✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: The one where Jungkook develops a huge crush on a Youtuber he found after falling into the rabbit hole of his recommended videos. Unbeknownst to him, you were also recommended to his hyungs.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Youtuber AU
°•. 𝑪𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 .•°
𝑩𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒆
✿𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈: OT7xReader
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: The one where, after living abroad for years, you move back to Korea and your old high school friend Namjoon offers you his place to stay while you get settled, casually forgetting to mention that: a) he still had a massive crush on you. b) he lived with six other guys.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, College AU, angst if you squint.
°•. 𝑩𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 .•°
𝑳𝒊𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚
✿𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈: Taehyung x Reader, Jungkook x Reader
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: The one where your best friend of years and love of your life is getting married and wants you to be the maid of honor. Luckily for you, the best man is not exactly happy either.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst
°•. 𝑳𝒊𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕.•°
𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕
✿𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈: Jungkook x Reader
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: The one where everytime you get dumped you pretend that you never met the guy before to mess with their heads. To the point that if you run into them somewhere you reintroduce yourself and act like you’ve never seen each other before.
Enters fuckboy Jungkook who disappears after your night together, not knowing how much he was about to regret that choice.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst, College AU
°•. 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕.•°
𝑱𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒌𝒐𝒐𝒌'𝒔 𝑱𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍
✿𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈: Jungkook x Reader
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: The one where Jungkook, a second year student in the Auror Academy, keeps a journal to vent about his unsuccessful attempts at wooing you.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: crack, humor, romance, Harry Potter Au
°•. 𝑱𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒌𝒐𝒐𝒌'𝒔 𝑱𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 .•°
𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐬
✿𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈: OT7 x Plus Size! Reader
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: The one where seven campus princes who are used to getting everything they wanted get enchanted by your distrust and brattiness, climbing over each other to get a smile from you who could not be bothered to give them a single second of your day.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst, College AU
°•. 𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 .•°
𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞
✿𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈: Alpha! Hyung line x Omega! Reader
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: The one where you find your fated alphas, but they can't find you.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst, ABO, Soulmate AUs.
°•. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 .•°
𝑰𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: Quick little works that I pick up when I’m bored or need to procrastinate. I’m open to requests, but I won’t be able to do all of them :c
°•. 𝑰𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 .•°
°•. ✿ .•°
✿ 𝑼𝒑𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈
These are ideas that I will pick up as soon as I finish Liability, and their taglists are open! So just let me know if you'd like to be tagged once they come out.
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: "And through some happenstance, casual and cruel, shaped by the hands of the Moon goddesses, you ended up face to face with what They considered your fated mates. Of course, they didn’t know that - how could they recognize their goddess-given match if you had no scent? As long as you didn’t reach maturity, only you would feel this pull, this constant urge pooling at your lower abdomen when their scents filled your nose and sent your eyes rolling back. You knew your place and it was not amongst royalty."
OR
The one where you find your fated alphas, but they can't find you.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst, ABO, Soulmate AUs.
✿ 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: This is a 18+ work! Minors, please do not interact. Also, there will be mentions of violence and abuse.
(Fanfic masterlist)
°•. ✿ .•°
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 - 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬
(<<< part three)
”Try it once more, please.’’
”I don’t want to.”
”Please, once more, then we can be done with it.”
”Once more might kill me, Sir Hoseok, and I’ve always wanted the honor of being able to kill myself.”
The knight beside you froze, shoulders tensing to a tight line. “Don’t joke about that.”
You mumbled a quiet apology, bowing your head to read the jumble of letters on the paper in front of you and avoid your mate’s terribly serious eyes.
After hours of practicing reading under the gentle but strict guidance of Hoseok, what once felt like the highest gift someone could give had turned into a curse. As it was, being literate did not come easily and your head felt like it would cave under the weight of all your new found knowledge.
Still, Hoseok remained ever patient, never once losing his temper even when you got frustrated with your own inability to put together vowels and consonants and asked to give up. Throughout the entire week after your near-heat accident, he put aside at least an hour a day - sometimes more - to sit in the corner of the palace’s humongous library with you, watching as you stumbled and whined your way through your delayed education.
After a little over a week of lessons, you could proudly spell your own name and there were no words in your vocabulary that could express the dimension of the gratitude you felt for Hoseok at the moment you finished the last stroke of the last letter of your name on the parchment before you. Your eyes immediately filled with tears, because at last there it was - your first mark on the world made entirely by your own hands and volition.
“My lady” Hoseok called, voice betraying a small amount of panic at your tears. “Is there something wrong?”
You chuckled at his reaction, thinking of another alpha that not long before had also paled before your crying. Clearly, the only reactions you could pull out of your mates were confoundment and agitation.
“Happy tears, Sir Hoseok” you clarified, smiling. “Happy tears.”
He smiled back, lips stretching beautifully into a grin. “Happy tears” he repeated.
Your reaction to your own signature seemed to spur him on, as he invested even more of his personal time into teaching you the joys of reading, going from small achievements such as the alphabet to reading entire lines all by yourself with minimal embarrassment. He pushed you forward, confident in your abilities, even as you whined and complained - an action that in itself proved how comfortable you felt around him, as you never had the privilege to complain about anything back at your own house.
Today was one of those whining and reading days, as Hoseok felt you had evolved enough to try your hand at poetry, picking a small collection of sonnets and other simpler works from the shelves and handing it to you. And you had been doing just fine, up until they started taking a turn for the romantic, the subject changing from the beauty of trees and spring to declarations of love. That had you choking on the words, fighting to read it without blushing or crying - both equally bad in front of your mate-not-mate.
“Keep going” he asked when you stopped and you felt bad enough about your joke about suicidal ideation to carry on.
“And i-if my body was may - uh, sorry - made for something” you said, fixating heavily onto the page so as to resist the temptation to look at Hoseok’s face “let it be love.”
***
“And if it was made for someone” he heard you read in a whisper, leaning in to hear you better “let it be you.”
Hoseok almost flinched when you closed the book forcefully, so hypnotized by your voice as he was. If he listened to reason, he would’ve looked away, as it was the proper thing to do when a lady was so clearly flustered, but reason and properness seemed to escape him when you were around. It had promptly fled him earlier, when out of the uncountable options of books available, he chose a poetry one, knowing well enough the psychic damage hearing proclamations of love coming from your lips would cause him.
Something seemed to grow underneath his skin with every moment he spent watching over your progress. At first, he tried to pass it off as a momentary fancy, as one could expect from spending so much time alone with an omega, but the longer it went, the more he came to the conclusion that whatever was taking root in him ran much deeper than just surface-level biology.
It was you. Soft-spoken and quiet little you, with the occasional glimpse or flash of a quick wit you allowed to escape your sky-high walls.
For now, he decided, he would let his feelings remain unnamed.
“There is one more line” he pushed, hoping to hear it from you, resigning himself to the guilt of knowing it would fuel his late night fantasies of which you had been a recent protagonist of most. He lied to himself, thinking that maybe hearing the final lines of the poem from your voice would sound off an instinctual alarm in his head, pointing out something fundamentally wrong in it and then he would finally be able to lay his daydreams to rest.
Grimacing, you opened the book once more and continued the sentence. “Such is the world I hope I was born into” you read, slowly and unsure, frowning over pronunciations that didn’t sound quite right to you and Hoseok held the table to fight the urge to smooth out the wrinkle on your forehead. “I was made half by the moon and I am made whole by only you.”
You paused and he urged “Finish it.”
“I am made whole by only you, my mate.”
Once more, you closed the book, this time truly done with it. Hoseok barely registered the soft thud of it, too focused on the absolute lack of any wrongness in hearing you say the words all alphas craved to hear - but only ever from the right person.
Something was not right and he couldn’t figure out what it was. It was something in this half reaction of his body - he was warm but not burning, attracted but not craving and it was right while hurting from not being right enough.
“You knew this poem” you pointed out, waking him from his reveries.
“Ah, yes” he answered, reaching for the book, examining its leatherbound cover. “It’s my mom’s favorite. She read it to me when I was younger.”
“That sounds nice.”
“I didn’t like it too much when I was a boy” he laughed. “Thought it lacked dragons and epic battles. But I grew to be quite fond of it.”
“Even without the dragons?” you teased.
“Even so, if you can believe it.”
You place your chin on your palms, tilting your head sideways in a way that sent your hair cascading down your shoulder. Hoseok wondered, shamefully not for the first time, if he pressed his nose to your tresses, would he be able to find anything other than the standard and alluring smell of omega.
“Tell me about your mom, Sir Hoseok”, you asked.
“She’s my favorite person,” he said simply, shrugging. “I urge you to not tell that to my father, though.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“She is exceedingly smart. I remember thinking she was the smartest person alive when I was a young boy. I still do. Humorous too. She writes weekly and her correspondence always leaves me smiling. I think she would like you, if you ever had the chance to meet”.
You seemed surprised by his affirmation and he couldn’t comprehend why. Who wouldn’t like you?
Well, Jin wouldn’t. But he had his own issues.
“Mom’s an omega too” he watched as your eyes widened in shock.
“Is she? Truly?”
“Yes. My father and her are mates,” he pointed at the book laying between them on the table. “I guess that explains why she loved that poem so much, doesn’t it?”
You looked down at the book, clearly rethinking the meaning of what you had read. “I’ve never met another omega” you admitted.
“They are very rare. I only know one more, besides you and my mother.”
“I’ve never met a mated pair either.”
“Oh, it’s disgusting” Hoseok complained in a good-natured manner, rolling his eyes at the memory of many moments shared between his sickly in love parents he wished he did not have to witness. “They are constantly holding hands and declaring their undying love for each other.”
“Oh. Disgusting, yes.”
There was something undeniably sad in your tone, but Hoseok wrote it off as longing. Certainly, as it was for alphas, omegas too dreamed about finding their mate.
“Have you found yours? Mate, I mean.”
You answered in too rushed a manner for him to find it all honest. “No.”
His next question, although he tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, seemed eager even to his own ears. “Do you want to find them?”
You didn’t answer quickly, fiddling with your sleeves in deep thought before replying. “I used to. Now…” you shrugged, still with a sorrowful countenance. “I gave up on the notion of it. I do not mean to sound sacrilegious, or to make it seem as if I am wiser than the Moon, but I have come to give more importance to other matters beyond providence or serendipity.”
“Such as?”
“Different forms of connection” you provided carefully. “Feasibility, as well.”
That seemed to surprise Hoseok “Feasibility?”
“There are many ways with which this world can separate what the Moon goddesses brought together, Sir Hoseok. What if a pair of mates lived so far from each other, they never had a chance to meet? What if one had died before their encounter? What if they came from such different lives or status that they could never be considered a respectful match?”
“Surely, some understanding could be spared if they were truly a mated pair!”
“That is a very romantic line of thinking, Sir. But in some circumstances, I would consider it naive.”
“Naive!” Hoseok cried, finding it difficult to cope with your pessimism, when he had only seen the wonders of a fated match. “Do you believe me to be naive for believing in the goddesses wisdom?”
“You misunderstand me” you refuted, calm and serious despite his indignation. “I don’t place any naivety in that argument, I simply think you fail to take into account the ways of the world and our responsibilities and prejudices in it. Do you believe, for example, that the king would be happy to be mated with a beggar?”
“I may not speak for the king. But I would be happy to be mated with anyone and it would not matter their place in this world. And there is no situation they could be in that I would not try to save them from.”
Despite the certainty in his voice, you still did not seem to believe him and that aggravated him even more. “And do you believe you would succeed in all of them?”
“Yes” he answered. “My mate’s place is beside me. Nothing will change that.”
You lowered your eyes, but did not reply, seemingly done with the discussion. Hoseok, on the other hand, could not let it go, unsure of why it was so important to him that you trusted his promises.
“You don’t believe me?”
“I believe you believe that. But so did I, at one point.”
“What changed, then?”
You raised your eyes back towards him, once more with that expression he had thought to be longing, but now with too much anguish for him to confuse with it again. But before you could answer or he could further investigate what could have possibly caused such a change of heart, you were interrupted by the arrival of none other than His Majesty.
Honestly, it had only been by pure coincidence that they had not encountered Namjoon earlier in their studies, considering how much time he spent in the library on a weekly basis.
Namjoon had just started walking to the shelves further in the back, a couple of heavy tomes under his arm, when he heard the voices of both his friend and the omega that plagued his resting hours. He wondered if his unreasonable obsession had worsened and he was now imagining the sound of your voice, but surely enough, there you both were, sitting across from each other in a tense staring match.
“Am I interrupting something?”
You stood, hurrying into a clumsy curtesy. “Your Majest- I mean, Namjoon, hello!”
Hoseok only nodded slightly to his friend, eyes still on you. Namjoon took notice of how neither of you denied his question.
“Sir Hoseok has kindly offered to teach me how to read”, you offered when both alphas said nothing. “We have been practicing for a while!”
“Have you now?”
“Yes! He has proven to be a very kind and patient teacher and I am very thankful for his lessons.”
Namjoon knew Hoseok not to be particularly kind nor patient when it came to teaching his guards. In fact, he was mostly known as a demanding and menacing terror by most recruits, but Namjoon decided not to ruin his reputation and kept quiet. After all, he too would be much gentler to a pretty omega than to sweaty, undisciplined guards.
“Patient, you say?”, he asked as Hoseok avoided his questioning eyes, feigning ignorance.
“Exceedingly so! As you know, I was not taught how to read when I was younger, but now I can even write my own name! Isn’t it wonderful?”
It was and Namjoon voiced his agreement.Just as he did, your stomach made a loud rumbling noise, sending you into a blushing fit. “Goddesses, I’m so sorry!” you apologized, covering your reddened face with your hands. “I guess this is a sign that I have taken too much of Sir Hoseok’s time. I shall take my dinner in my room and leave you be.”
“Have dinner with us” Namjoon offered, watching your face contort into poorly concealed horror and Hoseok’s into a confused expression.
“I couldn’t possibly, Your Majesty-”
“Please, I insist.”
Namjoon didn’t know why he insisted nor did he know why he invited you in the first place. Once more, something had taken over his senses and pushed him towards you despite all reason.
He could see Hoseok from his peripherals, most likely worrying over the same thing as him - Jin’s attendance of their nightly dinners. Jin, who would certainly not appreciate your presence and probably consider it a terrible disturbance and invasion.
Well, Jin would just have to make peace with it. Namjoon had decided he deserved more of your time, as it seemed it had been monopolized by his guard - a fact he unreasonably resented and would further investigate later, as he had never felt any sort of jealousy towards his best friend. As it was, you had been with them for a couple of weeks and he barely knew anything beyond the misfortunes of your life. There was certainly much more to you and he was determined to learn, if only to extend his suffering and break his own heart in a more informed manner.
“I won’t take no for an answer.”
There was a slight tremor in your left eyelid that he chose to ignore when you answered with an uneasy smile. “I guess there’s no point in saying no then.”
Namjoon grinned. “Great.”
“Great” you repeated. The tremors persisted.
°•. ✿ .•°
✿ The next chapter called "Mateless" is already available on my ko-fi to Calcifer Crew, my membership tier, and will be posted here soon! Click here if you want early access to all my updates :)
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: "And through some happenstance, casual and cruel, shaped by the hands of the Moon goddesses, you ended up face to face with what They considered your fated mates. Of course, they didn’t know that - how could they recognize their goddess-given match if you had no scent? As long as you didn’t reach maturity, only you would feel this pull, this constant urge pooling at your lower abdomen when their scents filled your nose and sent your eyes rolling back. You knew your place and it was not amongst royalty."
OR
The one where you find your fated alphas, but they can't find you.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst, ABO, Soulmate AUs.
✿ 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: This is a 18+ work! Minors, please do not interact. Also, there will be mentions of violence and abuse.
(Fanfic masterlist)
°•. ✿ .•°
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 - 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬
(<<< part three)
”Try it once more, please.’’
”I don’t want to.”
”Please, once more, then we can be done with it.”
”Once more might kill me, Sir Hoseok, and I’ve always wanted the honor of being able to kill myself.”
The knight beside you froze, shoulders tensing to a tight line. “Don’t joke about that.”
You mumbled a quiet apology, bowing your head to read the jumble of letters on the paper in front of you and avoid your mate’s terribly serious eyes.
After hours of practicing reading under the gentle but strict guidance of Hoseok, what once felt like the highest gift someone could give had turned into a curse. As it was, being literate did not come easily and your head felt like it would cave under the weight of all your new found knowledge.
Still, Hoseok remained ever patient, never once losing his temper even when you got frustrated with your own inability to put together vowels and consonants and asked to give up. Throughout the entire week after your near-heat accident, he put aside at least an hour a day - sometimes more - to sit in the corner of the palace’s humongous library with you, watching as you stumbled and whined your way through your delayed education.
After a little over a week of lessons, you could proudly spell your own name and there were no words in your vocabulary that could express the dimension of the gratitude you felt for Hoseok at the moment you finished the last stroke of the last letter of your name on the parchment before you. Your eyes immediately filled with tears, because at last there it was - your first mark on the world made entirely by your own hands and volition.
“My lady” Hoseok called, voice betraying a small amount of panic at your tears. “Is there something wrong?”
You chuckled at his reaction, thinking of another alpha that not long before had also paled before your crying. Clearly, the only reactions you could pull out of your mates were confoundment and agitation.
