Chapter Text
Baby Chim
It’s Valentines Day
And I’m all. Ready. to suck Sooyoon’s dicc
But I’m freaking out
Cos this time there’s no excuse for us not to go further
It’s Valentines Day
Baby Tae
Where do I start with this M e s s
First of all
Not wanting to have sex is a valid reason not to do it
You don’t gotta have an /excuse/
Sex isn’t something you have to give
Baby Chim
It’s been 4 months
I can smell how desperate he is
And that’s saying something
Baby Tae
Alpha’s are always horny
But this is the 21st centaury
Not the Jooseon age
Alpha’s are expected to think with their heads
Not their diccs now
Baby Chim
I know
I just
I dunno
Baby Tae
Use your words Minnie
Baby Chim
He’s gonna find out, isn’t he?
Baby Tae
Well, yeah, eventually
Baby Chim
He’s gonna hate me
Baby Tae
He’ll understandably be pissed for being lied to
But if he really likes you he wont care that you’re a beta
Baby Chim
Yeah : (((
Baby Tae
And you know it’s better to tell him now
Then to keep lying to him longer
Baby Chim
Yeah you’re Right
Baby Tae
You’re wonderful just the way you are, Chim
And as I keep telling you
Ranks are overrated
Baby Chim
Maybe
Baby Tae
Totally
Baby Chim
Should I tell him before or after I suck his dicc?
Baby Tae
After, deffo after
Soften the blow
____________
Baby Chim
He didn’t like me
Baby Tae
Come get your soulmate cuddles
____________
Jimin’s not depressed, not heartbroken nor devastated. He’s just, well, sad.
That confusing kind of sad that lies heavily on your limbs, sinks deep into your bones and renders you unmovable from the position you have currently curled up in to wallow. The kind of sad that forces your brain to reply all the sad moments in your life that left you equally confused, equally lost and equally numb.
Sooyoon wasn’t the love of his life, sure, but Jimin had still put a part of himself into their relationship. He’s trying really hard to convince himself that the reason his ex- alpha dropped him like a pan of hot ramen is because Jimin had lied to him.
Which is bad, lying is bad, the worst in fact.
But when he had told Sooyoon the truth the look across the alpha’s face wasn’t betrayal: it was disgust.
Because why would an alpha want a beta when there are pretty little omega’s out in the world all hot and wet, waiting to birth their alpha pups? And why would an omega want a beta when there are big strong alphas out there that will protect them and provide for them without even trying?
Biologically speaking, it’s just easier for alphas and omegas to be together, they don’t have to try. There’s no need for lube, no need for prepping, no need to ask how the other feels because they can smell the distress in each other’s scents. But most importantly, there’s that click, that spark , that intrinsic feeling that alphas and omegas get deep in their soul that tells them this other person they’ve found is the one, is their mate.
And they get to claim said mate for the world to see, possessive and intimate and everything Jimin wants.
But no one wants a beta.
“Stop that,” Taehyung chides, nipping at Jimin’s earlobe from where he’s pressed up against his back. The two have been lying on the couch for the better part of two hours, some drama quietly airing on their little TV just as white noise whilst Jimin can sort through all the trash clogging up his mind.
He shifts uncomfortably, feeling a little too hot, a little too trapped and a little too exposed all at once. “Stop what,” he grumbles, nuzzling his face into the pillow.
He can feel Taehyung’s long fingers comb through his hair, short nails scratching lightly at his scalp. “Thinking so lowly of yourself.”
“I’m not thinking lowly of myself,” Jimin counters quickly, voice muffled.
“Oh really?” Taehyung replies, immediately calling his best friend’s bluff. “So, what you’re saying is that you’re just thinking lowly of betas in general, huh?”
Jimin stays purposefully quiet.
“And if you think lowly of betas in general then that must mean you think lowly of me too, huh?” Taehyung’s voice is a little cold, a little uncaring, but it’s just the right balance to tip Jimin over the edge and the little beta cries silently into the pillow.
Immediately, his best friend softens, curling his gangly arms tighter around Jimin and pulling his face out of its hiding place to gently wipe his tears away. “Hey now, hey,” the taller beta soothes. “I’m not right am I? You don’t think lowly of me right?”
Jimin shakes his head, hiccupping little sobs past his lips and feeling like such an idiot.
“Then why do you think so lowly of yourself Jimin? Talk to me?” Taehyung pleads.
With a sniffle and a stuttered breath Jimin tries to swallow down his tears, tries to find some comfort in the fact that he didn’t love Sooyoon, that this was just a fling that didn’t go anywhere and the person he’s meant to be with is still out there somewhere.
