Chapter Text
Jimin wakes up and despite the bone-deep exhaustion, he doesn't feel like his insides are burning him alive anymore. He's tired. He's the kind of tired that it feels like he's moving through mud and each step seems far heavier than his slight frame should be. At the very least he wasn't disgusting. When his heat broke yesterday evening, Taehyung had scooped him up into his arms and carried him into the bathroom. The slightly younger omega had quietly bathed him and washed his greasy hair. Taehyung was gentle, he had been gentle the entire duration of Jimin's heat. Taehyung had wrapped his much larger frame around Jimin when the worst of his heat punched the breath from his lungs and had him curling his body forward as his muscles spasmed at his core. Though Taehyung was not an alpha, their alpha his omega supplies disgruntled, his omega life partner being so near during such a vulnerable time soothed some of the worst of his heat.
Jimin had only awoken once to find the other omega not in his nest. It had been maybe two or three days in? Time was a little rough for Jimin to remember during his heats. He was guessing two to three days because the sweater he was wearing had almost entirely lost its dark chocolate scent. Sensing his distress, Taehyung had returned to Jimin's room quickly. In his hands, there was a bag. It must have been a scent-blocking bag, Jimin realizes thinking back because there had been no scent coming from it. The moment the bag opened though, Jimin had been hit with a wall of dark chocolate scent. His inner omega had been nearly salivating. Taehyung handed the bag over with a small smile. Jimin's hands were shaky from lack of food and water but he managed to pull the clothing and snacks out of the bag. Jimin tugged a large sweater out of the pile that smelled the strongest and shoved it back into the bag. He handed the closed bag back to Taehyung who looked at him in confusion.
"Is there something wrong with that one? Jungkookie said he made sure that there weren't any other scents on them."
"No! No." Jimin licks his dry lips and runs a hand through his tangled hair. "It smells the best. I...I want to keep it for after."
Jimin's cheeks flush at his own heat-dazed audacity. Taehyung must think the worst of him for being so attached to Jungkook's scent. Hell, Jungkook was probably weirded out if Taehyung told him how Jimin had reacted when handed Jungkook's sweatshirt. The mortification of that thought has him falling back into his sheets with a soft groan. How could he be so stupid? Why had he even called Taehyung in the first place? He was sure the other was downplaying just how much he had fought with his group mates about coming here. He feels horrible for making Taehyung make a choice like that.
"Hey, is everything alright?"
Jimin's head snaps toward the doorway as Taehyung slips through it. The scent-blocking bag is back and stuffed full again. It must be the clothing Taehyung had been washing. They were covered in slick and smelled terribly strongly of Jimin before Taehyung had washed them. The thought brings a fierce blush to his cheeks.
"Yeah."
"Don't lie." Taehyung drops the bag to the floor. The flap atop it flips open and Jimin's scent drips from the bag. Even through washing the clothing had retained his scent. Taehyung crawls into the bed and nuzzles his head up under Jimin's jaw. Jimin shivers when the other omega's sweet scent washes over him. "What's wrong, Min?"
"I'm sorry."
Jimin doesn't elaborate. His eyes burn with unshed tears. He buries his face into Taehyung's fluffy hair. His heart feels like it's in his throat. He felt like if he tried to push one word past his lips he'd choke. He felt stupid. He felt useless. He knew he fucked up asking the other omega here. He knew he should have just waited it out until Taemin came home and could help. He would have been fine for several days...or so he kept telling himself. He had caused enough trouble for Taehyung already. He'd done more than enough harm and now he forced the other omega to choose between Jimin and his group mates.
"Why are you sorry?" Taehyung's question is genuine. His deep voice comes out so softly that it barely made it to Jimin's ears. It was suddenly like if they spoke too loud everything would come crashing down. Jimin felt his breath get stuck in his throat once more. "Is it about the hyungs?" Taehyung pauses and huffs out a soft sound of irritation before pulling back just enough to meet Jimin's gaze.
"You fought with them." Jimin studies the other omegas eyes intently. He needed to understand. Why would Taehyung choose him when all he had done was cause the other pain? "You fought because of me."
