Chapter Text
Taehyung isn't your typical omega.
He doesn't crave belly rubs, gentle touches and a big strong alpha to nest with. On the contrary, his cravings mostly revolve around being treated as a big, strong alpha himself.
Not that he wants to be one. He would never.
It's just that he thinks he deserves the respect alphas are entitled to by being born into their rank.
Taehyung wants to be equal.
He isn't frail, doesn't need constant protection from others and will probably break your arm (or die trying) if you open car doors for him or insist to carry his bag. No, it isn't too heavy, and his fingers aren't weak too, they can open the doors just fine on their own.
It's not that Taehyung doesn't like courtesy. He's a big fan actually.
It's that alphas rarely ever do it because they're just that caring and thoughtful. They do it because it gets their stupid alpha blood going, gives them a sense of achivement to know they helped a a poor little omega in need.
But Taehyung isn't in need, especially not in need for an alpha. He will never be.
See, he doesn't care much about ranks. He doesn't give a damn about that soulmate crap either. Just because God woke up one day and decided that his ass is gonna be knottable, his tummy breadable, and his mouth shut because an alpha said so, doesn't mean Taehyung's gonna respect some silly rules society made to downgrade him for life.
He couldn't understand how people (yes, people because people is what they are, at least in half-although Taehyung firmly believes his ratio is at least 51% human, 49% wolf (yes, that one percent matters)) just embraced that order as if it was nothing.
Betas, he could understand. They were in the middle, living peacefully. They were Switzerland.
The war was always raging in between alphas and omegas. Omegas like Taehyung, which weren't many.
How and why would any omega just accept the degrading role they were given was beyond him.
Alphas, on the other hand, took advantage of their position at any given chance. Not all alphas, no, but enough of them for Taehyung to have prejudice, feel disgusted or endangered by ever single one.
He had the right to. He was given a reason to, every day since he was born.
So Taehyung despises alphas, some because they deserved it, some because they found themselves in a very unfortunate bunch. Jeon Jungkook fits into the first category.
He is everything Taehyung hates: haughty, entitled and concerningly conservative.
He's an animal and he takes pride in that fact.
Taehyung thinks he should be caged like one.
Jeon Jungkook isn't just any alpha, like that wouldn't be bad enough. He's a pureblood,
member of one of the three greatest packs that had done and would do everything to keep their precious social position.
And when Taehyung says anything, he means anything. Three hundred years ago they were fucking each other not to dirty their royal blood and now, in 21 century where any form of incest is looked down on, they still treat omegas as no more than pup making machines.
He's just a fancy dog breed, is what Taehyung sees it as.
He abhores it. He abhores him too, despite what the other might think, but what he cannot change Taehyung tries to ignore.
Families like his are too mighty for him to singlehandedly take down. He daydreams about it a lot though.
Jungkook doesn't get the message. Or, in fact, he does, he just doesn't care about receiving it and leaving him be, like most alphas would. It isn't exactly common for an alpga to be wrecking their heads over an omega's opinion.
Jungkook doesn't either-he isn't bothered by it, he's entertained, and the only thing that amuses him more than Taehyung's progressive stances is how annoyed he gets when Jungkook claims differently and tries to prove him wrong.
Their stances clash, to say the least.
Taehyung avoids encounters with him at any cost. He has been successful for about a year. Their whole junior year has gone by without too many incidents.
Then Jimin, his best friend and an actual soulmate, had to fuck it up majorly by developing a romantic connection with Jungkook's pal, Yoongi. Now Taehyung has to see his face more often than he"d like to and Jungkook uses every opportunity to make his life a living hell.
"Hi love." Yoongi greets, patting Jimin on the head like he's actually a dog or something.
Taehyung holds back from expressing his opinion on it for whole two seconds, until Jimin coos back.
"Hi alpha."
He gags, slapping his palm over his mouth to keep all the non-existent vomitt in in a dramatic display of disgust.
Yoongi is pretty okay. Decent. For an alpha, that is.
He's patient, understanding and had never shown any violent tendencies as far as Taehyung knows. He makes Jimin happy so Taehyung stands him but that's as much as he'll do for a friend.
He can't like an alpha, not even if it's his best friend's boyfriend. He still stood firmly behind his claim that Jimin would fit a beta much better.
"Want head scratches too omega?'
Jungkook's voice alone can make him rachett for real but the condescending tone he uses followed by an attempt to pet him over the head turn his disgust into anger.
One thing that antagonizes Taehyung about Yoongi is his choice of best friends.
"Get your filthy paws off me." He replies, growls, as loud as his nature allows him, smacking Jungkook's hand away while still in the air.
Taehyung's pretty sure his own is bigger but Jungkook's weights more, requires him to put strength into his hit to be actually able to move it. Even then it barely budges, lingering in that one spot in between them before Jungkook willingly drops it down to the side of his body.
"Still haven't gotten that stick out of your ass I see." He notices with a grin, leaning in as he speaks just because he knows it makes Taehyung's skin crawl. "You should get an alpha to check that out for you."
Taehyung's left eye twitches and he suspects it has something to do with the way Jungkook smells.
Unlike him, Mr. Big Reeking Alpha doesn't bother taking suppressants. Why would he when his stench has always brought him more good than bad? For an alpha, a strong scent is something to be proud of, something to flaunt and be complimented for. It was a sign of strength.
For an omega, it was a weakness. Something for strangers to ubashadely comment on, drool over and whistle after him for. Taehyung would rather not give them reasons to objectify him more than they already do.
"No thanks. I'm totally fine with not being used as a human fleshlight by one of you."
Smell of thyme, sage and pine combined burn at his nostrils, making it hard for him to breathe. He can assume which purpose each of those serve but he doesn't know for sure; Jungkook never intentionally used his phermones on him and Taehyung would like it to stay that way.
It's intense, heady, the kind of smell that would suffocate him if them two were to be trapped in a confined space. The only reason he manages to keep his head clear and brain (mostly, not entirely) uneffected is due to regular intake of suppressants. They don't only hide his own smell but regulate his hormones when he needs it the most.
He wouldn't be caught dead going all mushy over the stench of an alpha.
"You only say that because you never tried it. If you did, you'd know just how good it feels to be used by one of us." He drawls, corner of his mouth rising as he bends even lower, practically hovers over him. Taehyung fights the urge to get on his tippy toes and make the height difference smaller. "You can be prideful all you want little omega but mother nature's got it all solved for you."
His nose itches with how strong Jungkook's smell is and he has to dig his nails into his palm to stop himself from rubbing over it repeteadly, trying to soothe it. Instead, he breathes through his mouth, avoiding to inhale any more of it and unintentionally burn his nasal mucosa.
"See this?" He waves his hand in front of Jungkook, turns it left and right so he can get a proper look at it. "It can be used for two things. One, slapping idiots like you across the face." He's tempted to do just that when Jungkook fakes fear, exaggaratedly shaking in his spot. "Two, finding my prostate, which I doubt any of you would bother doing."
Jimin sighs somewhere in the background and okay, yes, Taehyung might have overshared a little but it's all Jimin's fault anyways. If it wasn't for him Taehyung would half fled the scene long ago.
He can't just leave his best friend alone with two alphas, not even if one of them is his boyfriend. It's against his moral code.
"Wow." Jungkook muses, his smile only growing the harder Taehyung stares up at him, trying to force all the defiance his body can muster into his eyes. "Do you tell everyone about your masturbation habits or is today just my lucky day?"
Taehyung finds everything annoying.
How straight Jungkook's teeth are, how unbothered he is, how he makes blood raise to his cheeks and his palms sweat in nervousness.
He shouldn't be ashamed of it, let alone flustered by it, but he can't help but feel a bit self-conscious knowing he just admitted to shoving his fingers up his ass to someone who is not more than a stranger and an alpha one at that.
It's private, intimate, or at least it would have been if Jungkook just wasn't so damn good at prying things out of him.
Taehyung's determined not to let it end there. He won't be humilliated for what alphas freely boasted about.
"Sorry to break that 15th century stigma you have going on there but omegas in fact do have a libido of their own." He manages through his teeth, not waiting for a response before he turned around and yelled to those few people scattered over their college building this early in the morning, his words echoing around the mostly empty hallways, making heads turn. "Hey everyone, I jerk off! Yeah! And I do it for my own pleasure, can you imagine that? I have this giant cucumber-"
The rest of it is pushed back down his throat, sounds muffled by the tender flesh of Jimin's palm that he not so tenderly pressed over his mouth as he dragged him away.
Taehyung protests but it too comes out incoherent and he eventually gives up, letting himself be carried over to a different hallway, this one smaller and void of Jungkook. He can still hear his laughter when he's out of sight.
Jimin holds him like that for a few seconds longer, presumably afraid that if he let go too quickly Taehyung would run off to where they came from and start screaming again, this time using more profanities. He keeps mumbling into his chin, something about how he can't take Taehyung anywhere and how him and Jungkook should just fuck it out already, but Taehyung acts deaf to it not to start another argument.
He's already ruined that little moment he had with Yoongi over there and he doesn't want to risk getting Jimin properly mad at him. Jungkook's not worth it, not in a million years.
So when Jimin does let go of him, shaking his hand free of slobber Taehyung left all over his fingers, he mutters out an apology and starts walking in the direction of their designated classroom. He's still shaken up-he will be for a while, but he's determined not to let a bad morning affect the rest of his day.
A year ago, maybe, but not today, no. Today he is grown enough to raise above the stupidness Jeon Jungkook emits and carry on with his life as if nothing had happened. He'll hold his head up high, take better care of preserving his dignity, and he definitely, absolutely, certainly, won't be dragged into another fight like that ever again.
He knows better. He is better.
"Do you really use a cucumber?"
"For fuck's sake Jimin."
*******
"That's pretty good."
Jungkook's voice startles him and he winces, innerly cursing himself for making such a slip-up.
The truth is, anyone has the potential to scare him when he is as engrossed in work as he now is but he knows Jungkook will ascribe his fear to him being an intimidating alpha Taehyung just can't keep his cool around.
He looks up at him, rightfully suspicious. Jungkook has never complimented him-not unless it was to try and fluster him so he'd have something to mock him for later; and during these 3 months they've been taking this class together he's been constantly criticizing and diminshing everyone's work, Taehyung's included.
His lips shape a 'thank you' and he's just about to say it out loud when Jungkook cuts in, sneering.
"For an omega, I mean."
Taehyung sees red and no, it's not because he's looking at Jungkook's eyes. He sees it with his lids all the way down too. It's the rage that blinds him.
He blinks at his drawing, taking in the features of a pretty girl he didn't know but had envisioned for the purpose of fullfilling their task which was a portrait of a stranger. He thinks it turned out quite well and their professor thought so too but Jungkook's sense of aestehtics seems to be much more delicate. Or he's just much more of a dick.
Either way, Taehyung ends up snapping the pencil he's holding in two.
It's not easy for him to do that- it takes him whole ten seconds to muster up the strength before he even tries, both hands gripping on the opposite sides, tears stinging in his eyes when graphite digs into his palm a bit too harshly for him to handle. He hates that he's that sensitive, hates that he can't even show anger without displaying weakness, but it only makes him more determined to succeed.
It breaks off at the middle, leaving him sore but satisfied.
He wishes he could do the same with Jungkook's thick, empty skull.
He drops the pencil (what's left of it) demonstratively on the desk in between them, cluthing his hands close to his chest right after, fingers rubbing at the skin of his palm, red and aching. He doesn't give a shit that Jungkook's watching, even less if he thinks he's being pathetic. It hurts and he tries to soothe the pain the best he can.
"Did that give you a boo boo?" Jungkook coos, once again falling into his annoying habit of towering over him. It's even worse with Taehyung sitting. "Let alpha kiss it better."
He only manages to reach out before Taehyung jumps to his feet and leans in the same way Jungkook always does, getting all up in his face.
"Fuck. Off." He speaks slowly, deliberately punctuating the words by hitting his fist against the table, hoping that way they might actually stick around in Jungkook's head for a while instead of just pouring out his ears like they usually do.
By the look on his face Taehyung can guess he failed in his intention. He looks mildly annoyed and wildly amused.
"Careful, omega."
Taehyung feels like if Jungkook adresses him using his rank one more time he'll be snapping more than just the pencil. His neck, preferrably.
"Or what?" He taunts, pushing up on his toes to try and reach Jungkook's chin at the very least. "What are you gonna do?"
He speaks before he thinks-it's always been a dangerous habit of his, but he is genuinely curious about what Jungkook has on his mind.
He's seen him pissed off a couple of times but it was always directed at other alphas. There was more than just anger then-his sense of pride must have been endangered too, his position challenged and his honor would have been stained had he not done something to defend it.
An alpha backing down is a coward and undeserving of represening his pack, especially a pack like Jungkook's.
Taehyung wondered if he'll hit him too. If he would, if he annoyed him some more. He isn't particularly fond of the idea but he'd take pride in knowing that he, just an omega, got Jungkook to react as any other alpha would.
He waits for it. He observes the unchanging features of Jungkook's face and he waits, anticipates, for any of them to twist in anger.
Mild discomfort would do too, anything really that shows Taehyung isn't the only one constantly losing his temper. It isn't very omega of him.
He gets nothing in return-at least that's what he thinks when Jungkook stays still, his face stoic and mouth unmoving; and he's about to be a bigger man and step down when something shoots through his body, wrecking it whole. Taehyung shudders, shortly but uncontrollably, before a wave of calmness splashes over him so suddenly he thinks he might drown.
Thyme, he smells it all around him, feels its calming powers as if it's been injected straight into his bloodstream. His heart-rate slows down, his muscles relax and fingers are no longer fidgety, shoulders tense.
He has angry thoughts but his body provides no support for them, casting them away as if they aren't his own.
He looks at Jungkook in horror to which the other flashes him a smile. Deep down he knows he should be wanting to slap it of his face but he feels no similar urges, just overwhelming, insurmountable calmness.
For the first time ever he's been phermoned into submission and by no other than Jungkook himself.
He tears his eyes away from the other's, intrigued and so convinclingly red, and packs up his utensils, scoffing. "Whatever."
He tries to force some annoyance in his voice but there's none and he dashes away, leaving his drawing behind in a hurry.
******
Their college is probably the only single one that offers P. E. classes for students and Taehyung is probably the only single omega that willingly takes them.
There's one other of his kind, also a boy, but they had talked once before and Taehyung has been told he's only doing it for extra cred.
He understands why most omegas would see P. E. as just another pointless torture to add to an already long list and avoid it at all costs. They aren't naturally gifted at sports-most of them at least, and even when they are they compete in their own categories. Regardless of how skilled of an individual one might be, against an alpha they barely stood a chance.
Taehyung likes sports but more than that he likes defying stereotypes.
