - at the cost of a few pouts - let him download a few games on his phone for him to play during lunch.

Taehyung settled against the passenger seat, leaning against the alpha’s hip and feeling eyes on his temple as he chewed at his cheek and started his game.

He’d have to get used to it - all of the alphas staring - because it seemed never ending.

“We can get food after,” Jungkook added, brushing a strand of Taehyung's hair from his temple.

The omega grinned to himself, eyes on the phone screen when the device vibrated and Taehyung quickly flickered his eyes from the screen onto the message.

IDIOT #2: Evil is coming beware

Taehyung frowned, looking up at Jungkook and offering his phone back with a small, “Who is idiot #2?”

The alpha raised a brow for a second, unsure what he was talking about before realizing and quickly taking the phone with a mutter of. “It’s fine, just some-“

“Kook, did you see the message?”

Taehyung smiled, shifting to sit up and peek his head between Jungkook and the frame, “Jimin!”

The alpha visibly brightened, “Hey, little one, are you-“

“Ah, fuck.”

Taehyung shifted to lean further out, hand gripping Jungkook’s hip for balance, not that the alpha noticed, he was too busy trying to block Taehyung's sight, making the omega growl under his breath and shove the alpha to the side with a hand on his thigh.

His eyes caught what they were looking at in an instant, Yoongi was standing in the entryway of the hallways, a frustrated look on his face as he rambled on and on, then flung a hand towards the parking lot, towards them.

It didn’t even occur to Taehyung to look at who he was talking to, but when he did the omega visibly shrunk back.

The girl was awfully cute, a bit taller than Yoongi, but gorgeous with deep brown locks and frosted green sweatshirt.

Taehyung wasn't the type to feel self conscious, not really, but he knew in an instant he should, because she looked upset the moment Yoongi motioned towards the jeep.

“ Oh.” Taehyung whispered, it was obvious the dots connected in his head and he was quickly shifting to climb over the middle console and into the backseat.

“Babe…” Jungkook sighed, quickly throwing his umbrella into the floorboard as Jimin hurried to climb into the backseat.

Of course, Taehyung wasn’t jealous - how could he be? It was only an incredibly gorgeous girl way out of his league, more in the same game as the alphas, so of course he wasn’t jealous…Maybe slightly annoyed and irritated, but not jealous…

Okay. Maybe a little jealous.

It was clear to him from day one that the boys weren’t ones to make many friends, they barely interacted with many people and when they did usually it was to argue, so seeing one of them talking to anyone probably would have set off red flags for him.

He’d only been here a little while though - what right did he have to be jealous?

“Tae…” Jimin slammed the passenger door when he climbed in the back, hair wet and sticking to his forehead as he tossed his things onto the floorboard. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“I’m not thinking anything.”

“You smell angry.”

“Annoyed, not angry,” Taehyung corrected rather childishly, sticking his chin out as he huddled into the side of the door.

As soon as he heard Jungkook shut his own door in the front and turn to spin around, Taehyung knew he was about to get or give an earful.

“I get it,” Taehyung said quickly, before either of them could say anything, “You’re going to say I’m misunderstanding, blah blah. It’s really fine. It’s just… you know, instincts, that make me smell like this.”

It was silent for a couple of beats before Jimin cut in, quietly, “You’re not misunderstanding though.”

Taehyung's heart sank, stomach twisting as he nodded and tucked his legs under himself as he turned to face the door, “Can we go yet?”

Jungkook sighed first, twisting to reach between the gap of his seat and the car door to brush Taehyung's cheek with his fingers, “It was a long time ago, she just… expects something more from us than we can give. It happens.”

“Us.” Taehyung mouthed. Both alphas went quiet as Taehyung released a jealous sound - he couldn’t even begin to pretend it was anything but jealous - “I only thought of Yoongs, but I guess-“

Just then, Yoongi yanked open the passenger seat, looking entirely confused as he quickly jumped in. Taehyung knew one of the others must have either made a face, or something to let the other know he was upset, because in an instant Yoongi was releasing a quiet sound of nervousness.

“Tae, come on, you’re freezing…” Jimin muttered, moving closer to him and offering his arm and opened coat.

The omega eyed him for a moment, seeing his begging expression he sighed and scooted closer, leaning his cheek against Jimin’s collarbones.

“There you go, beautiful. Don’t be upset, please.” The alpha muttered, bringing Taehyung's knees across his thighs and pressing a kiss onto his temple.

Taehyung did like being babied, everyone loved a bit of attention once in a while, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t upset. Just… less so.

“Look,” Yoongi began, looking apologetic as he leaned over the console, “I can promise you, you’re our mate. Anything before this was in the past, remember? You guys talked about it before…” He added, looking at Jimin for confirmation.

The alpha hummed a confirmation, pressing a finger to Taehyung's chin to lift it up before pressing a gentle kiss to the corner of Taehyung's lips, and another onto his bottom lip. “… don’t be upset, you’re always number one.”

“It’s just…” Taehyung sighed against his lips before leaning against Jimin’s jaw, shifting to curl his legs up closer to Jimin and steal his warmth, “I didn’t even think about the possibility that I have to… you know, deal with seeing any exes or -“

“Hell no!”

Taehyung jumped, earning an I’m sorry from Jungkook for shouting, but the alpha quickly continued on with a shake of his head and concerned brows. “‘No, Taehyung, not exes, not even close - she’s just a.. a hookup, that’s it. And, like, two years ago. Ever since she just seems to think she’s going to be our mate, but mostly she’s obsessed with Yoongi. Maybe because he actually didn’t sleep with her-“

“Fuck her-“ Jimin interupted, but Taehyung appreciated the interuption, because he’d much rather hear a hookup be referred to as fucking rather than sleeping together.

“- and she’s been annoying him ever since.”

“But.. But Yoongi is mine…” Taehyung grumbled weakly, fighting off his smile when he smelled all the happiness flooding the car.

Yoongi leaned over to offer his fingers, “That’s right, sweetheart.”

Taehyung was going to be whining about this all night.

***

“Not hungry?”

The omega sighed, pushing his food around on his plate and making the other’s sigh.

“You need to eat, little one,” Jimin muttered beside him, reaching over to pet the hair off his forehead.

Taehyung was sulking, pushing around his food and leaning against his jacket-covered hand, breathing in Jungkook’s scent seeing as the alpha had practically forced it on him earlier, not that he minded.

Now the only thing he minded was the fact that there was a certain girl making googly eyes at his table.

“I’ll stop when she stops.”

“Who?” Jungkook wondered as he stalked closer to the lunch table, he’d been running a little late from science to the cafeteria, which also had an influence on a certain omega pouting. “Hi, beautiful.”

Taehyung pouted, accepting the kiss onto his hair only to tug the alpha into the seat beside him and sink into his arm with a whiny, “That thing won’t stop looking.”

Jungkook raised a brow at Jimin across the table just as Taehyung got a lungful of Yoongi's scent and spun around to look at the entrance.

The alpha looked flushed, he’d just gotten out of gym and that was normally flustering enough for Taehyung due to how intense the alpha smelled of hormones, but today he wore just a white tee that stuck to his skin, and that did nothing to calm Taehyung's jealousy.

The omega never claimed to not be possessive, but he’d never felt it to this degree before.

“Yoongs..” Taehyung cried, peeking up and quickly jumping to his feet, practically attaching the alpha in a hug and nuzzling into his still- sweat covered neck.

Yoongi jolted, but wrapped arms around him in an instant, “Miss me? I just saw you in study-“

The omega ignored him in favor of cupping his cheeks to press a kiss onto the corner of his mouth, then quickly pulling away to tug him, “Come on, handsome, let’s eat together!”

It wasn’t that Yoongi wasn’t suspicious, he was incredibly so, but he wasn’t going to look at Taehyung strangely for loving on him - he wasn’t an idiot.

“So, uh,” Jungkook mumbled, sending Taehyung a confused look as he squeezed beside him with Yoongi. “What is Taehyung obsessing over and why is he acting so weird?”

“The devil,” Jimin answered, pointing his fork in the direction of the now looking away girl, “I kind of like him this way, he’s cute.”

“I’m always cute.” Taehyung huffed.

Jimin smiled and pushed his tray closer to him, “You’d be a lot cuter if you let alpha take care of you.”

Taehyung pressed his lips in a line and decided to listen, just because he knew that girl wasn’t staring holes into them anymore.

“Want me to go tell her off?” Jungkook muttered, twisting to look over his shoulder, then at Taehyung, “I will. I’ve been dying to, but Yoongs is such a softy -“

“Am not.”

“Dude,” Jungkook snorted, “You let her follow you around for days-“

Yoongi huffed, “I felt bad, asshole.”

“Still a fact though.”

Taehyung's eyes flickered back and forth between the two arguing over his head, a silent conversation passing before Yoongi was narrowing his eyes and standing up, “Fine. I’ll tell her off myself.”

Jungkook huffed triumphantly, wrapping an arm around Taehyung's waist and placing his chin onto his shoulder as the omega picked at the pears on his tray. “You’re welcome, babe.”

Taehyung smiled a closed lip, sarcastic grin and turned to him with happy eyes, “I never said thank you, it’s the least you could do for me.”

He heard Jimin laugh across the table as Jungkook snickered, leaning down to look Taehyung in the eyes as he asked, “And why is that?”

Shrugging, Taehyung laughed and turned back to his fruit, “My existence is enough reason for you to do whatever I want.”

He was pretty sure he heard Jungkook begin to mumble that that doesn’t make sense, but Jimin cut him off with a handsome smile and replied, “Your existence is a gift, I agree.”

Taehyung giggled.

Chapter Text

Taehyung burst into laughter, shoving his backpack into the backseat of Jungkook’s jeep, “So, you’re telling me, that Jungkook was chosen as the Head of your pack because he could flip a bottle? What in the-“

“Hey!” Yoongi cried in defense, “We were like ten, to us that was amazing!”

“Honestly, he did it so many times. It was wild. We thought he was magic,” Jimin agreed, eyes glimmering as Taehyung laughed nonstop.

It was ridiculous to think that the only reason Jungkook was considered the “Head Alpha” was because he could flip some bottles, but it was cute that the boys were that ridiculous.

Taehyung could picture it, a big eyed Jungkook flipping a water bottle and all of the class cheering for him - he was magnetic like that, anywhere he went he had all eyes on him.

“I tried to do magic tricks after that,” Jimin admitted, hovering beside the door to the backseat as Taehyung readied to jump in.

The car was so tall they helped him climb in everyday, always mumbling about him potentially getting hurt if he slipped, which was a very real thing to worry over considering how tall the car was.

“Really? You’re so cute.” Taehyung cooed, turning to hold Jimin’s shoulder as he hopped in.

It took way too much effort to climb in, at this point he should just accept their offer to pick him up and put him in, but Taehyung's pride was too big to allow that right now.

The omega sat at the doorway then, playfully pretending he was going to kick Jimin, to which the alpha gasped and feigned hurt. “One second you’re calling me cute, the next you’re abusing me.”

Rolling his eyes playfully, Taehyung leaned all the way over to cup his face for a kiss, one Jimin accepted quickly.

One wasn’t enough for him though, not when he’d barely seen the omega today, and Jimin jumped into the jeep as soon Taehyung playfully turned to scatter to the other side of the bench seat, far away from him.

Taehyung playfully batted him away, but immediately accepted when Jimin had him pinned to the backseat, arms locking around his neck as the alpha pushed his knees out of the way to lay utop him.

Such an action made Taehyung gasp, giving Jimin the opportunity to lick at the corner of his mouth.

The omega’s hands tightened in Jimin’s hair, scent immediately spiking with the tell-all scent of lust.

He could feel the exact moment Jimin smelled it, he groaned into his mouth, adjusted himself right up against Taehyung's thigh so he could feel the outline of his erection, and dove back in for a taste of his mouth.

Stopped only by a loud, “Okay! If you two don’t stop, I’m going to take care of him myself. Smells too damn good.”

Taehyung swore he heard Jimin whimper when he pulled away, but he’d never mention it in case the alpha’s pride was wounded.

Taehyung didn't even have it in himself to be embarassed that his scent was literally screaming fuck me right now in the middle of the diner parking lot and Yoongi had seen the entire thing.

“Fuck,” Jimin inhaled, pushing himself into the furthest corner from Taehyung, “Oh, god. Baby…”

Now that could’ve gotten a moan out of Taehyung all on its own, how absolutely wrecked Jimin sounded just from a few kisses and the smell of him.

Taehyung blinked at Jimin innocently once, chewing on his lip, and that made Jimin hiss as he reached to open the car door with a handful growls, “Fuck you, Yoongs. Fuck you, fuck you…” before jumping out.

Yoongi merely laughed, turning around fully from the front seat to check on Taehyung. “He’s going to be angry all day now.”

“Your fault,” Taehyung commented, licking his lips as he shifted to sit in the middle so they could see each other better.

“What?” Yoongi mused, a teasing smile playing at his lips, “Would you have let him? Even knowing I was here?”

A smirk pulled at Taehyung's lips as he leaned over, placing his chin on his palm and resting his elbow on the console, right in front of Yoongi. “Are you into that? Watching?”

Yoongi's nostrils flared, “Stop, Tae.”

“What?” Taehyung mumbled innocently, “It’s just a question, Yoongs.”

“If you don’t stop talking, I’m going to come back there and fuck you on the spot.”

“That’s hardly a threat if I want it, alpha.”

He heard Yoongi stumble into a fit of curses as he ripped his own car door open, leaving Taehyung to burst into a fit of laughter and move to sit on the seat beside the opened door, watching Yoongi run up to Jimin with an annoyed expression.

Taehyung giggled, kicking his legs back and forth as he scanned the nearly empty parking lot.

The boys really weren’t kidding when they said they went there a lot, Taehyung was pretty sure he’d tried every single thing on the menu by now.

He enjoyed it. He liked being with them and spending time with them, especially now that they were beginning to understand each other a lot more.

With them, Taehyung didn’t feel as lonely. Even when he was home alone, as always, he always had messages blowing up his phone.

Jungkook had been off on a call for the past ten minutes, so when Taehyung saw him coming back he felt a rush of excitement, immediately throwing his hands up to happily wave at the alpha as if he hadn’t been under his arm just ten minutes ago.

Taehyung felt like a child, but then again, maybe it was because happiness was such a childish concept.

“Kook! Hi, are you ready to go?”

Jungkook didn't smile back and that made Taehyung's smile drop in an instant.

He immediately moved to climb out of the car, shutting the door behind himself and hurrying to Jungkook with a worried look and hands ready to grasp his shirt.

Taehyung didn't get that far, he was stopped by the alpha gently grasping his face, giving him only a second to take in Jungkook's angry expression before he was surging down to press his lips to Taehyung's.

It was a shame that his first kiss with Jungkook was so… angry, but he knew the alpha wasn’t angry with him.

Still, Taehyung was okay with Jungkook using him to get his frustration out. He definitely wasn’t going to protest over the taste of milkshake on his lips nor complain about the hand that ran down his spine.

Jungkook literally kissed him breathless, he left Taehyung panting after claiming his lips until they were left red, swollen, and wet.

Jungkook sighed, nose brushing against Taehyung's as he gently pet the omega’s hair from his forehead, mumbling a quiet, “.. ‘m sorry. I told them I’d do that today.”

Taehyung made a concerned noise, snaking his arms around Jungkook’s neck to comb fingers through the soft hair at the nape of his neck. “I’m yours, you can kiss me anytime.”

Jungkook's eyes brightened up a bit, “Yeah?”

“Definitely,” The omega whispered, a flustered smile playing at his lips that he tried to conceal by chewing on the inside of his cheek, but he knew Jungkook could smell how happy he was.

Jungkook smiled, leaning closer as if to place another kiss on his lips, and Taehyung instantly stood on his toes for it while releasing a soft, impatient noise.

Then, everything shattered when a wolf-whistle cut through the air followed by a rough sounding, “You got more to go around, omega?”

Taehyung’s heart dropped.

At school, he already got these leering looks that he was too afraid to tell the alpha’s about - he knew how it looked, it looked like he was a whore being around three alphas all the time.

Jungkook's growl cut sharp through the air, making Taehyung shake in place and Jimin and Yoongi jump up. “What the fuck did you just say?”

Taehyung only had time to spare the group of guys a glance from around Jungkook’s arm before the alpha was herding him towards the car, scent burning his lungs.

“Tae, Taehyung…” He heard Yoongi muttering, but Taehyung's chest burned with fear when he heard the group laughing.

They were adding fuel to the flames, not knowing Jungkook was already mostly fire these days and had been wanting an opportunity to fuck someone up.