“I don’t think so lowly of myself,” Jimin replies softly. “I just don’t like being a beta.”
Taehyung is very quiet for a very long time, a whole minute of silence that is incredibly rare to find with the boisterous and overexcited puppy. Jimin can feel himself being scrutinised, can feel the contradictory lecture building up in his best friend’s head – all words he’s heard before but doesn’t believe in.
It’s only when Jimin is wriggling uncomfortably in the silence that Taehyung finally answers. Sighing a deep long breath that tickles the nape of Jimin’s neck. “You’re too caught up in ranks,” the beta says, soothing his fingers through Jimin’s hair again in an attempt to keep him calm. “Being a beta is not what defines you and whether your partner is an alpha, omega or beta is no basis for a relationship.”
“I know that.”
“You don’t, else you would have stopped pretending to be an omega with your fancy long lasting pheromone perfumes and all your other omega dupers— ”
“Wait,” Jimin interrupts, twisting in Taehyung’s lose hug so that the two betas are face to face. Well, as face to face as they can be, what with Jimin being considerably smaller he has to crane his neck a little to catch Taehyung’s gaze. “There are other omega dupers?”
Roughly and with little care for the well being of Jimin’s forehead, Taehyung flicks him. “Not the point.”
“But it is the point. Because clearly, I’m not trying hard enough,” Jimin justifies and simply saying the words out loud has shifted his mood from that heavy kind of sadness into a more hopeful kind of content. “Do you think they have something that will make me produce slick?”
“ Jimin, ” his best friend exclaims in an excellent portrayal of a prude housewife; great balance of mortification and scolding.
But the little beta just rolls his eyes, pulling himself up right on the couch to reach for his laptop. “Can beta bodies produce slick? Even if biologically they don’t?”
There are arms around his waist trying in vain to pull him back down onto the couch but Jimin is stubborn once he’s made up his mind, stubborn to the point he’d steal the moon from the skies if it meant he could achieve what he set out to do.
Besides, Taehyung has always been the weaker of the pair. “We talked about this, when I try and manhandle you, you’re supposed to relent a little so that my ego doesn’t bruise.”
Jimin chuckles, loading up an incognito window on his browser. Hoseok has used his laptop one too many times without asking for Jimin to take any risks. “Calm down noodle boy, I’ll finish hugging you once I’ve found what I’m looking for.”
The other beta delates, flopping against the couch like a captured fish resigned to its fate. “Chim, this is the third time now. The third time you’ve pretended to be an omega just to date some Knot-head and the third time they’ve dumped you for lying. Don’t you think that maybe you should stop this now?”
The tapping of his fingers on the keys turn a little rougher, a little more irritated and Jimin throws a small glare over his shoulder at his best friend. “Firstly, you spat in Chae Minjae’s eye last week because he called Hoseokkie-hyung a Leftover, so don’t go calling alphas Knot-heads, the political correctness goes both ways.”
Taehyung huffs like a child that’s been scolded but the down turn of his lips means he’s at least a little remorseful.
“Secondly,” the little beta continues, turning back to his laptop. “Jiwoo and Youngjae dumped me because I wouldn’t sleep with them, and I wouldn’t sleep with them because then they would know I’m a beta.” He taps at his laptop screen, glee tugging at the edges of his lips. “This will change that, however.”
Interest pulls Taehyung up from the couch, hooking his chin over Jimin’s shoulder and furrowing his brow. “Well what do you know, they actually have slick pills.”
“You can pick what flavour you wanna taste like,” Jimin feels smugness pull taught across his face.
Taehyung on the other hand cringes full body, face twisted in disgust. “Slick tastes of food?”
“Did you not pay attention in abo ed?”
“Betas didn’t have to take it.”
Jimin sighs, it was the same in his high school too and it meant he was the only beta in his class. “What do you think I taste like?”
Taehyung bites down playfully on Jimin’s collar bone before licking a messy spit-soaked stripe up his neck. “Peaches,” he concludes before flopping back onto the couch.
Jimin nods just once, not even phased anymore by Taehyung’s peculiar impulses. “Peaches it is,” he smirks before clicking happily on the add to cart button.
The sound of their front door opening snaps both the beta’s eyes towards it, the squeaking of old hinges and the creaking of the old wood means that one of two people have just let themselves into the apartment – Seokjin or Hoseok.
One of the bonus’, or so the University likes to boast, about being a beta is that they don’t get to live on campus. The bonus of this being that there’s not constant noise pollution from other students wandering through campus and there are less rules to follow living in accommodation not owned by their school.
