Jimin watched his members rough house backstage before they were scheduled to go onstage for their first rehearsal of the first performance of their comeback title song, “Save Me” on M Countdown. And he rolled his eyes.
With a group that had a majority of alphas, he was surprised they ever got any work done. They were all always so busy either having pissing contests amongst themselves – both figuratively and sometimes literally – or horsing around.
He rolled his eyes and started practicing his opening movements for the performance again. They were simple, but he wanted to make sure every line was perfect and every expression was emoted perfectly. Today, they wouldn't be singing live so he didn't have to do his vocal runs but he considered going into a corner to run them anyway just in case the sound system malfunctioned or something happened to the backing track. Stranger things had happened.
“Yah,” Min Yoongi, the second oldest and the one who barely let anything phase him called Jimin's attention to him. He was seated on a couch against the wall, already dressed in his performance clothes. “I think you have it down. Why don't you grab something to eat and go rest? Rest is just as important as practice, you know?”
Jimin sighed. Yoongi was a stereotypical beta. Neutral, uncaring, steadfast. Jimin liked his calm energy compared to the alphas in the group, but he couldn't relax like that. Especially not right before a performance. This was his life. Their popularity was rising, and he didn't want to risk being the one that ruined it all.
“I'm just going to go through it one more time,” he said, appeasing the older male.
He could hear the hustle and bustle of other groups moving outside their waiting room. Some were already seated out in the main auditorium, waiting to watch the performances before it was their own group's turn to perform.
Plug-in suppressors could be found in outlets all throughout the building. They would emit small bursts of air borne suppressants periodically that everyone would breathe in. They were necessary items since so many different groups came to the programming buildings and no one wanted to see the day when multiple hormonal alphas and omegas went into heat or rut in the same location. That would be disastrous.
They used to require alpha groups and omega groups to perform on different days so that there would be no risk at all, but companies backing popular omega groups had begun to put up a stink once they realized alpha groups were getting more time and higher quality support. So they had to figure out a way to appease both groups by just having them perform in the same space to make sure there was no special treatment.
And the separate performance days hadn't worked for the groups like BTS that held individuals of mixed statuses.
There was Kim Seokjin, a beta; Min Yoongi, a beta; Jung Hoseok, an alpha; Kim Namjoon, an alpha; Kim Taehyung, an alpha; and Jeon Jungkook, an alpha.
And then there was Park Jimin, unpresented.
And Jimin was pretty satisfied with that fact. He kind of hoped he would be an anomaly and never present. He had seen reports of some people who didn't seem to have a status. It was rare, but it happened. He hoped he was one of them.
He didn't envy the lack of control that the biological hormones of omegas and alphas exhibited, and he didn't want to deal with the assumptions people made about betas. That they were all asexual and uninteresting. Too many labels and stereotypes came along with the presentation of each status, and Jimin didn't want to deal with it. He'd rather just continue to be what he was now. Unpresented and undefined.
Someone came behind him and wrapped their arms around his middle, sniffing eagerly at his neck. Jimin didn't even have to look behind him to know who it was.
“What are you doing?” he asked Jungkook, the youngest member of their group. He had presented the year before, and Jimin wasn't surprised when he presented as an alpha. The youngest member had a shy nature around strangers, but he could be a cocky little shit when you got to know him.
A cute cocky little shit.
“Sniffing you,” Jungkook responded simply, not letting up on his nasal attack.
Jimin moved away because his nose tickled his skin. “I see that,” he said. “Why?”
“You smell good, hyung. You may be ready to present soon.”
Dread filled Jimin's stomach. He gently pushed Jungkook away. “Don't be ridiculous.”
“I'm serious,” Jungkook said, his wide eyes further portraying his sincerity. He smiled. “I bet you're gonna be a beta.”
Jimin wondered why Jungkook seemed to be anticipating the possibility of his presenting more than he was. He wondered if this was the reason that the younger had been sniffing around him for the past few months. Every time he turned around, the youngest member was always there, lingering in his vicinity. Sometimes literally sniffing him as he just had and asking him when he thought he was going to present. Jimin always responded that he didn't know and didn't care.
Jimin didn't mind the younger male hanging around him. In fact, he kind of liked it.
He had always found Jungkook to be a cute kid who he immediately wanted to pamper since he reminded him of his brother at home. And since he couldn't pamper his brother, he poured all of his love onto Jungkook.
