SPRING; April

Monday -- Afternoon

“Call me Yugyeom.” He says in a hushed voice, eyes unwavering as he stared into Jiyoo’s eyes.

Jiyoo nods her head, but doesn’t speak. Her eyes are closed tightly as her hands stay on Yugyeom’s chest to keep him from coming too close. He continues to press forward towards her and Jiyoo feels her heartbeat accelerate as she panics the closer he gets.

“Huh? Yugyeom my dude, is that you?”

The sudden appearance of a new person caused Yugyeom to get distracted, allowing Jiyoo to escape into the bathroom. Yugyeom lets out a short grunt and punches the person that allowed Jiyoo to escape from his arms.

“Dude!” Bambam yelps, rubbing his sore shoulder. “What was that for?”

“I was kind of in the middle of something.” Yugyeom says coldly, letting out another sigh as he looks at the girl’s bathroom door as if to debate on whether or not he should go in after Jiyoo. He decides against it and covers his nose and mouth with his hand. Taking a slow and deep breath, he feels his insides warm up at the smell of Jiyoo’s scent.

“Whatever. Anyways, who was that girl?” Bambam says curiously, “Perhaps… Was that your new girlfriend for the week?”

“Shut up man. I’m not like you.” Yugyeom punches Bambam again.

Meanwhile inside the girl’s bathroom, Jiyoo was frantically changing her pad and thinking of a way to escape without getting caught by Yugyeom. Washing her hands first, she pulls out her phone and texts Jungkook about her situation. After that, she’d rummaged through her bag to find her pain reliever pills, only to come up empty handed. Jiyoo took out all of her books and school supplies, practically turtling her bag to find it empty.

That’s when she remembered that Jungkook had her water and medicine with him when they’d parted.

The pains in her stomach were getting worse and she was sure that she wasn’t sweating because of the oncoming summer heat. Their school was air conditioned after all. Glancing back at her phone, she saw a single text from Jungkook and felt her body relax a bit.

From Kookie:

I’m coming. Don’t move.

Jiyoo begins to put her school supplies back into her bag and holds it to her stomach in hopes that Jungkook comes soon.

--

“So that’s what’s happening, huh?” Bambam sighs.

Yugyeom explained what was going on with Jiyoo to Bambam. He noticed it right away that she’d gotten her period. Her pheromones gave it away immediately as soon as he walked into class that day. Since she was being hounded by some of the other guys in class, his natural reaction to that was to protect her and look like the good guy.

He had a hard time controlling himself around her. Yugyeom slipped up when he tried to grab her hand, ultimately settling for just patting it instead before quickly pulling away. Walking down the halls with her felt almost like a dream to him.

That ended up with Yugyeom becoming a bit pushy was when they’d arrived at the bathroom. Jiyoo looked so small and her face was flushed. The sight made Yugyeom’s chest burn and the only thing he could think of was to get closer to her somehow.

His words didn’t match his actions. If only he’d stayed a foot or two back while he told her to call him informally. She probably would’ve agreed and might’ve even showed him that shy smile that she gave him during class.

“Uh oh... We have trouble.” Bambam mutters, looking down at the ground as he avoids making eye contact with someone that was quickly approaching.

Jungkook was running towards them at an alarming speed. As soon as he received the text from Jiyoo, he completely abandoned his class and grabbed his bag to go and find her. He didn’t ask her what bathroom at the school she was at, but seeing that she was heading from her current class to the health room, he had a vague idea of where she could be. His suspicions were confirmed when he found Yugyeom and Bambam standing outside, not the boy’s bathroom, but the girl’s bathroom instead.

Talk about being out of place.

“Go back to class.” Jungkook grunts, pushing his way into the girl’s bathroom without a caring what they had to say about him.

He was lucky that nobody was around except for him, Jiyoo, Yugyeom and Bambam. Heading inside, he found Jiyoo squatting on the ground as she held her stomach. She was sweating a lot now and Jungkook didn’t hesitate before going down on his knees and giving her medicine to help her stomach.