In reality, however, Jimin and Taehyung live 20 minutes away from campus and rely on useless busses that like to keep their own ever-changing time table and the only apartments that will rent to unruly students are the shitty ones that are styled after 1970s crack dens. It also means that the only people who ever invite themselves over are the only two other beta’s they know.
“It smells like sadness in here,” Seokjin scolds, slamming the door closed with his foot before struggling to slip off his shoes without untying the laces. “You should open a window, get some fresh air.”
Taehyung clicks his tongue, rolling onto his side so that his bony knees dig into Jimin’s lower back. “Yes, because the wonderful Seoul haze is the perfect definition of fresh air.”
Seokjin throws one of his gloves at Taehyung, the force behind it so weak that the woollen fabric flutters pathetically to the floor a feet away from Seokjin. But as always, this doesn’t deter their ever-confident hyung, the elders face not showing a single wrinkle of shame. “What crawled up your butt and died?”
Eventually Seokjin manages to slip his shoes off, unzipping his coat as he shuffles over to the couch. “I bruised Tae-Tae’s ego,” Jimin supplies, of which makes Taehyung dig his knees a little harsher into his back.
With a huff, Seokjin places the plastic bag he’s holding on the little coffee table before slipping of his remaining glove. “Just let him throw you over his shoulder at least once, Chim.”
“Kinky.” Taehyung winks.
Seokjin batters at Taehyung’s legs until the younger beta lifts them off the couch so their hyung can slip himself under them. “I heard about what happened, Minnie, I’m sorry.”
Jimin is disappointed but not surprised that Taehyung has, once again, gone blabbering about his love life to Hoseok who has then relayed the information to his housemate. Which has resulted in said housemate now sat on their couch with a pitying look on his face and a plastic bag full of cupcakes, probably freshly baked, on their coffee table.
But Jimin’s not depressed, not heartbroken nor devastated he’s just, well, sad.
“It’s fine, plenty more fish in the sea and all that,” Jimin flaps his hand vaguely at his hyung, attention brought back to his laptop.
There’s an awkward silence that returns his flippant sentence. He can feel his friends share a worried look behind him; a knowing look that probably means an intervention is going to be called, but Jimin really doesn’t have the patience to deal with their unsupportive behaviour.
“Express shipping is an extra 20,000won but normal shipping means it won’t get here for two weeks,” he says, typing in his credit card number with lightning-fast speed.
Seokjin leans a little closer to Jimin, eyes peering at the laptop screen. “What are you ordering?”
“Slick pills,” Taehyung supplies.
“Slick pills?” Seokjin repeats.
“ Peach slick pills,” Jimin corrects. “Tae-Tae said I taste like peaches.”
The resounding smack to Taehyung’s bare ankle is loud as it echoes around the little apartment, but the small grunt of annoyance Taehyung gives in return means that once again the force behind Seokjin’s hand is lacking. “You’re encouraging this? I thought you were going to gently talk him out of this.”
“I’m not encouraging this,” Taehyung gasps in high offence. “We all know Jimin and a rock share the same level of stubbornness.”
“ Leave it to me , you said, I’m his soulmate he’ll listen to me, you said,” Seokjin mocks, voice purposefully pitched lower. “Famous last words.”
Jimin can feel the kick Taehyung lands on Seokjin’s rib cage from behind him. “Your plan was to tie him up and throw all his omega perfumes down the toilet.”
At this, Jimin finds himself intervening, standing to his feet to level his two friends with a pointed, unimpressed glare. “Those perfumes are expensive and if I were to ever find out that you’ve purposefully flushed them, I’ll shave both your heads.”
The two part from their roughhousing, lips twisted into pouts. “Now look, I know you don’t approve of what I do, I know you worry about me, but I don’t want to be a beta. I feel happier being an omega and being doted on by alphas and all I ask is that you be happy that I’m happy.”
“But you’re clearly not happy, Minnie,” Seokjin retaliates. “You date these alphas pretending to be something you’re not and when they find out they’ve been fooled their harsh rejection chips away at you and you cry with Taehyung on the couch for hours before putting yourself through all that crap again.”
“Jin-hyung is right, you’re living a vicious cycle,” Taehyung agrees. “And we would be a little more supportive if you genuinely felt like you should be an omega, but we all know that the reason you do all this is because you genuinely believe outdated bullshit that betas are just leftovers.”
“I don’t think that,” Jimin snaps.
Seokjin sighs. “Then why don’t you just date a beta?”
“Because I want to date an alpha,” Jimin justifies and by this point he feels like a broken record that just cannot stop playing.
Taehyung crinkles his nose. “That sounds like an alpha fetish, Chim.”