He had recently begun to hold himself back from doing so, though. With each passing day, Jungkook began to grow more and more mature and become more and more of a man. And especially after presenting, Jungkook had an aura of confidence that both drew Jimin in and made him want to stay as far away from his bandmate as possible.
He didn't get a chance to ask why Jungkook thought he was going to present as a beta. They were called onstage by a staff member before that could happen.
The rehearsal went well. Jimin performed just as he practiced. And the only time he performed better was when they performed for the actual show a couple of hours later.
* * *
“Wait. I forgot my cell phone.”
Seokjin groaned.
“I swear you're becoming as absentminded as Namjoon,” Yoongi stated wearily.
“Hey!” Namjoon protested.
“I'll go with you!” Jungkook volunteered, running to Jimin's side.
“Me too,” Taehyung stated.
“Don't be ridiculous,” Jimin said to the two youngest members with a gentle smile. “It'll just take me a few seconds. Everyone go ahead. I'll be right there.”
Before anyone could complain or protest anymore, he ran back inside the studio building back to the dressing room. Crew members were already inside straightening up the room. He hurriedly passed them by and was happy to see his phone waiting where he left it, untouched. He grabbed it and rushed back out of the room.
He was on his way back out to the van when he heard muffled voices coming from one of the rooms he was passing. The distressed sound of a female voice made him pause.
“But I don't want to.”
“You have to,” a different voice responded. “You knew the rules when you signed the contract as an omega.”
Jimin couldn't quell his curiosity. He peeked into the room by way of the ajar door and saw one of the members of an omega group frowning with wide eyes as she pleaded with her manager. “You'll be meeting with the investor at nine,” the manager said, unaffected by her imploring look. “You should be happy you can do this for the group. I'll give you the pink pill when we get back to the van. Now stop wasting time and go.”
Jimin's eyes widened.
The pink pill was an over-the-counter medication that omegas used to induce their heat. It was usually used as a way for an omega to control when their heats came, but in this instance, the young singer didn't seem as if she was taking this completely by choice.
Jimin held his breath and hurriedly moved away from the door when he saw them moving inside. He hurried down the hallway and out to the van before anyone could step out and catch him eavesdropping.
As they traveled back to the dorm, Jimin stared out of the car window silently while the others shouted around him. He couldn't get his mind off of what he just witnessed. He wasn't sure exactly what it had been about, but he could somewhat guess and it didn't bode well for the omega idol.
He sighed and pushed his head against the glass of the window. The coolness of it grounded him for only a second.
This was exactly why he never wanted to present. As anything. But especially not as an omega.
The world wasn't kind to omegas.
* * *
And the world wasn't kind to Jimin.
He presented as an omega that very month.
When he woke up in the middle of the night and realized what was happening, he had immediately run to the bathroom and locked himself inside, refusing to come out until the group manager, Sejin, had called in medical staff to help relieve Jimin's heat. He had then been escorted back to his room, which Hoseok had kindly vacated, and had spent the next three days writhing and hating himself.
Taehyung had come in everyday to scent him as a slight form of comfort and Jimin was grateful but, for the most part, Jimin just allowed himself to suffer. He refused to pleasure himself or whine out for an alpha. He wouldn't give the sadistic Fates that satisfaction.
* * *
Jungkook watched Taehyung disappear into Jimin's room for a third time that day.
He held his fist tightly at his side, clenched against the will to burst into the room and fight Taehyung over the role of comforting Jimin. Because he knew that was an unreasonable desire. And a potentially embarrassing one.
What would Jimin think if he saw it? What would the others think?
Jungkook shook his head.
He was against it. He was against letting anyone know about his confusing feelings for his hyung. He didn't even know what they meant himself yet.
Jimin whimpered and Jungkook bit into his bottom lip harshly to try to keep still.
He was glad no one except Hoseok was currently at the dorm. Because him standing frozen outside of Jimin's doorway would definitely be hard to explain if anyone saw him. The energetic male was currently holed up in a room of the dorm Namjoon had sanctioned as his studio. Hoseok always used it when the leader of their team was out. He worked on his mixtape in there.
Namjoon and Yoongi had gone out to escape the pheromones permeating the house.
Jungkook knew he should leave as well, but he apparently liked torturing himself. Besides...what if Jimin needed him for anything?