“Can you walk?” Jungkook asks nervously, watching as Jiyoo took deep breaths.

Jiyoo nods, but doesn’t make a move to stand up. Jungkook didn’t like that. He took off his jacket and draped it over her head like a hoodie. She was sweating, but at least this would somewhat stop the flow of pheromones that were practically rushing out of her now. Making sure that she was comfortable, he picked her up in his arms and kicked the door to the bathroom open.

He walks past Yugyeom and Bambam, making sure to glare at Yugyeom before stalking off to the health room. Yugyeom feels the pit of his stomach churn. His fists clench as he watches Jungkook walk away with Jiyoo in his arms.

“Woah dude, she smells really good-”

“Let’s go back to class.” Yugyeom mumbles, grabbing Bambam by the back of his collar before forcefully dragging him down the hall.

Jungkook arrived at the health room in record time and didn’t bother to consult with the nurse before putting Jiyoo down on a bed farthest to the back of the room. He didn’t want anymore attention on her than she already got today. Jungkook didn’t know what it was, but seeing Yugyeom there with Jiyoo (even if she was in the bathroom) made his stomach burn.

“Thanks Jungkook-ah.” Jiyoo croaks.

The color began to return to her face after laying down for about five minutes. Her stomach pains took a toll on her, that’s for sure. Jiyoo ended up falling asleep after another five minutes, leaving Jungkook to care for her throughout the rest of the school day.

He watched as her chest rose and fell, trying to expel the burning feeling from his gut from earlier. Seeing her all sweaty and in pain made the burning feeling worse. The nurse was kind enough to give him a cold towel to wipe away the sweat on Jiyoo’s forehead, taking pleasure in seeing him care for her.

Jungkook felt at ease sitting there next to Jiyoo unlike how he was in her classes without her. His leg shook at his desk as he checked the clock every thirty seconds, waiting painfully as the time ticked on slower and slower every time he checked.

He leaned down and let his head rest against Jiyoo’s stomach. A foreign smell made him suddenly jerk back. The Jiyoo he knew didn’t smell like men’s cologne.

That’s when he figured out that Yugyeom probably got close to Jiyoo in that time that Jungkook wasn’t there to protect her.

Grabbing Jiyoo’s hand, he closes his eyes and lets his pheromones cocoon her like what he did at the pool. He made sure to make his pheromones come out a bit on the lighter side in case what he did made her feel more sick than she already was. After a few moments, a loud buzzing noise caused him to lose his concentration.

He bent down to smell Jiyoo and was satisfied with Yugyeom’s scent gone from her. Jungkook reached into his pocket and checked his phone, before frowning at the incoming text.

Jiyoo slept all the way through the last period of the day. Waking up groggily, she panicked for a moment as she searched for Jungkook. He stayed right where he left her and the sight of him made Jiyoo relax again.

“How long was I asleep?” She asks, pulling her phone out to see that school was already over. “We missed graphics? What if the teacher-”

“Mrs. Kim already sent a note to the teacher to excuse us.” Jungkook yawns, “We have to go to my house today.”

“Have to?” Jiyoo questions, unsure of what he meant.

Jungkook nods and stands up, lifting his arms above his head to stretch out his body a bit. With a sleepy expression on his face, Jungkook doesn’t hesitate before lifting Jiyoo off the bed and gently to the ground. She was pretty tired still too and accepted his kind gesture gratefully.

“Yeah. My dad said he wants to see both of us.”

“Did he say why?” Jiyoo asks.

She’s much more awake now after hearing that Uncle Jeon wanted to talk to both of them. It made her feel anxious, but at the same time made her feel relieved that he really wasn’t upset about what happened at their house last time.

“Nope.” Jungkook sighs, his hand snaking into Jiyoo’s hand as he spots a familiar face in the crowd.