With an exasperated sigh, Jimin throws his hands in the air. “Everyone has a preference ! And what’s wrong with that? Seokjin has a thing for dimples, Tae likes red heads, Hobi swoons at deep voices and I like alphas, there’s nothing wrong in knowing what I like.”
The silence that follows his mini-outburst is thick and painful, it presses on Jimin’s lungs and burns his throat; it stings at his eyes until he has to blink to stop them hurting. He feels wetness on his cheeks, when did he start crying? There’s nothing to cry about, he’s being ridiculous and over emotional and—
“Your voice is saying one thing, but your tears say another,” Taehyung whispers gently, pulling himself from the couch to wrap the little beta in one of his famous bear hugs. The taller of the pair knows the best ways to squeeze out every last drop of sadness from a person, as though you’re a worn cloth in need of drying.
“You’re amazing, Chim. You are so kind and so caring. You always make me breakfast in the morning, even if our schedules don’t allow for us to eat together, because you know I won’t eat otherwise. You stay up late to help Jin-hyung study for all of his finals because he’s too proud to admit that he’s too nervous to ask to study with all the alphas in his class. You’re always the one to pull Hobi away from the dance studio after midnight even if you have an early class the next morning and you have so much love to give to people that I can understand the need you have to share it,” Taehyung soothes, the deep baritone of his voice echoing through his chest from where Jimin’s face is nuzzled into it.
He can feel Seokjin’s fingers playing with his hair, squeezing gently at the nape of his neck and Jimin wriggles one of his hands free to hook a tight grip into the hem of his hyung’s shirt.
“And you should be looking for someone that is willing to love you not your rank. You should be willing to put yourself out there as the pretty, perfect beta you are and accept no less than someone who will love your everything,” Taehyung adds, and Jimin knows he’s right, he knows .
But no one wants a beta.
“And I’ll find someone like that I will,” Jimin mumbles weakly. “But just let me do what makes me comfortable.”
Seokjin sighs, resting his temple on Taehyung’s shoulder, eyes scanning over Jimin’s face carefully before he pushes the younger’s hair out of his wet eyes. “Tricking people isn’t right.”
“I’m not tricking people, like Tae-Tae said, if they love me then it won’t matter to them if I’m a beta right?” he asks, eyes catching Seokjin’s worrying gaze.
His hyung looks rightly conflicted. “Well, yes,” he begins, licking his lips. “But you should go into all relationships with that mentality to begin with. Currently, you’re pretending to be something you’re not.”
“But—” No one wants a beta.
“Hey,” Taehyung chimes in, fingers tickling down Jimin’s spine. “Hobi is taking us out tonight, apparently he’s got a friend that Jin-hyung is going to cream his pants over.”
Seokjin clicks his tongue. “Said friend is a sophomore ,” he says, voice laced with mild disgust.
The distraction has a small smile pulling at Jimin’s lips. “Hoseokkie-hyung is a sophomore, what do you mean by that?”
“Yeah,” Taehyung titters with mock offense. “Is there something wrong with dating sophomores?”
Seokjin, with the maturity befitting a maknae rather than a hyung, pinches Jimin’s earlobe and licks Taehyung’s cheek. “I got nothing against dating sophomores, Hobi and Tae are cute together, but I don’t quite fancy myself a cradle robber thanks very much.”
“Two years your junior isn’t really paedophilia level, hyung, that’s a reach and a half,” Jimin giggles, wiping his tear stained face against Taehyung’s shirt.
Understandably, his best friend makes an irritated cry of outrage. “Don’t clean your snotty face on my shirt, it’s Gucci .”
“More like Gucki,” Jimin snides. “Hobi bought this off a street stall in Myeongdong.”
With a gasp, Taehyung pushes Jimin out to arm’s length in order to stare wide eyed at his best friend. “Are you serious?” Jimin nods and Seokjin looks about ready to explode with laughter. “I bought that bastard ugly as fuck Balenciaga shoes that were worth a whole years rent for his birthday because I thought he bought me a Gucci shirt.”
“Hobi can’t even afford his own bus fair to campus let alone designer clothes,” Seokjin snickers.
“That snake is a dead man,” Taehyung announces, marching from the living room all whilst pulling his knock-off shirt over his head. “A dead man who’s buying me the whole goddamn bar tonight.”
“That sounds like weak punishment,” Seokjin shoots back.
“That’s probably just the tip of the ice berg,” Jimin reassures. There’s an evil glimmer in his hyung’s eyes at those words that sends an involuntary shiver down Jimin’s spine. “What’s Hoseokkie-hyung done to you?”
