Chapter Text
PROLOGUE
The room felt hot, even though he could hear the AC working in the background, but right at that moment there was nothing he could focus on other than the overwhelming sensations coming over his body: the burning heat under his skin, hands pulling at his clothes, grabbing his waist, a tongue in his mouth, lips then moving down to his neck, to his scent gland and the grind of two hard members frustratingly separated by their respective dress pants.
It took him a moment to realize that it was him making the loud moans that filled the room, mixing with the agitated gasps of the man currently pushing him down on the bed, already half naked.
And the scent… like a storm out at sea, and a hint of mint - it was delicious and was driving him crazy with lust; his own scent had taken a note of coconut and sun-warmed wood that seemed to have a similar effect on his partner.
Deep down, he knew this was not normal; his last coherent thought was leaving the stupid party he had been dragged to and then the realization that he was most definitely in the middle of his heat (though he was sure it was too soon after his last one), plus in the eight years since he had presented and started his heat cycle, it had never hit him this hard. At most, his heats so far had been a vague inconvenience of a mild fever and over-sensitivity that lasted a couple of days.
He had never felt the need to follow an alpha to his room like he had not 30 minutes ago when the Alpha in the elevator asked him if he was all right. As a general rule, he tried to stay away from alphas near his heat, the proximity just made him horny and… and he still didn’t react this way.
Yes, there was something very off, and if it weren’t for the person currently driving him crazy with his scent, he could probably figure out what it was.
Not that it mattered when a low voice fairly growled in his ear, “Are you ready, Omega?”
“Yes, Alpha.”
The Alchemy That You Do
Chapter ONE: The Stranger’s Song
(One Week After the Party)
The concept of marriage was not one Min Yoongi entertained often. Once upon a time, while nursing a crush on his college roommate, he had a vague fantasy of it, but since he never got around asking said college roommate out, nothing came of it. Then there was Nara, his ex, to whom he almost proposed because they had been together for two years, his thirtieth birthday was looming closer, and she had been dropping hints left and right.
That relationship had ended publicly and messily almost 5 years ago, and Yoongi was not relishing winding up in the tabloids again, much less drag his company, Cypher Entertainment into it, which was why this marriage was even happening in the first place.
Getting caught in bed with a 23-year-old omega, whose name Yoongi didn’t even know at the time, after spending three days locked up in his hotel room having marathon sex (thanks to the omega’s heat triggering his own rut, apparently) was not something Min Yoongi wanted to be made public.
If it had only been sex, it wouldn’t have been a problem – oh, there would have been a few raised eyebrows, and snide comments made about their age difference – but adding the fact that he had bitten and marked the Omega, well… that just about sealed his fate.
Their fate, he corrected himself, looking across the conference table to Park Jimin, looking small and nervous sitting between his father and their lawyer. Yoongi’s bite mark barely peeking from the high collar of Jimin’s shirt. Marking and abandoning an omega was …
“Unacceptable! This is Unacceptable!!!!” Park Jihyuk exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table, and making his son jump.
“Mr. Jang, please explain to your client that this is a perfectly standard pre-nuptial agreement, and as good as he’s going to get under the circumstances.” Kim Seokjin explained placidly from where he sat at Yoongi’s left, reminding Yoongi why he paid his friend huge amounts to money to be the head-counsel for Cypher Entertainment and his personal lawyer.
Because of his good looks - and omega status – most people tended to underestimate Jin, which he used to his full advantage.
“Well-“ Mr. Jang started, but Jin cut him off.
“The reality is, Mr. Park, that your son is already mated to my client; there is no legal recourse for you to prevent the marriage as your son is of age. In fact, I shouldn’t even be talking to you right now if not for the fact that you barged in here making crazy demands.”
“HE DEFILED MY SON!”
“Father, please.” Park Jimin pleaded, sinking further down into his seat.
“Debatable.” If anything, the footage from the elevator showed that it was Jimin who had jumped Yoongi.
“He was supposed to marry Shin Min-Ik!” Mr. Park roared, naming a well-known, recently divorced CEO of an electronics company. Well-known for both his lecherous ways and business acumen.
“No, I wasn’t,” Jimin said before he could stop himself.
“Shut up boy!” Mr. Park snarled at his son before turning back to them, pointing one accusatory finger at Yoongi, while still talking to Jin “All the arrangements had been made!”
It was only because Yoongi happened to be staring at Jimin that he noticed the started and barely audible “oh!” that left his lips and the way his eyes-widened, like he had just come to a realization.
“Your client’s inability to control himself cost me fortune, no one will have him now! He’s damaged goods and you offer me this garbage!” Mr. Park went on.