Taehyung seems to be thinking of how to phrase his answer. Jimin could feel the anxiety welling in the pit of his gut. He was always prone to being too emotional following his heats. He would feel things much stronger than normal. "We didn't fight." Jimin glares sharply at that. "Okay, we didn't fight badly. It wasn't even really about me coming here. Not really. Jin-hyung just didn't think it was a good idea to leave that night. He thought it would be better if I came the next morning...safer. It was never a question of me not coming here. Sometimes Jin-hyung and I don’t communicate the best...I didn’t listen to his advice and it made him angry. They all knew there would be no stopping me but they were also worried for you."
Jimin can feel the way his eyes widen at that statement. Why were they worried for him? Surely he hadn't sounded that desperate...okay maybe he had. His omega had been a step away from hysterics at their ruined nest. Jimin can understand why they may have been worried. "You didn't fight because they didn't want you to come here?" Taehyung smiles softly and shakes his head. Jimin feels a small section of the knotted anxiety that's ever-present in his gut loosen.
"No. They've changed a lot. We've all grown from the kids we were back then...even you." Taehyung brushes a hand through Jimin's fluffy hair. The silver was beginning to fade which meant another trip to the salon soon. Taehyung's hands are large but so very soothing. "The hyungs knew you were giving me...them...us a chance. You called because you needed someone and I promised I wouldn't let you down again.”
“Still, I’m sorry for worrying you.” Taehyung sighs softly and nuzzles his nose into Jimin’s causing the scent of apple pie to burst around them. The action brings a small smile to Jimin’s lips and a larger boxy smile to Taehyung’s. “I’m glad you were here, Taehyungie.”
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Jimin pulls the taller omega into a bone-crushing hug with a happy purr. After a thorough cuddling session, Jimin allows the younger to pull away so that he could shower. Jimin’s scent of heat clung heavily to the younger omega. Jimin, though still smelling strong, had bathed last night thanks to Taehyung. Instead, while his life partner bathes, Jimin begins making the younger breakfast. There wasn’t much in his pantry so he goes with pancakes once more. He’s just finished making them and stacking them on a plate when there is a knock at his door. Few people knocked on his door. Most of the people that knew where he lived used their keys. Usually, management knocked if they were coming without advanced notice.
Glad that he had thought to put pants on under Jungkook’s sweatshirt, Jimin moves toward the door. He barely has to get close enough to open it to know who was standing behind it. A small vindictive part of him wants to ignore the man. The larger, nicer than necessary, part of him opens the door despite his wolf raging inside of him. Jongin is standing on the other side in a pair of loose-fitting sweats and a long sleeve black shirt that hugged his upper body just right. He looked good but it meant very little. Jimin was furious. His omega was equally if not more furious.
“What do you want?”
Jongin stares at Jimin for a long moment. His nostrils flare and then his eyes are narrowing. “I heard you were in heat and was wondering why you didn’t call,” he says with a scoff. “Clearly, I know why. You bounce back fast don’t you.” Jimin can feel the way his jaw drops. This alpha has some nerve to speak to him like that. After everything they've been through together? How dare he. Now more than ever his omega wants to tear into the cocky alpha who clearly did not know his place.
“Fuck you,” Jimin growls lightly to enunciate each word. “Why the fuck would I call you? You made yourself perfectly clear. You all did for that matter. I’d rather suffer alone than to call you begging for your attention! Fuck off if you think for one second I'm that stupid.”
Jongin laughs sarcastically and crosses his arms over his chest. His muscles flex as his scent thickens in irritation and anger. Jimin was not an omega to be intimidated by things like that and Jongin knew it. He was a fool if he thought his anger meant anything to Jimin. “Funny because you obviously didn’t spend it alone. It’s always been that way though, hasn’t it? It’s always been him. He’s always been the only one that really matters to you.” Jimin blinks in shock for a long moment. He knew Jongin was talking about Jungkook. He didn’t need someone to spell it out for him. Jongin was as possessive as alphas came. Jimin had not minded it in the past but Jongin had made it perfectly clear that Jimin was no longer his omega. Therefore, Jongin had no right to be such a possessive knothead.
