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Jeongguk willed his heart to calm down as he fluffed up the last pillow on his bed, testing out the comfort of his new mattress underneath his knee. It sunk a little, and Jeongguk sighed. He was so relieved that the university provided the bedding because it was one less expense on his wallet, but he was even more relieved that it was comfortable bedding.
He still managed to convince his parents to let him bring more pillows and blankets, since he was an avid nester, and as he arranged them around his bed he finally felt like he was at home.
A shuffling sound outside the door had Jeongguk perk up, turning around to properly stand up in preparation of greeting his new roommate. He was nervous, yeah, because all of the private information about his roommate had been hidden on the online portal. He didn't know his roommate's name or age or even if they were another omega like him. He had been desperate for housing, but maybe selecting that he didn't care about his roommate's subsex was a mistake.
Jeongguk cleared his throat as the door pushed open, a light laugh coming from the half open door as a suitcase slid into the entryway. Jeongguk froze in place as that laugh registered in his mind, taking him back to—
"Jeongguk-ssi?"
His hands shook as he balanced himself next to his bed, but Jeongguk forced a smile. "Jimin-ssi. It's...been a while."
Jimin was even more stunning than Jeongguk remembered him being. He had filled out a little over the past year, with wider shoulders and thicker biceps and a stronger jawline. Jeongguk knew that Jimin had gotten more handsome, had been glued to his social media ever since the elder graduated, but he wouldn't admit that. Not here.
"I would've never expected you as my roommate," Jimin said, beaming as he slid off his shoes and came over. Jeongguk's nose twitched at the influx of his scent, alpha, and he gulped. "Woah. I— It's really great to see you."
"You too," Jeongguk said. He looked over at Jimin's bed, which was about five feet away from his, and hoped that he was going to make it through the rest of the school year in one piece. "Have you been doing well, Jimin-ssi?"
"You're so formal," Jimin said, laughing as he lifted his suitcase up onto his bed. There were other bags in the doorway, and Jeongguk silently made his way over to help bring them in. "You can call me hyung, you know. We've known each other since high school, haven't we?"
They weren't friends, Jeongguk wanted to say, but he didn't. He had always wanted to be Jimin's friend, but it was hard when Jimin was smart and popular and athletic and Jeongguk was stuck as the choir boy. It was a crush he had thought he had gotten over, but he should've known better. Not when Jimin had been one of Jeongguk's first thoughts after he decided which university to attend.
"Okay, hyung," Jeongguk said. Some of his confidence came back as Jimin accepted the bags from his hands, and his lips curled into a grin. "You'll take care of me, right? Show me around? I don't know much about Seoul."
Jimin's fingers twitched as he placed the bags on his bed. For a moment, Jeongguk wondered if they had wanted to touch him. Jimin smiled at Jeongguk anyways. "Of course I'll take care of you. We're Busan boys, yeah?"
Jeongguk beamed, allowing the butterflies in his gut to multiply as he went to sit back down on his bed. "Yeah. Busan boys."
Jimin, Jeongguk learned, had been accepted to the university on a swimming scholarship. That hadn't been much of a surprise, since Jimin had been the captain of their high school team when he was a senior and had broken more than a few records over the years.
That being said, it made Jeongguk feel extra special when Jimin had gaped at him with wide eyes as Jeongguk told him about his own scholarship. "They think you have the voice of an angel."
Jeongguk waved his hand, laughing quietly as he shook his head. "Ah, hyung, that's going to far."
"Jeongguk-ah, it's really competitive to get a vocal scholarship here," Jimin said matter-of-factly. Jeongguk knew that. Of course he knew that, his vocal teacher had reminded him about it every single day since he was in elementary school. Still...
"It's not that big of a deal," Jeongguk said, placing his hands in his lap. He was buried in his nest, belly full from the many boxes of take out Jimin had brought to the dorm for their dinner, and even with the reruns of the drama playing on Jimin's TV at the front of the room he thought he might fall asleep at any moment. "I haven't even started classes, so I dunno how I'll hold up."
