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“I’ll come back for you,” Jimin said, holding Jungkook’s hands in both of his own. Warm and delicate and familiar, just as they had always been.
Jungkook smiled and pressed a kiss to his knuckles, bowing his head. He was sure Jimin meant it, but he wouldn’t hold it against him if he didn’t make good on the promise. Jimin was being mated off into a pack from far away, to an alpha who he had been intended for since his presentation. By the time Jimin was even allowed to come back—would he remember his lady in waiting?
They were friends, sure, having known each other since puphood, growing up together, side by side, Jimin never treating Jungkook like he was less than. They wore each other’s birthstones around their necks now—Jimin had procured the stones, Jungkook had made the chains—but Jimin’s would soon be replaced by his alpha’s collar. They were friends—more than friends, the closest of friends, they knew everything about each other, they had shared tears and laughs and dreams and kisses, but—
“Jimin-ah,” his new alpha said from the doorway, handsome and kind-faced, elegant and strong. “Are you ready?”
Jimin squeezed Jungkook’s hands tightly, his pretty eyes sparkling with tears. Jungkook knew he must be able to see them reflected in Jungkook’s own, but no amount of tears shed would allow them to remain together.
“It’s not the last time we see each other,” Jungkook said quietly. He hoped he was right.
Jimin nodded and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before hurrying away with his alpha, off to his new life with his new pack, going on the very first journey that Jungkook was unable to be by his side.
It was tradition that would keep them apart. Perhaps tradition didn’t matter as much in lowblood families, but for Jimin, the son of a prominent lord with blessings from the royal family themselves, they mattered greatly. Jimin would be stripped bare in the presence of his alpha and a representative from both of their packs, bathed until he smelled only of himself, and dressed in clothing that had been brought for him. He would be traveling away from his home with absolutely nothing from his life before, without even a familiar blanket to work into the nest he would eventually build in his new home. He wouldn’t exchange any words or letters or visits with anyone from his familial pack for three years, in the hopes that he would be fully acclimated and perhaps bear a pup or two in the meantime.
He was no longer Jimin of the Southern Park pack. He was Taehyung of the Northern Kim pack’s omega.
It wasn’t a dreaded mating, nor was it one Jimin wished to escape. He’d built up this idea of the alpha being a strapping romantic man who would give Jimin a wonderful life and keep him warm in the cold mountains—and Taehyung, so far, seemed to live up to the task. He had been nothing but kind and respectful, except for when he was actively friendly or even silly, bringing out the prettiest giggles from Jimin’s lips. He would have flustered Jungkook, too, if he’d been able to look at anyone but his lady.
Taehyung promised to give Jimin anything in the world, everything he wanted—but they all knew that Jungkook was not part of that. If Jimin still remembered Jungkook in three years’ time, perhaps he would be, but for now, Jimin would want roses and trinkets and good company in a new land, and Taehyung would give it.
And Jungkook—
He would serve Jimin’s lord father and the palace still. He would wait upon honored guests, and assist with events, and help in the kitchens when he needed something to focus on that wasn’t standing around looking pretty as he waited to be called upon. He would work hard, he would pass the time, and hopefully, hopefully, he would see Jimin again. That was the plan.
The plan was not the lord calling for him just shy of two years after Jimin had left and informing him that a mating had been arranged for him.
The lord was Jungkook’s guardian, and had been since he was a young pup who hadn’t yet presented, his mother lost to sickness long ago and his father then to an injury while hunting. He had taken Jungkook into his protection, had promised to look after him, and though Jungkook was hardly his own child, he treated him with fondness and kindness and Jungkook worked hard to deserve his generosity. It was that fondness and kindness that brought Jungkook such a generous offer.
Jungkook was the child of a noble’s bastard son—not so far distanced that he was lowborn, but certainly not highborn, either. He had to work for a living, sure, but he was able to do so on palace grounds instead of laundries or docks. His prospects for mating weren’t the best, and he would likely end up with a nice enough merchant or a noble’s bastard of his own, but he did have prospects, though they were ones that did not rely on love or interest like many lowborn omegas were allowed.
