Chapter Text
“it’s not proper”, his mom protested.
His father heaved a despondent sigh and placed a placating hand on her shoulder.
“my dear, we are well past worrying about anything proper. Just make sure that he is decent and more importantly, demure. He should hold his tongue, if it is the last thing he does”
They worry too much.
Jungkook removed his ear from the keyhole and quietly stepped away from the door. He stared at his feet, the conversation he overheard turning in his brain, word after dangerous word.
They were selling him off.
It’s an older man, some government official with a comfortable income and enough status to oversee the working of an entire district by himself. He’s been freshly promoted and designated to this little town where he moved a week ago. He is searching for a mate.
Jungkook wandered back to the living room, where he had been arranging flowers for display. Nobody asks him to do it, but it is the one thing that requires him to enter this side of the house and gives him an excuse to remind them of his presence. His mother thought it was a frivolous pastime and wasteful towards nature. Red and yellow carnations in a blown glass jar. He wasn't done with the arrangement but finds himself too dull to continue.
The living room is where they recieve guests. It is filled with furniture and cushions of the finest quality but is otherwise sparsely decorated. The deep magenta of the sofa set clashes with the painting that Jungkook had nailed on the wall. An atmospheric ocean landscape in muted pastel colors. It has been slowly losing its colors, exposed to the incense smoke that is constantly rising from the altar.
The white marble sphere is radiant in the dim light of evening. HIs parents had it sourced from the central plains, known to be a land abundant with spirituality. Coastal regions like Busan are considered to be the lap of the Goddess. The sea is a medium of connection between land and sky. But the dry earth of wastelands is where the true spirit of life is said to reside. Both are equally as important in worship.
The incense sticks have already burned down to the last dregs. The smoke is faint and disperses slowly in the air.
His mother is a priestess.
Perhaps the governor means to use their family's name to establish a good social standing in his appointed district.
Jungkook collects his flower arranging tools and goes back to his room. Once inside, he turned the lock and leaned his back against the door.
He thinks of a thousand things and nothing at all.
Will the ten years between him and his intended mate breed rifts between them? Will the man have a backwards mindset and harbor traditionalist expectations that he cannot fulfil? Will they think less of him for his ideals? For his scandals? For his hands and what he has done with them?
Does it matter?
He blinks, vision coming back into focus.
All his siblings and friends married and moved away. His studies are done and he has been working in an alpha-dominant field, trying to make something for himself. His dog died. Any ideas he had of roses and wines have long been dead.
The potential mate coming to see him is requesting a private audience.
Jungkook opens his mouth to take a breath and it shudders on the inhale.
Kim Namjoon looks way younger than he should be. He is tall and confident with a smooth, clean shaven face. While he might not be the conventionally attractive alpha-male that is the stuff of fantasies, there is a magnetic pull about him that draws Jungkook’s attention.
He is…handsome. Unfortunately.
Jungkook trains his eyes on his hands, neatly folded over his lap. There’s a speck of white paint on his fourth fingernail. He restrains the urge to pick at it.
“So what is it that you do exactly?”
Jungkook inhales carefully, lifting his chin just an inch. He knows the smile he gives is a bit too forced, but there’s no helping it now.
“I am an artist”, he explains.
He expects that to be end of it, but the alpha nods as if urging him to go on. His knife cut eyes reflect calm, summer skies. A gently curving face and dimpled smile like nothing Jungkook has ever seen. A charming honey-pot of an alpha, smelling faintly of synthetic cologne. Scent blockers, his brain supplies.
He can’t read him. He has met alphas far more good-looking by societal standards and could see right through them in a single glance. A sinking feeling has been steadily gaining on him all evening.
Something is not right about this match.
The alpha tilts his head and Jungkook’s mind comes back to him in the present. The man has been waiting for an answer.
He inhales again, twiddling his thumbs.
“I paint”, he answers with some difficulty. Don’t look away don’t look away don’t-
“…embroider, some”, he looks down, catches himself and lifts his head back up. He shouldn’t appear weak, no matter his parents’ concerns.
The alpha does not seem too bothered.
“Is it good work?”