He never leaves the class without at least one additional bruise, he frequently gets knocked over on accident and he's always, without a fail, chosen last. He's the weakest link, his team's disadvantage, and yet even losing feels rewarding knowing he gets to piss a bunch of alphas off. Teammates or not, he enjoys making them suffer.
Winning, however, is what he lives for. It's rare and most of the times it's not his merit but when it is, that's when Taehyung gets the luxury of witnessing a humilliated bunch of idiots. For alphas, losing in itself is a sign of weakness but losing against an omega, by an omega's hand, is equal to suicide.
That's the only time Taehyung is used as a weapon by his team-after the game is already over and so they can rub his rank into the others' faces, calling them out for just how pathetic they are for being defeated by an omega.
Taehyung doesn't mind. Their opinions are worthless and he'd gladly sign up as the reason behind their quarrels. If somebody lands a punch, even better.
One of those alphas is Jungkook.
He's greater at sports than Taehyung would ever admit out loud and although he is forbidden from using his powers to play mind tricks on others, his physical traits are enough of an advatange.
His reflexes are faster, his running too, his punches harder, throws always spot on.
His roots make him downright invincible and his competitivness doesn't die down no matter how many times he wins. He's always a team captain, always a star player and, more often than not, Taehyung's opponent. If they are on the same team then Jungkook makes sure to remind everyone not to pass Taehyung the ball unless they have no other choice.
Taehyung thinks it's unfair that he gets to play with other alphas but nobody cares what Taehyung thinks anyways. Others make trying to beat him into a challenge and Jungkook basks in seeing them lose. It's a win-win for everyone and Taehyung just hopes at least one of them gets hit in the head.
Their professor is a very nice, laid back beta lady that (God knows why) assessed they're mature enough to make their own decisions about what games they'll play each class and under what terms and conditions. There's usually more than one proposition and then the votes are cast. Majority wins.
Today's pick: dodgeball.
Jungkook hasn't stop grinning at him ever since they voted it out.
"You sure you don't wanna sit this one out? You can fake a sprain ankle." He brings the ball up to level it with his face, twists his fingers at the base to make it dance over them, spinning lightly. "I think this ball alone weights more than you."
That ball in itself isn't a threat but the one holding it could easily make it look and feel like the most harmful object Taehyung has ever layed his eyes on.
All it takes is one hit and Taehyung might really have a sprain ankle to flaunt. Only, he doubts Jungkook will be aiming for his feet.
"Don't worry about me too much. Keep your head in the game."
Jungkook's grin widens and that's how Taehyung knows he gave him a response he was hoping for.
He could ask Jungkook to go easy on him-say please, add an alpha, act all cute and vulnerable. Jungkook isn't stupid enough to think Taehyung has suddenly turned into this fragile little omega but he would let up just because he gains more satisfaction from Taehyung begging than from hitting him in the face with a ball.
The thing is-Taehyung wouldn't beg even if his life depended on it.
"I guess today you're gonna find out that precious equality you're so hung up on might hurt you. A lot."
Taehyung would find it cute just how much time Jungkook spends convincing him into backing out if he didn't know the only reason he's doing it is to demonstrate his strength and intimidate him into behaving the way he deems fitting.
"I'm ready when you are."
"As you wish."
Jungkook's sturdy, Taehyung's light on his feet. Both are determined to prove the other wrong.
They take their positions along with the other students: Taehyung in the middle, as one of the dodgers, Jungkook on the edge of the court, as one of the two throwers.
The rules are simple- throwers aim for the dodgers with the goal of hitting them and eliminating them from the game. The last one standing is a winner.
Taehyung pushes his goal a little higher, challenges himself a little more. Makes it a bit more personal, takes it up a notch.
He wants to be still standing there by the end of the class. He won't be satisfied winning among dodgers. He has to beat Jungkook too.
The game starts and things go pretty much the way Taehyung has imagined they will.
The other omega is the first one out, hit in the stomach so hard the professor had to drag him out of the court and give him breathing exercises to do. To say Taehyung is just as ballsy after that incident would be a lie. He might be more athletic than the other but his muscles are just as non-existent and athelticism won't be the one helping him when he's flying five feet away along with the ball.
He forms a tactic that mostly consists out of hiding behind other alphas. There's enough of them for him to get lost in the crowd and their bodies are so big he's barely even visible to the thrower's eye. He knows by the way Jungkook keeps squinting in search for him.
It works well. Alphas don't actually dodge most of the time-they catch, so Taehyung doesn't have to worry about one of them suddenly crouching to avoid the ball and having that same ball glued to his forehead.
As time goes by however, they drop out one by one, no longer being able to catch since Jungkook has exchanged his previous target for their legs and arms. Some alphas jump over the ball, others roll over the floor or stand in one same spot, always moving just an inch it takes for them to dodge it.
Taehyung mostly runs from left to right, innerly screaming, hoping he'll make it out alive. Apparently, it seems to work, because he really does end up as the last one standing and Jungkook couldn't be any more pissy about it.
"Should we just stop here?" He turns to the professor with a disinterested look on his face but Taehyung can smell a twinge of irritation in his scent, everyone can.
"What do you say Taehyung?"
He doesn't think it through. The thrill of annoying the fuck out of Jungkook is too tempting to miss out on. "If it's to preserve what's left of Jungkook's ego, sure."
The ball flies right over his head, ruffling the blonde strands peeking out of his headband.
Jungkook misses by a hair, literally.
Taehyung's heart rocks in his chest but he puts on a smile. "Almost there."
It goes on for a while, them throwing and Taehyung successfully dodging it and the longer it lasts the more Jungkook's scent spikes up, causing the other omega boy breathing problems again, this time for a different reason.
Taehyung would complain, say it's unfair for his rench to be distracting because really, even through suppresants his omega is disturbed and fooled into thinking he needs a sheltter, but it would only lead them to another one of those debates where Jungkook claims he can't control it and point out that Taehyung acknowledging he's affected only proves they can't fight their nature.
He'd rather avoid that, even if it means being nailed to the ground with a dodgeball.
"Real alpha of you not to be able to catch your prey!" He yells after another miss and although it could be directed at either of the throwers everyone in the room turns their head to Jungkook.
There's barely any thyme in his scent now, sage and pine taking over in intervals. The red of his eyes is so bright they'd glow in the dark. They bore into him but Taehyung doesn't budge.
"Toss it back." Jungkook orders to the other alpha whose name Taehyung doesn't know and isn't interested in finding out once the ball reaches the other side of the court.
"But it's my t-"
"Toss it the fuck back."
And he does, he tosses it the fuck back every time Jungkook misses which is, well, every time. The closest he gets to striking Taehyung is once when the ball catches onto his shirt.
He's an omega as Jungkook so often likes to point out and as such he's agile, quick on his feet and, most importantly, small. It makes him easy to miss.
The game becomes very much personal with just two of them playing. Taehyung mocks, taunts, whiffs the air for more of the wonderful aroma of Jungkook's rage. It feels good being the one who's affected by it the least.
By time the class is over there's just a few alphas sticking around. Most of them have their own phermones triggered by Jungkook's and they're better off leaving before they end up fighting amongst themseleves.
Taehyung is exhausted. He can barely walk without stummbling and if he had to avoid one more throw he probably wouldn't be able to make a run for it. Thankfully, he doesn't have to.
The professor blows into a whistle and announces the end of the class to which Jungkook just shakes his head, already on his way out of the room. He doesn't shake Taehyung's hand and congratulates him, doesn't even cast a single glance.
It's to be expected out of an alpha like him and Taehyung doesn't particularly care about his skills being recognized but he can't help but prolong the teasing while he has the chance.
"Hey Jungkook!" He calls out, picking up the ball from the ground. He waits for the other to stop and turn around before he musters up all of his remaining strength and throws it towards him. It hits his right thigh, bounces off and rolls away. "You're out."
Jungkook doesn't pay the ball the time of his day, eyes not once straying away from Taehyung's face as his own contorts with displeasure. His jaw clenches so hard Taehyng can see the muscle of it ticking from where he's standing and he secretly hopes Jungkook might as well break one of his teeth.
He expects him to say something in return but he just stands there, staring, and he does it for so long that Taehyung starts to worry he might use one of his alpha powers on him again. Hence him moving, taking it upon himself to get rid off the space between them.
"Did that give you a boo boo? Want omega to kiss it better?" He immitates what Jungkook said just this morning and attempts to passes him by when Jungkook moves, blocking the way with his body.
Taehyung has to dig himself in his place not to collide with his shoulder.
"Is that what this is all about?" He asks, head cocking to the side so Taehyung has a good look of his face, not just his shoulder. "You needed an excuse to go down on your knees in front of me?" His scent fades away, provides Taehyung with clear air for just as long as it takes him to breathe some in, and then comes back, different than before. It hits hard, pine and sage strong enough to make Taehyung a little dizzy, but then thyme kicks in and although it cannot do much to ease the intensity of those two it soothes, heals the burn they create. It's equally as passionate of a smell but now sweet, inviting, not repulsive or threatening. It's provocative but it's safe. "Cause if that's so, all you should have done is asked. I have a busy schedule but I'm sure I can squeeze you in somewhere."
Taehyung knows it's his turn to speak, knows just what to say too, but his brain is a little slow and the tongue in his mouth lazy. He'd rather do other things than talk, some of which also require his mouth, and he hates himself for it because the picture he paints in his mind aligns with Jungkook's words, confirms them, turns a disrespectful statement into an undeniable truth.
He knows it's his omega instincts, not actually him, a human that sometimes gets overwhelemed by them, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. He's unsure whether it's the topic of sex that's got Jungkook smelling like this or if he's doing it on purpose because it's his only way to win this fight but whatever it is it's like a stick poking at his sleeping omega right in the eye. It doesn't fully wake up but it stirs, blinks his eyes open to squint at whatever is eveding its space and interrupting its sleep, drowsy but curious, rusty but hungry. It doesn't take over, doesn't even try to, but Taehyung's aware that it's there, inside of him, burried under the thick fog of suppressants.
His omega wants him to rub his face into Jungkook's sweaty neck. Taehyung tells it not to be gross and go back to sleep.
"Wh-" What is wrong with you? is what he attempts to ask, words as clear as day in his mind but stummbling up his throat, twisting and turning and intertwining until all that's left of them is an accompanying sound, much akin to a whine.
It's probably the most dog-like noise he had produced in his entire life and it has his cheeks tinting when he realizes where it came from.
"Arf?" Jungkook bows a little so their faces are leveled, giving a poor, mocking interpretation of Taehyung's howl. His eyes are big and round, puppy like, and his mouth curved to the side. "Woof?"
"Shut up." Taehyung mutters out but it's weak, uconvincing and it gives Jungkook one more reason not to shut up.
"I've always wondered how is it that you and I just can't find a common tongue. Now it all makes sense. Should I growl back at you or-"
"Shut up." He repeats more firmly and this time, to his surprise, Jungkook does.
He doesn't leave nor he steps back and give Taehyung some space but his lips are sealed for one, blissful moment, and Taehyung, how stupid of him, spends it staring right at them. They are some nice-looking lips, he has to give him that, and Jungkook is quite a looker overall but Taehyung doesn't look, not usually.
He's not interested in seeing anything Jungkook has to offer, hearing anything he has to say, yet he stands there, waiting for him to speak with his eyes glued to the tiny brown dot just below his bottom lip. He convinces his omega that no, it doesn't taste like chocolate.
"Take my advice." Jungkook says and Taehyung's eyes shoot up at the sight of his lips moving and the raspy sound of his voice. They're captured by an ocean of burgundy that tries to pull him in and swallow him up. Taehyung feels like he might actually let it until Jungkook speaks again. "Embrace it. It makes you more attractive."
He spins on his heel and Taehyung flinches, again, because for a swift moment Jungkook is much closer than he should be. It's not until he's a few steps away, his smell gradually turning weaker, that Taehyung snaps out of it and realizes what Jungkook just said.
The spell breaks and Taehyung's patience does too.
"Being attractive to you isn't the sole purpose of my existence!"
Jungkook's laugh, hearty and airy, fills out the room. "Yeah, that's why you whine cause I smell nice."
His mouth produces a noise he isn't conscious of until it's out, something similar to a gasp, short and unmistakingly offended. He's mad at this body for working on its own accord again but grateful that this time it at least opted for a more humane way of expression.
There's more he'd like to say but his instincts (yes, he does rely on them from time to time) tell him it's better to just leave Jungkook be. He's not worth his patience and he most definitely isn't deserving of the omega inside of him making its presence known.
*******
"Are you gonna change yet?" Taehyung snaps after waiting in a complete silence for Jungkook, the one and the last person in the changing room, to get done and over with it and leave him alone.
Taehyung avoids taking his clothes off in front of alphas for a reason and although he was teased about it many times before none of them gave enough shit about him to stick around for longer than it was necessary for them to change. Jungkook, however, seems to be really in the mood to get on his nerves today as he, despite the class Taehyung knows he has in less than fifteen minutes, remains seated in the same spot he took after coming in, showing no insinuation that he'd be either changing or leaving unchanged any time soon.
He goes out of his way to annoy Taehyung, staring at his phone as if he isn't aware of his presence, and to top it all off he reeks. The whole room does actually, the stench of sweaty alphas so strong that Taehyung has to breathe through his mouth half the time not to risk awaking the animal inside him.
Jungkook picks his eyes up from the phone, dragging them over the tile-covered floor in between them and over Taehyung's figure, his fists squeezed on the sides of his body and his frowned face, sending daggers at Jungkook.
"Eager to see me naked?"
Taehyung scoffs.
His throat burns with desire to tell Jungkook how, if he actually wanted that, he could get off suppressants and enjoy the sight of his jaw hitting the floor. Alphas had no standards when it came to fucking and since Jungkook's whole personality revolved around being one, Taehyung doubted he'd be willing to put his urges aside, even for someone as annoying as him.
But that would spark up a discussion and Taehyung won't waste his remaining strength on arguing with a dunce.
"I'm eager to get out of here and be in time for my next lesson."
"And I'm stopping you..."Jungkook trails off, shaking his head ever so slightly in exaggerated confusion. "how exactly?"
Taehyung swallows down an irritated sigh and a couple of curses that go with it, knowing they wouldn't bring nearly as much relief to him as satisfaction to Jungkook.
"I don't change in front of alphas."
Jungkook quirks an eyebrow, lips spreading to show an intrigued smile. He looks as if in disbelief and Taehyung wonders if he really hasn't noticed Taehyung's habit of changing when alone or if he's just playing dumb for the fun of it.
"Wow." Jungkook exclaims, mouthing the word a couple more times after to enchance his amazement. "And then you say we're conceited." He trails his eyes over Taehyung's stature slowly, purposely obvious in what he's doing. "Trust me, there's nothing under there I haven't already seen."
Taehyung fumes, for more reason than one.
