Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dear xxleevi, I hope that you'll enjoy this little story as much as I loved putting it together. <3 

TWINSTAR (n):  

Someone with whom you share a deep meaningful connection with that defies normative relationship archetypes. A closeness that is not described effectively by any specific label.

Jimin sniffles as he sticks the key into the doorknob. He turns the lock, and the moment he opens the door, his nose crinkles at the unpleasant smell of distress. His nose has always been very sensitive; able to pick up even the faintest of scents even by just passing by people on the streets or on the subway. It almost feels like eavesdropping as he can smell the exact emotion someone was feeling. Okay, maybe it leans more on the creepy side, but to Jimin’s defense, he likes to blame it all on his biology. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an alpha, beta, or omega, your sense of smell is always going to be turned up a few dials higher (or in Jimin’s case, full volume all day everyday)  than you would like.

“Tae?” he calls as he slips out of his shoes.

“AAARGH!” the strangled voice rings from the living room, and Jimin starts running towards it.

“Tae! What happened?” he finds Taehyung’s phone face down on the floor, and the boy hovering above it with a blanket (The lavender and yellow dotted one he said he’s had since he was in diapers) clutched tightly in one hand.

The younger looks at Jimin, and his tense body seems to instantly relax. He bends down and relinquishes his phone only to toss it over onto the couch where it bounces a few times.

“It’s nothing, Chim. I’ve just been on the phone with Jin-hyung.”

Of course. The two brothers have been arguing back and forth on end for the past five days and Taehyung’s grown more stressed every time. Jimin can smell and (for some odd reason) feel it whenever Taehyung’s stress levels shoot up. And normally, Jimin would always take Taehyung’s side (because he’s his best friend which makes Jimin pretty much biased) but this is a special case, and as much as it pains him, he has to agree with Taehyung’s brother.

“I think you should listen to your brother, Tae.” he bites his lips, getting ready for Taehyung’s protests, and sure enough--

“Not you too, Jiminnie!” the omega all but stomps his feet on the carpet. “I will not get myself some random alpha or some random omega just to help me through my heat. There are pills ready at hand, and I will use those to get me through it!”

Taehyung’s strong-headed. Sometimes a little too strong-headed. Jimin remembers all too well how he got teased and bullied mercilessly for it during high school after he had presented as an omega. People always thought that he’d present as a beta. His physique and beauty were definitely those of an omega: lean, smooth honey skin, long silky (and currently blonde) hair, and the most beautiful face Jimin had ever laid eyes on, it would put Narcissus himself to shame. But Taehyung also had fire. He wouldn’t take shit from anyone, and would never shy away from spitting back an argument, even if his opponent was an alpha. That being said, he wasn’t too hard tempered to be an alpha either, so people always thought he was a middle man - a beta.

Taehyung’s had heats before, and with each one of them, he always had Jungkook’s help to weather through them. However this time around, as much as the younger would want to, Jungkook can’t help him. Jungkook just finished his own heat, which in and of itself shouldn’t be a problem. He could help Taehyung easy-peasy, but the thing is, he had just been mated by Taehyung’s brother, Seokjin, who had Jungkook claimed since last year.

Alphas get overly protective and territorial after they’ve just been freshly mated, and omegas become overly clingy and needy with their alphas as well. It usually lasts about one to two weeks, or at least until the mating bond has settled and both parties have kind of calmed down.

It’s been a week since Seokjin and Jungkook have mated, but they're both still very wound up in each other, and Taehyung understands that. But what drives him over the edge, what makes him whine to Jimin about every single day is that Seokjin wouldn’t allow Taehyung to go through his impending heat without another omega or an alpha helping him.

The argument escalated even further when Taehyung brought up the subject of pills. Specifically hormone suppressants. Seokjin rarely gets angry, and he rarely ever uses his alpha voice just to make others (especially omegas) listen to him, but when Taehyung told him about the pills, Seokjin practically started fuming at the ears.

“But Tae, he’s right. There are serious side effects; more serious than just mood swings.” Jimin tries, growing just as desperate as Taehyung’s incessant whining on the topic. He wishes he didn’t know so much about how those damn pills can affect and harm an omega. Being a biology student and Taehyung’s best friend, he can’t just sit back and let him harm himself.

“I don’t wanna hear it!” Taehyung covers his hands over his ears, screaming la la la’ s to mask Jimin’s voice, but the alpha is having none of it.

“Omegas who take hormone suppressants not only grow dependent on them, but hey can cause you to grow depressive and downright lose your senses - others even go mental! When your brother - and now me too, because you’re too stubborn - reprimand you it’s for your own good and it’s because we care, Tae.”

“LA LA LA LA!”

“Kim Taehyung,” Jimin grabs Taehyung’s wrist, swivels him around. “If you completely lose your ability to feel anything, or worse fall into hysteria, how will you be able to enjoy being with your soulmate, then?” Jimin regrets the words as soon they leave his mouth. He always knew not to pull out the soulmate card on Taehyung to make him listen, but this was for his own good, and Jimin figures he can deal with Taehyung wanting to punch him for it if it means he can save him from himself.

As expected, Taehyung’s face blanches as white as paper. His eyes go through a myriad of emotions, from surprise, to sadness, to anger (which is the emotion Jimin likes to see in them the least), and he braces himself for the impending storm.

“Out.” Taehyung says, his deep baritone voice turned down at least ten dials lower, his eyes fixed into a glare.

Jimin cautiously takes one step forward, the smell of anger in the air growing thicker. “Tae, we just care about you - I care about you--”

“I said out!” Taehyung growls, teeth bared. His usually sweet strawberry scent is spiked as it fills the room. It’s bitter, like when you douse a whole bottle of tequila into a fruit punch at a raunchy high school prom party. An angry Taehyung (especially in pre-heat) is something you just never want to mess with, because not even Jimin, his own best friend is safe from his wrath. “I don’t want to talk about it and I don’t want to talk to you now either! Get out!” he spits it out like poison through gritted teeth.

“Why are you so freaking hard headed?” Jimin shouts back, his annoyance completely shifted into anger now, too. He stomps after Taehyung who decided to retreat back into his room.

“Because this matters to me!”

“And you matter to us!”

“Bullshit! If I mattered to any of you, then you would respect my decision and let me do this the way I want!” Taehyung furiously pulls the blankets he has strewn out and hung up throughout his entire room.

“Not if it means that you’ll hurt yourself in the process!”

“Fuck off, Jimin!”

Jimin knows Taehyung doesn’t mean it. The way Taehyung winces as he said it, and how the word ‘sorry’ is already on the tip of his tongue is tell tale enough of his pre-heat heightened mood shifts. But Jimin being an alpha, though he never used his sub gender as an excuse to use his voice nor his strength to subdue others, can’t help how the anger still simmers just beneath his skin mixed with a sprinkle of hurt.

“Fine!” the alpha in him snaps through clenched teeth. He can’t help it. Just this one time, Jimin really can’t help it.

“Fine!” Taehyung echoes and the last thing Jimin hears before his head goes into a blur is the front door slamming shut behind him.

~*~

“So,” Hoseok sighs, sliding Jimin a chilled can of beer. “He snapped at you too, huh?”

Jimin’s first instinct after he left the apartment enraged and upset was to ring Hoseok. All he needed to say was that he needed a beer buddy for the night, and Hoseok instantly knew that something exploded in the Jimin-Taehyung-Wonderland.

Next to Seokjin, Hoseok was the second closest alpha friend Jimin had. They have been classmates, dance buddies, and friends since high school. They’ve been through a lot, and Hoseok has definitely been there for Jimin more than once whenever he had to complain to him about a stupid fight he and his best friend had. Nevertheless, Hoseok has been graced with the rare gift of long-suffering, and is always ready to lend him an ear when he needs one.

“Eeeyup.” Jimin winces at the bitter taste of the yellow liquid. He’s not really a drinker, but in the rare occasions that he does drink (a.k.a. When he and Taehyung have a fight) he does indulge himself in a can or two.

“He still refuses to find help?”

Jimin nods after another swig of his beer.

“What made him drop the F bomb on you?”

“Simple,” the younger alpha runs his thumb along the rim of the can. “I agreed with his brother. I told him to consider Jin-hyung’s advice. That was phase one of Taehyung’s wrath.”

Hoseok nods, eyes attentive and voice careful as he asks, “And what was phase two?”

Jimin swallows thickly. “I used the soulmate card against him.”

“Shit! No, you didn’t-- Did you really--?” Hoseok pushes his drink away as if it had personally offended him.

No one, but no one pulls out the soulmate card against Taehyung to prove their point or convince him to do anything. Jimin knows that all too well, but in his defense, he’s never had to use it, never even felt the need to. Until today.

When the world was still young, naive, and less complicated than it is now, it’s been said that everyone had a second half. A soulmate. Matching marks that appear on their bodies would determine who their soulmate was. It became a bond, more intense than mating itself, that linked two people together. Of course those are just stories now, passed on from generation to generation. Many pass it off as just a fairy tale; something parents would tell their little kids as a bedtime story, and many more people have stopped believing in it.

The thing about Taehyung is that he’s a hopeless romantic. Always has been, and always will be. Taehyung always gushed about how he’d one day meet his soulmate since they were building sand castles with snot still trailing down their nostrils.

The topic of sex has always been a very sensitive one for both of them. Unless you were Taehyung’s soulmate, you don’t get to touch him, and unless Jimin deeply connected with someone on an emotional level, he won’t even bother getting turned on (which no one has managed so far. Other than Taehyung, that is).

When Taehyung went into his first heat since he presented, they were freshmen in college, and Jungkook momentarily moved into their shared apartment to help Taehyung out through his heat, while Jimin moved out and stayed over at Hoseok’s to avoid getting thrown into his own rut by being exposed to Taehyung’s hormones. When Jimin had his ruts, Taehyung would move out for a week and stay over at Jungkook’s place while Hoseok came over and helped Jimin through his rut. It’s always been that way. It always worked, and neither of them had to find a temporary sex partner just to get through their periodical onslaught of hormones.

However, this time is different. Aside from the fact that all their friends were mated now, they’re all a little busier as well, and Taehyung’s approaching heat is just really bad timing with Jungkook freshly mated off, and Yoongi (Hoseok’s mate) is out of town to visit his family, which leaves Taehyung with no one else to help him.

“I did, and now he’s mad. Like, legit get-out-of-my-apartment mad, which is ridiculous because we live in the same damn apartment.” Jimin sighs, downing the rest of the beer so he can be done and over with its bitter taste. He crushes the empty can and throws it towards the trash bin on the other side of the room, grinning proudly when he doesn’t miss. He sighs and slouches back down the sofa. “I know I shouldn’t have used his lifelong dream to get him to listen, but it’s just… He’s so stubborn! I understand where he’s coming from. I wouldn’t go out and look for a fuckbuddy just to satiate me during my rut either, but Taehyung’s kinda out of options right now. I hate the idea just as much as he does, but I just don’t want him to put himself into danger like that.”

Hoseok hums, retires his unfinished beer onto the coffee table, humming again as he leans back. Something about the series of ‘hmms’ makes Jimin feel uneasy.

“Are you sure he’s completely out of options?” Hoseok asks and Jimin quirks his eyebrow.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, granted Jungkook cannot go anywhere right now by default. That’s understandable. And I’m really sorry Yoongs isn’t here to help him out either. He’s out of omegas, but he isn’t technically out of alphas.”

Another confused look from Jimin, but it isn’t too long before the wheels in his head start clicking into motion and going into overdrive.

“Wait, no. No, no, no, no!” Jimin profusely shakes his head, waving his hands in defiance.

“Oh, come on, Jimin. You’d be the perfect alpha for him.” Hoseok actually smiles, all bright and heart-shaped, brows wiggling suggestively.

“Are you forgetting the part where Taehyung’s dead set on doing it with no one other than his soulmate?”

“And are you forgetting the part where you have been in love with your best friend since high school? Would you really rather have him get fucked by some random lust blown alpha out there and then throw him away after he’s done using him?”

“Fuck no!” Just the mere thought of another alpha fucking Taehyung into the mattress senseless and then leave him high and dry after makes Jimin see red, and balling up his fists.

Of course Hoseok had a valid point. And of-fucking-course Jimin has not forgotten, and will never forget his undying love for his own best friend. How can he, when his heart beats Taehyung’s name into his veins every second of the day; when he has become the very air Jimin breathes in. Not a day passes by where he doesn’t wish things were as easy as eating pie.

If you’re with someone you really care about 28/5, there is about a ninety percent chance that at least one of you will develop feelings for the other that crosses the line of being platonic. In this case, it was Jimin. But Taehyung is waiting for his happy ever after, while Jimin already has his in front of him all the time. So near and yet so far, as the damn saying goes.

“It’s not that easy, hyung.” Jimin’s face drops like a deflated balloon.

“Why not? You love him--”

“And he’s in love with a soulmate he doesn’t have. I cannot compete with a fantasy he’s not ready to give up. Ever.”

“So, you’re just going to sit back and let the love of your life wait for something that has no guarantee of happening?”

Jimin offers him the same sad smile he always gives when the subject of his affection for Taehyung is brought up, paired with the same answer he gives every single time as well. “I love him. I don’t wanna stand in the way of his happiness.”

“What if you’re his happiness? Jimin, look. I respect Taehyung’s ideals and desires, but he kind of sees the world through rose tinted glasses. Things aren’t like they were hundreds of years ago. Having said that, I really care about you guys, and you-” Hoseok nudges Jimin in the shoulder with his nose. His sandalwood scent reaching Jimin’s senses. Comforting and familiar. “-Are like the little brother I never had. I can’t just watch you give up the one person that truly makes you feel alive without giving it at least a chance."

~*~

Despite Hoseok offering Jimin his place to crash for the night, Jimin still decided it was best to go home and check on Taehyung. Besides, he has the inability to stay mad at Taehyung for too long.

It’s already past midnight, and Jimin guesses that Taehyung must already be asleep, so he opens the door to the apartment as carefully and slowly as he can, because the damn thing creaks like fuck and neither of them is diligent enough to oil its hinges.