Yugyeom stares at the two jealously as they walk out the school gates together. He’s unaware of Bambam trying to get his attention and just glares back at Jungkook, who smirks before turning the corner.

“Leave it alone Yugyeom.” Jaebum says, “You said the girl wasn’t feeling good today, right?”

Remembering the reason why he was so upset made Yugyeom feel guilty again. He almost forgot about Jiyoo because of his anger towards Jungkook. Nodding his head, he walks with his friends to who knows where. He wasn’t paying attention to them earlier when they were discussing where they’d hang out after school today.

The only thing on his mind was the sweet smell of sugar and the warm of  Jiyoo’s petite body in his arms.

By the time Jiyoo and Jungkook arrive at Jungkook’s house, they find more shoes than usual at the front door. Jiyoo slowly takes off her red converse and walks behind Jungkook down the hall and to the living room.

The scene was a familiar one. Jiyoo and Jungkook walk into the living room to find Jungkook’s father sitting in his usual chair while the rest of the couches are filled by none other than Alphas. Though this time, they’re no strangers.

“H-Hi Jiyoo.” Jimin says cheerfully. He stumbles with his words a bit, but is relieved when he sees Jiyoo’s small smile as she waves back at him.

Jungkook sits down on the floor so that he could face everyone and Jiyoo followed suit. She made sure to stick close to Jungkook, but didn’t hesitate to greet any of the others that said hi to her first. Seokjin seemed more nervous than usual. He did stop to say hi to Jiyoo as well, but didn’t speak much afterwards. It’s only natural since he did just show her his scary side not too long ago.

“How are you feeling Jiyoo?” Jungkook’s father asks.

Jiyoo nods her head and explains what happened throughout the day. She left out the parts about Yugyeom and instead opted to talk about how the nurse had given her medicine for her stomach pains. Jiyoo can feel Jungkook stiffen up next to her as she spoke about how much attention they got today during school, quickly wrapping up her summary with a small nod of her head.

“Ah, I see…” Jungkook’s father hums. “We should go get you that medicine so you won’t have to deal with that in the future.”

Nodding her head again, Jiyoo puts a hand on her stomach. She was grateful the pain was gone, though she couldn’t help but remember what the nurse had told her- about the alternate way of preventing stomach pains from her period. It was awkward enough that she had a hand on her stomach as if she were pregnant. Jiyoo quickly moved her hand to the side and opted to hold Jungkook’s hand instead. He had a similar flush on his face after realizing the same thing, the two looking obviously suspicious though the others didn’t say anything about it.

“Jiyoo, I need you to make a very important decision today.” Jungkook’s father says, his posture getting more stern as he leans forward.

This was weird to Jiyoo, especially since important decisions were usually passed to Namjoon or Jungkook at least.

“Do you want to become mates with Jungkook?”

Jiyoo’s face burns the more time passes by. She’s pretty sure her hand is sweaty in Jungkook’s palm. Looking down at her hand, she finds it held tightly in Jungkook’s own hand as the latter just stared at her expectantly.

“I…”

Becoming mates was a huge step; She’d only started her period that weekend after all. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to become mates with Jungkook, but since he was her best friend and all, it was difficult to see them together as an ‘item’. Her hesitation made Jungkook’s stomach drop, though given the same question, he would probably be just as conflicted.

In Jungkook’s case, he just didn’t know if Jiyoo would be okay with it. For Jiyoo, the only thing on her mind was the memory of what happened when they were in the nurse’s office. Seeing Jungkook being surrounded by those girls never bothered Jiyoo before, but even remembering what happened made her feel sick to her stomach.

“I’m just an Omega though…” Jiyoo manages to let out.

Her low self confidence is anything but what Jungkook wanted to hear. He took it as her saying that she didn’t want to be his mate. Jungkook’s strong expression falters and his hand on Jiyoo’s own hand loosens until the two of their hands are just barely touching at the fingertips.