Jungkook acting like him refusing to change has anything to do with what he looks like and what he sees himself like all while knowing from personal experience alphas are as far from picky as it gets, has his blue blood boiling.
He doesn't consider him to be irresistable, he considers alphas to be uncontrollable and he's right, most of them would give unwelcome remarks on his body at any given chance. He won't make an additional opportunity for it by taking his clothes off.
It's just, Jungkook kind of makes him want to and it's not only out of spite. His raking eyes get the omega inside of him going and he feels like hitting his head against the wall till he knocks both himself and it out.
"That doesn't usually stop you from oggling everything that moves, doesn't it?"
If nothing, his behavior right now only proves it.
He remains unfazed, stares him up and down times and times again, as if he's peeling his clothes off in his head. Taehyung's a whole lot of disgusted and just a bit of flattered.
"Curiosity is in our nature." He mutters, offering as always an explanation that is no more than a simplification of them as beings that makes Taehyung's skin crawl. He doesn't expect any better from an alpha but it nevertheless manages to anger him. "I didn't say I won't look at you. I just said that doesn't make you special."
Taehyung blinks. His tongue circles around his mouth, pushes at the bottom row of his teeth before he traps it with the upper on, gently buting down to stop himself from lashing out.
He shouldn't be bothered by this. He shouldn't be offended that Jungkook doesn't deem him any more interesting than an average omega but he is, his omega is, and, contrary to his words, his actions show it.
"As if I'd want to be special to you." He says as he stands up, flings his shirt off and chucks it to the side.
Taehyung might not be a typical omega but he has the body of one.
He, in short, is built like a teen. He doesn't have a very developed upper body; he has almost no muscle and he's bony, has protruding clavicles and shoulders that, although wide, are always a little hunched, always somehow angled inwards.
His nipples are small, fitting for the flatness of his chest, rosier than any alphas' would be and perky, constantly straining against the material of whatever it is he's wearing.
It's not what Jungkook's looking at. Taehyung knows because a second before he pulls his shorts down he looks at Jungkook looking, takes notice of how his eyes glue lower, to the soft flesh that spills over the hem of his bottoms. He, as skinny as he is, still has a tummy, the kind that always pokes out when he turns to the side and the tissue of which can be grasped in between fingers.
It's an unavoidable part of any omega; even those like Jimin who work out daily have a bit of fat, stored by the body to protect their organs and, eventually, their pups.
Taehyung has never been particularly fond of it but, having no other choice but to accept it, he did. With Jungkook's eyes boring holes into it he feels a lot more self-conscious.
He, subconsciously, knows that it's far more likely for Jungkook to be looking because those traits of his are made to be appealing to his inner alpha than because he's grossed out or flabraggasted by them but that does nothing to stop him from taking his shorts off as soon as possible to distracts Jungkook from the sight.
It's only once he's already done it that he realizes it might have not been a good idea.
His dick is small.
Being insecure about it is pointless because it comes with his rank but he isn't exactly excited to share his barely visible bulge with Jungkook who, if he was to undress just the same, could flaunt his own, that's probably three times the size. He turns around before Jungkook could catch more than a glimpse of it.
He rummages through his bag in search for a fresh shirt he has packed, trying his best to ignore the creaking noise the bench behind him makes when Jungkook's shifts on top of it. Reaching for the shirt does require him to bend over slightly and as much as it would usually make him uncomfortable, he cares too much about proving to Jungkook he can be just as unbothered to reconsider his position.
"Not bad."
Taehyung's hands freeze just as they feel the cotton button up.
It's not what he says, not what it refers to, that gives Taehyung chills, it's how he says it. It's how he drawls it out, how his voice lowers for an octave, travels to Taehyung's ears the same ways tingles do down his spine.
Not bad, isn't even a decent compliment and even if it was, Taehyung shouldn't be taking it when he has not once asked for Jungkook's opinion on anything, let alone his ass. It's the timbre in his voice that makes him contemplate it for a second, makes the blue-eyed wolf inside want to arch his back and offer a better view.
Jungkook used his alpha voice on him.
He doesn't pull it off fully and Taehyung isn't even sure he does it on purpose but it's there, beggings of something that stirs his stomach.
Taehyung doesn't usually react on those, doesn't abide by commands or have the urge to gush over a pathetic excuse of a compliment an alpha throws at him. Suppressants are there to prevent any of those from happening.
So why is it that now of all times they're betraying him? And why is Jungkook playing his alpha card for something so minor and meaningless?
He puts his shirt on and reaches for the set of wide kakhy pants he hanged there before entering the gym, pushing his legs into sleeves in a hurry to cover his bare legs and barely clothed ass.
"For a dog, you sure do act a lot like a pig."
He turns back around when fully clothed and the first thing he sees is the change in the color of Jungkook's eyes. They're bright red-not as bright as he assumes they could get at times, but much brighter than the burgundy they've turned into during their previous conversation.
Taehyung makes an amateur mistake of using his nose and he's instantly hit by the smell of pine so strong that it hurts his head. He switches back to breathing through his mouth, taking deep but silent inhales of air, if any of it is even left in the room.
If phermones were visible, the space would be fogged up by them.
Jungkook, luckily, pays him no mind, or, more precisely, pays his face no mind. He's still fixated on the place Taehyung's ass have been taking ten seconds ago, staring at it as if he's reliving the image of it or trying to make it reappear.
Taehyung is slightly concerned by the lack of an imaginative response, even more so when what replaces it is a swipe of Jungkook's tongue over his bottom lip and an unexpected question that follows.
"What do you smell like?" He asks, his eyes darting up to give some attention to Taehyung's, boringly brown as always. Having control over their color with med intake is one of the rare things that make him feel powerful. Nothing less exciting for an alpha than an omega with an unresponsive body. "Underneath all that."
He thinks for a moment that smell is exactly what messes with his mind, all that pine that suffocated him at once, because what Jungkook asks is, besides being extremely inappropriate, something he wouldn't in a million years anticipate to be a topic of his interest.
He, if anyone, had probably sniffed more omegas than Taehyung even met and he sincerly doubts any of them had left him underwhelmed. They smell good, it's a fact. Even to him, his kind has always been appealing in that sense.
Flower notes were the most common, fruits followed right after. Some have a mixture of both. Taehyung isn't one of them.
Nature put no effort in making him insteresting so he took that upon himself.
"None of your business."
He has been on suppressants since he was 15 and except from his old classmates and the doctor that prescribed it to him, Jimin is the only one familiar with his scent. And even he hasn't had a whiff of it in years.
"I bet it's lavander." Jungkook doesn't guess, he concludes, but Taehyung's too relieved by the decrease of red in his eye color to deny it. "I hate lavander."
Taehyung huffs through his nose.
Of course Jungkook thinks he's so important that Taehyung's body has made it its personal mission to repel him.
For alphas to survive, the world must revolve around them.
"Thanks for the info. I'll make sure to buy every lavander-scented product I can find." Taehyung notifies with a sour smile, throwing his clothes in the bag and the bag over his shoulder before slipping his shoes on and leaving without a goodbye.
******
"So you haven't liked it at all?" Jimin asks, basically running on his feet trying to keep up with his pace.
His short legs might be cute but they aren't very practical.
"Liked what?" Taehyung snorts, sending the most offended of looks to his best friend. "Him telling me I don't look bad? Is that something for me to be over the moon about?"
"Not that." Jimin sighs, stomping his little feet outside of the door to their shared dorm room. He waits for Taehyung to fetch the key out of his pocket and work the door open, using the time to clarify what he meant. "An alpha of his caliber checking you out."
His best friend's words send him back to what happened earlier that morning, to the intense stare that shakes some omegas to the bone and the voice that has the power to haunt them. He searches his body inside out for any emotion and is pleased to find nothing but disgust.
His omega remains asleep at the memory.
"Sorry, can't hear you over that vomitt-inducing admiration in your tone."
The sound of the lock clicking isn't loud enough to overpower another one of Jimin's exasparated sighs but Taehyung pretends he doesn't hear it.
******
"Wow Tae. Don't wanna sound disrespectful but are you sure that's what you want to wear?"
Taehyung likes betas, thinks highly of them, so it was only natural he felt the same way about meeting Hoseok who transferred to their college a couple of months ago. Jimin was actually the one to befriend him but Taehyung, after asking some of the inevitable friendship test questions and eying him suspiciously for a few minutes, joined in on the fun.
Having a beta around is convenient-alphas take you more seriously, treat you with more respect. It only makes Taehyung hate them more that they react that way but it's useful neverthless and Hoseok makes a good compsny regardless of his rank.
Right not, however, his question is out of place and Taehyung has already been brought to the verge of his patience. He had too much Jungkook in one day to be able to keep his cool.
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" He asks absent-mindedly, looking down at himself to once again check if anything was out of order.
He's wearing a mint-colored low cut V-neck that reveals his collarbones and the dip of his throat, places that are considered provocative on their own just because of their close distance to his scent gland. His legs are out in the open, shielded by just a pair of white knee-high socks and a denim shorts, so flimsy he has to wear panties underneath because boxers would peek out.
He looks good, a perfect combination of cute and alluring and he sees no problem in going out like this, not for himself at least.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Hoseok hurriedly explains, waving his hands right and left to make himself more convincing. He takes a break amidst of it when Taehyung casts him a look and his hanging mouth falls shut, lips press tightly together. "It's just that alphas-"
Taehyung stiffles a growl just because he knows it would sound ridiculous produced by an omega.
"Are gonna try to grab my ass and catcall me when I walk by?" Which is quite the contradiction, considering they are half dogs. "Yeah, I know. It would be the best if I could just back off and stay at home so my ass doesn't disturb all the alphas out there.
It just happens I don't give much of a fuck."
He finishes his rant with a spin on his heel as he turns to walk to the mirror and plug his earrings in.
He likes getting all pretty and, besides, he hasn't gotten any in a while and it's starting to show in his snappy behavior. He has heard Jaehyun would be there and he had his eye on him for a long time. Maybe this is his chance.
"What's up with him?" Hoseok whispers to Jimin, more likely because he doesn't want to disturb Taehyung than because he actually believes he won't hear them, to what Jimin, yet again, sighs.
"Jungkook's been-"
"It has nothing to do with him!"
*****
Jimin ditches him about fifteen minutes into the party when his precious alpha appears and Taehyung doesn't have the heart to deny him of the happiness Yoongi brings him.
They're annoying but they make a cute couple and for someone who relies on their instincs as much as Jimin does it would be a torture to be separated from their mate any longer than necessary.
They rub their noses together, smile like dorks and share a short peck on the lips. Taehyung likes that about Yoongi, how he doesn't shy away from public displays of affection.
What he doesn't like is what ensues after. Yoongi's fingers never leave Jimin's chin after the kiss. They press underneath it, tip it, and Jimin obligingly cranes his neck, providing him with all the space his needs to scent him.
That, to Taehyung, is nothing but primitivism.
He has nothing against scenting-though he, personally, would not allow it, and he vastly prefers Jimin's scent in his nose while cuddling him to sleep over Yoongi's- but he thinks it's way too intimate of an act to be done on a party or around people in general. It's just one of many ways for an alpha to establish their dominance, claiming an omega in front of all the other alphas to see and learn from.
And don't get him started on how inappropriate Jimin looks with his eyes half closed and lips parted and a series of mewly sounds spilling from them. He looks gone and to Taehyung it's almost degrading to witness how all it takes is an alpha's nose against their scent gland to dumb them down.
He would never, ever, agree to something like that.
Hoseok sticks around for a while longer, sharing with him a couple of drinks and a detailed analysis of Jimin's behavior. He goes in depth about how Yoongi's hands must feel on his tiny waist, the wonders his voice must do for his omega, making him keen till it shows in his eyes. They glow so brightly Taehyung sees the blue in them even when him and Hoseok move across the room to give them some 'privacy'.
Taehyung only half listens to him, interested in his take on it as much as he is in anyone else's. He has a firm opinion and it won't be wavered no matter how detailed and enthusiastic Hoseok gets in his descriptions.
It takes about half and hour for him to realize that Taehyung would rather talk about pretty much anything else and divert the topic to an alpha a few meters away. He's handsome, Taehyung isn't blind not to notice, but his features are too sharp, eyes cutting and body too bulky for Taehyung to feel comfortable around him at any closer proximity.
Most alphas make him feel the same which is why he's never been intimate with one.
Hoseok, however, seems to be taking a liking. He usually goes for omegas so it surprises Taehyung to see how flustered he's being all of a sudden, hesitant to look in said alpha's direction and establish eye contact.
It doesn't take long for Taehyung to get annoyed by it and take the matter into his own hands.
He pushes off the wall he is leaning against and strides away, ignoring Hoseok's helpless pleads for him not to go. He straightens his back, holds his head up high, reminds himself that the difference in rank and in height, shouldn't and won't effect his confidence.
He stops right before the alpha whose eyes have been following his movement since the second he parted with Hoseok.
"Hi."
His first impression of the other is that Jungkook has nothing on this guy.
He's a head taller, two shoulder wider, and his eyes narrow down into slits when he stares down at Taehyung. He looks like he eats Jungkook-like alphas for breakfast and Taehyung, as scared as he is of him, basks in that fact.
He waits for a response and, more importantly, for his smell to pique, so he can asses if he's in danger and flee in time. When it comes, it's nothing like what he expected.
"Hello."
The alpha's lips spread into a wide smile, his cheeks pulling at the eyes too, turning their corners slightly upwards. With the change of the expression he looks as intimdating as a puppy would be and when his smell hits, it breaks the short-term illusion Taehyung built a minute ago.
He smells like the seaside. As much as he's glad that the alpha Hoseok chose opposes no danger to them he can't help but feel a little disappointed that the only way this alpha could eat Jungkook for breakfast is if Jungkook offered his ass on a plate.
"I'm Taehyung-"
"Namjoon."
His smile only seems to widen the longer they talk and it makes Taehyung want to pop one of his own.
He nods instead, repeating the movement a couple of times before pointing over his shoulder with the tip of his thumb.
"My friend there..." He turns to take a look at Hoseok who, to no one's surprise, couldn't be acting any more embarrassing in the moment. Even at such distance Taehyung can tell his cheeks are flushed. "The one hiding behind his glass, yes, that one. You make him nervous. In a good way."
Namjoon chuckles and it draws Taehyung's attention back to him. What he sees makes him do a double take.
His eyes aren't the only source of redness on his face. He's blushing. An alpha is blushing.
What the-
"Yeah, I noticed. You think I should shoot my shot?"
Taehyung stares at the skin of his face, trying to see if it's the color of his eyes reflecting on it or if, maybe, it's the club lights playing tricks on him but no, he isn't blind, there's a real, breathing, blushing alpha in front of him.
"Uhhh.." He blinks a few times to distract himself from the blush, trying to gather his thoughts and give a proper response to the now confused alpha the change in whose smell indicates he's worried he has done something wrong. "Yes. Yes, definitely. Go right away."