“Set me up on a blind date with a sophomore,” Seokjin supplies, mouth twisting into a dark smirk. “Wait, Taehyungie, let hyung show you which outfits Hobi drools over the most,” the eldest calls scurrying towards the youngest’s bedroom. “You can have him hard all night and then leave him to a cold shower.”
“I love your mind, hyung,” Taehyung snickers.
Jimin lets a long sigh past his lips, his eyes feel heavy, saw and swollen and he doesn’t even want to think about how red his face probably is. There’s not enough time for him to cool his face down with ice packs before they have to head out, so he resigns himself to the heavy layer of make-up he’s going to have to apply to his poor skin.
Unconsciously, his eyes wander down to his laptop, mockingly showing the slick pills ready and waiting to be bought, just one click and they’re his. He likes to think that he’s confident enough in himself that he internally fights over whether he should just go ahead and buy them or not.
But the fact of the matter is, Jimin isn’t strong, not in the slightest.
So, he buys the pills while holding his breath before slamming his laptop shut and hiding it away in his room.
____________
Hoseok is known as being friendly and approachable - popular would be the word Jimin would use to describe him. Because honestly, what’s not to like about Jung Hoseok? The man is beautiful, with a contagious smile and a contagious laugh and he radiates positive vibes and happy energy that draws humanity to him like a magnet.
There’s not a judgemental bone in his body, not a single angry cell, and Jimin has never seen anyone treat Hoseok with anything but respect and kindness. Except over the whole Minjae incident, but that was because the alpha didn’t know the definition of the word no.
Jimin knew that his hyung was friends with everyone, literally everyone regardless of their rank or their major. But it still didn’t stop the little beta from being blindsided by the sight of two incredibly pretty alphas sat besides the happy-go-lucky beta once they reach the student bar.
“Hobi’s friends are alphas,” Jimin hisses, catching Taehyung’s wrist before they’re spotted.
Taehyung looks over to the table then back to Jimin. “Well, what do you know, guess they are,” he comments casually, far too casually.
The smaller of the pair narrows his eyes, bottom lip jutted out into a heavy pout. “Now who’s the snake?”
“Look,” Seokjin chimes in, diplomatically. “We all thought it would be a good idea for you to make some alpha friends that know you’re a beta. Maybe it will help you see how rank isn’t important and—”
“You threw me under the bus,” Jimin snaps. “Why can’t you just let me do what I wanna do?”
“Because we love you,” Taehyung replies with a shrug. “And this is an intervention.”
Jimin worries on his bottom lip, grip around Taehyung’s wrist loosening till he finally lets go. “I hope your blind date has dimples the size of moon craters and you get tongue tied, and I hope Hoseokkie-hyung waters down all your drinks.”
The two betas gasp over dramatically and Jimin stomps his foot in irritation. “A plague, on both your houses,” he hisses before pushing his way over to the bar. He can feel Hoseok’s eyes on him, burning with the utmost worry into his back as Jimin flags down the attention of the bar tender.
There’s a small gaggle of omegas crowded against the mahogany bar three stools down from Jimin, all girls with hair neatly curled, make perfectly plastered and outfits cinched so tight to their little bodies it leaves no room up to imagination. The noise of the pub is high, the varying pitch of conversation the main thing that fills his ears and dizzies his head and he wishes more than anything that the music was just a little louder.
But he can feel the base reverberate through the wood against his hands, see it shake the shot glasses and alcohol bottles that hang high on the wall behind the bar. He can’t hear what the group of omegas are shouting towards the bartender, but just as it’s Jimin’s turn to be served, one omega girl pouts her pretty glossy lips and lets out a high whine that draws the attention of the bartender over to her.
The beta folds his arms about his chest, hip jutted out to one side and cheeks puffed up in right annoyance.
“Oi!” he bellows as loudly as his voice can carry over the deafening chattering of the bar. “I was next!”
No one answers him, no one even acknowledges him as the bartender begins lining up shot glass in front of the omegas, a wicked smirk across his face. The omegas whoop and giggle, leaning over the wood bar to show off their bare necks, pulling their hair out of the way and battering their eyelashes.
“You good?” a voice asks, the deep rasp so close to his ear that Jimin startles and shivers all at the same time.
His eyes blow wide as he snaps his face towards the person who is possibly a little too close to comfort, however with how packed the bar is Jimin can understand that personal space is limited. His cheeks flush a little, glad his foundation is layered a little thicker than usual so that the guy can’t see his face turn red.
Jimin just stares open mouthed into the dark inky pupils of an alpha with almond shaped eyes and porcelain skin, pink tipped nose and pretty rouge lips. He’s pouting, eyebrows pinched in worry, head cocked to one side as he waits for Jimin to answer.