The atmosphere is much calmer as opposed to the pungent smell of irritation and anger before he had left it. The apartment is dark for the most part, save for the little Super Mario ghost lamp on the living room floor, and Jimin can smell that something’s slightly amiss.

His socked feet softly pad over the wooden floor, turning into the living room, and sure enough he finds Taehyung perched up on their little makeshift sofa bed out on the balcony. The crescendo of the colorful city lights matched with the golden glow of the fairy lights hung across the railings (which Taehyung insisted was a necessity to their little living space) make him look almost ethereal as they dance along the omega’s skin. Jimin’s breath hitches at the sight, because not even after years and years of friendship will Jimin ever get over how exceptionally breathtaking Taehyung’s beauty is.

“Hey,” Jimin says softly as he slips out into the balcony. The omega doesn’t look at him. Jimin sinks down on the cream colored sofa bed, leaving a few inches between them. Taehyung turns his head around, and the alpha’s chest constricts at the sight of Taehyung’s downcast eyes. They’re puffy and his face is all red and blotchy, unmistakeable evidence of Taehyung crying. He feels a pang of guilt. Maybe he shouldn’t have stormed out like he did.

“You should be in bed, sleepyhead.” Jimin cups the younger’s face, smoothing his thumb over his tear-stained skin.

Despite its dampness, there is nowhere else Jimin wants to drown in than in the ocean that is Taehyung’s eyes.

Taehyung inches closer, and out of instinct Jimin opens his arms as an invitation to crawl into them. And so Taehyung does. He swings his legs over Jimin’s lap so that he’s half sitting on it, nestling his face into the crook of Jimin’s neck. The alpha lets out a faint shudder as Taehyung noses at his scent gland, deeply inhaling the clean scent of green tea.

(“I think your scent is my favorite scent in the whole world.” Taehyung said as he cuddled next to Jimin on the couch while they watched Iron Man for the hundredth time.

“Why?” Jimin asked curiously.

“I don’t know. It just smells...It smells like home to me.”

Jimin scrunched up his nose. “Home?”

“Yeah, home.”

Jimin wanted nothing more than to be his home, too.)

“I’m so sorry, Jiminnie.” the younger mumbles into his neck.

“Sorry for what?” Jimin asks, nosing into Taehyung’s golden locks.

“For yelling at you.”

Jimin snorts. “Not the first time you told me to fuck off, Tae.”

“You know I don’t mean it, right?”

Of course he knows. “I know.”

Taehyung shifts, wrapping his arms around Jimin’s neck as he starts tracing his nose against the flush skin, breathing, inhaling him.

They’d cuddle in their sleep, sit on each other’s laps, openly hug each other despite the collective scowls of the public eye, because ‘unmated alphas and omegas shouldn’t be that close.’ But the two of them never cared what people had to say anyway. They were inseparable and that was that. That mindset solidified itself as a big fuck you to anyone who tried dictating their friendship ethics otherwise when they moved into their shared apartment in Seoul.

However, scenting was a different story. Jimin’s never said it to anyone before, not even breathed a word to Taehyung, but their scenting moments are his favorite ones. Out of all the things they do as far as skinship is concerned, scenting was by far the most intimate they got to each other, and Jimin relishes every single second he gets to be this close with Taehyung. Normally, people do it for the need of familiarity. Others to assert dominance, or as a friendly gesture, but for Jimin, he doesn’t really need a reason. Neither of them do. It always came as natural as breathing, sleeping, eating.

Taehyung’s scent always calmed him; calmed the alpha in him. It grounds him like nothing else in the world could.

The omega locks his fingers behind Jimin, and his whole body explodes in a series of goosebumps as Taehyung’s lips graze his sensitive flesh, hot breath tickling him. Jimin tightens his grip on Taehyung’s waist, pulling the younger’s whole body against him, as he leans down into that sweet spot on Taehyung’s neck that oozed with the sweet and earthy smell of strawberries. He trails his nose up to the edge of Taehyung’s jaw, and back down to his clavicles.

The thing was this: Taehyung’s smell (actually, Taehyung’s everything ) is like a drug, and Jimin is addicted. He keeps wanting to come back for more; wants to do more than just fill his lungs with the candied strawberry scent. He wants to caress his skin with kisses, tell him that he loves him - that he’s always loved him over and over again.

Jimin’s hands travel from Taehyung’s back, to the nape of his neck, until his fingers finally brush into the omega’s soft threads of golden hair. His chest constricts painfully as he takes in more of Taehyung’s smell but it’s never enough.

Suddenly the atmosphere shifts, the air around them growing thicker, and somehow sorrow snakes its way into his nerves. It doesn’t take long for Jimin to realize that the sadness he feels isn’t his own.

“Jiminnie,” Taehyung whispers. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it-- I know you guys care about me. It’s just-- I just-- I don’t want you to be mad at me and--” he starts sobbing, tears rolling down Jimin’s neck.

“Sshhh. Hey, Taehyungie look at me.” Jimin consoles, taking the younger’s face into both of his hands, wiping at the tears. He feels Taehyung’s pain, the hurt, the frustration. They roar inside of him like a cyclone, hurting him in return. But he can’t let his own feelings get the better of him right now. Taehyung needs him more; he needs to be strong for him.

Jimin offers him a small smile. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Don’t think too much about it, yeah? I’m not mad at you. I could never be.” he leans down, letting their foreheads and the tips of their noses touch. “We’ll figure something out. Just… just promise me you won’t take the pills.” Jimin swallows the lump in his throat as he says it. He knows what that entails. No pills means Taehyung either gets himself an omega or an alpha, and Jimin hates the idea of some random, high strung alpha touching him, tearing him apart like a ragdoll in the midst of Taehyung’s heat-driven delirium. But it’s too soon to assume. They could still find an omega to help Taehyung, or maybe Yoongi would come back a little earlier from his vacation. Maybe. Whatever the case, Jimin pushes all other thoughts aside for now. Taehyung’s safety comes first.

They lie on Taehyung’s bed with the blanket up to their chests. Taehyung is curled into Jimin’s side, head resting on the alpha’s arm that’s protectively wrapped around him, rubbing circles into the omega’s shoulder with his thumb.

Jimin carried an extremely tired Taehyung (mostly from crying) back inside, and when he laid him on his bed, Taehyung asked him to stay with him for the night, and naturally Jimin slid under the sheets next to him without protest, without question.

He closes his eyes, willing himself to fall asleep when Taehyung stirs.

“Chim? You still up?”

“Mhm.”

“I’ve been thinking a lot after you left earlier, and…” he pauses.

“And?”

“There is only one way - one condition - I won’t take the pills during my heat.”

Jimin’s heart starts picking up its pace, and he hopes Taehyung doesn’t move his hand anywhere near his chest. “And what’s that?” he tries to sound casual.

“Well… I don’t know many other omegas that I really trust other than Kookie and Yoongi-hyung, and I mean fuck all those thirsty alphas roaming around our school who use their dicks for  brains, but…”

“But?”

Another pregnant pause and Jimin’s skin itches with every passing second.

“There is only one alpha I would trust to help me through this heat.”

Alpha. Taehyung said alpha. He crossed out the possibility to even try and look for an omega and just went straight with the latter. At the same time, Jimin knits his eyebrows in confusion. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Taehyung’s close friends or mere acquaintances, Jimin knows them all just as Taehyung knows his. He mentally goes through his registry of names and comes up with nothing. Has he been secretly seeing someone?

Jimin isn’t sure he wants to know the answer to that question. It’s getting hard to breathe, and his heart is now racing inside his ribcage, almost trying to tear out of his chest. Suck it up, Jimin! He swallows again dryly. “W-who?” he rasps.

Taehyung takes a deep breath, his anxious smell tickling Jimin’s nose.

“You.”

Jimin’s eyes snap open, but his body freezes. His former movements on Taehyung’s shoulder comes to a still. His blood runs cold and then rushes back through his veins too hot. The words barely register in his mind, and the only feeling he can put a name to at the moment is confusion.

Taehyung shifts, the movement ripping Jimin out of his thoughts and he wills himself to move. He turns slowly so he and the younger come face to face. Taehyung meets his gaze, and for a while they just stare at each other. Jimin searches Taehyung’s eyes for any hint of sarcasm; waits for him to maybe grin followed by a ‘ got you!’ , but given the omega’s current circumstances it doesn’t seem like something he would joke about.

“Why me?” Jimin whispers.

“Simple,” the omega rests his hand on the curve of Jimin’s neck. His lips curve up into the first genuine smile Jimin has seen in days. “You’re my best friend, Jiminnie.” he says matter-of-factly with a shrug as if it didn’t need any further explanation. As if he just found the cure to world hunger, or the long sought after solution for world peace.

“Tae, are you… sure about choosing me?” Jimin doesn’t mean to sound doubtful. The truth is, he feels too hopeful that he wants to make sure that Taehyung isn’t about to commit a mistake he might regret later on.

“I mean,” the omega absently starts playing with Jimin’s hair. “Y-you don’t have to. It’s just that whenever I went over all my other options , each one ended up disgusting me more than the last. You’re literally the only alpha - the only person - other than Kookie and Yoongi-hyung that I would allow to come near me during my heat.” Taehyung pauses briefly, nipping at his lower lip before he continues. “You’ve always taken care of me. You always treat me well, and not like I’m some piece of meat to sink your teeth in.”

“Because you’re not.” Jimin says pointedly.

Being exposed to Taehyung’s exceptional beauty, he sees the hungry and lustful looks other alphas shoot him. He sees it everywhere. In school, on the subway, when they do groceries, when they walk in and out of their apartment complex. Being an alpha himself, Jimin can’t really blame them for doing double takes, sniffing at the trail of scent Taehyung leaves behind as he passes them by. Jimin lives with him, for fuck’s sake, he’d be lying if he said that Taehyung’s mere presence doesn’t drive him up the wall with excitement. Kim Taehyung is as brilliant as the fucking sun and it’s only fair that people appreciate him, but what makes Jimin see red is when alphas (and betas) look at him, seeing him as nothing but a pretty sex toy.

Taehyung’s eyes curve into crescents as he smiles, twirling Jimin’s silver hair around his fingers. “And you never fail to tell me that. Honestly, Jimin, I trust you with my whole life and this is only a small fraction--”

Jimin raises an eyebrow at him.

“Okay, a fairly big fraction of my life. Either way, big, small, it doesn’t matter, because I choose you, Jiminnie.”

“What about-- What about your… soulmate?” Jimin bites his tongue. This is what got him into trouble earlier, but he needs to know.

The younger’s smile slowly fades. “Well, they aren’t here, are they?”

“Tae…”
“It’s okay, Jiminnie. There’s really nothing we can do about that.”

“I just wanna make sure that you’re sure about this. I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to.” Jimin protectively places his hand on Taehyung’s waist, pulling him closer.

“You know I never do anything I don’t want to. Besides, I’m sure my soulmate will understand. As much as I want my first time to be with them, my current circumstances just won’t allow it. We can’t always have what we want in life, so sometimes we just have to wing it. And if I had to share that experience with anyone else that wasn’t my soulmate, then I would want it to be with you.”

The words get stuck in Jimin’s throat along with his heart. He’s stumped, to say the least, at how easy it was for Taehyung to say those things; to make that decision. Does he know what immense effect he has on Jimin?

The room is dark save for the little bit of moonlight coming in from the window, so it’s hard to make out any facial expressions, but Jimin doesn’t miss the faint pink dusting on Taehyung’s cheeks. There is another twist of hopefulness in his chest, and Jimin reminds himself not to grow too attached to this feeling. But it’s so hard not to when Taehyung’s so close to him, face mere inches away, his hand in Jimin’s hair and Jimin’s arm around his waist. There is absolutely nothing about Taehyung’s gaze right now that falls under the department of platonic, and it hurts so much because Jimin knows that this is all just an effect of Taehyung’s pre-heat. He chose an alpha and now his body is responding, preparing to give itself completely to its every bidding once his heat arrives.

In the many daydreams Jimin allowed himself to have of being with Taehyung, the current circumstances they found themselves in was definitely not one of them. Hoseok’s words from earlier float back into his head, and for a brief moment Jimin thinks he might be right. This may be the only chance he gets to try and gain Taehyung’s affection, because quite frankly on any normal day he’d chicken out before he even tried.

He brushes the omega’s hair away from his face, leans down and places a chaste kiss on his forehead, and silently hopes his lips don’t tremble too much.

“I’ll be good to you. I promise.” he breathes.

Maybe it’s the exhaustion and the need for sleep, or the feeling of relief spreading through his body, or just his pure imagination. But as he pulls Taehyung fully to his chest, leaving no more space between them, he feels the younger’s lips curve into a smile against his skin.

~*~

The first order of business the night after was for Taehyung to immediately call Seokjin. He apologized and reassured him that he wasn't going through his heat alone and with pills. He told his brother that he chose Jimin, and the alpha couldn't help but blush and smile widely to himself.

In the following days, Taehyung has officially gone into house arrest as he is nearing the end of his pre-heat. Having been chosen as Taehyung’s alpha (for his heat, at least), Jimin did the same. Nothing much changed between them since that night except for Taehyung just growing needier and clingier with each passing day. Not that Jimin is complaining, of course. On the contrary, he’s very much enjoying it and drinking it in like he’s going to run out of it soon. Which he might in one week’s time, but he tries not to worry about that bit too much yet.

It started with cuddling more than usual. Jimin was on his laptop in the living room taking down notes while he was listening in on one of his online class when Taehyung plopped down on the sofa next to him and nuzzled into Jimin’s neck (which in and of itself was distracting enough), whining 'Jiminnie, it's Taetae time!'. Jimin barely closed his laptop and finished up the last bits of his notes when Taehyung all but shoved his text books away and made his bed on Jimin’s lap, curled into him like a little puppy. He'd have to catch up on those assignments later on, but Jimin couldn't really complain.

Taehyung initiated sweet kisses first, and it took Jimin by surprise considering he was still only in his pre-heat stage, but he leaned into them regardless. Soon, he was reciprocating them, kissing Taehyung along his neck whenever he scented him, planting chaste and not so chaste kisses on his cheek whenever he passed the omega by in the living room. Jimin enjoyed the satisfied sighs Taehyung released, how his body relaxed when Jimin touched him, and the way Taehyung naturally leaned into him.