"I remember your performances in school," Jimin said. Jeongguk felt all sleepiness rush out of him, and he sat up straighter in bed. Jimin was staring at him, a serious frown pulling at his lips, and if it weren't for the soothing pheromones in the air Jeongguk might've thought he was upset. "You always stood out, Jeongguk-ah. Not just to me, but to everyone."
And Jeongguk—
Jeongguk hadn't known that Jimin ever attended the choir performances. It was always hard to see out into the crowd with the stage lights and the nerves and the pressure, and when he did he always zeroed in on his parents to help him focus. He hadn't known that Jimin knew what he sang like. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. "Oh."
"You don't give yourself enough credit," Jimin said through a yawn. He lifted his hands up above his head as he stretched, and Jeongguk looked away as a slip of skin was exposed. "I can't wait to see you perform here, too. They're going to love you."
"Well," Jeongguk managed, "I...I can't wait to go to your meets, hyung. It's been a while since I've seen you swim." A lie. Jimin followed all of their university's social media. He had seen clips of Jimin swimming more often than he could count.
Jimin smiled, snuggling into his sheets. He was only using the bedding the university had provided, and Jeongguk had to remind himself that alphas were weird and didn't nest as much as omegas did. Well, Jeongguk's alpha mother was a nester, but that was probably why Jeongguk relied on his so much. "Cool. I'll look forward to it, then."
Jimin had stuck true to his word, giving Jeongguk the rundown on the entire campus and all of the cool places to eat or hang out nearby. It was nice, admittedly, to have someone he kind of already knew to rely on.
Jimin took good care of him, anyways, offering his jacket whenever he saw Jeongguk shivering or bringing him food when Jeongguk forgot to grab lunch and waiting for him after classes so they could hang out in their downtime. If Jeongguk was being honest with himself, it felt like a bit of a dream. He had never been close to Jimin, after all, but he knew that Jimin had always been a good person.
"Hey."
Jeongguk looked up. His nose had been buried in his textbook all morning, so much so that he hadn't even realized Jimin had been getting ready to leave. "Oh. You're going?"
"Morning practice," Jimin said, grinning when Jeongguk made a face. "You wanna come? We can grab food after. Might help you to study somewhere else."
Jeongguk's lips parted in surprise, but he was nodding and getting up to gather his stuff together before he could even process the request. Jimin laughed, and he waited by the door until Jeongguk had his backpack stuffed with all the things he needed to take his notes.
They speedwalked to the pool, and Jeongguk wrinkled his nose as soon as that familiar smell of chlorine wafted over. He was used to smelling it on Jimin, but most of the time Jimin's natural scent overpowered it so it wasn't a problem. On the pool deck, however, there was no way of ignoring it.
"Here," Jimin said, slugging off his team jacket. "Keep it warm for me?"
Jeongguk took the jacket without much fuss, even though he had to suppress a sigh once it was wrapped around his shoulders. Jimin directed him to the bleachers, telling him he'd be done in two hours, and Jeongguk sat down and finally allowed himself to think.
He got out his textbook, doing his best not to look over to where Jimin was stripping off his sweatpants and shirt so he could stretch with the rest of the team. They clapped him on his back as he joined them, saying things that Jeongguk couldn't hear on the other side of the pool deck, but it wasn't like Jeongguk could focus on much else than Jimin clad only in a pair of black jammers when Jimin's scent was already wrapped around him.
Jeongguk cleared his throat, forcing himself back to his notes.
He had to admit that it was a nice place to study. The swimming served as a welcome distraction every fifteen or so minutes, and it wasn't too chilly with Jimin's jacket keeping him snug. There were a few other people waiting on the bleachers, and the majority of them seemed to be doing homework or scrolling on their phones, so it was quiet.