“I said, does your bitch want to share?”

Taehyung wasn't scared of them, he was scared of that tone - that voice that ordered him around - the one that could make him do anything they wanted.

He was so, so afraid of it.

Taehyung didn't know when his legs went out from under him, he didn’t know if it was before or after he heard all of his alphas growling, or when he saw Yoongi get shoved by one of the men.

All he knew was this was too much - it was all too much - the noise, the smell of anger, the voices.

He knew they couldn’t control it, when alphas went head to head they always used that voice, but it hurt.

Taehyung just wanted to hide, he just wanted to curl up into a ball and panic, but the closest thing was the jeep; it was the one thing that smelled like comfort because it was flooded with all of their scents.

So Taehyung made a run for it, immediately grabbing the side of the door to jump in, but slipping a bit and cracking his calf against the edge of the door as he climbed in.

It throbbed and stung, but the burn in his chest hurt much more, so he quickly yanked the boy’s things closer - cuddling Yoongi's discarded hoodie to his chest and going as far as to bring Jungkook’s backpack into his lap while holding tightly onto Jimin’s baseball cap.

It all smelled like them so much that after a few minutes Taehyung felt like he was going to pass right out and sleep.

He couldn’t though, everything in himself made him need to check on the others first.

Luckily, Taehyung didn’t need to wait too long before the car door was being yanked open and worried faces were being shown.

“Oh, no…” Yoongi whispered.

Taehyung wasn't crying, he wasn’t, but he smelled like he was near tears and his eyes were blown wide suggesting he was, indeed, terrified.

“Move, move, he’s better with me when he’s upset,” Jimin ordered, pushing between them to climb in, immediately putting his arms out for Taehyung.

And that was the truth, they all knew it, hence why they made Jimin the one to break the whole hookup news to him, because they always noticed everything Taehyung did.

But in this case, Taehyung wasn't settled with just Jimin, he whimpered and turned to the door even once he was settled in the alpha’s lap.

All he had to do was reach out towards the door and Jungkook was demanding Jimin bring him closer so they could all see him.

It ended up with Taehyung's legs hanging out of the doorway, with Jimin refusing to stop cradling him even if he was squished and uncomfortable.

Taehyung couldn’t help the cry that came from his lips when he saw Jungkook’s jaw was red and irritated, he knew that Yoongi and Jimin were likely beaten up a bit too, but right now he could only see Jungkook’s under the dim car lights.

“Sh, no. It’s okay,” The alpha assured when Taehyung reached over to touch his face, “We’re fine, just worried about you.”

“Omega drops can be dangerous, Tae.” Yoongi whispered so as not to scare him more, “You could pass out, hit your head, and it was our fault. We’re so sorry..”

“We’re always doing this to him.” Jimin sighed.

Taehyung shook his head, reaching over to touch Yoongi's chin and lift his head, trying to see if he could spot any injuries. “Not your fault.”

“You’re right,” Jungkook agreed, jaw tight, “It was my fault, not theirs. I should know better “

“Shut up, Kook,” Jimin rolled his eyes, “They were just a bunch of old drunk perverts, that’s why they ran away as soon as they heard someone say they’d call the police.”

Jungkook still looked like he was beating himself up, and considering the fact that he’d looked incredibly mad about something before this event, he probably had a list of things to worry about right now.

Taehyung just wished he’d share those worries more.

“Jungkook…” Taehyung muttered, putting his arms out for him.

The alpha sighed a relieved noise when Taehyung was slipping out of the car to hold onto him, arms wrapping around Taehyung's hips and burying his face into his hair. “I know. I’m sorry. You’re safe.”

Jungkook’s eyes flickered to Yoongi’s when the other went to pet Taehyung's hair before nodding towards the front. “Let’s take him home, he’s going to pass out soon.”

***

Taehyung ended up passing out as soon as his head hit his pillow, only briefly remembering the alphas looking around his room before mumbling thank you and falling right to sleep.

Only now it had to be past midnight and he was waking up to tinkering around his room, thinking for a moment that maybe his mom had finally managed to come home for once.

No, of course not.

Instead, it was the sound of Yoongi fiddling with his phone, screen bright on his face as he texted someone back.

Taehyung shifted, rolling over towards where he was sitting at the corner of the bed.

Instantly, Yoongi looked at him, expression turning relieved as he moved to sit beside him, fingers moving to stroke back his hair as he mumbled, “Hey there sleeping beauty.”

Taehyung had it in himself to release a laugh, albeit a tired sound as he moved into Yoongi’s palm, sniffing at the inside of his wrist.

“The others had to go. Jungkook's dad is home tonight and Minjun had to be picked up from kindergarten earlier, but I’ve been updating them, so sorry to disappoint - it’s just me.”

“Never disappointed with you,” Taehyung whispered, moving to dig his hands into Yoongi’s shirt, “Sleep with me.”

Yoongi flashed him an are you serious look that Taehyung brushed off with a whine, shifting to remove the blankets to get up for pajamas.

“Did you not sleep at all?”

“I stayed up to check on you.”

Taehyung frowned, handing Yoongi sweatpants and moving to sit at the end of his bed while he waited for him to change, “You didn’t lay down though..”

“How do you know that?”

Flushing, Taehyung scratched at his arm and avoided looking at Yoongi, “Didn’t smell like you.”

And the second his room flooded with his calming scent of happiness, Taehyung's eyes flickered to Yoongi just to catch him changing, but the alpha just kept his happy smile as he tugged on the sweatpants and offered Taehyung his own shirt with a sly, “Your turn.”

Taehyung was slightly embarrassed, but stood up to change, fully knowing the alpha was watching him.

When he finished, Yoongi had already climbed into his bed, shirtless and breathing in his scent with eyes on him.

“Looks good on you,” Yoongi whispered, accepting Taehyung into his chest, “You’re always beautiful.”

Taehyung smiled, shifting to press his lips against Yoongi's in a soft kiss, resting his nose against the alpha’s and not bothering to scoot away again. “Says you. You’re beautiful.”

Yoongi found that comment cute, whispering such before he kissed Taehyung's nose and draped an arm around him.

“Yoongs?”

“Hm.”

“You said that the others had to go… but you didn’t… ” Taehyung began cautiously, “… and I know that your parents aren’t home a lot either, so do you ever get lonely?”

Yoongi tensed up a bit, shifting to lean up on an elbow and hover over Taehyung as he nodded, “Usually, we stay at Jungkook's. It’s in us, as a pack, to stay together as much as possible, but… I mean, yeah. If I’m not there, I’m lonely.”

“Must be nice..” Taehyung mumbled, fingers trailing over a small bruise forming on Yoongi’s knuckles, “To have a pack. And friends.”

“You didn’t have a lot of friends before?”

Taehyung could have scoffed, but he was too tired to do so, and instead buried his nose into Yoongi’s neck, to muffle, “Never had anyone before…”

Yoongi frowned, tightening his arms around Taehyung and combing fingers through his hair, assuming the omega to be going back to sleep when he heard an even quieter, “Yoongs?”

“Yes.”

“… can you keep a secret?”

“Of course.”

“Even… even my dad wasn’t very nice to me, and I came here and my mom isn’t here either. I’m really lonely.”

It was a good thing that Taehyung was mostly asleep and couldn’t pick up on the surge of anger Yoongi’s scent released, because he didn’t need anymore stress today.

“I’m here,” Yoongi replied, a good few minutes later even though he was positive Taehyung was asleep. “We’re here, my love.”

Chapter Text

Jungkook and Jimin felt really bad about having to leave early the other night, even though Taehyung had assured them that he didn’t mind and they had plenty of time to spend together.

So, in a bid to be fair, Taehyung made dates with both of them to hangout together today.

Jungkook would have all of his time today from two until seven, and because it was a Saturday and didn’t have school tomorrow he’d promised Jimin that they could stay up late and watch movies once Minjun was put to bed.

He’d been running around with Jungkook all afternoon, eating out and then coming back to the alpha’s house after the weather had taken a turn for the worst and Jungkook had cursed out the rain for a good ten minutes for “ruining their plans,” just because the drive-in closed due to it.

But, it hadn’t ruined anything, in fact Taehyung was having a fun time going through all of Jungkook's things and taking control of his iPad to play all the music he wanted.

Jungkook liked music.

His room had records lining the walls as decorations and Taehyung didn’t even want to know how expensive some of his signed ones were.

“- 'Cause all of me loves all of you..”

Taehyung cut himself off when he spun away from Jungkook's closet to find the alpha leaning against the closet door beside him, very far from where he’d been searching for a movie to watch on the other side of the room.

“You can really sing.”

Taehyung immediately flushed, shaking his head and shoving the shirt he’d picked out at Jungkook's chest, “I like these ones.”

“Oh shit.”

“What?”

“You can’t handle compliments,” Jungkook realized, smirk pulling at his lips, “You always do this when we compliment you, running off. Or ignoring it. I finally found something that flusters you, Kim Taehyung.”

Taehyung rolled his eyes when the alpha began to laugh, going around him to find the television remote and arguing, “Yeah, well it’s only common sense for me to get a little flustered.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because of course it’s flustering when you’re complimented by your mate!” The omega growled, turning to Jungkook with crossed arms and red cheeks. “You’re a real asshole sometimes, you know? You don’t have to point it out.”

He huffed, dropping down to the end of Jungkook's bed and reaching for his discarded jacket from earlier.

He’d gotten a bit too excited to see all of the gaming consoles that he’d made his room a tad messing - meaning he’d moved just about everything in the room or left his things scattered wherever he’d forgotten about them.

“Taehyung…” Jungkook sighed, starting up anxiously in a way Taehyung hadn’t heard in weeks, “I’m sorry, okay? I just.. I’m an asshole. I am, I can’t seem to filter myself when it comes to you.”

“Have you ever had a filter?” The omega argued.

Taehyung pouted when Jungkook took the jacket from his hands, stopping him with a pleading expression, “I do, I swear… I just.. I guess I never wanted to hide myself from you, not like I have in the past with others…”

Taehyung already knew about their… rather promiscuous pasts, but having to talk about this again made his insecurities pop to the surface and Jungkook probably smelled his anxiety before the omega began to show his nerves.

“Fuck,” Jungkook growled, moving to sit beside him and pressing his lips together. “I can’t stop. I’m sorry. I’m really so sorry.”

Shaking his head, Taehyung licked his lips before pressing his hands between his thighs nervously, “No. it’s okay. I mean, I knew. I should’ve known we’d have to talk about this eventually… I’m not upset, I’m just… worried.”

“Worried?” Jungkook whispered, “Why would you worry?”

“Just…” Taehyung swallowed hard and turned to look at him, “Scared, I guess. That I’m not going to be enough. It’s stupid, I know I don’t have to worry-“

“No, that’s…” The alpha released an incredulous chuckle before shaking his head and reaching over to pet Taehyung's cheek, “It’s funny, because I was worrying if I would be enough. We’re a little ridiculous, aren’t we?”

Taehyung could definitely agree to that, releasing a small laugh and leaning into Jungkook’s hand as he mused, “We’re idiots.”

“We’ll be idiots together,” Jungkook proclaimed, leaning in for a kiss.

Surprisingly, they hadn’t kissed that much today, just a few times in between eating and during red lights in the car, but considering Jungkook had a lot of big talk, he hadn’t kissed him all that much.

But when he did kiss him, Taehyung felt like his skin was on fire, especially recently, and he wasn’t sure if it was because they hadn’t officially sealed their relationship by proclaiming that they accepted each other as mates, or if it was just because everything in him needed his scent all over him.

All he knew for sure was Jungkook’s hands on his skin left a trail of goosebumps and the taste of his mouth left little whines crawling up Taehyung's throat, ones that spurred the alpha into growling and pushing him down onto the bed.

Unintentional or not, Taehyung was glad that his whines finally got him somewhere other than a few nips at his lips.

It just wasn't enough anymore - he was around these alphas too long without some sort of touch - and going more than a couple days between imprints was really testing self control on both sides.

So when Jungkook's lips moved off of his mouth to kiss down his neck, Taehyung did absolutely nothing to stop him, instead he spurred it on by running his nails down Jungkook’s spine, grabbing handfuls of his shirt until the alpha pulled away from him to remove it.

Taehyung's mouth went dry when he felt a large erection pressing into his thigh, spreading his legs even more to give Jungkook more room.

“Jungkook… Jungkook,” Taehyung whimpered, dipping his head to catch Jungkook’s mouth again, tongue sweeping over the alpha’s and moaning at the hands that came to dip under his jeans.

The moment Taehyung released a breathy sound against his lips, Jungkook began to nip at his mouth, taking his red bottom lip between his teeth and releasing it with a resonating noise, one that made the omega shift his hips against his cock.

“Fuck. Alpha… please.”

And suddenly, just as Taehyung began to beg, Jungkook was yanking himself away with a handful of curses and running an anxious hand over his face.

Taehyung whimpered, mouth spit-slick and shirt balled up under his armpits as he shifted towards him, “Jungkook?”

“God… goddamn it,” Jungkook hissed, licking his lips before taking a seat across the room at his gaming desk, putting a hand up towards Taehyung when the omega made a move to get up. “Don’t. Baby, don’t. I can’t. I can’t…”

“You can,” Taehyung whispered, clutching his hands in his jeans and folding in on himself, “I want you.”

It was confusing. Jungkook had literally told him he wanted to have sex with him since day one, had even made Taehyung feel bad for not immediately having sex with him, and now he was rejecting him?

What the hell?

With that thought in mind, Taehyung filled with embarrassment as he reached for his jacket, huffing under his breath and smelling of rejection as he pulled it on and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Jungkook glanced at him when he caught the omega moving from the corner of his eye, immediately jumping up to grab Taehyung's backpack, “No, no. Baby no. I want you. God, I want you so fucking much and that’s the problem.”

“No,” Taehyung muttered, a sad expression on his face as he grabbed for the backpack strap, “I’m the problem. I’m always the fucking problem.”

“What? Who the fuck told you that?”

Taehyung kept quiet, looking around for his phone and shoes.

“Tae? Hey, seriously. I’m- I want you, you have to know I want you so fucking much it’s killing me, but I… I can’t do this to them, not like this. I have to tell you the truth…”

The omega felt tears lining his eyes because he was so embarrassed, but turned to look at Jungkook with a straight face, ignoring the alpha’s expression that looked devastated upon seeing those tears.

“What, Jungkook?”

Jungkook's eyes shook for a second too long, he didn’t reply immediately so Taehyung sighed as he slipped his shoes on and reached for the door.

“My dad wants you to be with me only!”

Taehyung didn’t even register what he said until a few moments later, in which he twisted at the waist and stumbled out a rather tongue tied, “W-What?”

Jungkook licked his lips, pacing back and forth from one side of his room to the other. “I… I’ve known for weeks, I didn’t know what to say. I don’t know how to say it, I just… he’s been saying that if you don’t pick me, he’s going to make us leave - it… it looks submissive if a Town Head shares a mate, and I’m next. I’m the next Head and I…” He trailed off a bit, stopping still to look Taehyung directly in the eyes, “I want you to accept it.”

“You want me… to… to reject them?” Taehyung whispered incredulously, tears beginning to fall when he blinked.

“No, no.” Jungkook muttered, rushing towards him with this pained whine as he tried to stop Taehyung's tears from falling, “I just mean… accept me and-“

“And don’t accept them.” Taehyung scoffed, shoving Jungkook's bare chest and furrowing his brows, “God, I should’ve known. I should’ve known you’d be like this. Since day one, day fucking one. I wish I never -“

“Taehyung! Be quiet and listen, please!”

And that was a command he couldn’t ignore, literally.

Taehyung immediately began to sob, hands trembling by his sides as Jungkook blubbered with apologies and began to have signs of tears starting up too.

“I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.” Jungkook sniffled, pulling away when Taehyung shifted away from him, “Baby, I’m sorry. I just.. you didn’t let me finish - no, there’s no excuses. I just… Taehyung, I’m worried what he would do if we don’t listen. This is his territory… God, please talk to me.”

“F-Fuck you,” Taehyung cried as soon as the order was lifted, “Don’t ever order me again. Don’t fucking do that, Jeon Jungkook, you’re already… you’re already breaking my heart, isn’t that enough?”

Jungkook dropped his head then, face filled with tears as he wiped his face with the back of his hand, “Y-You really feel that way? Because.. you a-always liked them more than me.”