It all feels like a dream - one that Jimin wouldn’t mind never waking up from.

“Do you think dinosaurs had ruts and heats, too?” Taehyung queries.

“What?” Jimin’s ministrations on Taehyung’s hair stop, and the younger whines.

Taehyung shifts on Jimin’s thigh where his head is currently resting on so he can look up at the alpha’s baffled expression. “I mean, don’t you wonder about that sometimes? Like, how did T-rex’s mate? They have arms that are pretty much the size of matchsticks compared to the rest of their bodies. It makes me sad to think that they were never able to properly hug their mates.”

“Tae…”

“And don’t even get me started on Brachiosaurus’ scenting each other. Can you imagine what a pain it must’ve been scenting those long ass necks?!”

“What the--” Jimin doubles over laughing as his hands abandon Taehyung’s hair in favor of clutching his belly instead.

“I’m serious!” Taehyung pouts indignantly, getting up and slapping Jimin’s arm. “Stop making fun of me!”

“I’m not--” Jimin wheezes. “I’m not making fun of you. It’s just, I don’t wanna imagine something I loved so much as a kid doing the dirty. My inner child is scarred, Tae.”

“You’re mean.” the younger crosses his arms over his chest and starts shuffling away when Jimin shoots forward, arms wrapping around the omega.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” he giggles, nosing along Taehyung’s neck, peppering it with kisses when suddenly he catches a strong, pungent whiff of something else on Taehyung’s skin.

The earthy tones completely melted away, and the sweetness of his strawberry scent amplified a hundred folds. It rises into his nostrils, filling his mind with a light haze, and settles down into his bones. Jimin’s body reacts in warmth, his blood fizzing as the slowburn of a flame starts simmering just beneath his skin. The gears in his head click together in realization of what the sudden shift entails.

“Tae you’re…”

Taehyung whips around and it’s as if an invisible hand smacks Jimin across the face again with the omega’s overpowering scent. His pupils are dilated and his lips slightly parted. Taehyung curls his hands into Jimin’s red and black striped sweater, leaning in closer.

“Taehyungie, are you… is your heat--”

“Not yet.” Taehyung shakes his head.

“But your scent-- It’s so strong.”

“My pre-heat is ending, Jiminnie. So tomorrow…” there is a lilt to his voice, and his omega scent and hormones start to affect Jimin more than they did a few days ago. He swallows hard, his arms partly moving on their own as he loops them around Taehyung’s middle, pulling him into his lap.

Out of biological instinct, he sinks his face down into Taehyung’s scent gland, inhaling the smell of strawberries, and rubbing his nose against his neck.

“Tae, can I?” Jimin rasps, completely intoxicated as Taehyung’s scent envelopes his whole being.

Taehyung juts his head back, and the sight of him baring his neck as an invitation for Jimin is so fucking hot, he embeds it into his memory before he dives back in.

He kisses the sensitive, pulsing patch of flesh, and drags his tongue across its wide expanse, tasting him, and embedding himself into Taehyung. His head buzzes with white noise as his body marks Taehyung before his mind catches up with his actions. It’s not a mating act, but one that is initiated by either an alpha or an omega during a heat or rut. Jimin marking him signifies that for the next week he is Taehyung’s alpha and the younger is his omega. It’s mostly to warn off other alphas. Not that either of them are planning to leave the apartment for a while  anyway, but sure enough Jimin’s scent on him will linger for at least another week even after his heat.

“Jiminnie.” Taehyung sighs, running his fingers through the back of Jimin’s silver hair.

Jimin lets up, reluctantly pulling away from the spot he just marked. He looks up at Taehyung who’s now straddling him. The omega cups Jimin’s face, his thumb lightly pulling at his bottom lip. Jimin feels his heart beating its way up into his throat as the omega wets his own lips with his tongue.

Kissing Taehyung, Jimin reckons, is the epitome of kisses. He’s never technically kissed anyone before, but he’s damn sure that no one else will ever come close to Taehyung’s plush lips, smooth and velvety against his own. The warmth of them feel as if Jimin is kissing a thousand suns, and his body draped over him like the ocean swallowing him whole.

When Jimin licks at Taehyung’s bottom lip, the younger opens his mouth, eagerly inviting Jimin in. Jimin slides his tongue in, exploring the warm cavern just before their tongues meet into a slow dance.

Meanwhile their hands are busy traveling all over each other’s body. Taehyung palms his way inside Jimin’s shirt, light fingers tracing the outline of the alpha’s abs. His touch is so electrifying that Jimin’s body jolts upright, pressing his whole body further into Taehyung’s touch. His own hands rub along the expanse of Taehyung’s back as he kisses him with more desire. When Jimin’s tongue grazes the roof of his mouth, Taehyung moans against his lips and Jimin dissolves into a puddle of pure goo.

He falls back against the pillows on the sofa, tugging Taehyung with him. Jimin wants to savor these few short moments of clarity Taehyung still has before his heat consumes his senses and the hormones take control over his body. He silently wishes upon every star in the galaxy, no matter how faint the chances may be, that Taehyung will not just remember this first moment of pure intimacy between them, but as their chests are pressed together right now also feels that Jimin’s heart completely and unapologetically beats for him alone.

~*~

Jimin carefully slips back under the blankets, cautious not to wake Taehyung.

The strong pheromones emanating from the omega is mainly what woke him up. Just like Taehyung said, his heat would be in full swing starting today, so Jimin decided to get up, and bring all the essentials (bottles of water and a box of protein bars).

He smiles to himself as he glances around the bedroom that Taehyung has transformed into his nest over the past couple of weeks, even before his pre-heat kicked in. There are blankets of different sizes, decorations, and textures hung up over his bed to serve as a canopy for his little blanket fort. Even the rugs on the carpet have been replaced with thick duvet covers and fluffy pillows. Taehyung had transferred the fairy lights from their balcony and hung them across his bed’s headboard. His night stand is decked with unlit scented candles and his favorite little figurines.

All omegas pick a place or a little space in their houses to build their nest in. It’s natural instinct as their bodies are getting ready to be bred, even if they don’t intend to just yet. Jimin stares up at the ceiling, imagining Taehyung curled up on his bed made of blankets with a round belly, expecting pups. The omega has always talked about wanting pups of his own (a whole litter of them!) since they were kids. Jimin smiles at the thought, confident that Taehyung would make a good parent, but his smile fades almost instantly as another chain of thoughts pass through him. Would he ever have the honor of being his pup’s father? Or will he be the typical best-friend-turns-godfather-slash-uncle to his kids?

Taehyung stirs, sleepily mumbling something under his breath, and Jimin pushes the thoughts aside. He turns to face Taehyung. His hormones are slowly rousing him from his sleep. Jimin has never seen Taehyung in heat, so he doesn’t really know what exactly he should be expecting; how far gone Taehyung is going to be. But his own body is reacting, responding to the other’s hormones. He cups Taehyung’s cheek and the omega instantly leans into it, his body inching closer towards Jimin and starts grinding himself on Jimin’s thigh. Jimin clenches his teeth at the sensation. Even as the omega only starts waking up, he’s already hard, seeking for friction.

Taehyung’s eyes flutter open, and his gaze instantly fall on Jimin’s. The alpha swallows hard seeing his blown pupils with lust and want.

“T-tae…” and that’s when it hits him. Slick gushes out of the younger, and though Jimin can’t see it, his nose never betrays him. His gut starts coiling and all he wants to do is kiss and touch Taehyung’s body all over.

“Jiminnie,” the younger smiles at him weakly through hooded eyes. “I-- It… h-hurts, Chim. I can’t-- haa--” he pushes himself towards Jimin, closing the distance between them with a kiss.

Jimin lays frozen for a good five seconds. This kiss is far from the ones they shared last night. This one is lust-driven as Taehyung’s hands are fisted into Jimin’s shirt and his hips keep grinding against him, begging to be satisfied. There is a faint pang in his chest, but he shakes it off. He kisses Taehyung back, light fingers carding through his ashy blonde hair just before he trails his hand down to the nape of his neck, and then his back, slipping underneath his shirt, his skin already damp with sweat. Taehyung is hot, almost feverish from the heat.

The more Taehyung rubs his crotch against Jimin, the more aroused the alpha gets. He gently pushes Taehyung onto his back, and positions himself until he’s hovering over the omega.

“Tae… Tae, look at me.” Jimin tilts his chin up so they can look into each other’s eyes. He can see and feel that Taehyung is slowly slipping away, losing himself in his heat. His eyes fall on the purple dot on Taehyung’s neck where he had marked him last night. The omega was claimed for now, but Jimin still needs confirmation before he goes any further. “Are you sure about this? About me?”

There is a brief flicker of clarity on Taehyung’s face, and the younger nods through his heaving chest. “Yes Jiminnie. I’m sure.” he slings his arms around Jimin’s neck, tugging him down into a kiss as gentle as his heat would allow him. Taehyung breaks away, the blue rim around his pupils glowing. And just before his heat pulls him in completely, he whispers against Jimin’s lips, “Be my alpha.”

In all the quiet, private times Jimin let himself imagine what it would feel like having sex with Taehyung, he’d imagined it slow, taking time to explore each other’s bodies, lips locking into a passionate kiss, and whispering sweet nothings into the omega’s ear as he glides his hips against him. Then, Jimin realizes that what he has been imagining was making love and not just merely satisfying biological needs.

Right now, Jimin is buried to the hilt inside of a whining, keening Taehyung, and everything is hot - too hot. His hands are gripping brutally tight on the omega’s hips as he groans at the warm tightness around his cock. If anyone would have told a week ago that he’d be fucking his best friend today, he would have called them all insane. This is the first time he’s ever helped an omega through a heat. Actually the first time he’s ever had sex. It’s overwhelming, he is sensing, feeling, smelling so many things at once. His mind is buzzing with Taehyung’s strong scent, and his body is exploding in a series of fire crackers,  but his eyes are completely fixed on one thing only: Taehyung.

The omega has always been beautiful to him, but seeing him right now, completely naked, vulnerable, and presented for him, makes his heart soar. Taehyung’s honeyed skin is glowing like he was dipped in the golden rays of the sun. His hair is messily sticking out in every direction, yet it still looks absolutely perfect. The omega’s eyes are closed, his mouth parted, and his chest frantically rising and falling as Jimin rocks in and out of him.

“Ji-Jimin... so good. You feel s-so good--” Taehyung moans. It’s the first thing Taehyung has said since he started fucking him.

The alpha has been extra careful handling Taehyung. There are a thousand and one words that he wants to say, all ready on the tip of his tongue, but he’s afraid that he might say too much, too little, or something completely wrong. So he just lets Taehyung’s body language guide his touches.

“Jimin?” he hears Taehyung say. He gazes down at the younger who watches him now through hooded eyes and an unreadable expression.

“Yes, Tae?” He responds.

“Am I… Do I not feel g-good enough?”

“What?” Jimin’s brows furrow. “Why would you say that, Tae?”

“Because, I can feel it… I can tell you’re still holding back. Do you not want--”

“Tae, no.” the last thing Jimin wants right now is for Taehyung to think that he is second guessing the whole thing. He has his dick throbbing deep inside of him for crying out loud, there is no way he doesn’t want this. “I want to. Please don’t think that way. You feel so damn amazing, Tae, believe me. It’s just… I don’t wanna hurt you.” the confession slightly embarrasses him, but it’s true. If he’d let his alpha take full control, he knows he might break him.

“You won’t.” Taehyung reassures. He cants his hips upwards, meeting Jimin’s thrusts, releasing a sob. “Jimin… I trust you, and… fuck I want you so bad. You’re my alpha… you can handle me like one.”

Jimin swallows hard, because he’s not gonna lie, that was fucking hot. The younger nods eagerly, and Jimin chews on his bottom lip, considering. “If-- If I hurt you in any way and you want me to stop, tell me and I’ll stop. Okay, Tae? I won’t do it unless you agree.”

“To be really honest, Jiminnie, I just want you to fuck me senseless and as hard as you want, and then fill me up so much that your cum still drips out of me after my heat. But to ease your mind, yes, I will tell you if it starts hurting too much.” the omega licks his lips before quickly kissing Jimin. “Be as rough as you want to be, I’m yours Chim.”

“Fuck , Tae!” If that wasn’t the brightest and hottest green light ever, then Jimin doesn’t know what is. He abandons his worries, and decides to return the same amount of trust the omega has in him.

Jimin snaps his hips and starts driving himself into Taehyung, it earns him a strangled, pleasured cry from the younger. Strings of “shit” and “oh fuck”’s leave Taehyung’s mouth, his hands flailing around simultaneously clutching at the bedsheets, Jimin’s shoulder, torso, thighs, literally anything to find purchase in. The omega lifts his pelvis, locking both his legs behind Jimin’s back, maybe hoping that it could get the alpha to fuck him even deeper.

In turn, Jimin reaches both his arms around Taehyung’s middle, pulling him closer as he ruts into him brutally. While his mouth is preoccupied with sucking purple spots along Taehyung’s collarbones, he hits something, and the omega screams.

“Aahhh! Shit! Fuck, Jimin yes! Again!”

Jimin doesn’t need to be told twice. He pulls out, then lunges himself right back in, hitting the sensitive bundle of nerves that has the most erotic noises Jimin has ever heard leave Taehyung’s mouth. Everything Taehyung does and every noise he lets go is all so fucking arousing to Jimin, he thinks he might actually go insane.

There is an animalistic need, growing, wanting to take over, wanting to whip Taehyung around and drill himself into the omega, fucking him so hard he’ll lose his voice screaming out Jimin’s name. He wants to bite him, lick him, and mark him all over his beautiful body that even after his heat has long ended, he’d still be painted all over with Jimin’s love bites, letting everyone know that he belonged to him. The greedy, hungry alpha in him wants to take him apart in every way imaginable, and when all is said and done, put him back together in his arms with soft kisses and confessions of undying love.

It’s all too much. The burn at the base of his stomach is so intense, he wants to douse himself in a tub of ice water, but he decides that he’d rather spontaneously combust if it means that he can drown in more of Taehyung instead.