The alpha the lord wanted him to mate was no merchant or bastard, either. He was a lord himself, an old, stern-faced, no-nonsense alpha who spoke to Jungkook with frankness of expectations that didn’t turn his stomach. Perhaps Jungkook’s heart broke a little when he said that part of those expectations were that Jungkook would bear no pups, especially given how the lord had described the estate that Jungkook would soon belong to as rural and isolated, nestled in a valley near a cold, stone-shored beach, with the closest town outside of their own tiny one a day’s ride away.
But—
“I have three already,” the lord, Wongyun, said. As stern-faced and serious as he was, there was unmistakable warmth in his voice that melted all of Jungkook’s heartbreak away. “Well. One, but the other two are around so much I might as well call them mine, too.”
His mate had passed away a few years prior, he told Jungkook, when his son Soobin was only three. They hadn’t been a love match, but they had been happy. She was younger than him, though certainly not as young as Jungkook—a thirty to Wongyun’s fifty when they had mated, and now Jungkook was twenty to his sixty. But he wanted someone young to raise his child, and the children that seemed to come along with him. He wanted someone young, gentle, reliable, and clever, and when he wrote to his old friend, asking if he knew of anyone—
“It’s character I’m looking for,” Wongyun said, addressing Jungkook. “Beauty, birth,” he waved his hand, “my child can’t learn integrity from some brat of an omega who values status above all else. Your lord has told me how you came to be in his care, and he sang your praises so highly that I had to come meet you myself. Now—you’re young, being mated off to some strange old alpha isn’t what you’ve dreamt about, I’m sure, but—once I pass and my Soobinie has inherited the estate and made lord in my place, you’re free to remate if you wish. Or to be a happy widower. I won’t be around to mind whatever you choose.”
Jungkook looked from Wongyun to Jimin’s lord father to his own hands that were shaking on his lap.
He lived a privileged life, but it was one that could be easily ripped out from under him. His home, his job, his sense of security—it didn’t belong to him. A flap of a butterfly’s wing could blow it all away. If he married a lord, if he raised his pup, if he—
“Child,” the lord said gently. “What is it you’re waiting for?”
Jungkook blinked a few times, looking up at him with tears threatening to fall. “Sorry?”
“If my son returns for you,” Jungkook flinched at the if, and flinched even more at being so seen, “he is just an omega in a larger pack. He might be mated to one of the pack alpha’s sons, but not even the firstborn. If they took you in—only Jimin would be able to vouch for you. He may be able to take you on as housestaff or—” the lord sighed. “I understand you and my son had a deep affection for one another, but he is mated, and you should be, too. You don’t need to wait around for dreams that may not come true. Lord Wongyun is an honorable alpha, and you will be taken care of. You won’t have the uncertainty you do now—or what you would have even if Jimin had been able to take you with him.”
“I’ll care for you well, Jungkook,” Wongyun said.
Jungkook looked between him and the lord again, and he knew very well that the decision was not in his hands, just as they did. But when he whispered “Okay,” the air in the room changed into something lighter, less tense, less worried.
“Wonderful,” the lord said, and Wongyun touched his hand briefly, gently, warmly.
Even though Jungkook wasn’t so highborn as Jimin and didn't have to follow the same customs, he couldn’t have brought much with him if he had tried. The journey was long, and it would be easier for them and the horses if he travelled light. He packed his entire life into one bag, and kept a hand over his chest, over the opal stone that reminded him of Jimin’s voice, as he left his life behind.
It was only three years later that he was crying as Wongyun’s funeral rites were performed, with Soobin solemnly clutching his hand and Beomgyu snuggled up to his other side, Yeonjun squeezing the nape of Soobin’s neck to keep him steady.
Wongyun had been a wonderful father to Soobin, and to the boys who came with him. He was kind and patient, strict but fair, giving them (and Jungkook) the kind of doting that was done by wordlessly placing a plate of cut fruit in front of them or buying them trinkets or books or treats from the marketplace just because he thought of them. He made sure the boys were being taught what they needed to know, either by himself or Jungkook or a tutor. He made sure Jungkook was happy and healthy and had no regrets about becoming his lady. He never raised a hand to anyone, he yelled only when necessary, he made Jungkook feel at home and welcome and gave him his puppies—
“Mama,” Soobin murmured when the rites were finished, hugging Jungkook close like he was the grown-up. “It’s okay.”