“Shut up!” Taehyung screamed, tossing his backpack on the ground angrily, “Shut up, Jungkook! You never fucking stop! I’m not choosing them over you, and I’m not choosing you over them! It’s… it's bullshit! If you didn’t want to s-share then why’d you go and…”

“What?” Jungkook whispered, bending down to collect Taehyung's things again, as if he didn’t have tears rolling down his neck and didn’t smell like rejection.

“Why’d you… make me want to love you so fucking much.” Taehyung sobbed, shaking his head as he turned to the door, “I was growing to… to love you, I’m sure of it. But… this Jungkook I don’t love. In fact… I-I hate him.”

And with that, Taehyung yanked his bag from Jungkook's hands, sparing only one glance at the alpha crying on the floor before forcing himself out the door and down the stairs.

Taehyung couldn't control the racing of his heart nor the sobbing he released with each breath, he felt like he was going to collapse with every step.

Then, just as he was nearing the front door, a shadow scared him, making him jump and clutch his bag to his chest.

He’d never seen Jungkook's father before, nor did he want to.

Even before all of this, he’d never wanted to purely based on how often Jungkook seemed stressed out and everytime he asked why or peered over his shoulder at his phone, the alpha always met him with a very fake smile and a, “Don’t worry, my dad just wants to teach me something later.”

Now Taehyung realized something he hadn’t noticed before - both he and Jungkook had been controlled by alphas who pretended to have their best interest at heart.

He knew those eyes, the ones Jungkook's father looked at him with, they were considered loving, but he knew better.

Taehyung had come to this town to run away from eyes identical to these ones.

“I’ve been wanting to meet you,” The alpha crooned, seemingly ignoring the fact that Taehyung's face was covered in tears, and it only confirmed the fact that he’d heard everything. “Jeon Chansung, Jungkook’s -“

“I’m not doing it,” Taehyung cut him off, wiping his cheek with his hand, “I’m not doing that to Jimin and Yoongi. They’re good alphas.”

Chansung frowned, tsking under his breath, “I’m not saying they aren’t, I just don’t believe you understand how politics works, sweetheart. To take care of a territory, to protect it, you can’t be seen as weak… you wouldn’t want Jungkook to get hurt, would you?”

Taehyung's shoulders tensed up at the idea, fingers slipping off the doorknob, “I’m not doing it.”

“Jungkook told me about your…” Chansung hummed and swirled his glass as he feigned thought, “Stubbornness,” He decided, “He said you wouldn’t do it too, so I told him to order you to, seems he failed at that too, what a shame…”

Taehyung's eyes squeezed closed, “Please don’t. Please-“

“Kim Taehyung, I’m ordering you to reject Park Jimin and Min Yoongi.”

Before he’d even finished his words, Taehyung's chest felt like it was on fire, his head was hurting and he felt all kinds of pain, pain he’d never experienced before.

The doorknob behind him began to rattle and Taehyung narrowly missed being hit when it swung open.

Namjoon stepped in, grinning wide the second he saw Taehyung, “Tae! Hey! This is my ma- what’s wrong?” The beta jumped at him in an instant, hands coming to his face and worrying over him, but Taehyung quickly stepped back.

“Hey! Taehyung, where are you going?” Namjoon said, watching the omega slip behind him out the door.

Just outside the door, Taehyung almost ran right into another omega, one with a big smile and excited eyes, ones that dulled the second Taehyung ran past him into the rain.

He heard Namjoon’s scream of “What the fuck did you do?” from down the driveway followed by an even louder, angrier, “Jeon Jungkook!”

Then, luckily, Taehyung couldn’t hear anymore once he made it onto the street, walking along the main road and trying to remember how to get home from this side of town, but the truth was he couldn’t even think over the sound of rain and his own sobbing.

He was soaked within a minute of walking along the street, teeth chattering, and eyes swollen as he moved to fish his phone out of his pocket.

Taehyung already had over twenty missed calls and fourteen messages, but he didn’t bother to check who they were from before opening his contacts.

“Hello? Tae? It’s okay if you’re running late-“

“Jimin.” Taehyung sobbed into the phone, the order on him almost making him spit out the dreaded words immediately, but he could hold it off longer. He had to. “Jimin, c-can you come get me?”

“Taehyung?” Jimin worried into the phone, “Baby, it’s okay. It’s okay. Whatever happened, it’s okay. You’re going to be okay. Where are you?”

It wasn’t okay, nothing was going to be okay.

Absolutely nothing was okay anymore.

“J-Jungkook- corner of eighth and-“

“I’m right around the block, okay? I’m coming. Just listen to my voice. Just keep talking to me, little one. I’m right here. Alpha’s right here for you.”

And that only made Taehyung cry harder because Jimin was such a good alpha and he didn’t deserve any of this. He didn’t deserve to have an asshole best friend, he didn’t deserve to have to share a mate. He certainly didn’t deserve to have to deal with Taehyung and all of his issues all of the time.

Jimin was kind, he was gorgeous, funny, smart, and he could easily find another person to mate if Taehyung rejected him, but Taehyung didn’t want to.

He didn’t want to see Jimin with someone else just like he didn’t want to see Yoongi with someone else either.

Taehyung cried harder into his phone as he pictured Yoongi's face from this morning when they woke up together. He was so happy when Taehyung mumbled good morning and snuggled closer to him.

Yoongi and his bright eyes and heart shaped smile, always ready for Taehyung to climb into his arms and willing to listen to anything he had to say - even if it was something strange or boring.

Just knowing that they’d find someone else so easily was that much more difficult, and Taehyung was going to try not to say it. He had to. He wanted to keep them as long as possible.

“Tae, are you there? Taehyung? I’m coming - I see you. I see you, baby.”

Taehyung sucked in a breath, nearly dropping his phone as he saw Yoongi’s car pull up, worry filling his stomach at the thought of seeing both of them right now.

Thank god it was just Jimin inside, leaving Taehyung to make a run for the passenger seat and throwing himself inside with a heart wrenching cry as he sank deep into the seat and folded over his lap.

“Taehyung, fuck. You’re frozen, you’re so cold,” Jimin fussed, turning up the heaters to full blast and reaching over to offer Taehyung his hand, “Breathe. Just breathe, you can tell me anything you want, when you want to. I’m right here.”

Taehyung knew Jimin wouldn’t ask him what was wrong, he appreciated that about him - he never wanted to make him any more upset than he already was.

He wasn’t like Jungkook who needed to know everything within two seconds or he went on a rampage.

“My house is closer, we’ll go there…” Jimin continued talking, much more than he usually did, and Taehyung was more than willing to listen to his soft rambling over his own thoughts. “Minjun is with Seokjin today - do you know Seokjin?”

Taehyung swallowed hard, sitting back in his seat and holding Jimin’s hand hostage to his nose, “N-No..”

His voice cracked, but Jimin only glanced at him and didn’t comment on it, “Seokjin is part of Namjoon’s pack, his mate. He’s the Head Alpha. Takes care of Minjun sometimes, but anyway - so today when I was taking him, his first question was when can I see pretty one? I said who, Taehyung? And he said he’s confused that I smell like you but he doesn’t see you.”

Taehyung forced a tight smile on his face, not because he wasn’t endeared to hear that, but because he couldn’t really find anything to be happy about right now.

“You’ll have to come see him soon,” Jimin added softly, “Now, we’re here, let’s get you dry clothes.”

The omega nodded, waiting patiently for the alpha to get out of the car and come around with the umbrella, although it was useless when he was soaking wet already.

Still, Taehyung curled into Jimin’s side with a whimper, feeling the alpha’s arm tighten around him at the noise.

He’d never seen Jimin’s house before, ever. Which was a bit strange considering he’d seen Jungkook and Yoongi's house - albeit he’d only seen Yoongi’s from the outside when he’d run in to grab spare clothes to give to Taehyung this morning while on the way back from breakfast.

(Taehyung had playfully complained that he’d now find it hard to sleep if not having Yoongi's scent around, and the alpha had immediately proclaimed that they could easily take care of that.)

Jimin’s home was… well different.

It was even smaller than his own with broken windows covered by plastic to keep the rain out and a broken down car resting on a pile of overgrown grass.

Taehyung didn't care. All he wanted was to curl up in the alpha’s chest and smell him, which was impossible to do when it smelled like rain too strongly.

“I’m sorry, it’s uh, small.” Jimin commented as he led Taehyung inside, immediately making a run towards the living area and picking up handfuls of toys from the ground, trying to clean up as best he could.

“Jimin…” Taehyung whispered, kicking his shoes off and crossing his arms over his chest, “It's okay.” The alpha didn’t seem to hear him, so Taehyung stepped closer, placing a freezing hand on his arm, gaining his attention immediately. “Alpha, it’s okay.”

Jimin scanned him, nearly like he was seeing if Taehyung was lying, before gasping, “You need clothes. Sorry, let me get you clothes.”

Then, he took off down a small hallway, it was so tiny that Taehyung could see clearly down it to a bathroom at the end and the door was opened to another room to the right, giving him a view straight into what he assumed was Jimin’s mom’s room based on the large bed.

But, to the side was a small Cars themed bed and that was when he looked away, because it wasn’t his business at all.

Instead, Taehyung took to looking at the other side of the house, at the kitchen that had a counter full of baked goods and tons of drawings stuck to the fridge.

That was nice, Jimin’s mom seemed nice, but he’d probably never get to meet her…

With the thought of his limited time with Jimin, Taehyung was slipping down the hall and gently pushing open the alpha’s door.

There was a full sized bed pushed into the corner beside the closet, with a small dresser across the room and a side table with a missing drawer.

All that mattered to Taehyung was that it smelled like Jimin, and Jimin was here - leaning over collecting dry clothes for him from his dresser.

“Oh,” Jimin mumbled as Taehyung walked closer, looking nervous as he dug through his things. “I don’t think anything will fit you, they’ll be big.”

“That’s okay,” Taehyung whispered in an instant, unzipping his jacket.

Jimin looked at him like he was waiting for Taehyung to say something, cringing when his bed creaked as he sat on it and leaning back on his hands. “Sorry, I would’ve straightened up if I knew you were coming.”

“It’s not messy.”

“No… it’s just small.”

“Jimin,” Taehyung whispered, turning to him with swollen eyes but a serious look, “I don’t care, I just want to be with you.”

The alpha flashed a small grin, scanning Taehyung's face before his eyes fell on the omega’s fingers as Taehyung moved to remove his shirt. “I can go…”

Taehyung placed his wet shirt on top of the dresser, unsure what to do with it, before turning to Jimin with a raised brow, “What?”

“Nothing,” Jimin said quickly, looking away when Taehyung moved to step out of his jeans. The omega didn’t care one bit if Jimin looked at him or not, in fact, he hoped he did.

Still, he pulled the shirt over his chest and removed his wet panties to put on the pair of boxers Jimin had pulled out, deciding to forgo the sweatpants to instead approach Jimin because that dreadful feeling was coming back up again and he just wanted to curl in a ball and cry.

“Jimin.”

The alpha looked at him instantly, leaning elbows on his knees as Taehyung moved to stand in front of him.

Taehyung fiddled with his fingers for a second before looking him in the eyes and he knew Jimin could see the tears gathering again.

He felt like a crybaby falling right into Jimin’s lap in a fit of tears like this, but he couldn’t help it.

It felt like everything had crashed down on him within the past hour.

“God, it hurts so much to see you cry,” Jimin whispered, shifting to sit in the middle of his bed and cradling Taehyung, “I don’t… I don’t know what happened, but you don’t need to worry, Taehyung. I’m here for you. Always. Always here for you.”

That was exactly the problem. Jimin was too sweet and Taehyung was going to break his heart.

Taehyung was going to break his heart even worse than how Jungkook had broken his, and that was true evil.

“I always wanted a mate,” Jimin whispered into his hair, soothingly running fingers through his damp locks, “And you’re perfect, Taehyung. You’re better than what I imagined, better than any dreams. I’m so proud to have you.”

And that made Taehyung's heartbreak even more because soon Jimin wouldn’t have him. Jimin would hate him. He’d hate his guts and never want to see him again.

“Tae-“

Taehyung cut him off with a soft whimper, shifting to sit up on his knees, and before Jimin could respond, he was pressing his lips onto his plump ones firmly, cold fingers running down Jimin’s neck.

He could feel the muscles of the alpha’s arms rippling under his hand when Jimin shifted to cup his face, smoothly moving Taehyung down onto his lap and taking over the kiss with a tongue swiping over Taehyung's lips.

The omega moaned softly, fingers moving to grip at long hair and hips shifting to rock against Jimin, instantly making the alpha freeze and still his hips.

Taehyung promptly burst, running his nose along Jimin’s as he mumbled, “Please. Jimin, please.”

He couldn’t handle another rejection today, especially not from Jimin, not when he wouldn’t have another chance to have him after today.

He didn’t know if it was his whining that convinced Jimin, or if it was all the crying he’d witnessed today that swayed him, all he knew was Jimin was agreeing quickly, shifting to turn him over in an instant with a growl of, “Fuck, I’ve been wanting this for too long.”

Taehyung made an agreeing noise, leaning up just to remove his own top before spreading his legs further for Jimin to lay between. “Please.”

“Gorgeous,” The alpha crooned, running a palm down his chest, fingers brushing against sensitive nipples before Jimin groaned and made a move to latch his mouth along Taehyung's left collarbone.

Taehyung moaned, petting hair from Jimin’s face and bringing his other hand between them to run underneath the alpha’s shirt, feeling all of the indents of his abs and the patch of hair starting beneath his belly button.

Jimin moaned a surprised sound when slender fingers cupped him through his jeans, dragging his lips up Taehyung's neck until he could press a kiss to already spit-slick lips.

Upon seeing the line of spit that formed between their lips, Taehyung's outright growled, hooking a leg around Jimin’s hips to press them more firmly together, fingers shoving at his shirt with a murmured, “Off. Alpha, I need you.”

Jimin pressed a kiss against his nose before moving to the side of the bed to remove his shirt, looking a bit sheepish when he took a second to look at Taehyung - his flushed chest and breathlessness - before removing his jeans. “Sorry, it’s just.. glad we’re here is all.”

“In a house?” Taehyung asked, thinking Jimin was referring to the day they’d nearly had sex in a car.

“My bed,” Jimin replied, immediately looking embarrassed when he added, “Just you. I’ve never had sex here. It’s too personal, it's… this is for you only.”

Taehyung tried his best not to spill everything that second, biting his lip as he shifted to the end of the bed to kick off the boxers, keeping eye contact the entire time he offered his fingers, “I’m yours, Jimin.”

“I'm yours too,” He heard the alpha reply before Jimin was removing his own boxers and capturing Taehyung's mouth again.

That was probably the first lie Jimin had ever told to him, and the alpha didn’t even know how much of a lie that was going to be soon enough.

Taehyung didn't consider his own promise a lie, because he’d only ever feel this way with three alphas no matter what. He was sure of it.

Part of him wished he’d never come here, that he’d just stayed and never came to this town.

But part of him was happy accepting things for how they’d been, even if it wasn’t the forever he wished for.

If he’d never come he’d never know what it was like to have people care about him, experience genuine happiness, and what it felt like to be touched by someone that loved him.

Taehyung knew Jimin loved him. The alpha was impossibly see through for someone that had learned to control his scent.

Jimin made sure that every second his fingers were on Taehyung's skin that they were enjoyed, that the omega was comfortable, and squirming with moans.

He made sure to leave his scent all over Taehyung, and Taehyung did the same, trying to imprint every second into his mind.

And when it was all over, Taehyung was left lying with his head on Jimin’s chest, listening to his soft snoring with the alpha’s scent covering every possible inch of his skin.

Then, Taehyung cried again.

Taehyung cried when he shifted to sneak out of the bed, he cried as he gathered his wet clothes and changed back into them, and he cried when he ripped out a page from his notebook to leave a note on Jimin’s worn down side table.

He didn’t want to hurt Jimin, he didn’t want to hurt any of them, but he wrote down the only thing that was the truth, and would potentially cause more happiness than hurt.

Dear Yoongi, Jimin, & Jungkook

We can’t always get what we want, so I understand now that it was selfish of me to have wanted you all, to have expected this to work out, but the truth is I’d rather be alone than make a choice.

You deserve better.

Love, Taehyung

Chapter Text

“What bullshit is this?” Yoongi yelled again when nobody replied, throwing the tear-soaked paper onto his coffee table and glaring between Jungkook and Jimin. “You deserve better? What the fuck? What is he talking about?”

“He’s not answering my calls.” Jimin whispered, licking his lips and rubbing his swollen eyes, voice cracking as he added, “I don’t know, we.. we slept together and then he was gone this morning, I don’t know what I did.”

“Wait, slept together or slept together?” Yoongi questioned.