Jimin's scent weighed him down, too, making Jeongguk feel nice and secure as he read more than he was planning on. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad to make a habit of coming out and supporting Jimin while he practiced.
"Jeonggukkie!"
Jeongguk looked up, and his heart stopped once he realized that, yes, Jimin was most definitely heading over with a towel secured around his waist. He leaned over the chain link fence that divided the area around the pool from the bleachers and Jeongguk was not looking at his waist. His hair was wet, dripping water down onto his perfect face which in turned dripped down onto his perfect chest and— Jeongguk cleared his throat. "You're done?"
"Mhm. I'm gonna take a quick shower and then we can get going, okay?"
"Okay," Jeongguk called, doing his best to catch his breath. Jimin grinned, leaning back before spinning around and chasing his teammates to where Jeongguk assumed the locker room was. He sucked in a breath once he was sure Jimin was gone, willing himself to calm down.
He tried, unsuccessfully, to read a few more paragraphs while he waited, and it wasn't until Jimin was sauntering back to the bleachers that he realized he had been staring at the same two pages for ten minutes straight.
"Ready?" Jimin chirped. He looked nice and snug again, with sweatpants and a hoodie displaying their university's logo. Jeongguk nodded, and moved to take off Jimin's team jacket to give it back, but Jimin stopped him with a wave of his hand. "Nah, keep it on. It looks better on you."
"You're ridiculous," Jeongguk mumbled, packing up his things as his cheeks burned. He tried his best not to think of the boldfaced Park that was on the back of the jacket, knowing what that usually meant in terms of alphas staking their claim or whatever primeval bullshit, but he wasn't very good at ignoring the obvious. "Let's just— I'm hungry."
Jimin's eyes softened, and Jeongguk held no regrets at playing at his instincts. "Okay, c'mon. There's a good place right outside campus that I think you'll like."
They ended up ordering noodles, and while it wasn't Busan homemade it was the closest thing to homemade Jeongguk had eaten in over a week. It warmed his belly and his heart, and he couldn't help but nod wholeheartedly when Jimin asked if he liked it. It was worth the bright smile he got in return, anyways.
"You really like that jacket, don't you?"
Jeongguk pulled himself out of his half asleep daze, flushing when he followed Jimin's gaze to his pillow. Jimin's jacket was bundled up next to it, and Jeongguk didn't even remember putting it there. He had had a long day at school and an even longer day practicing with the choir. He felt good about his singing, but that didn't relieve the bone deep exhaustion that had crept beneath his skin with his increasing workload.
He had come back to the dorm with Jimin promising to have food ready for him, and they had shared fried rice and leftover meat while watching reruns on the television. Jeongguk had finished and proceeded to do what he always did when he was tired and stressed— he nested.
He had various clothes and blankets and pillows thrown over his side of the room, on the floor and the desk and the edge of the bed, and had compiled them into a proper nest again on his mattress. "I must've grabbed it by accident," Jeongguk said, rubbing the side of his neck. He tried to ignore the butterflies in his stomach. "Sorry. I just— sorry."
He folded the jacket quickly, holding over the space between their beds. Jimin stared at him, one leg thrown over the edge of his bed and his hands tucked between his thighs, before a smile graced his lips. "You can keep it, Guk-ah. I don't mind."
"I shouldn't have grabbed it without asking," Jeongguk said, stumbling over his words. "I, um, I know alpha's can be..."
"Territorial," Jimin finished for him. He laughed, a sweet sounding thing, and Jeongguk's heart skipped a beat. "Mm, not so much when it comes to our omegas."
Jimin seemed to realize what he had said at the same time Jeongguk did, but even so all he did was go quiet as Jeongguk stuttered out an awkward laugh with his face hot as lit coals. "Oh. Oh, you, um, you—"
"Did I make you uncomfortable?" Jimin said, his tone more serious than Jeongguk had ever heard from him. Even when he heard Jimin giving advice to his teammates or when he was talking to his parents on the phone about his schoolwork or when he was whispering affirmations to himself in the midst of studying when he though Jeongguk couldn't hear him.
