SPRING; March

Friday -- Afternoon

“Hey, do you want to sleepover tonight?”

Jiyoo momentarily stops packing her books into her bag and gives Jungkook a weird look. The latter looked dead serious as he faced her, as if it were some sort of formal request.

“Why today?” She asks curiously.

Jungkook shrugs as he plays with his phone. “It’s Friday, so why not?”

Jiyoo could tell he was trying to appear nonchalant and casual, but that also meant he had something up his sleeve. Usually they would just go over to Jungkook’s house and wait until the very last minute before asking Jungkook’s dad if Jiyoo could sleepover.

Since Jungkook’s dad didn’t like Jiyoo going home too late at night, he would let Jiyoo stay over- Hence how Jungkook and Jiyoo would have their normal ‘sleepover’.

“Uh, sure?” Jiyoo says, watching as Jungkook’s eyes flicker up towards something behind her before he’d given her a smile.

“Great. Now hurry up so we can get bubble tea before we head home.”

Jungkook helps Jiyoo put the rest of her books away into her bag before closing her locker for her, spinning the lock with his left hand and holding her hand with his right.

“Can you text my dad that you’re coming over today too?” Jungkook asks, not letting go of your hand. “He was talking about having people coming over later today, but I’m not sure if it involved me or not.”

Luckily he wasn’t holding your dominant hand or you’d need to readjust. Pulling your phone out from your pocket, you used your free hand to slowly text Jungkook’s dad.

To: Uncle Jeon

Can Jungkook and I have a sleepover tonight?

Picking up bubble tea on the way home, so we’ll get you a taro bubble tea!

Jungkook’s dad loved taro bubble tea, so you two always remembered to buy him one every time you went out for boba.

As they walked down the halls, Jiyoo realized that people were looking at them. And by people, she meant almost everyone that was currently present in school with them.

Now she could tell that Jungkook asked her to sleepover because of the attention they tended to garner. All students, grade levels varying from first years to third years stared at the two. They gossiped about their relationship together, whispering behind their hands and pointing fingers when they thought Jiyoo and Jungkook weren’t paying attention.

Walking down the hall a bit more, Jiyoo saw Yugyeom, only he wasn’t alone. He stood with his friends and gave her a small wave, nothing more and nothing less. Since it would be rude to ignore him, Jiyoo tried to bring her hand up to wave, but couldn’t.

The hand that she’d wanted to use was in Jungkook’s hand, and he wasn’t letting go. His face was blank again, so she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Jiyoo ended up waving with her other hand that still had her phone.

“Did my dad text you back yet?” Jungkook asked, causing Jiyoo to become momentarily distracted.

When she’d brought her other hand up to check for any new messages, she saw a notification for one new message. She was just about to check it when Jungkook snatched her phone out of her hand. Not only that, but he started to run- Fast. The two of them sprinted down the halls; Jungkook pulled Jiyoo out of the school with a grin on his face, while Jiyoo looked miserable as she was dragged behind him. Jungkook ran extremely fast for an Omega and Jiyoo knew this, but she felt the full force of his athletic ability as they dashed down the street and away from the school.

“That Omega is such a little brat.” Bambam huffs loudly, earning weird looks from those around him. “Are you sure that they’re not mates?”

Yugyeom watches Jiyoo’s retreating figure with a somber expression on his face. He doesn’t bother to look at Bambam before replying, “I told you, they’re best friends only. I asked already...”

It’s true that Jiyoo and Jungkook were nothing more than best friends. Whenever people asked, the two would say they weren’t mates. The only reason why nobody else tried claiming either of them as mates was because Jungkook got protective whenever boys came around Jiyoo, while Jiyoo would shy away because she didn’t have an interest in the boys that asked her to be mates.

For Jungkook’s case, it was a little different. Girls would always try to get close to him, but he had no problem with giving short answers, or even ignoring them. It angered a lot of Alphas and Betas, literally giving them headaches after they’d stopped talking to him.

“They look like something more though.” Jaebum says softly. Nobody heard him except for Yugyeom, who felt like his heart was empty from the fact that you’d gone so soon.

Meanwhile, Jiyoo and Jungkook were already at the bubble tea shop placing their order. Jungkook looked the same, still with a happy grin on his face as he played around with Jiyoo’s phone, which he hadn’t returned.

“Did your dad reply back yet?” Jiyoo asks curiously, peeking over at what Jungkook was doing on her phone.