“And so what if I did? What’s it matter to you?” Jongin looks taken aback by the tone that infuses each of Jimin’s words. Jimin had rarely ever raised his voice at any of them, especially not Jongin. Jimin’s patience had worn thin. His omega was raging on the inside and with his heat having just finished he knew that the fury he felt at the moment would only double. “I’m not your omega anymore Jongin! You don’t get to dictate who I choose to spend my time with! You don’t get to say you don’t want me and then show up at my door asking why I didn’t call you! You don't get to pick and choose when you get to be in my life! And you certainly don't get to play with my feelings like this! Haven't you hurt me enough?”
Just as Jongin opens his mouth to reply, the door to Jimin’s bathroom opens. Taehyung walks out, thankfully fully dressed while running a towel through his hair. The moment he realizes that he and Jimin are not alone, his eyes narrow into furious little slits. Taehyung drops his hand down to his side and clenches the towel in his fist as his lips pull back slightly on his teeth. A soft short snarl passes through the larger omega's lips. Taehyung's rage was so tangible to Jimin he could almost taste it. Even from across the room Jimin could smell how Taehyubg's scent began to burn in rage. Their omegas were far closer than normal because Jimin's heat hormones were still affecting both of them. Not unlike when an alpha and an omega mate, omega life partners are endlessly in tune with one another and will protect one another with their very last breath. There was no sexual intimacy involved like with a mate but rather a platonic intimacy that created an emotional understanding unlike any other.
“What?”
Jimin watches as realization dawns in Jongin’s eyes of just how much he had fucked up. There, just in the depths of Jongin's dark eyes, he can see panic begin to set in as well as a wave of guilt. Jimin’s omega relishes in the satisfaction that bursts through his chest like an arrow to the heart. Good. He deserved to know he was an asshole. After all the time they spent together he should have known Jimin better than that. “Yeah. Now, do you understand? Fucking asshole.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Jimin raises a single brow. He was done. This alpha did not deserve his time. Taehyung clearly agreed if his quiet scoff meant anything.
“Minnie...I-”
“No. Don’t you dare. Don't you Minnie me. I have been through enough without you adding your bullshit misplaced possessiveness on top of it all.” Holding a hand up to cut the large alpha off, Jimin growls under his breath. He could feel his eyes beginning to burn. Everyone with as much as two brain cells knew that an omega close to, during, or directly after their heat was much closer to their animal instincts and much more likely to lose control of their wolf when provoked. Jimin's hold over his own wolf was wearing thin and hanging on by only a few loose threads. His wolf was not often volatile. Rather, his wolf was fairly laid back and mellow. They had grown a great deal after everything happened when Jimin left BigHit. However, his control was slowly eroding away as more and more hurt piled up in his heart from Kim Jongin. “Get. Out. Now.”
“Minnie, please.”
Taehyung disappears into one of the rooms and Jimin doesn’t even have to guess what he’s doing. He could hear the telltale rustling of a scent-blocking bag. This was the final straw for Jimin. He would not allow someone to treat him like this, let alone someone he called a friend. While he wanted nothing more than to tear into Jongin, he knew he would only be wasting his time and that when his mounting anger simmered down he would also regret it. “When you’re done being an asshole and remember what it means to be a friend, come and find me. Until then you can fucking leave...and take your stuff with you.” Taehyung plops the bag of items that had once graced Jimin's nest in front of the large alpha with a huff. He is so close to Jimin now that his arms brush against Jimin’s side with each breath he takes. This time Taehyung doesn't retreat. Instead, the younger omega crosses his arms over his chest and bares his teeth at the alpha with his scent flaring dangerously. The once sweet smell of apple pie is burnt to a crisp and on fire. Clearly, Taehyung did not approve of the words the alpha spoke to his life partner.
“Jimin...this isn’t just my stuff.”
“I’m aware.” Turning his head away, Jimin bites his lip. It hurts. Even the idea of what he’s about to say hurts. It was really happening. He was going to lose more than half of his pack in a single blow all because he wasn’t enough. His love wasn’t enough for a single alpha. He had thought he would be okay. He thought that since he did this all once before it would be easier the second time around but it hurt just as much. It felt as if he was chipping off yet another piece of his heart that he will never get back just as he had done in the past. “You’ve all made your positions perfectly clear. You’re no pack of mine nor are they. Now leave.”
