SPRING; March

Friday -- Afternoon

Jungkook’s body crumbled to the floor as a wave of pain rippled through his body. Jiyoo might have been small, but an elbow to the rib was always a painful feeling. The wind was knocked out of Jungkook and he fell to the floor, eyes tightly shut together as he groaned from the ache in his side. It was a struggle to get back onto his feet again and when he did, Jiyoo was gone.

“What a baby.” Suga grumbles. He already sat back down in his spot on the couch, pulling out his phone as if he hadn’t caused a gigantic problem between Jiyoo and Jungkook.

“She’s usually more level headed than this.” Jungkook’s father murmurs, “Jungkook can you just sit down now so we can-”

“Sit down?” Jungkook questions, his eyes burning with fury and desperation. “How can I just sit down when Jiyoo is sad?”

“She’ll get over it.” Seokjin says calmly. Though to Jungkook, his passive stance was nothing more than Seokjin not caring about Jiyoo at all.

“Yeah!” Hoseok says optimistically with a nervous grin, “She’ll just cry to her mom or something and that will be that. Girls do that, right?”

Instead of having everyone calm down, Hoseok’s words stirred everyone up even more. Jimin slaps Hoseok on the arm while Namjoon clears his throat, giving Hoseok the signal that he wasn’t supposed to say what he’d just said.

Before they’d even gotten the chance to meet Jungkook, the rest of the guys were informed by Jungkook’s father that his wife had passed away due to pheromone intoxication. This was an uncommon illness among Omegas that caused the body to deteriorate, only occurring when the presence of too many pheromones would forcefully spike and lower levels inside a person’s body. In Jungkook’s mom’s case, she was the mate of a group of Alphas, which further meant that she was under the presence of highly authoritative pheromones 24/7.

With the right amount of control, an Omega shouldn’t be affected too deeply. Jungkook’s mother was an unfortunate case because she was the type of person to always jump in and stop a fight, no matter what rank the two people were or how dangerous it was.

It was something that Jungkook’s father loved about her; Her courageousness made her more beautiful than she already was, but she paid the price for it with her life.

Jungkook was only 10 years old when it had happened, thus being the reason why he was used to going about his day without speaking much of his mother as much as he would for his father.

“O-Oh, I’m sorry…” Hoseok trails off, eyes on Jungkook as the latter’s eyes pierce through his facade.

Jungkook storms up to Hoseok and glares at him with hatred hotter than a thousand suns. Although Hoseok was an Alpha, he could feel Jungkook’s pheromones giving him a dizzy spell. Luckily he had Jimin to keep him steady as Jungkook forced his pheromones to make his presence known.

“Never talk about Jiyoo’s parents in front of me, and especially not in front of Jiyoo.” He warns angrily, his teeth bared as he pokes Hoseok in the chest.

Hoseok gives a slow nod, still phased that Jungkook actually threatened him. “I’m sorry.”

Out of the six new visitors, Hoseok was one that understood when he made mistakes, therefore being good when it came to empathy of others. Jungkook disregarded Hoseok’s comment about mothers to care for Jiyoo instead of his own traumatizing past. From that moment, Hoseok understood that Jungkook wasn’t a bad kid; He was just going through his rebellious phase, and had big heart when it came to people he cared about.

On the other hand, some of the others weren’t too happy. Seokjin was silently seething from his seat, unhappy with the way that Jungkook was treating Hoseok. Jungkook was the youngest for crying out loud, and nobody was telling him to tone it down, not even a little. He was going to say something himself if it weren’t for Namjoon giving him a look to calm himself. Namjoon wasn’t the eldest among their group either, but he was one of the more wiser members, hence why he was appointed leader among them all.

“JUNGKOOK!”

Jungkook would never mistake Jiyoo’s voice for another, and right now, he was desperate to find her and make sure she was safe.

His first instinct was to check his room, leaving the living room before bolting to his bedroom. When he discovered that it was empty, he checked the bathrooms, the kitchen and even did another run through of the living room before he had stopped. The fact that he hadn’t found her put him more on edge and on the verge of breaking down.

“Huh? Where’s Taehyung?” Jimin says curiously, looking around the living room and not finding him anywhere.