“..huh?”, the sound escapes him without permission. He beats down the surprise and tries to school his expression to nonchalance. His voice betrays him as it comes out, the sound too airy, too wistful, “…yeah”
The alpha’s expression doesn’t change. He crosses one leg over the other and leans back in the chair, easy. Powerful.
Submit, a voice says.
There’s a shiver in Jungkook’s nape and he shakes his head to get it out.
“Is it true?”
Jungkook snaps his head up, mouth parting in a confused, “..what..?”
The alpha regards him evenly.
“…that you’re not chaste”
Jungkook stares back, unflinching.
“No”
The alpha’s smile widens and it’s not gentle anymore. It’s a wicked, cruel thing that makes red hot anger flare inside the omega till he can’t see straight. His own scent is rapidly turning sour and he clenches his fists, gritting his teeth to keep it from reaching the older man.
If Kim Namjoon notices, he doesn’t show it. Instead, he picks up the glass of liquor from the refreshments at his side and swirls it around. Easy.
“Do you have any questions for me?”
Jungkook did have questions, despite himself. He had rehearsed a few open-ended queries that would help settle his mind if they were answered. He would ask them all right now if only his head would stop pulsing with hatred and fear and so much rage.
He shakes his head no.
A lot of things happen after that.
Kim Namjoon apologizes.
It doesn’t register, at first. It sounds like gibberish, coming out of an alpha’s mouth.
“I didn’t mean to make you upset”, he had said, “although it was necessary I hope you will forgive me”
The utter disbelief must show on his face because the older chuckles. It’s a deep rumbling sound that cuts off every single thought in his head. He stares dumbly as the alpha continues to talk.
He shares his background, his work, and tells him about his expectations of a mate.
A beautiful and kind omega that will give him a home, a family and be a willing companion in the journey of his life.
It’s a simple enough request, except that the words willing companion stand out rather spectacularly.
He subconsciously moves his mouth around the syllables, picking them apart.
The alpha catches him doing it and nods politely.
“Yes”, he says, “you are as alluring as the moon, Jungkook-ssi. But mine is a tedious line of work and I need a mate that I can rely on for support. I view marriage as an exchange of shoulders. I will give you mine to lean, to rest, to stand upon if you so wish. In return I ask for the same”
The words are honest, tinged with the promise of forever. They are pink and blue and yellow.
Jungkook is twenty-seven years old, omega, unwanted. All he has that truly belongs to him is the rest of his life. He could hold on to it and live out a peaceful, lonely existence. His parents-
“Why me?”, he blurts out.
The alpha raises a brow, shrugs.
“Why not?”
Jungkook licks his lips, mouth suddenly dry.
“I can think of a few things”
“example”
“I don’t exactly have the best reputation”
“You can take mine”
That almost makes him laugh. He bites down on his lower lip and starts breathing deeply through his nose. This conversation is not helping his blood pressure.
danger danger danger
“Look”, Namjoon says, “I didn’t want to have to say this, but your customs are different from mine. When I asked to be matched with a mate, they started throwing children at me. I am a northerner, and proud to be one. I don’t mind adjusting to your culture but I will not stoop to indecency in the name of tradition”
Jungkook frowns, “children?”
“The mayor’s daughter, how old is she; thirteen? Fourteen?”
“Seventeen”, Jungkook replies, not really following.
“Like I said, children”
“the marriageable age for omegas starts at sixteen. It is perfectly acceptable-”
“It is not”, the alpha cuts him off. A muscle ticks in his jaw as he takes a sip of liquor and places the glass back down on the table.
“I’m not looking to adopt, Jungkook-ssi. I am looking to marry. And /you/ are a perfectly acceptable candidate”. His eyes lose their sharpness, now. He continues, “If we had met earlier in life I would have liked to court you properly. For now, all I have to offer is my hand for yours”
Jungkook studies the big, imposing alpha in front of him. Raven hair, the flash of a sweet dimple in his cheek. A fine pressed suit. The unmistakable glint of adventure in his low lidded eyes.
A little red flag folded into a silk napkin sitting neatly in his breast-pocket.
What does he have to lose, when anything he ever had has already been lost? Besides, the decision has already been made for him.
He says, “all I have to offer is my life”
The smile widens, showing teeth, “your life is all I need”