Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first time Jeongguk lets out a despaired sounding sigh, Taehyung doesn't really pay mind to it.

Frustration is to be expected while doing homework. Neither of them want to be there doing it when they could be in the dorm yelling at each other over a game of Mario Kart. The study room is quiet aside from the repetition of Taehyung's pencil tapping the table, and eventually, another sigh from Jeongguk. 

This time, the sigh is louder and more drawn out.

Taehyung's eyes briefly flicker up to Jeongguk who still has his nose in his textbook and a pout on his lips. He looks back to his own notebook and continues writing down an outline for his philosophy essay. Something about the sovereign power of a state, nothing he’s interested enough in to write about it. Like Socrates said: The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing—or, at least something like that. 

Then it happens. Jeongguk, yet again, sighs in an extremely exaggerated manner, more dramatic than the past two times. Slamming his notebook shut, Taehyung pushes his study materials to the side and clasps his hands on the table. Jeongguk, still pouting, looks up from his textbook and reserves his most unbearingly adorable doe eyes for Taehyung.

Typically, Jeongguk only regards Taehyung with his puppy dog expression when he wants something. He uses it on Hoseok all the time so that the beta will give him a bite of his food, and on Yoongi for cuddles that, on any other occasion, he would be reluctant to provide, then on Seokjin to cook dinner for him when he doesn't feel like doing it himself. Taehyung is rarely ever the recipient of The Look, so it raises a slight concern when he is one all of a sudden.

Whatever Jeongguk's problem is, it seems to be bothering him more than a simple inconvenience so Taehyung guesses that the homework isn't the issue here. When the work is difficult, Jeongguk usually resorts to pulling up Quizlet for answers or perseveres to get it over with as soon as possible. He doesn't sit around and make a scene out of his sulking, unless sophomore year is getting to him that much.

With eyebrows raised in question, Taehyung opens up his clasped hands and gestures towards Jeongguk to tell him what's up. Ever the stubborn one that Jeongguk is, forgoes answering to huff another sigh and slouch his shoulders in pathetic defeat. Taehyung crosses his arms as he leans back in his chair and waits for Jeongguk to crack open his box of secrets.

Until he does, they'll never get anything productive done, and Taehyung needs to hand this paper in by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. It was due a week ago, he used his last extension request on it. 

They stay the way they are for a few minutes, only shifting in their seats every now and then. A laugh restricts itself in Taehyung's chest when he catches Jeongguk scrunching up his nose to hold back a sneeze. Noticing Taehyung's body jolt with the concealed laughter, Jeongguk's bottom lip only juts out further.

Because Jeongguk is taking his precious time, Taehyung slides the notebook and pencil back over and goes to continue his homework. As soon as he scribbles another bullet point down, Jeongguk whines and bangs his forehead against the table. In the corner of his eye, Taehyung catches Jeongguk poking his head up to see if he's paying any attention before he brings a second round of assault to his forehead.

"Hyung."

Ah, there it is.

Setting the pencil down, Taehyung smirks at Jeongguk with one eyebrow raised. "Are you done sulking now?"

"Depends on if you're gonna pay attention to me or not," Jeongguk mumbles, propping an elbow on the table and squishing his cheek against his fist. 

“I always pay attention to you, what’re you on about?” Taehyung snickers, because he is, indeed, on alert for his best friend whenever need be, and Jeongguk is fully aware of it—which is admittedly all his fault.

He remembers when he and Jeongguk were first getting to know each other. They met at a party hosted by one of Jimin’s dance friends where the drinks were wild and some scents were mixing with others. Yet, Jeongguk’s jasmine scent stood out to Taehyung in particular. 

Jasmine is a hard to come by scent, even more so on alphas. That was only one of many things that made Jeongguk unique, as Taehyung would come to find out the better of friends they became. 

At first, Jeongguk gave off the impression of a rather impassive alpha, straight-faced and quiet, only speak when spoken to. It wasn’t until he broke through Jeongguk’s resigned exterior that he realized Jeongguk was merely shy and scared of driving others away. Which, if anything, should have been Taehyung’s fear; after all, he has a habit of coming off quite strongly. 

They’ve come a long way since then, being roommates and all now. Taehyung initially didn’t know what to expect with two alphas living together, but it’s been an experience the two have worked out the methods and arrangements of with each other. When one goes into a rut, the other crashes at Yoongi’s or Seokjin’s. Simple as that.

It’s a nice system they’ve got going. A pleasant one that’s worked for two years going strong. Nothing, absolutely nothing, could ruin it at this point. 

However, it also means that another chore tacked onto Taehyung’s daily to do list is putting up with the brat that is Jeon Jeongguk. 

With the way Jeongguk keeps sighing, Taehyung wonders just how much oxygen is left in his lungs. It’s actually quite endearing, how Jeongguk puffs his cheeks out and releases each breath with pouted lips. He just wants to reach out and pinch them.

“I just—It’s stupid, but I need your help with something.” 

This pique’s Taehyung’s interest even more. His teasing nature softens into something sweet. A kind smile and a reassuring gaze. Jeongguk always gets worked up over such trivial things, but Taehyung understands that it simply cannot be helped for over thinkers such as Jeongguk himself. 

“If it’s bothering you so much, it’s not stupid,” Taehyung murmurs, nudging Jeongguk’s foot with his own to coax a smile from the younger. 

Gently, Jeongguk nudges Taehyung’s foot in retaliation, and a brief game of footsy takes place before Jeongguk speaks. “Well, do you remember Wonwoo from chemistry?” 

“The same Wonwoo who is almost taller than the school’s entire student body? Campus deemed superb alpha?” Taehyung asks, Jeongguk nods. “Then yes, I am well acquainted with the existence of Wonwoo from chemistry. What about him?”

If not for the fact that Wonwoo is in the class, Taehyung knows more than well that Jeongguk would have dropped chemistry class a long time ago. Not that Taehyung blames him, or any of the other people who look at him in awe with heart eyes. He would be lying if he said Wonwoo wasn’t attractive—but he isn’t Taehyung’s type. 

Looking at Jeongguk, Taehyung wonders if Jeongguk considers Wonwoo as his type. They haven’t really discussed what their types are, exactly, have just given a few hints here and there in passing. 

For a fact, Taehyung knows that Jeongguk likes guys who are slightly taller than him, aren’t overly muscular but could still pick him up, and, well, nice hands . He isn’t quite sure what factors there are to take into consideration for classifying nice hands, but Jeongguk must have an idea of it.

That’s another thing: Jeongguk is an alpha, quite the large and muscular one at that, but there’s been a time or two when he’s drunkenly expressed his desire to be thrown around like a rag doll (his exact words) by anyone who’d be willing to overlook the fact that he’s an alpha who likes things most alphas tend to be turned off by. He probably doesn’t remember saying these things to Taehyung, but Taehyung certainly hasn’t forgotten. 

Jeongguk tries blowing a strand of blonde hair out of his eyes, then huffs when it descends back into his vision, and instead opts to tuck it behind his ear. His sleeve falls from his fingers to his wrist as he does so, the sweatshirt he wears being much too big for his frame. 

“He personally invited me to one of his parties today,” Jeongguk says. “And I said yes.”

Taehyung’s eyes widen. “Oh.”

“Yes, oh ,” Jeongguk rests his chin in both of his opened palms, squishing his cheeks further up. “I didn’t even think he knew I existed, but evidently I was wrong.”

“And you need my help, why?” Taehyung inquires. He doesn’t see where his assistance fits into the equation of his best friend going to his first big party. Wonwoo isn’t known for skimping. 

There’s a wave of conflict in Jeongguk’s eyes that Taehyung takes notice of. It happens each time Jeongguk is in a predicament where he doesn’t know what to do, which isn’t all that often, but that may be why knocks him off kilter with such staggering force. 

Reaching forward, Taehyung uses the pad of his thumb to smooth out the furrow of Jeongguk’s eyebrows. He slides his thumb down the slope of Jeongguk’s nose where he taps the tip of it with his index finger. Stress isn’t a good look on anyone, but it’s particularly devastating on Jeongguk.

Sheepishly, Jeongguk smiles and the dimples at the corners of his mouth deepen in the most endearing way possible. He claps his shoes on either side of Taehyung’s left foot. Nervous habit. “I need your help picking out what to wear…and I was hoping you’d come with me.”

“Did Wonwoo say you could bring a guest?” Taehyung asks.

He’s never been to one of Wonwoo’s parties. It’s invitation based even though the guy’s family mansion could probably house half of the student body, a way of making sure the only people there are the people who Wonwoo and his group of friends approve of. Back in his sophomore year, he received an invitation—the year he actually started trying to make himself look presentable to the public—but he skipped out on it to watch the new Spider-Man movie. Needless to say, he hasn’t been invited since then.

Not that he cares, really. It’s fucking college and there are still people who believe in cliques. Another reason why Wonwoo isn’t Taehyung’s type.

“Well, no, but I want you there, and if you aren’t there, then I don’t wanna go,” Jeongguk replies, bringing his hands close to one of Taehyung’s laying flat on the table to play with his fingers.

The thing with Taehyung and Jeongguk is that, more than not, they are a two in one package deal. Where one goes, the other follows. Jeongguk truly is his lost puppy. If Taehyung’s being honest, he loves having the little one trail after him wherever they go.

“You’ve been wanting to go to one of his parties for forever now.” Taehyung tilts his head to the side and stares at Jeongguk, tries to look inside that whirlpool mind of his, make out what he must be thinking in there. “Don’t jeopardize your chance just because of me.”

Also hinted as: Don’t ruin your chances with Wonwoo just because of me.

“Then come with me!” Jeongguk practically begs, and Taehyung ignores the satisfied sensation that curls up in his stomach. “If Wonwoo gets pissy about it, then we’ll leave without looking back.”

“Has anyone ever mentioned how persistent you can be when you want to get your way?” Taehyung questions with the slight of a smirk.

Jeongguk grins, although the pull on his lip between his teeth and the eye roll he gives shows that it's a grin he meant to conceal but failed at doing so. He holds Taehyung’s hand up and flicks at his middle finger, giggling when Taehyung winces and flips Jeongguk off with the same finger. Taehyung ends up laughing too. It’s hard not too when Jeongguk has such a contagious laugh, high-pitched and rattling his entire body with the force of it.

“You’ll come then?” Jeongguk asks once they’ve both calmed down, looking at Taehyung expectantly.

“I guess so,” Taehyung sighs as if accompanying Jeongguk will be a chore—it won’t. He would go anywhere with and for Jeongguk. Wouldn’t be able to stand the thought of leaving him alone to face the world on his own, even if the world is just Wonwoo’s fancy mansion and the people in it.

As an alpha, Taehyung naturally feels protective over what’s his, but usually that doesn’t extend to alphas who are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves too. With Jeongguk it’s different though.

Maybe it’s the fact that Jeongguk has indicated that he’s someone who likes being taken care of, doted on as the youngest in their friend group. So, in response, Taehyung’s alpha nature has no qualms with looking after the other alpha. There’s no competition even if the two of them are extremely competitive in every other aspect of their lives.

“And you’ll help me pick out what to wear?” Jeongguk adds, tapping his shoes against the floor the same way he does whenever he gets excited.

“You say that as if you actually need my assistance in looking good,” Taehyung snorts, taking payback in the form of gently flicking Jeongguk’s forehead. “Just wear something you usually would.”

But he knows that on the day of the party, he’ll be found in Jeongguk’s room helping him wear something that’ll leave everyone’s jaws anchored to the floor. It’s unintentional, but Jeongguk treats everywhere he goes like a runway, having perfected the model strut down to a T. He doesn’t need Taehyung’s help, something they’re both aware of, but the fact that Jeongguk still asks for it makes him undeniably content.

It’s just an alpha thing, Taehyung’s always told himself, the desire to be depended on. Although, Jeongguk’s dependency is the only one that’s ever made him feel that way.

“Tae,” Jeongguk whines, pouting again and rendering all of Taehyung’s defenses useless.

Lifting his hands in surrender, Taehyung gives in. “Okay, okay, I’ll help. Put your lip back in, pup, sulking isn’t a good look on you.” False, it’s adorable.