Namjoon's face lights up again and his smell normalizes, making Taehyung crave sand beneath his feet and the sound of waves crashing in his ears.
Namjoon murmurs a small thank you as he steps around him, waving back at him when he's a couple of steps away.
A couple of steps closer to Hobi.
Taehyung catches himself finding his antics endearing and he just about starts to wonder if alphas perhaps aren't as bad as he made them out to be when his peace is ruined in the worst way he could imagine.
"Omega."
It's the first time in his life Taehyung hears him before he smells him and then sees him before he smells him and then, finally, realizes that Jungkook smells like nothing at all.
He doesn't vocalize his confusion.
"Pig." He greets back in the same fashion, crossing his arms over his chest to try to lessen the advantage Jungkook can take of their height difference.
Having him stare down his shirt isn't in Taehyung's plans for today.
"Your social skills never fail to amaze me."
"That's just great." He replies, faking a sweet smile. "Cause I live and breathe to impress you, remember?"
He doesn't know if it's because he's spend so much time bantering with Jungkook that he can now predict his every move or if alphas are just so damn predictable on their own, but Taehyung sneaks his hand down to the small bag hanging over his arm. He has a hunch he'll need what's inside of it.
Jungkook confirms his suspicion when he bends, leans and towers over him, probably for no other reason but to remind Taehyung he can rest his chin on top of his head even when he straightens all the way out, milking every milimeter of his height. From this close Taehyung sees his eyes are brown.
Why an alpha like Jungkook, so obnoxiously proud of the animal he is, is taking suopressants is beyond Taehyung's comprehension but he cannot will himself to ask, knowing any intrests he shows strokes Jungkook's massive ego.
"That's why you dressed so pretty today?"
Ah, yes. Here it is.
Taehyung pulls his hand out of the bag in a flash, pressing over the tip of the bottle he's holding a few times, spraying Jungkook in the face. With both of them on suppressants, all that the air around them smells like now is lavander.
"Ew, what the fuck?"
Jungkook covers his eyes first in panic that some of it reached them and will soon blind him, and then his nose, realizing that his priority is preserving his precious sense of smell that has been so visciously attacked by the evil flower.
Taehyung thinks this perfume is the best purchase he has ever made.
"Sorry, I was just testing out my dog repelent. Seems like it works."
Jungkook rubs at his nose back and forth with he back of his hand, trying to get the scent to evaporate, and it only tempts Taehyung into spraying more of it around.
He rolls his eyes but he's wearing a smile that indicates Taehyung has yet again failed at pissing him off. With how easy it supposedly is to make an alpha lose their patience jungkook is certainly skilled at turning his annoyance into amusement.
"You really can't take a compliment."
Taehyung feels an indescribable urge to go at great lenghts to explain to Jungkook that assuming he isn't dressed for the occasion but for the alphas attending it isn't the kind of compliment he's eager to recieve but something tells him Jungkook already knows. Getting him all railed up and chatty is probably what he's trying to achieve.
"I supposed you like your omegas a bit more covered."
Not that he actively thinks about how Jungkook likes his omegas. It just what comes to mind when his pack is brought up.
They're conservative. Traditional. Taehyung's surprised how Jungkook is even allowed to hang out around omegas like him, that don't bow their heads as a greeting or kiss their shoes or whatever the fuck.
"You're not my omega. You're an omega."
Taehyung hears the difference right away but it takes a moment for him to fully understand the meaning of it and when he does he's one more dumb statement away from shoving the whole bottle of lavander perfume up Jungkook's nose.
When it comes to sex, nobody wants a boring nerdy omega that attends all his classes and hides his body with wide clothes. They want the one that purposely drops stuff because they're oh so clumsy, whose lacey undergarments always reach lower than their skirts do and who address every alpha with alpha.
Those suck dick even through the numbness of their jaw, they get wet on command and they don't ever ask for anything in return, or so he heard. They embrace the role of alpha pleasers the society has pushed upon them. Those kind of omegas are alphas' favorites, all to the point where they have to settle down with someone. Then, they're suddenly not good enough, not clean enough, innocent enough.
Those omegas are adultress, a round of fun after work or someone for unsettled alphas to give false hope to. Even if they do end up mated, they never get the respect they deserve. It's a tale as old as time.
"Ah, yes. How silly of me." Taehyung scolds himself, tapping his palm against his forehead to punish himself for allowing such important information to slip his mind.
"You wouldn't want one of us whores to be serving you. I'm sure you'll find a perfect, pristine virgin omega somewhere in a cave you too belong in."
Taehyung knows he might be going a bit overboard but sue him for being pushed to the point of no return. The corner of Jungkook's mouth moves and Taehyung think if he smiles he might really be responsible for murder tonight.
"I don't think of you as whores Taehyung." He states, so off-handedly that Taehyung isn't sure he believes him. Thankfully, he uses his name instead of his rank to address him so the heat Taehyung feels rushing through his veins subsides a tiny bit. "You're just too free-spirited for my liking."
Taehyung shouldn't be annoyed by that.
Him not being up to Jungkook's standard should be joyful news considering Jungkook's standard is completely depraved but he, once again, can't help but fall right into the trap.
What he's saying is wrong and Taehyung can't shut his chatterbox until he's gotten that into his head.
"Do you even realize how dumb your stance is? You can't just change your preferences-"
"I don't."Jungkook cuts him off and once again, Taehyung doesn't buy what he's saying. "It's my feelings that change. If I have none for an omega, I won't care who else they have been with or whose looks they attract." By the sole way he starts his presentation Taehyung knows he's gonna be fuming by the end of it. He listens nevertheless. "If I do, my possessivness kicks in. The least my omega can do is make sure some things are reserved for my eyes only."
Jungkook makes sense. He isn't stupid as Taehyung often likes to call him and the logic is there but that doesn't make his way of thinking any more acceptable. He doesn't once acknowledge that he's the issue there, not whichever the omega, and that if he was to correct his animalistic side his omega would be free to explore outside of the boundaries the rank has set them.
"So you think it's an omega's job to make themselves less attractive for your convenience?"
"Isn't that what you do on a daily basis?"
Taehyung opens his mouth to counter but closes it shut a second later, realizing Jungkook does, in a twisted way, have a point.
It's rare that Taehyung dresses up like he did tonight and he does put conscious effort in shopping for clothes in size and color that don't flatter him, styling his hair so it covers most of his pretty face. That along with suppressants is how he gets alphas not to swarm around him.
Jungkook is right, he lets himself be influenced by alphas's opinions. The only difference is he does it for his own convenice, not theirs.
"I do it to protect myself."
Jungkook makes no attempt to convince him alphas are actually pretty friendly once he gets to know them or a joke about how Taehyung's so uninteresting that no one would be paying attention to him anyways, and really, it's all Taehyung could have hoped for.
Safety of omegas is one of a few things he's not willing to leave open for discussion.
"And now?"Jungkook asks, giving him a quick once-over before setting his eyes on Taehyung's. It feels weird to see them brown. "What changed tonight?"
Taehyung doesn't owe him an explanation but he feels obliged to give him one, knowing that if he doesn't Jungkook will be left guessing and, eventually, reaching a completely wrong conclusion he will then use to prove some of his points in the future.
"Tonight I felt like looking pretty is worth putting myself at a bit of a risk."
Drinks, alphas and shorts are never a good combination but Taehyung refuses to not have any fun just because alphas can't keep it in their pants. He has his friends nearby, one of which is dating an alpha, and Hoseok is a guaranteed ride home. He can't get much safer than that on a party.
If he was to be completely honest, being in Jungkook's company probably decreased chances of any other alphas approaching him by half, if not more. Most of those animals didn't know of or care to respect things such as a bro code but they knew very well whose ass to kiss and fist to miss.
Whenever Taehyung smelled of him-which happened more often than he liked and basically whenever he was around him for longer than ten minutes- alphas would avoid him like plague. It's not that many of them took interest in him to start with but Jungkook's scent made even the sneakiest of glances and subtlest of unwanted touches go away.
He can't rely on it now that Jungkook is on suppressants but he hopes the mere sight of them together is enough to chase away any alpha that might have took a liking to him.
"Looking pretty for yourself?" Jungkook questions in a way that leaves unclarified if he's teasing or making sure, as he finally turns his body away from Taehyung and leans on the counter behind them.
They're side by side now and Taehyung unconsciously imitates Jungkook's pose so he has a reason not to be looking directly at him. He satisfies himself with the view of the dancefloor and Hoseok impressing the fuck out of Namjoon on it.
"And for all the sex I'm gonna have." Jungkook lets out a small 'aaaah' that Taehyung guesses signifies him getting the answer he wanted. He feels the need to clarify that dressing up for sex doesn't equal catering to whoever he ends up having sex with. "For myself."
He sees Jungkook nod on the side of him but he knows better than to believe he understands.
"By yourself?" Jungkook confirms his suspicion with the question and the mockery that laces it does too. "With yourself?"
Taehyung almost regrets telling him he's content with the job his fingers do just that morning.
His eyes scan the room for the man he took interest in, searching up the crowd up and down. He doesn't realize it then but he has completely forgotten about Jaehyun until Jungkook provoked him into thinking about him.
When he lays his eyes on the handsome beta he juts his chin and nods his head towards him, gesturing to Jungkook to take a look. A couple of moments pass in silence but Taehyung assigns it to Jungkook pinpointing who exactly it was that he was trying to show him.
"A beta."
"His name is Jaehyun."
"A beta." Jungkook repeats as condescendingly as only one of his kind can. Taehyung doesn't know why he's surprised if he is; after all the times he has openly expressed his intolerance towards alphas it is a given he'll be aiming for someone from a more reasonable rank. "You don't suit a beta."
Hs spits the words out with the same hatred Taehyung uses to talk about alphas. It's the most aggravated he's ever sounded during any of their conversations and he has to bite at his cheek to stop a smile.
"Let me guess." He turns his head to look at him, unsually satisfied to find Jungkook's eyes already on him. "I suit an appron and a vacuum cleaner."
All Jungkook does is blink.
He doesn't laugh, doesn't show he took offense at his words nor try to reciprocate in the same manner. It's the most serious Taehyung has seen him in a long time and a part of him is grateful the suppressants leave only the human side of Jungkook for him to deal with.
After how his omega has reacted to him earlier that day he isn't sure he's capable of confronting an angry alpha.
"You suit that outfit and someone who can rip it off you."
Jungkook's eyes bore into his one more time before he pries them away and casts them to the side.
Taehyung's never been kicked in the stomach but he imagines this is how it feels. All air leaves him and he, once again, thanks whatever is the cause of Jungkook's sudden interest in suppressants because he really needs his nose right now.
He feels a bit dizzy despite the total of zero drinks he had. He wonders if it took one too many for Jungkook to behave like this.
"I don't find your primitivism hot." He mutters unconvincingly, deciding to keep it vague regarding pronouns because he's unsure if Jungkook's been referring to himself or alphas in general.
Whatever that it was, it shook his omega up and awake. Again.
This time he couldn't even blame it on one of Jungkook's birth given powers like his smell or voice. It's just Jungkook, making an untasteful comment, and Taehyung has to stare at the blackness of the counter to recompose himself.
"And you find him hot? A beta?"
Taehyung's too curious not to cast a glance over at Jungkook who, as he assumed, is too busy staring at Jaehyun to notice.
He never before noticed Jungkook gets so triggered by betas but, truth be told, he never payed attention to anything Jungkook was doing unless it was tightly related to him. On the other hand, most of the beta-alpha beefs originate from alphas treating them as lesser versions of themselves, and that seems to be the case now too.
Jungkook just can't stand the thought of an omega, someone who, in his opinion, is crafted to yearn for an alpha since the day they presented, preferring a beta.
"He's a nice guy. Well-mannered. Smart. And good-looking to top it all off."
Jaehyun really is all those things as far as he knows but the only reason he decides to point all of those out individually is to rub it in Jungkook's face. He doesn't particularly care about what Jaehyun's like as a person. He doesn't plan to date him, just have a fuck or two, and for him to do that all that's important for Jaehyun to offer is safety, physical attraction and a working dick.
"He's meek." Jungkook retorts, his jaw clenching so hard his words come grinded out. "You're too much for him."
Taehyung knows what Jungkook's aiming at and, although he doesn't necessarily agree, he's not in the mood to lose any more of his patience today. The direction their conversation has taken seems to be rubbing Jungkook the wrong way and Taehyung can't find it in himself to want to stop.
"Maybe. That could be interesting too."
Betas are flexible. They can take on the role akin to an alpha when mated with an omega and the opposite when mated with an alpha.
What Taehyung thinks Jungkook is trying to insinuate is that an omega like Taehyung-someone who doesn't conform to his nature entirely, could not be tamed by a beta. It has proven to be true in the past but since Taehyung's omega is usually shut down, he doesn't mind having the upper hand.
Sex for him is going with the flow. He likes it spontaneous, he likes it switchable, he likes it humanly.
"Interesting." Jungkook repeats with much less enthusiasm, head whipping towards Taehyung, eyes finding his in an instant. How Jungkook fixates on one spot entirely will forever remain a mistery to Taehyung who has always struggled with a short attention span. Many things are distracting to him; the tick of Jungkook's jaw, the crease in between his brows, the (not chocholate chip flavored) mole that moves as a continuation to his bottom lip. He asks himself if he could get Jungkook to do that too, his eyes to dance over his face, linger on his lips, make him ponder on whether the color of his chopstick matches their taste. "Not fullfilling."
It takes him a few seconds to comprehend Jungkook's words, being so suddenly pulled out of his thoughts and brought to his senses.
Did he just daydream about getting Jungkook to want to kiss him? And is wanting to achieve that out of spite any better than wanting it for the pleasure of it?
Most importantnly, what the fuck is with him today?
"This isn't my first beta Jungkook. I think I'll be fine."
He won't be fine unless Jaehyun properly fucks his brain out is what he realizes just now. If he's reached a point where the thought of Jungkook's lips on his doesn't instantly make him want to puke then sex must be long overdue.
"For someone who's so big on pleasure it's sad you settle down for fine."
Taehyung's omega gives an intrigued cock of the head. Its tail waggs slowly, unsure whether it has been given a reason for celebration. It's like Jungkook's waving a treat right in front of him but he has to prove himself to earn it.
If there was a way for Taehyung to reach inside of his head and leash the dog to a corner out of which it positively won't be able to break out, he'd do it. Sadly, all he achieves with that thought is a very visual fantasy of his outter self being leashed which has the opposite effect from the one he was hoping for.
He shakes his head to make it go away. He doesn't need to be getting horny around Jungkook.
"Perhaps fine is as good as it gets for me."