“Happy tears, Sir Hoseok” you clarified, smiling. “Happy tears.”
He smiled back, lips stretching beautifully into a grin. “Happy tears” he repeated.
Your reaction to your own signature seemed to spur him on, as he invested even more of his personal time into teaching you the joys of reading, going from small achievements such as the alphabet to reading entire lines all by yourself with minimal embarrassment. He pushed you forward, confident in your abilities, even as you whined and complained - an action that in itself proved how comfortable you felt around him, as you never had the privilege to complain about anything back at your own house.
Today was one of those whining and reading days, as Hoseok felt you had evolved enough to try your hand at poetry, picking a small collection of sonnets and other simpler works from the shelves and handing it to you. And you had been doing just fine, up until they started taking a turn for the romantic, the subject changing from the beauty of trees and spring to declarations of love. That had you choking on the words, fighting to read it without blushing or crying - both equally bad in front of your mate-not-mate.
“Keep going” he asked when you stopped and you felt bad enough about your joke about suicidal ideation to carry on.
“And i-if my body was may - uh, sorry - made for something” you said, fixating heavily onto the page so as to resist the temptation to look at Hoseok’s face “let it be love.”
***
“And if it was made for someone” he heard you read in a whisper, leaning in to hear you better “let it be you.”
Hoseok almost flinched when you closed the book forcefully, so hypnotized by your voice as he was. If he listened to reason, he would’ve looked away, as it was the proper thing to do when a lady was so clearly flustered, but reason and properness seemed to escape him when you were around. It had promptly fled him earlier, when out of the uncountable options of books available, he chose a poetry one, knowing well enough the psychic damage hearing proclamations of love coming from your lips would cause him.
Something seemed to grow underneath his skin with every moment he spent watching over your progress. At first, he tried to pass it off as a momentary fancy, as one could expect from spending so much time alone with an omega, but the longer it went, the more he came to the conclusion that whatever was taking root in him ran much deeper than just surface-level biology.
It was you. Soft-spoken and quiet little you, with the occasional glimpse or flash of a quick wit you allowed to escape your sky-high walls.
For now, he decided, he would let his feelings remain unnamed.
“There is one more line” he pushed, hoping to hear it from you, resigning himself to the guilt of knowing it would fuel his late night fantasies of which you had been a recent protagonist of most. He lied to himself, thinking that maybe hearing the final lines of the poem from your voice would sound off an instinctual alarm in his head, pointing out something fundamentally wrong in it and then he would finally be able to lay his daydreams to rest.
Grimacing, you opened the book once more and continued the sentence. “Such is the world I hope I was born into” you read, slowly and unsure, frowning over pronunciations that didn’t sound quite right to you and Hoseok held the table to fight the urge to smooth out the wrinkle on your forehead. “I was made half by the moon and I am made whole by only you.”
You paused and he urged “Finish it.”
“I am made whole by only you, my mate.”
Once more, you closed the book, this time truly done with it. Hoseok barely registered the soft thud of it, too focused on the absolute lack of any wrongness in hearing you say the words all alphas craved to hear - but only ever from the right person.
Something was not right and he couldn’t figure out what it was. It was something in this half reaction of his body - he was warm but not burning, attracted but not craving and it was right while hurting from not being right enough.
“You knew this poem” you pointed out, waking him from his reveries.
“Ah, yes” he answered, reaching for the book, examining its leatherbound cover. “It’s my mom’s favorite. She read it to me when I was younger.”
“That sounds nice.”
“I didn’t like it too much when I was a boy” he laughed. “Thought it lacked dragons and epic battles. But I grew to be quite fond of it.”
“Even without the dragons?” you teased.
“Even so, if you can believe it.”
You place your chin on your palms, tilting your head sideways in a way that sent your hair cascading down your shoulder. Hoseok wondered, shamefully not for the first time, if he pressed his nose to your tresses, would he be able to find anything other than the standard and alluring smell of omega.
“Tell me about your mom, Sir Hoseok”, you asked.
“She’s my favorite person,” he said simply, shrugging. “I urge you to not tell that to my father, though.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“She is exceedingly smart. I remember thinking she was the smartest person alive when I was a young boy. I still do. Humorous too. She writes weekly and her correspondence always leaves me smiling. I think she would like you, if you ever had the chance to meet”.
You seemed surprised by his affirmation and he couldn’t comprehend why. Who wouldn’t like you?
Well, Jin wouldn’t. But he had his own issues.
“Mom’s an omega too” he watched as your eyes widened in shock.
“Is she? Truly?”
“Yes. My father and her are mates,” he pointed at the book laying between them on the table. “I guess that explains why she loved that poem so much, doesn’t it?”
You looked down at the book, clearly rethinking the meaning of what you had read. “I’ve never met another omega” you admitted.
“They are very rare. I only know one more, besides you and my mother.”
“I’ve never met a mated pair either.”
“Oh, it’s disgusting” Hoseok complained in a good-natured manner, rolling his eyes at the memory of many moments shared between his sickly in love parents he wished he did not have to witness. “They are constantly holding hands and declaring their undying love for each other.”
“Oh. Disgusting, yes.”
There was something undeniably sad in your tone, but Hoseok wrote it off as longing. Certainly, as it was for alphas, omegas too dreamed about finding their mate.
“Have you found yours? Mate, I mean.”
You answered in too rushed a manner for him to find it all honest. “No.”
His next question, although he tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, seemed eager even to his own ears. “Do you want to find them?”
You didn’t answer quickly, fiddling with your sleeves in deep thought before replying. “I used to. Now…” you shrugged, still with a sorrowful countenance. “I gave up on the notion of it. I do not mean to sound sacrilegious, or to make it seem as if I am wiser than the Moon, but I have come to give more importance to other matters beyond providence or serendipity.”
“Such as?”
“Different forms of connection” you provided carefully. “Feasibility, as well.”
That seemed to surprise Hoseok “Feasibility?”
“There are many ways with which this world can separate what the Moon goddesses brought together, Sir Hoseok. What if a pair of mates lived so far from each other, they never had a chance to meet? What if one had died before their encounter? What if they came from such different lives or status that they could never be considered a respectful match?”
“Surely, some understanding could be spared if they were truly a mated pair!”
“That is a very romantic line of thinking, Sir. But in some circumstances, I would consider it naive.”
“Naive!” Hoseok cried, finding it difficult to cope with your pessimism, when he had only seen the wonders of a fated match. “Do you believe me to be naive for believing in the goddesses wisdom?”
“You misunderstand me” you refuted, calm and serious despite his indignation. “I don’t place any naivety in that argument, I simply think you fail to take into account the ways of the world and our responsibilities and prejudices in it. Do you believe, for example, that the king would be happy to be mated with a beggar?”
“I may not speak for the king. But I would be happy to be mated with anyone and it would not matter their place in this world. And there is no situation they could be in that I would not try to save them from.”
Despite the certainty in his voice, you still did not seem to believe him and that aggravated him even more. “And do you believe you would succeed in all of them?”
“Yes” he answered. “My mate’s place is beside me. Nothing will change that.”
You lowered your eyes, but did not reply, seemingly done with the discussion. Hoseok, on the other hand, could not let it go, unsure of why it was so important to him that you trusted his promises.
“You don’t believe me?”
“I believe you believe that. But so did I, at one point.”
“What changed, then?”
You raised your eyes back towards him, once more with that expression he had thought to be longing, but now with too much anguish for him to confuse with it again. But before you could answer or he could further investigate what could have possibly caused such a change of heart, you were interrupted by the arrival of none other than His Majesty.
Honestly, it had only been by pure coincidence that they had not encountered Namjoon earlier in their studies, considering how much time he spent in the library on a weekly basis.
Namjoon had just started walking to the shelves further in the back, a couple of heavy tomes under his arm, when he heard the voices of both his friend and the omega that plagued his resting hours. He wondered if his unreasonable obsession had worsened and he was now imagining the sound of your voice, but surely enough, there you both were, sitting across from each other in a tense staring match.
“Am I interrupting something?”
You stood, hurrying into a clumsy curtesy. “Your Majest- I mean, Namjoon, hello!”
Hoseok only nodded slightly to his friend, eyes still on you. Namjoon took notice of how neither of you denied his question.
“Sir Hoseok has kindly offered to teach me how to read”, you offered when both alphas said nothing. “We have been practicing for a while!”
“Have you now?”
“Yes! He has proven to be a very kind and patient teacher and I am very thankful for his lessons.”
Namjoon knew Hoseok not to be particularly kind nor patient when it came to teaching his guards. In fact, he was mostly known as a demanding and menacing terror by most recruits, but Namjoon decided not to ruin his reputation and kept quiet. After all, he too would be much gentler to a pretty omega than to sweaty, undisciplined guards.
“Patient, you say?”, he asked as Hoseok avoided his questioning eyes, feigning ignorance.
“Exceedingly so! As you know, I was not taught how to read when I was younger, but now I can even write my own name! Isn’t it wonderful?”
It was and Namjoon voiced his agreement.Just as he did, your stomach made a loud rumbling noise, sending you into a blushing fit. “Goddesses, I’m so sorry!” you apologized, covering your reddened face with your hands. “I guess this is a sign that I have taken too much of Sir Hoseok’s time. I shall take my dinner in my room and leave you be.”
“Have dinner with us” Namjoon offered, watching your face contort into poorly concealed horror and Hoseok’s into a confused expression.
“I couldn’t possibly, Your Majesty-”
“Please, I insist.”
Namjoon didn’t know why he insisted nor did he know why he invited you in the first place. Once more, something had taken over his senses and pushed him towards you despite all reason.
He could see Hoseok from his peripherals, most likely worrying over the same thing as him - Jin’s attendance of their nightly dinners. Jin, who would certainly not appreciate your presence and probably consider it a terrible disturbance and invasion.
Well, Jin would just have to make peace with it. Namjoon had decided he deserved more of your time, as it seemed it had been monopolized by his guard - a fact he unreasonably resented and would further investigate later, as he had never felt any sort of jealousy towards his best friend. As it was, you had been with them for a couple of weeks and he barely knew anything beyond the misfortunes of your life. There was certainly much more to you and he was determined to learn, if only to extend his suffering and break his own heart in a more informed manner.
“I won’t take no for an answer.”
There was a slight tremor in your left eyelid that he chose to ignore when you answered with an uneasy smile. “I guess there’s no point in saying no then.”
Namjoon grinned. “Great.”
“Great” you repeated. The tremors persisted.
°•. ✿ .•°
✿ The next chapter called "Mateless" is already available on my ko-fi to Calcifer Crew, my membership tier, and will be posted here soon! Click here if you want early access to all my updates :)
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: "And through some happenstance, casual and cruel, shaped by the hands of the Moon goddesses, you ended up face to face with what They considered your fated mates. Of course, they didn’t know that - how could they recognize their goddess-given match if you had no scent? As long as you didn’t reach maturity, only you would feel this pull, this constant urge pooling at your lower abdomen when their scents filled your nose and sent your eyes rolling back. You knew your place and it was not amongst royalty."
OR
The one where you find your fated alphas, but they can't find you.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst, ABO, Soulmate AUs.
✿ 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: This is a 18+ work! Minors, please do not interact. Also, there will be mentions of violence and abuse.
(Fanfic masterlist)
°•. ✿ .•°
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 - 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬
(<<< part three)
”Try it once more, please.’’
”I don’t want to.”
”Please, once more, then we can be done with it.”
”Once more might kill me, Sir Hoseok, and I’ve always wanted the honor of being able to kill myself.”
The knight beside you froze, shoulders tensing to a tight line. “Don’t joke about that.”
You mumbled a quiet apology, bowing your head to read the jumble of letters on the paper in front of you and avoid your mate’s terribly serious eyes.
After hours of practicing reading under the gentle but strict guidance of Hoseok, what once felt like the highest gift someone could give had turned into a curse. As it was, being literate did not come easily and your head felt like it would cave under the weight of all your new found knowledge.
Still, Hoseok remained ever patient, never once losing his temper even when you got frustrated with your own inability to put together vowels and consonants and asked to give up. Throughout the entire week after your near-heat accident, he put aside at least an hour a day - sometimes more - to sit in the corner of the palace’s humongous library with you, watching as you stumbled and whined your way through your delayed education.
After a little over a week of lessons, you could proudly spell your own name and there were no words in your vocabulary that could express the dimension of the gratitude you felt for Hoseok at the moment you finished the last stroke of the last letter of your name on the parchment before you. Your eyes immediately filled with tears, because at last there it was - your first mark on the world made entirely by your own hands and volition.
“My lady” Hoseok called, voice betraying a small amount of panic at your tears. “Is there something wrong?”
You chuckled at his reaction, thinking of another alpha that not long before had also paled before your crying. Clearly, the only reactions you could pull out of your mates were confoundment and agitation.
“Happy tears, Sir Hoseok” you clarified, smiling. “Happy tears.”
He smiled back, lips stretching beautifully into a grin. “Happy tears” he repeated.
Your reaction to your own signature seemed to spur him on, as he invested even more of his personal time into teaching you the joys of reading, going from small achievements such as the alphabet to reading entire lines all by yourself with minimal embarrassment. He pushed you forward, confident in your abilities, even as you whined and complained - an action that in itself proved how comfortable you felt around him, as you never had the privilege to complain about anything back at your own house.
Today was one of those whining and reading days, as Hoseok felt you had evolved enough to try your hand at poetry, picking a small collection of sonnets and other simpler works from the shelves and handing it to you. And you had been doing just fine, up until they started taking a turn for the romantic, the subject changing from the beauty of trees and spring to declarations of love. That had you choking on the words, fighting to read it without blushing or crying - both equally bad in front of your mate-not-mate.
“Keep going” he asked when you stopped and you felt bad enough about your joke about suicidal ideation to carry on.
“And i-if my body was may - uh, sorry - made for something” you said, fixating heavily onto the page so as to resist the temptation to look at Hoseok’s face “let it be love.”
***
“And if it was made for someone” he heard you read in a whisper, leaning in to hear you better “let it be you.”
Hoseok almost flinched when you closed the book forcefully, so hypnotized by your voice as he was. If he listened to reason, he would’ve looked away, as it was the proper thing to do when a lady was so clearly flustered, but reason and properness seemed to escape him when you were around. It had promptly fled him earlier, when out of the uncountable options of books available, he chose a poetry one, knowing well enough the psychic damage hearing proclamations of love coming from your lips would cause him.
Something seemed to grow underneath his skin with every moment he spent watching over your progress. At first, he tried to pass it off as a momentary fancy, as one could expect from spending so much time alone with an omega, but the longer it went, the more he came to the conclusion that whatever was taking root in him ran much deeper than just surface-level biology.
It was you. Soft-spoken and quiet little you, with the occasional glimpse or flash of a quick wit you allowed to escape your sky-high walls.
For now, he decided, he would let his feelings remain unnamed.
“There is one more line” he pushed, hoping to hear it from you, resigning himself to the guilt of knowing it would fuel his late night fantasies of which you had been a recent protagonist of most. He lied to himself, thinking that maybe hearing the final lines of the poem from your voice would sound off an instinctual alarm in his head, pointing out something fundamentally wrong in it and then he would finally be able to lay his daydreams to rest.
Grimacing, you opened the book once more and continued the sentence. “Such is the world I hope I was born into” you read, slowly and unsure, frowning over pronunciations that didn’t sound quite right to you and Hoseok held the table to fight the urge to smooth out the wrinkle on your forehead. “I was made half by the moon and I am made whole by only you.”
You paused and he urged “Finish it.”
“I am made whole by only you, my mate.”
Once more, you closed the book, this time truly done with it. Hoseok barely registered the soft thud of it, too focused on the absolute lack of any wrongness in hearing you say the words all alphas craved to hear - but only ever from the right person.
Something was not right and he couldn’t figure out what it was. It was something in this half reaction of his body - he was warm but not burning, attracted but not craving and it was right while hurting from not being right enough.
“You knew this poem” you pointed out, waking him from his reveries.
“Ah, yes” he answered, reaching for the book, examining its leatherbound cover. “It’s my mom’s favorite. She read it to me when I was younger.”
“That sounds nice.”
“I didn’t like it too much when I was a boy” he laughed. “Thought it lacked dragons and epic battles. But I grew to be quite fond of it.”
“Even without the dragons?” you teased.
“Even so, if you can believe it.”
You place your chin on your palms, tilting your head sideways in a way that sent your hair cascading down your shoulder. Hoseok wondered, shamefully not for the first time, if he pressed his nose to your tresses, would he be able to find anything other than the standard and alluring smell of omega.
“Tell me about your mom, Sir Hoseok”, you asked.
“She’s my favorite person,” he said simply, shrugging. “I urge you to not tell that to my father, though.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“She is exceedingly smart. I remember thinking she was the smartest person alive when I was a young boy. I still do. Humorous too. She writes weekly and her correspondence always leaves me smiling. I think she would like you, if you ever had the chance to meet”.
You seemed surprised by his affirmation and he couldn’t comprehend why. Who wouldn’t like you?
Well, Jin wouldn’t. But he had his own issues.
“Mom’s an omega too” he watched as your eyes widened in shock.
“Is she? Truly?”
“Yes. My father and her are mates,” he pointed at the book laying between them on the table. “I guess that explains why she loved that poem so much, doesn’t it?”