“If by garbage you mean that there is no money in it for you, then yes.” Jin said calmly. “But your son will be provided for and taken care of, what more could a parent want?”
-
What indeed, thought Park Jimin. Clearly, these people didn’t know Park Jihyuk. Jimin did though, and now he felt stupid for not realizing what his father had done sooner.
It wasn’t like it was the first time. His father had been shoving him at rich, older alphas basically since he had presented. That night at the party… when things felt odd and Jimin couldn’t figure out why… now he knew, just as he knew it was in his best interest to get away from his father, while he still could.
“I’ll take it.” Jimin said decisively, pulling his copy of the pre-nup closer to himself and prompting everyone else around the table to look at him.
“Shut up, stupid omega!” Mr. Park snapped, making as if to slap him like he had done so many times throughout Jimin’s life, stopping only because of the hair-raising, low growl that the alpha across the table emitted at that moment; and settling for grabbing Jimin’s arm and attempting to yank him from his seat. Though luck for his father though, as Jimin was heavier than he looked, and he had insane core-strength from his years of dance training.
“You-you said he doesn’t have to agree, right? Because I’m of age and already mated, so he has no recourse, right?” Jimin said rapidly, focusing on Mr. Min’s Lawyer, not bothering with his own, as Jimin knew Mr. Jang only cared about Park Jihyuk’s interests and not Jimin’s.
“Uh, right.” Mr. Lawyer said, a bit taken a back.
“Can I still go to school, work, see my mom? things like that?”
“Of course.” Mr. Lawyer frowned, like insulted Jimin thought he would write prohibitions for those things in a pre-nup; and it was wonder that even the frown didn’t detract from Mr. Lawyer’s good looks.
“Then I’ll sign it. I agree.”
*.*
After another attempt from Mr. Park senior to remove Park Jimin, and another growl from Yoongi - even if they were practically strangers, there was already a mating bond between them, the idiots had bitten each other and, in any case, alphas didn’t like seeing their omegas mistreated - Kim Seokjin decided that it was better to just call security to remove Mr. Park and Mr. Jang from the premises of Cypher Entertainment, it wasn’t like they were needed anyway.
Now it was just him, Yoongi and Park Jimin. Park Jimin who seemed a lot more relaxed now, if not completely at ease as Jin watched him and Yoongi sign their names where Jin told them to. Finally, he pulled out the pre-filled marriage registration form and had them sign it, calling Namjoon and Hoseok to serve as witnesses for this last part.
“I’ll go file the paperwork myself, to ensure everything goes right.” Jin said once the ink had dried.
“Thanks, Jin.” Yoongi said, tiredly.
“I’ll even wait around for the marriage certificate.” Jin tried to make light of the situation.
Yoongi nodded, “We should get back to the studio,” He said, nodding toward Namjoon and Hoseok before adding, “Can you make sure someone takes him to the house?” Without waiting for a response, he turned to leave.
“I-I still need to get my things, say goodbye to my mom.” Jimin said timidly. “If it’s, okay?”
“If Jin can spare someone to take you, it’s fine.” Yoongi said without even looking back.
Really, barely 10 minutes married and Yoongi was already being an ass, Jin was going to have words with him.
“Jin,” Namjoon said softly, “Don’t interfere.”
“I wasn’t going to” Jin lied.
“Sure.” Joon said, humoring his husband. “I’ll see you at home.”
“See you.” Jung Hoseok said, following his two friends out.
Jin nodded, feeling quite done with his day already. And he still had Park Jimin to deal with.
“Okay,” Jin said, mostly to himself. “Let’s hurry to the City Hall to file these papers, and then I’ll drive you home.”
“I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”
“Too late for that.”
This whole day had been an inconvenience.
*--*
Jimin stared out of the window of the car as he and Mr. Lawyer – he really should have paid more attention when the older man had introduced himself - drove away from City Hall, his newly printed and stamped marriage certificate safely tucked away in the folder he held in his lap. So far, getting married was decidedly unspectacular. Mr. Lawyer had just handled the papers over to the clerk, and 10 minutes later, they were walking out of the building.
Who knew you could register a marriage without needing both parties to be present? Jimin was quite grateful his own father had never figured that one out.
“It was really stupid of you to sign that pre-nup without reading it.” Mr. Lawyer said after a while.
Jimin shrugged, “Mr. Min seems like a decent sort, better than Shin Min-Ik or whatever other weird alpha my father would have scrounged up next.”
Mr. Lawyer frowned, like there was a lot to unpack there and he wasn’t sure where to start and, after a moment, he settled on: “Yoongi is the best, but you had no way of knowing that.”