He'd be lying if he said it never passed through his head how an alpha would feel. Seeing other omegas, including his best friend, melt in the arms of one has left him wondering if he was missing out. Omegas aren't his type and betas, as great as they are, will never be able to offer some of what his omega craves. Never trying out an alpha would be a shame but it was a decision Taehyung has made years ago and he is till this day determined to stick to it, no matter the cost his body has to pay.
His integrity is more important but it certainly doesn't feel that way when Jungkook steps into his personal space.
"Taehyung." He half calls, half huffs, heavily entertained with Taehyung's capability to blindly delude himself despite any of the evidence that might not be going in his favor. "You don't have to like me as a person and you don't have to agree with my stances but.." He leans in, smirks, speaks the words out into his face. Taehyung notes his breath doesn't smell like alcohol. "That pup inside that's asleep while he's fucking you..." Taehyung winces in his place, although unsure whether Jungkook's vulgarity or his proximity as he tilts his head and speaks into his ear is what takes him aback. "..would love every second of playing with me."
Taehyung's hand flies up to grip at the counter, fingers cluthing on its edge, using it as a leverage and a distraction. Having his hands free would be dangerous right now. He might be fooled into thinking putting them on Jungkook is a smart move.
He's excited, there's no denying that. Jungkook's breath feels warm on his ear, his lips sound wet when they part and Taehyung's curious if they could put out the flames licking over his skin.
He's never had an alpha this close to him and this is exactly why. The disgust and fear he feels are only on the surface level, there because he knows they should be, not because Jungkook actually invokes them.
If it was up to his omega Jungkook would be allowed much more than just the proximity but thankfully Taehyung has prepared for this, practicing his control over the omega meticulously.
He amazes even himself with how calm he sounds when he speaks.
"What's the point of suppressants if you're gonna be just as much of an animal as you are withouth them?"
A bit hypocritical, considering he is currently struggling to keep his own animal in order.
If Jungkook was to be any more of a dick and decide to touch him, Taehyung would be done for good. He wouldn't break down and beg or say anything along the lines of "alpha, play with my pup" as Jungkook apparently imagined him to, but he would stutter, the eye contact would break and he might make one of those dog sounds again. It would be the beginning of his end.
Luckily, all movement Jungkook makes is away from him, remaining close but no longer breathing against his ear. He looks Taehyung right in the eyes, corner of his mouth twitching with urge to curve up. All the good work Taehyung has done at annoying him seems to be anulled by whatever new discovery he has made now.
"So you did notice?"
Taehyung rolls his eyes for so long his mother would undoubtedly scold him if she was there, telling him that if he keeps doing it he'll once remain with them stuck in the wrong position.
Of course he noticed the absence of Jungkook's stench. It's an incredibly dumb thing to boast around. Anyone would notice.
"It's a doctor's order. My rut is coming in a few days so my scent has been raging and we don't want any omegas having accidents around campus."
To hear Jungkook's on the verge of going into rut gives Taehyung a couple of reasons for celebration.
First, it explains why he was so affected by him throughout the day. He hasn't felt anything similar with any other alphas and it fills him with relief to know it weren't his suppressants acting funny, deciding they won't work on Jungkook anymore.
Second, it explains why Jungkook's been so on edge every time his alpha status was challenged, even during the silly game of dodgeball or by a beta that did nothing to provoke him asides from being subjected to Taehyung's attention.
It also explains his sudden interest in Taehyung's body and a bunch of questionable statements that left his mouth.
As much as Taehyung's very much pleased to have received answers to many of his questions, he can't help be distracted by the last of Jungkook's informing, how unnecessary it was to add and the shit-eating grin he wore at the mentions of it.
Taehyung wouldn't be surpirsed if he found out Jungkook has taken suppressants on his own accord just to be able to walk around and claim they'd all be drowning in omega slick unless he had.
"How kind of you to think about us. I suppose you'll be on suppressants during your rut too?"
His tone drips with sarcasm Taehyung can only hope Jungkook would take as a challenge. His chances are slim but if he can do anything to prompt Jungkook into skipping his rut he'd be saving a lot of omegas from the humilliation they put themselves through over a couple of shitty phermones Jungkook emits.
"Someone hasn't been paying attention during his biology classes." Jungkook points out with a haughty smirk, cocking his head for the incoming announcement. "They don't work on me sweetheart."
Taehyung snorts. Yeah right
How convenient would that be.
"Sure they don't."
There were mentions of it during his elementary and highschool education but Taehyung has concluded for himself that it is just a myth powerful alphas decided to go along with because it improves their reputation and makes them more desirable.
Suppressans exist for a reason. Just because it is easier for them to fuck it out than resist their urges didn't mean they were inefficient.
"How about we make a deal?" Jungkook proposes, his smirk not ever leaving him. "I'll take them if you agree to spend my rut with me."
Taehyung shakes his head in evident disbelief. "Why would I ever want that?"
Jungkook shrugs and Taehyung's grateful that he for once tonight chooses to keep the conversation casual instead of turning it all sexual and implicative.
"If you're so certain they'll work there's nothing to be scared of."
It's an unenviable position Jungkook puts him in.
If he says yes, he's putting himself at risk of being proven wrong and swallowing his words right up. He'd embarrass himself and Jungkook would never let him live it down.
If he says no, he's practically confirming to Jungkook that, despite his convictions, he doesn't trust himself enough to be alone with Jungkook, especially not when his phermones are at their peak.
It's an unescapable situation and whatever he decides Jungkook will take is as his win so the least Taehyung can do is make sure he gets a one of his own while he's at it.
"Rut or not, I'm not willingly spending my time closed in a room with an alpha but nice try." He pushes off the counter and a step away from Jungkook and angles his body towards the dancefloor, eyeing it in search for Jaehyun. He finds him right where he has left him, chatting with a fellow beta. It doesn't seem to be much of an interesting conversation so Taehyung doesn't feel too bad about becoming the cause of its interuption very soon. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have someone else I want to be alone in a room with."
Jungkook's smile drops. Taehyung's own springs to life.
******
Taehyung is hard.
He's hard because it's been so long since he has last felt anyone's hands on him but also because Jaehyun's feel nice, warm, big and gripping his waist just right.
He smells good, of skin and sope and cheap laundry detergent they give out for free in the dorm. He smells like a human and Taehyung likes it that way.
They're making out heavily, Jaehyun's back pressed against the wall as Taehyung pushes hips into his, grinding them together. It sends electricity throughout his body and it would be making him wet too if suppressants didn't stop it from happening.
His kisses are a bit too sloppy for Taehyung's liking but it's not bad enough to be a deal breaker and Taehyung consoles himself by thinking how they might feel good in places other than his lips.
He's just about to propose they take this to the bedroom when Jaehyun mutters something under his breath and no, Taehyung couldn't have heard that right.
"What?" He asks, tone airy with laughter because how silly of him to mistake Jaehyun's words for that.
He must be trippy from all the party lights and booming music and Jungkook, there is no way in the world Jaehyun said what Taehyung thinks he just said.
"I said: call me alpha."
Taehyung freezes mid kiss.
He pulls away, his mouth drops open in shock and his boner is nowhere to be found.
*******
Taehyung is as frustrated as ever.
His mood is ruined, his needs unfullfilled and the taste of a wannabe alpha bitter in his mouth.
He can't believe that happened to him out of all people.
He attempts to find Jimin and talk his ear off complaining but by the strawberry smell in one of the hallways Taehyung can tell Yoongi is having his way with him in the toilet and, as much as he'd like to intrude, he'd rather not witness Jimin getting his brains fucked out now that he wants nothing more but to have the same done to him.
He goes back to the main area, catches the sight of Namjoon with his mouth latched onto Hoseok's neck before getting blinded by the lights (Weeknd was right about that one) and scurrying over to the first available place to sit.
On his way there, through the bunch of intoxicated faces only some of which Taehyung recognizes, emmerges Jungkook's, lighting up at the sight of him. Taehyung does his best to avoid him, taking the first turn right and into the mass of sweaty, smelly bodies.
He has a whole entire second to breathe after breaking out of it before he hits face front against the biggest male cleaveage in the room.
"That was quick."
Taehyung's only been absent for about twenty minutes and as much as Jungkook relishes in the thought of Jaehyun having no stamina or durability, Taehyung for the first time ever isn't interested in denying him. He can't imagine how obnoxiously proud Jungkook would be if he knew what had actually happened.
He pulls back as much as people around him allow, bracing himself for what's to come with a sigh.
"Really not a in a good mood." He mumbles, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he wakes Jungkook's compassionate side up and gets him to leave him alone.
"I can fix that for you."
It might be because his eyes are closed that Jungkook's voice comes louder than usual, more present in his ears, his head, so he snaps them open trying to resist it.
"I sincerly doubt that."
He knows what he has to do so he tries, spins on his heel and takes a step that announces his leave. What's unusual about is that instead of moving forward he stays in place, his foot hanging in the air before it meets the ground again but this time, in an entirely different spot than he envisioned he'd be in.
Jungkook pulls him back with so little effort Taehyung doesn't even register it at first, wondering how in hell he ended up backed up against the nearest wall when what he was trying to do was move further away from it. It becomes a tad clearer when he's trapped against it by Jungkook himself, whose hands press the cold surface on both sides of his head.
He's suddenly aware of the skin of his shoulder burning. It must be where Jungkook's fingers grazed from over his shirt while dragging him back.
His heart is beating like crazy but he blames it on the quick and unexpected action his body has taken against his will. It's only normal he's alarmed by it.
"I told you your primitivism-"
His words get stuck in his throat when Jungkook uses his hands as a lean-on and gets even closer, surging forward so quickly Taehyung forgets what he is about to say.
For a second there he thinks Jungkook might actually kiss him and his body, completely and utterly disinterested in his morals and social stances, goes into panic mode. His heart pumps about a liter per second and as much as Taehyung would very much like for it to stop he's thankful blood doesn't surge to other places.
Jungkook stares him right in the eyes, immobile and showing no signs he's planning to move any time soon. Taehyung contemplates pushing him away but his arms feel even weaker than usual and he doesn't think that establishing physical contact right now would go in his favor.
So he tries with words, again, praying to every and any God out there that it's what it takes for Jungkook to fuck off.
"You don't intimidate me."
Jungkook's lips instantly form a smile.
Great.
Just great, couldn't have thought of something better to say you dumbass-
His chide at himself gets cut off when Jungkook bites into the air between them, sharp teeth knocking together before he bears them again, lips pulling up on the side to show his jaws as a low growl tummbles out of them.
Taehyung flinches and, due to the lack of space, knocks his head against the wall.
Very elegant
Jungkook lets out a heartful laugh. His lids lower and eyes drop to Taehyung's lips, trace their shape before blinking upwards.
"Cute."
Shit
Taehyung swallows around a sound that fights against his closed lips, trying to break out, and inhales through his nose, keeping it as silent as possible. He doubts Jungkook misses it with how close he is but the least he can do is try.
No one ever growled at him before. Not that he ever wanted anyone to but he never anticipated it would happen now nor that it would get him to react like this.
His omega is about to start meowing if he doesn't get away from Jungkook soon.
"Have nothing better to do?"
Than experiment on my body that apparently can't get a fucking grip? is a part he leaves out of his question.
Jungkook purses his lips, pretending to think for no longer than a second. His lips refuse to take a shape that isn't at least reminiscent of a smile and his voice comes out deep and silky. "Wanna do you."
That shouldn't do anything to Taehyung's dick asides from potentially giving him an erectile disfunction but it very much does. He feels something he would rather not define but that irresistably reminds him of arousal.
"How fucking romantic."
Jungkook's lips give a twitch against his cheek again and that's how Taehyung knows he considers this a win. If Taehyung was really as bothered as he claimed to be he'd already be screaming for help or spraying lavander into his eyes. Instead, he prolongs his suffering by continuing their discussion.
"So many pretty omegas willing to bear their necks to me and I'm here, spending my time on you." Wasting my time sounds like what he was actually trying to say. Taehyung is for the ntht time amazed with what alphas consider to be flattering and what omegas let them pass with just because they smell or feel nice. If there was any arousal to begin with, it's gone in a flash. "Does that sound better?"
Jungkook stands with his legs a little parted and despite his superior reflexes Taehyung thinks he's distracted enough for him to manage to slip his foot in between and kick him in the balls. The thing is, he feels like it won't suffice.
But leaving those same balls as blue as his eyes are deep down under might be just the punishement.
"Wanna play wuth my pup Jungkook?" He counters with a question of his own and although he's dissatisfied with how it came out, a bit too casual to be seductive, Jungkook's eyes glaze over and Taehyung sees him going brainless for a second.
Dumb dog
He channels more of his sultriness, adjusts his voice to be a pitch higher, more enticing to an alpha.
"It wants to play with you too."
"Yeah?" Jungkook breathes out, hot and heavy against his lips, beginnings of a growl starting to build up somewhere in his chest.
He's so easy Taehyung thinks if he's gotten the pleasure of taking a single sniff of his scent he'd be having him eat out of his palm.
"Mhm." He bats his lashes, parts his lips, goes for the dumb blonde look that matches his hair. There's nothing that alphas like more than an incapable, innocent little thing they get to take advantage of. "It can be a bit disobedient at times but..." He brings his hand up and to Jungkook's chest, messes with the first button of his shirt. He doesn't touch his skin but he doesn't have to to feel the heat it emits. "nothing a firm hand can't fix."
Lights might be playing tricks on him but it looks for a moment as if Jungkook's eyes glint with red.
Taehyung should probably take it is a warning to stop now or deal with the consequences but he has had such an exhausting day and Jungkook had been so annoying and he cannot reffrain from taking it a step further.
His hand slides downwards, presses against the muscles of Jungkook's chest, then stomach, absorbing the warmth that increases the closer he gets to Jungkook's belt. It's where he stops.
"And it has many, many tricks it'd like to show you."
He watches as Jungkook's orbs go from brown to red and then back to brown, over and over again, as if the wolf inside is fighting against suppressants, wanting to come out.
Wakey wakey little alpha, Taehyung coos in his head but pulls his hand away, not wanting to give Jungkook a motive to be touching him back.
His expression turns back to normal and his voice follows, characteristically deep and breathy from all the laughter he's trying to suppress.
"His name's Yeontan. I love him to bits." He explains with a dreamy sigh, crossing his hands over his heart at the thought of the cute pup he owns and whose existence he doubts Jungkook is familiar with. He uses his bag as an excuse to avoid his gaze some more, reaching for it as in search for his phone. "Wanna see a pic?"
He doesn't receive a reply, of course not, but the silence lasts for longer than he thought it would so he charts his eyes up to check on what Jungkook is doing.
Nothing is a response that comes to mind first because his eyes are closed and the movements of his body so little Taehyung doesn't notice it right away. Shaking, that's what he's doing, his hands now cluthed into tight fists, bouncing slightly off the wall the same way his shoulders do, up and down, unable to settle.