“It’s—” Jungkook wrapped his arms around him, tucking Soobin into his chest and kissing his hair. “It is. It’s hard, but it’s okay.”
Soobin nodded and, nice and safe and tucked away against the mother that he had adopted as his own, let himself sob.
Life went on without Wongyun, almost so easily that Jungkook felt guilty. He had grown to love his mate, even if they hadn’t even shared a bed, and the now-fading claim on Jungkook’s neck was from the only sexual intimacy they had shared in their partnership. They had kissed on occasion, though always chaste, and held hands as they walked, giving each other parental looks over the pups’ heads. He was an easy alpha to live with and to love. If Jungkook had been in love with him, he would have been more devastated, he was sure, but as it was—
He visited Wongyun’s stone on occasion, keeping him up to date on Soobin’s schooling and successes, making sure he knew Soobin knew how proud his father was of him, whether or not he was here to say so himself. He told him when Soobin presented as an alpha at twelve—on the younger side for presentation, sure, but given that Yeonjun had presented as an omega at thirteen, only a week before—Jungkook was almost sure he could feel Wongyun laughing with him.
Jungkook couldn’t help but remember how he and Jimin had been the same. Jimin at fourteen and Jungkook at twelve—Jungkook couldn't bear for Jimin to go through his presentation alone. Or, rather, he couldn’t bear being left out. But either way, they entered adolescence together with clumsy, happy abandon, nesting together, giggling with each other, gossiping about nobles in a different way than they had as children laughing about stumbles on the pavement or askew hats.
They weren’t sure about Beomgyu yet. Their little bear was still as clingy and cuddly as he had been on the day Jungkook had met him. Given the way he both stirred up trouble with the other two and settled any and every argument, though, Jungkook wouldn’t be surprised if he was a beta. He was one of the head housekeeper’s grandchildren, parentless like Jungkook had been, and like Jungkook, blessed with kind people around him. Younger than the others, if only by a year—Jungkook felt that he had grown with Beom in a special way, both of them growing into their lives in Wongyun’s estate, getting used to being treated as noble rather than as noble help. Beomgyu practically was one, really. There weren’t too many who knew that he wasn’t born to Wongyun, given how both the lord and Jungkook referred to him as their son.
Yeonjun was a ward of Wongyun’s—now Jungkook’s, of course, though his sire had come to negotiate in case he changed his mind and planned to kick Yeonjun out when his mate passed. He was like Jungkook, too, a bastard child of a noble alpha, though he was Wongyun’s great-nephew. Wongyun had agreed without hesitation to take him in when his brother, Yeonjun’s grandfather, had asked. Between leaving Yeonjun to be silently scorned and likely mistreated in the estate he had been born into and taking him in as his own to raise as he should be—it was an easy choice.
Over the years of Jungkook becoming the lady of the estate, he had become their mama, all three of them, regardless of what Jungkook was to them. He was their mama. He loved them more than life itself, they brought him unspeakable joy and gave him the headaches he’d heard dams complain about, and they made him feel complete. Almost. Even if there was always a little crack in his heart, a little nook where Jimin still resided, a gap that could never be filled by anyone but his omega. His necklace was still around his neck, the chain having been repaired more than once. He could have been made a queen rather than a lady, and that opal would still rest over his heart.
Jungkook lived, and lived happily. He took walks on the stony shores, he was friends with just about everyone in town, able to greet them by name. He learned to be a lady, to keep his estate and ensure that the people on his land and town were taken care of, to host and accommodate, to raise his pups into lords and ladies themselves. He gained more pups, the three of his own taking an affinity to two lowborn pups just a year younger than Beomgyu, all of them causing a ruckus in the home and being so terribly polite in front of everyone else that no one would ever believe a complaint that escaped Jungkook’s mouth.