“Jimin-”
“ He said leave!”
The overwhelming scent of cedar and black sage rolls across the hallway. It was spiced with rage and barely worked to conceal the smell of burnt caramel that was rolling off of Kibum in waves. “You are some kind of stupid for showing up here. You are lucky I am in no mood to deal with stupidity today because if so I would be cutting you open and watching you bleed are we clear? Now, get the fuck out before I make them do it for me Kim Jongin!” Kibum’s command was sharp and dangerous. Minho’s eyes were already taking on the telltale shade of red that meant he was clearly enraged. Taemin is standing just to the left of Minho with a dangerous snarl on his lips. His scent was thick and acrid. Jimin can feel his hands begin to shake as Jongin stares the other two alpha’s down. Jimin wanted nothing more than to break down into his hyung’s arms and cry. The only thing holding him up is the firm body of Taehyung behind him. Taehyung wraps a soothing arm around his center holding his weight up partially. He was so grateful for the other omegas presence.
“Fine.” After a few moments, Jongin huffs out a curt reply. His breath ruffles his bangs as his eyes glance at Jimin once more. Maybe a few years ago Jimin would have looked away...or even a few months ago. Today he meets the alpha's gaze head-on despite the overwhelming urge to just lay in his nest and cry it out. Jongin plucks the bag up and tosses it over his shoulder before pushing past Minho and Taemin. He grunts when Minho doesn’t move out of his way and their shoulders connect painfully. He pauses just behind Minho and turns his sharp eyes toward Jimin once more. There were a million and one emotions swimming in those dark depths, regret among them, but Jimin couldn't bring himself to actually believe any of them. “For what it’s worth...I’m sorry. I didn't mean for it to be like this.”
When the alpha has finally disappeared down the hall Minho’s eyes fall on Jimin and soften. Just that single look had Jimin’s bottom lip wobbling and tears blurring his vision. “Baby…” Minho scoops Jimin into a tight hug and rubs his back as he cries. They move into the apartment with ease. Taehyung holds the door open and even pauses to let a fuming Jonghyun and Jinki in.
Once they're settled in the living room Jimin turns and blindly reaches out for the omega that smells like apple pie and safety. The slightly chard scent of anger still simmers within Taehyung's scent but the omega comes to Jimin's silent call easily. The younger of the two ignores the surprised gazes of Jimin's hyungs and pressed his forehead to Jimin's, rubbing their noses together until their scents blossom around them in a soothing haze. Jimin hiccups slightly but settles. Taehyung purrs softly for a few moments until Jimin pulls away.
"That…" Taemin trails off trying to phrase his next words carefully. The alpha's voice was soft, as always, and his worried eyes didn't stray from where Jimin was still partially curled in Minho's hold. "We have never been able to calm him down so quickly."
"It's because they're life partners."
Taehyung turns to look at Kibum. The older omega had a look of understanding on his face. Even from where they are sitting curled up together Taehyung can tell Kibum and Jonghyun shared the same bond as he and Jimin. Their wolves were content to be within one another's orbit. Life partners were a phenomenon that scientists still were unsure of. They had done many studies but they still could not pinpoint exactly what ties two omegas together in such a way. Some scientists, stupid ones, say that they're sexual partners but most don't feel that way about their life partner...even if they prefer to date the same class.
"Is that true Peach?"
Jimin nods slowly and links his fingers with Taehyung's. The other omega's hands were massive compared to his. The difference in size never failed to make them giggle when they were younger. Taehyung had only grown more since Jimin left BigHit. He could easily pass for an alpha in size but his scent was purely omega. "Yeah. Taehyungie and I have been life partners since shortly after we met as trainees." Taehyung smiles his big boxy smile down at Jimin. Jimin crawls out of Minho's hold and falls into an armchair with the other omega. It takes them a brief moment of shifting but they settle together quite naturally.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
Jimin sighs and his scent clearly wilts in the smallest way because unconsciously Taehyung nuzzles into his hair pressing a fresh bloom of apple pie scent into Jimin. "We were separated for a long time. I didn't think we would ever be reunited so telling you would have only opened old wounds." Taehyung nuzzles a bit harder and Jimin turns to lightly scent the other omega back. The thought of their long separation made his omega whine unhappily. The joy they felt at being so instinctually close to their chosen life partner was still partially overshadowed by the pain of their prolonged separation.