“He could have walked away from this whole mess, leave me at that hotel to deal with my father alone, but he didn’t.”
“Marking an omega and then discarding them is still pretty taboo in our society.” Mr. Lawyer commented, “Unmated couples divorce all the time, but mated ones rarely do.”
“True but Alphas can still get away with it most of the time, when something fails the blame always falls on the Omegas.” Jimin countered. Under the law, all sub-genders had equal rights, but society was slower to change their ways, and omegas were still the preferred scapegoats for all type of things.
Mr. Lawyer nodded, “I can’t say you are wrong about that.”
-
Kim Seokjin was an observant man and a pretty good judge of character in his own opinion, and something wasn’t really adding up with Park Jimin.
Jin had been prepared to hate the younger man on sight, thinking he was probably a hotel groupie that had jumped at the chance to spend the night with a famous musician like Yoongi. Their industry was full of such people – many of whom had tried to lure Jin’s own husband over the years, which had only added to Jin’s blind dislike.
But, as he prepared the necessary documents needed for the marriage, all the information Jin gathered on Park Jimin had been unremarkable: he was born in Busan, recently graduated from Seoul National University’s Contemporary Dance program. From their meeting that morning, it was easy to see that Jimin’s father was an asshole, made sense he would want to marry Yoongi quickly. From their snippets of conversation in the car, Jin realized that Jimin was a surprisingly clear-eyed, and practical man, especially for someone so young.
And now they were walking through the garden of a large mansion in Bukchon, away from the main house and toward a small guest house in the back. Jin saw Jimin pause at the door to the small house, taking a deep breath and plastering a smile on his face before going in.
Inside the house it was dim and a bit stuffy, and it smelled a little bit off but at first Jin couldn’t place what it was, only that it made his omega feel a bit restless as his eyes adjusted and he noticed a small, frail looking woman sleeping on the lone couch in the living area.
“Jimin-ah? Is that you?”
“Yes, Eomma.” Jimin said softly, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I wasn’t asleep, just resting my eyes,” the woman said, moving her right hand dismissively… and that’s when Jin noticed the clear tube taped to the back of her hand, connecting her to a bag of fluids. “Where is your father?”
“Probably with Mr. Jang.” Jimin said with casually, “And he’s not going to be happy with me for a while, Eomma, I’m sorry.”
“Jimin-ah, you have to listen to your father, he means well… he just wants the best for you.”
Jin snorted at that, and it was as if Jimin finally remembered he was there. “I’m going to go stay with some friends, okay? But I will still come visit as much as I can, I’m just not sure yet how often that will be.”
Jimin’s mom nodded vaguely and turned way, staring distractedly at something across the room, her gaze becoming unfocused.
“I’ll be right back. If she talks to you, just follow along.” Jimin said in a whisper, disappearing to the back of the house. “Don’t contradict her, that just upsets her.”
Jin took a moment to look around, everything in the house looked to be of good quality but far too generic for this to be anything more than a temporary residence: there were no photos or knick-knacks, hardly any mess but not due anyone keeping fastidious order but more like because there just was not much there other than dim lights and the stench of illness and despair making the room stuffy.
Just as Jin was beginning to wonder if he should crack open a window or something the door of the house opened again and a middle-aged woman wearing a nurse’s uniform stepped in, a covered tray in her hands.
“Oh, hello there!” She said affably, setting the tray on the small table in the kitchenette area. “Who are you?”
“Kim Seokjin, ma’am.”
“Pretty name, pretty face. Are you the one who wanted to marry our Jiminie?” She took a careful sniff, “I thought it was an alpha, you smell like an omega.”
“That’s his lawyer, Yiro-ssi,” Jimin said, reappearing with a duffel bag hanging from his shoulder.
“And friend, Yoongi and I are friends. He asked me to give Jimin a ride home since everyone else is so busy at work.”
“Oh, so you really went through with it? Jiminie-“
“Everything is fine, Yiro-ssi, don’t worry. But we should probably leave before Father comes back. And don’t say anything to him, you know how it upsets, Eomma.”
“I know, I know.” The older woman said, waving her hand.
“Here, keep this for emergencies, okay?” Jimin was passing her a small envelope.
“Jiminie, no! you were saving that to sing up for school. If we need something, I’ll ask your uncle. We’ll be fine.”
“Let’s not bother Uncle more than we have to. It’ll make me feel way better to know you have some extra in case she wants something.” Finally, the woman took the envelope. “I’ll be in touch, okay? Mr. Law- I mean, Mr. Kim, do you know if there is a land-line at Mr. Min’s house?”