Jungkook on the other hand pulled his hand away so she couldn’t see. He had a devious smile on his face though, making sure Jiyoo could see that he was doing something, but not showing her what he was doing exactly. It couldn’t have been that bad, she thought. Since Jungkook was her best friend and all.

“Nope, he didn’t.” Jungkook smiles, handing Jiyoo her phone back and paying for the bill.

Jiyoo was too distracted by Jungkook giving the cashier money to pay attention to her phone, letting out an inaudible gasp. “Hey! I said I would pay today!”

Jungkook gives her a shrug before taking the two drinks. “Sorry, I forgot.”

He held Jiyoo’s milk tea in his right hand, pressing the straw to her lips as he used his left hand to sip on his own drink. Jiyoo could feel was a bit dry from the run, and gratefully took a few sips of the sugary goodness, all while glaring at the boy in front of her.

“This doesn’t mean you’re off the hook.” Jiyoo warns him, taking the bubble tea from Jungkook’s hand.

Jungkook just smiles before grabbing his dad’s Taro bubble tea, his eyes on Jiyoo and Jiyoo only.

Jungkook paid for her, but his explanation for it was that he was “repaying her for future deeds”. It was pretty much just Jungkook shoving money into the cashier’s hands before Jiyoo could even process what was going on. Somehow, Jungkook always had a way of distracting her, and was really good at it too.

Jungkook walked in front and opened the door for Jiyoo, giving her a small bow as she returned the gesture with a giggle at how silly he was being. They headed back to Jungkook’s house at a slower pace than their speed going to the bubble tea shop. Jiyoo was relieved, walking with her legs swinging out as she chatted with Jungkook about the things she did in school today. How easy her statistics class was to finding out that her “chicken legs” weren’t so scrawny after all.

They’d received their results from the monthly fitness test back, results showing that Jiyoo and Jungkook need more potassium in their diets. A recommendation for vegetables was listed down on their cards, but they’d ignored that, only looking at their progress from the previous month. Jiyoo’s progress levels showed minimal change, while Jungkook’s levels increased yet again. It was strange because his card always said that he had a lack of protein in his diet as well, but he always ate twice as much as what Jiyoo ate. Sometimes he would even steal some of her food too.

While Jiyoo blabbered on about how unfair it was that the Alphas were never treated unfairly for their monthly tests, Jungkook just walked beside her in silence. He would listen to her and nod his head every once in a while, patting her on the head to calm her down if she ever got too upset about their school system.

“It’s alright Jiyoo,” Jungkook says, giving her a small smile. Jiyoo looked up at him, expecting for him to console her about the school system, but instead was poked in the cheek. “You’re too young to be considered a possible mate anyways.”

Jungkook lets out a loud cackle before running ahead of Jiyoo, this time not holding her hand as he left without her. Jiyoo wasn’t too far behind though, catching up to Jungkook quickly enough to smack him on the arm. She was a little sensitive about being the youngest among the first years. Jungkook was born on September 1st while Jiyoo was born on December 5th, making her only three months younger than Jungkook, but extremely behind on the growth curve.

She was smaller than many of the girls in their grade, she’ll admit that. What she didn’t like to admit was that she hadn’t hit puberty like the other girls had though.

Which meant Jiyoo hadn’t gotten her period yet.

Only Jungkook knew about her problem, with the exception of his dad since Jiyoo was close to their family. A girl getting her period was a sign that she was ready to be mated to whomever she’d chosen/been chose by to be her mate. Her problem was that she hadn’t even gotten to that stage yet. To top it off, she was an Omega, making it more than likely that an Alpha was going to come along and claim her as their mate if she wasn’t careful.

Luckily she had Jungkook by her side to ward off those kinds of people. Whenever a boy would ask Jiyoo to be her mate, Jungkook would come in and save her somehow, making up an excuse or being rude if the person was an Omega like them. It usually kept most boys away, though Yugyeom was an exception since he continuously tried being friends with Jiyoo despite Jungkook’s terrible attitude towards the latter.

She was grateful for Jungkook so she wouldn’t be put in any more uncomfortable situations than needed, though she still felt bad whenever it got bad to the point where Jungkook needed to be involved. For the other people anyways.

“At least I’m nice to people! You’re always mean to them.” Jiyoo pouts. Jungkook was holding on to his dad’s bubble tea so she was free to cross her arms and sulk all she wanted.

“I don’t care about other people, so it’s not my problem.” Jungkook laughed a little, completely aware of his behavior.