Taehyung scrambles, almost thrashes beneath Jimin. The alpha rips himself out of his thoughts and looks down, marveling at the beads of sweat glistening all over Taehyung’s body, his back curving up and down from his every touch. His eyes travel down to Taehyung’s erect member, and he licks his lips when he sees his dick leaking with pre-cum.

“Ji-miiiiiin~” Taehyung lilts brokenly, and Jimin forces his eyes back onto the omega’s face. His cheeks are colored deliciously red, eyes half lidded, and his lips almost bruised from Taehyung biting down on them. “I’m gonna-- fuck, I-- I’m--”

He doesn’t get to finish the sentence as he comes completely untouched, spurting all over himself and Jimin’s stomach. Shit! Now, Jimin really wants to flip him over and fuck him into another orgasm.

Taehyung whines even after just coming a mere ten seconds ago, pushing himself against Jimin’s hips.

“Jimin, please… Want… want you. Please please come in me.. Fill me up.” Taehyung begs and Jimin gulps down hard. Taehyung wants it - him - so bad, and even though Jimin knows that’s just his body naturally acting upon his hormones, he’ll give himself these short moments of satisfaction that he’s the one satiating said needs, telling himself that maybe it’s really him that Taehyung wants.

Jimin’s insides churn, the air crackling and buzzing around them, thick and sticky, and he can feel it; feel his lower half let go, his orgasm only a few thrusts away. He’ll let himself go. He will. Taehyung gave him permission to, and by the looks of it, the younger wants it just as bad. But before all of that, he wants to come the way he has promised himself to do the moment he agreed to all of this: He wants to come, facing Taehyung, looking into his eyes, and kiss him long and breathless as he empties himself inside of him. He wants to somehow show him that to him this is about so much more than just helping a friend out . And that’s exactly what he does.

Time stands still for a moment as the flames licking his insides consume Jimin. His hips stutter as he keeps himself firmly rooted inside Taehyung’s clenching hole around him. All Jimin’s vision zooms in on is Taehyung’s breathtaking visage, droplets of tears sitting on the corner of his eyes, his mouth hanging open as he moans out Jimin’s name. Taehyung’s chest is heaving with every violent squirt of Jimin’s cum wracking inside his body. He swoops down, heading straight for Taehyung’s lips who fervently welcomes him. Jimin kisses Taehyung in languid motions. Brushing his lips against the omega’s sweetly, licking at his bottom lip before pushing past them to meet his tongue, swirling and sucking on it lightly. His heart skips a beat and his breath hitches when Taehyung returns the kiss just as affectionately, sighing contently into Jimin’s mouth as his hands find purchase in Jimin’s silver hair, twirling the locks in between his fingers.

“So good, Jiminnie…” he smiles against Jimin’s lips, still kissing him, his legs wrapped securely around Jimin’s middle, and he realizes that he is still inside of him and still so damn hard. Taehyung presses his lips harder against Jimin’s, kissing him more demanding as he starts rocking his hips against the alpha again.

“Again, Jiminnie,” Taehyung keens, purring like a kitten. “Feels so good, I want you again…”

That’s when Jimin swings the wreckingball and knocks his wall down brick by brick. Spurred on by Taehyung’s goading and his own hard cock still throbbing, wanting more, he pulls out completely, watching as his cum spills out of Taehyung’s pink hole. It trickles down his smooth, golden thighs and Taehyung whimpers at the feeling of emptiness, his ass clenching around nothing.

As if Jimin isn’t aroused enough already, he is hit with a new wave of arousal just by watching Taehyung making grabby hands towards him, his body desperately wanting to be satisfied again. He avoids Taehyung’s hands as his own reach down and spread the younger’s thighs further apart, cursing under his breath as more slick gushes out of him.

He bends down, the intense and delicious scent of Taehyung’s slick hitting Jimin square in the nose. “You’re so fucking wet, Tae.” he breathes against his entrance and smirks when it twitches with excitement.

“Only for you, Chim--ahhh!”

Jimin finally does what he wanted to do the moment he saw Taehyung’s slick pour out of him. He licks Taehyung’s hole, lapping at the slick and cum spillage, and the mingled taste is so oddly sweet and satisfying, it’s as if even their bodies were made to melt so wonderfully into each other. It’s crazy and amazing, and Jimin craves for more.

“You want me again so soon, Taetae?” Jimin eggs him on as he gets up, his hands stroking up and down Taehyung’s flat belly.

“Yessss~ Please, Jiminnie… Want you… so bad!”

Well, fuck! How is Jimin going to say no to that? He gives Taehyung a peck on the nose before whispering into his ear, “Hands and knees, baby.”

A new wave of slick spills from between Taehyung’s thighs as he immediately rolls onto his belly, presenting his ass up in the air for Jimin. The alpha cups both his ass cheeks into his hands, relishing in the gasp and moans Taehyung releases at the mere physical touch.

“Please, Jiminnie… fuck me!”

Jimin groans, aligns his cock with Taehyung’s dripping wet hole and sinks once again into his tight heat that almost instantly sends him right into oblivion. The new position makes Taehyung feel even tighter than before, and Jimin feels everything so much more. He instantly hits Taehyung’s wall, the very spot that makes him lewdly cry out and sputter incoherent sentences as he scrambles for the sheets to have something to hold on to.

“Ohhhh--- Jim-- Fuck!”

“Shit, Tae! You’re so fucking tight-- so fucking good!” He hauls Taehyung up by his middle,  pressing his back flush against his chest as he keeps fucking himself deeper into him.

Taehyung shudders, goosebumps exploding all over his body when Jimin tickles his neck with his breath ghosting over it. He kisses the spot he has marked Taehyung the previous night with. The reminder of their temporary union pulsing against his lips sends a new wave of excitement thrumming through his veins, and he grips Taehyung tighter, possessively so.

Taehyung whips his head around, still panting, mouth agape, and his hand coming up to touch Jimin’s face, tugging it towards him. Jimin understands and meets Taehyung halfway, their mouths colliding in an open mouthed kiss, teeth clinking, tongues dancing, and raspy moans harmonizing in a breathy symphony.  

Jimin’s hands move on their own as he palms the younger’s body all over, grabbing and squeezing in different places, trying to take as much of Taehyung as he can into his hands, imprinting the feel of soft skin into his memory. It’s when his hand comes resting on Taehyung’s belly again that he feels the omega’s rock hard dick slapping against his hand as he bounces on Jimin’s own cock. He wants to hear him come again, wants to see him become an utter mess as he spills all over himself again. So Jimin grabs the bouncing member into his hand, and Taehyung lets out a choked sob.

“Do you wanna come again, baby?” he winces briefly at the pet name he’s just used twice, suddenly realizing that he doesn’t even know if Taehyung is okay with it. But it just feels right , and there is no awkwardness hanging in the air as the name is uttered, and Jimin sure as fuck notices how Taehyung perks up and deliciously arches his back at it.

“Yesssss… Ahh~ wanna come again--”

Jimin pumps him hard, almost mercilessly as he matches it to the same rhythm as his thrusts. Taehyung’s erotic screams bounce off the blanket padded walls, and even Jimin can’t hold back his own raspy groans at the sensory overload. When Taehyung tells him to “fuck… fuck me, Jimin. Harder-- hard--” he obliges without protest, drilling himself into the omega while still pumping him and kissing his back and neck all over. He fucks him so hard, the bed starts creaking in protest and the headboard bangs against the wall so loudly, Jimin is sure they'll get a shitton of complaint letters from their neighbors, including their landlord.

“Shit.. Jimin I’m gonna-- again-- I’m-”

“Fuck!”

Both of them unravel at the same time. Taehyung comes all over his yellow and lavender dotted comfort blanket and Jimin comes in huge spurts inside of Taehyung. It’s so much, he wouldn’t be surprised if he saw his belly swell just a little bit.

Taehyung’s body goes limp, and even Jimin’s own legs turn into jelly. He carefully pulls out, and gently lays Taehyung back on the bed. He gets up and hurries over into the bathroom to retrieve a damp washcloth. When he gets back into the bedroom, Taehyung’s lying on his side, curled into a fetal position, hugging one of the big fluffy pillows. Jimin’s heart melts a little at the sight.

“Hey, Tae,” he nudges his shoulder. The younger grumbles in protest, and Jimin giggles at how sickeningly adorable Taehyung is. “Come on, let me clean you up first before you nap.”

Taehyung groans but rolls onto his back anyway, pouting in the cutest way possible with his nose scrunched up. Jimin smiles and starts cleaning him up. When he gets to Taehyung’s sensitive flesh between his butt cheeks, he looks up at the younger questioningly.

“D-does it hurt, Tae?” he asks carefully.

Taehyung shakes his head, his eyes tired and droopy. “Nope. Doesn’t.” he gives Jimin a dopey smile as Jimin finishes cleaning him up.

Taehyung’s heat is satiated for now, but it wouldn’t be long until the next wave hits him. The omega looks so sleepy, ready to knock out any minute, and Jimin is a little tired, too.

He wriggles himself underneath the sheets and Taehyung instinctively scoots closer to Jimin’s comforting warmth. They lay there arms and limbs tangled in each other, and all Jimin can do is sigh contentedly, because this feels so familiar yet different all at the same time, but somewhere deep inside of him, Jimin figures that it’s a good kind of different.

“Jiminnie…?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you… for helping me.” Taehyung whispers against his chest, and it warms Jimin from the inside out. He buries his face in Taehyung’s hair, inhaling his scent.

“You don’t have to thank me. I’d do anything for you, you know that, right?”

Taehyung nods in affirmation. He lifts his head up from Jimin’s chest and gazes into the alpha’s eyes. They sparkle like a million stars reside inside his irises, Jimin dares to think they’re even more beautiful than actual stars. Taehyung blinks his eyes down to his lips, and if Jimin didn’t think that he may be a little bit delusional, he thinks that Taehyung would want to kiss him. 

Without any form of preamble, Taehyung connects their lips. Jimin’s hands come up instantly caressing the omega’s cheek. This is the kiss Jimin craves for, revels in, has missed since last night. It’s far more intimate, and Jimin almost pants into the younger’s mouth, in need for air, but instead lets himself drown and be revived by the same lips over and over again.

It’s strange, Jimin thinks, but as they deepen their kiss, he feels a tiny spot on his neck pulsing, and the more they get lost in each other the stronger the throbbing sensation becomes. It isn’t unpleasant in any way. It’s just that Jimin can’t put a finger as to what exactly it is. When Taehyung’s hand curls around the nape of Jimin’s neck, he physically feels the sizzle beneath Taehyung’s fingertips. It’s so intense it startles him and he jerks away.

Taehyung looks at him confused. “I-is everything o-okay?” he stutters. Jimin doesn’t miss the flicker of panic in his eyes.

The sensation on his neck has reduced to a dull throb the moment he separated from the other, but it’s still present, persistent. It’s even on the same spot where Jimin had marked Taehyung’s neck. Why is he feeling his claim on Taehyung on his own skin? His heart feels like it wants to leap out of his chest, and his body being pulled as if by a magnetic force towards Taehyung’s body, seeking its warmth, its comfort, its love .

This isn’t love, though. At least not on Taehyung’s side, right? He just asked Jimin for his help, and Jimin obliged because he loves him. He would jump right off a cliff for him need be. Jimin wants Taehyung in every way, but Taehyung wants someone he’s never met before. But why in the world does Jimin feel this stirring in his chest; in his very soul, that Taehyung was made for him? Why does this bond between them right now feel like more than just a temporary claim under biological needs? None of his biology textbooks ever mentioned of a shared sensation like this when only one party is claimed.

“Hey.” Taehyung’s soft voice brings him back from his thoughts. The omega hugs Jimin tighter and there it is again. The pulsing on his neck is back, and his body lights up a million watts on the inside. His body moves all on its own, leaning into Taehyung’s embrace, pressing against him like everything else around him is a hounding storm and Taehyung is his only place of refuge.

“I’m sorry… I’m here. I just got lost in my head for a moment.” he smiles, pecking the omega on the nose.

A fizzle.

“You sure?” Taehyung watches him carefully through doe eyes.

“Mhm.” their lips brush against each other.

A spark.

“Jiminnie?”

“Yeah?”

The look in Taehyung’s eyes is glassy, flickering with something akin to want, but he can’t quite put a finger as to what exactly it is that Taehyung wants. Whatever it is, Jimin’s made up his mind that he will give it to him. Everything he needs, longs for, asks for, Jimin will make sure to fulfill it all.

“Kiss me.” is all Taehyung says and Jimin joyously obliges with every fiber of his being.

Everything else in his mind is wiped clean as it is replaced with nothing else but Taehyung. His chest is burning with the same fire he has had for his best friend for as long as he can remember. There is also fear and doubt sitting at the very pit of his stomach, telling him that this will all be over soon; that he’s fighting a losing battle against the shadow of a yet-to-come soulmate.

The corner of his eyes are stinging with tears as these conflicting feelings fight for dominance within him. But he doesn’t let go. He won’t let go. Not yet. He will let himself have this moment of loving Taehyung the way he has always wanted to love him. And if in the end he’ll still get hurt, then it’s okay, because it will be worth it. Loving Taehyung will always be worth a little bit of pain.

Fireworks.

~*~

The whole bedroom is a mess. A beautiful mess, Jimin tells himself. The blankets Taehyung has so carefully laid out on the floor are all askew, have travelled across the room at least once. All the pillows that were formerly on the bed, are scattered around the floor. One even on the top of Taehyung’s desk, and Jimin cannot recall how and when it got there. The fairy lights are no longer hanging from the headboard, but lie in a messy clump atop the mattress, which can’t be safe so Jimin unplugged it after he came back from his bathroom break.

There is only one water bottle left, half empty, and a meager nibbled on protein bar on the night stand between the small Hulk and Thor figurines. Everything in the room has shifted at least once, changed position in a way, but there is one thing that is constant, lingering in the air: Taehyung and Jimin’s scents. They don’t mingle into each other. They’re still separate, distinct smells, but they both hang in the air together, and it makes Jimin unbelievably happy.