“I’ve already talked about it to Bangtan.” Jungkook’s father says, earning a confused look from Jiyoo and Jungkook. In their minds, they were thinking of BTS. “Bangtan, like. The boys here.”

Hoseok gives a little wave and only then does Jiyoo realize that he was the one that probably got Jungkook’s father to call them that. “We’re not boys after all. Some of us, anyways.”

“What did you talk to them about?” Jungkook questions.

“I’m going to enroll them in school with you.” His father says promptly.

“What?”

Jiyoo looks at Jungkook, who doesn’t understand what’s going on. “But… They’re older than us, aren’t they?”

“Seokjin hyung is too old for high school,” Jungkook says, though looks over at Seokjin before adding, “No offense.”

“Technically Taehyung and Jimin should be in their third year around now.” Jungkook’s father explained, “And the rest aren’t that much older. I can just bend a bit of information here and there to get them in.”

“But why dad?” Jungkook presses on, his patience running thin. “They don’t need to go to school if they haven’t been going.”

“I think school is a good thing though?” Jungkook’s father insisted, “I’m doing this for you Jiyoo.”

“M-Me?” Jiyoo gasps softly.

Jungkook’s father nods his head and looks to the rest of the boys who had looks of determination on their faces. “I talked to them already. They don’t want you to get hurt in school at such an important time in your life.”

The words Jiyoo heard seemed almost fake. Not to be mean to the other guys, but Jiyoo literally just met everyone here besides Jungkook and his father.

Why would they care for someone they just met?

“You’re special Jiyoo.”

Namjoon walks towards Jiyoo and Jungkook, stopping in front of the two before holding his hand out towards them. Jungkook doesn’t move, but something in Jiyoo urges her to put her hand into Namjoon’s.

“All of us here,” He motions towards everyone in the room, “We want to protect you.”

“Plus, something happened at school today, right?” Suga calls out from the side, causing Jiyoo to freeze up from his words. “It’s written all over your face, even if you didn’t say it.”

Jungkook clenches his fist and grits his teeth, keeping his frustrations hidden as Jiyoo nods her head slowly. He was cursing Yugyeom in his own mind with every curse word he knew. Jungkook also felt almost betrayed that Jiyoo hadn’t told him anything.

“I don’t think having you all enroll is really necessary though.”

Instead of seeing an all honest Jiyoo, she had a small smile on her face. Putting a hand behind her head, she brushes out the tangled strands as she laughs awkwardly. “I mean, I’m old enough to handle myself, right?”

The boys were confused as to why she was suddenly feeling so sure of her opinion, when moments ago she barely was able to let her own voice out. Jungkook on the other hand was practically seething now.

“If you’re so sure, you should have said so earlier.” He hissed, though he refused to let Jiyoo see his face.

“S-Sorry, I…” Jiyoo was taken aback by how sharp Jungkook’s words were. She knew he had the ability to be a bit snappy sometimes, but he was never like that to her. “It took a bit of thinking over, but I think I’ll be fine.”

“You think?” Jungkook groaned, already beginning to lose his patience bit by bit. “You thought it was a good idea to go with Yugyeom alone to the health room and look how that turned out.”

His sudden attitude made Jiyoo’s facade crumble in an instant. Before he knew it, she was looking at him with sad eyes.

“I don’t want to be a burden anymore.” She lets out, only to freeze up after speaking. hung open slightly and Jiyoo didn’t believe what she’d just said.

The air around Jiyoo began to turn stale. Not only that, but everyone could practically see Jiyoo shrinking under the pressure of Jungkook’s words.

“Well… It will put us at ease to have the others enroll, so they’re going to join you all.” Jungkook’s father steps in, already sensing a fight starting to brew between the two.

Jungkook huffs, not saying anything more before standing up and heading upstairs without Jiyoo. She watches as his figure disappears around the corner of the stairwell, and Jiyoo does nothing but sit on the floor in silence.

“I’ll try to talk to him.” Jungkook’s father sighs, following his son upstairs while leaving Jiyoo downstairs with the rest of Bangtan.