“Uh, there is but I don’t really know the number. It’s registered as private in our phones, you know in case we lose them or something.” Jin said apologetically, reaching into his suit jacket for a cardcase, pulling out a business card and extending it to the nurse. “But this is my number, if you have an emergency, you can call me, I’ll make sure to pass on the message.”
“I’ll try to get a phone soon, Yiro-ssi.”
“And visit.”
“And visit.” Jimin agreed. “We should get going now.” He turned and went to hug his mother, who was still looking into space. “I’ll be back in a few days, Eomma. Be good for Yiro-ssi.”
“Are you leaving, Jimin-ah?” The woman asked, their previous conversation already forgotten.
“For a few days, Eomma. I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay. Love you.” She said, pulling him in for a brief hug before zooning out again.
“Come on, Mrs. Ahn, it’s time to eat, the cook made your favorite white kimchi for you.” The nurse steered Jimin’s mom toward the kitchenette at the other end of the room, briefly waving goodbye at Jimin.
“Let’s go while she’s distracted.”
They put the lone duffel bag in the trunk of the car and climbed back in, Jimin was being even more quiet than before, which was saying something.
“Will your mother be okay?”
“Uh? Yeah, Yiro-ssi takes good care of her- My Mom, um, she had an accident a couple of years back, left some brain-damage that manifests similarly to early-on-set dementia. She’ll forget I was even here by the time she finishes eating.”
“Silver linings, right?”
“That’s what I tell myself.” Jimin nodded. “So, where exactly are we going now?”
…
The day of Jimin’s marriage continued its strange journey as Mr. Kim drove them into Hannam, explaining that Cypher owned a good deal of property in the area, including the building where the company’s HQ was located, a building they had adapted into dorms for the company’s trainees and a couple other commercial properties.
“We all used to have apartments in the Trainees’ Building, but once Joon and I had our fist pup, we wanted more space, and it just made sense to buy a place nearby. Then Ji-Eun and Hobi decided to move in together and Yoongi was thinking of proposing to Nara, so we all wound up being neighbors again.”
“You seem to be a very tight-knit bunch.”
“We are. I’ve known them for about 15 years, when I moved to Seoul for school. Joon, Yoongs and Hobi have been making music together since before that.”
“Must be nice.” Jimin said as Mr. Kim parked. Jimin knew he had been popular among his classmates, but he never had many close friends. Not since high school, at least, and definitely not in college when he had been so consumed with keeping his grades up, performing, working, and not losing his scholarship.
“Well, come on.” Mr. Kim led him into the big, modern house.
It only took walking in for Jimin to be assaulted by that salty scent with hints of mint that drove him to having sex with a stranger not 10 days before, landing him in this mess. It was more subdued, but it clung to every surface, and it made the bite on his neck ache, but not in a bad way.
Mr. Kim was about to give him the tour of the house when they were both startled by a loud knock on the glass doors that lead from the kitchen into the backyard. Jimin looked up to see a young woman and two small children standing there, waving animatedly, before the young woman slid the door open.
“Daddy!” The elder of the children yelled as he ran to Mr. Kim, followed by a smaller girl.
“Hello there, my little menaces!” Mr. Kim said happily, gathering the kids close to him and gently scenting them, wrapping them in the scent of apples and sugar. “You didn’t have to bring them over; I was about to go pick them up.”
“I just couldn’t wait! I wanted to meet our new sister-wife!” The woman said, laughter in her voice.
“Ji-Eun, we are not sister-wives! That’s not what that means!”
Ji-Eun gave him her ‘whatever you say’ look and turned to Jimin who had to admit was a bit starstruck by the singer-actress in front of him. “My mom is a huge fan of yours.” He said without thinking.
Lee Ji-Eun laughed and stepped close to pinch Jimin’s cheeks “Oh you are charming. Hobi told me you were cute when he called, but you’re also charming! This is great!”
Jimin found himself enveloped in the scent of Lilacs – sweet, sharp and a little spicy, the scent of Korean lilacs to be more specific – and he felt his tense muscles relax slightly for the first time all day.
Before anyone could say anything else, the doorbell rang and Ji-Eun jumped excitedly, “Oh, food is here! Can you get it, Jin-oppa?” She batted her eyelashes at him.
“That only works on your husband.” Jin said dismissively, and Ji-Eun added a small pout, which made Jin sigh and go get the door mumbling something that sounded like ‘mightiest pout in all Korea’ and ‘ridiculous’.
“Ha! Never fails!” She said triumphantly. “Moon-ie, Sunny, come on, let’s wash up. I hope you are hungry; I ordered a ton of food because I didn’t know what you’d like.”