Jungkook felt his blood go cold. Not only was Jiyoo missing, but one of the unwanted guests were missing as well. Running to the last place he could think of, Jungkook darted out into the backyard before discovering something that made his heart drop.

Laying there in the grass was a black pair of Gucci shoes at the bottom of his and Jiyoo’s treehouse.

--

Jiyoo tried to sleep, but couldn’t get past the first step of calming herself down. The tears still leaked from her eyes, staining the pillows with fat droplets of salty tears as she tried her best to wipe them away. She kept her eyes closed because the pain residing in her heart was too great for her to pull herself together.

What she didn’t realize during her breakdown was that someone else had climbed up into the treehouse with her.

Feeling a dip in her mattress, Jiyoo expected to find Jungkook climbing into bed with her. She pushed her face forward into his own, but instead of smelling Jungkook, it was a foreign scent. Not only that, but Jiyoo’s forehead collided into something hard, causing her to hold her head as she sits up on the mattress.

Once the pain subsided, she was able to open her eyes and find one of the guys that were guests of Jungkook’s father, the one named Taehyung. He sat with his legs crossed, his knee being the hard thing that Jiyoo hit her head on. His eyes were rounded as he stared at her curiously, not saying a word and not moving either. When she’d realized that the person sitting in bed with her was indeed not Jungkook, and body’s reactions were mismatched. let out a quiet, almost inaudible gasp, but her body moved automatically, flinging itself off of the mattress and slamming onto the hardwood flooring.

Taehyung left her alone still, not looking her way despite how frantically she was trying to get away from him seconds earlier. Instead, he had his arms wrapped around the pillow she was laying on, rocking from side to side like a child. There was no smile on his face, just a look of curiosity as he kept his distance. He continued to do this for a while before his head had snapped up to stare at Jiyoo again. Only this time, he made his move.

He slowly crawls up to her at a quick pace before suddenly stopping a mere few inches away from Jiyoo’s face, the action making her a bit uncomfortable.

His eyes never left her face as if he were in some kind of trance; An endless stream of questions flew through her mind. Did she look funny? Or was he just trying to intimidate her? She’s never been this close to another man before. It was only Jungkook, and maybe Jungkook’s father with the occasion of getting piggy backs from him as a young child.

“C-Can I help you?” She manages to croak out, mentally face palming herself for sounding like a dying frog.

Nodding his head, Taehyung’s eyes trail down to look at Jiyoo’s arm. He grabs her wrist and pulls it forward from behind her back. It didn't feel like he was doing it too roughly, but Jiyoo felt like his fingers were digging into her skin. She drew her hand back quickly and looked down, finding a red mark around it.

It was where Jungkook had grabbed her earlier.

Feeling embarrassed, she drops her head. “S-Sorry…”

Taehyung shakes his head. “It’s not your fault Jungkook can’t control his own strength.” There’s more silence between the two, Jiyoo not knowing what to say while Taehyung just continued to stare. His eyes never leave hers, the action causing Jiyoo to reciprocate it herself.

Then he smiles. His eyes curve into crescents and he grins with his teeth showing, giving Jiyoo a happy expression. “You smell nice.”

To prove his words true, Taehyung leans forward to take a closer sniff. He was too hasty though, his nose bumping into her forehead. He pulls back quickly, rubbing the sore area as small apology left his lips and he continues to pout. Jiyoo sat frozen, confused by what Taehyung’s motive was. Didn’t he hate her like the others did?

With a small grin, he takes her hand, much more gingerly this time before pressing it to the crown of his head; if someone else was looking at the two, it almost looked as though Taehyung were making Jiyoo pat his head, as if he were a small puppy- though anyone could see he was anything but small.

Jiyoo’s hand felt like a baby’s compared to Taehyung’s hand, and she’s fully aware of it when Taehyung notices it too. He brings her hand down and places it on his cheek, nuzzling into her open palm a bit before she’d yanked her hand away.

The sad frown on his face made Jiyoo almost feel bad for him. She didn’t feel repulsed by his touch, but she just wasn’t used to the skinship. There was one thing she knew though, and that was that she just didn’t want to stay there alone with him any longer. Jiyoo stood to her feet and walked around Taehyung. She kept her eyes on him to make sure he wouldn’t do anything to surprise her even more than he already did.