Not for the first time, Jimin takes a deep breath and wishes more than anything he could smell the scent that clings to alphas.
He swallows, lets a sigh past his lips and flickers his eyes over to the sight of the bartender, pouring plentiful amounts of liquor into the line of glasses. “I was next,” Jimin huffs.
“Want me to do something about it?” the alpha asks, he leans in to say the words next to Jimin’s ear, clearer then if he had shouted them across the gap between them. Jimin understands why the alpha does what he does, but conversely it sends his head swimming just a little bit.
Not enough to swoon, Jimin isn’t some old timey maiden, but enough that his face heats up impossibly more.
He leans away from the proximity, shrugging one of his shoulders. “Why are you offering?”
“You looked justly pissed, and unjustly ignored,” the alpha replies, diplomatic.
Jimin’s lips twist. “You could just go ahead and fight for my honour regardless of what I want.”
“I could,” the alpha nods. “But I’m not a knot-head.”
It’s hard to fight the little smirk that tugs at the corners of Jimin’s mouth. “Knot-head is a derogative term,” he scolds lightly.
“Not if I’m calling myself that,” the alpha doesn’t bother fighting his own smirk and it adds a little lightness to the atmosphere around them.
The beta licks his lips, slipping his butt back onto the bar stool that’s been digging into the tops of his thighs. “Go on then, fight for me,” he says jutting his chin out towards the bartender. The alpha turns without another word, the line of his back pulled straight and the expanse of his shoulders wide despite how small in stature the guy is.
Jimin thinks it’s somewhat... cute .
Not as intimidating as the alpha assumes he is.
Pale bony fingers rest atop the dark mahogany bar, contrasting like the moon against the night sky, blunt bitten fingernails thrumming an irritated rhythm as he beckons the bartender over with a rude: yah!
There’s authority in his voice, sharp like the tang of a lemon after the bitter of tequila, strong and deep without the need to raise his voice over the ruckus of the bar and as soon as the word leaves his mouth the bar tender’s face snaps over to them.
Jimin thinks it’s always interesting watching alphas battle for dominance - they never mean to do it, it’s instinctive and it just happens . One time, Sooyoon had reached for the last packet of ketchup when they had gone to eat at Shake Shack, right at the same time another alpha had reached for it too.
Their fingers had brushed, they had laughed awkwardly and roughly in the back of their throats before holding polite clipped conversation that ended with Sooyoon’s lip curling over his pearly white teeth.
Omegas are catty and obvious in their displays of dominance amongst rank, something Jimin can understand as betas aren’t much different. But alphas: alphas are calculated and backhanded.
“You ignored my friend when they called your attention,” the alpha says as soon as the bartender stops in front of him. The man is double in height to the alpha next to Jimin, body structure slimmer, somewhat frail looking if you asked Jimin, but he knows looks can be deceiving.
“And?” comes the response and even Jimin knows that it’s the wrong answer.
There’s a smirk with no humour across the alpha’s lips, sharp and somewhat menacing even though its small. “ And ,” he begins, voice that weird eerie calm alphas use when they begin asserting. Jimin shivers at the power behind it, but doesn’t feel any real innate need to relent to it, to bow his head and bare his neck as he’s seen happen with countless omegas and alphas before. “You’re going to take his order and charge him half price for the trouble.”
The bartender clicks his tongue and rolls his eyes, arms folded harshly across his chest, fidgeting on his feet: relenting. “I’m already serving someone, besides can’t give discounted drinks.”
The thrum of the alpha’s long fingers on top the bar stop and though Jimin can’t really feel it nor smell it, he’s certain there’s a shift in pheromones, a shift in scent that changes the atmosphere around them.
“It wasn’t a request,” the alpha retorts and his voice makes even Jimin shiver.
The only time a beta is so heavily affected by the pheromones of alphas is around their ruts or when their displays of dominance escalate to the point a fight could happen. One time, Jimin could smell the sour tang of an alpha in distress at the hospital, too.
It’s the same with omegas: unless their pheromones peak to alarming heights or their heats are near, Jimin can’t really smell them. He can’t even smell the omega pheromone perfume he uses, he only knows it works because the alphas he’s been with have commented on its scent.
But when he does smell it the scent of the other ranks; smells the dominance in an alpha and the sweetness in an omega he craves it, most betas do. But the reason why Jimin is so drawn to alphas despite the fact they don’t return the same interest to him is that he likes strong partners. He likes protective partners and he likes to be cared for after spending a day looking after everyone else.
Not saying that he couldn’t find that from a beta, but it’s just different .