When he heard rustling from inside the room as if someone was coming towards the door, he hurriedly rushed to the couch and jumped over the back to pretend that he was just lounging the whole time. When Taehyung walked out, Jungkook looked over to him. “Oh,” he said casually. “How is Jimin? Is he okay in there?”
“Yeah,” Taehyung replied. And Jungkook congratulated himself on a performance well done; Taehyung suspected nothing. “He's taking it like a champ.”
“If you need a break, I can take care of him for a while,” Jungkook suggested.
“Nah.” Taehyung shook his head. “My scent seems to work on him. It's calming him down. Besides, it's always better to just keep it to one scent. A bunch of alpha scents wafting around while he's in heat would only agitate him.”
Jungkook scowled. “Fine,” he said.
And that was that.
Taehyung took care of Jimin for the rest of his heat while Jungkook watched from the side.
* * *
When Jimin recovered from his heat, he went back to work as if nothing had changed. Because it hadn't. Except for the fact that his sense of smell had increased tenfold and he was sometimes distracted by all of the alpha scents that surrounded him. And the fact that his strength had increased as well, causing him to have to figure out his body all over again and practice how much power to put into a move or where his weight should be distributed. And something was happening with his voice as well; it seemed to be wanting to break into a higher pitch.
It felt like he was going through puberty all over again. And in a way, he was.
“Jimin?”
Jimin looked up from where he was lounging on the couch in the recording studio, waiting for his chance to record. They were already starting work on their next album while they promoted their current one. Work was never-ending, and Jimin wouldn't have it any other way.
He recognized the man addressing him as an intern that worked at the company. “Your manager is being switched out today. Your new manager will be coming to meet you in the lobby in just a few minutes.”
“What? Why?” Jimin asked. He liked his manager.
“He's an alpha. Now that you've presented as an omega, the company thinks it best if you're handled by someone less...impulsive. Too many incidents, you know?”
Jimin's lip curled in disgust. His manager was a nice man whom he trusted. The suggestion that he would try something against Jimin's will didn't sit well with Jimin. “I'm in a group with four alphas,” Jimin said, pointing out the hypocrisy of the situation.
The intern shrugged. “Take it up with the big man. I don't make the decisions. I just work here.”
Jimin sighed and looked around the room. Namjoon and Hoseok were in the room with him and kept quiet through the whole ordeal. An awkward silence fell around them. “Uhh...You can try to talk to PD-nim,” Namjoon suggested. “He may not make the change if you say something.”
“Forget it,” Jimin replied. “I'm sure they probably already have Ri Yoo hyung managing someone else.”
Jimin just accepted it. There was nothing he could do anyway.
* * *
When Jimin met his manager, he wasn't too disappointed. His name was Min Hyuk. It was a friend he had known from high school, one grade above him.
They went out to dinner to get reacquainted, sectioning themselves off in a well-to-do restaurant – Min Hyuk's pick. Jimin didn't mind since he wasn't paying.
“You're not trying to impress me, are you?” he asked, looking down on the well-plated entree that had been placed before him. “Because if you are...” He looked up and smirked at Min Hyuk. “It's working.” He dug in and began to eat. He would have to do some extra exercises tonight to burn off the calories he was currently intaking, but he decided to indulge to show respect to his friend who was taking him out.
Min Hyuk smiled. “So you're an omega...” Min Hyuk said.
Jimin frowned. So this was what he wanted to talk about. “Apparently,” Jimin said, his voice laced with bitterness.
“I'm sorry about your manager,” Min Hyuk continued. “None of us had much say in the matter.”
“It's okay,” Jimin said. “I don't blame you. Do you know who he's managing now?”
“He's going to be the group manager for the new boy group BigHit is training. Group managers get paid more than individual managers, so it's like a promotion. You don't have to worry.”
Jimin nodded. “I just wish the company would stop doing things without our consent, you know? I don't even know something's happening until it's already done. And now that I've presented as an omega, it's probably going to be worse. No one respects omegas.”
“That's not true! BTS is blowing up these days! You're starting to rival EXO. Once you have more success, you'll have more control. Trust me. Just keep going forward.”
Jimin's mind flashed back to the event he saw happening in the M Countdown dressing room with the young female omega. He swallowed. “Um...Min Hyuk.”
“Yes?”
“Is it true? The rumor about omegas in the industry?”
“What rumors?”
“That...you know...” He blushed. “That they sometimes have to use their bodies to climb up?”