Jeongguk’s mood switches instantly, his body doing a happy little wiggle at his success. And, for the cherry on top, an evil laugh which really just sounds like ‘ke ke ke’. He’s a brat, but only in the best way possible.

“Play time’s over, it’s time to focus now,” Taehyung fusses, bringing his notebook back around and tapping his pen against the top of Jeongguk’s forgotten textbook. “Gotta make Thomas Hobbes-sunbaenim proud.”

“Lame.” Jeongguk pokes his tongue out, but does as he’s told.

—

In the midst of a pool of clothes, Taehyung lies back on Jeongguk’s bed, knees bent over the edge, slippers against the floor. He stares up at the ceiling and plays toss and catch with a folded pair of socks that somehow made their way into the mess.

A room away is where Jeongguk is, using Taehyung’s room to change into outfit number six. All of the ones he’s thrown on have looked good, Taehyung has reassured Jeongguk as much, but none of them have been enough to please him. Of course, Jeongguk has always been his worst critic.

When lying around gets too boring, he stands up and begins putting away the clothes messily discarded along the floor and bed. His back is turned to the entrance as he’s hanging up a thin, floral shirt in the closet, and his humming leaves him unaware to the footsteps nearing the doorway.

“What do you think?”

Turning around, Taehyung snorts, “It’s about time— oh.” He pauses to look Jeongguk’s frame up and down.

Jeongguk is clad in his tightest pair of jeans, black denim that’s ripped to shreds in the front, and Taehyung distinctly remembers this same pair having a rip under the swell of his ass, too. In addition to that, a deep green, silk button up that Taehyung can make out the hardness of his nipples through tucked into his jeans. The outfit is topped off with a black pair of boots, the overall visual having Taehyung swallowing thickly.

It’s mismatched with Jeongguk’s shy stance, the tips of his boots pointed inwards and hands clasped by his front. Probably anxious he doesn’t look good due to the amount of time it’s taking Taehyung to formulate a verbal response.

Plenty a time Taehyung has seen Jeongguk dress to impress, and every time he’s accomplished his goal, at least in Taehyung’s books. This time is no exception, almost stealing Taehyung’s breath away more than a blow to the chest.

He and Jeongguk aren’t involved romantically, have never really done anything along the lines of a couple, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t in awe of how pretty Jeongguk looks even if he isn’t trying to look pretty.

“It looks bad, doesn’t it? I should have known.” Jeongguk gnaws on his lip and begins to pivot on his heel back into Taehyung’s room.

“No!” Taehyung rushes to Jeongguk, stumbling over a pile of clothes and grunting as he does so, but the movement plunges him forward to Jeongguk so he can wrap a hand around his wrist. “Jeongguk, turn your cute ass around and get back here.”

Huffing, Jeongguk complies, but it's with a grumpy glare and a furrow knitted between his brows. “What?”

“You look perfectly fine, and I’m not just saying that because we have to leave soon and your indecisiveness is killing me,” Taehyung assures, wanting to poke at Jeongguk’s cheek when he puffs it out in a sigh, but resists temptation. “I bet Wonwoo will love it, too.”

There’s a flicker of what appears to be confusion in Jeongguk’s eyes for a moment before it morphs into something more pleasant. “Oh, right, yeah,” Jeongguk mumbles, glancing over his outfit one more time. “Maybe he will.”

“Don’t worry about it, pup.” Taehyung almost ruffles Jeongguk’s hair until he remembers how long it took Jeongguk to style it how he wanted. Instead, he runs his fingers through the strands. “Everyone there will want you.”

“Not everyone,” Jeongguk scoffs lightly, but leans into Taehyung’s touch. “Thanks though, Tae.”

In the middle of pushing Taehyung out of his room, he grumbles something about still having his makeup to do, and Taehyung laughs when the door slams shut behind him.

Jeongguk is something else.

—

Walking through the front door of Wonwoo’s house is more intimidating than he expected it to be, makes him glad he didn’t let Jeongguk face this on his own. Initially, it seems as if all eyes are on them, but realistically, Taehyung knows that all of the attention must be on Jeongguk. If Taehyung was a bystander, his eyes would be glued to Jeongguk too. 

He’s gentle in the way he holds Jeongguk’s hand and guides him through the foyer into the main part of the house. The living room, kitchen, and dining room are open plan while the rest of the first floor is closed off by walls. It’s stuffy, more crowded than what Taehyung cares for at parties, and Jeongguk doesn’t appear all that thrilled either.

They’re on their way to the kitchen when Wonwoo approaches them. He regards Jeongguk with a welcoming smile. “Jeongguk, I’m glad you made it!” Wonwoo exclaims, then briefly glances down at their hands before giving Taehyung a less welcoming, tight smile. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here, though.”

“I invited him, actually,” Jeongguk intervenes, looking innocently convincing. Again, using those eyes to get what he wants. “I hope you don’t mind, Wonwoo-ssi.”

“Of course not,” Wonwoo says, eyes still lingering on Taehyung. There’s a hint of annoyance in his scent that doesn’t go unnoticed by Taehyung, yet flies over Jeongguk’s radar. “Any friend of yours is a friend of mine.”

“Oh, that’s a relief,” Jeongguk chuckles, and Taehyung feels discontentment swirling around inside when Jeongguk withdraws his hand from Taehyung’s. 

The irritation in Wonwoo’s features lessens when the contact between Taehyung and Jeongguk becomes nonexistent. Only then does he return his gaze to Jeongguk and reaches his hand out. “Jeongguk, come with me? There’s something I wanna show you.”

Wonwoo is already pulling Jeongguk away, Jeongguk who looks back at Taehyung over his shoulder. “But, Tae—”

“He’ll be fine, he’s an alpha,” Taehyung hears Wonwoo say. “He can take care of himself.”

Fucking prick.

All Taehyung can do is send a wave off Jeongguk’s way and tuck his hands in the pockets of his jacket and look away once Wonwoo has dragged Jeongguk into a group of people conversing. 

He sighs and refrains from rolling his eyes when noticing the couple making out against the pool table next to him. Perhaps he saved himself from disaster the first time he avoided one of these parties.

His shoes drag against the floor on his way to the living room. The most congested area in the entire space, feeling as if there’s hardly even any room to stand and breathe in, but it’s the only place he can keep an eye on Jeongguk from. If Jeongguk shows even the slightest amount of discomfort, Taehyung is charging to him and dragging him out, Wonwoo be damned.

A grunt escapes Taehyung when he’s harshly bumped into from behind. Looking back at who the culprit is, he’s shocked to find Kim Namjoon. A well-known omega in his final year with a double major in history and math, one who seemed to take more to a quiet environment rather than a rowdy party. 

If Namjoon had been having fun before, any sign of it is erased as he looks at Taehyung concerned. “Shit, man, I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to do that, got nudged myself.”

Waving his hand dismissively, Taehyung responds, “It’s fine, I’m kinda in the way, anyway. I’m just gonna—” As he goes to shuffle to the back of the room, Namjoon places a hand on his upper back and makes ushering through the throng of bodies much easier. 

“Kim Taehyung, right?” Namjoon asks once they’ve reached a grand looking bookcase that acts as a substitute for a proper wall behind the couch. “Art history major?”

Taehyung nods, suddenly wishing he had a cup or something to hold so that he isn’t keeping his hands awkwardly tucked in his pockets. “Yeah, that’s me.”

Namjoon introduces himself, Taehyung doesn’t say that he already knew. Then, he says, “I didn’t take you for one to enjoy this type of scene, in all honesty.”

A part of Taehyung wants to make the comment that, of course you didn’t, because he doesn’t know a thing about Taehyung other than his face, name, and major. But he thinks Namjoon seems nice, easy to get along with, doesn’t really want to make a bad impression on the guy who everyone seems to adore.

“I’m not,” Taehyung produces a breathy chuckle, then tips his head in the direction of the kitchen where Jeongguk still is, still with Wonwoo. “My friend asked if I would come with him. Couldn’t say no.”

“Oh, Jeongguk?” Namjoon asks as he looks towards the direction Taehyung nodded to and spots Jeongguk as well. “I can’t say I’m surprised, you two hardly ever separate.”

Except for now, Taehyung thinks. At least it seems like Jeongguk has settled in better now. He’s got a cup in his hand, the other wrapped around Wonwoo’s forearm while he laughs at a joke one of Wonwoo’s friends said. He watches—both proud of Jeongguk for being able to get along with the others, but also disappointed because he isn’t sure if Wonwoo is the type of person he wants Jeongguk hanging around.

But, Jeongguk didn’t ask him to come just to play the mom friend. Taehyung is here for support, so it is support which he shall provide, even if it’s reluctant.

“Yeah, he’s my best friend,” Taehyung hums. 

At some point, Jeongguk looks his way, Taehyung’s eye catching his. He nods towards Wonwoo and gives Jeongguk a forced wink that he hopes looks excited enough, but Jeongguk only gives him a weak smile in return after noticing Namjoon.

“Really? Everyone’s under the impression you two are dating.” Namjoon’s comment draws Taehyung’s attention back to him.

“What? No.” Taehyung’s eyebrows furrow, and he lets out an incredulous sounding laugh. “We’re not like that, not at all—”

Taehyung feels his chest deflate and the confused smile on his face slip into a frown when he sees Wonwoo pulling Jeongguk away by the hand, leading him across the open space to the stairs where they soon disappear. 

Don’t ruin his night, Taehyung.

“It’s really not a big deal, man.” Namjoon raises his hands in defense. “I know it’s not common for two alphas to be together, but nobody here would judge. It’s cool.”

He throws on a fake smile that he hopes looks reassuring enough and looks back to Namjoon. “We really are just friends, Namjoon-ssi.”

“Oh…My bad, I’m sorry for assuming,” Namjoon apologizes, and it’s so genuine that Taehyung can’t help but to feel even worse for making Namjoon think he said anything out of place. “It’s nice that Jeongguk has such a supportive friend in you.”

“Ah, it’s nothing, really,” Taehyung chuckles, although his thoughts keep going back to Wonwoo pulling Jeongguk up the stairs, Jeongguk willingly going along, laughing, drinking, going into a bedroom—

“Hey, are you okay?” Namjoon asks all of a sudden, and Taehyung blinks.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine.” He snaps out of the cruel illusion, if an illusion at all and not reality. “Sorry, I think I need a drink or something, y’know?”

What the hell is happening to him?

“I can go grab one for you if you want? Your scent is all over the place, Taehyung,” Namjoon offers, looking even more concerned.

“Seriously, I’m okay—”

Another distraction comes in the form of Jeongguk rushing down the same staircase he was led up just a few minutes ago. As soon as his eyes land on Taehyung after a moment of searching, he storms over in a straight line towards him and grabs ahold of his hand. His usual jasmine scent has melted into the smell of something burning.

“We need to leave, now.” Jeongguk says, barely even paying attention to Namjoon as he says goodbye and drags Taehyung out of the room, out of the house. 

“Woah, Jeongguk, what’s going on?” Taehyung half shouts because the music is still so damn loud even on the outside. “What about Wonwoo?”

“I don’t give a fuck about Wonwoo,” Jeongguk growls, and leads them to Taehyung’s car. He walks Taehyung to the driver’s side, practically shoving him into his seat before stomping over to his side, getting in with an aggravated huff. 

“But didn’t I see you go upstairs with him?” The last thing Taehyung wants to do is make Jeongguk any angrier, so he pulls his keys out and starts the car. “I thought you guys were going to…” Talk? Hang out? Fuck?

“Oh please. More like, he spent the entire time pointing out pretty omegas to me, talking about all the ones he’d fuck,” Jeongguk scowls, crossing his arms. “When he took me upstairs, it was to propose a hook up with one of his friends who’s apparently had a crush on me for a while now.”

“Fuck, I’m so sorry, pup,” Taehyung sighs, feeling his fists tighten around the steering wheel, watching his knuckles go white. “He’s a piece of shit.”

Jeongguk lets out a disappointed laugh, shaking his head. “It’s not even that. Just wish I could be like all the other alphas who just want a wet omega’s hole to stick their knot into. Nobody wants a screwed up alpha like me, not when they find out I’m not what they expected.” 