You looked down at the book, clearly rethinking the meaning of what you had read. “I’ve never met another omega” you admitted.
“They are very rare. I only know one more, besides you and my mother.”
“I’ve never met a mated pair either.”
“Oh, it’s disgusting” Hoseok complained in a good-natured manner, rolling his eyes at the memory of many moments shared between his sickly in love parents he wished he did not have to witness. “They are constantly holding hands and declaring their undying love for each other.”
“Oh. Disgusting, yes.”
There was something undeniably sad in your tone, but Hoseok wrote it off as longing. Certainly, as it was for alphas, omegas too dreamed about finding their mate.
“Have you found yours? Mate, I mean.”
You answered in too rushed a manner for him to find it all honest. “No.”
His next question, although he tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, seemed eager even to his own ears. “Do you want to find them?”
You didn’t answer quickly, fiddling with your sleeves in deep thought before replying. “I used to. Now…” you shrugged, still with a sorrowful countenance. “I gave up on the notion of it. I do not mean to sound sacrilegious, or to make it seem as if I am wiser than the Moon, but I have come to give more importance to other matters beyond providence or serendipity.”
“Such as?”
“Different forms of connection” you provided carefully. “Feasibility, as well.”
That seemed to surprise Hoseok “Feasibility?”
“There are many ways with which this world can separate what the Moon goddesses brought together, Sir Hoseok. What if a pair of mates lived so far from each other, they never had a chance to meet? What if one had died before their encounter? What if they came from such different lives or status that they could never be considered a respectful match?”
“Surely, some understanding could be spared if they were truly a mated pair!”
“That is a very romantic line of thinking, Sir. But in some circumstances, I would consider it naive.”
“Naive!” Hoseok cried, finding it difficult to cope with your pessimism, when he had only seen the wonders of a fated match. “Do you believe me to be naive for believing in the goddesses wisdom?”
“You misunderstand me” you refuted, calm and serious despite his indignation. “I don’t place any naivety in that argument, I simply think you fail to take into account the ways of the world and our responsibilities and prejudices in it. Do you believe, for example, that the king would be happy to be mated with a beggar?”
“I may not speak for the king. But I would be happy to be mated with anyone and it would not matter their place in this world. And there is no situation they could be in that I would not try to save them from.”
Despite the certainty in his voice, you still did not seem to believe him and that aggravated him even more. “And do you believe you would succeed in all of them?”
“Yes” he answered. “My mate’s place is beside me. Nothing will change that.”
You lowered your eyes, but did not reply, seemingly done with the discussion. Hoseok, on the other hand, could not let it go, unsure of why it was so important to him that you trusted his promises.
“You don’t believe me?”
“I believe you believe that. But so did I, at one point.”
“What changed, then?”
You raised your eyes back towards him, once more with that expression he had thought to be longing, but now with too much anguish for him to confuse with it again. But before you could answer or he could further investigate what could have possibly caused such a change of heart, you were interrupted by the arrival of none other than His Majesty.
Honestly, it had only been by pure coincidence that they had not encountered Namjoon earlier in their studies, considering how much time he spent in the library on a weekly basis.
Namjoon had just started walking to the shelves further in the back, a couple of heavy tomes under his arm, when he heard the voices of both his friend and the omega that plagued his resting hours. He wondered if his unreasonable obsession had worsened and he was now imagining the sound of your voice, but surely enough, there you both were, sitting across from each other in a tense staring match.
“Am I interrupting something?”
You stood, hurrying into a clumsy curtesy. “Your Majest- I mean, Namjoon, hello!”
Hoseok only nodded slightly to his friend, eyes still on you. Namjoon took notice of how neither of you denied his question.
“Sir Hoseok has kindly offered to teach me how to read”, you offered when both alphas said nothing. “We have been practicing for a while!”
“Have you now?”
“Yes! He has proven to be a very kind and patient teacher and I am very thankful for his lessons.”
Namjoon knew Hoseok not to be particularly kind nor patient when it came to teaching his guards. In fact, he was mostly known as a demanding and menacing terror by most recruits, but Namjoon decided not to ruin his reputation and kept quiet. After all, he too would be much gentler to a pretty omega than to sweaty, undisciplined guards.
“Patient, you say?”, he asked as Hoseok avoided his questioning eyes, feigning ignorance.
“Exceedingly so! As you know, I was not taught how to read when I was younger, but now I can even write my own name! Isn’t it wonderful?”
It was and Namjoon voiced his agreement.Just as he did, your stomach made a loud rumbling noise, sending you into a blushing fit. “Goddesses, I’m so sorry!” you apologized, covering your reddened face with your hands. “I guess this is a sign that I have taken too much of Sir Hoseok’s time. I shall take my dinner in my room and leave you be.”
“Have dinner with us” Namjoon offered, watching your face contort into poorly concealed horror and Hoseok’s into a confused expression.
“I couldn’t possibly, Your Majesty-”
“Please, I insist.”
Namjoon didn’t know why he insisted nor did he know why he invited you in the first place. Once more, something had taken over his senses and pushed him towards you despite all reason.
He could see Hoseok from his peripherals, most likely worrying over the same thing as him - Jin’s attendance of their nightly dinners. Jin, who would certainly not appreciate your presence and probably consider it a terrible disturbance and invasion.
Well, Jin would just have to make peace with it. Namjoon had decided he deserved more of your time, as it seemed it had been monopolized by his guard - a fact he unreasonably resented and would further investigate later, as he had never felt any sort of jealousy towards his best friend. As it was, you had been with them for a couple of weeks and he barely knew anything beyond the misfortunes of your life. There was certainly much more to you and he was determined to learn, if only to extend his suffering and break his own heart in a more informed manner.
“I won’t take no for an answer.”
There was a slight tremor in your left eyelid that he chose to ignore when you answered with an uneasy smile. “I guess there’s no point in saying no then.”
Namjoon grinned. “Great.”
“Great” you repeated. The tremors persisted.
°•. ✿ .•°
✿ The next chapter called "Mateless" is already available on my ko-fi to Calcifer Crew, my membership tier, and will be posted here soon! Click here if you want early access to all my updates :)
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: "And through some happenstance, casual and cruel, shaped by the hands of the Moon goddesses, you ended up face to face with what They considered your fated mates. Of course, they didn’t know that - how could they recognize their goddess-given match if you had no scent? As long as you didn’t reach maturity, only you would feel this pull, this constant urge pooling at your lower abdomen when their scents filled your nose and sent your eyes rolling back. You knew your place and it was not amongst royalty."
OR
The one where you find your fated alphas, but they can't find you.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst, ABO, Soulmate AUs.
✿ 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: This is a 18+ work! Minors, please do not interact. Also, there will be mentions of violence and abuse.
(Fanfic masterlist)
°•. ✿ .•°
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 - 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬
(<<< part three)
”Try it once more, please.’’
”I don’t want to.”
”Please, once more, then we can be done with it.”
”Once more might kill me, Sir Hoseok, and I’ve always wanted the honor of being able to kill myself.”
The knight beside you froze, shoulders tensing to a tight line. “Don’t joke about that.”
You mumbled a quiet apology, bowing your head to read the jumble of letters on the paper in front of you and avoid your mate’s terribly serious eyes.
After hours of practicing reading under the gentle but strict guidance of Hoseok, what once felt like the highest gift someone could give had turned into a curse. As it was, being literate did not come easily and your head felt like it would cave under the weight of all your new found knowledge.
Still, Hoseok remained ever patient, never once losing his temper even when you got frustrated with your own inability to put together vowels and consonants and asked to give up. Throughout the entire week after your near-heat accident, he put aside at least an hour a day - sometimes more - to sit in the corner of the palace’s humongous library with you, watching as you stumbled and whined your way through your delayed education.
After a little over a week of lessons, you could proudly spell your own name and there were no words in your vocabulary that could express the dimension of the gratitude you felt for Hoseok at the moment you finished the last stroke of the last letter of your name on the parchment before you. Your eyes immediately filled with tears, because at last there it was - your first mark on the world made entirely by your own hands and volition.
“My lady” Hoseok called, voice betraying a small amount of panic at your tears. “Is there something wrong?”
You chuckled at his reaction, thinking of another alpha that not long before had also paled before your crying. Clearly, the only reactions you could pull out of your mates were confoundment and agitation.
“Happy tears, Sir Hoseok” you clarified, smiling. “Happy tears.”
He smiled back, lips stretching beautifully into a grin. “Happy tears” he repeated.
Your reaction to your own signature seemed to spur him on, as he invested even more of his personal time into teaching you the joys of reading, going from small achievements such as the alphabet to reading entire lines all by yourself with minimal embarrassment. He pushed you forward, confident in your abilities, even as you whined and complained - an action that in itself proved how comfortable you felt around him, as you never had the privilege to complain about anything back at your own house.
Today was one of those whining and reading days, as Hoseok felt you had evolved enough to try your hand at poetry, picking a small collection of sonnets and other simpler works from the shelves and handing it to you. And you had been doing just fine, up until they started taking a turn for the romantic, the subject changing from the beauty of trees and spring to declarations of love. That had you choking on the words, fighting to read it without blushing or crying - both equally bad in front of your mate-not-mate.
“Keep going” he asked when you stopped and you felt bad enough about your joke about suicidal ideation to carry on.
“And i-if my body was may - uh, sorry - made for something” you said, fixating heavily onto the page so as to resist the temptation to look at Hoseok’s face “let it be love.”
***
“And if it was made for someone” he heard you read in a whisper, leaning in to hear you better “let it be you.”
Hoseok almost flinched when you closed the book forcefully, so hypnotized by your voice as he was. If he listened to reason, he would’ve looked away, as it was the proper thing to do when a lady was so clearly flustered, but reason and properness seemed to escape him when you were around. It had promptly fled him earlier, when out of the uncountable options of books available, he chose a poetry one, knowing well enough the psychic damage hearing proclamations of love coming from your lips would cause him.
Something seemed to grow underneath his skin with every moment he spent watching over your progress. At first, he tried to pass it off as a momentary fancy, as one could expect from spending so much time alone with an omega, but the longer it went, the more he came to the conclusion that whatever was taking root in him ran much deeper than just surface-level biology.
It was you. Soft-spoken and quiet little you, with the occasional glimpse or flash of a quick wit you allowed to escape your sky-high walls.
For now, he decided, he would let his feelings remain unnamed.
“There is one more line” he pushed, hoping to hear it from you, resigning himself to the guilt of knowing it would fuel his late night fantasies of which you had been a recent protagonist of most. He lied to himself, thinking that maybe hearing the final lines of the poem from your voice would sound off an instinctual alarm in his head, pointing out something fundamentally wrong in it and then he would finally be able to lay his daydreams to rest.
Grimacing, you opened the book once more and continued the sentence. “Such is the world I hope I was born into” you read, slowly and unsure, frowning over pronunciations that didn’t sound quite right to you and Hoseok held the table to fight the urge to smooth out the wrinkle on your forehead. “I was made half by the moon and I am made whole by only you.”
You paused and he urged “Finish it.”
“I am made whole by only you, my mate.”
Once more, you closed the book, this time truly done with it. Hoseok barely registered the soft thud of it, too focused on the absolute lack of any wrongness in hearing you say the words all alphas craved to hear - but only ever from the right person.
Something was not right and he couldn’t figure out what it was. It was something in this half reaction of his body - he was warm but not burning, attracted but not craving and it was right while hurting from not being right enough.
“You knew this poem” you pointed out, waking him from his reveries.
“Ah, yes” he answered, reaching for the book, examining its leatherbound cover. “It’s my mom’s favorite. She read it to me when I was younger.”
“That sounds nice.”
“I didn’t like it too much when I was a boy” he laughed. “Thought it lacked dragons and epic battles. But I grew to be quite fond of it.”
“Even without the dragons?” you teased.
“Even so, if you can believe it.”
You place your chin on your palms, tilting your head sideways in a way that sent your hair cascading down your shoulder. Hoseok wondered, shamefully not for the first time, if he pressed his nose to your tresses, would he be able to find anything other than the standard and alluring smell of omega.
“Tell me about your mom, Sir Hoseok”, you asked.
“She’s my favorite person,” he said simply, shrugging. “I urge you to not tell that to my father, though.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“She is exceedingly smart. I remember thinking she was the smartest person alive when I was a young boy. I still do. Humorous too. She writes weekly and her correspondence always leaves me smiling. I think she would like you, if you ever had the chance to meet”.
You seemed surprised by his affirmation and he couldn’t comprehend why. Who wouldn’t like you?
Well, Jin wouldn’t. But he had his own issues.
“Mom’s an omega too” he watched as your eyes widened in shock.
“Is she? Truly?”
“Yes. My father and her are mates,” he pointed at the book laying between them on the table. “I guess that explains why she loved that poem so much, doesn’t it?”
You looked down at the book, clearly rethinking the meaning of what you had read. “I’ve never met another omega” you admitted.
“They are very rare. I only know one more, besides you and my mother.”
“I’ve never met a mated pair either.”
“Oh, it’s disgusting” Hoseok complained in a good-natured manner, rolling his eyes at the memory of many moments shared between his sickly in love parents he wished he did not have to witness. “They are constantly holding hands and declaring their undying love for each other.”
“Oh. Disgusting, yes.”
There was something undeniably sad in your tone, but Hoseok wrote it off as longing. Certainly, as it was for alphas, omegas too dreamed about finding their mate.
“Have you found yours? Mate, I mean.”
You answered in too rushed a manner for him to find it all honest. “No.”
His next question, although he tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, seemed eager even to his own ears. “Do you want to find them?”
You didn’t answer quickly, fiddling with your sleeves in deep thought before replying. “I used to. Now…” you shrugged, still with a sorrowful countenance. “I gave up on the notion of it. I do not mean to sound sacrilegious, or to make it seem as if I am wiser than the Moon, but I have come to give more importance to other matters beyond providence or serendipity.”
“Such as?”
“Different forms of connection” you provided carefully. “Feasibility, as well.”
That seemed to surprise Hoseok “Feasibility?”
“There are many ways with which this world can separate what the Moon goddesses brought together, Sir Hoseok. What if a pair of mates lived so far from each other, they never had a chance to meet? What if one had died before their encounter? What if they came from such different lives or status that they could never be considered a respectful match?”
“Surely, some understanding could be spared if they were truly a mated pair!”
“That is a very romantic line of thinking, Sir. But in some circumstances, I would consider it naive.”
“Naive!” Hoseok cried, finding it difficult to cope with your pessimism, when he had only seen the wonders of a fated match. “Do you believe me to be naive for believing in the goddesses wisdom?”
“You misunderstand me” you refuted, calm and serious despite his indignation. “I don’t place any naivety in that argument, I simply think you fail to take into account the ways of the world and our responsibilities and prejudices in it. Do you believe, for example, that the king would be happy to be mated with a beggar?”
“I may not speak for the king. But I would be happy to be mated with anyone and it would not matter their place in this world. And there is no situation they could be in that I would not try to save them from.”
Despite the certainty in his voice, you still did not seem to believe him and that aggravated him even more. “And do you believe you would succeed in all of them?”
“Yes” he answered. “My mate’s place is beside me. Nothing will change that.”
You lowered your eyes, but did not reply, seemingly done with the discussion. Hoseok, on the other hand, could not let it go, unsure of why it was so important to him that you trusted his promises.
“You don’t believe me?”
“I believe you believe that. But so did I, at one point.”
“What changed, then?”
You raised your eyes back towards him, once more with that expression he had thought to be longing, but now with too much anguish for him to confuse with it again. But before you could answer or he could further investigate what could have possibly caused such a change of heart, you were interrupted by the arrival of none other than His Majesty.
Honestly, it had only been by pure coincidence that they had not encountered Namjoon earlier in their studies, considering how much time he spent in the library on a weekly basis.
Namjoon had just started walking to the shelves further in the back, a couple of heavy tomes under his arm, when he heard the voices of both his friend and the omega that plagued his resting hours. He wondered if his unreasonable obsession had worsened and he was now imagining the sound of your voice, but surely enough, there you both were, sitting across from each other in a tense staring match.
“Am I interrupting something?”
You stood, hurrying into a clumsy curtesy. “Your Majest- I mean, Namjoon, hello!”
Hoseok only nodded slightly to his friend, eyes still on you. Namjoon took notice of how neither of you denied his question.
“Sir Hoseok has kindly offered to teach me how to read”, you offered when both alphas said nothing. “We have been practicing for a while!”
“Have you now?”
“Yes! He has proven to be a very kind and patient teacher and I am very thankful for his lessons.”
Namjoon knew Hoseok not to be particularly kind nor patient when it came to teaching his guards. In fact, he was mostly known as a demanding and menacing terror by most recruits, but Namjoon decided not to ruin his reputation and kept quiet. After all, he too would be much gentler to a pretty omega than to sweaty, undisciplined guards.
“Patient, you say?”, he asked as Hoseok avoided his questioning eyes, feigning ignorance.
“Exceedingly so! As you know, I was not taught how to read when I was younger, but now I can even write my own name! Isn’t it wonderful?”
It was and Namjoon voiced his agreement.Just as he did, your stomach made a loud rumbling noise, sending you into a blushing fit. “Goddesses, I’m so sorry!” you apologized, covering your reddened face with your hands. “I guess this is a sign that I have taken too much of Sir Hoseok’s time. I shall take my dinner in my room and leave you be.”