“Are you alright Jiyoo?” Jimin asks nervously.

Jiyoo’s head snaps up suddenly as she began waving her hands around and assuring him that she’s fine. Since Namjoon was the closest to Jiyoo, he put a hand on her head and ruffled her hair a bit. He didn’t know why something like patting someone’s head could be so satisfying, but whenever he had even the smallest contact like this with Jiyoo, he was content.

“I’m fine guys, really.” Jiyoo trails off and even she can tell that what she said wasn’t really convincing.

Jungkook’s father returned back downstairs without Jungkook. He said that Jungkook just wanted to be alone for now, causing Jiyoo’s heart to ache. She stays for a bit longer, but eventually heads home before dinner, saying that she has a lot of homework to do that night.

It was still daytime and the sun was shining brightly through the window. It was the very reason that Taehyung argued that it was much too early for Jiyoo to go home.

“She has homework Taehyung, let it go.” Hoseok chortles, “Unless you’re going to help her with it?”

Taehyung stiffens up, but puts up a brave front. He puts his hands on his hips and sticks his tongue out at Hoseok. “I can too. Watch me.”

He walks over to grab Jiyoo’s bag and heads towards the front door. “Let’s go Jiyoo!”

Jiyoo is unsure that this entire thing was a good idea, and looks at Jungkook’s father for help. To put things simply, he wasn’t much help in getting her out of the situation. If anything, he actually agreed for the rest of Bangtan to head over to Jiyoo’s house as a sort of pre bonding with them before school started.

They all make their way to the front door after hearing that, finally being able to do something they wanted to do since last week. Jiyoo takes one look at the staircase where Jungkook had gone before heading out the door. Taehyung doesn’t miss the longing look in Jiyoo’s eyes and takes a deep breath before calling for Jungkook.

“See you later Jungkook! We’re going to Jiyoo’s house!” He yells, waiting a few moments before he pushes Jiyoo outside. Taehyung didn’t think that Jungkook’s Alpha pheromones could escape from the second floor that fast, but after feeling the air change slightly, he was ready to book it out of there.

It wasn’t much of a walk to Jiyoo’s house. They arrived within five minutes of normal paced walking and Jiyoo unlocked the door to let them all inside.

“Nice place.” Suga hums, observing her house as he takes his time exploring.

Jiyoo makes sure that they’re all settled before sitting herself down on the bed next to Seokjin and Taehyung. She has her bag in her lap and flattens it across her thighs, pressing it down to cover any skin her skirt might not have covered.

“So… Homework, right?” Seokjin says, looking at Jiyoo who nods her head softly.

Jiyoo didn’t really have homework to do, but seeing that everyone was waiting for her to pull something out, she just pulled out the first book in her bag- revealing it was English.

“Gross.” Taehyung grimaces, earning a shove from Jimin.

“Namjoon can help you with that.” Seokjin smiles weakly, “It’s not really my specialty.”

“I thought Taehyung was supposed to help her though?” Hoseok teases, looking at Taehyung who was too busy opening the windows to let the air flow through the house.

The latter didn’t want Jiyoo’s smell to concentrate too much in the single room they were in. Although Taehyung loved Jiyoo’s scent, he didn’t want another rerun of what happened last week.

After Namjoon had gotten settled down next to Jiyoo and started helping her with her homework, the rest of the guys had quickly gotten bored. They explored the house while Jiyoo and Namjoon were preoccupied.

“Look! It’s baby Jiyoo!” Taehyung swooned, causing everyone to flock over to where he was.

In his hands was a picture of Jiyoo and Jungkook back when they were in elementary school. They weren’t babies, but seeing how much they’ve changed really did seem nostalgic, even if the rest of Bangtan weren’t there around that time. Jiyoo and Jungkook were holding hands and smiling as widely as their mouths would allow them. They also had matching backpacks in the picture, further making them look like the cutest kids.