“Don’t say that, Jeongguk. You’re not screwed up.” Taehyung plants his hand on Jeongguk’s thigh and gives it a comforting squeeze. “Anyone who makes you believe that—fuck them, they don’t deserve you.”

“I make myself believe that.” Jeongguk’s voice begins to waver as he speaks, and it breaks Taehyung’s heart. “Just wanna go home, Tae.”

“We’ll be there soon, I promise.”

—

The following week, Jeongguk spends it still moping around. Which, Taehyung can understand why. It must have been a harder blow than he thought for Jeongguk to get indirectly rejected by the guy who he’s been admiring for the past year and a half. He didn’t even know Jeongguk liked Wonwoo that much, which also makes him feel like a shitty best friend for not knowing. 

There are some days where he’s fine. They’ll be when the two of them are sitting in the cafeteria, joking about as usual or talking about how their day has been. Taehyung can complain about how he doesn’t understand why Aristotle makes realism look so pessimistic, that buzzkill, and Jeongguk can go on about how his professor’s pet lizard escaped its cage and went on a rampage around the classroom. 

It’s a nice balance, it’s fun, everything is fine when they’re like this. They gently knock shoes under the table like they usually do, what first starts as an accident and continues as some sort of pastime. Jeongguk will play with Taehyung’s fingers while spooning yogurt into his mouth with the other hand, and Taehyung will occasionally gaze lower to see how his lips look molding around the spoon as if that’s just a normal dude bro thing. 

It is. It is just a normal dude bro thing. Don’t overthink it, geez. Overthinking makes things weird, and things have already been kind of weird since the Wonwoo incident. 

Especially when, each time Jeongguk hears Namjoon’s name or actually sees him, his mood visibly deflates. That’s actually the weirdest thing of all. 

A couple of days after the party, Taehyung and Jeongguk had relocated to the library after they figured that delaying their studies for too long would result in academic consequences too hefty to come back from.

It was there that they came across Namjoon in a little study cubicle and Taehyung said hi, hoping Namjoon didn’t think he was actively trying to dodge him or anything. 

The interaction ended with the two of them exchanging numbers, and once they left for their usual study room, Taehyung saw the grumpy expression on Jeongguk’s face. A total 180 from how he was before they entered the library. He plopped down in his seat with under the breath grumbling and pulled out his laptop without so much as glancing at Taehyung.

“What’s up, dude?” Taehyung had asked, his own frown deepening. “You just got, like, sad all of a sudden.”

“Nothing, nothing at all,” Jeongguk replied, shrugging it off and throwing on a smile as if he hadn’t just been caught sulking. “Time to focus?”

It was for the best, he decided, to let it be and move on. “Time to focus.”

Then, a few days later came another mood swing of his. Usually alphas get mood swings when their rut is nearing, but Taehyung’s calendar specifically said Jeongguk would not be due for another week and a half. There’s still time. 

It was their weekly movie night. Sometimes they watch a cheesy rom-com, other nights it’s an action-packed thriller. On the menu for this week was Captain America: The Winter Soldier, also known as Taehyung's excuse to daydream about Sebastian Stan for two and a half hours. The movie itself wasn’t anything he cared much for.

Taehyung had already set up the movie and covered the couch in cozy blankets to wrap themselves up in, the lights were on their dimmest setting, and their drinks were on the coffee table. All that was left was the popcorn which Jeongguk quickly returned with two big bowls of. 

They were both excited, quoting the movie word for word, gradually gravitating closer to each other as the film progressed, cuddling as The Winter Soldier was about to have his reveal. Then Taehyung’s phone buzzed between them. They both looked down to see a text notification from Namjoon that asked When do you want to meet up?

Eagerly, Taehyung grabbed his phone and was quick to open his messages. He was in desperate need for a philosophy tutor, and thankfully Namjoon’s history major made him well versed in the subject, so it was only natural they’d schedule a time for Namjoon to help him out. The cafe by the science hall at 4 tmrw?

It was then that things got weird again. Jeongguk cleared his throat and detached himself from Taehyung, plucked the blankets off of himself, then grabbed the empty bowls and soda cans and stood up to leave. Taehyung could only watch once his phone was turned off and set on the coffee table.

“What are you doing? We usually don’t clean until the movie’s over,” he whined because the movie was paused right before the good part. 

“I think I’m gonna go to bed,” Jeongguk told him, already heading for the hallway. 

“It’s only 9 p.m., though.”

Shrugging, Jeongguk said, “I know. It’s just an early night for me, I guess.” Then he turned back around and got to his bedroom door. 

Taehyung gave his final call of finding ways to beg Jeongguk to stay, “But Bucky’s about to be revealed!”

“I’ve seen the movie, Tae, I know.” And the door shut. 

So that was that. Taehyung didn’t even feel up to watching the rest of the movie by himself, so he turned the TV off and went to his own room for the night. Not that he actually fell asleep before midnight, not that he couldn’t hear Jeongguk listening to music through the walls until two in the morning. 

Maybe he just wasn’t as in the mood for Marvel as Taehyung thought he was. But still, Taehyung would’ve put it on something if he had just asked. Although, he seemed so excited when Taehyung suggested Captain America, and that smile certainly hadn’t been fake.

His mood only changed once Taehyung’s phone vibrated, but there have been many times where Taehyung’s phone has gone off during a movie, and it’s never affected Jeongguk the way it did when Namjoon texted him. 

Which leads him to the only logical answer as to why he’s been so irritable lately.

“You have a crush on Namjoon, don’t you?” Taehyung interrogates a wide eyed Jeongguk over their study snacks consisting of two boxes of apple juice and a shared pack of crackers. 

They’re in the study room again, of course. Everyone knows all friendly interrogations take place either in a study room or on the bathroom floor. At least, that’s how it’s been for Taehyung so far. 

He briefly thinks back to the time he was drunkenly crying on Yoongi’s bathroom floor while an equally drunk Jimin kept asking him what color underwear made his ass pop more: blue or grey. 

Fun times.

“Excuse me?” Jeongguk chokes on the cracker crumbs, and Taehyung is instantly making a reach to hand his juice box to him on instinct. The box is soon sucked dry, and Jeongguk tosses it in the trash once his coughing fit has cleared. Good thing Taehyung brought an extra juice box for emergencies. “A crush—on Namjoon? Where’d you get that idea? I barely know him.”

The way Jeongguk’s nose scrunches tells Taehyung that Jeongguk is more offended by the question than anything. Which, first of all, rude. Namjoon is a great guy, it’s not embarrassing or shameful to have a crush on him. Taehyung is surprised he doesn’t have a crush on the guy himself, but there’s just something keeping him from getting to that point. 

“I dunno, you just always seem to get so gloomy whenever I bring him up, or if you see his name on my phone.” Taehyung shrugs. He’s not oblivious to the mortification that shows up in Jeongguk’s expression. “But don’t worry about it! I figured you must’ve been jealous, but I promise there’s nothing going on between us. I won’t tell him, either. If you wanted, though, I could see if he was up to going on a date with you, or something.”

He isn’t sure where he went wrong or what he did to put Jeongguk under the impression that he couldn’t be trusted with secrets under the basis of romance, but he hopes to mend whatever aspect of their bond has been fractured there. This seems like a good start to doing so. 

However, the more Taehyung talks about it, the more frustrated Jeongguk looks. 

“I—I don’t have a crush on Namjoon, that’s not it at all.”

Furrowing his eyebrows, Taehyung tilts his head to the side. “Then why do you act the way you do when he’s around? I know deflection when I see it, pup.”

“Are you sure about that?” Jeongguk cocks an eyebrow. 

“I’m just saying, he’s the type of guy who would accept you for you, so if you’re worried about shooting your shot, don’t be.” Nevermind the fact that Namjoon originally thought they were dating. “I just want to help however I can so that you can feel like you can trust me with this kind of stuff.”

Jeongguk’s eyes soften, and his shoulders lose their tension. He leans forward and takes Taehyung’s hands into his own. “Tae, I’ve always trusted you. The only reason I haven’t said anything is because I don’t have a crush on Namjoon.”

“Then why does your wolf go all ‘grrr’ when you see him?” Taehyung asks in all seriousness, but his facade slips into a wide grin when Jeongguk ducks his head and laughs.

“It does not growl at Namjoon. I…” Jeongguk’s smile falls slowly. “I guess I just want to make sure he’s a good friend to you. That’s what my wolf is concerned about.”

Cooing, Taehyung brings one of his hands to Jeongguk’s hair and ruffles it, drawing a complaint from Jeongguk as he tries to shoo Taehyung’s hand away. “Aww, my Jeonggukie does have a soft spot for his hyung, how sweet.”

“Cut it out,” Jeongguk groans, tipping his head back over the top of the chair. 

“I’ll tell you what,” Taehyung begins, clasping his hands over the table and bracing his forearms against it. “I’ll start inviting Namjoon to our friendly gatherings so all of you can get to know him. I promise, you’ll love him.”

The proposal brings the smile back to Jeongguk’s face, which leaves Taehyung with a sigh of relief to exhale. 

Mission not quite accomplished, but getting there.

—

Although Jeongguk’s behavior has changed for the better, doesn’t feel so down when seeing Namjoon’s name pop up on Taehyung’s screen, has started joining in conversation if the three of them happen to meet on campus, Taehyung still feels like he could be doing more.

Jeongguk might say he’s happy and that nothing’s wrong, but Taehyung can sense that it’s not entirely the truth. Something about Jeongguk’s scent is dampened every now and then, even when he’s presenting himself with the biggest bunny smile. Late at night, Taehyung can hear how his playlists range anything from My Chemical Romance’s saddest tracks to melancholic orchestrals. 

During class, it’s all he can think about. His classmate sitting next to him gives him a look when he repeatedly bounces his knee and causes the rest of their row to quake. With a sheepish smile, he apologizes quietly and goes back to thinking without creating external disturbances for others.

Before class has even let out, Taehyung is shoving his learning materials into his backpack. When their teacher calls the time, he’s darting from his seat and out of the classroom. He races past everyone else leaving their classes to his car, then speeds a bit on his way back to the apartment.

Entering the apartment, Taehyung is eager to get to his room. He leaves the bedroom door cracked behind him and sits down at his desk, pulling the lid of his laptop up. 

The only reasonable solution is to take matters into his own hands. He doesn’t know what all he can do in an effort to help Jeongguk feel better, especially when Jeongguk claims that nothing is wrong, so who—or what better to consult with than the internet? The world wide web has the answer to every problem except the questions from his pre-calculus homework that he so miserably failed in Year 12.

How to cheer up an alpha is what he searches first. No relevant searches show up, and he sighs. Then backspaces and types in: what to do to make an alpha happy, and even then, the only results that show up are related to knots and slick. He’s not sure what he was expecting. Alphas are tough, don’t need comforting—which is apparently what the rest of the world thinks. 

Taehyung scrolls all the way down. Looks at the number of pages he can click through. Now, it’s unspoken but general knowledge that only those who are desperate click on the 2nd page of searches. In this moment, Taehyung would consider himself a desperate man. 

So he clicks on the arrow that takes him to the next page of searches. Nothing that seems like an answer to his problems is first on the list, but after a couple more finger scrolls, he does find something. 

How to Please Your Omega: A Guide for Clueless Alphas

It’s not exactly what Taehyung is looking for, but it’s been the most promising result so far. Jeongguk isn’t an omega, but as he reads the sneak peak Google gives him without having to actually click into the browser, it seems promising enough for anybody, even an alpha. 

He clicks the link and is met with a simplistic, coffee themed blog. 

At first he wonders if the link took him to the right page, but once he scrolls down further, he sees the title of this supposed guide. Under it is an overview of what the guide entails, and he reads over it with his chin rested against his palm. 

This isn’t your usual Feed and Breed, Love and Stuff Handbook for Dummies (although feeding, breeding, loving, and stuffing are certainly a part of this foolproof guide). This is the real deal from an omega who’s here to help all the alphas who are new to helping their troubled omega feel better. By the time you complete all of these steps, you’ll be the alpha of your omega’s dreams!

By the time he’s finished reading it, his mouth is shaped into a grimace. Maybe this isn’t what he’s looking for. He moves the cursor over to the back arrow, hovering over the icon as he contemplates it.