Four days have gone by since Taehyung’s heat started, and it’s been crazy (which is a complete understatement). Jimin has never seen Taehyung so wild, needy, submissive, demanding and erotic. The sex they’ve been having for the past 4 days has been incredible, indescribable, unforgettable. Granted there were many times where Taehyung was just floating, driven by his heat, keening and wanting nothing but to just be manhandled, lust satisfied, and filled. Jimin understood that. Then there were times of clarity, and Taehyung was there, he was aware, and he knew what he was doing, what he was saying. It’s not like either of them confessed, but Taehyung whispered words of sweetness and praise. Words like ‘I’m yours and only yours, Jiminnie…’ ’s would leave his mouth, and they sounded so sincere, it stirred Jimin’s chest. His heart believed, but his mind willed him not to believe. There were also other times where Taehyung was a little too aware and bit his tongue when he wanted to say something more. Something else. He masked it with a moan and ‘kiss me’’s instead. Jimin always swallowed, and tried not to think too much of it. This was about Taehyung anyway, not him and his damn feelings.

He’s half sitting on the bed with Taehyung’s sleeping form curled into his side. The omega’s heat is about to break. Taehyung begged less and less, didn’t wake up on fire anymore this morning, so the last few rounds they had today have finally brought his body exhausted satisfaction.

Jimin lightly threads his fingers through Taehyung’s soft hair (he’d given him a quick hot bath before he let him finally sink into sleep). Taehyung has been resting for the past hour while Jimin sat there restless. A million and one things shooting through his head, and he doesn’t know how to deal with all of it just yet; doesn’t know how to address them one by one, or if he should even spare them any attention at all. He promised himself that he’ll heed Hoseok’s advice and just give himself a damn chance at being happy. To be fair, he did let himself be happy. He just also happened to know that it wouldn’t last.

He glances down at Taehyung, and he looks so peaceful and soft and content, Jimin wishes they could just stay like this forever. But they don’t have forever. They only have today and maybe tomorrow and then that is that. Jimin’s heart aches in more ways than one. He brushes Taehyung’s bangs out of his face. They’ve gotten longer. The past few days come rushing back into his memory as if someone shot and edited one of those cheesy compilation videos that’s now somehow on replay before his eyes.

Sometimes you’ve already poured yourself a whole glass of milk and only belatedly glance at the dotted black scribbles on the lid and realize that the expiration date was yesterday, but you convince yourself that it’s only been a day and that you can probably still get away with it. So you drink it anyway. Jimin sighs heavily, staring up at the ceiling and then back down to the omega in his arms. Taehyung is asleep, and if there’s one thing Jimin knows, it’s that he’s a deep sleeper. I can still get away with it.

Still carding his hands through Taehyung’s locks, he takes a deep breath.

“Hey Tae,” he begins. “I know you can’t hear me, and I think it’s better that way, but I’ve always wanted to tell you something. Something that I don’t think I’ll ever have the courage to tell you when you’re awake.” a brief pause. Jimin looks back down, just to double check one more time if the younger is really still asleep. When he sees that he is, he deems it's safe to continue.

Here goes nothing.

“You’re precious, Tae. I know I say this all the time, but what I mean is, you’ve always been - and will always be - so precious to me .”

“I still remember how we’d always hang out by the swings at the park back home. Do you remember that?” Jimin chuckles at the memory of a 5 year-old Taehyung with mussy brown hair, the boxy smile he still has today almost stretching over his whole face, wearing a yellow t-shirt and a denim overall. He was the cutest fellow small human Jimin had ever seen. “We were also the same height back then." He chuckles. "Anyway, you always told me to swing you higher, higher, higher. Always towards the rays of the sun. It was our happy place. It was our place. In high school when I got into my first brawl with some alpha douche bags, you took me to the swings to let out steam. When we were at the peak of our teenage rebellion phase, we’d hang out there and complain about our parents. We laughed and cried, and told each other secrets there. It was also somewhere in between those moments that it happened.”

Jimin stares at the little chip of gray paint on one of Taehyung’s drawers to rein himself in. “You and I were stargazing one night, trying to find where the big dipper and whatever other constellations there were in the sky. You were cuddled next to me just like you are right now. I told a lame joke, and you laughed into my chest, and I just… I fell in love.” Normally when you confess something so big, so important, it should feel like a boulder has been lifted off your shoulders. It should feel like you can breathe easy now, knowing that it’s finally out there, but Taehyung is asleep. The confession falls on deaf ears, and Jimin’s heart sits heavy in his chest.

“I fell in love even before we both presented. Even before I knew whether you’d be an alpha, beta or omega. I guess… I guess I didn’t care what you’d present as. I just knew that I loved you, and that I didn’t want anyone else. But the thing is…” Jimin bites his lip, dragging his teeth against it slowly. “Your have always dreamed of finding your soulmate, just like our forefathers did. Sure, there hasn’t been any accounts of people getting their soul marks in hundreds of years, but you and I both know that it’s not an impossibility. I will always support you in every decision you make, in whatever and whoever you choose in life, Tae. Because your happiness is my priority.”

A sob gets caught in Jimin’s throat, and with it also his heart. His vision blurs at the edges with tears. “The past few days have been amazing, Tae. I can’t begin to tell you how happy I have been - I am. I know it’s just your biology calling out, but to me… When you asked me for help… I was so happy that you chose me. Out of everyone, you said you trusted me the most. I never want you to think that I took advantage of this moment; that I took advantage of you, because I could never do that to you.” tears roll silently down Jimin’s cheeks. He wipes at them with his free hand. “I just wanted…to make you feel my love. You mean so fucking much to me, Tae, and I want to take care of you, love you for the rest of my life. And I will. Even if I have to do it from the sidelines. Even if your heart already belongs to someone else.”

Taehyung still seems fast asleep, his lips slightly parted. He looks so fucking beautiful. Jimin lies back down facing him. This is the only chance I’ll ever get to tell you. He gently cups Taehyung’s cheeks into his hand. They feel warm and wonderful.

“But it’s okay. It’s fine.” it’s more to convince himself than anything else. “Everyone has a dream. You have yours,” Jimin leans down, placing a featherlight kiss on Taehyung’s forehead, whispering ever quietly as more tears stain his face, “And you are mine.”

~*~

Jimin wakes up with his heart racing in his chest, fear clawing at his insides, and sweat running down his face. On instinct he darts his head towards the other side of the bed and finds it empty. Whatever emotional strain he is feeling right now, he knows isn’t his own. Jimin glances towards the window and judging by the darkness outside it’s too late at night, but also still too early for sunrise.

He slips out of bed and races through the apartment.

“Tae?” he calls through the hallways, spare bedroom, kitchen, and living room, but all that answers him back is silence. Jimin even checks the balcony just to make sure, and when he doesn’t find Taehyung there either he starts panicking. Where could he have gone off to? Why would he even leave in the first place? It’s the middle of the night and the omega has residues of his heat still sitting in his gut.

He’s already haphazardly slung on a random t-shirt he’s found lying on the floor, and is about to put some sweatpants on to go outside and look for the omega when he hears muffled sobs from the bathroom, and he wants to kick himself for not looking there first.

The door is slightly cracked open, and Jimin steals a peek inside, but he wasn’t ready for what awaits him on the other side of the door.

Taehyung is leaning against the bathtub, knees bent up to his chest with its tips touching his chin. The omega is crying, thick beads of tears streaming down his face, eyes puffy and cheeks tinged an angry red. His shoulders are shaking violently, and Jimin’s heart sinks into the pit of his stomach.

“Taehyungie,” Jimin all but slides onto the marbled floor next to him. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying, Tae? Please… talk to me.”

“Jimin?” Taehyung’s eyes widen in panic. “It’s-- It’s n-nothing, Jiminnie. I’m okay.”

“This doesn’t look like nothing, Tae. Hey, come on look at me.” Jimin gently pries Taehyung’s hands from his face and wipes his tears away with his fingers. “You can tell me anything.”

And that’s all it took. Five simple words send Taehyung into a new fit of tears, burying his face into Jimin’s chest, soaking his shirt as he cries. Jimin doesn’t want to pressure Taehyung into talking just yet, so he pulls the omega closer, embracing him tightly and rubbing his hands soothingly up and down Taehyung’s back. Whatever’s made Taehyung so upset, Jimin has this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that it has something to do with him. He doesn't like that a idea, one bit. 

It takes a few moments, a few more minutes before Taehyung calms down enough to formulate words.

Taehyung sniffs. “Can I… Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Did you mean it?” Jimin hears Taehyung whisper, and his forehead creases in confusion.

“Huh?” Of course that’s the most profound response Jimin can muster because he’s a complete dunce.

“I was awake… I’m sorry.”

It only takes ten seconds for Jimin to register the words in his head, and his heart starts thud-thudding again. Shit ! He was positive Taehyung was asleep the other night. He wasn’t meant to hear it. Not now. Maybe even not ever. This would ruin everything. It could positively, definitely ruin them.

“Tae, I-- I’m so sorry! I was-- I thought--”

“Did you mean it?” Taehyung repeats, his voice more audible and confident.

“I--” There really isn’t any point in running away anymore, is there? Jimin has never been able to lie to his best friend. He couldn’t even lie about eating the last cup of pudding in the fridge a month ago, how could he possibly lie about something that has mattered to him for years? He takes a deep breath. “Yes. I meant it. Every word of it.”

There’s a beat of silence wherein all Taehyung does is nod against his clavicles and Jimin holds his breath. Taehyung presses in, crowding Jimin’s space, and it’s oh so comforting despite the turmoil going on inside his chest right now.

“I’ve always dreamed of him.” Taehyung starts, voice small again.

“Him?”

“My soulmate.”

Jimin mouths a small ‘o’ into Taehyung’s hair. He has never really put a specific pronoun to his soulmate until now, but Jimin’s not that surprised either.

“I always imagined what it would be like to finally get my soul mark; what it would feel like to finally share that bond with him.” Taehyung swallows through his tears. “But it never came. I just kept waiting. Every year, through every birthday, through every heat.”

Jimin’s chest constricts. The regret, Jimin thinks, has finally settled into Taehyung’s gut. He’s realizing that he probably shouldn’t have asked Jimin to help him; that Jimin has single handedly ruined their friendship and his pursuit of finding his soulmate because of his damn feelings that he can’t keep to himself.

“Jimin… Do you think we’re…” Taehyung hesitates for a second, curling and uncurling his fist in Jimin’s grey shirt. “... Soulmates?”

“What?” the alpha gasps, pulling away to look at the younger. Taehyung is determined to get an answer and once again, who is Jimin to deprive him of that? “I-- Well, yeah. To me at least, I’ve always known that you’re my other half.” It feels surreal, almost like an out-of-body experience telling a conscious Taehyung how he feels about him and how he thinks that he is the one for him. It’s bittersweet.

Taehyung offers him a wry smile. “I must be the biggest idiot on the planet then, huh?”

“Don’t say that, Tae. You’re not an idiot. You’re wonderful.”

“You’re biased, Jiminnie.” Taehyung chuckles out. Jimin would give anything to hear him all out laugh again.

“I am, but I’m also honest.”

“Fair enough, but I still think that I’m an idiot. You know why?”

Jimin looks at him with sad eyes. He hates it when Taehyung plays himself down like that. It hurts him, but they’ve promised each other that they’ll always hear each other out, and so Jimin just sighs, tilting his head to the side. “Why?”

“Because I’ve been so focused on getting my soul mark; so focused on the idea that it’s some sort of prerequisite; a stamp of approval for me to fall in love, but the truth is, I’m already in love. I have been for years. This is why I’m so upset because when you said all those things, I realized that I could’ve been happy and stop wasting my time waiting for a fairy tale to come true.” Taehyun grimaces as he fidgets with the hem of Jimin’s shirt, seemingly to distract himself.

All of a sudden, Jimin’s insides start churning, his mind cascading into a plethora of emotions and thoughts as he tries to process what Taehyung just had said. He could’ve been happy? With who?

He clears his throat and dares, “You’re in love… with who?”

Taehyung finally cranes his head up and looks at him. He clicks his tongue, “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Kim Taehyung, this isn’t funny.” Jimin says, his cheeks and ears burning up. This cannot be happening right now!

“Chim, I have been one breath away from either asking for your knot or for you to just fucking mate me right then and there within the past twenty-four hours. Does it really seem like this is something I would joke about right now?” Taehyung shoots back frustrated. Jimin isn’t sure if it’s directed at him or at himself. Whichever the case may be, it doesn’t stop Jimin from almost choking on his own spit, eyes almost bulging out of its sockets as he stares at the omega, mouth agape.

Did Kim Taehyung just imply that he wanted to get bred? Because there is no other logical reason for him to ask for a knot if it isn’t for offspring purposes (plus, it doesn’t help knowing that Taehyung has wanted pups since like for-fucking-ever!). And did he also just say that he wanted Jimin to mate him? What!

Taehyung isn’t waiting for Jimin to regain his ability to talk, so he continues, “You’ve always known, and I've always wanted.” he shifts around the cold floor, his hands reaching out for Jimin’s. He caresses his short, stubby fingers before he slots them together with his own. “I’ve always wanted, wished, dreamed that you’d be my soulmate. Because in my heart of hearts I always knew as well that I didn’t wanna be with anyone but you. But the soul mark... never appeared, and I lost hope, and I thought that maybe I’m just doomed to be alone.”

There are teardrops falling onto Jimin’s fingers, and sounds of sniffles in front of him. “I’m sorry, Jiminnie. I’m so sorry it took me this long.” Taehyung all but starts sobbing again. “I’m sorry-- It’s just-- Fuck , I love you so much, Jimin, and I’ve just been so upset for the longest time because I always thought that I can’t have you.”

He loves me, is all that floats inside of Jimin right now. In his head, his chest, his belly, in his very bones. Kim Taehyung loves him, but he’s held himself back because he thought that the universe wouldn’t want him to be happy.

Jimin gently peels his hands away from Taehyung to card them into his blonde hair instead. He caresses his cheeks, thumbing away the tears, he leans down, placing soft kisses on his eyelids. “Tae, I know you’ve been dreaming of getting your soul mark for years, but,” he bites his lip. “Do we really need one?” Taehyung directs his gaze back to Jimin, and even though his eyes are all puffy, Jimin sees nothing but perfection. “I mean, sure it would be nice to have matching soul marks for the whole world to see that the universe has put you and me together from the beginning, but does it really define how we feel?” It must’ve caught Taehyung’s attention as he looks like he is masticating Jimin’s words. It makes Jimin bolder. “I love you, Tae. And if you are just as sure about your own feelings, then I think that’s good enough proof for me.”