Jimin sent him a blank look, giving a roll of his eyes before he elaborated with an exasperated groan, “We had sex, we didn’t mate - he didn’t accept the imprint - now can we please figure out what the fuck happened.”

Yoongi sent him a rather interested look, but knew immediately that it was a bad time to comment on such a thing when two out of three of them had swollen eyes from crying and he was the only one that seemed to have absolutely zero idea what was going on.

Not a single fucking clue considering the last he’d spoken to Taehyung was the following morning, dropping him off at home and almost immediately receiving a bunch of puppy photos text messages when he drove off - Taehyung's way of starting a conversation when he had nothing to say.

So, after a moment of looking between the two, Yoongi zeroed in on Jungkook, narrowing his eyes as he picked up the paper and took a seat at the table.

“Jungkook?”

The alpha’s head shot straight up.

“You’re awfully quiet today,” Yoongi observed, leaning over to toss the paper onto Jungkook's lap, “Read this and spit out whatever you did so we can fix it.”

Jungkook didn't read it, instead he curled up on the edge of the couch and the way he burst into tears caused both of the others to jump at how sudden it was when he began to sob. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.. it wasn’t my choice, it wasn’t.”

Jimin looked at Yoongi before sighing and reaching over to pat Jungkook's head, “So you were the reason why Tae was crying in the rain all night.”

“He what?” Yoongi growled.

Jungkook immediately started crying harder.

This was one hell of a way to start a Sunday morning.

***

Taehyung hadn’t slept in three days.

He hasn’t slept since the night he fell asleep beside Yoongi and he'd skipped school the last two days purely because he didn’t think he could do it.

The pains were getting so bad that Taehyung could barely move - his bones hurt, his heart hurts, his insides burned.

He knew he looked like a disaster, but he couldn’t handle it anytime.

Taehyung didn't know which was worse, the stinging pains from not having seen the alphas in days, or the burning from not following an alpha’s order.

It was unfair. Life was unfair.

If he weren’t an omega, he wouldn’t have to deal with this shit, he wouldn’t have to break anyone’s hearts.

Taehyung's phone vibrated for what was probably the two hundredth time in the past few days, maybe more, the only difference was that Taehyung reached for it. He had to.

He had to get it over with, because his body couldn’t physically take it anymore. He felt like a zombie, unable to sleep, eat, or take care of himself.

Mini 🐻: Going to the forest, I want you to be there. I love you, little one.

Yoongs ♥️ : will be in the forest tonight. be safe, i love you

Kook 🐶: please come

Kook 🐶: come for them, I won’t bother u

Kook 🐶: they don't deserve it. i know I do

Kook 🐶: I love you, Taehyung

Taehyung sighed, it was the first time in the past few days that he’d even checked his phone, so he had way too much to check, but too little time.

He settled on opening Jimin’s chat to scroll back, knowing it would show the alpha that he’d finally opened them, but he couldn’t help the stir in his gut at the thought of Jimin’s reaction to him not being there when he woke up.

And looking at his messages from that morning made Taehyung feel ten times worse, but he knew he deserved it.

Mini 🐻: Tae? Where are you?

Mini 🐻: did I hurt you?

Mini 🐻: Was it something I did?

Mini 🐻: just found the note… please come over

Mini 🐻: Taehyung please don’t do this

Mini 🐻: I love you, I love you with everything I have, Taehyung

Taehyung grimaced as he sat up, eyes wet as he shifted to grab his jacket off his side table, groaning all the while.

Then, he took off towards the forest.

***

Taehyung hadn’t really known the exact area where the boys hung out after school, he’d only heard stories about the small clearing with broken trees they'd moved into benches and flowers that seemed to stay alive no matter what season.

He’d never had a chance to go, but he remembered these small yellow flowers Yoongi had given him at his locker one morning, and upon spotting them he proceeded to follow the trail.

It wasn’t exactly right, but it led him in the correct direction - that direction being the direction of alphas screaming at each other at the top of their lungs.

“I fucking said sorry! What else do you want me to fucking say? I said sorry!”

“If you weren’t a fucking asshole, none of this would be an issue!” Yoongi yelled back.

“Well, maybe he just doesn’t want to come back, did you think of that?” Jungkook shot back.

Taehyung frowned, arms tight around his waist as he slowly came closer to the yelling.

“Don’t say that.” The omega froze, ears listening in as Jimin burst, a sound he'd never heard before from the alpha bouncing off the trees. “Don’t fucking say that, he’s coming, I know it! You ruined this, Jungkook! This is on you! You ruin everything!”

He’d never heard Jimin raise his voice like that before, not with that guttural growl. Jimin was serious.

There was a resonating sound of growling before Taehyung heard a loud crashing sound, followed shortly by a groan of pain.

“Stop it..” Taehyung cried weakly, stumbling into the clearing, “Stop. Please stop…”

He scanned the clearing, eyes landing on a patch of missing grass that spread all the way to the bottom of a tree where Jimin was already standing up again, covered in dirt and grabbing Jungkook by the shirt.

“You’re a selfish prick and you fucking know it. You have to live with yourself knowing it’s your fault.”

Jungkook's lips curled up, “At least my mom isn’t a whore.”

Jimin’s nostrils flared, jaw clenching before he played off his anger with a sarcastic laugh and said, “Coming from the guy that called his own mate a whore, it’s clear to me that you don’t even know what a whore is.”

It was amazing to Taehyung how little Yoongi was doing to stop it, actually, the alpha was doing nothing at all, just sort of standing to the side and letting the two brawl it out, hands reaching up to wipe his face and -

Was he crying?

Taehyung dragged himself closer, briefling hearing Jimin’s comment of, “Yeah? Well at least I got a taste of him. You get to live your whole life knowing you never even got close enough to what I had with him.”

And then, he watched Jungkook punch Jimin right in the face, immediately the other was following up with a kick right to Jungkook's ankle until they were both hitting each other.

He couldn’t believe how fast things had turned, and it seemed that hitting each other was drawing the line in Yoongi's book too, because the alpha’s entire body language screamed irritated as he ran over to the two.

“Stop it, you fucking idiots! If you don’t, I'm going to kill you bot- Taehyung.”

Taehyung felt his heart skip a beat at the murmur of his name, trying weakly to come closer when it seemed Yoongi hadn’t actually noticed him - he’d smelled him.

“What?” He heard Jungkook wonder, sitting up on the grass and releasing Jimin.

Then, Taehyung cried out in pain, legs shaking so much that he moved to curl up on the ground before he did more damage than good, pressing his forehead into his knees and breathing heavily.

“Taehyung!”

“Tae!”

“Baby. Baby I’m sorry-“

Taehyung groaned, shifting to sit up just to throw out a hand and shake his head, “No.”

All three of them stopped, expressions dropping further, hands twitching at their sides as Taehyung cried out in pain again and rolled onto his side.

“J-Jungkook,” Taehyung whispered, digging his nails into his own shirt as if that would help the burning in his chest.

Jungkook ran over immediately, the sweat dripping from his brow suggested they’d been out here yelling at each other long before Taehyung showed up, but that didn’t matter right now.

Right now Taehyung was sobbing in pain, and could barely move, let alone yell at them.

“What happened to you?” Jungkook whispered, a loud whimper falling from his throat as he reached down to let Taehyung's hair from his face, looking at his pale skin and sunken complexion.

It wasn’t possible to lose this much weight in just a few days, so Jungkook's expression immediately shifted, eyes going wide and feral as he growled, “He’s going through rejection.”

Taehyung heard Yoongi and Jimin immediately make a move to come closer, but yelled a quick, “Don’t!”

“Taehyung…” He heard Jimin cry, and he could picture his expression of sorrow even though he couldn’t see him, “Baby please. Let us help.”

Then helping him wasn’t an issue, the issue was that if they got close Taehyung had to look them in the eye and reject them.

“Jungkook,” Taehyung huffed, trying to shift to sit up to look at him, but giving up after a mere second.

Luckily, the alpha had noticed the move and was quick to lean down to listen to him, bringing Taehyung's hand to his lips and pressing his fingers against his cheek. “I’m right here, baby. I’m right here.”

“Need… command. Need you to..” Taehyung swallowed, finding the action difficult to do before croaking, “Chansung.”

Jungkook's eyes narrowed in an instant, both hands coming down to scoop Taehyung up into his arms and whispering, “What did he do to you?”

“R-Reject..” Taehyung began to cry before he even got the entire word out, fingers weakly clutching at the neck of Jungkook’s shirt, “Help. Help.”

It seemed only then that Jungkook had connected the dots, scent turning burnt with hatred as he shifted Taehyung closer and leaned down to press a kiss against his cheek, “I’m sorry. You have to do it. You have to, we can’t get rid of another alpha’s order. I’m so- I’m…”

Jungkook stopped attempting to say anything when Taehyung began to cry hard, so hard that neither Jimin or Yoongi could listen to it anymore and ran over.

“I don’t want to! I don’t want to! I don’t want to!” Taehyung screamed, shutting his eyes tightly and moving to cover his ears. His heart began to pound at a painful rate, “He-Help me, Jungkook!”

At that, Jungkook began to sob, arms tightening around his waist and apologizing even though he knew Taehyung could hear him.

“What…” Yoongi began, eyes red and welled with tears as he scanned Taehyung's weak form, “Jungkook, what’s-“

“Don’t touch him.” Jungkook demanded, shifting Taehyung to face in his chest, immediately meeting two pairs of irritated eyes. “No, really. This.. this isn’t me being jealous,” He promised, large hand cupping Taehyung's head and the other running over any exposed skin on him.

It hardly mattered though, Taehyung wouldn’t be okay until all of them had touched him, cared for him, and loved him back to health.

“You don’t want to hear what he has to say,” Jungkook promised, releasing a wince when a particularly loud wail fell from Taehyung's mouth.

Jimin stared at Taehyung, tears rolling down his face before he shook his head, “I don’t care, I don’t care. Anything to make him okay.”

Jungkook swallowed, looking at Yoongi, who nodded, lips pressed into a fine line.

As soon as Jungkook moved to put him in between the two, Taehyung began to scream, attempting to roll over and move away, hands on his ears, but it was all ruined the second the pair’s hands touched his skin.

“Baby…” Jimin whispered with relief, removing Taehyung's left hand from his ear, bringing it to his lips to press kisses onto his knuckles, “Hello, beautiful.”

Taehyung froze, mouth pressed in a tight line, staring at Jimin like he had no idea who he was before flickering his eyes to Yoongi, giving him a blank look when the alpha ran a hand down his arm.

Taehyung stood up, legs no longer wobbling, but looking weak and unstable, like he was in a trance, before he looked down at the two and said, with all his chest, “I, Kim Taehyung, reject you as my mates.”

Then, Jungkook watched both of the alpha’s begin to release heavy, huffy breaths before beginning to make whimpers of pain.

“T-Tae,” Yoongi whimpered, twisting around on the ground and grabbing his chest, “Fuck, Tae - Taehyung!”

Taehyung still stood there, staring blankly down at them, much to Jungkook's confusion. He’d carried out his command, so why wasn’t he snapping out of it?

Unless the command was said as if to make sure they were rejected, not to simply say the words.

In that case, Jungkook could definitely override it, because Taehyung had carried out most of the command.

“Taehyung!” He yelled, grabbing Taehyung around the waist, tugging him down onto the ground and mumbling an apology before taking his chin and ordering, “Help them.”

Now that was something Taehyung could easily do, they were only in the first stages of rejection because they too hadn’t rejected Taehyung in response, giving the omega a chance to take it all back.

It was easy, but this would certainly leave its mark on all of them.

“No, no no.. no!” Taehyung yelled, crawling on the grass to give Jimin his hand, tugging Yoongi closer to him and sniffling as he shook his head back and forth. “No! I didn’t want to, I didn’t.”

“They know that,” Jungkook sighed, “I told them you told me no.”

Taehyung sucked in a breath, leaning down to press his lips to Yoongi's, giving him a second to breath in his scent before shifting to Jimin, petting over his cheek before worrying, “They’re not getting better, why aren’t they getting better?”

After a moment of silence, Taehyung burst with a growl and yelled, “Jungkook! Why aren’t they getting better!”

Jungkook looked up from his lap, tears stinging his eyes as he laughed, pressing his lips together for a second before mumbling. “You have to accept them, Tae. Do what you always wanted to do. You don’t have to wait on me anymore.”

Taehyung had a million thoughts running through his mind, too many to count, but his priority was Jimin and Yoongi because they were writhing and pain and he knew how bad it hurt to go through rejection.

“Yoongs, Yoongi.” Taehyung cried, gently pushing the alpha over, leaning down towards him to look him in the eye, “I… I accept you, Yoongi. Min Yoongi, I accept your imprint. Will you be my mate?”

“Always,” Yoongi groaned in pain once before nodding, releasing a sigh, “I accept. I accept you.”

Taehyung wanted to sit with him longer, make sure everything was okay, but the second he smelt his scent begin to normalize he was pressing a kiss against his cheek and scattering to Jimin.

By then, Jimin was crying in pain, literal tears running down his face, but he still tried to reach for Taehyung, managing to curl his fingers into the omega’s hand.

“Oh, Jimin…” Taehyung whispered, leaning over to press a kiss onto his head, fingers brushing grass from his hair as he whispered, “Jimin, I accept your imprint. Will you be my mate?”

“Forever,” The alpha whispered, shifting to grab Taehyung's fingers tighter, “Mates.”

Taehyung sighed with relief, leaning down to press a handful of kisses against Jimin’s brow before releasing a dry sob. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I tried- I tried so hard, but it didn’t work. I didn’t want to.”

He felt a hand sneak around his waist and leaned heavily against Yoongi when the alpha curled at his other side. “Don't ever hide from us again, Taehyung.”

The omega knew it wasn’t the time, not when Jimin was still trying to catch his breath in his lap and they were all tear-filled, but he managed a soft, “Miss me that much?”

And Yoongi growled under his breath at that, twisting to hide his face in Taehyung's neck as he pulled the omega into a half hug, careful of Jimin on his lap, “You have no idea.”

Taehyung was pretty sure he got the gist of how the last few days had been between them all just by all of the bruises all over them and how badly the clearing seemed to be torn apart.

Not to mention the chaos he'd witnessed for a good few minutes.

“I- I’m so hungry.” Taehyung whimpered, sinking into the grass to lay his head on Jimin’s chest, “And tired.”

“You look like skin and bones, we need to get you fed immediately,” Yoongi mumbled, smiling sadly, “Come on, baby. Let’s take you home.”

“Not home.”

“Where?”

“I want to go to yours,” Taehyung whispered, yawning as he shifted to rest his nose on Jimin's neck, one hand loosely holding onto Yoongi's fingers. “I want to see it…”

“You’ll be asleep before we even get halfway,” Jimin chided fondly.

Taehyung humphed a disagreeing noise before sitting up to offer his arms to Yoongi - immediately getting scooped up.

“Hey,” Yoongi mumbled, waiting until Taehyung looked at him before continuing, “I love you, Taehyung.”

Hearing that sent his heart soaring, it made Taehyung release a big breath that he felt like he’d been holding in for too long before the omega wrapped his arms around Yoongi's neck and buried his cheek into his shoulder. “I love you, alpha.”

Taehyung felt Yoongi press a few kisses to the junction between his shoulder and neck as his eyes scanned the yard before he realized something that made him disappointed.

Jungkook was gone.

He sighed and turned his head to hide in Yoongi's neck while the alpha carried him out of the forest.

Chapter Text

Nothing could ever be easy with Jungkook.

The alpha had been avoiding them for over a week since the incident, which was incredibly annoying given Jungkook was normally the one talking their ears off at all given moments, and the one that wanted to go hangout.

It was to the point where Taehyung had seen Yoongi and Jimin both try to call him, but the alpha didn’t answer.

It wasn’t that they weren’t upset with Jungkook, they were - to a degree - pissed that Jungkook managed to let his own jealousy get the better of him, but Taehyung understood Jungkook.

He knew what it was like to be under someone else’s control. To have so many unrealistic expectations pushed on him.

He just wanted a chance to talk to him, and today had to be the day, because it was a very special day and Jungkook had probably completely forgotten about it.

Still, there was one place where he couldn’t avoid Taehyung - Tuesday and Thursday math class.

This Tuesday, it seemed Jungkook had decided to sneak in wireless earbuds, not even sparing Taehyung a glance when the omega attempted to whisper to him.

Taehyung had given up after the third or fourth time, instead ducking his head to begin scribbling in his homework book when he heard another flurry of rumors passing through.

There’d been a number of rumors while he was gone, some saying he’d decided to ditch town, that the boys had finally gotten tired of him, or that he was pregnant.