This seems primarily directed towards mated couples, but…

It’s probably the closest he’s going to get to what he needs, what Jeongguk may need. He’s willing to do whatever he needs to make Jeongguk happy again, to turn his smile into a genuine one. If the guide doesn’t work, then he’ll figure it out himself, but for now, he kind of wants to see how this may work out. 

The first step at least seems promising, nothing too extreme. 

Ah, fuck it.

He ends up bookmarking the tab and closing it just as the front door clicks open. After shutting his laptop down, he exits the room to see Jeongguk coming through, lips set in a small frown until his eyes land on Taehyung. 

Then the corners of his mouth curl up into a smile that warms Taehyung’s heart for a brief moment. Just a brief one, very brief.

“Hyung, how was your day?” Jeongguk asks, dumping his backpack down by the door, twinkling eyes never straying from Taehyung.

Significantly better now that you’re here, he thinks, but never says—instead opting for a simple “Good, yours?”

—

1. Show small but affectionate gestures

This could be anything from making them breakfast in bed to drawing a bubble bath for them! If your omega is feeling down, chances are, small actions such as these could be enough to make them feel cared for. Even if this step seems silly or like the bare minimum, it isn’t. My alpha doing these things for me during a bad day always improved my mood, so just give it a try!

Today is a new day, filled with motive and determination. Taehyung likes to call it a little something like Operation Infinite Carrot Supply for Jeon-Muscle-Bunny-Gguk; carrots being another term for anything that could cheer Jeongguk up. His plans have swerved from what the guide suggested, but not completely. 

Most days, Jeongguk takes the bus back home unless Taehyung waits around to drive him back, but rarely ever does that happen unless Jeongguk finishes up on campus earlier than usual. 

It’s not one of those days, but here Taehyung is, sitting in one of the many chairs their university’s soccer stadium holds. They’re not the comfiest of seats, he thinks it may be digging into his ass a bit, which is an insult to him because he is not flat. 

He leans forward, arms bent across the railing that prevents him from experiencing a tragic fall onto the sidelines, and plants his chin down on his forearms while watching Jeongguk. 

Soccer has never been a sport Taehyung has understood too well. In fact, there’s not many a sport he’s been interested in enough to want to take the time to understand, but if Jeongguk always looks this good playing it, surely there wouldn’t be too much harm in trying to learn. 

The red and black uniform he wears clings to his body, soaked with patches of sweat. Through the striped jersey, printed number 1 on the back, the outline of his chest is fairly prominent, and further down, the swell of his abs can be made out as well. Not that Taehyung is staring, he’s simply studying the mechanics of soccer. 

Jeongguk has control of the ball, skillfully dribbling it between his cleats as he maneuvers between his teammates playing as opponents. When his space gets too clustered, Jimin waves his hands in the air from the other side of the field, and Jeongguk makes a sleek pass of the ball over to him. Their coach shouts “Good pass, Jeon!” and follows after where the action is happening along the sidelines. 

The ball gets passed among a few more of their teammates before it comes back to Jeongguk. He moves swiftly between the others, keeping the ball close as though it’s tethered to him. Taehyung watches in awe as Jeongguk nears the goal, tricking the goalie into surging towards one post while he shoots the ball towards the other, easily scoring a point for his team. 

The coach calls an end to their scrimmage, and those wearing pinnies strip them off with collective groans while Jeongguk’s team gives him pats on the back and shoulders. Getting placed on whichever team Jeongguk isn’t on must be a clear testament to loss before the game even begins. It makes Taehyung’s chest flood with pride. That’s his best friend.

Even if Wonwoo is the alpha who most people swoon over, Jeongguk has secured his spot as the golden alpha of campus, and the only alpha that Taehyung will always have his eyes on.

When Jeongguk finally turns around from talking to Jimin, Taehyung stands up and eagerly waves to indicate his presence. Upon noticing him, Jeongguk’s smile grows tenfold as he waves back. He quickly makes his way down the nearest set of stairs and jogs up to them.

“Never did I expect to see Taehyung step foot inside a soccer stadium,” Jimin remarks, grabbing his water bottle from the ground by the barrier and taking a large gulp of it. “What gives?”

Despite being friends with two soccer players for so long, he’s never been able to attend any games due to the fact that his professors like to give him heavy workloads whenever a game rolls around. He’s joked about being cursed before, yet when expressing how bad he’s felt for missing all of them, Jeongguk has always reassured that he understands. 

Hopefully this semester will be kinder to him. 

“I’d also like to know,” Jeongguk adds, stealing Jimin’s water bottle from him with a protest from Jimin, despite his own bottle being next to where Jimin picked his up from. 

Taehyung hooks an arm around Jeongguk’s shoulder, ignoring how gross the damp jersey feels against his arm, just pulls Jeongguk in and is hit with Jasmine masked by grass and sweat. “I figured I would pick Jeonggukie up from practice, maybe take him somewhere special as a little treat from yours truly, if that’s okay with him?”

“Oh, so like a date.” Jimin raises his eyebrow in suspicion. 

Taken off guard, Taehyung’s eyes go wide and Jeongguk quickly butts in with light laughter, “Don’t be silly, hyung. You know we’re just friends.”

“Right, of course, silly me to think that would ever happen between two bros,” Jimin scoffs. 

While Taehyung and Jeongguk’s alphas have found compromise, Jimin’s still tends to butt heads with Jeongguk’s, even if it is teasing. Taehyung catches the glare that Jeongguk practically singes into the other alpha, has no time to wonder what it’s about before Jimin snatches his water bottle back from Jeongguk and announces his departure. 

Faintly, as he walks further away, Taehyung hears him muttering something about those two idiots.

“So.” Taehyung withdraws from Jeongguk, pointing his thumb over his shoulder to the way Jimin just left through. “I’ll head back while you change, then I’ll treat you to a five star dinner?”

“Five star?” Jeongguk hums questioningly. “Sounds far too fancy for us.”

Which, a five star dinner from Taehyung consists of him paying for their meals from McDonald’s, then driving them out to the Han River where they reserve a bench for their unconventional dinner turned picnic while sharing nuggets and bites of a double cheeseburger. So, really, not fancy at all, but Taehyung still senses that Jeongguk appreciates it all the same.

“This is sho good.” Jeongguk’s words are muffled around his mouthful of food that should most definitely not be included in his strict soccer player diet, and it makes the two of them break out in laughter when hearing how silly he sounds. “Shtop laughing ah’ me.”

“Your cheeks get so big,” Taehyung points out, pinching at the rounded sides of Jeongguk’s face. “It’s cute.”

Flustered, Jeongguk looks away from Taehyung and lets out an awkward chuckle after swallowing his food. Although the sun is on its way to setting and the shade they’re under makes the lighting ever more dim, Taehyung can see the way his cheeks grow red and hot.

It’s quiet between them for a little while. The river flows along steadily, and the occasional group of people walk by chatting every now and then, but for the most part, it’s just Taehyung, Jeongguk, and the last chicken nugget that they begin to fight over.

“You’re the one who needs the protein,” Taehyung insists, pushing the box closer to Jeongguk. He reaches forward and grabs onto Jeongguk’s bicep, squeezing the muscle. It’s fun until he realizes just how muscular Jeongguk is, and swallows thickly before letting go.

Jeongguk picks up the nugget and examines it. “I’d hardly say this thing is even real chicken, let alone the bearer of any protein.”

“Oh, so you want me to eat the questionable processed lump of fake chicken,” Taehyung counters, crossing his arms and smirking at Jeongguk. “And if I die in the morning, whose fault will it be then?”

“Still yours,” Jeongguk snorts. “You’ve already eaten, like, six of these things. I don’t think there’s any saving you at this point, hyung.”

“The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our separate ways,” Taehyung recites wistfully. “I to die, and you to live. Which is better, only God knows.”

“Sounds angsty.” Jeongguk scrunches his nose. “Let me guess: Diogenes?”

“Socrates, actually, but all of them were angsty motherfuckers.”

Jeongguk nods in agreement, and in the end, is the one to stake claim to the food. “Say, if it was your last night alive, do you think you’d have any regrets? Any last words?”

Dinner did not come with the intention to take this turn, but here he is, staring up at the sky while he considers an answer to Jeongguk’s question. He thinks that each person lives with too many regrets to count, and those who are convinced they have none are truly just in denial, but last words?

This philosophical bullshit has never been his forte, and he’s still not sure why he signed up for the class when he could’ve taken something more suited to his fancy, but the subject has grown on him some since Namjoon’s helped him understand it better.

His gaze comes back down to Jeongguk, a soft smile on his face as he looks his best friend in the eye. “My biggest regret would be if I, in this moment, didn’t tell you how there’s nobody else I’d rather spend my last waking moments with than you.”

It’s not the answer Jeongguk was expecting, Taehyung can see as much. Jeongguk’s lips slowly part to release the words that never come out, and Taehyung wonders if he said the wrong thing. But then Jeongguk, hair gently blowing in the wind and eyes squinting with the smile that shapes his mouth, just shakes his head like Taehyung is a liar and he’s tired of believing.

“Let’s go home, hyung.”

—

Every Tuesday and Thursday, Taehyung takes to picking Jeongguk up from practice so they can go home together. 

Jeongguk usually showers in the locker room so that he doesn’t cause Taehyung’s car to smell unpleasant, and now Taehyung’s car is permanently infused with the Jeongguk’s natural scent and the sweet fragrance of his honey soap. Even on the mornings Taehyung would prefer to stay home and not attend his classes, Jeongguk’s scent reels him into a comforting mindset that makes it feel as if home is with him wherever he goes.

Maybe, just maybe, he likes the way it seems to intertwine with his own sandalwood scent. In their home, it’s less prominent being a larger space, but the smaller space of his car allows it to fill all of Taehyung’s senses. 

Sometimes he gets to work half an hour early just so he can rest his head back against the seat and breathe it in, lets the contentment wave over him before he has to go in and face the woes of customer service.

On one particular Thursday, Jeongguk hops in the passenger’s seat smelling less like honey and more like sweat, but without the usual accompaniment of grass that comes with shoving and sliding over the pitch. Jeongguk tells him he just decided to properly wash up at home, only let the water rinse him off a few times before drying off and throwing on a change of clothes.

Taehyung drums his hand against the steering wheel while biting his bottom lip, chest swelling with each deep breath he takes, breathing in more of Jeongguk. It affects him weirdly. Has never been like this whenever Jeongguk’s been around him sweaty and dirty before. Never has an alpha’s scent had him reeling in like this, always an omega’s, or even a beta’s. 

Perhaps it’s because Jeongguk has always smelled like sweat and something else, not just sweat alone. But fuck if it doesn’t smell good, like something Taehyung can’t get enough of, doesn’t want to get enough of. Then he feels the guilt bury itself in his chest for thinking about his best friend’s scent like that.

Breathe it in, breathe it out, repeat and regret. A simple process that Taehyung has quickly become a master of. 

When they park outside their building, he tells Jeongguk to go on ahead, that he’ll be in after making a phone call.

His phone call is really just a few palm rubs over his crotch to keep a boner from showing up, a pronounced failure because the friction only turns him on more. He tips his head back and groans.

Thankfully, Jeongguk is already in the shower by the time he enters the apartment, still unbearingly stiff in his pants.

—

2. Feed them

Say you do make your omega breakfast in bed, or any meal at all—feed it to them instead of having them do it themselves! If your omega is anything like me, they love feeling nurtured and pampered, and this is one of my favorite things my alpha does for me even when I’m not upset. Unless, of course, they’ve expressed dislike for this and would prefer to feed themselves (consent is key!). 

Taehyung spends a week sticking to small gestures. He washes Jeongguk’s laundry for him and even makes him breakfast—typically nothing more than a bowl of cereal since he isn’t the world’s best cook by any means. All of this garners pleased reactions from Jeongguk, and Taehyung’s happy enough being able to take the small things that contribute to stress off of his back.

With how well step one has been working, Taehyung comes to the conclusion that it’s time to implement step two of the guide into his plan. The thing is, he doesn’t know how to go about starting it. How does one casually start feeding their best friend without it being weird?

The answer presents itself without Taehyung really having to think about it.