By now, the two of them had arrived at Jungkook’s house. They passed through the front door and began taking off their shoes, only to be stopped by more shoes than they could remember filling up their usual spots.

“Jesus Jungkook- I thought you said that you were done buying shoes for this month?” Jiyoo grimaces, sitting down on the little chair next to the shoe cupboard as she carefully began to unlace her own shoes.

Jungkook rolls his eyes, but doesn’t comment about the shoes on the floor. “My shoes are better than your pair of shoes any day.” He emphasizes ‘pair’ of shoes, motioning to her only pair of shoes that she wore everyday.

Jiyoo liked her shoes and didn’t understand why Jungkook was so against them. They were just shoes, and yet he treated her shoes as if they were some kind of deadly disease, teasing her about her ‘out of date converse’.

“You could’ve gotten any color, but you got the tackiest one.” Jungkook sighs.

“You used to have red converse too!” Jiyoo argues, though Jungkook shakes his head.

“Used to. I outgrew them years ago.” Jungkook fires back, “And you should’ve too by now, but I don’t know why you’re not growing.”

Jiyoo finally unlaced her shoes and walks off into a deeper part of the house, a bit salty that Jungkook referenced her size yet again today. Jungkook noticed the small glower on Jiyoo’s face and poked her arm teasingly. When she didn’t turn to look at him, Jungkook had to take more drastic measures:

Aegyo.

“Forgive me Jiyoo~” Jungkook whines, wrapping his arms around Jiyoo’s waist as he nuzzles his cheek into the crown of her head. “You know I didn’t mean it, right?”

Of course Jiyoo knows, but she was still mad. She turns around to look at Jungkook before scrunching up her nose and spinning on her heel, walking into the living room while Jungkook followed her like a puppy.

“Uncle! Jungkook keeps teasing me!” Jiyoo hollers, her loud voice making Jungkook’s eyes grow wide. He didn’t like getting chewed out by his dad, especially when he was warned not to tease Jiyoo about something she couldn’t control.

Instead of getting yelled at though, Jiyoo and Jungkook were stopped in the hallway to find not only Jungkook’s dad sitting on the couch, but six other males as well. Neither Jiyoo nor Jungkook knew them, causing them to take a step back to assess the situation in their usual fashion:

Jungkook took a step forward while giving Jiyoo a gentle push behind him. They both moved in sync, eyes ignoring the visitors and instead staring at Jungkook’s dad for some answers.

“Jiyoo,” Jungkook’s dad began, his voice sounding more serious than usual. “I thought I told you that today wasn’t a good day to come over?”

Jiyoo grew more confused and looked at the man, confused and wary because she had no idea what he was talking about. Looking visibly distressed, Jungkook’s dad knew that it wasn’t her fault for not knowing- but his son’s.

“Who are they?” Jungkook asks, finally breaking eye contact with his dad to look at the others in the room. He places the taro bubble tea down on a nearby table and leaves his arm tensed at his side. “And why are they here?”

They seemed around the same age as him, probably older with the way that they were all sitting. All six boys were oozing with Alpha pheromones, which is why he had Jiyoo take a step behind him. Pheromones never came out naturally for Alphas; They were consciously sent out into the air by the Alpha or Beta based on their emotional changes.

This meant that the boys sitting in Jungkook’s living room wanted it to be known that they were Alphas.

It was possible for Omegas to have their pheromones to be sent out involuntarily, but this only happened under constant pressure of pheromones from a higher ranking compared to their own. Hence why Jungkook needed answers quick before Jiyoo was affected too quickly.

“Sorry to interject here, but I don’t think you want us to be talking about this while you’re little girlfriend is here.” One of the men had said, standing up and causing Jungkook stiffen up. He grabbed Jiyoo’s wrist and took a step back, not wanting her near this man. The one that was speaking had the strongest pheromones, being the biggest threat to him and Jiyoo at the moment. “I’m Kim Namjoon, the leader. Nice to meet you.”

Jungkook says nothing, only looking at Namjoon’s outstretched had suspiciously as his hand goes to hold Jiyoo’s wrist instead. He can feel Jiyoo trembling ever so slightly, but says nothing as he saw her putting up a brave front.

Namjoon watches their interaction and sighs, motioning for the others to stand. “I’ll just introduce the others. This is Seokjin, or Jin.”

He motions to the man sitting the closest to Jungkook’s dad, his face rather stoic as he gives a curt bow of his head. Namjoon allows him to sit and moves on to the next person.

“This is Yoongi-”

“Suga.” The man says, his eyes not wavering from Jungkook. “My name is Suga.”