He thought of Jimin often, of course he did. Jimin still held his soul. He wondered if his sapphire was still in Jimin’s possession, or if the rough little stone had been lost to the years, fallen unnoticed in between floorboards or forgotten on a trip. He wouldn’t hold any resentment if it had. Jimin’s life had always been bigger than Jungkook’s, at least when they had been together. It was odd to think that that Jungkook now held a higher title than Jimin, but—Jimin had a pack, one made up of more than three-plus-two pups. The northern packs were so much different than those Jungkook had grown up around, often with more than one mate regardless of subgender, living with those they had bonded with no matter if they were mated or not. Jimin might even have pups of his own, though he never expressed more than an obligatory want for them. Jimin had so much more to do than think about Jungkook, especially nearly ten years after they last saw each other.
Jungkook had just turned thirty, and Jimin would be turning thirty-two. They were the annoying elders they used to moan about now. He wondered if his pups moaned about him being old and annoying behind his back, but he couldn’t mind if they did. It was a rite of passage for pups to gripe about their guardians.
It was also a rite of passage for them to scare the hell out of their guardians at least once a month.
“Mama!” Soobin screamed from a window of the estate, hands cupped around his mouth. He waved to Jungkook frantically when he jumped in surprise, hurrying to stand from the blanket he’d laid out over the stones, throwing his book to the side as he ran back home, leaving his shoes behind and letting his shawl fall off his shoulders.
“Baby—” he breathed out when Soobin met him at the door, holding his pup’s face in his hands and frantically looking him over. “What is it, what’s wrong? Are you hurt? Is someone else?”
“What?” Soobin scrunched his nose like Jungkook was being impossibly silly. “No. Kai’s sister just came back from her trip and said someone’s moved into the old manor.”
Jungkook stared at him.
“Mama?”
“You gave me a heart attack just to tell me someone’s summering outside of town?”
“It’s not my fault you had a heart attack! And it mustn’t be a very bad once since you’re able to yell at me—”
Jungkook knew he was not yelling, and knew Soobin knew that, too. “I swear, Binnie—” he took a deep breath. “We should make something for them.”
“See, that’s what I thought you’d say. Not act like someone’s fallen off the roof.”
“Soo—” Jungkook closed his eyes. “Please tell me you aren’t playing on the roof.”
“We’re not playing on the roof,” Soobin said much too quickly.
“And if I check in fifteen minutes?”
“You will find absolutely no one and nothing on the roof.” Soobin ran off before Jungkook could even try to stop him. At least Jungkook knew they would put their feet on the actual floor and not on tile.
Jungkook knew exactly which window to climb out of to check for pups on the roof fifteen minutes later, and he found nothing but Taehyun waiting for him when he climbed back through it.
“Did you come to tattle on yourself?” Jungkook asked, smoothing out his clothes.
“D’you want help making food for the strangers?”
“That’s not a no,” Jungkook said wryly, touching the tip of his nose. “And I would love some help, sweetheart. I was thinking yakgwa, something nice and homey.”
Taehyun perked up. “We’ll have to make sure they taste nice and homey.”
“Oh, absolutely,” Jungkook said seriously. “It’s the most important part of baking.”
-
With a pretty box of yakgwa in hand, Jungkook and the boys made their way to the manor the next morning, deciding on a nice three-mile stroll rather than taking the horses. It was a beautiful day, even though summers there tended to be much more tepid than warm, the sea keeping them from freezing too terribly in the winter or overheating in the summer. It was an odd place to summer considering, Jungkook thought, but the water was wonderful to relax by, and the area was free of crowding from city nobles looking for a break from smog.
Jungkook was passingly familiar with the manor they walked to; it had been empty since he arrived, owned by a pack that hadn’t visited for a few years before that. It was pretty, even if it wasn’t in perfect condition, stones falling and moss and vines growing up the sides. He hoped they’d sent someone to clean it up before they arrived. He couldn’t imagine how their poor noses would react to the dust that must have covered everything being stirred up after so long.