Jimin startles slightly when a phone rings between him and Taehyung. They both wiggle around until the younger omega plucks the phone out of his pocket in triumph. It beeps in his hold and then again in quick succession. "Yoongi-hyung is being impatient." Taehyung giggles softly and leans into Jimin as he answers the older man's texts. "He wants to know if you're feeling alright and if we wanted chicken."
Jimin could tell there was something there in the way Taehyung had smiled down at his phone. He wasn't sure if the alpha and omega were an item but they clearly cared deeply for one another. If they weren't an item yet, Jimin could tell that Taehyung clearly felt something more for Yoongi than friendship. Though their bond was still healing he could feel small flashes of how happy Taehyung was. "Hm. I'm okay Taetae. If you want to go with him you can." Taehyung looks torn for a moment. It's almost like he really wants to go but he also doesn't want to leave Jimin's side.
"Are you sure?"
Jimin nods and flashes the younger a vibrant smile. "I'll be okay. My hyungs can pamper me with food and chocolate now. Go and have lunch with hyung." Taehyung watches him for a few long moments as if debating if he truly wanted to leave yet. Jimin knows the feeling the other omega has deep in his chest. Taehyung is terrified of losing this closeness they've created during their time in Jimin's little home. To some extent, Jimin was too. It was nice to finally feel this closeness that his omega craved...to finally give in to at least one of the bonds that his omega was clutching onto with the last of its strength. Leaning forward he presses their foreheads together once more. "You know where I am. I promise."
Taehyung nods and takes a deep breath before pulling away with a boxy grin. He darts forward and places a wet peck on Jimin's cheeks while simultaneously trying to untangle his long limbs from Jimin's. "Thank you." Taehyung finally gets his body upright and reaches out for his phone. He seems excited now that he knows that Jimin won't distance himself from him again.
When Taehyung begins to turn back toward the bedroom Jimin, without thinking, grabs a hold of his wrist and offers him a small smile. "Here, let me go get your stuff while you talk to Yoongi-hyung." Taehyung nods and steps back to give Jimin enough space to get up from where he was still curled up in the big chair. Jimin offers the younger omega a happy smile and a small chin tap before hurrying toward his room to grab the bag that still smells slightly like him.
Jimin pauses slightly just inside his bedroom door when he hears Taehyung begin to speak. His voice is hushed but sincere. Jimin is startled by the younger omega's next words. "I know I have no place to say it but I wanted to thank you for taking care of him all of the times that I couldn't. It means a lot for me to know he has such a good pack supporting him." Jimin feels his eyes tear up. He had at least always had the knowledge that his life partner had the rest of the members of his group to care for him. He had never stopped to think just how much Taehyung would worry about whether or not he had a pack to care for him.
"You don't have to thank us." Kibum's voice is soft. He sounds somewhat touched but also saddened. He was probably thinking the same thing Jimin was. "We really love him. He may not be a member of our group but he is a member of our pack. We're happy he has a life partner that cares so much for him." Jimin quickly wipes his tears and puts himself back together before stepping into the room. Taehyung is standing near the entryway where he had tossed his keys and wallet. He doesn't look any different from when Jimin left.
The of them pair pause at the doorway. Taehyung takes his bag from Jimin and then opens his arms wide. They fall together easily breathing one another in. Taehyung takes a moment to scent heavily across Jimin's head. Jimin returns the gentle nuzzling just under Taehyung's jaw. "I know you heard. I really am grateful you've had them." Jimin stiffens slightly before relaxing into the younger omega's hold. Their combined scents bloom around them nicely.
"I have you now too."
"Yeah. You'll always have me."