His horrible state did very little to help steer the rumors, and Taehyung was very embarassed when he heard people talk about how obviously sick he still looked.

“I heard it’s the flu.”

“I’m still voting on morning sickness-“

“Morning sickness doesn’t make you look like a zombie, idiot.”

“Do you think he’s contagious-“

“Okay!” Taehyung jumped in his seat as the chair beside him squeaked when Jungkook stood up, the alpha snatching his notebook from the desk before spinning around and demanding, “Anyone who has shit to say about Taehyung needs to come with me, otherwise shut the fuck up and mind your damn business.”

The teacher squaked a rather belated language! but that wasn’t what interested Taehyung the most.

What interested him the most was the fact that Jungkook still had his earphones in the entire time he’d been sitting here and when he’d yelled at the class.

“Asshole.” Taehyung hissed, gathering his bag and quickly taking off after him.

Still, he couldn’t help the small amused grin pulling at his lips because Jungkook would be possessive enough to pretend to ignore him an entire hour.

“Hey!” Taehyung yipped like an upset puppy, taking his notebook and smacking Jungkook in the back as the alpha pretended to dig in his locker, “I’ve got a bone to pick with you, mister earphones!”

Jungkook still didn’t turn around, so Taehyung rolled his eyes and turned towards a metal pole, stepping beside it and pressing his knuckles against it one time, making a banging sound resonate, before whining, “Ow, my head!”

The alpha spun around in an instant, a hand already reaching out for his face before Jungkook's eyes flickered from the pole to Taehyung's knuckles.

“Whoops,” The omega smiled big, “Gotchu.”

Jungkook huffed, giving a small roll of his eyes before shutting his locker, removing his earphones now that his ruse had been broken. “What, Taehyung?“

“What do you mean what?” Taehyung huffed, “I need to talk to you, it’s serious business.”

“Tae,” Jungkook gave him a blank look, “Last time you told me you had serious business to discuss it was about who was hotter - Captain America or Iron Man.”

“That was serious.” The omega argued, wrapping his fingers tightly into Jungkook's cargo pants pocket so he couldn’t escape and trailing after him. “But this is double serious! Triple serious! The most serious that serious can get.”

Jungkook didn't look amused by his antics, but he did smell rather happy when Taehyung smiled brightly at him and tried tugging him towards the parking lot. “Come on!”

“I have to get to study hall.”

“No you don’t, you have physics right now and it’s Mr. Minho and he doesn’t even take attendance, so let’s go!” Taehyung grunted, trying to tug on his pants, but Jungkook didn’t move an inch.

“Jungkook, if you don’t move your ass, I’m going to do something really embarrassing.” Taehyung warned, “Trust me, it’s going to be super embarrassing.”

Jungkook raised a brow, and Taehyung could tell he didn’t believe him, so the omega dramatically huffed as he slipped both arms into his backpack, giving Jungkook one last chance before he shrugged, “Fine. You asked for it.”

Then, Taehyung dropped to the floor and wrapped both arms and legs around Jungkook's left leg, leaching into him.

The alpha actually snorted, looking down at him confused, “What are you doing?”

“Stalling,” Taehyung answered, “Yoongi's suggestion was to drench you in water, my idea was less messy. You’re welcome.”

Jungkook narrowed his eyes then, looking at him suspiciously, going to move his leg but Taehyung only smiled up at him.

“Tae…” Jungkook mumbled, warningly, “Tae, you’re going to get sick on the floor, get up.”

“No.”

“Taehyung,” Jungkook hissed, leaning down to try and detach his hands, but Taehyung quickly nipped at him and then snuggled his cheek into his knee. “Damn it, what do you want, Tae?”

“Not responding to that right now, try again later.”

“Taehyung?“

“You’re running out of chances, please try again.”

Jungkook sighed, offering a hand to Taehyung as he whispered, “Baby please get up, it’s filthy.”

“Oh!” Taehyung cooed, accepting the hand to jump up and promptly throwing himself at Jungkook, “Winner winner! Your prize is one confession, free of charge!“

“A confession…?” Jungkook looked at him blank faced, eyes narrowing, “What sort of confession?”

“You want to use it now?” Taehyung asked, already bouncing on his toes, “Come here, it’s a secret.”

Jungkook leaned down, giving Taehyung a chance to latch onto his chest, confident the alpha would catch him, and he did.

“The secret is!” Taehyung screamed, legs curling around Jungkook's waist as he yelled, “I love Jeon Jungkook!”

The alpha almost dropped him.

That did shock Taehyung a bit, but the omega couldn’t help bursting into laughter when Jungkook dropped all of his things but ignored them in favor of holding Taehyung up and looking at him wide-eyed.

“I love Jeon Jungkook!”

Taehyung scrunched up his nose leaning in to rub their noses together as he whispered, just for Jungkook, “Happy birthday, my love.”

Jungkook did drop him that time - not intentionally of course - but Taehyung squeaked when he landed in other arms, immediately sucking in deep cinnamon as Jimin laughed in his ear.

“Damn, man, you lose some muscle or something? Tae’s the same size as Minjun right now.”

Taehyung whined at that, smacking a hand into Jimin’s chest, who then pressed a kissed to his ear before letting him go.

Jungkook just stared. He stared at Jimin, at Taehyung, and then at Yoongi when the alpha came around the corner holding a small cake.

“W-Why?” Jungkook huffed a sound, looking at them incredulously, “I’ve been such a dick. I literally almost got Taehyung killed. Could’ve got you two killed, I-“

“We love you,” Taehyung grinned, moving over to wrap arms around his waist, pressing his chin into Jungkook's chest. “We’ll talk about it later, right now it’s your birthday.”

“Which means…” Yoongi began, releasing a quiet sigh before playfully rolling his eyes, “It’s your day with Taehyung.”

“Jungkook and Taehyung day! Taekook day!” Taehyung yelled, squeaking these little excited noises and clutching at him.

He knew Jungkook was incredibly suspicious as to what was going on, especially because Taehyung was acting insane, but the truth was the omega was just really happy to have come to an understanding with Jimin and Yoongi regarding everything.

They’d both agreed, rather quickly, that things weren’t right without Jungkook around.

Plus, Taehyung didn’t want to have to choose, they knew that. He wanted all of them or none of them and that’s how it had to be. Without Jungkook, the pack wasn’t a pack.

“I… is it okay?” Jungkook asked, looking between the two, “To take your mate.”

Taehyung shared a secretive grin to the pair before humming and taking Jungkook's fingers, “Let’s go, let’s go! We have plans!”

Jungkook huffed a disbelieving noise, still looking at Jimin and Yoongi like either of them was going to stop them, but all that happened was Yoongi promising a, “We’ll bring the cake home for you,” before the exit door slammed behind them.

“Since when are you so happy to skip school?”

“Since I was labeled skeleton last week,” Taehyung replied, shifting on his toes impatiently as Jungkook found his keys, “Plus, it’s my alpha’s birthday, it’s a special day.”

Jungkook nearly dropped his keys if not for Taehyung catching them, taking it upon himself to unlock the car with the alpha staring at him.

“What?”

“You’re not a skeleton,” Jungkook huffed, leaning onto the passenger door around Taehyung, “You’re just… a little sick. Still beautiful.”

Taehyung took his bottom lip between his teeth then, lifting his chin when he saw Jungkook's finger drift towards his face, hoping it was to capture his chin and kiss him.

It seemed the alpha thought better of it and released him with a mumble under his breath that Taehyung couldn’t catch. “Come on, little one, let’s go.”

Taehyung hummed, tossing his arms up towards him, surprisingly Jungkook, who looked at him with an are you sure look, to which Taehyung explained, “It’s Jungkook day. You can do whatever you want to.”

He had always known Jungkook wanted to put him in his jeep himself, always fussing over Taehyung getting hurt on it, so Taehyung would let him just today.

And maybe he’d convinced Jimin and Yoongi to tell him some things he should do for Jungkook by telling them they would get a kiss for every suggestion they had.

Needless to say, they had a lot of suggestions.

“Where am I going?”

Taehyung hummed, “Go to the forest.”

Jungkook glanced at him from the corner of his eye, “Put on your seatbelt.”

The omega frowned, “You do it, bossy.”

Grumbling, Jungkook reached across the seat for the belt, “You’re a spoiled brat sometimes, you know that? Worse than Mi-“

Taehyung cut him off by pressing a kiss against his jaw, smiling innocently when Jungkook sent him a confused look.

“I slipped,” Taehyung offered as an excuse, lying through his teeth, and even though Jungkook didn’t laugh, he could smell the amusement he tried to hide seeping through the cracks.

Good. It was supposed to be a good day for him.

“What am I going to do with you…” Jungkook whispered as he pulled out of the parking lot, to which Taehyung mindlessly replied with, “Love me, feed me, never leave me.”

Jungkook cackled, “Did you just Garfield quote?”

Taehyung pouted, “What’s wrong with Garfield? It’s a classic.”

The alpha merely snickered in reply, making Taehyung whine and shift to unbuckle himself and scoot across the seat, immediately making Jungkook begin to scold him, “That's dangerous! What the hell are you doing?”

“Getting attention,” Taehyung answered easily, “The boys said you love it when I try to get your attention.”

“Not if it’s fucking dangerous?” Jungkook gawked, “You’re insane today, I mean you’re insane everyday but I swear today you’re like ten times as crazy - I’m going to whoop your ass, Taehyung, I swear to god put the fucking seatbelt on-“

“Sounds kinky.”

“Taehyung.”

Taehyung huffed as he pretended to ignore him, tapping his fingers along the center console, leaning over it to look at Jungkook with big eyes.

The alpha glanced at him, huffing when he noticed he hadn’t listened to him about the seat belt at all, but muttering that Taehyung was lucky they were already as close as they could get to the clearing by car.

“Come on, weirdo.”

Taehyung laughed and climbed over the middle console to exit through the driver's door. It was a struggle, but definitely worth it when Jungkook laughed at him and accepted him to help out of the car.

“I swear, you’re sugar high or something.”

Taehyung just hummed, taking off in front on thin legs.

It was after a few minutes of watching the smaller waddle around in front of him that Jungkook cleared his throat. “You said since it was my birthday that I could make any request I wanted, right?”

The omega stopped, turning around to look at him over his shoulder before smiling, “Of course.”

Jungkook looked rather sheepish, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck before putting a hand out in a silent request.

Taehyung grinned, scurrying over to ignore the hand and instead put his arms up to wrap himself around Jungkook's front, digging his nose into his throat.

“Yeah,” Jungkook whispered, one arm holding beneath Taehyung's ass and the other around his waist “Definitely better than what I had planned.”

The omega giggled, pressing his lips against Jungkook's neck and closing his eyes to rest against him comfortably.

“Taehyung,” Jungkook whispered, “I’m really sorry for everything-“

“Stop,” Taehyung tried to keep any irritation out of his tone by instead sighing, “It’s your birthday, we don’t have to talk about this now.”

“I want to,” Jungkook admitted, “I’ve been thinking about it nonstop, the way you cried and I ordered you… I-I didn’t know about my dad, I swear. I haven’t even seen him in weeks… Namjoon isn’t talking to me, so I think he knows stuff too… I just… I missed you. All of you,” His fingers tightened around Taehyung, “Now you’re in poor shape because of me, and-“

“I need to tell you something.” Taehyung whispered, shifting to squirm until Jungkook put him down, only to take his fingers and tug him off towards the side of the clearing, hearing the alpha wonder aloud when the basket and blankets had gotten there, but the truth was he’d run by this morning to set it up. “Come here, sit down.”

Jungkook mumbled his name, but Taehyung ignored him in favor of pointing at the blankets and forcing Jungkook down into them.

The alpha grumbled that it was his birthday, but otherwise sat on the blankets and tossed his shoes to the side.

Taehyung could hear Jungkook breathe in his scent when he sat down to take off his shoes and threw his (read: Yoongi's) hoodie to the side.

It seemed the alpha had decided pretending he didn’t want Taehyung wasn’t worth it, because a large palm slipped around his ribs and the omega was pulled between long legs.

“I can do what I want, it’s my birthday,” Jungkook muttered when Taehyung looked at him, but his scent flared with a bit of insecurity.

“Yes, you can,” Taehyung agreed softly, scooting closer and leaning into his chest to play with the zipper of his coat. “Jungkook. I don’t want you to be angry today, about anything, I just want to talk to you. Promise you won’t be angry.”

The alpha chuckled, but it was nervous, “Tae, you know I can’t promise that, I’m a pro when it comes to being angry.”

Taehyung huffed, but nodded, looking down at Jungkook's thumb running his exposed hipbone from where his shirt rolled up.

“Before coming here, I lived with my alpha dad,” Taehyung whispered, “They separated when I was really young, but I wasn’t really close to either of my parents… anyway, so… once I turned thirteen and I was an omega. He hated it.”

Jungkook tensed up behind him, fingers moving up his side until they could pet down Taehyung's hair and press a kiss onto his temple, but he didn’t comment.

“… he thought the only way to make me listen to him was to order me. Force me to listen to him, not caring that it physically hurt to be ordered around, and not having anyone there after I dropped was probably the worst part-“

"Tae…” Jungkook warned, hands pulling away from him like he caught fire, chest rising quickly.

Taehyung stopped talking, instead sinking into Jungkook’s lap, head moving to rest on his thigh. “Just want you to know, I know what it feels like.”

“No…” Jungkook argued, looking like he wanted to stand up and run away from Taehyung but couldn’t when the omega had claimed his lap, “It’s worse for you. It’s worse… and I… I’m just pathetic. I’m the only other alpha in the family since my other father died, and ever since then there’s been too many expectations, but don’t compare your experiences to mine - you literally couldn’t ignore them, I could. I’m just… weak.”

“Stop making your issues seem so little!” Taehyung barked, yanking himself to sit up and poking a finger at Jungkook's chest, “I love you, Jungkook. But you need to open up to me- us. We want to help you.”

Jungkook pressed his lips in a line before shaking his head, “No. No. I fucked up too much. I can’t - I can’t fuck up anymore, I’d rather be alone, Taehyung. Can’t you-“

Taehyung growled, shifting to cup Jungkook's face, forcing his eyes to look at him. “I accept you, Jeon Jungkook.”

Jungkook didn't respond, just giving a shake of his head and leaning his nose into Taehyung's, looking torn between tears.

Just the fact that he had to think about it made tears spring to Taehyung's eyes and the panic set in.

“Say you accept, Jungkook…” He begged, “Jungkook accept me…”

Taehyung whimpered, scooting closer to press a kiss onto Jungkook's lips, forcing himself into the alpha’s space, “You want me, Jungkook. I-I know it-“

“Of course I want you,” Jungkook deflated, growling at even the implication that he didn’t, one hand running up the side of Taehyung's neck and the other squeezing Taehyung's chest against his own. “God, do I fucking want you.”

Taehyung licked his lips, tasting salty tears in them, and the moment Jungkook noticed he looked devastated, “I’m always making you cry. I’m not good for you, baby. I -“

“I a-accept you,” Taehyung stumbled, clutching both hands in Jungkook's shirt, “Do you accept me?”

He could practically see the moment Jungkook lost all of his willpower to refuse him, shoulders relaxing and a disbelieving smile pulling at his mouth.

“I do,” Jungkook sucked in a breath, cupping Taehyung's face, “I accept you. I’ve always accepted you. I-I love you, Taehyung. You’re mine.“

Taehyung laughed against his lips, a happy sound, as he was picked up and shifted onto the blanket, arms locking around Jungkook’s neck as the alpha hovered atop him, lips pressing soundly against his own.

“… always been..” Taehyung muffled against his lips, smiling overtaking his face, but Jungkook didn’t seem to mind, simply moving his lips to the side of his jaw, making Taehyung's hair stand on end due to how close the sounds were.

Jungkook pressed a kiss directly beneath his ear, sending a shiver through his body and making his nails dig into the alpha’s arms.

“So hot…” Jungkook whispered, taking advantage of the sweet spot by kissing all around that side of his neck.

Taehyung moaned a breathy sound, raising his hips and curling both legs around Jungkook's right thigh, grinding against him for a second as he mumbled, “Y-Your present. It’s me. I’m your present.”

It was honestly the only thing either Yoongi or Jimin could suggest to him, both looking rather playful and coy when they’d muttered that Taehyung was the only thing Jungkook didn’t have yet.

It was awfully hard to shop for someone that already had everything, and Taehyung's only hesitation had been worrying that Jungkook would reject him again.

It didn’t even occur to him now that the alpha would, because Jungkook's only hesitation last time was guilt holding him back.