Taehyung seems like he’s about to have another onslaught of tears, and Jimin isn’t really sure if it’s out of happiness, confusion, or doubt, but he likes to believe that it’s neither of the latter. He holds Taehyung’s hands over his booming heart. “You don’t have to be afraid, Tae. You have me. You’ve always had me.”

Jimin watches for a split second as Taehyung’s eyes go wide, brimming with tears before the omega tackles him into a tight embrace it almost knocks the wind out of Jimin’s pipes.

The coldness of the bathroom floor digs through the fabric of Jimin’s shirt and into his back. His head is angled a little awkwardly next to the foot of the sink, and his legs could barely fully stretch out, but Jimin could care less because the discomfort could not amount to the warmth and weight of Taehyung’s body lying snug on top of him right now. His heart twists, but it doesn’t feel unpleasant. It’s a happy, hopeful kind that shoos away the receding doubts in his mind.

“Do you really wanna be with me, Jiminnie?” Taehyung sniffs as he props his chin up on Jimin’s chest. He looks so endearingly innocent, and his voice so childlike.

“Taetae, there is nothing that I’ve wanted more in life than to be with you.”

Taehyung’s eyes soften and his whole body relaxes. “Then I don’t want a soul mark anymore.” the words roll off his tongue like melted butter, effortless, without a hint of doubt. “You’re right. What we have and what we are cannot be defined by some small sketching on our skin.” Taehyung’s eyes sparkle in the light shining in from the small window in the far corner of the room. He leans in closer, breath ghosting over Jimin’s lips as he whispers, “I love you, Jiminnie.”

Every bit of resolve Jimin has left comes crumbling down. Those simple words were the last four bricks in his wall, and the best part is that it was Taehyung who swung the final blow and knocked them down.

It is definitely not the finest nor the most romantic confession scenario. It is most definitely not the most comfortable either, being squashed between the sink and the bathtub, stone cold floor beneath them, and the smell of aftershave penetrating the air. If his stuck up uncles and aunties could see him now, they’d be lecturing him on end about the importance of upholding an ‘alpha’s pride’, but fuck it! Jimin has waited so long - too long - for this moment. He held back enough too many times, and now that there is no reason to anymore, he will let himself go. He doesn’t care that it’s his turn to cry his eyes out as he crashes his and Taehyung’s lips back together. He doesn’t care that he sniffles and hiccups in between, doesn’t care that he lets himself be the most vulnerable he’s ever been.

“Tae, are you sure?” He knows how needy and embarrassingly whiney he sounds as soon as the words leave his mouth, but he can’t find enough fucks to give at the moment.

Taehyung smiles against his lips, kisses him one more time before he places both hands on top of Jimin’s chest and props his chin on top of it, looking at him through enamored eyes. “You’ve been asking me that on end for the past week--”

“I just wanna--”

“Shh. Baby? Shut up." he reprimands, holding a finger up against Jimin's lips. "I’m trying to be romantic here.”

Jimin nods and shuts up. Taehyung clears his throat, “Right,” and continues with his speech. “I’m as sure as the sun comes up and sets each day. As sure as flowers bloom in spring. As sure as I’ll be the one to finish the last damn pack of strawberry pocky in the pantry first thing tomorrow morning,” the omega shifts and positions himself until he properly straddles Jimin. His eyes turn a shade darker, blue rims flickering back at Jimin. Taehyung tentatively licks his lips, “And as sure as I want you to fuck me into four more orgasms until my heat finally breaks.”

Yup. Definitely not how Jimin imagined it, but he files it under the ‘hottest confession ever’. “So, by being romantic you basically just meant that you want to get into my pants, huh?” Jimin jests, but he already has his hands curled around Taehyung’s waist, sporting the hardest boner he’s probably ever had.

“Maybe.” Taehyung shrugs, scrunching his nose in the most adorable way that sends Jimin’s heart into overdrive and turns his insides into mush. The omega leans back down, and wiggles their noses together into an eskimo kiss. “But mostly into your heart.”

“Fuck,” Jimin feels hot, and so does Taehyung on top of him. He runs his hand along the omega’s back until his fingers are tangled in his hair. He kisses him passionately and with no more reservations. “I love you so much, Kim Taehyung.”

~*~

It’s been five (or more. They couldn’t really keep track) orgasms later, and Taehyung’s heat has finally broken. Jimin cleaned them both off and now they’re cuddled on top of fresh new blankets. No, the old blankets didn’t make it to the washing machine because yes, the sex was that incredibly thrilling and dirty, they had to throw them away.

It’s late in the afternoon, and maybe it’s time to finally have a decent meal again for dinner, but neither of them could find it in themselves to break apart and resume the normalcy of day to day activities just yet.

Jimin absently draws figure 8's into Taehyung's skin with his thumb. They’ve been silent for the past half hour, but it’s a comfortable kind of silence that’s filled with contented hums and sighs between kisses and cuddles. Something Jimin never thought he could have with Taehyung.

Now that the hormonal demand has subsided, Jimin’s mind floats back to some things Taehyung said earlier, and thinks it’s now safe to ask.

“Tae?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you mean what you said earlier?”

“This is a strange feeling of deja vu.” Taehyung laughs. “I’ve said a lot of things, Chim. Be a little more specific.”

Jimin giggles. It’s ridiculous. They’ve been asking each other the same questions over and over, but he guesses with how surreal everything feels, neither of them have really fully grasped the reality of things that have happened and words that have been said in the past twenty-four or so hours that they need constant reassurance.

“Well, earlier you said that you were close to literally asking me to breed and mate you.” He swallows thickly and his face flushes red. “Was that… was that just your heat or did you-- do you really--?”

The alpha feels Taehyung’s grip around his waist tighten. Taehyung nuzzles his face into Jimin’s chest, like he always does when he feels a little shy or embarrassed. The younger nods into Jimin’s shirt as he breathes in Jimin’s scent. “I think it was somewhere at the peek of my heat when all I just wanted was to be covered in your scent. I didn’t just want to feel good or satisfied. I literally wanted to have all of you become part of me and vice versa. I mean, I knew that my heat did have something to do with it to some degree. I wasn’t sure, so I stopped myself from saying anything.” Taehyung scoots upwards until his face rests on the crook of Jimin’s neck, gently scenting him before he continues, “But even after everything was over, and my head was clear again, the desire for it just grew even more. I really want to be mated to you, Jiminnie, and you already know how much I want pups anyway.”

Taehyung looks up shyly, cheeks dusted pink, and Jimin’s heart just did several backflips in his chest.

“I want that, too.” he confesses with ease as if he’s said it a million times over in his head before (and maybe he did). “Let’s get mated first, though, yeah?”

Taehyung perks up instantly and excitedly jumps into a cross-sitting position next to the alpha. “Really? You’ll really mate me, Chim?”

“Yes.” Jimin laughs, pushing himself into a half sitting position against the headboard. The fairy lights are back up and they cast a golden glow on Taehyung’s face.

“And we’ll have lots of pups? Like, a whole litter, yeah?”

Jimin actually doubles over laughing. He doesn’t think either of them are ready to have a whole litter of pups just yet, but the thought of expecting and raising pups of their own makes a very warm feeling spread all over his chest. “Eventually, but for now let’s take things slow, okay babe?”

The omega stops bouncing, but his gaze remains transfixed on Jimin, and there it is again. He looks at Jimin like his world ends and begins with him, like he is the most precious thing Taehyung has ever laid his eyes upon. He leans in closer, “I just realized something.”

“What’s that?”

“I haven’t claimed you the night before my heat.”

“But your heat’s over now.” Jimin raises an eyebrow. His eyes travel down the spot on Taehyung’s neck where he had marked him that night, and he’s proud to note that the purple dot is still there and that he can still smell himself on Taehyung. Jimin’s eyes shoot wide open when he remembers--

“I felt you.” he breathes out.

“What?” Taehyung tilts his head confused.

“I mean, my claim on you. You didn’t claim me back, but I felt the same pulsing sensation on the same spot on my own neck. I never knew that that could be possible but…”

Curiously, Taehyung reaches a finger to his neck. “Do you still feel it now?”

“Yeah.” Jimin nods. “I’ve always been able to feel what you feel. Like when you’re upset, happy, or nervous. I can feel it. I can smell it, but it intensified when I laid claim on you that night.”

“That’s… weird.” Taehyung says, eyes suddenly downcast, his finger still on his pulse point. Jimin doesn’t like the sadness he picks up from his tone.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“It’s just, I felt you, too.” he answers, avoiding Jimin’s eyes.

“Is that… a bad thing?”

Taehyung snaps his head up, shaking it from side to side. “No! It’s more like, I only started feeling this-- this bond when you marked me. I wish I could’ve before, just like you.” his voice lowers into a whisper, and Jimin hates seeing him so defeated again.

“Hey,” he nods Taehyung’s chin up with his thumb. “We’re here now. Finally together with the whole future ahead of us. That’s all that matters, don’t you think?”

He watches as Taehyung exhales deeply as if he’s been holding in his breath underwater for too long. The omega’s tense shoulders relax, and he closes the distance between them. Taehyung captures Jimin’s lips, and for a moment, Jimin’s mind goes blank. He’s kissed Taehyung so many times over the course of this week, but every kiss takes him by storm each time. He loves the plush feel of Taehyung’s lips against his. He loves the push and pull game their tongues play. Loves how Taehyung’s hands start wandering all over Jimin’s body, loves how his fingers curl around his neck, thumb resting around the shell of Jimin’s ear, and how Taehyung sighs contentedly into Jimin’s mouth.

Really, it doesn’t matter how long they’ve waited for each other. Everything falls into place at the right time, the right place, the right (and sometimes the weirdest, most unimaginable) circumstances. And for that, Jimin can’t really be mad at destiny for. He pulls Taehyung closer, chest to chest, reveling in the soft sounds Taehyung emits.

He understands what Taehyung meant, wanting to be enveloped in nothing but Jimin, because frankly speaking, that’s what Jimin wanted for years. He wants nothing but Taehyung. Nothing but the omega’s scent on him, emanating from him, leaving trails in his wake, letting everyone know that he belongs to Taehyung, and no one else. Jimin wants Taehyung to know that he can lean on him, trust him, be loved by him, and be cared for like he’s always deserved to be cared for. And Jimin has always done that for him. He knows that Taehyung knows, but this time it’s different. He wants to do all those things as his lover; as his mate.

“Tae,” Jimin breathes. “Do you still wanna claim me?”

Taehyung’s smile rivals all things bright in this world, and Jimin is so damn lucky to be forever on the receiving end of it.

“Yes.”

Before his mind can catch up to what’s happening, Taehyung already dove into his neck, kissing the sensitive patch of flesh, begging to be claimed. It’s not long before his heart starts racing again, loud and boisterously pounding against his ribcage, yearning for more of Taehyung; for them to be closer to him until they’re one.

The atmosphere shifts, and Jimin’s body suddenly feels light, as if floating on clouds and the only tangible thing that keeps him from floating away is Taehyung’s body on his lap, arms slung around his neck, and for the first time, their scents mingling together as one.

“Mine.” Taehyung hums into Jimin’s skin, smiling.

Jimin’s eyes flicker closed as he fastens his embrace on the omega, flush against himself. He smiles from ear to ear when he feels their hearts beating in complete sync.

“Yours.”

~*~

“Taehyungie! Taehyungie!” Jungkook hops like a cute little bunny right into Taehyung’s arms the moment he and Jimin step into Seokjin’s apartment. “I missed you!”

“I missed you too, Kookie.” Taehyung beams at him with a boxy grin.

“What about Jimin-hyung? You didn’t miss me?” Jimin quips, taking off his jacket and toeing out of his shoes.

“Of course, Jiminnie.” The younger calls from over Taehyung’s shoulder.

“Hyung. I’m still your hyung.”

“And I’m still taller than you.”

“Brat!” Jimin flicks Jungkook’s forehead as he walks past him, and the younger only sticks out his tongue and laughs brightly. As Jimin turns into the living room, he admits to himself that he’s missed bickering with Jungkook and vows to get him back for it later.

The whole pack is gathered in Seokjin’s living room. It’s their traditional weekly get-together which means lots of deliciously cooked food from Seokjin, booze courtesy of Hoseok, and annoying competitive games with Jungkook. Yep, it’s going to be a good night.

Jimin missed food. Like, real, legit home cooked food. Seokjin cooked all their favorite dishes, and Jimin couldn’t be more thankful, and apparently so is Taehyung. He eats. A lot.

“Did you let my brother starve?”Jimin whips his head up to see a scowling Seokjin and a contented Taehyung munching on what seems to be his third plate of chicken, if the the empty plates stacked up with chicken bones are anything to go by. Wow.

Seokjin eyes him more seriously, and Jimin starts panicking just a little. “I didn’t! I promise, hyung. I had a whole box of protein bars and lots of water bottles. I cooked for him afterwards, too!” he explains breathlessly.

Jungkook snorts from beside Seokjin and Jimin shoots him a glare. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, at least it’s good to know that you also took care of my brother after you took care of him.” Seokjin comments nonchalantly, slurping his kimchi jjiggae.

Jimin thinks it would be really awesome if the floor would open up and swallow him whole right now than be subjected to Hoseok’s low whistling, Jungkook’s guffaws, and Yoongi’s curled lips and raised eyebrows, but most of all Seokjin’s impending interrogation.

“Hyung, you’re really red.” Jungkook so helpfully supplies.

“Am not!” The alpha pouts and bows his head to avoid everyone’s glances.

Long fingers come up and curl around his shorter, stubby ones and his chest starts fluttering almost instantly again. “Don't be so mean. I just really missed your cooking, hyung.” Taehyung says. “Nothing to worry. Jiminnie really did take care of me. More ways than one, didn’t you Chim?” smirk evident in his voice.