It would be nice to have some new faces around, he thought. They didn’t get too many visitors, as isolated as they were. Though the sea was pretty, their land wasn’t really worth the trip to anyone who didn’t already love it. There were no nearby cities or royals who were open for visits, and the town market was rather standard, with only the occasional luxury fabric merchant or visiting jeweler. It was home, and Jungkook loved it, but he could understand why tourism wasn’t a large part of their economy. Which made new faces all the more exciting.
The boys were clearly excited, too, hypothesizing about who they would find. They were hoping for more pups, clearly, though they made it very clear they didn’t want any nobles ‘snootier than Soobin.’ Soobin made sure to be appropriately offended, whining to his mama about how cruel these commoners were. They thought maybe it would be a decrepit omega revisiting their past before they would die—a morbid thought that Jungkook scolded them for, but one he found secretly interesting. Or perhaps a runaway prince looking for a quiet life that the boys would either generously give or stubbornly deny. Or, what the boys found most boring, just some newly mated couple honeymooning for a few weeks, offering nothing interesting for them at all.
No matter who they were or what they were doing, Jungkook reminded them, they were representing the estate and the town and they were to be welcoming and respectful. He wasn’t quite sure they needed the reminder, but the chance that they did was too large to not warn them in advance.
And of course, they obediently calmed down when the manor came into sight, helping each other smooth their hair and straighten their clothes in an effort to not look like they’d spent the past couple of hours being told to stop jumping over mud puddles or flop into wildflowers. Jungkook couldn’t help but to fluff and preen them, too, wanting his babies to look like the perfect angels he mostly believed they were. He gave Soobin the yakgwa box to present to them as the lord of the estate, but he wasn’t surprised when he handed it back and hid behind Jungkook’s back as much as he could when they began walking down the path to the house, as tall as he was quickly growing.
He was teased for his shyness, of course, but none of the other pups came forward to present it either.
They stood behind him like perfectly polite little pups as Jungkook knocked on the door and took a step back. He didn’t lower his eyes as he would have years ago. He was an omega, but he was also a lady. Submission was no longer an immediate expectation.
He did feel the urge when an alpha opened the door, broad and strong and dressed down, more handsome than just about any alpha he had ever met, but instead, he bowed low, feeling the pups do the same behind him.
“Good morning,” he said before straightening up, the pups again following his lead. He reached behind him to lead Soobin to his side, the young alpha very carefully not shifting awkwardly. “May I introduce Lord Soobin?”
“And my dam, Lady Jungkook” Soobin said quickly, clearly eager to have Jungkook take the lead.
“We brought you something to welcome you to town,” Jungkook obliged, offering the box with a bow. “Just a few treats. I hope they’re to your liking.”
It took a moment for the alpha to respond, clearing his throat. “I—thank you, truly. I apologize, we didn’t expect any visitors.”
“Of course,” Jungkook said quickly. “We don’t expect to be invited in, please don’t worry. We just wished to extend our well-wishes.”
“I’m—Namjoon,” he said, and though he was looking at Jungkook with a growing oddness, Jungkook didn’t look away. “I apologize, you seem—familiar.”
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” Jungkook said, though he knew they hadn’t. He would definitely have remembered this alpha. “Perhaps we have just—passed each other? Have you visited town before?”
“No,” the alpha said, peering at him. “No. That’s not it. You smell—are you from here?”
Jungkook flushed, Soobin bristling protectively beside him. It was certainly not polite to mention an omega’s scent, especially in the presence of others, but—
“No, sir. I’m from the south.”
“May I ask where?”
And from behind him, “Jungkook?”
There was nowhere, no way, no lifetime, that Jungkook would not know that voice.