Jeongguk sucked in a breath as he shook his head. "No. No, no, you didn't make me uncomfortable, hyung. I just, um. It's new, is all. I've never—"
Jimin pursed his lips. "No? Not even in school?"
"Most of my friends were omegas," Jeongguk said, trying to shake the blush from his face. "So, no. Never really been an alpha's omega."
Platonic or otherwise. It wasn't too surprising. Jeongguk had been a bit of a sheltered kid, especially once he joined choir. He had his few friends and he was content with that. Well. Now...
"I promised I would take care of you," Jimin said. He moved so that both of his legs were hanging off the mattress, and if it were another time Jeongguk would've mentioned how cute it was that his feet didn't reach the ground. "So is it okay? If I consider you one of my omegas?"
Jeongguk let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He nodded, tipping his head up when Jimin slid off his bed crossed the small distance between them. Jimin's knees were touching the edge of his mattress, and he was so close that Jeongguk could breathe in his scent without trying too hard. "I'd like that a lot, hyung."
Jimin smiled, relief coming off of him in waves, and he rested one hand on the mattress as he leaned down a bit. His face was maybe a hands length away from Jeongguk's, and it was making Jeongguk dizzy. "Can I come in your nest?"
"For what?" Jeongguk asked, before he could think it through.
Despite Jeongguk's embarrassment, Jimin laughed. "I want to scentmark you, Guk-ah. If you want."
Jeongguk bit his inner cheek, smiling down at his sheets as he nodded. He moved to the side, granting Jimin access, and something akin to satisfaction spread underneath his skin as Jimin climbed in. He fit in perfectly, despite the small mattress, and as his chest pushed against Jeongguk's shoulder a blanket of calm draped over them.
Jeongguk relaxed against his pillows, and if he whined when Jimin fit an arm around his waist and started to nose at his neck, neither of them said a thing. Jimin made a soft sound at the back of his throat, and Jeongguk was happy to report that they stayed cuddled up like that until Jeongguk drifted off to sleep.
Seokjin blinked as Jeongguk passed, tilting his head. "New alpha?"
Jeongguk flushed, bringing his shirt up to his nose to take a whiff. He could smell Jimin's scent there, sure, but was it really that strong? "Uh. Yeah."
Seokjin noticed his shyness and smiled, ruffling his hair as they walked out of the theater. "He's really trying hard to let everyone know that you're spoken for."
"That's barbaric," Jeongguk mumbled, trying to calm down the flush to his cheeks. Jimin was busy with a team dinner, so Jeongguk hadn't been able to resist when Seokjin invited him over to his for a good meal. "I mean, it's new and I'm his only omega. You don't smell too strongly like your alpha."
"My alpha has another omega, and they're mated," Seokjin said underneath a laugh. "Jeongguk-ah, you know as well as I do that if an alpha only has one omega that it's for a reason."
Jeongguk squeezed his backpack straps, staring down at the pavement. "I...don't know, hyung."
"Give yourself more credit," Seokjin said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "You're a catch, pup."
Jeongguk pouted up at him, his eyes begging for Seokjin to drop it, and for once his hyung backed off with a knowing smile.
Jeongguk wiggled around, moving to and fro, until Jimin sighed from his bed. He looked up, hair surely a nest on top of his head, with a sheepish smile as Jimin pouted at him. "Can't sleep? Because now I can't sleep."
"I'm sorry," Jeongguk whispered. A glance at the clock told him that it was a little past midnight. "I can't get comfortable."
Jimin went quiet for a second, and Jeongguk watched with wide eyes as he slid out of his bed and came to the edge of Jeongguk's. "Can I come in?"