Jimin isn’t sure whether he wants to punch Taehyung for joining in the teasing schemes or if he wants to pounce on him right here, right now and just kiss him. Hard. On the mouth. In front of everyone. Until they’re breathless. Apparently his mind settles for turning into mush and his whole body blushing furiously.

“So,” he can hear Seokjin clear his throat, and the clinking of chopsticks being put down. “When are you going to mate? You pretty much reek of each other’s claim." he smirks back and forth between the pair. 

Jimin sputters, snapping his head up to find six expectant eyes trained on him. He feels dizzy, and his insides rumble it makes him regret the extra bowl of soup he consumed. The air fizzles with expectation and he doesn’t really know how to address the matter. Mating is special, intimate, and private. He and Taehyung have already talked about it.

"Hyung--!" Jimin half whines, half protests.

"What? As pack alpha and Taehyung's brother, I need to know." Seokjin shrugs, teasing Jimin with a wink.

(“First snowfall!” Taehyung announced excitedly as he made his bed on Jimin’s lap on the sofa. "Let's mate during the first snow fall, Chim."

Jimin wrapped his arms around the omega’s waist and breathed in the his scent. “Why first snowfall?”

Taehyung pouted. “Don’t you remember, Chimchim?”

“Remember what?” Of course Jimin remembers.

“It’s the day we met for the first time by the swings back home! I can’t believe you would forget something so important, Jiminnie.” Taehyung pouted petulantly.

Jimin laughed, hooked his fingers under Taehyung’s armpits and started tickling him.

“Wha--! Jim-- S-stop!” his golden squeaks filled the room and his heart, vibrant and sweet, and addicting.

When Jimin let him go, and Taehyung tried catching his breath, the omega punched him lightly on the chest. “If you think I’m gonna let you get away with that then--”

Jimin swooped in and pecked a small, chaste kiss on Taehyung’s lips. “Oh Taehyungie. I could never forget the day I met the brightest star in the universe.”)

“When we’re ready, hyung.” Taehyung chirps.

“Knowing you, that could be tomorrow.” Seokjin counters, grinning.

“Or it could also be tonight.” Taehyung winks.

Jimin elbows him, his mouth agape. “Tae!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I was just kidding.” he giggles, crawling his way onto Jimin’s lap.

Hoseok slides Jimin all his side dishes, a cup of water, a cup filled with soda, and another unopened can of beer. Jimin makes a face, eyeing the older alpha. “What am I, a shrine?”

Details, Hoseok mouths, wriggling his eyebrows.

“Not giving you any.” Jimin reiterates, flicking his head to Yoongi. “Hyung, your mate is being a creep.”

“I know.” Yoongi shrugs, chewing on a tteokbokki. “That’s why he can spend his rut, which will be soon, alone.”

“What!” Hoseok all but screams incredulously. “You’re not serious, are you babe?”

Yoongi side eyes him, the corners of his lips turned up. “Dead serious, honey.”

“I-- Babe I-- NOOOOO!” The alpha all but throws himself onto his mate, literally draping himself all over Yoongi who was mid bite a piece of beef, which has now taken its place on the floor next to his chopsticks as well. Hoseok’s wailing sounds like a mixture between a dying whale and a crow having its feathers being plucked out. Yoongi on the other hand stays indifferent, poker faced, already used to Hoseok’s natural inclination to overreacting. Seokjin, also already completely used to the ruckus just keeps eating. Jungkook pulls his phone out and snaps a lot of memeable shots of Hoseok's screaming face. Yup. It's gonna be a long night, but with the whole pack together, and his future mate happily nuzzled into him, Jimin really can't complain.  

~*~

“Is it gonna snow soon? Is it gonna snow soon?” Taehyung bounces up and down the balcony, expectantly staring at the sky.

The weather forecast said that today would be the first snowfall of the year, so Taehyung decided that they should both sit out on the balcony and wait for the snow. It’s fucking freezing balls right now. Literally and figuratively. Good thing Taehyung brought out his thermal blankets, and Jimin made them two steaming cups of hot chocolate (extra marshmallows for Taehyung, of course) to keep them warm.

“Baby, you’re going to catch a cold. Come back here.” He is just as excited as Taehyung, but his soon-to-be-mate getting sick would be the last thing on his agenda right now.

“You’re just looking for an excuse to cuddle, Chim.” Taehyung flops down on the sofa bed, wriggling his way into the blanket. Jimin readily snakes his arms around the omega, peppering him with kisses.

“And what if I am?” he teases. “Would you stop me?”

"Nope. Never!" Taehyung chimes.

More giggles. More kisses. More warmth. In retrospect, Jimin probably doesn’t need blankets and hot choco. All he needs is his Taehyungie to keep warm.

“Hey Jiminnie,” a little puff of white escaping Taehyung’s lips after a few quiet moments of them just laying against each other. “What are we?”

“Hm?” Jimin cranes his head towards the younger. “What do you mean?” he adds confused.

“I mean,” Taehyhung pauses, trying to find the right words. “We’re best friends, soon we’re mates. I also think we’re soulmates, but I also think we’re not.” he looks up to the sky. Expectantly. As if he’s waiting for a sign. “I think. I think we’re more than that.”

Now that he thinks about it, Taehyung’s right. No matter what label people tried sticking on them, it never quite encapsulated the entirety of what they really were. Even what they are now, can’t be wrapped up in one simple word. What they have definitely runs deeper than friendship. Deeper than love. More than soulmates. They just are. Carefully and beautifully woven into each other’s lives. They belong to each other and with each other. There is never a question whether it’ll work or not, because it always has and always will.

Taehyung, so beautiful and kind. Always putting Jimin first, not even blinking an eye when it comes to the alpha. In all the years they’ve been together, no matter the scrutiny that was directed towards them, Taehyung was always ready to defend, bare his teeth even, to fight for Jimin. He has become Jimin’s everything. His very reason for living and breathing. Jimin can’t really imagine himself with anyone else that isn’t Taehyung; couldn’t imagine holding another stranger’s hand, kissing them, embracing them. It’s Taehyung. Forever Taehyung.

Jimin looks down at Taehyung, and his chest swells with nothing but love for the omega. Love that even his own heart can’t contain. He cups Taehyung’s flushed pink cheeks from the cold, caressing it over with his thumb. Jimin’s heart bursts into fireworks as Taehyung readily leans into his touch. He kisses him. Taehyung’s lips are cold. Just a pinch. They’re the softness of clouds, and have the intensity that burn up Jimin’s lungs. Being this close, chest to chest, Jimin can feel the other’s heartbeat, perfectly in sync with his own. He wonders if it has always been like that, so easy, and natural.

The alpha pulls away, just enough so his lips brush over Taehyung’s as he whispers, “I love you so much, Taehyungie.”

The smile against his lips comes instantly and it warms Jimin up from the inside out. “I love you too, Jiminnie.”

Right in that moment, as their eyes lock, the first snowflake glides down and lands on Taehyung’s cheek. Before it melts, Jimin catches its unique shape, commits it to memory because there will be no other one like it. Just like there will never be another him, another Taehyung, and another ‘them’, and Jimin is content knowing that  nothing and no one can take that away.

“Hmm, I’m warm.” Taehyung hums, arms slung around Jimin’s shoulders.

“You are.” Jimin smiles into the crown of Taehyung’s head. For a moment, everything seems okay. Their bodies wrapped tightly around each other, enjoying the first snowfall, reminiscing what it means to the both of them. But something feels slightly off kilter, and Taehyung starts feeling hotter against his skin.

“Tae, are you okay?” he asks, panic building in the pits of his stomach.

“I’m-- I feel h-hot, Chim.” his body twitches with the syllables. He’s beginning to feel feverish, but Jimin knows that it’s not the beginnings of a cold. This is different, and it scares him.

Everything happens too fast for Jimin to properly process what’s going on. One moment Taehyung’s arms leave Jimin’s body, and the next a loud scream rips out of the omega’s mouth as he frantically pulls and scratches at his left wrist, right above his pulse point.

“Tae! Tae, what’s happening? Talk to me, please!” Jimin tries to sound as collected as possible but fails miserably as his vision and thoughts are zeroed in on Taehyung writhing in pain in front of him, teeth clenched and tears spilling down the corner of his eyes. He doesn’t know what’s going on, doesn’t know what to do. His Taehyung is in pain and he doesn’t know why. He hates seeing it; hates hearing it.

As he reaches out his own left hand towards the younger, he feels it, too. Hot flashes thrumming through his whole body, his veins, down to the marrow of his bones. It’s as if there’s a wildfire eating its way from the inside out and Jimin doesn’t have any means to put it out.

“Fu-- Tae, what-- what’s happ--” Jimin fails to conjure up words. He feels nauseous, on the brink of throwing up. His head becomes hazy, and his heart is pounding too violently against his ribcage and too loudly in his ears. His wrist burns. It feels heavy. Too heavy, like it would break off. It burns, burns, burns!

It takes a few minutes more, but it feels more like hours, before the pain finally subsides, ebbs down into a simmer until it’s completely gone save for his skin feeling sensitive to the touch.

His face is damp with sweat, leaning on the crook of Taehyung’s shoulder. He can hear Taehyung’s chest rising and falling in hard breaths, matching his. An all too familiar pulse rushes back to his senses, roaring in his veins. It’s the same he’s been feeling since the night he’s marked Taehyung as his. The same one that beat to the same rhythm as Taehyung’s, loud and demanding throughout his heat.

“I-I can feel it.” Taehyung breathes against Jimin’s clavicles. “Our bond… Jimin! I can feel it! It's so strong!” and then the tears come. Taehyung’s tears spill over Jimin’s shoulder as the omega repeatedly chants, “I can feel it! I can feel it!”

Jimin is too shocked to come up with the right words. And maybe there aren’t any right words he could say at this moment. They haven’t mated yet, but it feels-- They’re bodies flow and move and beat unapologetically in unison, it’s overwhelming. He doesn’t have the words, the name, the definition to describe what happened - to what’s going on - but he knows that this is his. Taehyung is his and he is Taehyung’s. This is them, and this is their moment. Now and forever. He pulls Taehyung close. Closer, closer, closer . He breathes in his scent, fills his lungs with it until they can’t expand anymore. A surge of protectiveness, yearning, undivided love, and happiness rush through him all at once and he figures that it doesn’t matter if nothing else makes sense right now because all he needs to know is that the only clarity he needs is Taehyung.

Even after Taehyung’s tears have quieted down, Jimin doesn’t let go. He’s afraid of letting go. Afraid that Taehyung and this moment might slip away if he does.

“Ji--Jimin.” Taehyung quivers. “Jimin. Jiminnie! Jiminnie!”

Jimin pulls away, reluctantly so, to look at the omega, worry still stirring in his heart. “What’s wrong, Tae?”

Taehyung’s eyes are fixed on his wrist, the one he clawed and scratched at. “I don’t think anything is wrong, Jiminnie.”

Jimin doesn’t understand. He tilts his head, regards Taehyung with confused and wary eyes. Then he remembers. His wrist. The burning sensation. The sensitive flesh it left behind. The same spot as Taehyung’s. He clenches and unclenches his fingers, too scared to look down. Too scared to see what he might find, but he sees Taehyung smile down at his, and his heart starts racing again. Could… Could it be?

The alpha shuts his eyes. Inhales and counts to ten. He exhales slowly as he opens his eyes, turning his wrist face up, and his eyes widen almost with unbelief.

The black lines curve around the blue of his veins against his skin. Prominent. Delicate, yet strong.

He flicks his gaze up, meeting Taehyung’s own, a teary, happy wide grin stretching out from ear to ear on the omega’s face. Taehyung holds up his own wrist, and there it is. Dainty black lines, right above his pulse point, matching his own. The outline of a star.

“Tae… Did we-- Did we just--” Jimin stutters. He almost doesn’t want to utter the words in fear that it might disappear if he acknowledges it out loud. But then Taehyung dives in and kisses him hard on the mouth, and all Jimin can do is respond just as fervently, hungry, passionately.

“Get our soulmarks?” Taehyung grins when he breaks the kiss. Jimin nods. “Yes we just did, Chim.” his voice soft and creamy, and just so wonderful ringing in Jimin’s ears, permeating his very being, and all Jimin feels right now is nothing but pure love and bliss.

“I can’t believe it, Jiminnie. We’re-- we’re--”

“Twinstars.” Jimin finishes for him, smiling.

Soulmate is too small of a category for them. And Taehyung seems to understand as if he could read Jimin’s mind, like he always does.

“Yes,” Taehyung smiles as Jimin wraps his arms once again around Taehyung’s middle, hands touching every bit of Taehyung. His Taehyung, until they find themselves carding through his hair before resting on the nape of his neck. And just before Jimin pulls him back in, before they get completely lost in each other, Taehyung whispers, “Twinstars.”

Chapter Text

Just a very short epilogue. I wasn't supposed to add it, but I couldn't get it out of my head once I thought about it. Plus, it only seems fitting for VMIN to have nothing but the best things in life. They deserve to be happy. <3

So yeah. This is pretty much just fluff. PURE. TOOTH. ROTTING. FLUFF. With lots of hugging and kissing and cuteness. asjdhjfdsf 

Enjoy! <3

Also, you're always welcome to scream at me on twitter (@awkwardmallow) and on my curious cat (awkwardmallow) <3

When Jimin wakes up, the first thing he notices is how the sun is already flooding into the room, pooling into a sea of gold on the white duvet covers. It’s later than his usual wake-up time. Normally he’d panic, but it’s a Saturday, and he doesn’t have work. So instead, Jimin rolls around only to find the other side of the bed empty. It’s been five years, but no matter how busy his day is going to be or how late he’s running, he always made it a point to kiss Taehyung first thing in the morning, and snuggle into his mate for five more minutes longer. But finding Floof , the stuffed doggy, staring back at him instead of Taehyung makes Jimin scrunch his nose up in suspicion. Especially today.

He can hear the faint clanking of plates and Disney songs playing in the living room, a tell tale that Jimin’s suspicions are correct. Jimin smiles to himself as he gets up and pads out of the room.