“That’s very kind of you, IU-ssi.”
“Please, don’t call me that! Just Ji-Eun is fine, or even Nonna. I try not to be IU when I’m at home.”
“Thank you, Nonna.”
“It’s okay if I call you by your name, then? It’s Jimin, right?”
“Yeah.”
Jimin spent most of the next couple our hours basically glued to Ji-Eun, who was every bit as lovely and kind as Jimin had ever seen her be in interviews. Even Jin – who eventually said Jimin could call him Jin-Hyung – relaxed a bit, especially after he drank a couple of beers they found in the fridge, plus being around his pups always put him in a good mood.
She still made prodding questions here and there, but they weren’t sharp, at least Jimin didn’t feel any true bite to them, like he sometimes felt with Jin’s, and her scent remained pleasant and soothing through it all.
“So, you really didn’t know who Yoongi was? Didn’t know about Cypher and RapLine.” She asked.
“Well, I was pretty out of it by the time I saw Mr. Min in the elevator; and I have heard their music before, like who hasn’t, but I don’t know it by heart, nope.”
“Well, at least you are not a groupie. I hate groupies.” Jin said darkly. “You’re better than Nara, so far.”
“A slug is better than Nara.” Ji-Eun commented and then, noticing Jimin’s confusion added. “That’s Sugie’s Ex. She sucked – his dick, mostly, but also just in general.”
“Well, I should get going. Joonie will be home soon, and I haven’t started dinner yet.”
“They never come back before six, and we just ate.” Ji-Eun commented.
“Making roast, it takes time.” Jin shrugged and started gathering his children.
“Urgh, you are such a housewife. But feel free to drop some leftovers at my house tomorrow!”
“You are such a leech!” Jin said, sticking his tongue out as he left through the same door Ji-Eun had come through hours earlier.
“But I’m your sister-wife!”
“That’s not what it means! We just share a backyard!”
“And how fucking weird is that?” She yelled back and then started laughing. “It gets him every time.”
“We share a backyard?”
“Yeah, come look.” She said, steering him toward the glass doors Jin had just used. “See, over there is our house, and over there is Nam and Jin’s,” she pointed, and sure enough, over the distance he could see Jin and his two pups walking toward a house and a set of doors like the ones he was currently standing at. “We can get to each other’s houses through the backyard, those fences over there, we can slide them open, and often do when we have parties here.”
“Must be quite a sight.”
“It is. Maybe we can throw one together sometime soon, to celebrate your marriage.”
“You might want to check with Mr. Min, first.” Jimin said, shifting a little. “I still don’t get why this means we are sister-wives, though.”
“Oh! That! When Jin-oppa was pregnant with Moon-ie, the guys had to go do some award show or something and he was moping about being abandoned – he gets dramatic when he’s pregnant - so I went to hang out with him and we marathon watched this old-series about a polygamous family, a guy and three wives, and like each wife had their own house but they all shared a backyard. Soon after we bought these houses, and I just remembered that detail, so I’ve been bothering him with it ever since.
“Anyway,” She added. “I think I’m gonna head back too, get out of your hair for a bit, it must have been quite a day.”
“And it’s not even 6 yet.”
Ji-Eun laughed, “I’ll see you around, Jimin. And don’t mind Jin so much, he’s just very protective of the guys since he has known them the longest. He wasn’t much better with me when I first started seeing Hobi, it’s a bit worse with Sugie because he was the first friend Jin ever made in Seoul or something, and then there was the Nara debacle. He’s just trying to protect him.”
“I don’t mean Mr. Min any harm, honestly I don’t.”
“I hope so.” She grinned. “I’ve always thought that things happen for a reason. Suga is one of the most in-control people I’ve ever met, if something in you caused him to lose his head a bit, then I’m choosing to think it was something good, something worth exploring. Just give him a bit of time, he’s a really nice person once you get to know him. Jin too, for that matter.”
“Thank you, Nonna.”
Ji-Eun scrunched up his nose at him and left with a wave and a smile.
.
Once the house was empty, Jimin took a moment to properly look around. Jin had never given him a tour after all, and he had only seen the kitchen and the living room. He was curious about the rest of the house but wasn’t sure if it was okay to wander around.
Instead, Jimin decided to clean up the wrappers and other trash from the food they had eaten earlier, putting away the leftovers, wondering if he too should start cooking something for dinner… only to remember that beyond the most basic things, his cooking sucked.
Really, Jimin was no prize to be had, and it was entirely surreal how he found himself now in this ridiculously large house, in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Seoul, married to Mr. Min Yoogi of the legendary group RapLine and head producer of Cypher Entertainment.
How was this his life?
-