Taehyung can't depict whether it's because he wants to smash his head against the wall or smash him up against the wall but whichever one it is it's definitely caused by his upcoming rut because he doesn't recall seeing Jungkook like this even during his fights with other alphas which is as railed up as he gets.
He feels a little proud being the one to get him to lose his mind, quite literally, but a little concerned too, not for Jungkook but for what Jungkook might end up doing to him. His worry peaks at the sudden movement Jungkook makes but leaves him as soon as he sees Jungkook has stepped away, creating some distance.
He shakes his head just once, slow and, Taehyung assumes, disappointed, before he turns his back on him and leaves.
******
"You could have gotten yourself killed." Jimin scolds on their way to class, head shaking so rapidly Taehyung worries it might explode.
He has decided to keep his little encounter with Jungkook to himself over the weekend, not to ruin his precious alone time with Jimin by talking about alphas. It was enough his soulmie brought the stench of one into their dorm.
"Stop being dramatic."
"I'm not being dramatic Tae." Jimin says all gaspy and offended and 100% dramatic. "Whatever you might think of Jungkook it took a whole lot of self-control for him to peel himself off of you."
Taehyung snorts so hard his head hurts.
"Should we applaud him then? He didn't mount me against my will, how wonderful of him." They walk into the classroom just a minute before their lesson is about to start and yet there's only a few people there, none of them of their rank. Taehyung looks around himself in confusion. "Where's the rest of the class?"
Jimin rolls his eyes, making the same movement with his tongue all around his mouth as if he just can't contain his reaction to Taehyung's stupidness.
"Jungkook. Rut. Connect the dots."
Taehyung's face twist with displeasure.
"Ridiculous."
Jimin rolls his eyes again but this time his annoyance is caused by something else and it goes a lot deeper.
"Not all of us use suppressants Taehyung." He reminds him not at all kindly, pronouncing his name with the sharpness that's usually reserved for when they fight. "They can't help it."
Taehyung has a lot to say on the topic but he leaves it at that, prioritizing his friendship with Jimin over having the last word.
*****
"We should probably take another-"
Taehyung waves his hand, gesturing to Jimin not to waste his words. He appreciates the delicate care with which his best friend approaches the matter but he won't listen anyways.
He's too stubborn for his own good.
"I'm not changing my every day route because of him."
So what if Jungkook's in rut?
Every other day someone else around the campus is and no one ever gives walking to their room a second thought. It's always Jungkook that has to be special.
Well fuck him, Taehyung's gonna take a leisurely walk right by his room and not give a shit.
Jimin rubs his temples, muttering something under his breath about how it's all his mother's fault for going into labour at the same place and time as Taehyung's did, making them life-long companions, and how now he's gonna die because of Taehyung's radical ways of proving his point.
Taehyung's just grateful he sticks right by his side even through all his dumb decisions.
In front of Jungkook's door there's a total of 5 omegas, 4 of which are whimpering and all of which are wet. Taehyung tries not to stare because, althought he can't imagine the force that would make him stand in the middle of the hallway with his pants soaked, he doesn't want to make it harder for them than it already is. It's more than enough that he can smell them.
He's not suprised to see both males and females waiting for their turn as he's familiar with the fact that Jungkook, unlike many others, doesn't have a preference, at least he didn't ever state it publically.
Sounds coming from behind the door can be heard a dozen of meters away and they're, for the lack of a better word, concerning. There's growling, scratching, rythmical thudding (it doesn't take long for Taehyung to guess what from), but also of glass shattering, unknown objects breaking and screaming so loud Taehyung wonders just how many noise complaints Jungkook has filed against him.
If he didn't know any better Taehyung would think he's slaughtering someone in there.
The plan is simple. He breathes through his mouth (because his bravery has its limits) and walks past the room on the way to his own, remaining unbothered.
He thinks it's achiveable so, ignoring how Jimin smells like an overly worried strawberry, he gives it a go.
It goes well at first. The sounds are a bit distracting and some of the smell invades his nostrils despite his best attempts to stop it. It's nothing he can't handle though.
It's not until the door suddenly swings open that all hells break lose.
Jungkook pulls at it so hard it's truly a wonder it doesn't fall off its hinges. The noise it produces when hitting the wall startles Taehyung, making him pause mid step and, more importantly, gasp in surprise.
Air leaves his mouth and enters through his nose.
Jungkook smells devine. He doesn't smell like pine and sage and thyme or he does but Taehyung can only faintly register any of those.
He smells like sex.
He smells like orgasms feel, like fresh cum tastes on his tongue.
He's aware his associations are horribly vulgar but his thoughts are too and he can't keep them from coming in.
His brain is clouded with images of Jungkook bending various parts of his body at the variety of angles, growling in his ear, biting on his neck. His head spins a little, overwhelmed with the scent and the imagery it causes and he reaches out to the side to try and find some stability in the wall.
He misses by a centimeter, grasping at thin air that does a little to help him to balance himself. He stutters on his feet but just when thinks he's about to come crashing down on the floor a set of arms wraps around him, holding him still.
He hears Jimin call his name but it sounds distant, like they're miles away, and then he's being spun in his arms which, a few moments later, he founds to be a mistake.
His eyes go above Jimin's head, missing the creases concern draws on his forehead, and lock with Jungkook's, hooded, radiant and red as blood. His hair is wet and so is the rest of him, skin flushed and covered with sweat and other bodily fluids Taehyung would rather not name.
Every vein on his body is popping, leaving Taehyung no other choice but to notice just how many of them adorn him, on the side of his neck and over his forearms and right above where the towel begins, hanging low on his hips. It's a useless piece of cloth, doing nothing to hide the state of Jungkook and the size of him that outlines from beneath.
Taehyung's mouth salivates. Jimin calls for him again, shaking at his shoulders, but he's deaf and he's blind and he's plain fucking stupid.
Alpha, his brain goes and Taehyung's never been more grateful that his lips won't move.
The problem is his legs won't either, not until an omega walks out from behind Jungkook, her clothes ripped in several places and hair touseled, skin painted a couple of different shades of red. Her hands, wrists, neck and face are all that he can see but it's more than enough because all of those are covered in handprints just the size of Jungkook's palm.
Her eyes are blown wide and blue like the ocean. She has a bitemark on her cheek.
Taehyung thinks he hears someone moan but he's too distracted with the action of his knees buckling to pay proper attention.
The feeling is so unfamiliar by now that he doesn't realize at first, not until it reaches his thigh. A single drop, cold against his skin and so distinctly his.
No one else would notice over the smell of Jungkook. It dominates any other that pervades air and to omegas, which all of them there are, it's infinitely more interesting than their own.
Jungkook himself, however, catches on it in an instant.
He drops his eyes over to where that drop is currently located and then follows as it slides down Taehyung's leg, hidden to the eye but not to the nose.
A growl rips out of his throat. A whimper escapes Taehyung's.
"Get in." He orders to the closest omega, moving to the side for a desperate looking boy to scrammble in.
He slams the door shut behind them but the wood of it isn't thick enough mask the sound of clothes ripping behind it.
Taehyung just about thinks he'll crumple to the floor when Jimin grabs him by the collar and pulls him out of there.
******
"Are you okay?" Jimin asks from in between his legs, crouched on the floor next to his feet. Taehyung is sitting on the couch, trying to, well, breathe. That's enough for starters. "Do you feel anything out of ordinary?"
Yes, he wants to say, everything I feel is out of ordinary, but his lips are still refusing to cooperate. All he can do is stare at one same spot on the floor, wishing the ground would swallow him.
He can't believe he has just gotten wet for Jeon Jungkook.
"Tae."
Jimin waves his (tiny) hand in front of his face, checking if he's alive and in his right mind.
"I had my suppressants." He mutters, still out of it, laughing a little though he feels nothing like it. He can't believe what's happening, he can't believe it's him it's happening to. "I had them." He mutters again, tearing his eyes away from the floor and aiming them at Jimin, wide open and helpless.
His friend looks like he's sorry for him at the very least. He might not ever understand Taehyung and his current paranoia but he knows how he must be feeling about all of this and he tries his best to be compassionate.
Sadly, it doesn't work.
"It's normal for an alpha like him-"
"It's not normal for an omega like me!" Taehyung yells louder than he intends to, reaching his hand out right after in apology.
Jimin takes it, squeezes it, and it's reassuring for a single moment before his features change and eyes turn panic-stricken.
"Your eyes." He gulps so loud Taehyung pulls his hand back to touch at his face, checking if he's gone blind or is missing his head. "They're blue."
No
No, no, no, he chants on the inside, grabbing at his face harder as it will make a difference. He jumps to his feet and, barely avoiding to kick Jimin in the process, runs over to the mirror to check for himself.
A screetch of horror leaves him at what he sees. There, staring right back at him, is a pair of blue eyes. Not a hint of brown to be found.
He starts pacing around the room, up and down, mind running to keep up the pace with his feet.
Did his eyes just turn blue? Or were they blue before and Jimin just didn't notice? Did Jungkook see? Does he know and if he does, what the fuck is there to know?
He almost launches himself at the cupboard, opens the first drawer and shimmies his hand through it, pulling out when he finds the paper box he was searching for.
"Tae." Jimin calls, hesitantly but somehow warningly at the same time, when he recognizes the box and realizes what Taehyung's about to do. "You can't take those on your own."
It's a reasonable advice, the one that Taehyung himself would give if the roles were reversed, but he doesn't care much about being reasonable right now.
He opens the box and pops two pills out of their sockets. He had two just this morning. He has had two every morning for 7 years and nothing similar every happened to him.
He doesn't think he panics, he doesn't breath, he panicks, because when he was the one breaking thorough Jungkook's suppressants then it was fine. Kinda funny actually, definitely not alarming. Now that Jungkook just broke through his he's shitting his pants.
Well, no actually, he's wetting his pants but that's even worse.
He can think of one singular explanation or all of this happening and since he's nowhere near ready to accept it, he makes another one up.
"They didn't give me the right dose." He explains, claims, tries to convince both himself and Jimin that this is the cause of it all. He shakes his head feverishly as he outlines the pills with the tip of his index finger, debating whether to take them or not. He's scared but he's scared more of going through something similar again. "It can't be right if I'm getting affected by this."
Jimin's hand falls over his own, holding him back for a few moments, giving him time he won't give himself. So maybe Taehyung would change his mind.
"It might not be him. Sometimes our hormones go nuts and your eyes can change color-"
"Jimin." He cuts off, closes his eyes and mouth, pressing his lips together until they form a line. He swallows, hard and painful. "It's not just my eyes."
He blinks his eyes open. Jimin mouths an 'oh'.
The smell of peach is faint but now that he points it out, Jimin for sure feels it.
His hand rests over Taehyung's some more and then, after his devastated expression doesn't faltter, releases it, pulling back to his chest.
Taehyung gulps down the pills and hopes his shame goes down with them.
******
Jungkook doesn't get out of his room for three more days and Taehyung uses their time apart to get his shit together.
Jimin is, justifiedly, worried about his increased intake of meds so for those three days he refuses to leave Taehyung's side. They sleep in one bed-Taehyung's, because Jimin's reeks of Yoongi-spend most of their days together at the library and Jimin even follows him into the bathroom, camping on the outside of the curtain while Taehyung showers because 'what if you get dizzy, slip and break your skull?'
Taehyung's a bit concerned himself so he allows it but, thankfully, all the changes he notices are for the better. He's admittedly a little drowsy but he assigns it to the lack of sleep. Jungkook's eyes had been haunting him at night.
He avoids the room-the entire hallway in which the room is located too. He suddenly doesn't mind taking a ten minute walk around the campus just to not have to risk hearing, seeing or smelling him again.
He's good for the most part; Jungkook doesn't leave his room and Taehyung doesn't enter it, they're far enough away for the sounds to be anulled and his smell, no matter how strong, can't breach through multiple concrete walls and a thick shield 6 daily suppressants create around him.
That doesn't in no way mean Taehyung manages to completely avoid it. Jungkook is simply unavoidable.
He fucks a lot apparently and not that it's any of Taehyung's business, but every other omega he passes by smells like Jungkook has rubbed himself all over them. Probably because he did.
He doesn't blame them. Now that he's experienced it himself he can very much relate to the urge for being fucked sensless by him. If they feel at least half of what he felt then props to them for even waiting in rows. Taehyung was about to break the damned door down.
He admits it to himself for about a half a second every night, just before he drifts off to sleep. Admits that he's jealous-or, no, envious perhaps is a better word. He could be the one having his clothes ripped off, screaming behind that door, smelling like Jungkook.
He could be but he doesn't want to. He repeats it to himself until he stars believing it.
Three days of peace pass rather quickly. The word goes around campus that Jungkook is back, fresh out of his rut and ready to take on the world.
Taehyung avoids him like his life depends on it.
It's not like he was ever very fond of being around Jungkook but now he's running away at the mere mention of his name or the sight of Yoongi coming by around the corner. He can't risk it. He won't.
He even misses a few of his class, changing his mind right before they start and walking away instead of entering the classroom. Education can wait until he's capable of facing Jungkook again.
What can't wait or, more precisely, who, is Jungkook himself. He has noticed Taehyung taking the opposite direction of wherever he's headed to, turning away at every given chance and, as much as he isn't delighted to have the talk either, he feels like it's their duty to.
He pre-meditates it, calculating just when and where Taehyung has to be for him to be able to catch him before he manages to run away. And he does, he succeeds two days later, emmerging in front of him while he's waiting to order at the line in cafeteria.
Taehyung's eyes are as wide as saucers as he stares at him and then down as his trey with food, hoping that Jungkook is just a hallucination or something. It might be the meds making him trip. God, please be the meds.
"How have you been?"
There's no fucking way Jungkook just asked him that.
Unless he grows out another head and his skin turns purple Taehyung will be very concerned. He'd rather trip than have whatever the fuck this conversation is about to be.
"Since when do you care about how I've been?" Taehyung asks, snarky but genuine in his snarkiness.
Jungkook isn't exactly famous for his kindness.
He shrugs and Taehyung makes a step forwards in the line, coaxing him into stepping back.
"Just asking." He replies awkwardly, pushing his hands in his pockets, awkwardly, looking around himself, awkwardly. Taehyung is just about to ask him if his rut has brainwashed him into thinking they're friends now wwhen he sighs, throws his head back and then down but still above Taehyung's. "Look, we both felt what happened there."
Taehyung deadpans.
His heart does a triple flip and knocks at his chest, asking for a way out, but not a single muscle on his face moves. He's been preparing for this.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
It's bad enough that he now knows Jungkook has felt it too, he doesn't plan to acknowledge he did and make things worse.
They're better off without each other and, plus, Taehyung's fully convinced it was all just a coincedence. A series of unfortunate events.
Now, with a couple of pills more, he's completely immune to Jungkook, just like he should be.