“Best birthday ever.”

Taehyung giggled, squirming when Jungkook removed his own shirt and tossed it onto the grass outside the blanket.

The omega sat up to do the same before leaning over eagerly to undo Jungkook's jean buttons.

“We have time,” Jungkook mumbled, releasing a soft laugh and beginning to pet his fingers down Taehyung's spine, “Beautiful. You’re beautiful.”

Smiling, Taehyung shifted onto his knees just to hold Jungkook's chin between two fingers and press a kiss onto his lips, feeling his warm palms move down his hips until he felt Jungkook undoing his pants.

Taehyung sighed into his mouth pleasantly when Jungkook manhandled him closer to his chest so he could make Taehyung lay back down all the while tugging at the omega’s pants.

Jungkook took off Taehyung's pants before even dealing with his own, scanning his body before bending down to press a kiss onto his knee, hooking a finger in his panties and looking at himself for permission.

Permission that was granted immediately, only with a small whine of you too.

Taehyung was slowly learning to take the alphas cursing when they looked at him as a good sign, so he smiled big, moving to playfully cross his legs - an action Jungkook actually snapped his teeth at him over - before laughing and making grabby hands towards the alpha.

“… damn, I’ve been wanting to fuck you for way too long,” Jungkook commented, brushing his lips over Taehyung's, making the omega smile and rub hands over his abdomen, “But now I just want to kiss you all day.”

“Plenty of time for kissing,” Taehyung assured, fingers dipping into Jungkook’s unbuttoned jeans, “Time for mating is much more limited.”

Jungkook smiled rather smirk-like when he repeated mating, and ran fingers through Taehyung's locks, hands making their way around the omega’s body until they landed in his thighs, gently pushing them apart.

“Jungkook,” Taehyung moaned as the large hand ran over his erection.

The reminder that Jungkook's own cock was probably suffocating inside his pants made Taehyung quickly reach inside of his jeans dully, slender fingers curling around his erection and smearing the dampness of precum between his fingers.

“I want to taste you,” The alpha commented, breathing in their mixed scents of lust and growling under his breath, “But I don’t have the self control, I don’t. Fuck, just let me-“

Taehyung pouted when the alpha pulled away, but was brightening up quickly when Jungkook shed the rest of his clothes and was moving to hover over him.

As soon as Jungkook pressed a kiss onto his jaw, he huffed breathily against Taehyung's neck before pressing wet lips down his chest, “Going to devour you.”

Now that was certainly something they’d both consider fun.

***

Taehyung knew they were coming.

The pair had said they’d make their way over pretty late and bring them dinner, with Yoongi chiding that Taehyung would be exhausted with a rather flirtatious grin.

He’d just expected to have been awake by the time they arrived, not waking up to mumbled voices and deep chuckles.

It was probably more so the vibrations of Jungkook's chest when he laughed that woke him up more so than the actual talking, because he found the alphas voices incredibly soothing.

“ - no, no. It was nice. He’s really amazing-“

“An understatement.”

“- it was a really nice time. Thank you for helping him,” Jungkook cleared his throat before adding. “Thanks for giving me another chance.”

It was quiet then, but not uncomfortable, and Taehyung figured the trio were probably just sharing a few grins and what not.

“Do you know about the ear thing..” Jimin cut in, releasing a laugh before chiding, “So cute. He’ll squirm all day.”

Jungkook chuckled in reply and Taehyung felt the hair on his temple shuffle around when the alpha nosed at his hair. “Gotta give it a try, Yoongs. Definitely a sweet spot.”

Taehyung couldn’t help cracking his eyes open then, shifting to release a tiny laugh as he rolled into Jungkook's chest with a playful whine, “Talking about me?”

“Only good things, as always,” The alpha assured, pressing a handful of kisses to Taehyung's head as the omega stretched his legs out beneath the blankets on them.

“Mmm…” Taehyung hummed, pressing a kiss to Jungkook’s collarbone, then jaw, and shifting to sit up.

The blankets rolled down his chest to his hips as the omega rubbed the tiredness from his eyes.

“We brought food,” Yoongi chirped, “Burgers.”

Taehyung's mouth watered, but given all the energy he’d put into today and how little he’d eaten, he was starving.

The only issue was that it was Jungkook's day, or night now, so he turned to Jungkook expecting the alpha to hand him clothes or take the food from Yoongi seeing as the two were sitting a respectful few feet away on the grass, but Jungkook didn’t.

Instead, he just leaned over to press a kiss to Taehyung's naked shoulder before taking a spare blanket and wrapping it around him, “I think they want to see you.”

Taehyung's brows furrowed, scanning Jungkook's face for any sign of jealousy, but finding none, “It’s alright?”

Jungkook smiled, pressing a quick kiss onto Taehyung's nose before playfully rolling his eyes, “Get over here, you two. I think I’ve had him to myself long enough today.”

Neither of them had to be told twice, carrying over bags of food and picking a spot on the blankets while Jungkook shifted to grab their clothes and get dressed.

“You smell good,” Jimin mumbled, smiling as he fixed the blanket over Taehyung's shoulder.

Taehyung scrunched his nose, “Do I?”

“It’s because you accepted all of us now, your scent is different,” Yoongi answered quietly, opening a burger and offering it to Taehyung.

The omega went to grab it, only to earn a teasing tsk from the alpha, making Taehyung laugh and surge up to press a kiss to his lips, because nothing was free in this world.

“What’s it smell like?” Taehyung wondered, unable to really tell when all of them were so close because all he smelled was them.

“Good,” Jungkook mused, leaning over to place his hoodie in Taehyung's lap when he was ready to get dressed, then teasing, “Sex.”

Taehyung whined when they laughed, kicking a foot at the alpha before turning to Jimin with a huff, waiting for a real answer.

It came with a very dramatic sniff to the side of his neck that made Taehyung laugh and shoo him away, not that Jimin took it seriously, the alpha merely chuckled, “It’s like… strawberries, but really sweet. Like chocolate covered strawberries, it’s really nice. I think it smells extra good, since you’re really happy.”

Normally, Taehyung would probably tease them with a how could you have ever guessed I was happy? despite smelling so strongly of happiness, instead he decided to just smile and nod, shifting to leaning into Yoongi's side.

The alpha didn’t seem to mind that he smelled like sex, just opening his arm to place it around his shoulders and petting fingers along the side of Taehyung's neck.

Taehyung ate quietly, moving his feet happily beneath the blanket against Jungkook's thigh as the alpha had fully changed and was finally moving to eat.

Jungkook noticed the wiggling feet after a moment and playfully stopped them with a hand before pinching his toe through the blanket and letting Taehyung laugh and go back to his happy squirms.

Taehyung had been wrong.

There was room for three after all.

Chapter Text

“So what do we do about it?” Yoongi wondered, dropping his keys into the bowl beside the door and cringing as Minjun nearly hit him in the dick when the child ran past him with flailing arms into his house.

“What is there to do?” Jungkook wondered, “Obviously, I want Tae to be comfortable in my home, but he won’t be anymore. And I’m okay if he wants to meet here now, it’s fine. I’m mostly just…” He sighed and ran a hand through tangled hair, “When my dad gets back from his trip he’s going to be pissed. I don’t know what to do - I… I just didn’t want to deal with repercussions. I told you guys, I didn’t mean it like that - I just didn’t want to make shit harder than it is for you guys and, you know, it’s hard to make decisions like-“

“We understand, Jungkook,” Jimin assured for what was likely the hundredth time, not even acknowledging it when he heard Minjun parrot a shit! and Jungkook apologized for it. “Don’t trip, man. We'll figure it out - what’s the worst he can do? Kick us out? Then you stay here, with Yoongs and me.”

“An’ Jun!” Minjun laughed, oblivious to the tension because he was just a child and couldn’t smell very strongly yet, holding up a paper to flap back and forth, “Pretty picture! For you!”

“Thanks, little man. Can you go wash your hands? We’ll have ice cream when Taehyung gets here.” Yoongi accepted the drawing, laying it on the counter before sighing as he looked between the two.

Jungkook frowned, pressing his lips together uncomfortably.

“Listen,” Yoongi demanded. “I know you’re scared, Kook. But he only has as much power over you as you let him. My place is on the outskirts, not even in his territory. So if you’re worried about him kicking you out, then don’t be. You don’t need him.”

“It's just…” Jungkook mumbled, looking strained to even have to admit a thing, “If I don’t have family then what do I have? My dad would be disappointed… he would want me to stay with Chansun-“

“Bullshit.” Jimin argued, immediately scrunching his nose up, “If you think for a second that Sion would have wanted you to be in that house miserable, then you’re a fucking idiot.”

Yoongi sent Jimin a cool it look, the last thing they needed was to start yelling at each other when they’d been at peace for a good while now.

“Plus,” Yoongi added, voice quiet but firm, “We have each other and we have Taehyung. Hell, even Seokjin hates Chansung and he loves everyone. We’re all here for you. You always seem to count your brother’s pack out. Namjoon would do anything for you.”

“Namjoon isn’t my real brother…”

“Doesn’t mean shit,” Jimin rolled his eyes. “Minjun’s my half brother, do you think I hold a grudge against him for his mom leaving mine?”

Jungkook whined as he slumped against the back of the couch, arguing weakly that Minjun was a baby and hardly had anything to do with this, but he understood what Jimin meant.

Still, Yoongi heard his whine and delivered a smack to the back of his head anyway.

Before Jungkook could retaliate - which was truthfully just going to be the alpha complaining that he was going to give him head trauma - the front door was being pushed open.

Confusion took over all of their expressions when Minjun came waddling through the door, barely able to reach the doorknob, rambling, “- an’ what's a bullshit? So many, many new word!”

Taehyung trailed behind the child, a hand holding Minjun’s fingers as he nodded and feigned interest to his rambling. “I see you learned many new words today, you’re a smart boy.”

Minjun giggled, turning to look up at the three alphas as if only realizing they were there before wrapping both arms around Taehyung's leg and possessively stating, “I founded my pretty!”

Jimin was the first to mumble, brows pulled together in confusion as he pointed towards the staircase, “What the- you were upstairs? How the hell did you get outside?”

Minjun shrugged, “Koo was blah blah blah, Jun run by like ninja!”

Jungkook’s ears turned bright red in an instant, licking his lips and trying to find what to say, but grasping at air and looking at the other two for help.

Neither of them jumped in to help, some pack members they were, but Taehyung didn’t seem to have even noticed, just humming when Minjun yanked at him down to his level and then cooing as the child gave him a hug.

“Yes, I missed you too, sweetheart.” Taehyung assured, pressing a kiss onto his cheek and then fixing his hair. “Why don’t you go wash your hands for real this time so we can have ice cream.”

Minjun gasped, having forgotten about the ice cream, and ran up the stairs in an instant.

Then, Taehyung had time to drop his bag beside the front door and remove his shoes all while murmuring, “Do I even want to know why Minjun’s running around cursing like a sailor?”

“Completely Jungkook's fault.” Yoongi commented, immediately jerking away from the wall to approach him, “Always Jungkook's fault.”

“Rude!”

Taehyung laughed, accepting the palms on his waist and dropping his hands on Yoongi shoulders only to tsk and press a finger to the alpha’s lips and chide playfully, “I think Minjun would be really upset if he caught someone kissing his pretty.“

“That kid is completely delusional,” Yoongi replied, “But at least he got the pretty part right.”

“Sweet talker.”

“You know it,” The alpha replied, smiling as he leaned his nose to Taehyung's and pressed a kiss to his lips, tugging him closer and sighing against his pink lips, which didn’t go unnoticed by Taehyung.

The omega pressed another kiss to Yoongi's mouth for good measure before the alpha let him go greet the others.

“Stressed out?” Taehyung asked, falling into Jimin’s chest to let the alpha hold him and kiss his hair. “All of this sniffing is really worrying me.“

“You smell relaxing to us.”

“I know,” He replied, reaching out with both arms once Jimin was motioning him towards Jungkook, allowing the alpha to tuck him into his chest and inhaling at Taehyung's neck. “Which is why I’m getting worried. Why do you need to be relaxed?”

“Jungkook’s father comes back soon,” Yoongi answered, earning a look from Taehyung that would have made someone guess that the alpha had just poured cold water on him.

“So,” Taehyung whispered, clicking his tongue, “What’s going to happen? What.. what do I have to worry about?”

Jungkook growled in an instant, cutting through the air with such force that Taehyung startled and the alpha had to take a breath to murmur an apology before adding, “You don’t have to worry. I’m going to take care of everything, he’s not going to do anything to you ever again.”

Taehyung never liked promises, but he trusted Jungkook.

The omega nodded, even though he knew he looked awfully unsure, because he didn’t want his own nerves to affect Jungkook.

“Okay,” Taehyung murmured, “Anyway, my lovely alphas!” He chirped, stepping away from Jungkook with a hand running down his arm and slipping a bright smile on his face, “I love you, you’re beautiful, and your omega wants to go to the store, pretty please!!”

The alphas all began to laugh, making Taehyung pout up a storm and turn to the nearest one with a flushed face and a whine.

“You don’t have to beg us to go to the store,” Jimin laughed, petting his hair, “We have to go get Minjun ice cream anyway.”

“What did you want to get, my love?” Yoongi added, grabbing his keys once more and his wallet off the counter.

Taehyung bounced his way to Yoongi when Jimin mumbled that he was going to go grab Minjun before the child smeared toothpaste all over the counter again.

“So, I was thinking,” Taehyung began, sneaking his way between Yoongi and the wall for the alpha’s attention. Making the alpha smile at him as he slipped on his shoes. “I saw some photo frames… and was thinking maybe we could get some photos printed, you know, just for us. So we don’t feel alone even if we are. It’s cheesy, but… but I really want to do it, alpha.”

“Cutest thing ever.”

Taehyung raised his brows, eyes big as he turned to Jungkook once the alpha stepped towards the shoe rack, “Huh?”

“You,” Jungkook cooed, pressing his finger to Taehyung’s chin and leaning down to press a kiss to his nose, “Are the cutest thing ever.”

“Even when I’m making you mad?”

“Mhm.“

“Even when I bug you in math?”

“Of course, baby.”

Taehyung giggled, slipping onto his toes to press a handful of kisses to Jungkook's cheek before adding, “Even when I make you jealous?”

“Always, beautiful.” Jungkook chuckled, running a hand down Taehyung's spine until it rested over his ass before adding, “Now put your shoes on.”

The omega smirked as he leaned down to slip his shoes back on, “I wonder how cute I’m going to be when I tell you.”

“Tell me what?” Jungkook wondered.

Taehyung's eyes filled with mischief as he rocked back and forth on his feet, looking at Jungkook, then Yoongi, who seemed to be more than amused at his antics, “When I tell you that I’m definitely going to fuck Yoongi. Like, asap.”

Yoongi promptly choked, turning to cough over the countertop while Jungkook looked entertained by the other’s reaction, but caught on that Taehyung wanted to play with him.

“Now you’re trying to make me jealous.”

Taehyung burst into giggles, knowing Jungkook wasn’t really jealous - he’d seen real jealousy from Jungkook before, and it looked nothing like this.

“I’ll give you a head start, but if I catch you, you owe me one request.”

“Deal!” Taehyung squealed and took off towards the stairs, “Minjun! Jungkook's trying to eat me! Help!”

***

Taehyung never got over his fondness for Jimin’s room, and he had no idea why he was so drawn to it.

It was old, the paint was peeling on the walls, the carpet was stained so badly that Taehyung had no idea what color it originally was, and it was tiny - but maybe that’s why Taehyung liked it.

It was small, easy for him to reach over for Jimin no matter what the alpha was doing, unlike Jungkook's room that could pass as an apartment all on its own, and it was lived in, unlike Yoongi's room that always seemed to be untouched.

Or, maybe it was just the alpha that was in it that made him like it so much, which was the most plausible option.

“Do you think Yoongs is going to be jealous?” Taehyung asked, hooking his chin over Jimin’s shoulder and watching the other attempt to put the arm of Minjun's toy back on.

“What? That you stayed the night?”

“Jimin,” Taehyung whined, shifting to hide his face in Jimin’s pillow. “You know..”

He heard Jimin laugh, and within a minute he felt the alpha nuzzling into the back of his neck. “Yoongi isn’t like that,” He assured, brushing his lips down Taehyung's shoulder. “Yeah, he wants to have sex with you, but he knows there’s no rush. It’s not some sort of competition.”

Taehyung smiled to himself upon hearing that, because he’d told Jungkook those exact words before.

