Chapter Text
Park Taehyung was the most traditional Omega in Bukchon village where tradition was a way of life. In spite of the fact that he did not remember his parents at all, he lit candles every day to their memories and honoured them in the small family shrine room of his uncle’s home. This greatly annoyed his aunt, Park Yejin, but everything Taehyung did annoyed her.
She had not wanted to adopt the Omega son of her husband’s brother when he was orphaned as an infant. They had an Omega son of their own and she did not want to raise two Omega sons- so she did not. All her love and care went to her own son, Park Jimin, leaving nothing for Taehyung. If Yejin thought that her disdain would turn Jimin or her husband, Park Jin-yong, against the boy, she was sadly mistaken. Because of her lack of care, Jin-yong and Jimin grew closer to Taehyung than they might have been otherwise. It did not help that, as the boys grew, Taehyung grew tall and graceful- the picture of the perfect Omega- while Jimin was shorter and more well muscled than any Omega had a right to be.
Their attitudes were also vastly different. Taehyung was possessed of a gentle and loving heart beneath his hanbok which made him soft spoken and kind to all he met. Combined with his traditional ways and his faith that truly believed the prayers he recited to the Moon goddess, to know Taehyung was to love him. Jimin, on the other hand, was a box of mischief who shunned traditions and longed to live somewhere more modern- or at least be allowed a cell phone. Had his cousin been anyone else, he would have slammed him mercilessly about his adherence to antiques and tradition. But with Taehyung, Jimin’s mischief mellowed and became gentle teasing.
Jin-Yong also was close to Taehyung. The boy spent much time with him at his business and when his primary schooling was finished, stepped away from tradition enough that his secondary schooling included not only the ways and management of a household, as was proper for an Omega, but numbers and accounts to help his uncle with his business. This was Taehyung’s own choice, startling everyone.
Jimin was laying face down on the bed they shared in their room with his knees bent and kicking his feet when Taehyung sat down next to him and told him of his decision. He sat up and crossed his legs under him on the bed, eyes wide with astonishment.
“Are you sure about this Tae-tae?” he asked. “You’ll not only have to learn a lot more math but computers and things… and the classes are mostly Alphas!”
“Yes, Chim, I know. But uncle needs help and I can work for him and pay back what I owe for all these years.” Taehyung said gently. “Our accountant is getting older and, praise the Goddess, our accounts are growing. It will be cheaper for me to learn what needs to be done than it will for Uncle to hire someone else.”
“It’s just so much more work! I thought- everyone thought- that you would take the traditional Omega classes.” Jimin said.
Sensing his cousin’s concern for him, Taehyung leaned over and kissed his cheek, then stood and began to tidy their room, picking up the clothes that Jimin had strewed carelessly on the floor and hanging them neatly in the closet. “I will take those as well. But really, I know so much of what they teach already that it surprises me they have classes for some things. Is a class of cooking really necessary?”
“Yes! It is really necessary- some of us didn’t make a perfect kimchi the first time we tried.” Jimin groaned. He was not looking forward to his own class in cooking. He wasn’t bad at it-at least, he had never poisoned anyone- but he also wasn’t good at it. He threw himself dramatically back on the bed, sprawling over most of it, then sat up and said “I know! We can be in the same class and I’ll just pass your cooking off as mine!”
Taehyung whirled around and put his hands on his hips. “Park Jimin! You will do no such thing! That’s cheating!”
Jimin stood up and said “So? I’ll get an A and Appa will be pleased… you want to please Appa, right?”
“Not that way!” Taehyung said. Jimin gave him a huge grin and picked up Taehyung’s schedule where he had laid it on the little table as he came in.
“Now, let me see- when should I sign up for the classes to be with you?” he said and when Taehyung tried to take the paper away from him, he held it away and then dashed out of the room with Taehyung in hot pursuit. Their game of chase was halted as they ran down stairs by Jin-Yong returning from work.
“Boys, boys! What is this unseemly running in the house about?” he asked. In spite of his question, he was smiling. The boys were really young men now and the day would come soon enough when he would have to release them to their own Alphas to make families of their own. He both looked forward to and dreaded that day.
“Jimin is trying to cheat, Uncle!” Taehyung told him as he helped Jin-Yong remove his coat and explained their altercation.
“Am not!” Jimin countered. “I only want to be in the same class with Tae because it will be lonely without him.” he confessed.
Jin-Yong put an arm around each of them and let them escort him to where dinner was being set on the table. “Every place is lonely without Taehyung but we must learn to let him go.” he said, half to himself.
Yejin heard him as she was passing to her own seat and rolled her eyes. Taehyung could not be gone soon enough in her opinion.
Later, after they had cut the lights out, Taehyung said to Jimin “You have to learn cooking and all the other things anyway. How else will you run your Alpha’s household?”
Jimin propped himself up on his elbows. “I’m going to tell Appa to find me a rich Alpha so we can have servants to do the cooking and cleaning.” he said with confidence.
Taehyung giggled. “Then what would you do with your time, oh Chim the wealthy?”
Jimin giggled as well and said “I will sing and dance and please my Alpha, of course! Don’t you want a rich Alpha?” he asked as if they had not imagined their perfect Alpha together many times before.
Taehyung rolled onto his back and put his hands behind his head. His eyes were staring at the ceiling but it was not the ceiling he was seeing. “I think… I think I would rather have a good Alpha than a rich one. One who loves me and loves me for myself, not for my looks or my cooking. One who respects my values.”
“And if he was rich as well? What then?” teased Jimin.
Taehyung came back from his imagining and poked him. “Well I wouldn’t turn him down!“ he exclaimed in a whisper. They both giggled and if they stayed up far into the night, whispering about the few Alphas they knew and the many more they created in their imaginations, no one but the Moon goddess could tell.
But be careful what you say at all times, for you never know when the Goddess is listening.
