Chapter Text
Jihyo barely had time to pull open the door, catching a glimpse of Taehyung bouncing restlessly next to his mother, before the little omega was zipping past her into the house with a shouted “hi, auntie Jihyo!”
“That boy,” Taehyung’s mother huffed as she stared after him with the partly fond, partly baffled expression she always seemed to wear when it came to her oldest son. “He’s been acting like a crazy monkey for the past two weeks. Five days ago he actually started bargaining with me. He promised to never complain about having to eat all his vegetables if I just let him visit Jungkook. He even said he’d stop pestering me about getting him a puppy. I was a second away from saying yes, just stop him from looking at me like I was a monster for keeping him away from Jungkook.”
The female alpha knew just too well what Taehyung’s mother must have had gone through. Her son had been a tiny bundle of misery as well and Jihyo knew for a fact that the absence of Taehyung at his side had had a lot more to do with it than his severe cold and tonsillitis. Not a day had gone by without her little pup pleading her to let his best friend come over, eyes watery and swollen, but the risk of Taehyung getting sick as well had simply been too high. Telling her baby no and watching the heart-break flash across his still slightly chubby face over and over again had been almost unbearable.
“I thought this damn cold was never going to go away. It honestly felt like two months instead of weeks.”
“Thank God that is over now.” They exchanged a quick glance of shared understanding and suffering, before Taehyung’s mother stepped down from her porch with a relieved sigh. ”I better get back home and make sure my other two monkeys didn’t burn down the house while I was gone.”
“I’ll call you when Taehyung is ready to go home.”
“Talk to you in a week then,” was all Taehyung’s mother had to say to that, amusement evident on her face and pulling a startled laugh from Jihyo as she waved her goodbye.
Stepping back into the house and heading straight for the living room, where she’d left Jungkook in a nest of blankets on the couch, she entered the room just in time to hear her son let out his first, trembling wail. She recognized it as a sound of overwhelming relief, rather than pain or fear, but still the alpha and mother in her pushed her forward to make sure he was okay. By the time she stopped next to the couch, Taehyung was already looking up at her with big, spooked eyes, his small hand softly patting the top of her son’s head, and for a moment the tightness in her chest was almost too much to speak through.
“Is Kookie hurt?”
She watched the boy’s bottom lip tremble and felt her protective instincts kicking up with the urge to hug both of them close to her chest. Instead she kneeled down in front of the boys on the couch and pitched her voice in a way she knew would make the small omega and her son feel save and at ease – not that Taehyung had ever shown signs of being intimidated by her or her husband’s and son’s status as alphas.
“Don’t worry, Taehyung. Jungkook’s not hurt, he’s just relieved you’re finally here. That’s why he’s crying. He missed you a lot.”
That seemed to placate the omega at least a little bit, even though he seemed to consider the sight of his best friend's agitated tears a personal offense. Then Jungkook was suddenly moving, determinedly crawling into Taehyung’s lap, while his body was still shaken by hiccupping sniffles.
“They said- they said you weren’t allowed to c-come see m-me.” The utter misery in his voice would have probably sent Jihyo to her knees if she hadn’t already been there. “They said I-I’d make you- make you sick too.”
At this point Jungkook was just full-out sobbing into Taehyung’s bright orange shirt, small hands clutching the fabric like he was scared his best friend would have to leave again if he let go. And the look Taehyung sent her this time was baleful, full of innocent outrage and Jihyo really had to bite down on the inside of her cheek to keep the threatening smile in check. She was about 99% sure that any attempts of interfering or separating them would end with a tiny omega growling and snarling at her, so she quietly rose back to her feet and moved to the table where she had abandoned her book a few minutes ago at the ring of the doorbell.
“I’m here now, Kookie. I’m staying as long as you want.”
It was a hushed whisper, clearly meant for her son’s ears only.
“P-promise?”
“I swear it on my Game Boy. No one’s taking me away from you ever again.”
The fierce determination in Taehyung’s voice had Jihyo freezing in her seat, the omega’s tone plucking at something inside of her. He didn’t sound like a seven-year-old omega, didn’t sound like a child. Instead he sounded unflinching, almost ferally protective and one quick glance at the two kids on the couch revealed that his expression matched the tone of his voice. His brows were pulled together, his eyes almost glowing with determination and his lips pressed together into a straight line as he stared down at the top of her son’s head.
Jungkook had his face hidden against Taehyung’s shoulder, but he was ceaselessly nodding his head and squirming closer to his best friend, tension visibly draining out of his small body. Jihyo doubted he would let go anytime soon and satisfied she returned her attention to the book in front of her. It was only five minutes later that she felt the hair at the back of her neck rising in suspicion. It was completely silent in the room. No more sniffles, no more hushed whispers or any of the giggles that hard started up maybe ten seconds after the sniffling had subsided. Just silence.
Jihyo couldn’t even count the number of times she’d found Jungkook and his partner in crime neck-deep into trouble after they’d somehow managed to sneak away from her. Those two were more slippery than a pair of grease monkeys, so silence was never a good thing. That meant all her maternal instincts were blaring an alarm in the back of her mind – already preparing her for the impending hunt of a mischievous pair of pups – when she quickly raised her gaze from the pages of her book, only to realize her son and his best friend had fallen asleep on the couch.
Her baby was still holding on to Taehyung with all his might, tiny fists clutching his best friend’s t-shirt, while the omega had curled himself around Jungkook like he was trying to protect him from all the evils in the world. With his nose buried in Jungkook’s mop of fluffy hair – too long since her son had refused to let her cut it – and his short arms holding on tightly to the young alpha, he looked like he was planning to stay right there by his side forever.
And Jihyo didn’t know where the conviction came from, but a part of her simply knew that those two wouldn’t let go of each other.
Ever.