Sighing fondly, Taehyung twisted to peck his lips, relaxing into his hands when Jimin’s hands dipped back under the covers, making Taehyung giggle when the alpha yanked his leg over his hips once again.

“Needy,” Taehyung teased, biting his lip as he shifted to press a thigh between Jimin’s legs, “This time, l-“

“Jimin?”

Taehyung's heart jumped in his throat, immediately shoving Jimin down onto the bed so he could climb over him and grab his clothes.

“What are you doing? Just my mom.” Jimin laughed, leaning on his elbows.

The omega hissed, throwing a shirt at him as soon as he had some of Jimin’s sweatpants on and a hoodie, anxiously combing his hair. “Put clothes on! I’m not meeting her like this!“

“I mean, she can smell it, so covering up-“

“Park Jimin!“ Taehyung growled, making Jimin restrain his laughter and lean off the bed to collect his things.

And that’s how Jimin’s mother walked in on them, Taehyung frantically trying to brush his hair out and Jimin half nakedly opening a window as per the omega’s request.

Taehyung's first thought was that she was a gorgeous beta. It was easy to see where Jimin and Minjun had gotten their good looks from.

“Oh,” She murmured, not looking all that shocked, just staring at Taehyung for a moment before smiling, “Taehyung, I heard so much about you. I’m Jangmin.”

“I…” Taehyung swallowed hard, “Me too. About you. I mean, I- You have an amazing son. Sons. Jimin and Minjun, they’re amazing.”

Taehyung knew he ruined that meeting, his cheeks turning pink as she grinned even wider, chiding he is cute before turning to Jimin. “Brought you all dinner. And make sure Minjun has a bath after his nap, okay? Also, send Taehyung with some baked goods, the poor thing is all skin and bones.”

Jangmin smiled at him again before she stepped into Jimin’s room, close enough that Taehyung could see the exhausted bags under her eyes.

“Thank you for taking care of Jimin. He’s a good boy.”

“He’s a good alpha,” Taehyung whispered, “Thank you for giving him to me.”

Jangmin cooed at him, pinching his cheek before thinking better of it and instead pressing a kiss against his temple, a motherly gesture, before adding, playfully, “Don’t let those alphas boss you around too much, sweet pea. You’re definitely the boss.”

Taehyung smiled, knowing his happiness was flooding the room as she turned to walk out before he was squealing and turning to jump on the end of Jimin’s bed, flopping across the alpha’s front. “She likes me! She likes me, she likes me!”

“Was there ever any doubt that she would?” Jimin mumbled, fingers reaching for the end of Taehyung's shirt with a, “Now, we can continue…”

“Your mom nearly walked in on us! At least wait until she’s gone!”

Jimin laughed quietly, shifting to sit up on his palms when the omega rolled away dramatically, “Trust me, she doesn’t care.”

“Of course she does! She’s a parent! There’s tons to worry about - we’re in school still!”

“Tae, she had me when she was sixteen, way younger than us,” Jimin snickered, reaching over to tug the omega back under his arm and scanning his face fondly.

Taehyung didn't really have an opinion on any of that, but there was one thing he was curious about, “Is that why Jungkook said..”

“Oh no,” Jimin breathed immediately, shaking his head quickly. “He was just repeating some rumors about her that went around town when we were younger. My mom is a nurse now, just doesn’t have time that much…”

“So she was…”

Jimin shrugged, leaning into Taehyung's hands when the omega reached up to hold his hair from his face. “I don’t know, I mean.. there’s rumors, I didn’t remember much, but to me it doesn’t matter. She’s still my mom in the end. I still love her.”

Taehyung wished he had the same mindset.

He’d been here over three months now and the most he’d heard of his mom was through the notes she left him and money for groceries, he’d almost caught up to her a few times when he stayed up really late to try and see her, but ended up always falling asleep and waking up to her truck pulling out of the driveway.

Taehyung's place wasn’t a home, it was a storage facility housing so many items but very little feelings.

No wonder she’d agreed so easily to let him move in with her - she knew she’d never have to see him anyway.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothings wrong,” Taehyung whispered, shifting to sit up on his elbow and press their lips mere centimeters apart. “I have you, so nothing is wrong, Jimin.”

The alpha smiled before pecking his lips, leaning into his forehead, “Of course not, because I’ll take care of you. Always.”

Taehyung grinned ear to ear and leaned into Jimin’s lips because he definitely deserved more kisses.

***

“What’d you get for ten?” Taehyung whispered, removing the sucker from his mouth, shifting to lean on Yoongi's arm and peer at his homework, releasing a huff as he complained, “This is too much. I’m bored.”

The alpha laughed, shifting to lean closer to Taehyung and mumbling, “At least it’s summer break soon.”

“As if this place even has a summer season,” The omega whined, placing his textbook up to stand up by itself and plopping his sucker back into his mouth, fully knowing they weren’t allowed to be eating in the library.

Taehyung didn't care though, and the alphas would sooner go off on anyone who told him he couldn’t eat, because they were still trying to get the omega back to a normal size - that, or make his face even rounder.

Taehyung was pretty sure he was getting back to his normal size, but the alphas were adamant he needed to eat more.

“Just one more week, sweetheart,” Yoongi assured, turning his head to duck behind Taehyung's cover and grab the omega’s sucker stick.

Taehyung whined, confused as his candy was stolen, the alpha simply taking it between his own teeth and turning back to his homework.

“Hey…” Taehyung whimpered, pressing his cheek on the table and pouting, “That was mine.”

“Sharing is caring.”

The omega humphed, eyeing Yoongi suspiciously before deciding fine, they could both play innocent.

Taehyung shifted his chair so his thigh touched Yoongi's, leaning against his shoulder and feeling the alpha glance at him curiously.

He placed a hand on the alpha’s knee, feeling his warmth through his jeans and it was when his hand moved the smallest bit that Yoongi shifted uncomfortably.

“Want to watch a movie later?” Taehyung mumbled softly, feigning innocence as his fingers curled into Yoongi’s inner thigh, “Don’t you-“

“Taehyung.” Yoongi warned, hitting his elbow on the table in his rush to remove the omega’s hand from the front of his jeans. “We're at school.”

“What?” Taehyung whined, “Why are you scolding me, alpha?”

Yoongi huffed, removing the sucker and reaching over to place it inside of Taehyung's wrapper, leaving it in front of the omega with a murmur of you win.

Now, Taehyung wasn’t interested in the sucker. He was much more interested in how red Yoongi’s ears had gotten the second he’d tried to touch him.

If the alpha was seriously as bothered as he tried to seem, then he’d smell it on Yoongi.

What Taehyung smelled was the opposite of embarrassment - he was turned on by his antics.

“Yoongs, Yoongs…” Taehyung cooed, biting his lip as he placed a hand on Yoongi's knee once more, fingers crawling up his thigh. “Yoongi, I can tell you’re far from mad at me..” He giggled, smiling to himself.

The alpha moaned a noise under his breath, making Taehyung's hair stand up as he leaned closer to the alpha, breathing in his ear as he massaged a hand over the front of his jeans.

“Fuck.” Yoongi barked out, turning his body towards Taehyung and grabbing the omega’s jaw, pulling him down into a kiss so fast that Taehyung squeaked against his lips.

The omega couldn’t stand when Yoongi kissed him, because the alpha knew exactly how to drive him insane.

Yoongi was relentless when his lips touched Taehyung's, nipping his bottom lip red and taking advantage of his soft gasping to accept his tongue into his mouth.

Taehyung was worried about being too loud, unable to stop himself from releasing a moan when Yoongi sucked on his tongue, jolting back with a soft popping sound, hands clutching tightly at the alpha’s jeans.

“I can’t wait,” Taehyung whined, shifting to Yoongi’s lap and digging his nose beneath the alpha’s ear, running wet lips down his neck, “I can’t, Yoongi. I'm… soaked.”

Yoongi's chest vibrated as he stifled a growl, nosing at Taehyung's temple before he reached for his phone.

“No, no.” Taehyung whimpered upon seeing Yoongi open the group chat, thinking for sure he was going to tell someone to come get him before he lost control, but he stopped whining the moment he read, keep everyone out of the library storage room.

Taehyung perked up, releasing a giggle as he turned to wrap his arm around Yoongi’s neck, “Yes yes yes, fuck me.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice, babe.”

Yoongi left all of their things sitting on the table, even his phone, before yanking Taehyung between bookcases down the corridor.

Chapter Text

Taehyung had a few choices to cure his boredom.

One, he could throw on a movie and potentially waste the entire weekend away. Two, he could finish eating the pizza he’d ordered for himself.

Or, he could call one of the alphas to bother the life out of them.

The problem was, Jimin was busy watching Minjun tonight, and as much as Taehyung loved to be around the two, the alpha had scolded him for not working on his homework - making him promise to finish before calling for a ride over - and Taehyung hadn’t even started it yet.

Yoongi had said something about having promised to help Namjoon move some things and Taehyung was not interested in physical labor.

And finally, Jungkook hadn’t even replied to his texts from earlier this morning which left the omega a tad (read: a lot) salty.

He’d been blowing him up since he woke up this morning to an array of texts from the alpha asking what his plans were for today, which was always Jungkook's first question before he asked him out.

Kook 🐶: beautiful, what are your plans for today?

Kook 🐶: be careful in the rain

Kook 🐶: message when you’re up

To which Taehyung had replied throughout the day with various animal pictures and random ones of what he was up to including a very blurry photo of his pizza and his face.

Normally Jungkook would scold him for sending blurry pictures of himself, but when the alpha hadn’t replied Taehyung had been a little upset.

Still, he knew Jungkook was a busy alpha.

However, just when Taehyung was about to lean over for another slice of pizza that would undoubtedly make him want to throw up, his phone began to buzz on the end of the couch, making the omega flop to reach over and grab it, immediately perking up.

“Alpha, alpha! You didn’t talk to me all day long!” Taehyung complained, rolling on the couch to prop his feet up on the arm and huffing.

He could hear rain on the other end, shuffling, and the sound of a horn beeping before Jungkook replied, “Tae, I’m coming to your place. I’m sorry for not replying.”

Taehyung's hair raised on the back of his neck in an instant, immediately shifting to sit up and start cleaning up, “Of course. Jungkook, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

He didn’t need to smell the alpha’s emotions to realize something was wrong, it was clear in the fact that Jungkook never invited himself over like this, nor drove while on his phone, especially in such bad weather.

“Yeah-“ The alpha sighed and Taehyung almost immediately knew he was correct in his assumptions. “No, I’m not. I’ll be there in a minute, baby.”

Taehyung pressed his lips together, quickly murmuring an okay before running around to clean up as fast as humanly possible.

His room was mostly a disaster area full of clothes, which Jungkook wouldn’t mind seeing as they smelled like him.

Just as he was throwing the pizza in the fridge, he heard the doorknob turn and quickly rushed down the hallway towards it, finding the alpha back to him and hanging his umbrella up on the rack.

“Jungkook!” The omega crooned, rushing to wrap arms around his waist and digging his face in between his shoulder blades. “Kookie, Kookie, Kookie! Hi!”

The alpha spun around to hug his head under his chin in an instant, quickly moving his hands under Taehyung's hips and picking him up with heavy breaths and his head buried into Taehyung's hair.

Jungkook smelled like nothing but burnt coffee grounds - so incredibly angry.

“Kook…” Taehyung mumbled, hoping if he pretended not to notice how upset he was, that the alpha would cheer up.

It wasn’t working though, not at all, but Taehyung didn’t call him out for anything, not even when Jungkook sat him on the back of the couch so he could hug his waist and nuzzle against Taehyung's hair and throat.

“Alpha,” Taehyung mumbled, wrapping two hands around Jungkook’s right thigh and nuzzling against the side of the alpha’s face. “Kisses.”

“Can’t.”

“Hm?”

Jungkook released a worrisome noise before he finally sat back on his feet, raising his head to look Taehyung in the eye.

The room instantly flooded with the scent of rotten strawberries as Taehyung was sent into stale silence because he was so angry.

Jungkook's left eye was swelling up with every passing second, turning a sickly green color and his bottom lip at a deep cut in it that was still bleeding.

He suspected the alpha had more injuries, but given how big of a hoodie Jungkook was wearing, he knew the alpha wouldn’t tell him even if he did. But he couldn’t hide these ones.

“Taehyung.” Jungkook began, “Don’t cry, baby. Don’t start-“

“Don’t tell me what to do.” Taehyung yipped, face scrunched together and yes he was going to cry, but mostly out of anger. “Don’t… don't boss me around,” He huffed, bringing his shoulders to his ears.

The alpha laughed, a small quiet laugh as he reached out for him again, this time with Taehyung clutching his hoodie and angrily mumbling into his chest.

“You want to fight with me today? Already?” Jungkook whispered teasingly, “You’re a ball of anger.”

“I’m a ball of cute.” Taehyung argued, “But I don’t like my alphas being messed with.”

“It’s not your responsibility to take care of us, Tae-“

“Why?” The omega growled, sticking his nose up at the alpha while still clutching onto his front, “Because I’m an omega? I can’t fight? That’s the most anti-omega bullshit I’ve ever heard! I could rip their eyes out! I’m small, but I can still bite! I know where to hit people, and it would hurt, you know! I can be scary!”

Jungkook merely laughed at his antics, giving a roll of his eyes and pressing a finger against his lips to stop his rambling, “I was saying… Because taking care of all of us is too much responsibility for a single person. You have the attention span of a puppy, beautiful. Save your omega right’s speech for a real anti-omega asshole next time, don’t worry I’ll help you write a new one.”

Taehyung would normally continue his list of whined and complaints, probably throwing in some more threats, but he didn’t have the energy for it right now, not when he noticed Jungkook's knuckles were all cracked and it looked like the alpha did a shitty job of trying to clean things up based on the lack of bandages.

“Jungkook,” He whispered, jumping off the couch and taking a fistful of the alpha’s sleeve to pull him down the hallway towards his room, “What did you do?”

“It’s not really what I did, per say, more so-“

Taehyung cut him off with a swift no bullshit glare and pointed at his bed sternly before running for the first aid kit.

He was pretty sure Yoongi had left his kit here from when Taehyung had once slipped and busted his knee against the concrete porch out front, but, to be fair, Taehyung was much more accident prone than the alpha and definitely used it more than Yoongi would have.

“I may have told my father I knew what he did,” Jungkook began, clearing his throat as Taehyung climbed onto his lap to straddle his hips, “And, I may have said if he didn’t leave us alone that I would publicize his drinking problems. He doesn’t take well to spear campaigns…”

“Well I don’t take well to my mate being black and blue,” Taehyung hissed, tears sitting in his eyes as he took Jungkook's hand and began to clean the cuts. “This is bullshit. Who the fuck does this shit?”

“It’s fine… I just think, I really don’t want to go back.”

“You aren’t,” Taehyung looked at him with an incredulous look, “You think I’d let you go back? Let alone the others? Shut up, Jungkook. You’re not stupid so don’t say stupid things.”

Jungkook sighed, bringing Taehyung into his chest and completely ignoring the omega’s angry bark to let me clean it to instead run fingers down his spine. “Chansung has always been like this though, ever since my father passed away.”

“Towards Namjoon too?”

“I mean,” Jungkook shrugged a small bit, “Namjoon was never around much, he’s older and already had a pack when it happened… I think that Chansung didn’t care as much about Jun helping him, because, well, he’s not an alpha.”

Taehyung would normally make a comment about how unfair that was, because basing judgment because of status was horrific, but he wouldn’t this time, just because he didn’t want to get Jungkook even more worked up than needed.

“Namjoon is… not your blood brother right?”

Jungkook nodded, tugging Taehyung to lay down beside him and shifting to lay on his hip, the omega seconds away from scolding him again but Taehyung chose to just sigh and use a cotton ball to dab at his lip.

“Namjoon is my step brother, Chansung's full blood son, from a different mateship. But,” Jungkook paused for a moment before grabbing the cotton from Taehyung's hand and turning to put it on the side table, “Namjoon is the best. Closest thing to family I know other than you and the guys.”

How was Taehyung supposed to scold Jungkook for not letting him clean his wound when he went and said something so sweet? Ugh.

“Hey,” Taehyung whispered, cupping behind Jungkook's ear to press a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth, being extra careful, “I love you.”

That helped with the alpha’s worrying scent in an instant, because it wasn’t often Taehyung said it to them. In fact, they didn’t really say it much at all.

He needed to work on that, telling them he loved them more, because he did.

Taehyung loved them with everything he had to give, which wasn’t much, but it was enough.

“You shouldn’t kiss me right now,” Jungkook seemed to pretend not to have heard him, but his ears reddened anyway, “I’m bleeding.”