“Are you sure your friends will like me?” Namjoon asks, looking tough and bulky in his utility jacket and black shirt stretched far too wide over his chest, but truly small and anxious underneath it all.

Knocking on the door, Taehyung nods and brings Namjoon closer with a hand on his back. “I’m pretty sure Hoseok-hyung could befriend a rock if given the opportunity, and you’re way more interesting than a rock, so it’s all good.”

“But—”

The door swings wide open before Namjoon can get his full protest out. On the other side of the threshold is Jimin who looks more than relieved to see their faces. He grabs both of their wrists and pulls them in, much to the surprise of Namjoon.

“Thank god you’re here. And you brought a friend, how nice. I’m Jimin, nice to meet you!'“ Jimin shakes Namjoon’s hand, then brings his free hand up to cover his face as he mouths this man is so beefy to Taehyung before smiling back up at Namjoon. “I’m Taehyung’s soulmate and certified breast—oh, uhm, sorry— best friend. Silly me, got distracted there for a sec.”

“I’m Namjoon, Taehyung’s certified tutor,” says Namjoon, blinking excessively down at Jimin, as if he doesn’t know what to think. 

“Oh? Is there anything you can teach me, Namjoon-ssi?”

Ushering past the two with a grimace, Taehyung ventures into Seokjin’s living room to see it surprisingly empty. During their monthly gathering of friends, the living room is usually filled with his friends attempting Just Dance choreographies from 2014 or Hoseok and Seokjin yelling over sports they know nothing about while the rest of them either beg them to stop (Taehyung), encourage them even more (Jeongguk and Jimin), or merely wait for it to be over (Yoongi).

However, there’s none of that this time. They knew he’d be bringing a friend over, but Taehyung’s friends are certainly not the type of people who try to conceal their chaos around others and succeed. What you see is what you get and much more all for the small price of ever having an ordinary life again. 

“Jiminie, where are the others?”

Dragging a rather flustered Namjoon in behind him, Jimin answers, “In the kitchen. Jin-hyung and Jeonggukie tried cooking together but it became a mess, now Yoongi and Hoseok are cleaning it up while the other two bicker.”

So what normally happens when those two cook together, Taehyung snickers to himself. “I’m gonna check up on them. Keep Namjoon-hyung company while I do?”

“Sure thing.” Jimin winks while Namjoon lets himself be directed to the couch.

When Taehyung enters the kitchen, the scene is no longer the disaster Jimin described it to be. Yoongi and Hoseok are tossing the last of the dirty paper towels in the bin while Jeongguk is in one corner cutting a block of cheese into tiny cubes while Seokjin is in the opposite corner adding the finishing touches to what looks like a chocolate pie.

“Taehyung-ah, you missed all the fun,” Hoseok greets him, shagging his fingers through Taehyung’s hair. There’s still flour on his fingers that go in the dark brown strands, and Taehyung watches it powder from his hair into his vision when Hoseok retracts his fingers. “Oops.”

“Good job, Hoseok. How about we wash our hands before contaminating anyone else with Seokjin and Jeongguk’s mistakes?” Yoongi comments, the omega leading Hoseok out of the kitchen and most likely to the bathroom.

Chuckling, Taehyung strolls up to Jeongguk who’s still focused on cutting the cheese. He curls an arm around Jeongguk’s waist, bringing his other one up to place his hand on Jeongguk’s shoulder closest to him while his chin rests atop it. “Have you been terrorizing the hyungs again, Jeongguk-ah?”

“He has,” Seokjin speaks up while placing his pie in the oven. “Believe it or not, he isn’t an angel all the time."

“Oh, I know he can be a brat,” Taehyung teases, pinching Jeongguk’s side while he’s at it and causing Jeongguk to let out a squeak of protest. “But with you, I’m sure it doesn’t go unprovoked.” To this, Jeongguk looks over at Taehyung with a grin.

“None of you, and I mean none of you are getting seats at my dog’s wedding,” Seokjin grumbles on his way out of the kitchen.

“You don’t even have a dog!” Jeongguk retorts, and Seokjin shouts back that he doesn’t accept backtalk from a quoted muscled infant.

Once it’s just the two of them left in the kitchen, Jeongguk puts down the knife he’d been using and turns around so that he’s leaning back against the counter. “Hey,” he murmurs so softly, eyes lighting up at the sight of Taehyung.

Jeongguk in general is soft tonight, forgoing the darker, baggier clothes he wears most nights. Throwing out any regard for the heat of September, he opted to wear a white jumper and blue skinny jeans. His hair is half held back in a bun while the strands framing his face are loose in waves.

Just on the way here, Taehyung felt as if he was fighting for his life in his khaki shorts and black button up, but here Jeongguk is, looking flawless and pretty as he always does, not a single speck out of place. 

His Jeongguk has always been the prettiest, something he could attest to again and again as someone who has seen more of his baby pictures than what Jeongguk would have liked— Thank you Mrs. Jeon .

“Hey, pup.” Taehyung doesn’t realize he’s caged Jeongguk in until he takes a step closer to him, but even then, he stays right where he is. “What’ve you been up to?”

“‘M’just preparing some cheese to feed the rodents that are our friends,” Jeongguk responds, nodding his head towards the chopping board stacked with at least three different types of cheeses. “I was supposed to do the rest, too, but Jin-hyung got huffy.”

“You’re going to give him grey hairs before he even hits his mid thirties,” Taehyung says, patting Jeongguk’s hip condescendingly, but the action only makes Jeongguk bite back a smug grin. “Have you tried any of these?” He asks, picking up a cube of cheddar.

“No, not yet.” Jeongguk shakes his head. “Was gonna wait ‘til dinner time.”

“Then how will you know if it tastes good?”

In the background, their friends are engaged in another round of (playful) arguing, but Taehyung drowns it out when his focus goes to bringing the cheese up to Jeongguk’s lips. Eyes going crossed, Jeongguk tries looking down at the cube before his gaze trails back to Taehyung’s half-lidded one again. 

“Hyung—”

“Open up, Jeongguk-ah. Let hyung feed you.” Taehyung demands gently, chest vibrating with the pleased hum that follows when Jeongguk parts his lips to allow Taehyung access.

Taehyung drops the cube on Jeongguk’s tongue, feels saliva drip onto his finger that coats Jeongguk’s bottom lip on the way out. He exhales a breath of laughter at Jeongguk’s stunned expression and closes his mouth with two fingers pushing under his chin. “Chew.” He orders again, and when Jeongguk obeys, he murmurs, “Good boy,” and smiles at the content whine in response. 

His thumb comes back up to linger against Jeongguk’s bottom lip. There’s something so… visceral in the way the pad of his thumb presses into the plush of Jeongguk’s lip. The way he obeys Taehyung without question despite an alpha’s nature of testing the orders of another alpha. 

Feeding your best friend a piece of cheese isn’t something that should provoke such feelings or thoughts. He doesn’t understand why it’s difficult for him to peel his eyes off of Jeongguk’s pretty pink lips, why he can’t help but to swipe his thumb over Jeongguk’s bottom lip. When Jeongguk lets out an airy hum, Taehyung breathes in sharply.

After Jeongguk has swallowed, he looks at Taehyung dazingly, eyes clouded over. Taehyung’s eyebrows furrow when he snaps his fingers in front of Jeongguk’s face but there’s no reaction from the younger. “Jeongguk, are you alright?”

Only when their friends begin to flood into the kitchen again does Jeongguk seem to come back to, smiling at the others and greeting Namjoon who seems to have grown comfortable enough already, at least under Jimin’s arm. 

Then Jeongguk grows sheepish when meeting Taehyung’s gaze. “Uhm, it was good, hyung—the cheese, I mean... Thanks.”

He pushes himself off from the counter and approaches the table to join in conversation with the others while Taehyung watches, confused, a little turned on, kinda hungry. Sighing, he grabs another cube of cheese and pops it in his mouth, rolling his eyes when Seokjin scolds him for not washing his hands before touching the food.

—

It’s movie night again, and Taehyung is gathering their food while Jeongguk picks out the movie this time. He goes all out with the snacks, sifting confectioner’s sugar over the buttery popcorn, dumping half a bag of peanut m&ms into it—and off to the side is the most expensive bar of chocolate he’s ever bought before, a result of him going into a fancy supermarket he deemed solely for rich people to shop at. If ₩11,000 chocolate doesn’t taste good, he might as well question everything he’s ever known up to this point. 

“Incoming with the snacks,” Taehyung announces while Jeongguk is flipping through movie options. He sets the popcorn and candy bar down on the coffee table, then gestures to it proudly, as if he grew the corn to pop himself. “Tada!”

Jeongguk peeks over at the popcorn and snorts. “Is it your goal to completely destroy my diet? I only eat unhealthily when I’m with you.” 

“It’s my goal to keep you happy,” Taehyung corrects, tapping his finger against the tip of Jeongguk’s nose, watching as it scrunches the way he hoped it would.

“I can be happy eating a salad,” Jeongguk counters. 

He ends up putting it on some horror movie, which means Taehyung will probably spend most of the night on his phone taking brief glances at the tv every now and then just so he isn’t completely lost on the storyline. 

“If you say so.” Taehyung shrugs and takes the popcorn for himself, only a few handfuls in before Jeongguk caves and grabs some for himself. 

Cockily, Taehyung grins and wiggles his eyebrows at Jeongguk who rolls his eyes and shoves at Taehyung. Laughter spills out of Taehyung until Jeongguk tells him to hush so he can pay attention to the movie, yet it’s a rare occasion that either of them actually end up focusing solely on a movie rather than making comments to each other here and there during it.

Perhaps that’s why their friends started making them sit apart from each other during group movie nights. But even then, they’d call out to each other from across the room, resulting in irritated groans and complaints from the others. Insufferably lovable little shits is what Taehyung and Jeongguk are. 

Contrary to their conversation earlier, Jeongguk eats a fair amount of the popcorn. Once the first handful hits his tongue, he indulges more and more. Taehyung only grabs some blindly when he thinks to, not looking away from the webtoon on his phone. 

It’s unfortunate when Taehyung reaches the end of the last update. He contemplates browsing for another one to read until noticing that his phone’s battery is nearly dead, the 20% warning letting him know that he’ll be forced to watch the remaining hour and a half of the movie, or try to read a book with murderous ambience playing in the background. Somehow, he doesn’t think reading a book is plausible in such a situation.

Setting his phone down on the armrest beside him, he notices that the popcorn bucket now on the coffee table is empty. Of course, they both ate from it, but Taehyung finds amusement in Jeongguk succumbing to Taehyung’s sugary concoctions after initially resisting.

Horror movies to Taehyung are something akin to a bad accident—you don’t want to look, but once you do, it’s practically impossible to look away. As he reaches for the candy bar, his eyes are glued to the screen while a guy’s head gets smashed in, and he grimaces. He glances over at Jeongguk to see his reaction, not knowing how there’s no sign of disturbed in his engrossed expression.

Probably having sensed a pair of eyes on him, Jeongguk looks back at him, then looks down at the candy bar in his grasp. “What’s that?”

“…A candy bar,” Taehyung answers, beginning to peel the wrapper off. “Why?”

“Can I try some?”

Bursting out in laughter, Taehyung shuffles in his seat so that his entire body is facing Jeongguk, legs tucked up under him, and playfully shoves at his bicep. “You literally just ate most of the popcorn.”

“And? I don’t see your point.” Jeongguk juts his bottom lip out a little, Taehyung can feel his resolve begin to crumble as it always does.

“You don’t get any of this,” Taehyung says, gesturing to the candy bar despite already knowing that’s a lie. “What happened to that diet of yours, huh?”

“But, hyung,” Jeongguk whines, and there it goes. The pout, the doe eyes, the downward tilt of his chin.

Each mannerism follows one after the other, making Taehyung melt bit by bit in his spot until he’s quite alike to a puddle of goo. It’s almost as if Jeongguk is a product being advertised on an infomercial, presented with the classic line: But wait! There’s more!

With a sigh, Taehyung caves. “Fine, but you only take what I give you, alright?”