“So cute.” Seokjin grins, looking fondly at the picture.

“Stop it you guys.” Jiyoo grumbles, feeling embarrassed that they were looking through her old pictures.

“Leave them be.” Namjoon chuckles, “They won’t break anything, hopefully.”

They hear Taehyung’s high pitched scream as he continues looking through Jiyoo’s school pictures. He sounds excited as he points out every event, from their school trips to just pictures of Jiyoo and Jungkook when they were together.

“He didn’t finish school, that one.” Namjoon says softly, not wanting Taehyung to hear him.

Jiyoo turns to look at Namjoon and tilts her head a bit, “What do you mean?”

“He dropped out.” Hoseok answers for her, plopping down on the bed as he pulled out his phone. “Dumb kid.”

“Something about how it wasn’t for him before completely just ignoring it altogether.” Namjoon sighs. “We found him a bit after and he’s been with us ever since.”

Nodding her head, she watches as Taehyung continues to show Seokjin pictures of her and Jungkook from when they were in middle school. He looks enthusiastic as he rambles on about how fun a trip to another country would be and such. Jiyoo finds how energetic Taehyung was kind of cute, and didn’t realize she was staring at him until he’d caught her in the act.

He waves his hand happily and Jiyoo immediately ducks her head down, pretending to look at her notebook instead of Taehyung. Before she’d looked away, she’d managed to get a glimpse of Seokjin’s bitter expression as he looked at Taehyung. It confused her, especially since they seemed so happy a second ago. She peeked up to look at the two again and saw Seokjin smiling this time, showing Taehyung all of the activities that could be done in school through Jiyoo’s pictures.

That’s when it hit her.

The guys weren’t going to school just to protect her, but to send Taehyung back to finish school too.

Knowing that she wasn’t the only reason why they were going through such lengths made her heart warm up a bit. When Jungkook’s father said that they all agreed to go back to school, he really meant his words. That meant that even Suga was prepared to head back to school. The thought of Suga in a uniform made Jiyoo giggle unconsciously.

The boys looked at her confusedly and she just shakes her head. “I just had a weird thought of seeing Suga in a school uniform.”

Suga rolls his eyes, but stands up and looks at himself in a nearby mirror. “I still look young, so I can probably pull it off. Dunno how they let you in though.” He chortles, looking at Jiyoo as he about her ‘premature figure’.

He still has a playful grin on his face and Jiyoo feels herself opening up to the boys the more time she spends with them. They were a fun bunch and pretty smart too. Namjoon had helped Jiyoo through all of the homework that was due for the rest of the week, leaving Jiyoo free to just hang out with them until they’d gone home for the night.

“Make sure to eat something after we leave, okay?” Seokjin looks at Jiyoo who nods her head. Seeing her be so obedient, Seokjin smiles and pokes her forehead lightly. “Good girl.”

Once they were long gone, Jiyoo took a shower and got her belongings ready for school for the next day. It was difficult to look forward to the rest of the week because she had no idea what was going to happen. While she was putting her uniform away, her eyes fell on a recent picture of her and Jungkook on their first day of high school.

The ache in her chest returned and she suddenly didn’t feel hungry anymore. Opting to brush her teeth instead, Jiyoo stares at the pictures of her and Jungkook and gets lost in the memories they shared together. They had a lot of firsts together, mostly because they’d been friends since they were ten. She doesn’t know what she would’ve done if Jungkook wasn’t there to save her from that hell called her ‘family’.

She just hoped that he cooled down by tomorrow.

A/N: I hope you all liked the chapter! Also, we just made 200 subs (as of 11:27 PM HST)!! That means I’ve already selected a winner for the giveaway

And the winner was Beautifuldayrosy ! Congrats Rosy and I hope you’ve picked out what you wanted from the giveaway!!

Never fear my lovely subs (or doms, whatever floats your boat). There will be more chances to win after we hit 100 comments and 300 subs ^^