A somber expression settled on Min Hyuk's face. “Unfortunately, it is,” he said. “It's sort of a well-known secret. No one can do anything about it because most of the people who take advantage of omegas and greedy entertainment companies like that are chaebols. The police won't even touch them. They're too powerful.”
Dread settled in Jimin's stomach. “And if the omegas refuse to be used?”
“I have yet to know of a group that succeeded despite being blacklisted in the industry,” Min Hyuk responded.
Jimin laid his fork against his plate, appetite lost.
Noticing his diminished mood, Min Hyuk straightened his spine. “Don't worry,” he said reassuringly. “You don't have to worry. As your manager, I promise I'll do everything I can to protect you. I'm sure BigHit will too. Just focus on performing like you always do. I'll worry about everything else.”
* * *
Jimin made it back to the dorms at a time when everyone else was asleep. Min Hyuk dropped him off after a couple rounds of drinks. Nothing too heavy because Jimin was conscious about the fact that he had to work the next day.
He started to make his way to the room he shared with Hoseok when he noticed faint noises coming from the living room couch. He looked over to see a faint light there as well. Upon further inspection, he realized everyone wasn't asleep.
Jungkook was lying on the couch, playing a game on his cell phone. His mouth hung open and his brow was furrowed in concentration.
Jimin smiled fondly and touched Jungkook's forehead to smooth the wrinkles there. “You're going to hurt your eyes playing in the dark,” he said.
Jungkook startled, taking notice of Jimin for the first time since he walked in. “Hyung!” he said, his voice holding a small tinge of excitement. He moved to sit up. “You're back.”
“Yeah, I'm back,” Jimin said, walking around to sit in the available space on the couch that was open due to Jungkook's adjustment. “What are you still doing up? We have dance practice tomorrow.”
Jungkook nodded in acknowledgment. “I couldn't sleep. How's the new manager?”
“He's fine,” Jimin said. “It's someone I knew from school.”
Jungkook nodded and they descended into a small silence. One in which Jimin wondered idly if the reason Jungkook had chosen to relieve his insomnia out in the living room was because he had been waiting for him to get back. He smiled when Jungkook finally stopped avoiding his eyes and matched his stare. “Go wash up,” he prompted, nudging his bare foot against Jungkook's leg.
“Okay, hyung,” Jungkook responded. But he didn't move. His nostrils flared, almost imperceptibly, but noticeable. Jimin hitched an eyebrow, curiosity projecting on his face.
“Your scent is different,” Jungkook finally said. “Sweeter.”
Jimin grimaced. 'Oh, right.' Just one more indication that he was a damned omega. He hated the reminder. If he could scrub his skin free of a scent, he would. But the only way to neutralize a scent was to take or wear suppressants and there were no suppressants that didn't cause harmful side effects in the long run. Even the ultra diluted air borne suppressants that were common in the programming buildings caused sickness if an alpha, beta, or omega was exposed to it for too long. He didn't want to risk it. But he was still researching the option whenever he could. Maybe there was something he had overlooked or something that was in the works of being developed.
Lost in his musings, Jimin missed the way Jungkook licked his lips. The way his chest rose and fell with deeper yet slightly shorter breaths. He only broke out of his thoughts when Jungkook spoke again. “Can I scent you?”
Jimin held back a groan. He really didn't want to be subjected to that. He didn't mind when he was unpresented but now he wanted to separate himself from everything that had to do with being an omega. That included scenting and being scented. He hadn't experienced it since Taehyung had helped him through his heat. And all he remembered from that time was hazy. All he knew was that he had found comfort in it. It had been a necessity then. This would just be gratuitous. His nose crinkled in disgust and a refusal was on the tip of his tongue. But Jungkook's imploring gaze was still on him. And he had always had a soft spot for Jungkook.
He thought of how Jungkook always sought comfort from the people he was close to when he felt anxious. When he presented, that comfort came in the form of taking in his hyungs' scents to help relax his mind and body. Maybe scenting Jimin would help him fall asleep. And he definitely needed to sleep. With their workload, they all did. He acquiesced, sighing through his nose. “Okay,” he said. “But just for a little while.”
Jungkook nodded eagerly and a part of Jimin was glad that he could make the baby alpha happy.
That happiness was soon taken over by displeasure again, though, when Jungkook leaned in to nose against his neck. Jimin pinched his lips in discomfort, hoping Jungkook would be quick about it.