This was mistake one. She wasn’t paying attention and put one foot out the door. Jiyoo felt her body drop, almost falling out of the treehouse completely if Taehyung hadn’t caught her.

Jiyoo fought the urge to scream. The place where Taehyung had caught her was the same spot on her wrist that Jungkook had hurt earlier. It felt like her wrist was on fire now and burned the more he held onto her, but he couldn’t let go unless he wanted her to plummet to the ground below.

Taehyung pulled her back up into the treehouse, his eyes growing wide in alarm as he saw the red ring around her wrist and the long cut along her arm. It wasn’t deep, but he could see tiny droplets of blood within the parts where her skin peeled from being scratched by the wood.

Before Taehyung could pull her out of harm’s way, Jiyoo managed to look down and found that the ladder leading up to the treehouse was missing. The nubs where the ropes connected to the floor of the treehouse were still there, but that was all. It was as if something had chopped it off completely, frayed ropes showing signs that something ripped the ladder off.

She turned around and found the missing ladder in Taehyung’s hands. He held it out to her in hopes that it was the thing she was looking for, all while giving her another one of his innocent smiles.

After putting two and two together, Jiyoo thought to herself that by no means was his smile innocent. Not only did Taehyung destroy her only way out, but she was stuck there with a stranger she just met. She knew that she wasn’t getting out of this alone, and called for the first person that came to mind whenever she was in trouble.

“JUNGKOOK!” She screamed, loud voice startling Taehyung who had never heard her voice at such a level before. He stopped for a moment, eyes wide as he looked at her astonishedly as she ignored him to look for Jungkook.

Jiyoo looked out the doorway and saw that Jungkook still wasn’t there. She was getting desperate now, especially after turning around and finding Taehyung just as worried behind her.

“You’re going to fall!” He panics, eyes locked on her legs that were getting too close to the edge of the treehouse.

Him worrying made her worry even more. She’d either have to let herself stay stuck in the treehouse with Taehyung, or she’d have to go out the doorway without a ladder.

The second option would probably kill her, too.

“JIYOO!”

“That voice...” Jiyoo spins around to find Jungkook standing at the bottom of the tree along with the others that were jogging out of the house. She didn’t pay attention to them though, eyes only on her best friend who was just as desperate as she was.

The wave of relief that washed over Jiyoo was strong, causing her eyes to water as she inched towards the door. “Jung-”

Her voice got stuck in as the wind almost got knocked out of her. Jiyoo felt a pair of strong arms almost crush her chest as she let out a small yelp.

Taehyung was holding her back, and it didn’t look like he wanted to let go anytime soon.

--

Jungkook’s relieved state was short lived. After seeing Jiyoo get pulled back into the treehouse out of his range of vision, he was back into a panicked mode again.

“Can’t you do something?” Jungkook almost pleads, looking at the friends of the person that was holding Jiyoo hostage. “Anything at all?”

“Aww it looks like Taehyung has a little crush!” Hoseok cheers, unaware of how dire the situation was after seeing his friend be so intimate with a girl.

Jungkook feels body heat up again, feeling his pheromones go into overdrive as he threw a punch at the base of the tree to relieve his built up stress. He watched as the branches of the tree shook, feelings somewhat satisfied at how his knuckles were burning after the hit. The action made him calm down a bit, so Jungkook decided that he was going to do it again. Winding up his arm, he gets ready to throw another punch, only to be stopped by Seokjin.

“Let go of me-”

“Knock it off!” Seokjin barks, finally raising his voice after feeling frustrated with Jungkook’s actions.

“Why should I?” Jungkook shoots back, his Alpha pheromones fighting against Seokjin’s own.

“Because you’re being a brat and you know it!” Seokjin roars. His fingers were gripping onto Jungkook’s arm and digging into the boy’s skin, but neither of them paid any mind to that.

Before Jungkook could retaliate back, Namjoon and Jimin stepped forward to intervene. Namjoon grabs Seokjin and hauls him back by force, leaving Jimin to deal with Jungkook. Jimin was one of the nicer ones, but the expression on his face was just as stern as Suga’s at this point.

“You might not care that you’re hurting yourself, but Jiyoo does.” Jimin scolds, his voice getting quiet towards the end of his sentence as he looks up at where Taehyung and Jiyoo were.