Excited all of a sudden, Jeongguk nods eagerly and presses pause on the movie. Thank the heavens, no more screaming. Then, Taehyung watches and he gets on his knees on the cushion in front of Taehyung, hands in his lap, eyeing the candy bar like its a reward of some sort. The position stirs something up inside of Taehyung, something primal that shouldn’t be acknowledged, twisting around and curling in on itself—Jeongguk, his dongsaeng, an alpha, on his knees for him—focus on the candy bar, dammit.

He almost wishes the movie wasn’t paused, that there was the sound of at least something in the background instead of the deafening silence between the two of them in this moment.

Taehyung breaks off a piece of chocolate, ignoring the slight tremble in his fingers as he does so. He brings it forward, pinched between two fingers, expecting Jeongguk to grab it once it’s close enough. However, he doesn’t. Instead, he leans forward, waiting for Taehyung to feed the chocolate to him himself.

It’s different from the time in Seokjin’s kitchen. Jeongguk doesn’t look confused or shocked this time around, confidently inviting the tips of Taehyung’s fingers in and nipping the chocolate between his teeth. His eyes bore into Taehyung’s the entire time, and Taehyung’s mouth dries around the breath he’s holding. No, this time, Taehyung is the one who’s surprised.

His fingers withdraw from Jeongguk’s mouth slowly as they did last time, and Jeongguk switches between chewing the chocolate and letting it dissolve on his tongue. Before Taehyung’s hand draws back too far, Jeongguk curls his fingers around his wrist and keeps it in place. 

Out of nowhere, Taehyung feels his cock twitch in his sweatpants. Fuck.

“I-I have it on my fingers,” Taehyung excuses, although he doesn’t know if it’s an excuse to free his hand or give it back to Jeongguk.

“Let me help,” Jeongguk murmurs, and brings Taehyung’s hand to his mouth again.

His mouth sucks Taehyung’s fingers in, and his eyes ease shut as his tongue swirls around the digits tantalizingly slow, even where melted chocolate hasn’t spread to. It’s warm, wet, sweet. Taehyung feels a heated growl suppress itself in his chest, the alpha part of him desperately wanting Jeongguk to know just how much this is affecting him.

Jeongguk’s tongue swipes over his fingertips and sucks on them hard, producing wet and sloppy sounds when the suction lets loose. Followed by that is what sounds like a moan, but like Jeongguk is trying to hold back.

Taehyung gasps at the sound, teeth gritting together as he tests the curl of his fingers in Jeongguk’s mouth, sliding them further in to the back of his throat. He smirks in satisfaction when Jeongguk swallows around them, gagging soon after. 

Pulling back some, Taehyung adds pressure to Jeongguk’s tongue and meets his gaze when his eyes blink open, gaze heavy and clouded.

“Hyung,” Jeongguk whines around the fingers, a trail of drool spilling from the corner of his mouth, bubbling around Taehyung’s fingers.

“Mm? Does that taste good, Jeongguk?” questions Taehyung, eyes growing hooded when he spies the dark spot on Jeongguk’s shorts, right where the head of his cock tries poking through. “You like sucking on hyung’s fingers, hm? Like a good little pup for hyung.”

Jeongguk nods so that no more spit will come out, but Taehyung decides he wants to humiliate the young alpha some. “Give me your words, Jeongguk.”

“Y-yeah,” Jeongguk complies, almost panicking at the gush of saliva that overflows until Taehyung runs his thumb through it, spreading it around the rest of his chin. “M’good for you, hyung.”

“So messy, baby. Such a messy alpha, gonna have to clean you up later…down here, too,” Taehyung whispers in a gravelly tone, nodding to the dark patch on his shorts. He notices Jeongguk getting shy, hesitating around his fingers, and he quickly adds, “S’cute, getting all wet just from some fingers in your mouth.”

The air suddenly smells heavy with pheromones, and Taehyung falters slightly. Jasmine permeates the air, along with something else that invades Taehyung’s rational thinking. Fuck, it can’t be what he thinks it is, right?

He remembers glancing over sections in biology textbooks his parents gave him to read after he first presented—reading about how some alphas are able to produce slick while most couldn’t. It doesn’t make them any less of an alpha, but it’s extremely uncommon, almost to the point Taehyung thought it was a myth.

It just so happens that the alpha whining around his fingers, smelling unbelievably sweet and appetizing—his best friend— is one of them.

“Shit, is that slick, Jeonggukie?” Taehyung’s words come out gruffly, barely able to contain himself from pouncing on Jeongguk right now.

Suddenly, Jeongguk’s eyes go wide and Taehyung’s fingers forcefully slip out of his mouth. With a quick squeak of an apology, Jeongguk races out of the room and leaves a stunned Taehyung on the couch, wondering what the fuck just happened.

—

Intermission

It’s something they don’t talk about the day after, or even the following week, for that matter. For the first few days, they hardly talk at all. Jeongguk hides away in his room or the gym while Taehyung eats his meals alone. It’s depressing, Taehyung wishes he’d never gone through with step two, or at least never let it go so far. 

But how was he supposed to know that feeding your best friend may be subject to taking unprecedented roads one isn’t prepared to travel down?

The only person he talks to about it is Jimin. When he knocks on the door of Jimin’s dorm, he isn’t expecting Namjoon to be the first person he sees, glasses crooked and the collar of his shirt pulled down. In the background is Jimin sitting on his desk with a suspiciously red smile. 

While Taehyung stands still in the hallway, not knowing what to make of the scene, Namjoon quickly excuses himself, grabbing his bookbag and bidding both of them a breathy goodbye before rushing down the hall. Nothing about it is subtle, but Jimin has never been one to aim for subtlety. 

When he tells Jimin what’s up, he tries not to go into explicit detail—for example, leaving out the fact that Jeongguk can produce slick, and the fact that he was drooling around Taehyung’s fingers at some point. The most he explains is that he and Jeongguk got themselves into a situation that caused them to be awkward around each other, and he needs help making it less awkward.

It’s obvious that Jimin is trying to speculate what could have happened, and has probably already caught on that something inappropriate happened if the knowing glint in his eye says anything, but thankfully he doesn’t mention it. Taehyung knows he would never hear the end of it, ruining their poor maknae’s innocence.

Yet, if the way Jeongguk sucked his fingers like a cock is anything to go by, the last thing Jeongguk is is innocent. He still has to refrain from getting hard whenever he replays the sounds of Jeongguk’s gagging and slurping in his mind. 

“Maybe you should first reassure him that nothing’s changed between you two. That you don’t see him any differently,” Jimin tells him, legs crossed atop his desk while Taehyung sits on his bed. “You can talk about it later, but when you’re both more comfortable.” 

Maybe Taehyung takes Jimin’s advice, maybe he switches it around a bit, altering it to fit his intentions of not talking about the situation with Jeongguk at all, even after things have gone back to normal. He’s not going to repair the damage just to add onto it afterwards.

Only a week later does Taehyung manage to entice Jeongguk past the threshold of his bedroom with the promise of watching a new K-drama and extra buttery popcorn (no candy bars this time). When Jeongguk realizes Taehyung isn’t going to bring up the incident from their last movie night, he appears to settle in more comfortably, going back to his usual self and talking to Taehyung with ease.

So that’s how they slip back into things the way they were before, and it’s good the way it is. 

…As long as he doesn’t envision Jeongguk during a rut, his hole wet with slick, squelching as his own fingers fuck into his hole, preparing himself for a cock to pound into him. Whining, crying into his pillow, drooling against the sheets as he’s completely ruined. 

Not that he’s thought about anything like that. At all. Never. Jeongguk, his best friend, his platonic best friend. That’s not how one imagines their best friend. That’s not how Taehyung’s been imagining Jeongguk. 

One day Taehyung is on his laptop and winds up opening up his bookmark for the blog that put them in that situation in the first place. He considers deleting the bookmark and forgetting he ever read any of it to begin with, but then he checks out the third step. Realizes it doesn’t seem as bad, nothing that could jeopardize their friendship anyway. 

Cracking his knuckles, Taehyung closes the browser and scoots back from his desk. Let the mission continue. 

End Intermission

—

3. Give them your clothes to wear

If you haven’t already, give your omega some of your clothes, whether it’s a jumper or your favorite scarf, anything they can wear and nuzzle into! This one is a biggie, especially for mated couples. It gives your omega a constant sense of security and comfort, even if you aren’t physically there with them, which leads into the next step…

Taehyung’s scrolling through his notes of the different paintings and sculptures his art history class has discussed, trying to find one interesting enough to write a research paper on. His eyes are caught on the Parthenon before they venture over his laptop lid to Jeongguk across from him. They’re in their study room again, where hardly anything productive seems to happen the longer they spend sitting around in it.

For someone who should probably be rehearsing for the biology presentation he has in half an hour, Jeongguk is rather taken with tapping away on his phone, appearing the most focused Taehyung has seen from him in a while. His eyebrows are furrowed, nose gently scrunched, all made visibly clear by his gelled back hair.

Not that he likes to be a snoop or nosy, but he hopes Jeongguk isn’t having a nervous breakdown while staring off into space like he’s had a habit of doing before. Cocking an eyebrow, he asks, “You okay?

His voice startles Jeongguk out of his stupor, who gives a few rapid blinks before nodding his head. “Yeah, just texting a friend.”

“Oh,” Taehyung hums, trying to come off nonchalantly. He’s never heard Jeongguk mention a friend before—that is, one outside of their existing friend group. But like he said previously, he doesn’t like to be nosy. “That’s nice.”

Besides, a friend in college can be anyone from the person you bumped into at the cafe to the person you sit next to in class and only talk to when you need notes. Sometimes it’s nothing personal, sometimes it’s subjective, a way to make yourself feel less lonely. It’s nothing to look too deeply into.

“Yeah,” Jeongguk whispers, glancing between Taehyung and his phone. He gnaws on his lip for a moment, looking back to Taehyung who’s also glancing between Jeongguk and his laptop. “It’s Namjoon.”

Which, okay, that comes as some sort of surprise. He knew the two got along more than well at their gathering earlier this month, but he wasn’t aware they exchanged numbers. A part of him feels relieved, happy even—but then he thinks about the crush on Namjoon that Jeongguk denied, and how the thought of Jeongguk having a crush on someone twists uncomfortably in his chest now, although he doesn’t know why. It doesn’t make sense for Jeongguk having a crush on someone else to make him feel that way. 

Their movie night incident has only enforced the enigmatic feelings, which makes it even worse. What happened on their couch the other day was just the two of them getting caught in the heat of the moment, and it’s easier to make himself believe that it meant nothing to Jeongguk because Taehyung still isn’t sure what it means to him.

“Let me guess, he’s tutoring you for plant biology?” Taehyung guesses with a kindly amused huff, pushing away the self umbrage rearing its ugly head.

“Uh—Yeah, actually! That’s it,” Jeongguk says, speaking as if he’s realized something rather than answering a question that wasn’t meant to be serious. “Did you know that guava leaves can be used as an antidiarrheal if infused in tea?”

Taehyung blinks. Scrunches his nose at the odd fact. “I—what?”

“And senna leaves act as laxatives—”

“Okay, I’m really glad you know that, but that’s not exactly a suitable conversation starter, Jeongguk,” Taehyung interjects, not knowing if he should laugh or be grossed out. When he looks at his laptop again, already having accepted he won’t be picking his paper topic today, he notices the time. “Hey, don’t you have a presentation to go to soon?”

“Shit!” The way Jeongguk scrambles to get his belongings packed away would be comedic if not for the worried look on his face. To make it worse, he knocks over his cup of iced coffee, and can only watch as it splashes onto his cream turtleneck. “Oh no— why?!”

He quickly sets the cup back up and scoots out of his seat, stretching the top out to examine the stain. Then he turns towards Taehyung, still displaying the less than pleasant looking brown patch on his chest. “Does it look too bad? I don’t have time to change.”

Taehyung gives what he hopes comes off as a reassuring smile, but really knows it looks like a grimace. “I mean, maybe coffee stains are the new trend these days?”

“A fucking terrible one if it is,” Jeongguk hisses.

Then. Then. Taehyung is struck with an epiphany. This falls perfectly in line with his plan, it’s his chance, so seize it he must.

“Here,” Taehyung begins, getting out of his chair and already working on untucking his burgundy sweater from his slacks. He takes it off before Jeongguk can utter any protests, leaving him in just a t-shirt as he hands the sweater to Jeongguk. “Put this on. It’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Jeongguk asks, sounding like he’s only asking to be nice because he desperately wants to accept otherwise.