“Have dinner with us” Namjoon offered, watching your face contort into poorly concealed horror and Hoseok’s into a confused expression.
“I couldn’t possibly, Your Majesty-”
“Please, I insist.”
Namjoon didn’t know why he insisted nor did he know why he invited you in the first place. Once more, something had taken over his senses and pushed him towards you despite all reason.
He could see Hoseok from his peripherals, most likely worrying over the same thing as him - Jin’s attendance of their nightly dinners. Jin, who would certainly not appreciate your presence and probably consider it a terrible disturbance and invasion.
Well, Jin would just have to make peace with it. Namjoon had decided he deserved more of your time, as it seemed it had been monopolized by his guard - a fact he unreasonably resented and would further investigate later, as he had never felt any sort of jealousy towards his best friend. As it was, you had been with them for a couple of weeks and he barely knew anything beyond the misfortunes of your life. There was certainly much more to you and he was determined to learn, if only to extend his suffering and break his own heart in a more informed manner.
“I won’t take no for an answer.”
There was a slight tremor in your left eyelid that he chose to ignore when you answered with an uneasy smile. “I guess there’s no point in saying no then.”
Namjoon grinned. “Great.”
“Great” you repeated. The tremors persisted.
°•. ✿ .•°
✿ The next chapter called "Mateless" is already available on my ko-fi to Calcifer Crew, my membership tier, and will be posted here soon! Click here if you want early access to all my updates :)
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: "And through some happenstance, casual and cruel, shaped by the hands of the Moon goddesses, you ended up face to face with what They considered your fated mates. Of course, they didn’t know that - how could they recognize their goddess-given match if you had no scent? As long as you didn’t reach maturity, only you would feel this pull, this constant urge pooling at your lower abdomen when their scents filled your nose and sent your eyes rolling back. You knew your place and it was not amongst royalty."
OR
The one where you find your fated alphas, but they can't find you.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst, ABO, Soulmate AUs.
✿ 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: This is a 18+ work! Minors, please do not interact. Also, there will be mentions of violence and abuse.
(Fanfic masterlist)
°•. ✿ .•°
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 - 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬
(<<< part three)
”Try it once more, please.’’
”I don’t want to.”
”Please, once more, then we can be done with it.”
”Once more might kill me, Sir Hoseok, and I’ve always wanted the honor of being able to kill myself.”
The knight beside you froze, shoulders tensing to a tight line. “Don’t joke about that.”
You mumbled a quiet apology, bowing your head to read the jumble of letters on the paper in front of you and avoid your mate’s terribly serious eyes.
After hours of practicing reading under the gentle but strict guidance of Hoseok, what once felt like the highest gift someone could give had turned into a curse. As it was, being literate did not come easily and your head felt like it would cave under the weight of all your new found knowledge.
Still, Hoseok remained ever patient, never once losing his temper even when you got frustrated with your own inability to put together vowels and consonants and asked to give up. Throughout the entire week after your near-heat accident, he put aside at least an hour a day - sometimes more - to sit in the corner of the palace’s humongous library with you, watching as you stumbled and whined your way through your delayed education.
After a little over a week of lessons, you could proudly spell your own name and there were no words in your vocabulary that could express the dimension of the gratitude you felt for Hoseok at the moment you finished the last stroke of the last letter of your name on the parchment before you. Your eyes immediately filled with tears, because at last there it was - your first mark on the world made entirely by your own hands and volition.
“My lady” Hoseok called, voice betraying a small amount of panic at your tears. “Is there something wrong?”
You chuckled at his reaction, thinking of another alpha that not long before had also paled before your crying. Clearly, the only reactions you could pull out of your mates were confoundment and agitation.
“Happy tears, Sir Hoseok” you clarified, smiling. “Happy tears.”
He smiled back, lips stretching beautifully into a grin. “Happy tears” he repeated.
Your reaction to your own signature seemed to spur him on, as he invested even more of his personal time into teaching you the joys of reading, going from small achievements such as the alphabet to reading entire lines all by yourself with minimal embarrassment. He pushed you forward, confident in your abilities, even as you whined and complained - an action that in itself proved how comfortable you felt around him, as you never had the privilege to complain about anything back at your own house.
Today was one of those whining and reading days, as Hoseok felt you had evolved enough to try your hand at poetry, picking a small collection of sonnets and other simpler works from the shelves and handing it to you. And you had been doing just fine, up until they started taking a turn for the romantic, the subject changing from the beauty of trees and spring to declarations of love. That had you choking on the words, fighting to read it without blushing or crying - both equally bad in front of your mate-not-mate.
“Keep going” he asked when you stopped and you felt bad enough about your joke about suicidal ideation to carry on.
“And i-if my body was may - uh, sorry - made for something” you said, fixating heavily onto the page so as to resist the temptation to look at Hoseok’s face “let it be love.”
***
“And if it was made for someone” he heard you read in a whisper, leaning in to hear you better “let it be you.”
Hoseok almost flinched when you closed the book forcefully, so hypnotized by your voice as he was. If he listened to reason, he would’ve looked away, as it was the proper thing to do when a lady was so clearly flustered, but reason and properness seemed to escape him when you were around. It had promptly fled him earlier, when out of the uncountable options of books available, he chose a poetry one, knowing well enough the psychic damage hearing proclamations of love coming from your lips would cause him.
Something seemed to grow underneath his skin with every moment he spent watching over your progress. At first, he tried to pass it off as a momentary fancy, as one could expect from spending so much time alone with an omega, but the longer it went, the more he came to the conclusion that whatever was taking root in him ran much deeper than just surface-level biology.
It was you. Soft-spoken and quiet little you, with the occasional glimpse or flash of a quick wit you allowed to escape your sky-high walls.
For now, he decided, he would let his feelings remain unnamed.
“There is one more line” he pushed, hoping to hear it from you, resigning himself to the guilt of knowing it would fuel his late night fantasies of which you had been a recent protagonist of most. He lied to himself, thinking that maybe hearing the final lines of the poem from your voice would sound off an instinctual alarm in his head, pointing out something fundamentally wrong in it and then he would finally be able to lay his daydreams to rest.
Grimacing, you opened the book once more and continued the sentence. “Such is the world I hope I was born into” you read, slowly and unsure, frowning over pronunciations that didn’t sound quite right to you and Hoseok held the table to fight the urge to smooth out the wrinkle on your forehead. “I was made half by the moon and I am made whole by only you.”
You paused and he urged “Finish it.”
“I am made whole by only you, my mate.”
Once more, you closed the book, this time truly done with it. Hoseok barely registered the soft thud of it, too focused on the absolute lack of any wrongness in hearing you say the words all alphas craved to hear - but only ever from the right person.
Something was not right and he couldn’t figure out what it was. It was something in this half reaction of his body - he was warm but not burning, attracted but not craving and it was right while hurting from not being right enough.
“You knew this poem” you pointed out, waking him from his reveries.
“Ah, yes” he answered, reaching for the book, examining its leatherbound cover. “It’s my mom’s favorite. She read it to me when I was younger.”
“That sounds nice.”
“I didn’t like it too much when I was a boy” he laughed. “Thought it lacked dragons and epic battles. But I grew to be quite fond of it.”
“Even without the dragons?” you teased.
“Even so, if you can believe it.”
You place your chin on your palms, tilting your head sideways in a way that sent your hair cascading down your shoulder. Hoseok wondered, shamefully not for the first time, if he pressed his nose to your tresses, would he be able to find anything other than the standard and alluring smell of omega.
“Tell me about your mom, Sir Hoseok”, you asked.
“She’s my favorite person,” he said simply, shrugging. “I urge you to not tell that to my father, though.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“She is exceedingly smart. I remember thinking she was the smartest person alive when I was a young boy. I still do. Humorous too. She writes weekly and her correspondence always leaves me smiling. I think she would like you, if you ever had the chance to meet”.
You seemed surprised by his affirmation and he couldn’t comprehend why. Who wouldn’t like you?
Well, Jin wouldn’t. But he had his own issues.
“Mom’s an omega too” he watched as your eyes widened in shock.
“Is she? Truly?”
“Yes. My father and her are mates,” he pointed at the book laying between them on the table. “I guess that explains why she loved that poem so much, doesn’t it?”
You looked down at the book, clearly rethinking the meaning of what you had read. “I’ve never met another omega” you admitted.
“They are very rare. I only know one more, besides you and my mother.”
“I’ve never met a mated pair either.”
“Oh, it’s disgusting” Hoseok complained in a good-natured manner, rolling his eyes at the memory of many moments shared between his sickly in love parents he wished he did not have to witness. “They are constantly holding hands and declaring their undying love for each other.”
“Oh. Disgusting, yes.”
There was something undeniably sad in your tone, but Hoseok wrote it off as longing. Certainly, as it was for alphas, omegas too dreamed about finding their mate.
“Have you found yours? Mate, I mean.”
You answered in too rushed a manner for him to find it all honest. “No.”
His next question, although he tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, seemed eager even to his own ears. “Do you want to find them?”
You didn’t answer quickly, fiddling with your sleeves in deep thought before replying. “I used to. Now…” you shrugged, still with a sorrowful countenance. “I gave up on the notion of it. I do not mean to sound sacrilegious, or to make it seem as if I am wiser than the Moon, but I have come to give more importance to other matters beyond providence or serendipity.”
“Such as?”
“Different forms of connection” you provided carefully. “Feasibility, as well.”
That seemed to surprise Hoseok “Feasibility?”
“There are many ways with which this world can separate what the Moon goddesses brought together, Sir Hoseok. What if a pair of mates lived so far from each other, they never had a chance to meet? What if one had died before their encounter? What if they came from such different lives or status that they could never be considered a respectful match?”
“Surely, some understanding could be spared if they were truly a mated pair!”
“That is a very romantic line of thinking, Sir. But in some circumstances, I would consider it naive.”
“Naive!” Hoseok cried, finding it difficult to cope with your pessimism, when he had only seen the wonders of a fated match. “Do you believe me to be naive for believing in the goddesses wisdom?”
“You misunderstand me” you refuted, calm and serious despite his indignation. “I don’t place any naivety in that argument, I simply think you fail to take into account the ways of the world and our responsibilities and prejudices in it. Do you believe, for example, that the king would be happy to be mated with a beggar?”
“I may not speak for the king. But I would be happy to be mated with anyone and it would not matter their place in this world. And there is no situation they could be in that I would not try to save them from.”
Despite the certainty in his voice, you still did not seem to believe him and that aggravated him even more. “And do you believe you would succeed in all of them?”
“Yes” he answered. “My mate’s place is beside me. Nothing will change that.”
You lowered your eyes, but did not reply, seemingly done with the discussion. Hoseok, on the other hand, could not let it go, unsure of why it was so important to him that you trusted his promises.
“You don’t believe me?”
“I believe you believe that. But so did I, at one point.”
“What changed, then?”
You raised your eyes back towards him, once more with that expression he had thought to be longing, but now with too much anguish for him to confuse with it again. But before you could answer or he could further investigate what could have possibly caused such a change of heart, you were interrupted by the arrival of none other than His Majesty.
Honestly, it had only been by pure coincidence that they had not encountered Namjoon earlier in their studies, considering how much time he spent in the library on a weekly basis.
Namjoon had just started walking to the shelves further in the back, a couple of heavy tomes under his arm, when he heard the voices of both his friend and the omega that plagued his resting hours. He wondered if his unreasonable obsession had worsened and he was now imagining the sound of your voice, but surely enough, there you both were, sitting across from each other in a tense staring match.
“Am I interrupting something?”
You stood, hurrying into a clumsy curtesy. “Your Majest- I mean, Namjoon, hello!”
Hoseok only nodded slightly to his friend, eyes still on you. Namjoon took notice of how neither of you denied his question.
“Sir Hoseok has kindly offered to teach me how to read”, you offered when both alphas said nothing. “We have been practicing for a while!”
“Have you now?”
“Yes! He has proven to be a very kind and patient teacher and I am very thankful for his lessons.”
Namjoon knew Hoseok not to be particularly kind nor patient when it came to teaching his guards. In fact, he was mostly known as a demanding and menacing terror by most recruits, but Namjoon decided not to ruin his reputation and kept quiet. After all, he too would be much gentler to a pretty omega than to sweaty, undisciplined guards.
“Patient, you say?”, he asked as Hoseok avoided his questioning eyes, feigning ignorance.
“Exceedingly so! As you know, I was not taught how to read when I was younger, but now I can even write my own name! Isn’t it wonderful?”
It was and Namjoon voiced his agreement.Just as he did, your stomach made a loud rumbling noise, sending you into a blushing fit. “Goddesses, I’m so sorry!” you apologized, covering your reddened face with your hands. “I guess this is a sign that I have taken too much of Sir Hoseok’s time. I shall take my dinner in my room and leave you be.”
“Have dinner with us” Namjoon offered, watching your face contort into poorly concealed horror and Hoseok’s into a confused expression.
“I couldn’t possibly, Your Majesty-”
“Please, I insist.”
Namjoon didn’t know why he insisted nor did he know why he invited you in the first place. Once more, something had taken over his senses and pushed him towards you despite all reason.
He could see Hoseok from his peripherals, most likely worrying over the same thing as him - Jin’s attendance of their nightly dinners. Jin, who would certainly not appreciate your presence and probably consider it a terrible disturbance and invasion.
Well, Jin would just have to make peace with it. Namjoon had decided he deserved more of your time, as it seemed it had been monopolized by his guard - a fact he unreasonably resented and would further investigate later, as he had never felt any sort of jealousy towards his best friend. As it was, you had been with them for a couple of weeks and he barely knew anything beyond the misfortunes of your life. There was certainly much more to you and he was determined to learn, if only to extend his suffering and break his own heart in a more informed manner.
“I won’t take no for an answer.”
There was a slight tremor in your left eyelid that he chose to ignore when you answered with an uneasy smile. “I guess there’s no point in saying no then.”
Namjoon grinned. “Great.”
“Great” you repeated. The tremors persisted.
°•. ✿ .•°
✿ The next chapter called "Mateless" is already available on my ko-fi to Calcifer Crew, my membership tier, and will be posted here soon! Click here if you want early access to all my updates :)
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: "And through some happenstance, casual and cruel, shaped by the hands of the Moon goddesses, you ended up face to face with what They considered your fated mates. Of course, they didn’t know that - how could they recognize their goddess-given match if you had no scent? As long as you didn’t reach maturity, only you would feel this pull, this constant urge pooling at your lower abdomen when their scents filled your nose and sent your eyes rolling back. You knew your place and it was not amongst royalty."
OR
The one where you find your fated alphas, but they can't find you.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst, ABO, Soulmate AUs.
✿ 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: This is a 18+ work! Minors, please do not interact. Also, there will be mentions of violence and abuse.
(Fanfic masterlist)
°•. ✿ .•°
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 - 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬
(<<< part two)
The couple of glimpses of the castle you had managed to get during your flimsy attempt at escaping could not compare to the real thing. The elaborate architecture filled your eyes with wonder, struggling to absorb all the gleam from the stained glass windows and complicated tapestry as Sophie pulled you, arm in arm with a skip to her step, happy with knowledge that she was not about to be fired.
“This is the great hall” she said, gesturing towards a large set of doors that opened to a room unlike anything you had ever seen.
“Is there an event coming up?” you asked, eyeing curiously the hustle and movement inside where people carried boxes from one side to another, cleaning every corner and dusting every surface.
“The king’s birthday, of course!” your companion exclaimed. “The festivities last a whole week, but the main party is held here. This year, I hear it’s going to be a masquerade. Isn’t it so exciting?”
You agreed softly, still focused on the flurry of busy staff illuminated by the sun shining on the glass dome above their heads.
Your mind conjured pictures of decorated arches and lavish meals, dancing couples under the moonlight and all the fun and romance you never had the chance to experience and most likely never would.
With a saddened heart, you pulled your companion forward, urging her to continue with the tour. There was no reason to linger on the things you could not have, as they were insurmountable and currently only seemed to be adding up.
The tour continued and you got to wander around different parts of the fortress: the lush gardens, the high-ceiling galleries, the stables… And everywhere you went, people seemed to work with a sort of chipper disposition you had never observed in your father’s estate. Tasks were fulfilled and chores done dutifully, but never in silence or with dragging feet. There seemed to never be a cloud of gloom in King Namjoon’s halls.
You sighed wistfully. You wished you could stay. Maybe find some quaint job tending to the poppies in the gardens that allowed you to spend your days outside. Alas, your body was a ticking bomb. You couldn’t stay, but you could enjoy this little moment of peace while you had it.
“You must be tired” Sophie said, misunderstanding your sighs. “We have been going around for a while, after all. There’s just one more place to show and then we can sit for tea.”
Sophie directed you to a big structure located behind the stable, made out of an octagonal set of walls. You could hear people inside as you approached and you twisted the fabric of your skirt between nervous fingers. Living a life as sheltered as yours did not allow for much socializing and you had never seen so many people gathered together at once. The large crowds of the castle still made you anxious.
“This is the guard’s training center. Sir Hoseok is very strict about their schedule. They’re here almost everyday” Sophie explained, waving flirtatiously at a sweaty guard passing by.