"Peaches are my favorite fruit." Jungkook blurts out all of a sudden, taking Taehyung by surprise and drawing out a reaction.
His mouth gapes, tongue pressed flatly against the bottom of it, heavy with confusion.
"What?"
"Peaches. You smell like them."
Taehyung stares. It's all he's capable of for a while, staring as wheels in his head turn, trying to process what Jungkook just said and what it means.
He has smelled him, that comes as no surprise, but he has also depicted the exact note of his smell. And it's his favorite fruit. Peaches. What Taehyung smells like.
It's like someone's pulling a cruel prank on him.
"Yes, I'm well fucking aware." And now he's no longer the only one aware of it which pisses him off. "You're not making the connection you think you're making. Everyone loves peaches."
It doesn't mean anything.
Peaches are great. Sweet. Juicy. Soft. They're fucking peachy.
Jungkook isn't special. He likes peaches. It's not a big deal. It changes nothing.
"Your eyes were blue."
God, if only he would shut the fuck up already.
Taehyung brings his hand up on the side of him, his palm facing Jungkook, indicating for him to stop. Stop talking, stop making assumptions, stop insinuating that them two, with absolutely nothing in common, might be mates.
He needs to pause, take a break, get a brain. Taehyung has already gotten through it while Jungkook was on rut. He doesn't have to be dealing with his panic as well.
"They've gotten my dose wrong. For the suppressants." Taehyung explains, lies a bit too because he sells it as the definite truth, not as the conclusion he has reached by himself and never ran by an actual doctor. Jungkook doesn't have to know that part. It would only make him overthink more. "That's all. It has nothing to do with you."
Jungkook stares for a while longer, observant for any changes in Taehyung's expression that would imply he is just searching for ways to get rid of him. He doesn't find any because Taehyung tries his hardest not to show any.
Jungkook exhales, long and relieved and with a little whistle in the end, like Taehyung thought only cartoon characters do.
"Well that's a relief."
Taehyung's lips droop. Jungkook's curve upwards. They seem to be incapable of ever smiling at the same time.
"Yeah. Bye now."
Jungkook walks away without a word and with a satisfied smile plastered on his dumb face. Taehyung feels a bit disappointed that he's so jolly about not having to be connected to him in any way and, again, it's hypocritical of him but he can't help how he feels.
He's annoyed at himself too, for allowing this to get to him, as if Jungkook isn't a complete stranger and an asshole one at that, so when pain strikes him first he blames it on his overly irritable nervous system.
When it happens for the second time, only a few seconds later, it's more intense, hitting right in his frontal lobe, making him rub over it to rush the pain away.
The third time he doesn't feel it at all. The room around him spins, he rocks on his feet, feels hands grip on his shoulders and various voices calling him back to Earth.
The last thing he remembers is hitting the ground. Everything goes black after.
******
Taehyung fainted.
Right there, while waiting for his sandwhich.
He didn't hit his head, thanks to the people around him that reacted in time and, most importantly, Jungkook was already too far away to witness it.
So, to Taehyung himself, it wasn't that big of a deal. He was gonna wave it off as normal, student-life exhaustion, and keep living like he used to. Jimin, however, wouldn't hear it.
Lots of water and one call to his mom later Taehyung was convinced into going to see the doctor. Truth be told, he should have done that before abusing prescripted meds, not after, but the issue with his doctor was that he was just too good. He's detailed, thorough or, as Taehyung liked to call it, nosy.
Nothing could pass under his radar.
"So you don't have the slightest idea what might have caused this?" He asks, voice mellow but eyes borderline accusing. "You aren't pregnant, are you?"
"No!" Taehyung yells, laughs, panics, none of which probably helps him eliminate suspicion. "No. Uh.."
The doctor tilts his head a little and sends him a look over the glasses. "Honesty would be very much appreciated Taehyung."
It's not strict, more like pleading, parental, and it's just the approach that always works on Taehyung. He can resist the pressure if someone's rude or persistant but if he smells just a tad of disappointment, he's going to give in.
"I might have taken more suppressants than I should have."
"How many?"
"Six a day." He mumbles meekly, eyes shying away and to one of the posters hanging on the wall. BIG STRONG AND HEALTHY ALL ALONG is written on one of them in bold red letters, just beneath a picture of a very muscular man holding a baby, grinning at it like crazy. It takes a few more sentences for him to understand the context of it. It's a commercial for one of those supplements that promise to increase your chances of having an alpha firstborn. He's kind of disappointed his doctor has it right there in his office but he assumes it pays well and tries not to take it to heart. "For a week."
His doctor tries not to display panic but it flashes over his face in form of arched brows and wrinkles on his forehead.
"Should I be concerned?"
"No." Taehyung waves his hand quickly from left to right as if he could erase any incriminating thoughts just like that. "I'm not trying to get high on them or.....die." Not yet at least. He can't guarantee he won't be thinking about it if this meeting goes wrong. "I've been experiencing some symptoms I haven't had before so..."
Taehyung tells him all about it.
About the gym and the changing room and the party and the rut incident that, although he tiptoes around, he gives enough information on. He's embarrassed and awkward about most of it but he doesn't leave anything out because he wants to get the most accurate answer to his worries.
His doctor listens carefully and without interuptions. He occassionally nods his head to encourage him to keep going and intertwines his hands conclusively when Taehyung makes his final word.
"I have good news and bad news. Which ones do you want first?"
Taehyung would rather have none. He likes his life as it is, doesn't want any updates or changes.
He fears them quite a lot actually. That's one of the reasons he avoided coming here for as long as he possibly could.
"Bad."
Better get done and over with it quickly. That way he can use good news as a source of hope or a soothing thought to comfort him at least a little.
"You need to stop taking your suppressants."
Only, he doesn't ever expect the bad ones to be this bad.
"What?" The question flies out of his mouth and, for a second there, it feels like his eyes might do the same with their sockets. "Like, forever?"
"No, not forever." For a week? Or a day. Please say a day, I can survive a day- "Just for a couple of months. A break is recommended to anyone who takes them regularly and I think this is a perfect time for you to have yours."
"Can I disagree?" Because he does, he, respectfully, dis the fuck out of agree.
The timing couldn't possibly be worse. A break, if necessary, is an option in a few months, at best. When Jungkook is no longer around.
"You can do whatever you want Taehyung. I'm just here to advise you on what's the best for your health."
There it is again. The approach. How the fuck is Taehyung supposed to stand up to someone who wishes him well in the world where not many people do?
He slupms back into his chair with a sigh. He'd definitely pout if he was alone. He feels like it now too but he doesn't want to be a baby about having to be a responsible adult.
He'll save it for when he reunites with Jimin.
"And good news?"
The doctor smiles and although Taehyung tells himself he shouldn't get his hopes up just yet he can't not feel a tiny bit excited for whatever it is that's making his paramedic of choice do a 180.
"I think you found your mate."
And Taehyung thinks he has a stroke.
"What?" He huffs, laughs-or tries to fake it at least, producing some kind of a high-pitched noise that at the same time sounds like he's choking and screaming.
This shouldn't come as surprise considering he has connected the dots himself a week ago but he has since unconnected them about a thousand times, creating all kinds of obstacles in between to make sure those stupid dots wouldn't never come near each other again.
He put two and two together and it gave him a five. The math wasn't mathing and, all things considered, the mates won't be mating either.
"No." He says simply as if that's all it takes for his problems to go away. "No, no, no. No."
There. He fixed it.
"That's not the kind of reaction I was expecting."
Taehyung wants to laugh. It's just so fucking funny because, you see, he wasn't expecting any of this either.
Finding a mate at 23 wasn't a part of the plan and mating with the "AlPhA oF hIs CaLLibEr" as Jimin likes to say cannot be a part of his destiny.
"He isn't my mate. He's a.." Dog. A traditionalist. An alpha. "Can I have another one?"
The doctor laughs lightly, for no longer than a couple of short seconds, and then his smile fades away and he readjusts in his chair. He blinks a couple of times, waits for an explanation on why Taehyung didn't join in on the laughter, and then his eyebrows knit together in confusion.
"You can't be serious."
"Of course I'm serious." Taehyung says, shrugs, offened by the mocking tone that laces the doctor's assumption. "There must be a way for me to like..." He waves his hand around, searching for the expression that won't be too harsh but will still get the point across. "cut off my mate. Technology is developed nowadays. I can probably get my scent gland exchanged for someone else's. Right?"
His doctor is looking at him like he's insane.
Funnily enough, there's still hope in Taehyung that he might present him with a magic potion or recommend an affordable hitman that could take Jungkook down. When he speaks, his world comes crashing down.
"I'm sorry."
Taehyung feels like he might black out again and this time it has nothing to do with medication.
*******
He doesn't tell Jungkook. Of course not.
Telling him would be a mature thing to do. The right thing to do.
It would allow a discussion and, hopefully, they'd resolve some of their issues and come to a solution. A compromise, if nothing else.
Taehyung says fuck that and proceeds to act like nothing has changed.
He does tell Jimin and Hoseok and he does very much regret doing it just a second later.
"Called it." Jimin announces, picking both hands up in the air to high five himself. He turns to Hoseok next, extending an arm. "Pay up."
Taehyung probably isn't as surprised as he should be. Jimin might be supportive but he's also a firm believer in soulmatery and a sworn defender of an opinion-which Taehyung strongly disagrees with-that him and Jungkook are perfect opposites.
"Nice to know you bet on my suffering."
"Who's being dramatic now?" Jimin taunts, snatching a couple of bills from Hoseok's open palm. Money hungry little thing. "Jungkook is a great alpha. Right Hobi?"
"No, he's not." Taehyung insists, turning to Hoseok for support as well. "Right Hobi?"
He looks at one and then the other, startled at first but then his eyes set on Taehyung and he grimaces.
"Sorry Tae. Have to take Jimin's side here." He ignores Taehyung whose eyes shoot daggers at him and scratches his chin, thinking of the best way to express himself. Only there is no best way. Taehyung's already decided he's gonna hate whatever comes out of his mouth next. "I know he can be a bit..."
"Pretentious? Disrespectful? Annoying?"
"I was gonna say-"
"And not a bit, a whole fucking lot."
Hoseok sighs and his eyes dart to Jimin, searching for help. They think they're all sneaky but Taehyung sees, he knows they're conspiring against him.
"You can't expect an alpha not to have alpha traits."
Hoseok nods like crazy at the words, visibly pleased with Jimin's feedback. "Exactly."
"Oh yes. Let's justify shitty behavior with nature." He retorts with fake enhtusisam, throwing his hands around because he just can't keep still. All of this feels like a dream and he secretly hopes if he's being loud enough about it he might wake himself up. "Treat me like garbagge yes, fuck yes."
Hoseok cackles at his theatrality and Jimin slips a smile too, although when he speaks he puts a serious face on to make himself more convincing.
"But if we put his flaws aside-"
"Which is impossible."
"There's a lot of perks to being mated to-"
"Don't say it." Taehyung uttered through the slit of his pressed lips, something between a threat and a plead.
"An alpha of his calliber."
He groans, covers his face with his hands and then drags them downwards clawing at his skin in horror.
He abhores it. He'd unironically rather go deaf than ever have to hear Jimin say those words again.
"Like what exactly?" He asks and it's rethorical, mocking, he doesn't expect an answer cause he doesn't want to hear one.
Nothing he can say will ever be satisfactory.
"Safety. You like safety."
He does. The safety of his bed while he's hiding from the world or the safety of his helmet while he's riding a bike.
Alphas aren't really the first thing that comes to mind when safety is mentioned. They're probably not in the first couple of hundred things that come to mind.
"I don't feel very safe around him."
Jimin makes a sound, wagging his forefinger just once, like he knows something Taehyung doesn't and he has him right where he wanted him.
"Not yet."
A very disappointing argument, if it can even be called that.
Jimin thinks just because he's in a relationship himself he's entitled to give advice on everyone else's. Jimin also thinks he's an expert on alpha omega relations.
Taehyung, to be completely frank, thinks Jimin is full of shit. He's cute, he's lovable, but full of shit.
"You mean when he releases phermones and tricks my body into thinking I'm safe? Yeah, I call that manipulation."
He doesn't appreciate anyone using his nature against him, that's why he's been on suppressants for so long in the first place.
Safety and self-respect.
"High quality sperm." Hoseok blurts out of nowhere, launching forward off the bed and snapping his fingers at the same time, ecstatic about a 'perk' he just came up with.
Taehyung's mouth twists in a disgusted frown. He doesn't want to be thinking about Jungkook's sperm, not even from the scientific point of view.
"Please."
"He's right tho." Jimin cuts in, uninvited and, at this point, annoying with how passionately he stands up for Jungkook. "Their pups are always healthy."
"I'm sure incest helped a lot with that." Taehyung counters with a sardonic smile that has the other two groaning in unison.
"That was like five hundred years ago."
"So?"
It's still gross. Taehyung doesn't want to be mating with someone who originates from a brother-sister relationship. What if it's contagious or something?
"Fine. You know what?" Jimin snaps, getting up from the coziness of his bed to stand in the middle of the room with his hands dramatically clutching his hips. "Big fucking cock." He spits out with the outmost vulgarity, even using his hands to imitate what Taehyung supposes is the length of a big fucking cock he has in mind. "You can't deny that one." He points at Taehyung accusingly, then turning to Hoseok with his eyebrows so high up they almost reach his hairline. "You should have seen the size of that thing."
Taehyung wants to die a little.
Partly because his brain is now producing images of Jungkook's big fucking cock against his will and partly because what the fuck is wrong with his best friend.
"When have you seen the size of the thing?" Hoseok asks, cocking a brow over his doubtingly narrowed eyes.
"When Taehyung was wetting himself in the hallway over it."
Taehyung makes a mental note to murder Jimin in his sleep.
"He was naked?"
Jimin purses his lips, cheeks sucked in and eyes roundening for better comic effect.
"He didn't have to be."
Taehyung lets out the most exhausted of all sighs that ends up completely overpowered by a series of incoherent noises Hoseok practically screams into the air, choosing the worst possible way to express his....well, whatever the fuck he is trying to express.
Taehyung never imagined his two best friends would be more excited about his mate's dick than he himself is and it's not that he minds but he'd rather take the conversation elsewhere.
"Enough about..." He licks at his lips while trying to think of how to put it without sounding as crude as Jimin did. "Him." He settles for that at last, causing his friends to errupt in a fit of childish giggles. He ignores. It's what he does best. "What up with your alpha?"
Hoseok's smile doesn't leave but it changes, turning from unbothered and carless to hesitant with a hint of guilty.
"Uhh yeah, about that..." He scratches at his chin again but it prolongs this time as he sends his fingers on a quest all the way up his jaw and behind his head, to his nape. "My alpha kinda of has an omega."
Jimin gasps and by the mere look at him Taehyung knows he isn't as shocked with what he has just heard as he is at the fact that Hoseok didn't share this information earlier.