Like forbidden fruit.
The staring contest between the two alphas spans for only a few moments before the bartender 100% relents, curling in on himself and lower his head in submission. It’s the type of thing Taehyung tend to laugh at, confident in his beta rank and happy he never has the innate ability to show submission to anyone.
Jimin thinks it’s a little hot and he knows his best friend would thump him on the back of the neck if he knew.
The alpha beside him turns his head and raises an eyebrow, clearly giving Jimin the go-ahead for ordering his drink. “Gin and tonic,” he shoots the bartender’s way, going to slip off the stool now that the whole incident is finished with. However, the alpha sits besides him, body turned towards Jimin and eyes shimmering with adrenaline that Jimin has so often seen in the eyes of alphas as they calm themselves down.
“Did I do good?” he asks, sounding almost like a small child in need of praising rather than a smug alpha.
God, he really is cute, endearing really.
With a sweet smile, Jimin hums an affirmative. “Thank you—”
“Yoongi,” the alpha offers, pointing a finger at his face and turning the tips of his ears red. “My name. That’s my name. It’s Yoongi.”
Adorable.
His drink is pushed towards him and Jimin fishes around in his pants pocket for his wallet. He sees Yoongi reach for his own and he levels the alpha with a pointed glare before the man retracts his hand.
The beta pushes some notes towards the bartender, pulling his drink closer towards him and taking a sip. “Jimin,” he introduces, worrying on his lip immediately after as he finds himself pinned under the alpha’s gaze. “What are you looking at?”
Yoongi shrugs. “Just, looking. You come here alone?”
“I’m not that pathetic.” Jimin snorts, taking another sip of his drink
“That’s a little harsh.”
“Did you come here alone?”
“No.”
“Then don’t take things so personally,” Jimin giggles, swirling the black straw around the clear liquid in his tall glass. He rests his elbow on the bar top, cheek squished against his palm as he apprises Yoongi.
The alpha is still watching him, following them the movement of his arm, the bob of his Adam’s apple – it’s thrilling. “I wasn’t expecting a person who scolded me for using the term ‘knot-head’ to be somewhat spiteful.”
“I’m not spiteful, just wary,” the beta supplies, lips turning up at the corners. “A strange alpha comes to my rescue at a bar and attempts to buy my drink, sorry for thinking you might have ulterior motives.”
“Something tells me you would have been perfectly fine sticking up for yourself,” Yoongi counters.
Jimin doesn’t answer. There’s liquid fire running through his veins and his heart is thumping erratically in his chest. He likes the initial chase, he likes being sought after: desired. Growing up, no one looked at him twice. He would blush around classmates he had not-so-subtle crushes on and be utterly ignored, looked over or simply laughed at for being a beta wanting an alpha.
But he smiles, like the Cheshire cat, wide and confident in his cheekiness.
“Jimin-ah, I have a bone to pick with you,” the shrill outcry of Jung Hoseok breaks the pretty electrifying tension that Yoongi and Jimin had built between themselves.
Jimin swivels in his chair, greeting a considerably pissed off beta with his hands on his hips and lips pulled into a flat line. “Hoseokkie-hyung, what’s up?”
“You swore on pain of death that you wouldn’t tell Tae-Tae that I bought his precious Gucci shirt from Myeongdong market!” Jimin snorts and Hoseok’s irritation deepens across his face. “Ji min .”
Jimin turns back to his drink, slipping the cool glass between his fingers, smug smirk on his lips. “Bros before hoes, my friend.”
Hoseok’s face is picture perfect betrayal; a classic et tu brute look throwing his features animatedly wide. “But I’m your bro too!” he exclaims, hands waving like uncoordinated octopus legs in front of him. “I’m your bro too !”
“I had to pay full rent for a good three months because of your nasty Balenciaga shoes,” Jimin supplies. “Your bro card was revoked.”
There are words on the tip of Hoseok’s tongue, bitter like vinegar, but the snarky remark never makes it past his lips, eyes catching on the alpha sat besides Jimin instead. His mouth pulls into a flat line, before turning up at the ends, hand squeezing over Jimin’s shoulder in some kind of reassurance that the younger beta doesn’t understand.
He rounds the bar stool where Jimin is sat, past the alpha until he’s stood on Yoongi’s other side. “I see you’ve met Yoongi,” Hoseok says, over dramatic wink shot Jimin’s way before he leans against Yoongi’s shoulder.