Music, specifically Disney songs, blaring throughout the apartment in the morning has become the norm - a ritual, actually. There’s usually one song that’s constantly on repeat, depending on what the movie favorite at the moment is. Love is an Open Door currently holds the record for playing at least one hour straight every morning for the past month and a half (Part of Your World only lasted two weeks). Jimin can’t really complain. Not when the music is accompanied by the world’s cutest duet.

Jimin stops by the corner that rounds into the kitchen. He finds Taehyung still in his silky blue-striped pajamas, twirling Minji around as they dance in the kitchen. Minji is holding a little pink plastic spoon in her hand, using it as a microphone. She closes her eyes, tilts her head back, her small free hand over her chest as she belts out the most adorable “Wuv is an open dwoooor~” Jimin has ever heard. Taehyung has the brightest smile on his face, proudly clapping his hands in between his “wohoo”’s.

His mate kneels down so he and Minji are face to face, singing, “Our mental synchronization can’t have but one explanation.” Taehyung pokes Minji’s belly, “You-”

“And I-” Minji giggles, pointing at her own chest.

“Were-”

“Just-”

Taehyung scoops her up in his arms, twirling them both around the breakfast counter. “Meant to beeee!”

Honestly, how could Jimin ever get tired of seeing this every morning?

As much as Taehyung itched to have pups right after they’ve mated, they both decided to wait it out for while, prepare themselves, make sure that they were really ready to have pups of their own. And so Minji was born during their second Spring together. Jimin and Taehyung’s lives have been filled with unending sunshine day in and day out since. Even the rest of their pack can't seem to get enough of her. Jungkook and Yoongi come by almost everyday for cuddles and playtime. Jimin is a proud man, and he will always be the first one to gush about how beautiful their daughter is with her long, wavy chestnut hair, the identical boxy smile she got from Taehyung, her chubby cheeks and fingers from Jimin, and a heart too big for her tiny body.

Jimin’s chest swells as he watches his lover and their little three-year-old princess have the time of their lives, singing and dancing to songs he feels like he might be too old to listen to anymore.

“Life can be so much more.” they sing, and yes , Jimin’s life is so much more than he’d imagined it to be years ago.

“With you!” Taehyung sets Minji down by the edge of the breakfast counter.

“With you!” Minji squeaks back.

“ No, with you!” he tickles her sides, and Minji laughs so hard she misses the next line.

The music slows down. Taehyung leans in, bumping his and Minji’s foreheads together, wide grin and stars in his eyes, “Love is an open door…” he bops her nose with his finger. “Can I say something crazy?”

Minji giggles, hiding her nose in her hands.

“I love you, honey.”

“I love you too, Pa!” Minji kisses Taehyung on the lips before she flings her arms around to hug the omega.

Jimin’s heart right out melts. Part of him doesn’t want to disturb their little moment, but the other part, the slightly jealous part, wants to smother them with love and be smothered by them in return. He pushes himself off the wall, clapping his hands. “That was your best performance, yet!”

“Daddy!” Minji chirrups. Taehyung barely gets her off the counter when she scrambles on her tiny feet, running towards Jimin’s already open arms. She jumps into Jimin’s arms, latching onto him, and burying her face in his chest.

“Morning my little koala bear.” covering her small face with sweet kisses is another thing Jimin loves doing in the morning. Minji always giggles and then starts playfully pushing Jimin’s face away in protest while Taehyung pouts and demands for kisses as well. Today, however, they don’t. Minji lets him drown her in affection and from the corner of his eyes he can see Taehyung resting his face in his hands on the counter, smiling fondly at them.

“I’m your favorite koala bear, right Daddy?” she cups Jimin’s face (or tries to with as much surface of Jimin’s face her small hands can cover). She’s too endearing it leaves Jimin still awestruck knowing that she is his. Completely and wonderfully his and Taehyung’s.

“Yes, you are. You’re my favorite koala bear. My beautiful sunshine. Always and forever.” he says, nuzzling their noses together. “What have you guys been doing besides dancing and singing?”

“Pa and I made birthday pancakes!”

“Oh, you did?” The alpha looks over her shoulder where his and Taehyung’s eyes met for the first time this morning. He cheekily smirks and winks at Jimin. “Who’s birthday is it?” he asks, turning his face back to Minji.

“It’ your birthday, silly.” she sounds so funny and slightly affronted that Jimin seemed to forget his own birthday.

“Ahh, it is my birthday.” Jimin affirms.

“C’mon, daddy, let’s eat! Let’s eat!” Minji squirms and Jimin lets her down. She runs towards the kitchen table where Taehyung has already set up all the plates with the stack of pancakes and all the necessary condiments (chocolate and maple syrup, fruits, sprinkles and mini marshmallows) in the middle.

Minji climbs into her seat, fork already in hand when she realizes that something is missing. Her brows crease as she asks, “Where’s Floof?”

“You left Floof in daddy’s bedroom, honey. Want me to get him for you?” Jimin says.

“Nope! I’ll get him.” and Minji’s off waddling down the hallway. Jimin can’t help but grin after her.

“Hey.” long arms loop around Jimin’s middle.

“Hey there.” Jimin wastes no time capturing Taehyung’s lips. Jimin tries not to kiss Taehyung too much in front of Minji. If he does, of course only chaste kisses in front of their daughter. Gotta keep it PG. But he grabs every opportunity to get these moments where he can just drink up and drown in Taehyung’s lips. And right now he has about two minutes before Minji comes back.

“You turned off my alarm and snuck out of bed.” Jimin bites at Taehyung’s lower lip. The omega sighs and Jimin grins. It never fails.

“Minji and I wanted to surprise you. The pancakes were her idea,” Taehyung chuckles, pressing his body closer against Jimin’s. Soft. Taehyung is so soft. “She couldn’t stop talking about making lots and lots of pancakes for you. She loves you so much, I think she might love you even more than I do.”

“Are you getting to the stage where you’re slowly getting tired of  me already? Five years is a little too soon, don’t you think?”

“Hmm, well..”

“Hey!” Jimin smacks Taehyung’s arm, mouth agape, ripping a wonderful laugh from Taehyung. It sounds so velvety and fluffy, Jimin will never get enough of it.

“Baby, I could never get tired of you.” Taehyung entwines their fingers. Jimin’s eyes flicker towards their wrists where their matching soulmark sit. My Twinstar. Proud and for everyone to see.

“You better not. We’re kind of stuck together by the universe, you know.” Jimin kisses the little mole on Taehyung’s nose.

“Mhhmm, I don’t mind being stuck with you forever.” the omega lilts, scenting and placing butterfly kisses on the mating mark on Jimin’s neck. It feels so good being with Taehyung the way he’s always wanted to be with him. It almost feels like a dream. This is real, and damn it, Jimin wants to carry Taehyung back into the bedroom and do very explicit adult things to him, but also cuddle and just hold him.

Taehyung lets up, and Jimin bemoans the sudden loss of Taehyung’s warm lips on his skin. “Are you ready for surprise number two?”

“Huh? There’s more? I thought the pancakes--”

“Daddy!” Minji trills from behind him. Floof is carefully tucked under her armpit, one of its long ears almost draping over Minji’s entire arm. She’s holding out a white box adorning a sparkly gold ribbon.

“What’s this?” Jimin asks, brushing her hair behind her ears.

“Your birthday present! Pa picked it out, but I picked the ribbon. It’s pretty, right daddy?”

“It is.” Jimin beams.

“Open it! Open it!” his daughter bounces, tugging the stuffed dog from under her arm to her chest.

Jimin takes the box into his hands. It’s light. He shakes it, and by the sound of it, there must be more than one thing inside. With gentle fingers, Jimin undoes the ribbon while Minji squeaks with excitement.

("She gets her squeaky laugh from you, you know." Taehyung whispered while he ran his fingers through Minji's hair. She loved it when Taehyung does that. 

Normally they would carry Minji back to her own bed because night time is Taehyung and Jimin time, but she knocked out between them after an intense tickling session which Jimin was undoubtedly responsible for. Minji looked content, lips in a cute pout, her lashes clumped with tears from too much laughing. Her chest rose and fell slowly, and her little fingers curled into Jimin's shirt. She looked so peaceful and absolutely precious, neither of them had the heart to disturb that moment. 

"And her wild imagination from you." Jimin smiled as he softly caressed her pink cheek with his thumb.

They often liked to play this game of enumerating the different traits Minji got from them.

"Your half moon eyes whenever she smiles."

"Your resting bitch face." Jimin countered, merely mouthing the B word just in case Minji was only half sleeping.

"She hides her face behind her hands when she gets too shy, just like you."

"Your unlimited supply of energy. Seriously even I don't know how you never run out of it." Jimin chuckled.

"Your death glare when you're upset or someone or something irritates you."

Jimin couldn't even argue with that. He knew that everyone he knew knew how dangerous he could get when something invaded his peace and that of the people he loved. "That's a good trait to have. It'll help keep haughty alphas away from her in the future."

"Let's please not talk about our daughter's teenage self. I'm not ready for her to grow up yet." Taehyung grimaced. "Besides, what if she grows up to be an alpha?"

"Then she'll be a fierce one." Jimin huffs proudly. But whatever she would grow up to be doesn't really matter. "Actually, she'll be fierce no matter what. She gets that from both of us." he added and Taehyung's eyes crinkled as he smiled at him.

There was a moment of silence. Comfortable silence with only Minji's soft breathing penetrating it. It was a perfect moment. 

"The other day," Jimin looked up at the sound of Taehyung's voice. "She tried on the white dress with flower prints on them that Hoseok-hyung bought for her. She paired it with the straw hat with the yellow ribbon Jin-hyung brought back from his and Jungkookie's vacation in Jeju last week." the omega adjusted the blanket over Minji's torso. "She kept asking me 'Pa, do I look good? I look pretty Pa, right?'"  he chuckled at the memory, and Jimin fell in love a little more. "She definitely has a praise kink. And she definitely got that from you."

Red heat rushed up Jimin's face and ears. "Excuse me? I do not!" he hissed incredulously. 

His mate snorted. Snorted! "Yes, you do. Should I remind you of the times you would ask me to tell you how good you make me feel when--"

"Okay, I think we should go to bed now." Jimin cut him off before he could finish that thought because they were not going to talk about their saucy sex lives with Minji in the room. No, thank you. 

"But we already are in bed." Taehyung pouted cutely, and Jimin threw the little Kumamon plushie Yoongi gave Minji for her birthday at Taehyung. 

"Ha ha. Nice try, smartypants. Sleep. Now. Or else Minji's gonna wake up and none of us will get a wink's sleep." 

"I love it when you put your alpha pants on." Taehyung winked.

"You're hopeless." Jimin sighed, but smiled despite himself as he pulled them both closer and slung his arm around them under the blanket. Minji rolled around in her sleep and snuggled her face into Jimin's chest. It melted Jimin's heart. He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes. "She's a cuddler. Just like you."

"And you." Taehyung added softly. "I'm happy she has a little bit of you and me in her."

"Me, too."

They fell asleep to the sound of Minji's soft snoring and their hands linked together under the covers.)

His breath catches in his throat while his heart thuds loudly in his chest when he finally lifts the cover. Inside lay a pair of shoes that are ten times too small for him. They look almost identical to the peach ones he and Taehyung bought for Minji when she started walking.

They have been talking about having another pup for a while now. After three years, it was high time for another addition to their little family. But they never actively planned on when because they want things to unfold on their own. Let life surprise them. Well, Jimin sure as fuck is surprised. He feels like crying, and laughing, and maybe also screaming for joy. He’s not sure which he wants to do. He’s too stunned to say anything.

Jimin looks over his shoulder, searching for his mate’s eyes. “Tae… Is this-- Are you--?”

“Happy birthday, Jiminnie.” The omega's smile stretches out from ear to ear, Jimin thinks his heart is about to burst.

Jimin stands up, the small pair of shoes still in his hand as he leans back into Taehyung’s space. “How long have you known?” he rasps. He feels light. So light.

“About a week. I was thinking of how to go about this, and I think I picked the perfect time to do it today.” he takes Jimin’s face in his hands. “Are you happy?” Taehyung asks through a smile. It sounds watery, and Jimin is most definitely about to start tearing up as well.

“Kim Taehyung, I love you so, so much.” he pulls Taehyung closer by his waist.

“I’ll take that as a yes, then.” he giggles.

“I’m going to kiss you now.”

“Okay.”

Jimin arches an eyebrow, but he's already one breath away from reaching Taehyung's lips. “Minji probably shouldn’t see this.”

Taehyung only shrugs. “Maybe we should make the most out of it now. She’ll start complaining about us being all gross once she becomes a teenager anyway.”

They kiss. It’s more than a peck, less than anything too sensual for their daughter’s eyes, but Jimin’s heart feels so full. It’s bursting at the seams, overflowing. If there was anything higher than cloud nine, that’s probably where Jimin is floating on right now.

“I love you, Jiminnie.” Taehyung contentedly sighs.

Smaller arms wrap around Jimin’s leg. He’s met with big eyes full of innocent wonder, and Jimin’s chest aches with joy. He hauls his daughter up, balancing her on his hip.

“These shoes are too small for me to wear, baby.”

“I know.” Minji sticks her thumb into her mouth.

“Do you know for who these shoes really are?” Jimin asks.

“It’s for my baby bwother or sister.” she answers matter-of-factly.

“Smart girl.” Jimin plants a kiss on her forehead. “Are you excited to have a new sibling?”

“Yes!” Minji flings her arms into the air. “I want ten sibwing pups!”

Jimin nearly chokes on his own spit because first of all, that’s a lot , and secondly, she definitely got her pup obession from Taehyung as well.

“Me too! I want ten more pups, too!” Taehyung sing songs, clutching onto Jimin’s free arm and high fiving Minji with his free hand.

They erupt into a mixture of more giggles and laughter. It’s the most beautiful song to Jimin’s ears. It probably sounds ridiculous to have eleven pups, but when Jimin looks at Taehyung and Minji, he knows that he’s ready to give them the whole universe if they asked him to.

Five years ago, Jimin never thought that he’d be where he is today. Five years isn’t a long time, but it’s enough for the thousands of memories they’ve created so far. He couldn’t ask for more. Jimin has everything he’s ever wanted right here, right now. The future looks bright, and this is only the beginning.