Jungkook feels the need to run, but at the same time can’t feel himself moving in the slightest. Jiyoo had brought her other hand up to squeeze Jungkook’s hand a bit before he could give a reaction. The urge to bow was eminent, but Jungkook remained still.

“Next is Hoseok.” Namjoon says, and Jiyoo can see the slightly irritated expression on his face. It was pretty obvious that Suga’s name wasn’t what he claimed it to be, but she wasn’t about to accuse the man of lying.

The one named Suga was terrifying, especially when his eyes would wander from Jungkook over to her. It was as if he were trying to peer into her very soul and she disliked the feeling a lot.

Hoseok on the other hand was the complete opposite. As soon as he was introduced, he'd stood up and walked over to Jungkook and held out his hand for a handshake.

“Nice to meet you,” Hoseok grinned, which threw Jungkook off guard. He didn't seem too threatening, and Jungkook slowly brought his other hand up to return Hoseok’s handshake.

While shaking his hand, Hoseok’s eyes glanced behind Jungkook to look at Jiyoo and smiled. “And nice to meet you too, little cutie.”

Jiyoo felt her face heat up as she buried herself into Jungkook’s back, hiding from the flirtatious person in front of her. Seeing that Hoseok was trying to get friendly with Jiyoo, Jungkook immediately stepped in and was back in defense mode. He didn't want to be friendly with someone that made Jiyoo uncomfortable.

Namjoon felt the need to introduce the next person before Jungkook decided to throw a punch. “And this is Jimin.”

“Hello,” Jimin says, “It's nice to finally meet you Jungkook. You too Jiyoo.”

Both Jungkook and Jiyoo were taken aback yet again by Jimin’s soft introduction. It was still a better change compared to the ones introduced before them though. Jungkook gave Jimin a curt nod and Jiyoo timidly raised her hand to wave before bringing it back down to her side.

“And lastly, is Taehyung.”

Namjoon used his hand to gesture towards the last person to be introduced. Taehyung didn't say anything to Jungkook, but rather just stared intensely- at Jiyoo. It was if he was in some sort of trance, not making any sounds until Suga had slapped him to get him to stop staring.

Now that they were all introduced, Jiyoo and Jungkook were back to square one: Figuring out why they needed to be introduced to the guests.

“I think you should go home Jiyoo.” Jungkook’s dad said again, only this time ignoring his son and looking directly at Jiyoo.

Jiyoo nods her head and turns around to leave, but was stopped by Jungkook. He hadn’t let go of her wrist.

“She can stay in my room until we’re done talking.” Jungkook says, squeezing Jiyoo’s wrist as if to coerce her into disobeying his dad’s words. “It won’t take too long, right?”

“I was going to have them stay for dinner too Jungkook.”

The more Jungkook’s dad tried to tell Jungkook that it would be better for Jiyoo to leave, the more Jungkook began to talk back. They normally almost never argued, only having to raise their voices when it pertained to a certain Omega friend of Jungkook’s.

Helpful reminder, that Jiyoo is Jungkook’s only friend.

“Jungkook, it’s okay.” Jiyoo whispers, tugging her wrist away from him to no avail. “I don’t want to get in the way.”

“You’re not in the way Jiyoo.” Jungkook almost hisses. He looks at the other men sitting in the living room, “If anything, it’s these guys that are being a nuisance.”

“If you just listened to your father before, then none of us would be here either.”

Jiyoo was surprised that such a voice would come from Seokjin. Maybe it’s just because he didn’t talk earlier, but his voice sounded very prideful, as if his presence being there was a gift to everyone.

To Jungkook and Jiyoo, this gift was more of a nightmare.

“This meeting is for Alphas only. Having Omegas here will only be a nuisance.” Suga jeers, looking at Jiyoo in particular as she cowered behind Jungkook’s tall frame.

“But Jungkook and I aren’t Alphas?” Jiyoo thought to herself, her eyes scrunching up as she got more confused about the situation. She looked up at Jungkook for some sort of answer, but the expression on his face was an expression of absolute panic.

“Are you ing kidding me?”

Jiyoo and Jungkook look toward the sound of the cursing. They watch as Suga stands up and it’s as if the air in the room froze over. You could tell that Suga’s pheromones were practically shooting out from him now. Even the leader couldn’t stop whatever he was about to do, only watching from the side as Jungkook prepared for the worst. He stood up straight to shield Jiyoo with his own body in case something went wrong, pushing her farther back as his grip on her wrist tightened a bit.