“You’re mine, I don’t care,” Taehyung argued quietly, taking his chin between his fingers and looking him in the eyes, “I love you.” He smiled, pressing a kiss to Jungkook's jaw, “Love you,” and adding another to his dimpled cheeks until he saw the alpha begin to smile, just the smallest bit.

“Don’t worry,” Taehyung whispered, wrapping both arms around his neck and tugging him across him, locking his limbs around Jungkook’s and nuzzling into his ear. “We’re a pack, we stay together, my love.”

“I think…” Taehyung could hear Jungkook swallow down his anxiety before the alpha’s voice went even quieter and he dug his fingers into Taehyung's pajama top. “I’m mostly upset… b-because I did nothing but what he a-always said, and he didn’t even care about me. He hit me, Taehyung. H-He actually-“

“Sh, I know, baby,” Taehyung assured, cupping his head to his chest, “You’re a good alpha. You’re the best alpha. You’re my alpha, baby. I love you. We love you.”

Seeing an alpha cry was always the worst feeling in the world.

***

Taehyung never fully understood many other people, but he fully understood Jungkook.

He understood Jungkook from how the alpha always kept a spare coin on him at all times, because it was a useful thing, obviously (despite having never used it), to how he always made sure to take off his dirty shoes outside the door rather than in the entryway ( “ what’s the point in taking them off inside? It defeats the purpose of not getting the floor dirty.”)

He understood why Jungkook wanted to listen to Chansung so badly, why he always strived for greatness - because that was the only role model he’d ever had and he wanted his approval.

Taehyung had been the same way, always doing whatever his own father had asked (or demanded) he do, always waiting for some praise or any sort of attention that implied that his father noticed his effort, but it never came.

And it never would come.

And that’s what Jungkook had recently realized.

Taehyung remembered how badly that had hurt, that realization, but it was also what pushed him to move on from it; it forced him to pack up all of his things and buy the soonest train ticket out of town.

It was what led him home, to the alphas, to the pack.

The pack, which he’d quickly realized wasn’t a mere three alphas, but a whole family of people, including a rambling, pregnant omega and a boy that ran around with puppy eyes and claimed Taehyung as his own.

Namjoon was furious when he saw Jungkook’s face to say the least, and Taehyung had nearly been jealous at that sort of reaction, because he wished for that so badly in the past. Maybe he would have been jealous then, but he had no reason to now.

Not when the first thing everyone did when he and Jungkook arrived at Namjoon’s was crowd them both with worried scents.

It felt nice to be easily accepted by strangers, people who didn’t care who he was, just the fact that he was Jungkook, Jimin, and Yoongi’s mate made it reason enough to touch him and greet him with all the tight hugs one person could survive.

“- I literally take care of all of our accounts, I have your trust fund information, I have proof that fucker is extorting the government and -“

Taehyung zoned out, much more interested in watching Jungkook rather than listening in on Namjoon’s angry rambles, but the alpha looked okay.

He looked much more at ease when Hoseok - the sweet eyed alpha of Namjoon’s pack he’d met this morning - had told Minjun that Jungkook was hurt because he beat up a bad guy when the boy questioned his bruises.

“He's going to be fine.” Taehyung jerked away from the kitchen island, pulling away with a mini orange juice bottle still in his hands to meet eyes with a dimpled, smiling beta who pointed towards the dining room, “Minjun’s whining that you’re taking too long.”

“That kid has no patience,” Taehyung chided, a small flush on his face as he quickly followed after Hoseok.

Hoseok was nice, he was calm and sweet, but he smelled like apples and Taehyung really liked that.

“You don’t have to worry about him,” Hoseok stated, obviously not taking Taehyung's bait to change topics, “Namjoon will make sure everyone is okay. He always does.”

“He’s my mate,” Taehyung murmured, sounding a bit defensive even to his own ears, “Of course I worry over him.”

“I know,” The beta mumbled, “It’s in us to worry, but Namjoon is basically… the alpha among us,” Hoseok laughed to himself, making Taehyung smile a tad, “Seriously, Namjoon will take care of him. He has since Jungkook was ten.”

Taehyung hadn't known that and was slightly upset to learn it from Hoseok, but he’d been hearing mumbles between the alphas about Jungkook's fathers death, he’d just been too scared to question too much.

“Sion,” Hoseok must have read the confusion to his face, “Jungkook's father, an omega. Died eight years ago, of cancer. He was amazing, sweet, kind. Didn’t deserve how Mia had left him when he was pregnant, but Jungkook never knew her, so he wasn’t ever interested in knowing about her.”

Taehyung could understand that - why pin after someone who couldn’t care less about you.

“You can trust Namjoon,” Hoseok concluded, touching Taehyung's arm, then moving to Junmyeon, his mate, and helping cut up vegetables.

Taehyung did trust Namjoon, that wasn’t the issue, the issue was that he hated to see Jungkook distressed at all.

“Little one…”

However, letting Namjoon take care of him was probably the only thing he could do right now.

“Jimin,” Taehyung smiled, feeling arms wrap around his stomach and a warm chest press to his spine, “Your brother thinks I’m his personal slave.”

The alpha laughed against his hair, moving to press a kiss to the back of Taehyung's neck before letting him go with fingers dancing along his arm, “He seems to think that-“

“Pretty is mine!” Minjun came running over in a flurry of little feet and Spider-Man merchandise.

Taehyung still heard Jimin laugh as he bent down to pick up his brother, playfully groaning at his weight although Minjun was a lanky child.

“Sorry I took so long, Junnie.” Taehyung mumbled, handing him his juice and pressing a kiss onto his cheek, “I’m very busy, don’t you know?”

“Nope!” Minjun huffed, struggling to open his juice before whining, “I’m hungry, gib foods!”

Taehyung took Jimin beginning to scold him for being rude as his que to leave, not without pressing a hand to the alpha’s spine as he passed, and slinking into the living room quietly.

They weren’t kidding when they said Seokjin could talk, the omega was a mountain of stories and had Yoongi wrangled in from the second they’d walked in.

The alpha was just much too sweet to complain.

Taehyung felt a bit bad he hadn’t even noticed Seokjin had a bump the first time he’d seen him, but to be fair he’d had a million other things to worry over.

The omega quietly walked around the couch until he could sink into Yoongi’s side, eyes flickering from where Namjoon was still rambling to Jungkook, only quieter and leaning into his side with a hand rubbing his back more so than standing and pacing with his ranting.

Jungkook seemed to appreciate this way much more, because he was actually looking at him and listening rather than sending everyone else big help me eyes like before.

Taehyung looked back at Yoongi, pressing a kiss against his shoulder before squirming under his offered arm, feeling the alpha press a kiss against his hair before Taehyung turned his attention to Seokjin.

“- and the pup kicks all day, but is pretty good during night time. Namjoon is just getting annoyed. All I want to eat is fast food these days.”

Taehyung could understand that concern, but Seokjin was a pregnant omega and anyone knew better than to disagree with him.

“I’m sorry,” Taehyung cut in softly, “About the time you tried to talk to me, I was-“

Seokjin brushed him off in an instant, flopping a hand in the air, “We both know Jungkook can be an idiot, it’s fine, really.”

Now that was an understatement, and it made Taehyung snicker as he tucked his feet behind him on the couch and felt Yoongi laugh against him.

“I wouldn’t want to know what you would say about me if I wasn’t listening, Jin,” Yoongi teased.

Seokjin’s eyes lit up, a small smirk pulling at his lips that made Taehyung begin to giggle, “Oh, I’d definitely tell everyone about that time you ate silly string-“

“Hey! I was eight! And you told me to!”

“- he threw up for days straight!” The omega cackled, “I always tell Namjoon that Yoongi won’t be babysitting, because of that.”

The alpha immediately began to start up with strangled complaints, ones Taehyung cackled at.

He couldn’t help but to look forward to seeing Seokjin more if it meant hearing all the boys' most embarrassing stories.

Plus, Jungkook looked really happy when they locked eyes next.

Taehyung knew he’d be okay, because they were together.

Everything was fine as long as they all stayed together.

”Okay, puppy-eyes…” Taehyung jerked to look away from Jungkook when Yoongi gently pushed him to stand up and he was faced with Namjoon, the beta smirking as he looked him head to toe, “Now, since we’re brother-in-laws, you’ve got to come with me to the baby appointments, it’s a lot of stress and I need someone to help Jin.”

Taehyung flustered, “Me?”

Namjoon didn’t even seem to register his question, just taking his hand to tug him towards the stairs, “I have embarrassing pictures of the boys I’ll give you as blackmail material-“

“Yah! Hey! I swear to God, Namjoon!”

Chapter Text

One Month Later

Taking three alphas shopping at two in the morning was probably a bad idea. It was chaos.

Every two minutes Jungkook was trying to add something they didn’t need into the cart with an endless commentary explaining exactly why they needed it.

(“We do need it! It says limited edition, that means it’s going to never come back and we won’t ever be able to try it!” He said, holding a box of Frosted Flakes, the only difference being the Limited Edition stamp on the corner.)

Jimin was basically half asleep, trailing behind them until Taehyung got fed up with him nearly being left behind and forced him to leech onto him all night while Yoongi took all the unnecessary items that Jungkook put into the cart out and back onto shelves when the alpha turned away.

Taehyung was pretty sure all of the employees had sent him sympathetic looks by now, but he didn’t mind, it had been his idea to go shopping for the house so he couldn’t complain about a few hiccups.

Having Jimin nuzzling into his side every few minutes was hardly something new, and Jungkook and Yoongi arguing happened about three times a day, so he didn’t mind that either.

Taehyung was much too happy to be bothered by minuscule things.

Today, they’d moved all of Jungkook's and Jimin’s things into Yoongi's house, which was easier said than done considering they - namely Jungkook - had a lot of things, and a certain five year old had cried for a good hour over seeing Jimin’s room empty even though they assured Minjun he’d be seeing his brother everyday.

It was a nice change to know they’d all be together and not alone, with Namjoon and the others not too far, and two cars with them all the time so they could go visit everyone whenever they wanted.

Plus, he’d already been promised an ear-filled visit from Seokjin so they could discuss baby decorations and what not.

Honestly, Taehyung was mostly looking forward to having someone to ramble to about the alphas and all the headaches they gave him sometimes.

“What are you looking at?”

Taehyung immediately felt embarrassed, taking a step back from the shelf and immediately bumping right into Jungkook who he thought was going to babysit Jimin so he could have a moment without the alpha sleeping on him, but apparently not.

“Tae?” Jungkook asked again, coming closer.

“I’ll have you know,” Taehyung mumbled, scratching beneath his sweatshirt nervously, “My name is legally baby. Taehyung was so last year.”

The alpha snickered, arm snaking around his waist as he leaned over to read the boxes and Taehyung immediately pressed his lips in a line.

He felt the alpha’s arm loosen around him when he realized and Jungkook almost immediately went into a stumbling fit in a hurry to go get the others down the aisle.

“Stupid,” Taehyung mumbled, grabbing a box off the shelf and hurrying to the cart to toss it in, “It’s normal you little asshole - well, big asshole, completely normal and-“

“Yah! Don’t get that! You don’t need it!”

The omega whined in an instant, stomping a foot because it seemed even Jimin was wide awake suddenly. “If I don’t need it, then you don’t need to have sex!” Taehyung yapped, yanking the birth control from Yoongi and throwing it back in the cart.

Immediately they all started with an earful, but all Taehyung registered was a fit of excuses and murmurs about how it will make his scent smell weird.

“Sleep in the car if you don’t like it,” Taehyung stated finally, pushing the cart further down and ignoring them, he wasn’t surprised that his comment did make them go quiet though.

He was pretty sure he heard Jungkook complain something among the lines of “Those shorts are short on purpose, gets away with everything in those…” but he would be ignoring the alpha and his stupid self if he continued on these antics.

Taehyung didn't hear a peep out of them until he stopped the cart again at the makeup, and immediately heard the three grumbling to each other once again.

Only then did he turn around to send them all a bored expression, “Go get me some chloroform.”

Yoongi scrunched up his face, pushing between the taller two to go grab the cart, as if he was going to, before asking, “You need chloroform at 2AM?”

“Yeah.” Taehyung huffed and turned back to the makeup, “These three idiots keep following me, I’m hoping they see it and chloroform themselves for me.”

The alpha laughed, “I think you underestimate their intelligence.”

“I literally heard Jungkook claim cats had thumbs earlier, I think I estimate your guys’ intelligence as exactly where it is.” Taehyung argued, releasing a soft snort in spite of trying to keep a straight face.

The omega then laughed harder when Jimin shoved Jungkook aside and quickly whined a, “Don’t lump me in with him!”

“I’m starting to think being anti-Jungkook is a thing,” Jungkook muttered, pouting his lips as he leaned onto the cart, “This is discrimination.”

Taehyung rolled his eyes and reached over to poke his dimple before spinning around to grab an eyeliner he’d been wanting and throwing it in.

“On a serious note!” Yoongi cut in, grabbing the makeup out, “You don’t need this. You’re already beautiful.”

Sighing, the omega took it back with a complaint of, “Stop flirting.”

To which Yoongi immediately pressed a kiss onto his hair and grabbed the cart to move on mumbling a swift, “I don’t plan to stop, but thanks for the suggestion.”

Taehyung was sick of them and their stupidly handsome faces and sickly sweet comments. Really, how he hadn’t burst into a tomato at this rate was unbelievable.

“Tae…” Jimin muttered, latching onto his fingers and tiredly slumping against him, “About the birth control…”

The omega promptly stopped walking, tugging Jimin’s zip up sleeve with a mutter of, “Can I have it?” which the alpha immediately undid to give to him, going as far as to zip it all the way to his chin for Taehyung.

Of course this left Taehyung trapped and forced to look Jimin in the eyes seeing as the alpha now has him cornered at a shelf.

“… did you get it because you thought about the offer?” Jimin asked softly, his tone not conveying any hope, but his scent gave it away. “You know, about staying with us and all.”

Taehyung hummed, locking his arms around Jimin’s neck and pressing a quick kiss against his lips before placing a second onto his cheek and taking his hand to follow the other two. “I don’t know, my love. I think you guys would fight a lot-“

“We wouldn’t.” Jimin said quickly, “We talked about it already, before we mentioned it to you. We’d make a schedule, which room you’d sleep in, and have pack time all together. It would be just like at school. You could have your own space too, we wouldn’t bother you-“

“Jimin,” Taehyung sighed fondly, “I’m never bothered by you guys, you know that. It’s just… the sex part that worries me. You know the scent of mating, it can lead to some arguing, hormones and all… like that time with Yoongi.”

“I mean,” Jimin mumbled, “To be fair, we weren’t angry because of that, we were angry because anyone that walked past could have smelled your scent…”

Taehyung hummed a thoughtful noise, knowing that was more likely seeing as after he and Yoongi had sex in the storage room, Jimin and Jungkook had immediately yelled at them.

He’d thought it was out of jealousy, but maybe it was more about possessiveness more than anything.

“I’ll think about it,” Taehyung promised, shifting to wrap his arms around Jimin’s waist and smile up at him, “Maybe we can try for a few days… test it out.”

The alpha smiled happily, leaning down to nuzzle in his hair before they were thrust back into the world of Jungkook being scolded for putting random stuff in the cart by Yoongi.

Even if it was a world of chaos, it was Taehyung's chaos and he still loved their little world the same.

(“Wait? So Tae is coming to stay for a while? I’ll be on my best behavior, promise!” Jungkook yelled, jerking to sit up from his place on the couch.

Yoongi rolled his eyes, “Okay, as the most controlled one, I think I should get to sleep with him first day-“

“Controlled?” Jimin argued, “Dude, you literally attacked him in the shower the other day, he had hickies all over.”

“He did it! He teased me all morning! He’s a tease!”

The alphas went quiet for a moment before Jungkook hesitantly murmured, “I mean, we could… share.”

“And,” Jungkook added quietly, clearing his throat, “Even when it comes to, you know, taking care of him. Sharing is okay, too. For me at least.”

“Taehyung would like that,” Jimin murmured, looking a bit sheepish, “He told me before, he’s thought about it. You know, all of us. So, he’d like it.”

Yoongi raised a brow, shifting to lean on his knees before adding, reaching for his phone, “I mean, it would be nice. Tae is, you know, he’s gorgeous, it’s hard to not share him. I mean look at some of these pictures he’s sent me-“

“We’re sharing pictures now?” Jungkook said excitedly, reaching for his phone, “I have some good ones. Wait, wait, I have this one that’s just - for fuck’s sake I couldn’t stop thinking about it all day…”)