Jungkook didn’t realize that by hurting himself, he was hurting Jiyoo. His arm falls limp by his side as he stares up at the treehouse, longing to have Jiyoo back in his arms.

“P-Please let go of me-”

“Are you crazy?!”

She freezes in Taehyung’s arms. He’s never raised his voice at her and the action shocked her. “W-What?”

“You could’ve fallen! Again!” Taehyung groans, scolding her for being so careless.

Not only was Jiyoo confused that Taehyung was actually caring for her, but it almost sounded as though Taehyung was sulking. She wriggled around and even tried hitting Taehyung a few times, only being able to slap his leg before she’d gotten frustrated. She slammed her forearm on the ground and it made a loud *THUMP*. Her wrist was still red from almost falling out of the treehouse, possibly turning purple after she’d gone and hit it against the floor.

Taehyung grabbed her hand and held it tightly in his own, not to the point where she was being crushed, but firmly enough so that she was fully immobilized.

“Stop trying to hurt yourself.” Taehyung grumbles, the action making Jiyoo shrink. Seeing that he was scaring her, Taehyung just sighed. He loosens his grip on her, but doesn’t completely let her go free, afraid she’d try to jump out again. “Just wait here while they grab a ladder or something.”

She stayed silent for a few seconds, but immediately after that she was trying to wiggle out of Taehyung’s grasp again. There was someone waiting down there for her and liar or not, that boy was her best friend.

“There would still be a ladder if you hadn’t broken it.” Jiyoo mutters just as sourly.

Taehyung scoots backwards a bit, giving Jiyoo more space. He has a small flush on his cheeks as he hums. “Well.. I just thought you wouldn’t want to talk to Jungkook, so I tried pulling it into the treehouse and it kind of.. Broke…”

Now it was Jiyoo’s turn to be baffled. “And you’re getting mad at Jungkook for not controlling his own strength?”

It was strange how honest she could be with a boy she’d just met; he was taking her scolding pretty well despite being in the same situation. They can hear screams from down below, but it wasn’t loud enough for the two to understand what they were arguing about. Probably something about them, though they didn’t know that for sure.

Jiyoo musters up the courage to speak, “Taehyung ssi, I need to go.”

“Call me Taehyung.”

His deep voice almost made Jiyoo’s words get stuck in , but her resolution to get back to Jungkook was stronger than the fear she harbored for Taehyung.

“Taehyung, I need to go.” Jiyoo begs. She places a hand down on Taehyung’s knee, the soft gesture making Taehyung surprised. Jiyoo wasn’t being violent, nor trying to run away. She was very calm and mature.

Taehyung really didn’t want to let her go now, but after seeing the determined look on her face, he had no choice. He released his hold on her and she gave him a soft smile. Something inside of Taehyung felt weird, as if his entire stomach was doing flips and somersaults.

For the first time in his life, Kim Taehyung felt butterflies in his tummy.

“Jungkook!” Jiyoo yells, finding him down below.

“Jiyoo, be careful!” Jungkook screams back. He was relieved to see her face again, but the anxiety crawled under his skin after seeing Jiyoo so close to the edge.

Taking a step back, Jiyoo takes one last look at Taehyung. He looks as if he wants to say something, but all he does is give her a look to stay.

“Sorry Taehyung.” Jiyoo says softly, taking a step back before making her escape.

Jiyoo closes her eyes and takes a leap of faith before jumping out the door.

Taehyung didn’t realize she would try to escape so dangerously. He reaches forward and says Jiyoo’s name for the first time, the words rolling off his tongue as he screams for her to stop. She doesn’t though, for gravity pulls Jiyoo down, making Taehyung milliseconds too late.

Jungkook watched as Jiyoo took the jump too. He was frantic, sore, angry, and a whole lot of other emotions all at the same time, but the only that stood out was scared. All he could do was hold open his arms for Jiyoo to fall into them, unaware of how fast she was coming.

He just wanted her with him at all costs.

Everyone was silent, even after Jiyoo had touched down. Only the sound of Jiyoo’s sniffles could be heard in the air as she lay on top of Jungkook, who was fighting back tears as well.

“I’m sorry Jiyoo.” Jungkook lets out, his voice shaky as he worried about what she was going to say.