Suga on the other hand didn’t move from his spot. His initial choice to stand was just to frighten the two, taking pride in the way that Jungkook was feeling threatened despite how Suga himself wasn’t much different from the boy. “You didn’t tell your little girlfriend about your ranking did you?”

Jungkook grits his teeth, “Don’t say it.”

He squeezed Jiyoo’s wrist to the point where it hurt her, making her flinch and try to claw her way out from Jungkook’s strong grip.

“J-Jungkook, you’re hurting me.” She whimpered, soft voice not being heard by Jungkook. He was too distracted by Suga to listen to Jiyoo at this point.

Something changed in Suga. The small grin on his face got wider as he saw the little interaction between Jungkook and Jiyoo- The discord between the two made his blood boil. Before Jungkook could react, he found Suga almost face to face. Except it wasn’t with him, but with Jiyoo.

“Oh no,” Suga feigns innocently, “Jungkookie didn’t tell you?”

“Don’t tell her!” Jungkook roars.

Everything happened in a single moment. Suga had grabbed Jungkook’s hand, almost crushing his wrist. Instead of breaking bones, Jungkook let out a scream of agony, releasing Jiyoo as he continued to groan in pain. Once Jiyoo and Jungkook were separated, Suga flung Jungkook to the side. His body slammed against the wall, leaving him momentarily disoriented and leaving Jiyoo wide open for Suga’s attack.

Jiyoo was scared, but hadn’t looked at Suga; She her eyes were on Jungkook. He looked like he was in a lot of pain, and she felt her heart drop after seeing him in such a state.

“You should worry about yourself love.” Suga whispers, his voice dropping to a deathly hiss. “After all-”

The room was quiet. Only Suga’s voice echoed off the walls.

“You’re the only Omega in a room full of Alphas.”

Jiyoo couldn’t process what Suga said though. Her eyes were still locked with Jungkook, watching as he stopped trying to stand up to come to her. It was if there were an invisible force pushing him down. He still looked her in the eyes, but instead of a pained expression-

He looked incredibly guilty.

“Yoongi, that’s enough.” Jungkook’s dad announces, “I think she gets it now.”

When Jiyoo turned to look at him, Jungkook’s dad wasn’t the least bit worried for his son. He looked more relieved if anything, sitting down on the sofa as he motioned for Suga to sit.

“B-But Jungkook and I- We’re Omegas!” Jiyoo tries to argue, “Even the school records say so. Jungkook told me he was an Omega when we first met.”

Jiyoo frantically looks for Jungkook on the floor, but instead feels a pair of arms circle around her, locking her body in place where she stood. She already knew it was Jungkook. There was no way that she could mistake that familiar warmth and smell coming from her best friend. She waited for him to say that Suga was lying, or that this was all some big joke, but it never came.

Jungkook’s silence meant that there was no joke.

“You lied to me.” Jiyoo’s voice is barely over a whisper now. “You told me you were an Omega Jungkook.”

The more time passed, the tighter Jungkook’s arms wrapped around her, as if to comfort her for something that he couldn’t control. Only this situation was easily avoidable.

Jiyoo just couldn’t get over the fact that Jungkook lied to her.

Launching her elbow backwards, Jiyoo hit Jungkook in the ribs, giving her enough time to momentarily free herself as she ran out to the back of the house. She’d passed through the sliding doors and ran into the backyard. There, sitting atop the large tree, was a treehouse- Their treehouse.

Jungkook’s dad built it for them a few years after they’d become friends, and they spent nearly all their free time up there. Once Jiyoo had climbed up the rope ladder, she’d let herself be momentarily lost in the nostalgia. It was just the way that they’d left it: A full sized bed placed in the corner with countless stacks of manhwa novels and snacks spread around it. There was empty bottles of water strewn about the floor with blankets that they used to use during the cold times of the year.

Jiyoo grabbed a blanket and tugged it over herself before collapsing onto the bed. Her body shook as she tried to keep her voice silent, only allowing the tears to drip into the pillow as the scent of Jungkook made her heart cry even more.

A/N: Ahhh my second chapter is uppppp. I also didn't realize that aff (for some reason) doesn't let me copy and paste my chapters without the italicization?? (Probably gonna go back and fix it later zzz)

Update: I did it and it was a HASSLE but I'm content with it ahaaa

It's really important cause it just puts that UMPH on the words yenno what I mean?? 

Comment below what you think is going to happen next! And hope you liked the chapter!!