“Is… Is Sir Hoseok here?” you asked, curiosity getting the best of you.
Before Sophie could answer, someone stepped out of the building and the open door let out a wave of scents that crashed dangerously over you. Even under the layers of sweat and other odors, you could still pick out the one that called to you like a siren’s song, now much stronger and headier.
Hoseok stepped out after his men, panting and sweating, wiping the side of his face with the hem of his shirt. You watched entranced as he made his way outside, the thick haze of his scent getting heavier as he got closer. The way he moved caused his muscles to shift and flex, slow and calculated, bringing a rising heat to your neck that kept climbing up your body.
“Miss Y/N” Sophie called worriedly. “Are you feeling alright? You seem awfully flushed!”
An unknown sort of warmth was making its way through you, starting from your core and burning towards your extremities, leaving you light headed and aching for something you could not name. Suddenly, you could see alphas around you raise their heads and curiously sniff the air around them, trying to find the source of a new, overpowering smell.
Omega.
“Sophie” you whimpered pitifully, folding over yourself in pain. “Take me back to my quarters. Now.”
Hearing the urgency in your voice, Sophie grabbed your arm and dragged you away across the gardens and back through the halls until you reached your bedroom. Trembling, you collapsed on the soft mattress as Sophie locked the door behind her.
“Miss” she said softly, avoiding coming any closer with her nose scrunched “I think your scent is finally…”
Panic cursed through your veins, burning even more violently than the previous sensations. After years of starvation and various methods of self-containment, you could finally smell the one scent you had been avoiding: your own.
You stumbled back up, clumsily making your way towards the bathroom, slamming the door behind you. Quickly, you opened the faucet to the marbled tub, allowing it to fill up before you dropped any and all available scented products inside, the water turning yellowish with the amount of essential oils. The incompatible odors burned your sensitive nose and your skin started feeling pricklish, but you did not dwell on it before you fully submerged yourself, clothes and all, barely holding your breath.
You hoped the ice cold water would cool the feverish feeling inside you, but it only scratched the surface. You had never felt something as debilitating as that, the overwhelming combination of afflictions taking your strength and will-power, clearing the thoughts inside your head until it left only an echoing prayer, a scream for help that you could not verbalize.
Alpha, it clamored from within you, the most primitive part of your brain taking over the reins of your consciousness and saying it again and again: Alpha, alpha, alpha…
Alpha…
You stripped yourself from your clothes and undergarments, the fabric scratching and itching as you clawed it away from you.
Alpha…
You pressed your hand against your scent gland, nestled between your neck and shoulder, trying to bring some relief to the swelling skin.
Alpha…
Your mind brought forth once more the image of Hoseok, gleaming with sweat under the afternoon sun, his smell bringing you to a boiling point.
“Alpha” you finally said out loud, barely a whisper over the sound of the water, as your hands traveled down to your core to hopefully bring the pain and longing to a halt, even if temporarily.
“Hoseok…”
***
Hoseok could’ve sworn someone was calling his name.
It started when he was leaving the training compound after long hours trying to ease his frailed nerves, letting go of some of his pent up aggression on the slacking rookies. His skin was covered in sweat, but his body had finally started to cool off, bringing an end to the seemingly limitless streak of days on edge.
Until the wind blew towards him and suddenly everything turned black.
His alpha barely allowed him time to think before it took over his motor capacities, raising his face towards what he believed was the source of a fragrance so decadent and luxurious it made him feral.
Peaches and cream, all the sweetness in the world and the prettiest of blossoms, permeated the afternoon fog like a drug. Hoseok felt it so deeply it left him panting, tasting it, lying on top of his tongue like the only meal he ever wanted. In an almost synesthetic manner, it smelled of soft skin and pretty eyes, lush lips and opioid kisses. This scent had a name and he couldn’t place it, but his alpha could, gladly even.
Mate, it provided.
Hoseok came back to his senses and hit the ground running, growling at all the other recruits that had their noses up in the air. Whoever smelled like that was his only and the sound that came from his chest promised violence and pain to any who opposed.
Then he sprinted, something primal carrying him back to the castle. The stronger the smell got, the weaker he was, knees giving in with the sheer weight of what he had found. His mate was there, somewhere, waiting for him. In a world with so few omegas, a mate was nothing short of a blessing and Hoseok was unsure of what he had done to deserve such a serendipitous gift, but he was not about to question it. No, his mind was much too busy trying to pinpoint his mate’s location while creating elaborate fantasies of a pretty omega under him, calling his name with a moan, neck decorated with a crescent mark in the shape of his bite.
At this point, Hoseok was sure he looked animalistic, pupils blown out with need. He kept following the trace left behind by his mate like a hunter, taking deep breaths to let it penetrate his lungs and imprint the inside of his ribs. The smell got stronger and needier the closer it got to the guest wing and Hoseok could almost feel it on the tip of his grasping fingers until he reached a door and knocked violently and mindlessly.
Sophie, the maid, came out and with her the chemical smell of roses and lilies. Not sweetness, no sign of the desert-like signature of his mate. Just the faint scent of a beta and an overwhelming cloud of essential oils that burned his nose and made him recoil instantly .
“Sir Hoseok” Sophie bowed deeply, her face red and nervous under the slight manic stare of the Captain “H-How can I help you?”
His brain could hardly put a whole sentence together. All it could muster was a howl of disappointment. Not mate, it wailed, where is mate?
Before he could answer or do something stupid like growl at poor Sophie, you came behind her, wrapped in a fluffy robe, your skin wet and pink and your hair dripping across the floors. Could be mate?, his alpha asked and at this point it sounded almost like a whine. But the trail had been lost and all he could smell was soap and the clean aftermath of a long soak.
You squeaked, embarrassed and scared, hiding behind the door. That woke Hoseok up from the trance he found himself, the urge to make an omega comfortable taking place over the inner voice of his needy alpha.
“Sir Hoseok” your voice came from behind the door and he could hear your anxiety in it “I’m sorry, but I’m not exactly fit to receive visitors at the moment…”
“Miss Y/N does not feel well, Sir Hoseok.”
Instinct kicked in again, making him approach the door as if he planned to run poor Sophie over “Should we call a doctor? Is there anything-”
“No!” They said in unison, Sophie closing the gap in the doorway a bit more, blocking the view to the room “I’m taking care of her, Sir, please do not fret. Is there anything you need at the moment?”
You waited nervously behind the door, listening to the sound of his uneven breathing matching your drumming heart.
“No, I- I” he seemed lost and confused and indeed he was. He didn’t quite know how he got there, nor where he would go after, his schedule and obligations slipping away from his fraying mind. He tried to find a plausible reason to be panting at your door, especially at such an inappropriate moment, but all he could think about was the crossover of senses mixing peaches with the rosy color of your collarbones.
Sophie watched the exchange with confused fascination, unsure of what to make of the situation: the alpha Captain looking frazzled in the hallway and the runaway omega going through a late puberty behind her. It seemed like the beginning of a lewd joke or the plot of one of those romance tales the older maids hid beneath their mattresses.
“I’m sorry” he said at last and Sophie’s eyes widened, looking at you behind the door and back at the sweaty Captain almost kneeling at the door.
“Sir?” he heard you ask.
“I”m sorry I ran away the other day. I’m sorry I’m probably scaring you right now as well…”
“You’re not- You’re not scaring me.”
Hoseok froze, his alpha quiet for once on his side of the wall, as if he too was listening to you.
“I’ve met scary alphas. You’re not one of them.”
Hoseok could’ve sworn he heard Sophie mutter “Not to you, at least” quietly, but he was too focused on your voice and your words. I’ve met scary alphas. Goddesses, didn’t that just send a spear straight through his already tattered heart.
“I’m sorry” he repeated. “I’m sorry you went through that. If there’s anything I can do-” he didn’t finish his sentence, unsure how. Anything he can do to what? To help? To erase the memory of the abuse you endured? To make sure your father never got to see the sun again?
“Actually, I have one favor to ask, if it’s not too much…”
“Please, do tell!”
“Can you teach me how to read?”
°•. ✿ .•°
✿ The next chapter called "Nameless" is already available on my ko-fi to Calcifer Crew, my membership tier, and will be posted here soon! Click here if you want early access to all my updates :)
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: "And through some happenstance, casual and cruel, shaped by the hands of the Moon goddesses, you ended up face to face with what They considered your fated mates. Of course, they didn’t know that - how could they recognize their goddess-given match if you had no scent? As long as you didn’t reach maturity, only you would feel this pull, this constant urge pooling at your lower abdomen when their scents filled your nose and sent your eyes rolling back. You knew your place and it was not amongst royalty."
OR
The one where you find your fated alphas, but they can't find you.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst, ABO, Soulmate AUs.
✿ 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: This is a 18+ work! Minors, please do not interact. Also, there will be mentions of violence and abuse.
(Fanfic masterlist)
°•. ✿ .•°
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 - 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬
(<<< part two)
The couple of glimpses of the castle you had managed to get during your flimsy attempt at escaping could not compare to the real thing. The elaborate architecture filled your eyes with wonder, struggling to absorb all the gleam from the stained glass windows and complicated tapestry as Sophie pulled you, arm in arm with a skip to her step, happy with knowledge that she was not about to be fired.
“This is the great hall” she said, gesturing towards a large set of doors that opened to a room unlike anything you had ever seen.
“Is there an event coming up?” you asked, eyeing curiously the hustle and movement inside where people carried boxes from one side to another, cleaning every corner and dusting every surface.
“The king’s birthday, of course!” your companion exclaimed. “The festivities last a whole week, but the main party is held here. This year, I hear it’s going to be a masquerade. Isn’t it so exciting?”
You agreed softly, still focused on the flurry of busy staff illuminated by the sun shining on the glass dome above their heads.
Your mind conjured pictures of decorated arches and lavish meals, dancing couples under the moonlight and all the fun and romance you never had the chance to experience and most likely never would.
With a saddened heart, you pulled your companion forward, urging her to continue with the tour. There was no reason to linger on the things you could not have, as they were insurmountable and currently only seemed to be adding up.
The tour continued and you got to wander around different parts of the fortress: the lush gardens, the high-ceiling galleries, the stables… And everywhere you went, people seemed to work with a sort of chipper disposition you had never observed in your father’s estate. Tasks were fulfilled and chores done dutifully, but never in silence or with dragging feet. There seemed to never be a cloud of gloom in King Namjoon’s halls.
You sighed wistfully. You wished you could stay. Maybe find some quaint job tending to the poppies in the gardens that allowed you to spend your days outside. Alas, your body was a ticking bomb. You couldn’t stay, but you could enjoy this little moment of peace while you had it.
“You must be tired” Sophie said, misunderstanding your sighs. “We have been going around for a while, after all. There’s just one more place to show and then we can sit for tea.”
Sophie directed you to a big structure located behind the stable, made out of an octagonal set of walls. You could hear people inside as you approached and you twisted the fabric of your skirt between nervous fingers. Living a life as sheltered as yours did not allow for much socializing and you had never seen so many people gathered together at once. The large crowds of the castle still made you anxious.
“This is the guard’s training center. Sir Hoseok is very strict about their schedule. They’re here almost everyday” Sophie explained, waving flirtatiously at a sweaty guard passing by.
“Is… Is Sir Hoseok here?” you asked, curiosity getting the best of you.
Before Sophie could answer, someone stepped out of the building and the open door let out a wave of scents that crashed dangerously over you. Even under the layers of sweat and other odors, you could still pick out the one that called to you like a siren’s song, now much stronger and headier.
Hoseok stepped out after his men, panting and sweating, wiping the side of his face with the hem of his shirt. You watched entranced as he made his way outside, the thick haze of his scent getting heavier as he got closer. The way he moved caused his muscles to shift and flex, slow and calculated, bringing a rising heat to your neck that kept climbing up your body.
“Miss Y/N” Sophie called worriedly. “Are you feeling alright? You seem awfully flushed!”
An unknown sort of warmth was making its way through you, starting from your core and burning towards your extremities, leaving you light headed and aching for something you could not name. Suddenly, you could see alphas around you raise their heads and curiously sniff the air around them, trying to find the source of a new, overpowering smell.
Omega.
“Sophie” you whimpered pitifully, folding over yourself in pain. “Take me back to my quarters. Now.”
Hearing the urgency in your voice, Sophie grabbed your arm and dragged you away across the gardens and back through the halls until you reached your bedroom. Trembling, you collapsed on the soft mattress as Sophie locked the door behind her.
“Miss” she said softly, avoiding coming any closer with her nose scrunched “I think your scent is finally…”
Panic cursed through your veins, burning even more violently than the previous sensations. After years of starvation and various methods of self-containment, you could finally smell the one scent you had been avoiding: your own.
You stumbled back up, clumsily making your way towards the bathroom, slamming the door behind you. Quickly, you opened the faucet to the marbled tub, allowing it to fill up before you dropped any and all available scented products inside, the water turning yellowish with the amount of essential oils. The incompatible odors burned your sensitive nose and your skin started feeling pricklish, but you did not dwell on it before you fully submerged yourself, clothes and all, barely holding your breath.
You hoped the ice cold water would cool the feverish feeling inside you, but it only scratched the surface. You had never felt something as debilitating as that, the overwhelming combination of afflictions taking your strength and will-power, clearing the thoughts inside your head until it left only an echoing prayer, a scream for help that you could not verbalize.
Alpha, it clamored from within you, the most primitive part of your brain taking over the reins of your consciousness and saying it again and again: Alpha, alpha, alpha…
Alpha…
You stripped yourself from your clothes and undergarments, the fabric scratching and itching as you clawed it away from you.
Alpha…
You pressed your hand against your scent gland, nestled between your neck and shoulder, trying to bring some relief to the swelling skin.
Alpha…
Your mind brought forth once more the image of Hoseok, gleaming with sweat under the afternoon sun, his smell bringing you to a boiling point.
“Alpha” you finally said out loud, barely a whisper over the sound of the water, as your hands traveled down to your core to hopefully bring the pain and longing to a halt, even if temporarily.
“Hoseok…”
***
Hoseok could’ve sworn someone was calling his name.
It started when he was leaving the training compound after long hours trying to ease his frailed nerves, letting go of some of his pent up aggression on the slacking rookies. His skin was covered in sweat, but his body had finally started to cool off, bringing an end to the seemingly limitless streak of days on edge.
Until the wind blew towards him and suddenly everything turned black.
His alpha barely allowed him time to think before it took over his motor capacities, raising his face towards what he believed was the source of a fragrance so decadent and luxurious it made him feral.
Peaches and cream, all the sweetness in the world and the prettiest of blossoms, permeated the afternoon fog like a drug. Hoseok felt it so deeply it left him panting, tasting it, lying on top of his tongue like the only meal he ever wanted. In an almost synesthetic manner, it smelled of soft skin and pretty eyes, lush lips and opioid kisses. This scent had a name and he couldn’t place it, but his alpha could, gladly even.
Mate, it provided.
Hoseok came back to his senses and hit the ground running, growling at all the other recruits that had their noses up in the air. Whoever smelled like that was his only and the sound that came from his chest promised violence and pain to any who opposed.
Then he sprinted, something primal carrying him back to the castle. The stronger the smell got, the weaker he was, knees giving in with the sheer weight of what he had found. His mate was there, somewhere, waiting for him. In a world with so few omegas, a mate was nothing short of a blessing and Hoseok was unsure of what he had done to deserve such a serendipitous gift, but he was not about to question it. No, his mind was much too busy trying to pinpoint his mate’s location while creating elaborate fantasies of a pretty omega under him, calling his name with a moan, neck decorated with a crescent mark in the shape of his bite.
At this point, Hoseok was sure he looked animalistic, pupils blown out with need. He kept following the trace left behind by his mate like a hunter, taking deep breaths to let it penetrate his lungs and imprint the inside of his ribs. The smell got stronger and needier the closer it got to the guest wing and Hoseok could almost feel it on the tip of his grasping fingers until he reached a door and knocked violently and mindlessly.
Sophie, the maid, came out and with her the chemical smell of roses and lilies. Not sweetness, no sign of the desert-like signature of his mate. Just the faint scent of a beta and an overwhelming cloud of essential oils that burned his nose and made him recoil instantly .
“Sir Hoseok” Sophie bowed deeply, her face red and nervous under the slight manic stare of the Captain “H-How can I help you?”
His brain could hardly put a whole sentence together. All it could muster was a howl of disappointment. Not mate, it wailed, where is mate?
Before he could answer or do something stupid like growl at poor Sophie, you came behind her, wrapped in a fluffy robe, your skin wet and pink and your hair dripping across the floors. Could be mate?, his alpha asked and at this point it sounded almost like a whine. But the trail had been lost and all he could smell was soap and the clean aftermath of a long soak.
You squeaked, embarrassed and scared, hiding behind the door. That woke Hoseok up from the trance he found himself, the urge to make an omega comfortable taking place over the inner voice of his needy alpha.
“Sir Hoseok” your voice came from behind the door and he could hear your anxiety in it “I’m sorry, but I’m not exactly fit to receive visitors at the moment…”
“Miss Y/N does not feel well, Sir Hoseok.”
Instinct kicked in again, making him approach the door as if he planned to run poor Sophie over “Should we call a doctor? Is there anything-”
“No!” They said in unison, Sophie closing the gap in the doorway a bit more, blocking the view to the room “I’m taking care of her, Sir, please do not fret. Is there anything you need at the moment?”