“Do you have much of a choice?” Taehyung counters, to which Jeongguk shrugs.

Hurriedly, Jeongguk shuffles out of his turtleneck, leaving his abs and tattoos all on display for Taehyung to stare at. He’s seen Jeongguk shirtless before, many times at that, but it’s never made Taehyung feel so…complicated within. A batch of mixed emotions circling around inside. The other times didn’t consist of him wanting to tickle his fingertips down Jeogguk’s spine and over the swell of his chest.

Snap out of it, Taehyung. You just need to get laid, you horny idiot.

When Jeongguk slips the sweater on, Taehyung can’t make the sound of his sharp inhale any more discreet than an elephant trying to hide behind an anthill.

His scent lingering on the sweater merges with Jeongguk’s. He understands now why mated couples love sharing clothes. It gives a sense of protection, and Taehyung even feels himself growing a little possessive. Not in an obsessive way though, just like Jeongguk is his to take care of.

Jeongguk also looks terribly delectable in his clothing. All Taehyung wants to do is give his entire closet to Jeongguk, tell him that all of his clothes belong to him now, then maybe tuck his nose into the crook Jeongguk’s neck and nibble. And if Jeongguk wants to wear nothing but Taehyung’s clothes, then he’d have no complaints about that either. 

The sweater is slightly big on Jeongguk since Taehyung likes his clothes oversized, neckline stretching over his shoulders and leaving his collarbones bare, sleeves slipping past his fingers.

Swallowing thickly, Taehyung stumbles over to lean back against the table, watching Jeongguk with sharp eyes as the young alpha grabs onto the collar of the sweater and brings it up to his nose to sniff. A pleased hum comes out of Jeongguk, and his eyes land on Taehyung as soon as they open again.

“Thanks, Tae,” he whispers sweetly, as if the smell of him isn’t nearly incapacitating Taehyung. “Feels so warm, smells nice.”

“Don’t mention it,” Taehyung utters, waving his hand in dismissal and he struggles to keep his knees from buckling. He gives Jeongguk a tight smile, then grabs the discarded stained top for himself. “I’ll wash this after my classes are over.”

“You’re the best,” Jeongguk compliments, shoving his satchel over his shoulder and grabbing the culprit coffee.

“Good luck on your presentation, pup,” Taehyung says before Jeongguk goes. “You’re gonna do great.”

But he isn’t expecting Jeongguk to come back over to him, nor does he see the kiss that Jeongguk plants on his cheek coming either. As brief and light as the kiss is, it still floods Taehyung with a happy, unexplainable warmth. 

Jeongguk leaves with a grin on his face, teeth pressing down on his bottom lip, and his pretty eyes locked on Taehyung until he’s out of sight.

And if Taehyung walks around campus in a coffee stained turtleneck because it still smells like Jeongguk, and in turn makes him smell like Jeongguk, then that’s nobody’s business but his own, even if it makes everyone he walks past turn their heads to look his way. 

—

The week before Jeongguk’s soccer practices are supposed to become more frequent in preparation for the next few big games coming up, their friends decide to go out to a club for some unadulterated fun. 

Around this time is when Jeongguk starts putting in more time at the gym and less time anywhere else. It’s expected of the team’s star player, but Taehyung still has to keep himself from sulking about it too hard. He didn’t know Jeongguk that well this time last year, but he remembers everyone cheering when Jeongguk was able to grace them with his presence, those few but cherished occasions. 

Then when they did start texting, Jeongguk would send him messages between workouts, gym selfies over Snapchat with numerous captions all along the lines of ‘sore :(((‘ and ‘bet I could bench press a cow rn’. These messages would come through anywhere between eight at night and two in the morning, most he would wake up to. 

So now that he’s gotten used to being around Jeongguk all the time, living with him and studying with him so often, he isn’t really looking forward to having to put a pause on them for a while. 

The end of October is nearing, and with it, the cooler weather has settled in like an old friend saying hi again, and the leaves haven’t quite fallen yet but they certainly make the walks to and from classes less dull. After October comes November, a month loaded with both school and work, then after November – December, where he’ll go home for a month-long break, a month without study dates, movie nights on the couch, Jeongguk.

If he counts November when Jeongguk is busy with soccer, school, and more soccer, then that makes it close to two months, and Taehyung wonders if the months only go by so quickly because he has Jeongguk to spend them with, if they’ll drag along without him. 

He’s just pulled his button up over his shoulders when Jeongguk knocks on his door and barges in less than a second later. Without a shirt, for that matter. It feels like the air has been punched out of his chest when he sees the waistband of fishnet tights above Jeongguk’s jeans, and the material crossing over the parts of his thighs left visible by the rips in his blue jeans.

There’s a moment where Taehyung’s eyes trail over Jeongguk’s torso, admiring every detail he can before meeting Jeongguk’s eyes, only to realize Jeongguk’s staring back at the slate of skin left uncovered by his unbuttoned shirt. Sheepishly, Taehyung begins working on the buttons, wondering why it affects him so much when Jeongguk’s gaze darts down to his fingers before finally looking up.

“H-hyung,” Jeongguk gasps, probably realizing he was staring longer than he meant to.

“Yeah?” Taehyung cocks an eyebrow in question. He leaves four buttons undone, having just enough of his chest bare to expose the valley of his sternum. 

“Listen, uhm…I’m not really feeling any of my shirts tonight…” Jeongguk trails off, reverting back to his shyness, hand curling around the opposite wrist. “Could I borrow one of yours?”

And of course, Taehyung can’t say no. For one, it’s his best friend asking so politely, and two, he’s kind of been stumped on how to get Jeongguk to wear something of his again without him having to ask. He didn’t want to come off as pushy or weird.

When Jeongguk came back to the apartment in Taehyung’s sweater that day, there was a big smile on his face as he told Taehyung the sweater must’ve been good luck: his presentation was nearly perfect. Then he sniffed the air a few times and asked why Taehyung had traces of his smell on him. Taehyung replied saying he ended up having to wear the stained turtleneck for a little while to protect himself from the chilly wind, which was only a partial lie. 

“Only if I get to pick which one,” Taehyung negotiates, already going to his closet and skimming through his tops.

Jeongguk perks up at this, the child-like excitement in his features much too tame and adorable for the rest of his appearance that Taehyung can’t seem to get out of his head. “As long as it’s nothing floral.”

“What, you don’t like floral?”

“I want to look fuckable, not like your grandma’s curtains.”

“See, when you’re me, you can make anything look fuckable.” He glances Jeongguk’s way with a playful wink, turning back to his clothes before he’s able to catch the blush tinting Jeongguk’s cheeks.

The shirt he picks out is one he hasn’t worn too much, but often enough for his scent to still be embedded in its fabric. It’s white and shredded, the word ‘lovers’ written on the front but barely eligible due to the holes he strategically cut into it back when he was going through his shredded clothing phase.

“How’s this?” he asks, holding out the shirt to take.

When Jeongguk accepts the shirt and quickly slips it on, Taehyung can’t help but feel relieved. It looks devilishly good on Jeongguk, keeping just enough of his torso hidden to leave plenty to the imagination. The sleeves squeeze around his biceps, and one of his nipples shows through a hole.

More importantly, while Jeongguk is looking over himself in Taehyung’s mirror, he looks confident. He turns to the side and runs a hand down his side to his ass, smoothing his palm over the swell of it where Taehyung’s eyes follow in the reflection. Like most of his other ripped jeans, there are holes underneath his ass, the bottom of one of his asscheeks even poking through.

The responsible side of Taehyung would not let this thought process lead into wondering what type of underwear Jeongguk is wearing, but Taehyung always sheds a bit of responsibility when preparing to get a few drinks in him. 

To add a bit more flare, Jeongguk rolls and tucks the shirt so that it becomes cropped above his belly button. Taehyung’s eyes graze down Jeongguk’s slim figure, waist dug into by the band of the fishnets when it would look even better with fingertips digging into it instead, leading down to thighs that Taehyung has to refrain from drooling over, wondering how they’d look with bite marks on them.

Even if Jeongguk wore one of his shirts that looks like an elderly lady’s curtains, he would have looked way more fuckable in them than Taehyung does. 

He shakes himself out of his thoughts when he realizes what turn they’re taking, doesn’t understand why thoughts like those suddenly involve his best friend and not the faceless figure they always had before.

“What do you think, Tae?” Jeongguk asks, turning around to face him. One of his hands brushes through his wavy hair while the other is tucked into his back pocket. “It looks cute, right? I’m cute?”

“You’re hot as fuck, pup,” Taehyung breathes out, mesmerized before his eyes widen in realization of what he just said.

Instead of questioning it, however, Jeongguk just giggles and skips over to Taehyung, placing both hands on Taehyung’s left shoulder for leverage to lean in and press a kiss to his cheek, this one less rushed and softer than the one in the study room.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” Jeongguk reciprocates, pulling back far enough for him to see the smirk on Jeongguk’s face.

When Jeongguk makes his exit, Taehyung is left flustered, confused, and, ultimately, a little hard in his jeans. 

—

Taehyung sits by the bar nursing a drink, and beside him is Yoongi with his own drink. Somewhere on the other end of the club are Namjoon and Seokjin in a booth while the others are out dancing on the main floor.

The club itself is hot, sweaty, loud as usual. For whatever reason, its more bearable than a house party. Probably because there’s more to the crowd than the same people he sees in his classes, doesn’t have to worry about how he makes himself look in front of them because they won’t be seeing each other in 10AM Watercolor Painting. Knows nobody will think anything of the way his eyes linger on Jeongguk longer than they should.

His body is pressed up against Hoseok’s, their fronts touching while Hoseok’s back is to Jimin. To outsiders, it probably looks like a three way hook up getting ready to happen, but for them, it’s the usual night in the club. The three of them talk and giggle amongst each other while their bodies move together to the music.

Occasionally, the others will come over to check up on him and Yoongi or grabs drinks for themselves. The time that Jeongguk does, he clings to Taehyung like he’s already drunk, but there’s no trace of alcohol in his breath.

“You know what you should do?” Jeongguk asks, arms slung around Taehyung’s neck and body slotted between Taehyung’s thighs. They swivel clumsily with the stool.

“What’s that?” Taehyung hums, curling a strand of Jeongguk’s hair around his finger.

“Buy me a drink.” The way Jeongguk suggests it is coy, his bottom lip once again finding refuge between his teeth as he grins.

“And what would I get in return? I’ve already lent you one of my shirts, now you want a drink from me too?” Taehyung teases.

Jeongguk leans in closer, and his lips brush against the shell of Taehyung’s ear as he whispers, “Whatever you want, alpha, it’s yours.”

Taehyung's hand tightens around his glass, the other desperately wanting to grab Jeongguk’s hair in a fist while he inquires if Jeongguk thinks it's so funny to say those things. If he’d be ready to deal with the consequences of it. Hell, Taehyung doesn’t even know what the consequences would be.

He pulls away looking smug like he usually does whenever he knows he’s gotten some sort of reaction out of Taehyung. Putting space between them, Jeongguk is a few steps closer to the dance floor when he adds, “I like my drinks sweet and fruity!”

Once Jeongguk has returned to Hoseok and Jimin, Taehyung calls the bartender back and orders the drink closest to what he suspects Jeongguk would like. For a moment, he’d almost forgotten Yoongi has been next to him this entire time, remaining quiet while watching the show unfold.

“He reeks of you.”

Taehyung looks over at Yoongi, seeing him nudge his chin in Jeongguk’s direction. “It must be his cologne. He always wears scent blockers here.”

“Scent blockers or not, he’s wearing your shirt,” Yoongi says, and Taehyung suddenly hates that alphas have such enhanced senses. “And you’re hanging all over each other lately. You smell like him too.”

“I feel like there’s an interrogation in here somewhere,” Taehyung comments, one eyebrow raised.

“Did you guys mate each other?” Yoongi asks as soon as Taehyung shuts up, and the serious expression on his face is enough for Taehyung to know he isn’t joking, but still, he laughs.

Taehyung’s eyes go wide and his jaw drops as his incredulous laughter turns into a scoff. “What the fuck, hyung—no, we haven’t. We’re not even dating.”