"See." Taehyung says, pointed and content. "I knew it. They're all the same. Cheaters. Liars. Anima-"
"Actually..." Hoseok interupts just as he's starting to get heated and he has to bite on his tongue not to just raise his tone and speak over him. "He was very upfront about it. Them two are interested in all rank relationship."
Well fuck
There goes Taehyung's whole speech on how alphas don't deserve the time of his day.
"And you're good with that?" Jimin asks a bit hesitantly and altough Taehyung can hear he's doing his absolute most not to let judgement pervade his tone he's still a little scared of how Hoseok will take a question like that.
To be fair, poly relationships, especially those with all three ranks combined, are not the most common thing in the world and Hobi has never openly talked about wanting to be a part of one or shown anything that could have been interpreted as interest.
"I was a little sceptic at first. It's hard to click with one person, let alone two. But Jin.." Taehyung takes a wild guess that's the omega's name by the dreamy sigh that falls from Hobi's lips. "First of all, he's the most handsome man I've ever seen. Well, besides Namjoon."
Jimin clears his throat pointedly, giving a flip to his silky bangs to bring all the attention to bring all the attention to himself.
"And Jimin of course." Hoseok adds, correcting himself just in time to turn Jimin all proud and giggly again. Has Taehyung mentioned he's a sucker for attention? "Secondly, he's amazing. In every sense. Both of them are. I don't want to get ahead of myself cause we're still exploring but I think this could work. And sex..."
Hoseok's eyes roll in the back of his head at the memory and he doesn't resist a smile. It's so wide all his perfect teeth are showing.
"You've had sex already?" Taehyung asks, a little suprised, a little curious and more envious than he'd like to be.
He missed sex so, so much and Jaehyun has royaly fucked up his chances of having any a few nights ago.
To make the matter even worse he had been restraining from masturbation in fear his mind would go to Jungkook. Whether he likes it or not, Jungkook was right-his pup has been eager to come out and play ever since their eyes met that morning during his rut.
Hoseok raises his hands in surrender.
"Guilty as charged. I don't think I ever came so many times."
"TMI." Taehyung spells it out for him because he apparently doesn't see the issue in oversharing.
Jimin clicks his tongue.
"Don't mock, get that cock."
Hoseok laughs like it's the best joke he has ever heard and even though his laughter is contagious Taehyung manages to keep his face unmoving.
Jimin doesn't deserve to be making him laugh.
"I hate you."
"Don't debate, fuck your mate."
"Get help."
"Get help, don't fuck yourself."
Taehyung can barely stiffle his laughter any longer and he's too stubborn to let it up so he takes the first textbook his hands can reach and makes a dramatic exit out of the room. He could use some alone time anyways and library is a good place to think.
The door just about clicks shut behind him when Jimin's voice booms through it.
"Drop that book, fuck Jungkook!"
*******
It takes two days for suppressants to fully let up and for Taehyung to start experiencing symptoms he has long forgotten of.
His eyes are blue at all times-shades change depending on his mood but the color never.
He's more sensitive to smells, the ones belonging to alphas especially, and that means not only he can sense them from a greater distance and at a greater intensity but he's also affected by them. His mood is influenced by those around him: if someone is sad he gets all mushy, if someone is angry he's frightened and if someone is horny all he can rely on is his willpower to keep him composed, otherwise he'll start producing slick, regardless of the place and time.
He's much more liable like this and it makes him vulnerable which, with alphas around, is not something he's very fond of.
And don't get him started on alphas.
They swarm around him like flies, rarely polite, often salivating and always, without a fail, trying to sniff at his neck. He swears at some, yells at others, even spits on one that dares prod his gross alpha snout against his nape, and all of this on his fifteen minute walk from the dorm to the campus.
He smells new, untested and untasted, and many alphas discover now for the first time that no, he isn't actually a beta. Most of them haven't even bothered to learn his name but now, now he's suddenly interesting. He's the main attraction and he absolutely despises it.
It's like he's newly presented all over again and, although he knows it will take some time to get accustomed to this, he's already exhausted.
He, perhaps stupidely, hopes Jungkook won't notice right away or that, if he does, he'll keep his comments to himself. It's hard enough for him as it is and the last thing he needs is to be facing one alpha who his willpower is worth nothing against.
But things never go according to plan and life once again decides to have no mercy.
He's alone; he has chosen to be despite of Jimin's insistance he taggeg along. Jimin doesn't take this subject and neither does Yoongi and Taehyung isn't going to be selfish and ask his friend to babysit him instead of having a morning cuddle session with his boyfriend.
Alphas and omegas aren't allowed to share a room so the only time they can spend time together in bed is after their morning call, when Yoongi sneaks in.
Taehyung is just about to enter the classroom (which he has never before thought of as a senctuary but he certainly does now) when a flash of red a couple of meters away distracts him from going in. He halts, turns and he should run, he knows when he smells pine but he feels rooted into the spot.
Jungkook walks fast and he walks with the goal. He stops as soon as he reaches Taehyung, standing there with his hands in his pockets. He doesn't look as casual as that pose implies he should be.
"Why?" He asks curtly, offering no more details to his question.
Taehyung doesn't need any to know what he's talking about but he'd still appreciate a proper greeting and some basic human decency.
"Hello to you too." He shoots back, rolling his eyes and twisting the knob so he can go inside, hide himself with the door Jungkook has no place behind.
Jungkook's voice once again diverts his attention.
"Why aren't you using them?"
Taehyung's on the verge of telling him it's all his fault.
It's his fault he's been feeling weird, his fault he has overdosed on drugs and his fault he can no longer take them.
He'd tell him but Jungkook's self-centered enough already. Taehyung doesn't need him to know he has had such a huge impact on his life and he definitely doesn't need him to know it's all because they're mates.
"What the fuck do you care?"
"Taehyung." Jungkook calls, reaching out a hand that pauses half way to him, lingering in the air before falling through it. His voice comes out uneven and croaked and how his eyes close at the sound of it, lids squeezing punishingly for a second, shows it's a spontaneous reaction. He's affected. "You're alerting every alpha in a five kilometer radius."
Taehyung isn't sure what lesson he's supposed to take from this nor what to do with the information given. He can't imagine Jungkook being jealous simply because he's not the only one who gets to smell him and yet words ring so loudly in his head, still fresh and impactful.
Some things should be reserved for my eyes only
He has no use from his eyes when it comes to smells but Taehyung assumes he applies his motto to all the other senses too. Taehyung wasn't big on the idea then and he likes it even less now that he knows he's the one Jungkook will be feeling this way about.
"Trust me, I'd rather not." He goes to fully turn the knob but Jungkook steps forward and interupts his movement. They were on the verge of an appropriate distance before and now, with one additional step, they're too close. Jungkook doesn't try to touch him again but he's looking and he's looking like he wants something from him. "What?"
Taehyung would like to think he imagines things.
That Jungkook's eyes haven't actually changed three shades since they first started talking and that they aren't glazed with something, unfamiliar but so easy to identify.
That his jaw is set, muscles tense, for reasons other than Taehyung. That he tosses his tongue from one side of his mouth to the other because he has something in his teeth, not because he's picking words.
Jungkook doesn't usually chew. He spits out, blunt and upfront, without giving it a second thought. Taehyung has never seen him chew on what he is about to say and every change he notices in Jungkook frightens him.
"I can help."
Jungkook doesn't once explain how he could help, vocalize just what he could do or name the ways he has on his mind but Taehyung knows, knows by how his nose scrunches with every longer inhale and the red of his eyes becomes almost impossible to look at.
Taehyung's heart speeds up. He still hopes that, despite all odds, Jungkook isn't alluding to what he thinks he is. That it's not what it looks like. That he's being paranoid. That Jungkook couldn't possibly know.
Because how would he? Taehyung hasn't told him. Just on the contrary, Taehyung has done everything in his power to erase all and every doubt Jungkook might have about it.
He thought that would be enough. That the excuse he came up with about his suppressants is convincing, that Jungkook isn't that observant of the uncontrollable changes in their relation, isn't that good at sensing them.
But Taehyung understimated him because Taehyung has never thought too highly of all those fields Jungkook has excessive knowledge in. He's never been interested in the topic of mating and he never thought it'd be important for him to be.
Jungkook has probably been raised learning about it, encouraged to actively think about it, taught to recognize signs and details that differentiate his mate from any other omega. He might have believed he has made a mistake in judgement because it's only been a short moment he has experienced it and his head was clouded by lust of rut but now, having smelled Taehyung again, he no longer doubts himself. Jungkook, unlike him, doesn't need a doctor to confirm his suspicions.
He's a connoisseur of their nature. Taehyung's a denier.
Jungkook's supportive of it, devoted to it, acceptant of it.
Taehyung rejects, refuses and turns a blind eye and he does it again, declining Jungkook's unabashed offer to scent him.
If that's the only way for him to be freed of other alphas, he'll learn how to cope with them.
"Are you in your right mind?" He asks through a half-assed laugh, in disbelief that Jungkook could even think about making this proposal. Jungkook's lips part, tips of bottom teeth showing through the gap of it, but he stops at that, freezing without a word. His scent intensifies, sage overpowering the other two notes in his body's natural attempt to get Taehyung as bothered by the smell as he is. Without suppressants to help him out with control he's instantly affected, his vision going black and mind blank and hand gripping at the knob so hard that he's surprised he doesn't break it off. Taehyung changes his mind about wanting to know if Jungkook has a functioning brain. He just wants to get out of there and save what's left of his own. "You know what, forget it."
He at last stops abusing the shit out of that poor knob and gets in before Jungkook can do anything about it.
******
Next time he sees Jungkook is that same day, during one of their shared classes. He smells him before he sees him but it doesn't matter because he knows to expect him and takes some time to mentally prepare himself for their encounter.
They exchange looks when Jungkook enters but nothing more than that. He leaves Taehyung alone for the rest of the class but his scent doesn't, changing throughout the lesson in intensity and arrangement of notes. It sucks because it makes it impossible for Taehyung to get used to it and ignore it for long enough to focus on what their professor is saying.
He wonders if he does the same for Jungkook but he quickly brushes the thought away. He doesn't need to know.
As soon as the lesson is over he packs all the stuff up in his bag but he finishes too soon, before Jungkook has gotten out. Not wanting to risk meeting him on the way he bends over and unties his shoelace just to have to tie it all over again. It wastes him about 30 seconds which isn't much but he still hopes is enough for Jungkook to leave.
"Hey pretty omega."
He snaps his head up so fast he misses hitting it against the desk by a hair. Who he sees is an unknown alpha, a male he doesn't ever recall attends this class, standing by his desk looking all smug.
Taehyung looks at him for as long as it takes his brain to determine he's not Jungkook. Then he loses his interest and shifts his eyes towards the door, trying to see if Jungkook is anywhere near it.
"I'm talking to you."
Taehyung doesn't know where he finds the decency to close his eyes before rolling them on the inner side of his lids but he does, avoiding to make the alpha more confrontational than he needs to be.
"I'm aware. And I'm ignoring you." He informs, not bothering to look at him and give him the attention he so badly yearns for. "Are you aware?"
The alpha snickers.
"Big mouth you got there. I wonder-"
"What else it can do?' Taehyung finishes the well familiar line for him, no longer hiding the roll of his eyes. That sentence has the power to make him physically sick. "Chew up your cock to pieces."
He doesn't expect the alpha to laugh at that too. He knows he isn't scary, especially not to them, but he'd sincerely advise anyone not to take his threats as a joke. He might be weak but his anger is a fury of its own.
He's about to say he isn't kidding when the alpha moves forward and takes the attention off his planned words. His hand reaches for Taehyung's face and ah, Taehyung thinks, this again. It's going to be hard to get rid of this one but he won't go down without a fight.
He debates whether to try and bite the alpha's finger off or move out of the way, stand up and spit on his second alpha that day when a set of fingers envelops around his wrist and stops him in his tracks. His hand never gets to touch Taehyung.
"How about you don't do that?"
Taehyung's eyes drag from where their hands met in an unfriendly grip over the sinewy forearm and to a bicep that strains against the sleeve of a navy polo shirt.
Taehyung reckons Jungkook could probably snap his wrist in two if he set his mind to it.
"Oh, how wonderful." He mutters with no enthusiasm and a lot of irony.
If there's something he hates that's a savior syndrome every alpha seems to posses.
He's been fine on his own his whole life, he doesn't need Jungkook to be protecting him now.
"With all due respect Jeon, I think we're fine here." The other bites back, tearing his hand out and away from Jungkook's grasp.
Surprisingly, Taehyung agrees.
"Let's not fight, yeah?" Jungkook asks but it isn't a question, not really. It's an advice, a command that takes the form of one just so he could later claim he wasn't the cause of an argument, if one happens to arise. He was being nice, that's what he'll say. "Just back the fuck off and we'll call it a day."
"How about you back the fuck off? I saw him first."
Taehyung feels like yawning.
He has never been in a situation like this one himself but every one of his omega acquaintances has and it feels like watching the same movie for a hundreth time. Predictable and so incredibly boring.
"How about you both back the fuck off?" He proposes with a big smile, getting the unnamed alpha to whip his head back towards him.
Jungkook keeps still, eyes refusing to move from the other despite the distraction Taehyung's voice offers.
He's seething. Taehyung thinks having pine needles injected directly into his nostrils would burn them less than being around Jungkook right now.
"Shut up." The alpha orders, this time directing his anger at Taehyung instead of Jungkook.
It doesn't faze him.
His phermones can't alarm the omega more than Jungkook's have already and with him there, Taehyung has nothing to worry about except from losing his independance.
Jungkook is a servant of the alpha in his head and the alpha in his head can't and won't allow anyone to threaten his mate.
"Don't tell him to shut up."
It's a good thing Jungkook doesn't get physical because Taehyung's pretty sure one touch would result in fists flying all around. Instead, he uses his eyes, his voice, all the traits that make him stand out among other alphas.
Taehyung despises what it does to his omega.
It makes him want to be vulnerable more often so Jungkook would become like this again and it makes him kind of proud too, seeing how easily his alpha takes charge over the other.
It also makes him want to puke because he, albeit only in his head, just called Jungkook his alpha.
He needs oxygen and some space. Air smells too much like an impending disaster in here.
"Don't tell me to shut up." Taehyung affirms Jungkook's words, glaring at the alpha before taking his eyes to Jungkook's. It's fucked up how red they are. "And you don't tell him what not to tell me."
He pretends he doesn't hear how his voice comes out softer, meek in comparison to what it sounded like in his head when he thought of what to say. He doesn't have full control over his body and he probably never will again for as long as Jungkook is in his vicinity.
He takes his bag and leaves without turning back. He doesn't check his eyes in the front camera of his phone.
He doesn't have to. He knows they're consumingly blue.