You waited nervously behind the door, listening to the sound of his uneven breathing matching your drumming heart.
“No, I- I” he seemed lost and confused and indeed he was. He didn’t quite know how he got there, nor where he would go after, his schedule and obligations slipping away from his fraying mind. He tried to find a plausible reason to be panting at your door, especially at such an inappropriate moment, but all he could think about was the crossover of senses mixing peaches with the rosy color of your collarbones.
Sophie watched the exchange with confused fascination, unsure of what to make of the situation: the alpha Captain looking frazzled in the hallway and the runaway omega going through a late puberty behind her. It seemed like the beginning of a lewd joke or the plot of one of those romance tales the older maids hid beneath their mattresses.
“I’m sorry” he said at last and Sophie’s eyes widened, looking at you behind the door and back at the sweaty Captain almost kneeling at the door.
“Sir?” he heard you ask.
“I”m sorry I ran away the other day. I’m sorry I’m probably scaring you right now as well…”
“You’re not- You’re not scaring me.”
Hoseok froze, his alpha quiet for once on his side of the wall, as if he too was listening to you.
“I’ve met scary alphas. You’re not one of them.”
Hoseok could’ve sworn he heard Sophie mutter “Not to you, at least” quietly, but he was too focused on your voice and your words. I’ve met scary alphas. Goddesses, didn’t that just send a spear straight through his already tattered heart.
“I’m sorry” he repeated. “I’m sorry you went through that. If there’s anything I can do-” he didn’t finish his sentence, unsure how. Anything he can do to what? To help? To erase the memory of the abuse you endured? To make sure your father never got to see the sun again?
“Actually, I have one favor to ask, if it’s not too much…”
“Please, do tell!”
“Can you teach me how to read?”
°•. ✿ .•°
✿ The next chapter called "Nameless" is already available on my ko-fi to Calcifer Crew, my membership tier, and will be posted here soon! Click here if you want early access to all my updates :)
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: "And through some happenstance, casual and cruel, shaped by the hands of the Moon goddesses, you ended up face to face with what They considered your fated mates. Of course, they didn’t know that - how could they recognize their goddess-given match if you had no scent? As long as you didn’t reach maturity, only you would feel this pull, this constant urge pooling at your lower abdomen when their scents filled your nose and sent your eyes rolling back. You knew your place and it was not amongst royalty."
OR
The one where you find your fated alphas, but they can't find you.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst, ABO, Soulmate AUs.
✿ 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: This is a 18+ work! Minors, please do not interact. Also, there will be mentions of violence and abuse.
(Fanfic masterlist)
°•. ✿ .•°
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 - 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬
(<<< part two)
The couple of glimpses of the castle you had managed to get during your flimsy attempt at escaping could not compare to the real thing. The elaborate architecture filled your eyes with wonder, struggling to absorb all the gleam from the stained glass windows and complicated tapestry as Sophie pulled you, arm in arm with a skip to her step, happy with knowledge that she was not about to be fired.
“This is the great hall” she said, gesturing towards a large set of doors that opened to a room unlike anything you had ever seen.
“Is there an event coming up?” you asked, eyeing curiously the hustle and movement inside where people carried boxes from one side to another, cleaning every corner and dusting every surface.
“The king’s birthday, of course!” your companion exclaimed. “The festivities last a whole week, but the main party is held here. This year, I hear it’s going to be a masquerade. Isn’t it so exciting?”
You agreed softly, still focused on the flurry of busy staff illuminated by the sun shining on the glass dome above their heads.
Your mind conjured pictures of decorated arches and lavish meals, dancing couples under the moonlight and all the fun and romance you never had the chance to experience and most likely never would.
With a saddened heart, you pulled your companion forward, urging her to continue with the tour. There was no reason to linger on the things you could not have, as they were insurmountable and currently only seemed to be adding up.
The tour continued and you got to wander around different parts of the fortress: the lush gardens, the high-ceiling galleries, the stables… And everywhere you went, people seemed to work with a sort of chipper disposition you had never observed in your father’s estate. Tasks were fulfilled and chores done dutifully, but never in silence or with dragging feet. There seemed to never be a cloud of gloom in King Namjoon’s halls.
You sighed wistfully. You wished you could stay. Maybe find some quaint job tending to the poppies in the gardens that allowed you to spend your days outside. Alas, your body was a ticking bomb. You couldn’t stay, but you could enjoy this little moment of peace while you had it.
“You must be tired” Sophie said, misunderstanding your sighs. “We have been going around for a while, after all. There’s just one more place to show and then we can sit for tea.”
Sophie directed you to a big structure located behind the stable, made out of an octagonal set of walls. You could hear people inside as you approached and you twisted the fabric of your skirt between nervous fingers. Living a life as sheltered as yours did not allow for much socializing and you had never seen so many people gathered together at once. The large crowds of the castle still made you anxious.
“This is the guard’s training center. Sir Hoseok is very strict about their schedule. They’re here almost everyday” Sophie explained, waving flirtatiously at a sweaty guard passing by.
“Is… Is Sir Hoseok here?” you asked, curiosity getting the best of you.
Before Sophie could answer, someone stepped out of the building and the open door let out a wave of scents that crashed dangerously over you. Even under the layers of sweat and other odors, you could still pick out the one that called to you like a siren’s song, now much stronger and headier.
Hoseok stepped out after his men, panting and sweating, wiping the side of his face with the hem of his shirt. You watched entranced as he made his way outside, the thick haze of his scent getting heavier as he got closer. The way he moved caused his muscles to shift and flex, slow and calculated, bringing a rising heat to your neck that kept climbing up your body.
“Miss Y/N” Sophie called worriedly. “Are you feeling alright? You seem awfully flushed!”
An unknown sort of warmth was making its way through you, starting from your core and burning towards your extremities, leaving you light headed and aching for something you could not name. Suddenly, you could see alphas around you raise their heads and curiously sniff the air around them, trying to find the source of a new, overpowering smell.
Omega.
“Sophie” you whimpered pitifully, folding over yourself in pain. “Take me back to my quarters. Now.”
Hearing the urgency in your voice, Sophie grabbed your arm and dragged you away across the gardens and back through the halls until you reached your bedroom. Trembling, you collapsed on the soft mattress as Sophie locked the door behind her.
“Miss” she said softly, avoiding coming any closer with her nose scrunched “I think your scent is finally…”
Panic cursed through your veins, burning even more violently than the previous sensations. After years of starvation and various methods of self-containment, you could finally smell the one scent you had been avoiding: your own.
You stumbled back up, clumsily making your way towards the bathroom, slamming the door behind you. Quickly, you opened the faucet to the marbled tub, allowing it to fill up before you dropped any and all available scented products inside, the water turning yellowish with the amount of essential oils. The incompatible odors burned your sensitive nose and your skin started feeling pricklish, but you did not dwell on it before you fully submerged yourself, clothes and all, barely holding your breath.
You hoped the ice cold water would cool the feverish feeling inside you, but it only scratched the surface. You had never felt something as debilitating as that, the overwhelming combination of afflictions taking your strength and will-power, clearing the thoughts inside your head until it left only an echoing prayer, a scream for help that you could not verbalize.
Alpha, it clamored from within you, the most primitive part of your brain taking over the reins of your consciousness and saying it again and again: Alpha, alpha, alpha…
Alpha…
You stripped yourself from your clothes and undergarments, the fabric scratching and itching as you clawed it away from you.
Alpha…
You pressed your hand against your scent gland, nestled between your neck and shoulder, trying to bring some relief to the swelling skin.
Alpha…
Your mind brought forth once more the image of Hoseok, gleaming with sweat under the afternoon sun, his smell bringing you to a boiling point.
“Alpha” you finally said out loud, barely a whisper over the sound of the water, as your hands traveled down to your core to hopefully bring the pain and longing to a halt, even if temporarily.
“Hoseok…”
***
Hoseok could’ve sworn someone was calling his name.
It started when he was leaving the training compound after long hours trying to ease his frailed nerves, letting go of some of his pent up aggression on the slacking rookies. His skin was covered in sweat, but his body had finally started to cool off, bringing an end to the seemingly limitless streak of days on edge.
Until the wind blew towards him and suddenly everything turned black.
His alpha barely allowed him time to think before it took over his motor capacities, raising his face towards what he believed was the source of a fragrance so decadent and luxurious it made him feral.
Peaches and cream, all the sweetness in the world and the prettiest of blossoms, permeated the afternoon fog like a drug. Hoseok felt it so deeply it left him panting, tasting it, lying on top of his tongue like the only meal he ever wanted. In an almost synesthetic manner, it smelled of soft skin and pretty eyes, lush lips and opioid kisses. This scent had a name and he couldn’t place it, but his alpha could, gladly even.
Mate, it provided.
Hoseok came back to his senses and hit the ground running, growling at all the other recruits that had their noses up in the air. Whoever smelled like that was his only and the sound that came from his chest promised violence and pain to any who opposed.
Then he sprinted, something primal carrying him back to the castle. The stronger the smell got, the weaker he was, knees giving in with the sheer weight of what he had found. His mate was there, somewhere, waiting for him. In a world with so few omegas, a mate was nothing short of a blessing and Hoseok was unsure of what he had done to deserve such a serendipitous gift, but he was not about to question it. No, his mind was much too busy trying to pinpoint his mate’s location while creating elaborate fantasies of a pretty omega under him, calling his name with a moan, neck decorated with a crescent mark in the shape of his bite.
At this point, Hoseok was sure he looked animalistic, pupils blown out with need. He kept following the trace left behind by his mate like a hunter, taking deep breaths to let it penetrate his lungs and imprint the inside of his ribs. The smell got stronger and needier the closer it got to the guest wing and Hoseok could almost feel it on the tip of his grasping fingers until he reached a door and knocked violently and mindlessly.
Sophie, the maid, came out and with her the chemical smell of roses and lilies. Not sweetness, no sign of the desert-like signature of his mate. Just the faint scent of a beta and an overwhelming cloud of essential oils that burned his nose and made him recoil instantly .
“Sir Hoseok” Sophie bowed deeply, her face red and nervous under the slight manic stare of the Captain “H-How can I help you?”
His brain could hardly put a whole sentence together. All it could muster was a howl of disappointment. Not mate, it wailed, where is mate?
Before he could answer or do something stupid like growl at poor Sophie, you came behind her, wrapped in a fluffy robe, your skin wet and pink and your hair dripping across the floors. Could be mate?, his alpha asked and at this point it sounded almost like a whine. But the trail had been lost and all he could smell was soap and the clean aftermath of a long soak.
You squeaked, embarrassed and scared, hiding behind the door. That woke Hoseok up from the trance he found himself, the urge to make an omega comfortable taking place over the inner voice of his needy alpha.
“Sir Hoseok” your voice came from behind the door and he could hear your anxiety in it “I’m sorry, but I’m not exactly fit to receive visitors at the moment…”
“Miss Y/N does not feel well, Sir Hoseok.”
Instinct kicked in again, making him approach the door as if he planned to run poor Sophie over “Should we call a doctor? Is there anything-”
“No!” They said in unison, Sophie closing the gap in the doorway a bit more, blocking the view to the room “I’m taking care of her, Sir, please do not fret. Is there anything you need at the moment?”
You waited nervously behind the door, listening to the sound of his uneven breathing matching your drumming heart.
“No, I- I” he seemed lost and confused and indeed he was. He didn’t quite know how he got there, nor where he would go after, his schedule and obligations slipping away from his fraying mind. He tried to find a plausible reason to be panting at your door, especially at such an inappropriate moment, but all he could think about was the crossover of senses mixing peaches with the rosy color of your collarbones.
Sophie watched the exchange with confused fascination, unsure of what to make of the situation: the alpha Captain looking frazzled in the hallway and the runaway omega going through a late puberty behind her. It seemed like the beginning of a lewd joke or the plot of one of those romance tales the older maids hid beneath their mattresses.
“I’m sorry” he said at last and Sophie’s eyes widened, looking at you behind the door and back at the sweaty Captain almost kneeling at the door.
“Sir?” he heard you ask.
“I”m sorry I ran away the other day. I’m sorry I’m probably scaring you right now as well…”
“You’re not- You’re not scaring me.”
Hoseok froze, his alpha quiet for once on his side of the wall, as if he too was listening to you.
“I’ve met scary alphas. You’re not one of them.”
Hoseok could’ve sworn he heard Sophie mutter “Not to you, at least” quietly, but he was too focused on your voice and your words. I’ve met scary alphas. Goddesses, didn’t that just send a spear straight through his already tattered heart.
“I’m sorry” he repeated. “I’m sorry you went through that. If there’s anything I can do-” he didn’t finish his sentence, unsure how. Anything he can do to what? To help? To erase the memory of the abuse you endured? To make sure your father never got to see the sun again?
“Actually, I have one favor to ask, if it’s not too much…”
“Please, do tell!”
“Can you teach me how to read?”
°•. ✿ .•°
✿ The next chapter called "Nameless" is already available on my ko-fi to Calcifer Crew, my membership tier, and will be posted here soon! Click here if you want early access to all my updates :)
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: "And through some happenstance, casual and cruel, shaped by the hands of the Moon goddesses, you ended up face to face with what They considered your fated mates. Of course, they didn’t know that - how could they recognize their goddess-given match if you had no scent? As long as you didn’t reach maturity, only you would feel this pull, this constant urge pooling at your lower abdomen when their scents filled your nose and sent your eyes rolling back. You knew your place and it was not amongst royalty."
OR
The one where you find your fated alphas, but they can't find you.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst, ABO, Soulmate AUs.
✿ 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: This is a 18+ work! Minors, please do not interact. Also, there will be mentions of violence and abuse.
(Fanfic masterlist)
°•. ✿ .•°
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 - 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬
(<<< part two)
The couple of glimpses of the castle you had managed to get during your flimsy attempt at escaping could not compare to the real thing. The elaborate architecture filled your eyes with wonder, struggling to absorb all the gleam from the stained glass windows and complicated tapestry as Sophie pulled you, arm in arm with a skip to her step, happy with knowledge that she was not about to be fired.
“This is the great hall” she said, gesturing towards a large set of doors that opened to a room unlike anything you had ever seen.
“Is there an event coming up?” you asked, eyeing curiously the hustle and movement inside where people carried boxes from one side to another, cleaning every corner and dusting every surface.
“The king’s birthday, of course!” your companion exclaimed. “The festivities last a whole week, but the main party is held here. This year, I hear it’s going to be a masquerade. Isn’t it so exciting?”
You agreed softly, still focused on the flurry of busy staff illuminated by the sun shining on the glass dome above their heads.
Your mind conjured pictures of decorated arches and lavish meals, dancing couples under the moonlight and all the fun and romance you never had the chance to experience and most likely never would.
With a saddened heart, you pulled your companion forward, urging her to continue with the tour. There was no reason to linger on the things you could not have, as they were insurmountable and currently only seemed to be adding up.
The tour continued and you got to wander around different parts of the fortress: the lush gardens, the high-ceiling galleries, the stables… And everywhere you went, people seemed to work with a sort of chipper disposition you had never observed in your father’s estate. Tasks were fulfilled and chores done dutifully, but never in silence or with dragging feet. There seemed to never be a cloud of gloom in King Namjoon’s halls.
You sighed wistfully. You wished you could stay. Maybe find some quaint job tending to the poppies in the gardens that allowed you to spend your days outside. Alas, your body was a ticking bomb. You couldn’t stay, but you could enjoy this little moment of peace while you had it.
“You must be tired” Sophie said, misunderstanding your sighs. “We have been going around for a while, after all. There’s just one more place to show and then we can sit for tea.”
Sophie directed you to a big structure located behind the stable, made out of an octagonal set of walls. You could hear people inside as you approached and you twisted the fabric of your skirt between nervous fingers. Living a life as sheltered as yours did not allow for much socializing and you had never seen so many people gathered together at once. The large crowds of the castle still made you anxious.
“This is the guard’s training center. Sir Hoseok is very strict about their schedule. They’re here almost everyday” Sophie explained, waving flirtatiously at a sweaty guard passing by.
“Is… Is Sir Hoseok here?” you asked, curiosity getting the best of you.
Before Sophie could answer, someone stepped out of the building and the open door let out a wave of scents that crashed dangerously over you. Even under the layers of sweat and other odors, you could still pick out the one that called to you like a siren’s song, now much stronger and headier.
Hoseok stepped out after his men, panting and sweating, wiping the side of his face with the hem of his shirt. You watched entranced as he made his way outside, the thick haze of his scent getting heavier as he got closer. The way he moved caused his muscles to shift and flex, slow and calculated, bringing a rising heat to your neck that kept climbing up your body.
“Miss Y/N” Sophie called worriedly. “Are you feeling alright? You seem awfully flushed!”
An unknown sort of warmth was making its way through you, starting from your core and burning towards your extremities, leaving you light headed and aching for something you could not name. Suddenly, you could see alphas around you raise their heads and curiously sniff the air around them, trying to find the source of a new, overpowering smell.
Omega.
“Sophie” you whimpered pitifully, folding over yourself in pain. “Take me back to my quarters. Now.”