Jimin appeared in the doorway Namjoon, beautiful, elegant, older, the beginnings of smile lines around his familiar eyes, dressed in clothes very much unlike the delicate hanboks Jungkook had always seen him in, but so, so, so much the same that it felt he had travelled back in time, that he was looking into the past, that he was a pup with his best friend again—
Jimin launched himself at him without a second thought, and Jungkook realized he had done the same as they crashed together roughly, clinging to each other with a desperation Jungkook had never felt, with a sense of wonder and joy and confusion and completion, their scents melding together like they always had, more mature than before, less sprightly and springy but settled into something nice and deep with age. They had always smelled similar, jasmine and honeysuckle mixing into something refreshing and sweet, and now they combined again, and Jungkook—
“My Jungkookie,” Jimin said, pulling away only enough to hold Jungkook’s face in his delicate hands, just as he so often used to, so long ago.
“Jimin,” Jungkook breathed. Tears spilled down his cheeks, stopping at Jimin’s fingers. He clung to Jimin’s shirt, staring at him like he might disappear if he blinked. Jimin was doing the same, though, shining tears leaving wet tracks in their wake, his smile so wide and amazed that it shook on his face.
Jimin let out a watery laugh, pressing a kiss to Jungkook’s cheek, then the other, then his forehead, then his lips, just brief and friendly and loving. “What are you doing here?”
“Me?” Jungkook laughed. “I live here. Why are you here?”
“Oh—” he paused and glanced at Namjoon, who gave a short nod. “One of our packmates is sick. We’re hoping the sea air will do him some good. Nothing serious, please don’t worry—”
“I’m half-certain he just wanted a trip but needed an excuse,” Namjoon smiled. “Would you like to come in? We aren’t prepared for company, like I said, but I don’t think company is the right word here.”
“You’re mama’s friend,” Soobin said abruptly, staring at Jimin. “From when he was a pup.”
“I—” Jimin blinked, finally letting go of Jungkook enough to give the pups behind him a shocked look. “Jungkookie, did you have quintuplets?”
“I’m the oldest,” Kai said without hesitation, and was immediately pounced on by both Taehyun and Yeonjun.
Jimin laughed, baffled.
“They’re mine,” Jungkook admitted fondly, “but thankfully not a litter. Could we—oh, I don’t want to force the pups on you. They’re the lights of my life but—”
“Want to meet the horses?” Namjoon asked the pups, and that was enough to catch all their attention. And if it wasn’t— “We have dogs, too. And we think there’s a barn cat, though we’ve only caught a glance.”
Jungkook gave them a gentle “Go on” at the five sets of hopeful eyes, and Namjoon squeezed the nape of Jimin’s neck briefly before he led them away, all of them asking him questions without giving him the time to answer as they walked.
Jimin squeezed his hand. “My Jungkookie. A dam.” He rushed to add, looking at Jungkook with earnest eyes. “Not that I’m surprised, don’t misunderstand!”
Jungkook laughed, bumping shoulders with him. “I am. They’re all mine, but none came from me. And I have to say, that makes motherhood all the sweeter. Soobin is my only step-child, though. The rest just—came along.”
“You have so much to tell me, Jungkook-ah.”
“And so do you! I’m—” Jungkook felt tears rise again, his breath coming out in a shaky exhale. “I’m so happy to see you, hyung. I never—”
Jimin hugged him close. “I knew. I knew we would. You told me then that it wasn’t the last time we’d see each other, and you’d never lied to me in your life. I knew we would find each other again.”
“You had more faith than me. I thought you would just be the best part of my memory—”
“Well. We have plenty of time to make sure I stay there regardless, don’t we?”
“Do we? How long are you staying?”
“Indefinitely. Forever, now, unless I can take you and your pups with us.”
Jungkook let out a laugh, nuzzling into Jimin’s neck, into that beautiful, familiar scent. “I’m afraid we can’t. I can’t take my little lord from his estate.”
“Your—my Jungkook-ah, are you a Lady?” Jungkook laughed again, nodding. “Should I bow to you? Surely I must.”
Jungkook gave his side a gentle squeeze, aiming for a pinch but unable to do anything that might make Jimin squirm away from him. Jimin just hugged him closer after an obligatory yelp, nuzzling into Jungkook’s neck with the same enthusiasm, seeking the familiarity they had both desperately missed.
“I don’t have a title at all now,” Jimin laughed. “Not that I ever actually did. And here you are, the lady of an entire estate. Oh, the town must love you, pretty thing, you must be such a treasure—”
“I try to be a good one. They love Soobinie, that’s for sure. And my other pups.”