Jimin nods slowly and pulls away only far enough to connect their foreheads. Like this, he could practically feel their breathing sync up. This was as close to the safety of home and family that Jimin has felt in years outside of his pack. "Thank you...again." Taehyung nods and draws away slowly before running a hand through his ruffled hair.
"Of course." Jimin reaches out and pulls open the drawer to their left. Laying in a small basket are two sets of keys. One he knows all too well. Jongin had given it back recently. He was glad that the alpha had the decency to do so now that their conversation today occurred. The other was a spare he had made in case anyone ever needed to borrow his keys. Jimin holds it out to the omega with a shy smile. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Just in case you ever need me." Jimin hugs the other omega one final time before fully stepping back. Taehyung's phone dings, signaling the end of their time to say goodbye. "Text me when you get back home safe. Alright?"
"Okay."
The other omega offers him one last smile before slipping through the front door and bouncing down the hall. Jimin watches his retreating figure for a moment before closing the door. He stares at the white door that had a few paint chips missing from where he'd banged into it with something once or twice. He stares so intensely that he almost forgets he had an audience...almost.
"That's quite a strong bond for how long you were separated."
Jimin turns slowly and meets Jonghyun's gaze. Confusion arose in his chest because he had always assumed that life partner bonds were like a true mating bond and would never waver. That was what he had always heard but he had also never questioned if anyone had ever had a falling out with their life partner either. "I don't understand. Aren't life partner bonds supposed to be strong?" Kibum shakes his head and leans a bit more into the arm of the sofa. Jonghyun shifts just the slightest to accommodate him.
"No, Peach. Young life partner bonds are just like young imprints they aren't meant to last." Shock rushed through Jimin's system. He had always assumed that life partners met once and that was it everyone had one and when you found them that was it. That was what everyone around him had always made it out to seem like. They always told him that he would just know. His mother often said finding your life partner was easier than finding a mate. "That way you aren't connected to someone you had a falling out with your entire life. Usually, they fade after a few months to a year of separation."
Jimin settles heavily back into the armchair he had previously been curled up in with Taehyung. "Unusually resilient bonds seem to be something I'm good at then." It takes Kibum a moment, perhaps a moment shorter than Jimin expected him to, to put the pieces together in his head. His eyes instantly melt and Jimin would have hated the pity in them if it came from anyone else. He had always tried to be so strong and to be fine on his own. Somehow the five men sitting in front of him had wormed their way into his heart and made him trust them irrevocably.
"Your imprint...you imprinted young." Jimin nods slowly and pulls his sleeve-covered fists up to rest under his chin. The scent of dark chocolate rises around him from the dark fabric. His mind instantly flashes to that night so many years ago now. The foggy mirrors and soft huffs of laughter. It had all seemed too easy...so natural at that moment. He hadn’t thought it would all fall apart so quickly. "Your imprint never faded either. That's why Jongin left."
"Yeah."
"What the fuck?!" Jimin startles at Minho's outraged shout. His eyes are bleeding red quickly. Jimin is not sure he had ever seen the alpha quite so enraged. The fact that it was on his behalf almost baffles him. A fresh wave of tender affection for his packmates washes over him filling some of the ache left behind from the loss of the others. "Why didn't you tell any of us that he left our baby over an imprint?" Minho's burgundy eyes are focused on Kibun with unwavering sternness. Kibum frowns and then proceeds to flick the tall alpha on the forehead.
Minho startles back and blinks owlishly at the rough flick before his eyes narrow again. Kibum keeps his composer for the most part but his eyes do narrow just the slightest bit more in a silent warning. "I didn't say anything because I didn't know if Peach wanted anyone else to know about his imprint. Imprints are usually private affairs." Jimin watches as the redness seeps from Minho's irises. Minho and Kibum butted heads a lot but they were also some of the most protective members of the pack when it came to Jimin. Taemin somehow dodged ninety percent of their protectiveness by being a nuisance most of the time.
“I...I was really young and dumb.”
"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to."