Jeongguk shuffled back until his back hit the wall, cushioned by his mountain of sheets, and Jimin slid in without another word. Jeongguk let himself be maneuvered until his cheek was squished against Jimin's chest, an arm thrown over his waist and their legs tangled together, and he supposed he should have been less surprised when his limbs started to feel like jelly.
"Hyung," he whispered, "can I ask you something?"
"You just did, but go ahead," Jimin said, his voice rough with sleepiness.
Jeongguk sucked in a breath, letting Jimin's scent wash over him. "Why am I your only omega?"
It had been bugging him. Seokjin hadn't brought it up again, but it had been days since they had had that conversation and it was bothering Jeongguk to his core. He thought he knew the answer, but he didn't want to assume anything, and after a cryptic conversation with his mother he knew that if he was going to get anywhere in life he had to be upfront and ask for honesty.
Jimin rubbed a hand down his back, and he wasn't as nervous as Jeongguk thought he might be. "You're the only one I get the instinct to take care of," Jimin said, simply. "It's been like that for...a while, now."
Jeongguk furrowed his brow, a million and one questions buzzing underneath his skin. "What do you mean, hyung?"
"I had the urge during high school, too," Jimin said, grinning against Jeongguk's hair when he heard Jeongguk's sharp intake of air. "I always wanted to get close to you, but I wasn't confident back then."
Jeongguk thought Jimin had been the most confident person in the world. He had friends and good grades and charisma. Jeongguk supposed he had to work on his judgement. "You...wanted to get close to me?"
"Yeah, 'course I did," Jimin said, nuzzling his nose against the crown of Jeongguk's head. "When I realized you were my roommate, I saw it as a second chance. I didn't want to give you up again, so I took care of you."
"You're still taking care of me," Jeongguk remarked, for lack of anything better to say.
"I am," Jimin said, and Jeongguk could practically see his smile. "I don't want to take care of anyone else. Not now. I want to focus on you, because I've been waiting so long."
Jeongguk tightened his grip on Jimin's shirt, hiding his face against Jimin's chest, and let out a soft whine. "Hyung."
"I'm going to say this now, because if I don't I don't think I'll ever be able to admit it to you," Jimin said, his words coming out rushed. "I liked you back then, Jeongguk, and I like you now."
Jeongguk pulled back, and as he saw the vulnerability in Jimin's eyes he swore his heart was going to explode in his chest. "Hyung. You really did?"
"Do," Jimin corrected, his eyes blinking slowly. "I really do."
Jeongguk's cheeks heated up. He remembered Jimin telling him about going to his choir performances during high school, and now that he knew that Jimin had liked him it brought a whole new meaning to the memory. "I like you too, hyung," Jeongguk admitted. He brought his hand to Jimin's bicep, experimentally feeling the muscle under his sleep shirt, and a feeling of excitement raced up his spine when Jimin's lips twitched. "I've always liked you, even back then."
Jimin laughed, an airy sound that made Jeongguk's stomach flip, and he leaned forward until he could press his forehead against Jeongguk's chest. He was warm and smelled good. Jeongguk couldn't resist petting his fingers through Jimin's hair, marvelling at the feeling. "We're two fools, aren't we?"
"Maybe," Jeongguk said, biting his lip to avoid his face splitting in two from his smile. "Not anymore, though."
"No," Jimin said, sitting up again. His knees pressed against Jeongguk's legs as he did so, but Jeongguk stayed put. "Jeongguk-ah. If I asked to court you, what would you say?"
"I'm already your omega, hyung," Jeongguk said, smiling as he wrapped his arms around Jimin's neck. "Platonic or otherwise, I want to be your omega. I'd say yes."
Jimin tilted his head as he laughed, his eyes crinkling, and Jeongguk found himself wanting to capture that sound forever. He tugged on Jimin's sleep shirt as he leaned in and Jimin met him halfway, pressing their lips together in a sweet kiss that had been in the making for over four years.