“Your others—” Jimin pulled away, taking his face in his hands and giving him a serious look. “You must tell me. Come, sit, I won’t let you go til I have to. And even then.”
They did have to part hours later, though it was more Jungkook extracting himself from Jimin’s vice-tight hold. He refused to force them to accommodate for six extra mouths for dinner, especially after they had let the boys run wild in the untamed orchard for a fruit-filled lunch. He refused to send them home on their own, too, even if the sun would be up a few hours more. He was their mama, and no matter how safe their land was, he couldn’t help but worry.
Though there were whispers of other scents throughout the house, Jimin and Namjoon were the only ones there that day, with Jimin organizing the furniture by pointing to where it should be and Namjoon obediently doing the heavy lifting at his command. There were others nearby, stocking up on food in the closest town with a sizeable market, and others still who would arrive in a few days time—including Jimin’s mate.
Though Jungkook felt a burning curiosity at the brief but intimate scenting he caught Namjoon giving Jimin when they passed each other, he couldn’t bring himself to ask prying questions about his relationships with the pack he’d found himself in yet. He knew from Jimin’s offhand mentions that they were a closer pack within the Kim pack, dynamics that Jungkook was only vaguely familiar with.
Taehyung was one of the pack alpha’s youngest children and by his own volition didn’t have a leadership role in the pack that would keep them there, so they took advantage and travelled much more often than others. The estate was one of their omega’s family’s, and had been willed to him after a relative’s death, and the trip was to assess what to do with it in addition to being near the healthy sea air. Jungkook felt a panicked pang at the thought of reuniting with Jimin just for him to disappear, but Jimin banished the thought with a dismissive, “But now that I know my Jungkookie is here, there’s no chance we don’t stay for a long, long while.”
“Come tomorrow,” Jimin demanded, holding onto Jungkook’s hand as he gradually made his way towards the door, the pups waiting for him after a day of petting animals and exploring with Namjoon’s happy company. “Promise me.”
“I promise,” Jungkook smiled, squeezing his hand.
“And stay for lunch. And dinner. And—”
“Jimin-ah,” Namjoon said, so clearly endlessly fond. “We can’t kidnap him forever, your Jungkookie or not.”
Jimin pouted. “Maybe you can’t.”
Jungkook laughed and kissed Jimin’s cheek, gently freeing his hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow, hyung. I promise.”
Jimin’s pout increased before he sighed. “Fine. And your pups—”
“I have to help my first mama,” Taehyun said apologetically.
“And I have to take care of the neighbor’s pups,” Kai added.
“And my other brats have their lessons,” Jungkook said, giving them a look at their collective groan. “Just because you have a new auntie and uncle doesn’t mean you can leave your tutors in the dust.”
Jimin laughed. “I understand. But your mama and I used to hide in the forest from lessons for hours—”
Jungkook hissed, lightly hitting his side. “We never did any such thing, we were perfect students, just like my puppies should be.”
“Auntie, tell me more—” Yeonjun whispered loudly.
“Auntie, don’t,” Jungkook said sternly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jimin-hyung.”
“Mama,” Soobin said on their walk back, hand-in-hand with Jungkook. “You love him a lot.”
“I do,” Jungkook said easily, a wistful little sigh falling from his lips. “He was the most important person in my life—until I met you.”
It wasn’t a tease, it was honest, and Soobin bumped shoulders with him happily. “I’m happy you found him.”
“So am I,” Jungkook sighed, “though I wonder if it will ever stop feeling like a dream.”
“As long as it’s a nice dream?”
Jungkook smiled and squeezed his hand. “It’s a very nice dream.”
“If it’s a dream,” Yeonjun said, coming up to hug Jungkook from behind, “then surely it would be a waste to go to lessons.”
Soobin nodded quickly. “That’s so true, Junie, we don’t need to learn Hanja in a dream, that doesn’t make any sense—”
Jungkook laughed and shook his head, letting his pups try to talk him out of it the whole way home.