Pausing, Jimin takes in the five men huddle across from him wearing varying faces of affection. He had kept his sordid past a secret for so long now that he felt that if he never got it off his chest he would never speak of it again. If any deserved to know it was his hyungs who had been there with him with unwavering protectiveness and love. "No. No, I want to. I think it's time I finally told you why I really left BigHit." Taemin’s brows furrow. Jimin had spun them some sorry excuse when he had first entered SM about there being creative differences between him and the higher up at the company when in reality it was something much deeper.
“It wasn’t creative differences was it?”
"No. I presented late. To no one's surprise, I presented as an omega. I think...no, I'm sure my imprint with Jungkook formed before I even presented. We were young and stupid and I couldn’t have cared less what he presented as because I loved him. We were going to debut together. We'd been dating and fooling around in secret when I presented, terrified they'd split our group up if we were caught. At that point, we had gone through too much just trying to bridge the gap between friends and possibly something more to give up. Everything went to shit when he presented as an alpha." Jimin runs a shaky hand through his hair. The memories seem like they happened just yesterday despite being so long ago. He could still feel the heat that radiated off of Jungkook’s skin as the newly presenting alpha had pressed him into the mirrored wall and pressed loving kisses up his neck. "We were in the studio practicing a new choreography together when he went into rut for the first time. He was terrified. I held him to me as he sobbed. He never wanted to be an alpha. I knew that newly presented omegas weren't supposed to help alpha's with their rut because accidental imprints could form. I didn't know that imprints could form before presenting. Neither of us knew that an existing imprint could make your inner wolf rise much higher to the surface than normal during a shared heat or rut. I would have mated him. I would have let him sink his teeth into my neck had they not found us and torn us apart."
"Peach…"
"It took three of them to restrain Kook. His eyes were practically burned into my brain as they forced him out of the room and forced me into a heat room. Moreso I remember their eyes. They were disgusted. I could tell even in the middle of an accidental heat that they thought I had taken advantage of him. I will never forget the way they looked at me. Even the other members of the band looked at me like that. I was removed from the group directly after finishing my heat. I felt disgusted with myself. I didn't know that the imprint was complete. I had always assumed that it was one-sided, as most young imprints are, and that I had taken advantage of his weakened moment. I had hoped then, that by leaving the company and distancing myself from him altogether that the imprint might one day fade away like everyone said they were supposed to."
"It didn't fade did it?"
Almost as if it knew Jimin was speaking of it the bond gave a noticeable flutter as if to remind Jimin that it was very much still intact. It was just as tightly wound and strong as ever before. "No." With a soft chuckle that felt almost like giving up, Jimin runs another hand roughly through his hair. It seemed like just his luck that he had bonded so young to an alpha who had completed the bond making it something permanent. "It is just as strong today, if not stronger, than it was the day I left BigHit."
There is silence in the room for far too long after Jimin stops speaking. Nerves work their way up through his chest and into his throat choking him up. He swings his eyes away from the others and glances around his living room to give hismelf something else to focus on as the others collected their thoughts. His eyes stray to the kitchen and he realizes he had completely forgotten he had been making breakfast. The batter still sat in the bowl and the pan was on the stove that Jimin had thankfully turned off before answering the door. He had only made two or three pancakes before Jongin had come knocking. He wasn’t very hungry anymore but his hyungs probably were. He could feed them once they finish this conversation.
The silence is shattered when Jinki speaks for the first time in the conversation. There is a dark kind of anger that sat just below the surface of his tone indicating just how much fury was rushing through the oldest man’s body. "Jongin didn't want you because you couldn't imprint on him back?" His eyes are sharp as they focus on Jimin. They flutter closed in disappointment when Jimin slowly nods his head.
"He said he wouldn't be able to live each day with me knowing he never had all of me."
Jonghyun sighs softly and runs a hand down his face. His hyung all seemed to deflate somehow. "Even mated?" The question was a last-ditch effort to try and redeem their friend in their eyes. They had never really pushed for exact details on his relationship with Jongin. Rather they had let him give them whatever details he was comfortable with sharing. He had never stated one way or another prior to their breakup if he would have actually mated the alpha.
"Even then."
Silence. Their faces are varying degrees of anger, disappointment, and flat-out rage.
"I'LL KILL HIM!"