“I think you could’ve fooled everyone in this room, Taehyung-ah,” Yoongi points out.

“Well, it’s not everybody’s business, now is it?” Taehyung grabs Jeongguk’s attention as soon as the drink is set against the counter, pointing to it and smiling warmly at the young alpha’s pleased grin.

Since the last time Taehyung checked, Hoseok seems to have left the dance floor now. Jimin is still dancing when Jeongguk leans in to tell him something, and Jimin nods in response before sending Jeongguk his way with a slap on his ass. 

Yoongi simply snickers and shakes his head, sliding off of his stool. “If you’re going to make your feelings so obvious, it might as well be.”

Jeongguk passes Yoongi on his way back, pouts at Taehyung when he makes it to him. He grabs his drink and puts those pouted lips around the straw and takes a few long sips, then asks, “Why did hyung go?”

Shrugging, Taehyung grabs Jeongguk’s drink when it’s held out to him and sets it back down on the counter. No wonder Jeongguk acts so spoiled—Taehyung will do any and every little thing for him and he doesn’t even have to ask. “Probably to see if Hoseok wants to hook up in the restroom.”

Jeongguk scrunches his nose. “Do you think they’d actually do that?”

“Without a doubt. And you know why?” Taehyung asks the question in a manner that implies he’s going to give the answer whether Jeongguk wants it or not. “Remember the moldy table in the lifeguard room at the pool Hoseok worked at last summer? It didn’t break from old age like they said it did.”

Jeongguk’s expression morphs into shock. “No.”

Taehyung’s grin deepens, eyes gleaming with something wicked. “Yes.”

A disgusted sound comes out of Jeongguk before he’s grabbing his drink again, forgoing the straw to down the last of it in one hit. His face contorts as the alcohol hits his tongue, then his hand wraps around Taehyung’s wrist. 

“Come on, I need to clear my mind of this image you’ve cursed me with,” Jeongguk says, tugging Taehyung out of his seat and guiding him to the center of the dance floor where they blend in with the others dancing. 

“I’m not a dancer, Jeongguk,” Taehyung shouts over the music, figuring that either Jeongguk didn’t hear him or merely chose not to when he maneuvers Taehyung’s arms around his neck and settles his own hands on Taehyung’s waist. “I can’t—“

“Just follow my lead, hyung. I’ll teach you a thing or two.” Jeongguk winks, letting his fingers press into Taehyung’s sides as he helps him sway side to side with the music, moving along with him. “For an artist, you’re kind of stiff, but you need to let go.”

Taehyung wants to say that he’s usually not so rigid, that it’s kind of hard to let go when he finds that he really likes how it feels when Jeongguk is the one controlling his movements. 

When Jeongguk is in his comfort zone the way he is while on the field or on the dance floor, he’s not the same shy and quiet man Taehyung sees at large social gatherings. Like this, Jeongguk is more domineering, fits into the smirk he wears. 

All of a sudden, seeing Jeongguk like this has him fumbling for the right words to say and the right things to do. 

“I let go with my hands, not—not my body,” Taehyung excuses, hoping he doesn’t look like an idiot while Jeongguk helps him gyrate his hips. “Two different types of art there.”

“Which is why I said I’ll teach you,” Jeongguk says. There he goes leaning in close again, nose brushing against the shell of Taehyung’s ear while his lips pad against the lobe, breath warming the skin as he opens his mouth to speak. “Are you willing to learn for me?”

Wordlessly, Taehyung nods, eager and heart pounding viciously against the confines of his chest. His arms slip from Jeongguk’s shoulders as the young alpha steps back, giggling at Taehyung’s dumbfounded expression as he turns his back to him and adjusts Taehyung’s hands so that they’re on his waist. 

He almost chokes when Jeongguk begins to grind back against him. The diamonds in Jeongguk’s tights sink in as Taehyung digs his fingertips into Jeongguk’s waist, any ounce of self control vacant as Jeongguk rolls his hips. 

“You have to move too,” Jeongguk turns his neck to look at him as he says it, bringing one of his hands back to hook on the back of Taehyung’s neck while the other presses against Taehyung’s ass. The hand on his ass nudges him forward, meeting Jeongguk’s hips in the middle. “Yeah, like that.”

The thing about this type of dancing is, Taehyung’s seen many people do it many different ways. The way Jeongguk does it is like sex. At least—the motions of it, not in the literal sense. Their bodies mold together, Taehyung grinding into Jeongguk’s ass while Jeongguk reciprocates against him.

He can feel himself getting hard, letting out quiet and needy moans in shallow breaths when his cock makes contact with Jeongguk’s ass. The hand on his neck forces him to tilt his head forward, face stuffed into the crook of Jeongguk’s neck as he grunts into the sweaty span of golden skin. His hands pull Jeongguk into him with purpose, speeding up their movements.

This close, he can hear Jeongguk breathing hard as well, pictures his eyes closed, mouth open, head tilted back while fitting Taehyung’s cock between his ass. There are hushed moans spilling out of him too, too drowned out by the music for anyone to hear except for Taehyung. 

Jeongguk’s scent is muted from the blockers, but Taehyung still breathes him in, pleased in the way he can smell himself on Jeongguk. He hopes everyone else can smell it too—that Jeongguk isn’t anyone else’s for the taking right now. 

If they don’t smell it, then they’d certainly see it.

“Tae,” Jeongguk gasps, and when Taehyung peeks over, he sees that Jeongguk is also hard. “Y-you learn fast.”

“I have a good teacher,” Taehyung grits out, grazing his teeth over Jeongguk’s neck. One of his hands slithers from Jeongguk’s waist down to his ass. He sneaks his fingers into one of the holes there and squeezes Jeongguk’s ass, drawing out a louder gasp from him. “You like that, pup?”

“Fuck yes,” Jeongguk breathes out, practically dry fucking himself against Taehyung’s cock right now. “You—you should slap it.”

God, he doesn’t know what’s happening right now, how this started, but he knows that he likes how filthy Jeongguk is. Wanting to be spanked in front of all these people, working himself over Taehyung’s cock so shamelessly, for everyone to see if they looked over. He growls into Jeongguk’s neck and tightens his hand around his waist. 

“Shit, baby, you want me to smack your pretty little ass? In front of everyone?”  Taehyung wonders if it’s crossing a line when his fingers tug at the hem of his extremely brief briefs. There’s not enough room to pull it back and let it slap against Jeongguk, but if there was… “And I thought you were a good boy.”

“I am!” Jeongguk protests.

“No, you’re not,” Taehyung mutters, pulling his hand out from Jeongguk’s jeans, returning it to his waist. He keeps Jeongguk’s hips still against him, resulting in a whine of complaint from Jeongguk. “Good boys don’t fuck themselves against their alpha in public.”

And fuck where the hell did that come from? Taehyung doesn’t know what he’s turning into—some horny dog who can’t control the words coming out of his mouth. 

The room smells sweet all of a sudden, drawing Taehyung in close to Jeongguk, making him breathe Jeongguk’s scent in heavily. His cock twitches in his hands, and he licks a stripe from Jeongguk’s neck to his jaw, humming in delight at the whimper Jeongguk lets out. 

Then he opens his eyes and notices that others are staring at him. And the scent filling his nostrils is filtering throughout the rest of the club as well, and it’s coming from Jeongguk. 

Suddenly, Yoongi, Hoseok, and Namjoon are there huddling around them and ushering them further away from everyone else because the scent of slick may attract unwanted attention from alphas, hence why Jimin and Seokjin keep their distance from the scene. 

Even if Jeongguk is an alpha himself, there’s no telling how he would fare trying to fend off a plethora of others wanting a taste of him. 

The five of them end up outside, and Taehyung keeps his arms wrapped around Jeongguk’s cowering figure while glaring at the other three, silently warning them to keep their hands off of Jeongguk. 

“I think—“ Yoongi speaks up cautiously, eyes flickering between Taehyung and Jeongguk. “I think you need to take Jeongguk home, get him somewhere safe.”

When Taehyung’s head clears and he realizes that nobody is going to take Jeongguk away from him, he sends an apologetic glance their way and nods. “I will. I’m sorry about what happened back there. That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

The unspoken question lingers in the air. Jeongguk’s slick remains a detectable scent in the air, and Taehyung really wishes he could get Jeongguk in his car right now and take him away from all of this. When he checks on Jeongguk, the young alpha isn’t looking at any of them, gaze kept to the ground. 

Hoseok gives him a reassuring smile, probably the most level headed one right now considering pheromones don’t affect him the way they do to others. “We’ll talk about it later, just get him out of here.”

As Taehyung is guiding Jeongguk to his car, in the distance hears Yoongi ask, “How did Jeongguk do that, anyway?”

Then Namjoon’s response of, “Oh, hyung, didn’t you pay attention in Year 10 anatomy?”

Taehyung opens the passenger’s side door of his car for Jeongguk, waits until he’s settled in before shutting it. He hops in the driver's seat and starts the car, but doesn’t put them in drive just yet. However, he does roll his window down because he’s still struggling from trying not to do something stupid with Jeongguk’s scent flooding his system. 

Looking over, he sees Jeongguk with his arms crossed and a troubled expression on his face. Tentatively, Taehyung places his hand on Jeongguk’s thigh and rubs his thumb over it in circles. “How are you feeling?”

There’s the hint of a pout on Jeongguk’s lips as he huffs, exaggerating the roll of his eyes when he turns to face Taehyung. “I’m embarrassed as hell, Tae. I can’t—it’s not like I can run from you this time.”

“I mean, it’s not something to be ashamed of. It‘s natural,” Taehyung assures, not sure if it would be any comfort to Jeongguk knowing that Taehyung thinks it’s actually kind of cute. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to run from me.”

“But it’s weird,” Jeongguk mumbles. He slumps further down in his seat, making a face at what’s probably his slick making a bigger mess in his jeans than he’d like. “Alphas shouldn’t be able to—“

“Jeongguk-ah, there’s no such thing as what an alpha should and shouldn’t be able to do. Each alpha has their own capabilities, their own genetic makeup, not all of us are going to be the same. Just like how you’re an alpha who’s built better for sports than I am, how I can do things you can’t too,” Taehyung interjects, giving his speech firm and clear, squeezing Jeongguk’s thigh during it. “Sure, it’s rare, but it doesn’t mean you’re less of an alpha than the next guy. You aren’t supposed to be like the others, you’re supposed to be like you.”

It’s quiet for a moment. Taehyung’s scared to face Jeongguk in case he said something wrong, so he keeps his focus ahead and his hand ready to withdraw. Just as he begins to retract it, there’s a sniffle that comes out of Jeongguk that makes him keep his hand right where it is. 

When he glances over, he sees tears welling up in Jeongguk’s eyes. “Oh no, did I say something wrong? I’m so sorry, pup.”

“No, it’s just…” Jeongguk shakes his head and brings his hands up to his eyes, wiping away the unshed tears. “Sometimes you say things that make me feel like, maybe I’m not doing the worst job at this whole alpha thing.” 

Insecurities like Jeongguk’s die hard, and Taehyung doesn’t always have the right advice, but he does try when a listening ear doesn’t feel like enough. His hand slips from Jeongguk’s thigh and runs through his hair, fingers curling around the blonde strands and pulling a content hum from Jeongguk. 

“You’re one of the best alphas I know, Jeongguk-ah,” Taehyung murmurs, and leans in to press a kiss to Jeongguk’s forehead. Against the spot he kissed, he whispers, “My golden alpha.”

Maybe they should talk about what happened in the club, but they don’t. All Taehyung focuses on is getting Jeongguk home so he can get into something comfortable. Avoiding important conversations seems to become a developing specialty of Taehyung’s, and there’s bound to only be so long he can get away with it before he has nowhere else to run.

And maybe when they get home, Taehyung should get rid of that stupid guide because it’s, once again, put them in a complicated predicament, but he doesn’t. 

He doesn’t know why he stares at the blog for hours long after he should have gone to sleep, telling himself he’ll quit after the next step because anything past that is when it begins to get dangerous. 

Yet, realistically, it’s been dangerous for a while now and Taehyung has gotten too comfortable tempting the fire.