Jungkook inhaled deeply. And he was intoxicated. Jimin's scent invaded his body and washed over him like a tidal wave. Rain and roses. That's what he smelled like. Jungkook took another deep breath, nuzzling deeper.
Jimin didn't realize that a low growl had started deep in his chest. His body stiffened and became defensive against the invasive scenting that was quickly becoming more and more aggressive. He clenched his hands into the fabric of the sofa to keep from pushing Jungkook away. 'Hurry,' he silently pleaded with Jungkook. 'Hurry.'
Jungkook noticed Jimin's discomfort, but he didn't know where it was coming from. He didn't realize that he was the cause of it. So he only scented harder. Trying to comfort Jimin the way Jimin was comforting him. His scent grew stronger in an attempt to mollify the omega beneath him.
Jimin noticed.
He scented the air before turning to nose slightly into Jungkook's hair. “Is that you?” he asked.
“Mm-hmm,” Jungkook responded, not bothering to come up for air. He breathed deeply and released a long vocal sigh. “Omega.” His whisper was long and drawn out, and it seemed to echo in Jimin's ears.
A flip switched. Jimin's muscles gradually began to go lax and a feeling of serenity washed over him to the point of uselessness. The arms that were holding him up as he discreetly leaned away from Jungkook's scenting slid away and his back touched the soft cushions of the couch. He felt as if he was floating on clouds.
'What's happening?' he wondered vaguely somewhere in the back of his mind.
Jimin had never done hard drugs before, but he was certain that this must be how it felt.
Jungkook's scent washed over him. Earth and the sea. Busan. It smelled like home. His body seemed to move on its own as he turned to nuzzle into Jungkook's hair, taking in more of the scent. Just like that, the actions that were so foreign and unwelcome to him suddenly became something that he was yearning for.
'No,' a voice in the back of his mind squeaked out. But it was faint. No match for the sensations he was suddenly bogged down by. The rush of calm. All of his muscles that were sore before from overworking were now completely pain-free. All of him was pain-free.
A part of him was scared. This was his worst fear. Exactly what he didn't want. He was being overtaken by his instincts just like any other animal.
But a larger part of him reveled in the scent that had been muted until now, layered underneath all of the other alphas of the house. This scent was Jungkook. Pure, unadulterated Jungkook. His maknae. His... “Alpha...” he breathed, and he was embarrassed by how much it resembled a moan.
'No!' His drowning mind screamed. 'No!'
A possessive growl rumbled up from Jungkook's throat and Jimin's own soft growls had turned into purrs.
Jimin grasped Jungkook's shirt, wanting everything to stop. But he felt like he was far away, somewhere buried in his own mind. Everything was happening as if he were in a nightmare in which he was only able to observe and not participate.
The two were wrapped around each other on the couch. Their limbs tangled and their panting breaths came out in sync.
Jungkook mistook Jimin's grasping hands as encouragements to continue. So he did. Eagerly. His lips brushed against the sensitive skin of Jimin's neck and he was overcome with the urge to taste. A hungry growl grew in Jungkook's chest before he gave in and did what his instincts demanded. He bit. A soft pinch of teeth upon Jimin's skin, nothing too hard or serious. Nothing that would break skin or would leave a permanent mark. Just enough for a taste.
But it was enough to snap Jimin out of whatever trance he was in.
His eyes snapped open and he pushed Jungkook away with a feral growl. “Jungkook!” he scolded warningly.
Jungkook stared back at Jimin with wide, innocent eyes projecting a whole lot of confusion and a little bit of hurt and fear. “Hyung?” he asked.
He thought everything was okay. He thought Jimin gave him permission for what was happening.
But now Jimin was looking at him with eyes full of rage and...hate?
Jungkook swallowed deeply. “I'm sorry,” he said quickly, unsure what he was apologizing for but wanting to say or do anything to escape from Jimin's hostile gaze.
Jimin didn't respond. He quickly stood up from the couch and hurried off to his room.
Jungkook closed his eyes tightly and ran his hand through his hair with frustration, cursing himself because he must have gone too far.
* * *
Jimin was lying in his bed, gripping his sheets. Hating himself and everything omega, alpha, and beta. He hated it all and he didn't want to be a part of it. Frustrated tears built up and rolled down his cheeks because just like with the rookie omega at the performance studio and his manager being fired, he couldn't do anything about any of it. He was simply helpless.
To Be Continued...
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