It’s Jiyoo’s turn to say nothing, but instead of pushing him away, she rested in his arms and snuggled up to his body. Jungkook understood and gave her a hug, the two of them just laying there.

Jiyoo had jumped down from the treehouse into Jungkook’s arms, but instead of feeling him under her body, she felt Jungkook’s chest and an extra two arms. Jiyoo pushed herself up and propped herself on top of Jungkook’s stomach, shaking off the adrenaline that pumped through her veins to try and see why there were two too many arms making contact with her.

One arm belonged to Jimin, who was already checking to make sure that she was okay. His eyes were wide and he frantically circled Jiyoo in order to make sure she had no injuries.

“Are you okay? Do you feel pain anywhere?” Jimin asked, his questions shooting off like a gattling gun. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

In an attempt to sit up, Jiyoo used her hand to boost herself back into a sitting position, but let out a small yelp. Her wrist was still red from Taehyung’s strong grip. Not only that, but only then did she realize that her arm was scratched.

“It must've been when I fell...” Jiyoo thought about how the wood must've cut her when Taehyung had pulled her back up. She was so busy being lost in thought that she hadn't heard Jimin practically screaming at her.

“You're not okay!” He roared, his angry voice snapping Jiyoo out of her daze. She cowered under his wake, looking down at the grass instead of at his face as he scolded her.

She didn't like how she was getting yelled at, and luckily Jungkook stepped in before Jimin had started yelling at her more. After Jimin had calmed down, she found a body under Jungkook’s, with an arm that rested on her leg belonging to the same person.

“Yoongi?” Jiyoo breathes out, taking a second to take in who had aided in saving her before letting out a small gasp. “S-Sorry! I mean Yoongi ssi- I mean-”

“Get the off me.”

Suga grips Jungkook’s shoulder and roughly throws the latter off his body. He was unaware of the domino effect waiting to happen, because as soon as Jungkook had been thrown off to the side, Jiyoo had followed. They both hit the grass and watched as Suga stood up and stalked back into the house without another word.

“Kim Taehyung!” Namjoon shouts, looking up at the treehouse. “I know you’re still up there.”

Jiyoo looks up and sees Taehyung’s head pop out into her line of sight. He looks like a little puppy, almost making the situation cute if he hadn’t followed what she’d done and jumped out the door and to ground level. He lands with ease, knees bending as he touches down like some sort of superhero. Taehyung was unscatched and didn’t look one bit guilty about what he’d done.

“And you said I shouldn’t hurt myself.” Jiyoo mutters, unaware that Taehyung could hear her.

When he’d turned to walk towards Jiyoo, Jungkook blocked his way. He wasn’t going to let Taehyung come any closer to Jiyoo, afraid that he’d try to do something to hurt her. Taehyung on the other hand wasn't staring at Jiyoo for once, but instead had his eyes locked on the scratch on her arm. Only now he looked guilty, but didn't say anything more with Jungkook blocking Jiyoo from his line of sight.

“Alright, alright.” Jungkook’s father claps, earning everyone’s attention. “Dinner is ready, so how about we all head inside?”

Everyone moved slowly, unsure of how this was going to work. Taehyung was under the watchful eye of Namjoon, while Jungkook didn’t let anyone get remotely close to Jiyoo.

Jungkook’s father was quick to patch up Jiyoo’s arm. After he was finished, you could only see the red lines around her wrist where Taehyung had grabbed her. Jungkook’s father put ointment on it, but said it would be better to let that one air out since it an underskin wound rather than a deep cut one.

When they’d began to file into the kitchen, Jiyoo saw Suga sitting down on the couch. He was winding his shoulder a bit as if to stretch it out before completely stopping what he was doing to turn around and look to see what all the noise was. After seeing everyone come in, he walked towards the kitchen and sat down, taking the farthest seat from where Jiyoo and Jungkook sat.

The more she thought about what had happened before she jumped, the more Jiyoo thought that it was weird. She could’ve sworn that before she closed her eyes, she saw Jimin near Jungkook with Suga the farthest away from where they both stood.

A/N: Chapter 3 is up a day early! Hope you guys liked it!

REWRITTEN FROM ORIGINAL <6/7/18>