Dryness equivalent to that of a desert encloses Jimin’s throat, and he hopes his surprise doesn’t show across his face as his brain piece together parts of a puzzle that the little beta hadn’t even realised he’d been playing. Subtly, whilst Yoongi is complaining at Hoseok to get the hell off, Jimin spies the table behind and to the right of him. Taehyung and Seokjin are sat with one of the unidentified alphas Jimin had spied when they first walking into the bar.
Jimin feels his stomach flip, like it’s tumbling through a washing machine with no way of stopping.
It makes sense—why Yoongi helped him. Hoseok puts his time into good people, people who would help little old ladies cross the street. Yoongi had seen one of Hoseok’s friends get snubbed, and had lent a hand—nothing more, nothing less.
Which is fine, Jimin has been single for 2 hours and 39 minutes so jumping into the lap of another alpha so soon after Sooyoon is a bad thing.
Besides, Yoongi knows he’s a beta.
“You didn’t tell me you had omega friends, Seok-Seok.”
Wait.
There’s a clearly confused furrow to Hoseok’s brow that betrays the large smile across his lips. “Omega friends?”
Yoongi looks to Jimin and rolls his eyes as though exasperated over calling himself Jung Hoseok’s friend, then turns back to said friend with a sigh. “Yes, Hoseok, Jimin, Jimin is your omega friend is he not?”
Perhaps Jimin would enjoy being swallowed whole by the pits of hell right now, Hoseok is laughing like he’s sat front row at a comedy show, hand battering against Yoongi’s upper arm. Yoongi throws Jimin another look, eyes clearly beyond irritated and Jimin would relate if he wasn’t having a mini panic attack.
“Jimin’s my friend sure but—” Hoseok begins and his eyes flitter over to Jimin, mouth snapping shut at the sight he sees.
He doesn’t know whether he means to do it, he doesn’t even know whether Hoseok will humour him considering the whole reason Jimin is supposed to meet Yoongi is so that he can befriend an alpha as a beta.
But Jimin still finds himself shaking his head, a quick and sharp move, eyes pleading that his hyung doesn’t rat him out.
“But what?” Yoongi asks, patience wearing a little thin.
Hoseok mentally debates the two options he has laid out before him, Jimin watches the conflict flicker across his face and feels incredibly guilty for it. He should just shrug and let Hoseok tell the truth otherwise his hyung will be caught in the middle of a lie he shouldn’t have to be in as it affects two of his friends.
Jimin knows he should just go along with this intervention his friends have planned, they love him they only want what’s best for him.
And yet, Jimin just can’t .
“ Please,” he whispers and the thick layer of desperation across his features would embarrass him if he wasn’t, well, desperate .
Hoseok closes his eyes, composes himself, then sits himself in the seat besides Yoongi. “But I don’t really consider Jimin an omega.”
Yoongi scoffs. “Sure smells like one, not that hard to miss.”
Jimin hadn’t showered since he came back from his Valentines date-break up with Sooyoon.
“Well, I’ve known the brat for a stupidly long time and he’s not really like an omega.” Because he’s a beta .
The cringe that shivers its way through Jimin’s body is hot and acidic, like a poison. “I like to break the norms,” he adds weakly, voice cracked and dry. He downs half his gin and tonic in one mouthful.
It’s Hoseok’s turn to scoff this time. “That’s not the only thing you like to break. Tell Yoongi what happened all but 2 hours ago, Chim.” The dark edge to his hyung’s voice is terrifying, worse than facing a walk to the gallows.
Jung Hoseok is very rarely angry, but when he snaps, he snaps.
Jimin swirls a little bit of alcohol around his mouth, Yoongi turning to him, expectantly waiting for Jimin to elaborate. “I—I was dumped,” Jimin mutters and it’s pathetic.
“Why?” Yoongi sounds plenty surprised and a little outraged on Jimin’s behalf.
“Yeah, Jimin, why?” Hoseok asks and there’s not a lick of sympathy in his voice.
Jimin swallows thickly, he feels tears at his eyes but crying now would be cowardice and wrong . Crying will make Hoseok feel guilty, when his wonderful hyung has no need to feel bad for a stupid lie that Jimin is spinning on a whim.
But it’s not really a whim, he can’t help it. Despite the fact Hoseok looks about ready to smother Jimin with his own T-shirt, Jimin is already feeling more content at the knowledge that Yoongi thinks he’s an omega.
Which he should probably be concerned about, but he isn’t.
“He didn’t like, me ,” Jimin’s voice breaks on the last word, eyes staring past Yoongi to his wonderful and compassionate hyung, trying to implore that Hoseok understands why he is the way he is.
And by the pitying look Hoseok returns him, whole body sagging in utter empathy, Jimin’s pretty certain the older beta does understand.
Understanding and agreeing are very different things, however.