Hearing the urgency in your voice, Sophie grabbed your arm and dragged you away across the gardens and back through the halls until you reached your bedroom. Trembling, you collapsed on the soft mattress as Sophie locked the door behind her.
“Miss” she said softly, avoiding coming any closer with her nose scrunched “I think your scent is finally…”
Panic cursed through your veins, burning even more violently than the previous sensations. After years of starvation and various methods of self-containment, you could finally smell the one scent you had been avoiding: your own.
You stumbled back up, clumsily making your way towards the bathroom, slamming the door behind you. Quickly, you opened the faucet to the marbled tub, allowing it to fill up before you dropped any and all available scented products inside, the water turning yellowish with the amount of essential oils. The incompatible odors burned your sensitive nose and your skin started feeling pricklish, but you did not dwell on it before you fully submerged yourself, clothes and all, barely holding your breath.
You hoped the ice cold water would cool the feverish feeling inside you, but it only scratched the surface. You had never felt something as debilitating as that, the overwhelming combination of afflictions taking your strength and will-power, clearing the thoughts inside your head until it left only an echoing prayer, a scream for help that you could not verbalize.
Alpha, it clamored from within you, the most primitive part of your brain taking over the reins of your consciousness and saying it again and again: Alpha, alpha, alpha…
Alpha…
You stripped yourself from your clothes and undergarments, the fabric scratching and itching as you clawed it away from you.
Alpha…
You pressed your hand against your scent gland, nestled between your neck and shoulder, trying to bring some relief to the swelling skin.
Alpha…
Your mind brought forth once more the image of Hoseok, gleaming with sweat under the afternoon sun, his smell bringing you to a boiling point.
“Alpha” you finally said out loud, barely a whisper over the sound of the water, as your hands traveled down to your core to hopefully bring the pain and longing to a halt, even if temporarily.
“Hoseok…”
***
Hoseok could’ve sworn someone was calling his name.
It started when he was leaving the training compound after long hours trying to ease his frailed nerves, letting go of some of his pent up aggression on the slacking rookies. His skin was covered in sweat, but his body had finally started to cool off, bringing an end to the seemingly limitless streak of days on edge.
Until the wind blew towards him and suddenly everything turned black.
His alpha barely allowed him time to think before it took over his motor capacities, raising his face towards what he believed was the source of a fragrance so decadent and luxurious it made him feral.
Peaches and cream, all the sweetness in the world and the prettiest of blossoms, permeated the afternoon fog like a drug. Hoseok felt it so deeply it left him panting, tasting it, lying on top of his tongue like the only meal he ever wanted. In an almost synesthetic manner, it smelled of soft skin and pretty eyes, lush lips and opioid kisses. This scent had a name and he couldn’t place it, but his alpha could, gladly even.
Mate, it provided.
Hoseok came back to his senses and hit the ground running, growling at all the other recruits that had their noses up in the air. Whoever smelled like that was his only and the sound that came from his chest promised violence and pain to any who opposed.
Then he sprinted, something primal carrying him back to the castle. The stronger the smell got, the weaker he was, knees giving in with the sheer weight of what he had found. His mate was there, somewhere, waiting for him. In a world with so few omegas, a mate was nothing short of a blessing and Hoseok was unsure of what he had done to deserve such a serendipitous gift, but he was not about to question it. No, his mind was much too busy trying to pinpoint his mate’s location while creating elaborate fantasies of a pretty omega under him, calling his name with a moan, neck decorated with a crescent mark in the shape of his bite.
At this point, Hoseok was sure he looked animalistic, pupils blown out with need. He kept following the trace left behind by his mate like a hunter, taking deep breaths to let it penetrate his lungs and imprint the inside of his ribs. The smell got stronger and needier the closer it got to the guest wing and Hoseok could almost feel it on the tip of his grasping fingers until he reached a door and knocked violently and mindlessly.
Sophie, the maid, came out and with her the chemical smell of roses and lilies. Not sweetness, no sign of the desert-like signature of his mate. Just the faint scent of a beta and an overwhelming cloud of essential oils that burned his nose and made him recoil instantly .
“Sir Hoseok” Sophie bowed deeply, her face red and nervous under the slight manic stare of the Captain “H-How can I help you?”
His brain could hardly put a whole sentence together. All it could muster was a howl of disappointment. Not mate, it wailed, where is mate?
Before he could answer or do something stupid like growl at poor Sophie, you came behind her, wrapped in a fluffy robe, your skin wet and pink and your hair dripping across the floors. Could be mate?, his alpha asked and at this point it sounded almost like a whine. But the trail had been lost and all he could smell was soap and the clean aftermath of a long soak.
You squeaked, embarrassed and scared, hiding behind the door. That woke Hoseok up from the trance he found himself, the urge to make an omega comfortable taking place over the inner voice of his needy alpha.
“Sir Hoseok” your voice came from behind the door and he could hear your anxiety in it “I’m sorry, but I’m not exactly fit to receive visitors at the moment…”
“Miss Y/N does not feel well, Sir Hoseok.”
Instinct kicked in again, making him approach the door as if he planned to run poor Sophie over “Should we call a doctor? Is there anything-”
“No!” They said in unison, Sophie closing the gap in the doorway a bit more, blocking the view to the room “I’m taking care of her, Sir, please do not fret. Is there anything you need at the moment?”
You waited nervously behind the door, listening to the sound of his uneven breathing matching your drumming heart.
“No, I- I” he seemed lost and confused and indeed he was. He didn’t quite know how he got there, nor where he would go after, his schedule and obligations slipping away from his fraying mind. He tried to find a plausible reason to be panting at your door, especially at such an inappropriate moment, but all he could think about was the crossover of senses mixing peaches with the rosy color of your collarbones.
Sophie watched the exchange with confused fascination, unsure of what to make of the situation: the alpha Captain looking frazzled in the hallway and the runaway omega going through a late puberty behind her. It seemed like the beginning of a lewd joke or the plot of one of those romance tales the older maids hid beneath their mattresses.
“I’m sorry” he said at last and Sophie’s eyes widened, looking at you behind the door and back at the sweaty Captain almost kneeling at the door.
“Sir?” he heard you ask.
“I”m sorry I ran away the other day. I’m sorry I’m probably scaring you right now as well…”
“You’re not- You’re not scaring me.”
Hoseok froze, his alpha quiet for once on his side of the wall, as if he too was listening to you.
“I’ve met scary alphas. You’re not one of them.”
Hoseok could’ve sworn he heard Sophie mutter “Not to you, at least” quietly, but he was too focused on your voice and your words. I’ve met scary alphas. Goddesses, didn’t that just send a spear straight through his already tattered heart.
“I’m sorry” he repeated. “I’m sorry you went through that. If there’s anything I can do-” he didn’t finish his sentence, unsure how. Anything he can do to what? To help? To erase the memory of the abuse you endured? To make sure your father never got to see the sun again?
“Actually, I have one favor to ask, if it’s not too much…”
“Please, do tell!”
“Can you teach me how to read?”
°•. ✿ .•°
✿ The next chapter called "Nameless" is already available on my ko-fi to Calcifer Crew, my membership tier, and will be posted here soon! Click here if you want early access to all my updates :)
✿ 𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: "And through some happenstance, casual and cruel, shaped by the hands of the Moon goddesses, you ended up face to face with what They considered your fated mates. Of course, they didn’t know that - how could they recognize their goddess-given match if you had no scent? As long as you didn’t reach maturity, only you would feel this pull, this constant urge pooling at your lower abdomen when their scents filled your nose and sent your eyes rolling back. You knew your place and it was not amongst royalty."
OR
The one where you find your fated alphas, but they can't find you.
✿ 𝑻𝒂𝒈𝒔: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst, ABO, Soulmate AUs.
✿ 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: This is a 18+ work! Minors, please do not interact. Also, there will be mentions of violence and abuse.
(Fanfic masterlist)
°•. ✿ .•°
𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 - 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬
(<<< part two)
The couple of glimpses of the castle you had managed to get during your flimsy attempt at escaping could not compare to the real thing. The elaborate architecture filled your eyes with wonder, struggling to absorb all the gleam from the stained glass windows and complicated tapestry as Sophie pulled you, arm in arm with a skip to her step, happy with knowledge that she was not about to be fired.
“This is the great hall” she said, gesturing towards a large set of doors that opened to a room unlike anything you had ever seen.
“Is there an event coming up?” you asked, eyeing curiously the hustle and movement inside where people carried boxes from one side to another, cleaning every corner and dusting every surface.
“The king’s birthday, of course!” your companion exclaimed. “The festivities last a whole week, but the main party is held here. This year, I hear it’s going to be a masquerade. Isn’t it so exciting?”
You agreed softly, still focused on the flurry of busy staff illuminated by the sun shining on the glass dome above their heads.
Your mind conjured pictures of decorated arches and lavish meals, dancing couples under the moonlight and all the fun and romance you never had the chance to experience and most likely never would.
With a saddened heart, you pulled your companion forward, urging her to continue with the tour. There was no reason to linger on the things you could not have, as they were insurmountable and currently only seemed to be adding up.
The tour continued and you got to wander around different parts of the fortress: the lush gardens, the high-ceiling galleries, the stables… And everywhere you went, people seemed to work with a sort of chipper disposition you had never observed in your father’s estate. Tasks were fulfilled and chores done dutifully, but never in silence or with dragging feet. There seemed to never be a cloud of gloom in King Namjoon’s halls.
You sighed wistfully. You wished you could stay. Maybe find some quaint job tending to the poppies in the gardens that allowed you to spend your days outside. Alas, your body was a ticking bomb. You couldn’t stay, but you could enjoy this little moment of peace while you had it.
“You must be tired” Sophie said, misunderstanding your sighs. “We have been going around for a while, after all. There’s just one more place to show and then we can sit for tea.”
Sophie directed you to a big structure located behind the stable, made out of an octagonal set of walls. You could hear people inside as you approached and you twisted the fabric of your skirt between nervous fingers. Living a life as sheltered as yours did not allow for much socializing and you had never seen so many people gathered together at once. The large crowds of the castle still made you anxious.
“This is the guard’s training center. Sir Hoseok is very strict about their schedule. They’re here almost everyday” Sophie explained, waving flirtatiously at a sweaty guard passing by.
“Is… Is Sir Hoseok here?” you asked, curiosity getting the best of you.
Before Sophie could answer, someone stepped out of the building and the open door let out a wave of scents that crashed dangerously over you. Even under the layers of sweat and other odors, you could still pick out the one that called to you like a siren’s song, now much stronger and headier.
Hoseok stepped out after his men, panting and sweating, wiping the side of his face with the hem of his shirt. You watched entranced as he made his way outside, the thick haze of his scent getting heavier as he got closer. The way he moved caused his muscles to shift and flex, slow and calculated, bringing a rising heat to your neck that kept climbing up your body.
“Miss Y/N” Sophie called worriedly. “Are you feeling alright? You seem awfully flushed!”
An unknown sort of warmth was making its way through you, starting from your core and burning towards your extremities, leaving you light headed and aching for something you could not name. Suddenly, you could see alphas around you raise their heads and curiously sniff the air around them, trying to find the source of a new, overpowering smell.
Omega.
“Sophie” you whimpered pitifully, folding over yourself in pain. “Take me back to my quarters. Now.”
Hearing the urgency in your voice, Sophie grabbed your arm and dragged you away across the gardens and back through the halls until you reached your bedroom. Trembling, you collapsed on the soft mattress as Sophie locked the door behind her.
“Miss” she said softly, avoiding coming any closer with her nose scrunched “I think your scent is finally…”
Panic cursed through your veins, burning even more violently than the previous sensations. After years of starvation and various methods of self-containment, you could finally smell the one scent you had been avoiding: your own.
You stumbled back up, clumsily making your way towards the bathroom, slamming the door behind you. Quickly, you opened the faucet to the marbled tub, allowing it to fill up before you dropped any and all available scented products inside, the water turning yellowish with the amount of essential oils. The incompatible odors burned your sensitive nose and your skin started feeling pricklish, but you did not dwell on it before you fully submerged yourself, clothes and all, barely holding your breath.
You hoped the ice cold water would cool the feverish feeling inside you, but it only scratched the surface. You had never felt something as debilitating as that, the overwhelming combination of afflictions taking your strength and will-power, clearing the thoughts inside your head until it left only an echoing prayer, a scream for help that you could not verbalize.
Alpha, it clamored from within you, the most primitive part of your brain taking over the reins of your consciousness and saying it again and again: Alpha, alpha, alpha…
Alpha…
You stripped yourself from your clothes and undergarments, the fabric scratching and itching as you clawed it away from you.
Alpha…
You pressed your hand against your scent gland, nestled between your neck and shoulder, trying to bring some relief to the swelling skin.
Alpha…
Your mind brought forth once more the image of Hoseok, gleaming with sweat under the afternoon sun, his smell bringing you to a boiling point.
“Alpha” you finally said out loud, barely a whisper over the sound of the water, as your hands traveled down to your core to hopefully bring the pain and longing to a halt, even if temporarily.
“Hoseok…”
***
Hoseok could’ve sworn someone was calling his name.
It started when he was leaving the training compound after long hours trying to ease his frailed nerves, letting go of some of his pent up aggression on the slacking rookies. His skin was covered in sweat, but his body had finally started to cool off, bringing an end to the seemingly limitless streak of days on edge.
Until the wind blew towards him and suddenly everything turned black.
His alpha barely allowed him time to think before it took over his motor capacities, raising his face towards what he believed was the source of a fragrance so decadent and luxurious it made him feral.
Peaches and cream, all the sweetness in the world and the prettiest of blossoms, permeated the afternoon fog like a drug. Hoseok felt it so deeply it left him panting, tasting it, lying on top of his tongue like the only meal he ever wanted. In an almost synesthetic manner, it smelled of soft skin and pretty eyes, lush lips and opioid kisses. This scent had a name and he couldn’t place it, but his alpha could, gladly even.
Mate, it provided.
Hoseok came back to his senses and hit the ground running, growling at all the other recruits that had their noses up in the air. Whoever smelled like that was his only and the sound that came from his chest promised violence and pain to any who opposed.
Then he sprinted, something primal carrying him back to the castle. The stronger the smell got, the weaker he was, knees giving in with the sheer weight of what he had found. His mate was there, somewhere, waiting for him. In a world with so few omegas, a mate was nothing short of a blessing and Hoseok was unsure of what he had done to deserve such a serendipitous gift, but he was not about to question it. No, his mind was much too busy trying to pinpoint his mate’s location while creating elaborate fantasies of a pretty omega under him, calling his name with a moan, neck decorated with a crescent mark in the shape of his bite.
At this point, Hoseok was sure he looked animalistic, pupils blown out with need. He kept following the trace left behind by his mate like a hunter, taking deep breaths to let it penetrate his lungs and imprint the inside of his ribs. The smell got stronger and needier the closer it got to the guest wing and Hoseok could almost feel it on the tip of his grasping fingers until he reached a door and knocked violently and mindlessly.
Sophie, the maid, came out and with her the chemical smell of roses and lilies. Not sweetness, no sign of the desert-like signature of his mate. Just the faint scent of a beta and an overwhelming cloud of essential oils that burned his nose and made him recoil instantly .
“Sir Hoseok” Sophie bowed deeply, her face red and nervous under the slight manic stare of the Captain “H-How can I help you?”
His brain could hardly put a whole sentence together. All it could muster was a howl of disappointment. Not mate, it wailed, where is mate?
Before he could answer or do something stupid like growl at poor Sophie, you came behind her, wrapped in a fluffy robe, your skin wet and pink and your hair dripping across the floors. Could be mate?, his alpha asked and at this point it sounded almost like a whine. But the trail had been lost and all he could smell was soap and the clean aftermath of a long soak.
You squeaked, embarrassed and scared, hiding behind the door. That woke Hoseok up from the trance he found himself, the urge to make an omega comfortable taking place over the inner voice of his needy alpha.
“Sir Hoseok” your voice came from behind the door and he could hear your anxiety in it “I’m sorry, but I’m not exactly fit to receive visitors at the moment…”
“Miss Y/N does not feel well, Sir Hoseok.”
Instinct kicked in again, making him approach the door as if he planned to run poor Sophie over “Should we call a doctor? Is there anything-”
“No!” They said in unison, Sophie closing the gap in the doorway a bit more, blocking the view to the room “I’m taking care of her, Sir, please do not fret. Is there anything you need at the moment?”
You waited nervously behind the door, listening to the sound of his uneven breathing matching your drumming heart.
“No, I- I” he seemed lost and confused and indeed he was. He didn’t quite know how he got there, nor where he would go after, his schedule and obligations slipping away from his fraying mind. He tried to find a plausible reason to be panting at your door, especially at such an inappropriate moment, but all he could think about was the crossover of senses mixing peaches with the rosy color of your collarbones.
Sophie watched the exchange with confused fascination, unsure of what to make of the situation: the alpha Captain looking frazzled in the hallway and the runaway omega going through a late puberty behind her. It seemed like the beginning of a lewd joke or the plot of one of those romance tales the older maids hid beneath their mattresses.
“I’m sorry” he said at last and Sophie’s eyes widened, looking at you behind the door and back at the sweaty Captain almost kneeling at the door.
“Sir?” he heard you ask.
“I”m sorry I ran away the other day. I’m sorry I’m probably scaring you right now as well…”
“You’re not- You’re not scaring me.”
Hoseok froze, his alpha quiet for once on his side of the wall, as if he too was listening to you.
“I’ve met scary alphas. You’re not one of them.”
Hoseok could’ve sworn he heard Sophie mutter “Not to you, at least” quietly, but he was too focused on your voice and your words. I’ve met scary alphas. Goddesses, didn’t that just send a spear straight through his already tattered heart.
“I’m sorry” he repeated. “I’m sorry you went through that. If there’s anything I can do-” he didn’t finish his sentence, unsure how. Anything he can do to what? To help? To erase the memory of the abuse you endured? To make sure your father never got to see the sun again?
“Actually, I have one favor to ask, if it’s not too much…”
𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: The one where Jungkook develops a huge crush on a Youtuber he found after falling into the rabbit hole of his recommended videos. Unbeknownst to him, you were also recommended to his hyungs.
Part 14: How to get closure (you will need: red liquor and a flamethrower)
(<<< part 13)
Due to his unsuccessful attempt at wooing you and successful yet accidental attempt at poisoning you, Jungkook hadn’t had the chance to see the inside of your apartament, only the hallway and a glimpse of an entryway. So when you let him into your living space, days after the unfortunate hospital date (could it really be a date, he wondered, considering the circumstances and the untimely interruption of Taehyung, who he had to shoo away from your bedside?), he could barely disguise his curiosity, staring at photos and assorted knick-knacks you had laying around.
“Don’t mind the mess” you said, the hint of a blush lighting your face as you pushed away a stray pair of shoes under the couch.
“I live with six other men,” he reminded you gently. “I’m familiar with messes.”
He decided to withhold the information of what percentage of that mess was caused by him. That detail was inconsequential.
“I made brownies” you said, calling ahead of him from the kitchen, a plant-filled counter separating the two rooms. “Thought it would be funny.”
Well, if anything, Jungkook was glad you could both laugh at his near homicidal faux-pas. “Suicide?” he asked and you laughed.
“Nutless. But that might change depending on how the day goes. I got a whole bag of peanuts ready to be shoved down my throat if it all goes south.” You took a deep breath, extending the tray of chocolate treats towards him. “Thank you again for being here, Jungkook. I hope I’m not getting in the way of your schedule.”
Jungkook scoffed, hiding his vibrating phone with 46 unanswered calls from his manager and 10 Google Calendar notifications. “Don’t worry about it. I had a free day and I’m happy to help.”
“From what he texted, he should be here in an hour or two, so we got some time. He wanted me to stop by his hotel, but I don’t care enough about whatever shirt of mine he has to go to him, so I asked him to come over. I just want to get this over with, you know? Closure or whatever.” You sighed “So, what do you feel like doing?”
You both settled on watching silly videos on the living room TV, bonding over favorite creators and common tastes. For a moment, Jungkook (and you as well, or so he hoped) forgot why he was there. The casualness and domesticity of it all made it seem like a candid moment between friends or even - dare he dream? - a date.
He was building the courage to extend his arms over the back of the couch in a classic rom-com move, ready to disguise it as a yawn or a shoulder injury that demanded constant stretch, when you stood up, calling for a bathroom break. As you walked down the hallway, the doorbell rang and you called out “Can you get that? It’s too early, it’s probably just Sam. She’s always losing her keys.”
Jungkook stood as well, fighting the disappointment at the opportunity lost and went to the door, still mumbling to himself.
But the person waiting on the side was definitely not Sam.
Now, Jungkook could admit that he was not the most unbiased commentator as his opinions were clouded by 20% self-confidence and 80% pettiness, but even with those factors taken into account, he thought you could do so much better than the man standing outside your door.
He wasn’t necessarily ugly, he just wasn’t Jungkook. A malady many a man suffered from.
“Hi?” the man said in english, looking around in confusion. “Maybe I have the wrong address ? I’m looking for Y/N.”
Jungkook hummed, the universal noise of pettiness. “Come in”.
The guy shuffled awkwardly around Jungkook, who made no effort to move out of the way, arms crossed over his chest like the bouncer in a club staring at a fake ID. “You must be Jack” he said at last in his accented English, closing the door behind him. You had quickly briefed him about Jack, going over some details like his name and how you met, but Jungkook didn’t ask too many questions. Partly to avoid bringing up any painful memories but also because his ridiculous, borderline draconic jealous and territorial tendencies made him stay away from thinking too much about your past relationship. Similar to other unpleasant things, such as warts or frat boys, he knew they existed but rather not dwell on it more than necessary.
He watched as Jack shifted nervously, looking around the apartment, eyes lingering on Jungkook’s shoes by the door, his jacket thrown casually on the loveseat and two cups on the coffee table, cataloguing his presence in your living space and what it could possibly imply. Jungkook decided at that moment, motivated purely by his own lack of forethought, that it was not in his best interest nor was it his obligation to correct any assumptions your ex made in his hopefully-soon-to-be-bald head.
Before Jack and Jungkook could start a most likely tense and awkward conversation, you came out of the bathroom, a smile on your face that faded as soon as you saw the other man standing there. Jungkook held back a snort at your reaction.
“Jack’ you said, pale even if he was an expected-ish guest.
Jack waved, a little less nervous with you in the room. “Hi.” he said with a strained smile. “How are you?”
Jungkook watched the wheels turning in your head as you thought over how much of the chaotic past weeks you wanted to share with the man responsible for a good chunk of all the chaos - nevermind the fact that Jungkook was probably the reason for the other half. “I’m okay” you settled on at last, probably thinking I almost died! would be far too alarming.
You didn’t ask how Jack was and he noticed. Jungkook wanted to high five you, but decided against it.
“I brought your stuff,” Jack said, raising a medium paper bag. “Just a couple of shirts and knick-knacks. Some stuff you left at my mom’s”.
You nodded, grabbing the bag in silence, placing it over the counter without checking what was inside. You didn’t thank him or asked about his mom, seemingly perfectly happy to make the conversation as difficult as possible. Jungkook wondered what could possibly have happened to turn a years-long relationship into the world’s most stale and one-sided dialogue.
“Can-can we, hm” Jack stuttered, but if he were completely candid, so would Jungkook under your cold scrutiny. “Can we talk? Alone?”
“No.”
Jungkook didn’t know whether to laugh or wince.
“No?”
“I don’t really have anything to say to you.”
“I have things to say to you.”
“Then you can say it in front of Jungkook.”
Jungkook, still struggling slightly to follow along the quick and foreign exchange, understood enough to decide that he wanted no part in that particular conversation. No one seemed to care much about his opinions on the matter though, but if he had a say he really wished he could either disappear or at the very least hide behind the kitchen counter.
Not one for confrontations or awkward apologies, Jungkook. His last breakup, many years ago, happened over a short and straight to the point text. Instead of being offended, he was relieved for skipping tears and the prospect of voicing his grievances out loud, handing over his phone to Jimin, who was much better at scathing replies than him. Needless to say, he got blocked.
Jack was apparently just as avoidant, as he chose to hold back his speech and said only “I’m sorry for how things ended.”
Jungkook held back the gossipy bitch clawing its way out of his consciousness, holding onto the urge to ask how did things end?
You nodded, pursing your lips. “You should be.”
Jack sighed, resigning himself to the fact that there was no salvaging to that particular situation, as you seemed more likely to eat a whole bag of peanut M&M’s before giving him any grace. “I’ll stay in Korea for a couple more days” he stepped back, heading to the door and you followed him with careful steps. “Let me know if you want to talk.”
“Don’t hold your breath” you closed the door forcefully, giving Jungkook one last quick glimpse at Jake’s dumbstruck face before it shut. For good measure, you threw a single house slipper at it. “That’s closure, I guess” you murmured.
“Did it feel as satisfying as you thought it would?”
You shrugged “As satisfying as it could get without a flame thrower.” Leaning into the closed door, you turned back towards Jungkook “I’m sorry you had to be here for this. Must be awkward for you.”
Terribly so, but Jungkook only smiled. He had had enough international interviews to know how to deal with awkwardness. The trick? Space out and let Namjoon speak. If a question is directed at him, spew non-sense until the microphone is taken away. Look good while doing it.
Unfortunately for him, his emotional support Namjoon was not available at the moment, so he had to make do with spacing out and looking great.
“It’s okay. I wish I could’ve done more.”
“You being here was enough. I felt calm enough to stand my ground. I’m - I’m not usually this harsh” you sighed, “I feel like I owe you an explanation.”
“It’s okay, really-”
“Do you drink?”
Jungkook blinked. “I’m sorry?”
“Alcohol. Do you drink it?”
Jungkook thought back to only a couple nights ago, when he fell asleep holding onto a bottle of Soju and a bluetooth microphone as the karaoke version of the Camp Rock soundtrack played on his TV like a lullaby. “Sporadically.”
“Great. I’m gonna need it” you power walked towards the kitchen, pulling a bottle of red liquor out of the fridge as well as a couple of Sprite cans and he instinctively knew that whatever concoction those two liquids would create when combined could fuck up as small sorority. “Bottom’s up”.
***
You didn’t open up about your relationship right away, deciding against the immediate trauma dump in lieu of easing Jungkook into your lore. First, you drank. Then you talked, keeping it casual, discussing career dreams and light hearted ambitions. “I really wanted to be in one of those Matt Steffanina videos when I was younger” he admitted after a healthy sip of the dangerously sweet poison you offered him, and you nodded sympathetically. You wanted to be a Buzzfeed editor or a RuPaul judge, you confessed in commiseration. Neither happened. It was their loss, you both agreed.
You drank again and someone (most likely Jungkook) suggested busting out the karaoke machine, neighbours be damned. As it was, singing your heart out to some ballad or other turned out to be a real bonding opportunity and soon enough you and Jungkook were both jumping on top of the couch. While he hopped around to the beat of Daechwita, of all things, you thought to yourself that you had never connected to someone so fast, so there must’ve been something to be said about the social prowess of shared microphones and alcohol.
Then you drank. Again. And that was when the details started getting a bit fuzzy, the spaces between happenings and timelines escaping you, leaving blank spots in your memories. When did you and Jungkook settle on the carpet, despite the perfectly comfy available couch? Who ordered the fried chicken you were both happily munching on and, most importantly, who paid for it?
“He cheated” who started this conversation? You couldn’t remember, all you knew was that the words were slipping out of your mouth before you could stop them, encouraged by the heavy weight of Jungkook’s presence. “He traveled a lot because of his mom. She was a researcher of a very specific biology field that I couldn’t pronounce right now even if you paid me to and he didn’t want to leave her all alone, because his dad died when he was much younger. That’s why I started vlogging. It felt like a way to connect with him. And it worked until it didn’t.”
You let out a long suffering sigh, taking Jungkook’s silence as an incentive to keep going. “He hadn’t been home in months and I could feel things getting, I don’t know, stale? He didn’t call as often and it hurt me to admit I didn’t care. I knew it was all coming to an end and I was reading myself to let him go. He had a flight scheduled home in a couple weeks and I was going to do it then. But one day his mom called me, bless her heart. She told me that she missed me and how she was sorry that we had broken up.” You paused, as if remembering the call, leaning back to rest your head on the couch's cushions and closing your eyes. “She said she didn’t like his new girlfriend as much as she liked me. That’s how I found out.”
With your eyes still shut, you carried on in a suspended moment of drunk catharsis and self-reflection that only eating chicken on the floor could bring: “I know I was about to break up with him anyway, but him cheating and lying to his mom, who I loved by the way, felt like such a slap to the face. Before he was my boyfriend he was my friend and I wanted to keep that sentiment, you know? I felt like he ruined our chances at an amicable break up, like I couldn’t keep our happy memories because they were all tainted. I-I made that video to talk myself into… Well, not forgiving him, but maybe letting go of all that resentment? I felt like I didn’t have the right to be that upset if I was just waiting to break up with him anyway, you know?” Jungkook let out a non-committal noise. “But he called me after it all and he was so blase about the whole thing. Barely apologized. Kind of implied that it was my fault. So I thought, fuck letting go. I will hold on to my anger like a buoy in a storm. Let it guide me towards the path of self-actualization by throwing a shoe at my door. At least it wasn’t at him.”
Another unidentifiable noise followed and you smiled. “You’re such a great listener, Jungkook. I’m not usually this open with people and Sam always says I’m too introverted for such a loud person but I guess I just feel comfortable around you. Is that weird to say? Maybe I’m just too drunk, but I feel like being around you makes me forget all of that anger. In fact, it makes me really happy and I think… I think I want to keep, you know, being around you” you blushed. “Is that okay?”
When there was no answer, you opened your eyes, scared of an incoming rejection. And found Jungkook fast asleep, drooling on the carpet.
***
Sam arrived much later, for once not forgetting her keys. As she stepped into your shared apartment, she couldn’t help but notice the odd quietness, the living room silent but for soft snoring. She walked around the couch, avoiding the raspberry flavored vodka bottles and KFC buckets that littered the ground and smiled machiavellianly at the touching scene splayed out over the soft carpet.
Before you two could wake up, she took a picture and forwarded it to the six contacts she had stolen from Junsu’s phone. Then she turned in for the night, leaving both you and Jungkook on the floor, locked in each other’s arms.
𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: The one where Jungkook develops a huge crush on a Youtuber he found after falling into the rabbit hole of his recommended videos. Unbeknownst to him, you were also recommended to his hyungs.
Part 14: How to get closure (you will need: red liquor and a flamethrower)
(<<< part 13)
Due to his unsuccessful attempt at wooing you and successful yet accidental attempt at poisoning you, Jungkook hadn’t had the chance to see the inside of your apartament, only the hallway and a glimpse of an entryway. So when you let him into your living space, days after the unfortunate hospital date (could it really be a date, he wondered, considering the circumstances and the untimely interruption of Taehyung, who he had to shoo away from your bedside?), he could barely disguise his curiosity, staring at photos and assorted knick-knacks you had laying around.
“Don’t mind the mess” you said, the hint of a blush lighting your face as you pushed away a stray pair of shoes under the couch.
“I live with six other men,” he reminded you gently. “I’m familiar with messes.”
He decided to withhold the information of what percentage of that mess was caused by him. That detail was inconsequential.
“I made brownies” you said, calling ahead of him from the kitchen, a plant-filled counter separating the two rooms. “Thought it would be funny.”
Well, if anything, Jungkook was glad you could both laugh at his near homicidal faux-pas. “Suicide?” he asked and you laughed.
“Nutless. But that might change depending on how the day goes. I got a whole bag of peanuts ready to be shoved down my throat if it all goes south.” You took a deep breath, extending the tray of chocolate treats towards him. “Thank you again for being here, Jungkook. I hope I’m not getting in the way of your schedule.”
Jungkook scoffed, hiding his vibrating phone with 46 unanswered calls from his manager and 10 Google Calendar notifications. “Don’t worry about it. I had a free day and I’m happy to help.”
“From what he texted, he should be here in an hour or two, so we got some time. He wanted me to stop by his hotel, but I don’t care enough about whatever shirt of mine he has to go to him, so I asked him to come over. I just want to get this over with, you know? Closure or whatever.” You sighed “So, what do you feel like doing?”
You both settled on watching silly videos on the living room TV, bonding over favorite creators and common tastes. For a moment, Jungkook (and you as well, or so he hoped) forgot why he was there. The casualness and domesticity of it all made it seem like a candid moment between friends or even - dare he dream? - a date.
He was building the courage to extend his arms over the back of the couch in a classic rom-com move, ready to disguise it as a yawn or a shoulder injury that demanded constant stretch, when you stood up, calling for a bathroom break. As you walked down the hallway, the doorbell rang and you called out “Can you get that? It’s too early, it’s probably just Sam. She’s always losing her keys.”
Jungkook stood as well, fighting the disappointment at the opportunity lost and went to the door, still mumbling to himself.
But the person waiting on the side was definitely not Sam.
Now, Jungkook could admit that he was not the most unbiased commentator as his opinions were clouded by 20% self-confidence and 80% pettiness, but even with those factors taken into account, he thought you could do so much better than the man standing outside your door.
He wasn’t necessarily ugly, he just wasn’t Jungkook. A malady many a man suffered from.
“Hi?” the man said in english, looking around in confusion. “Maybe I have the wrong address ? I’m looking for Y/N.”
Jungkook hummed, the universal noise of pettiness. “Come in”.
The guy shuffled awkwardly around Jungkook, who made no effort to move out of the way, arms crossed over his chest like the bouncer in a club staring at a fake ID. “You must be Jack” he said at last in his accented English, closing the door behind him. You had quickly briefed him about Jack, going over some details like his name and how you met, but Jungkook didn’t ask too many questions. Partly to avoid bringing up any painful memories but also because his ridiculous, borderline draconic jealous and territorial tendencies made him stay away from thinking too much about your past relationship. Similar to other unpleasant things, such as warts or frat boys, he knew they existed but rather not dwell on it more than necessary.
He watched as Jack shifted nervously, looking around the apartment, eyes lingering on Jungkook’s shoes by the door, his jacket thrown casually on the loveseat and two cups on the coffee table, cataloguing his presence in your living space and what it could possibly imply. Jungkook decided at that moment, motivated purely by his own lack of forethought, that it was not in his best interest nor was it his obligation to correct any assumptions your ex made in his hopefully-soon-to-be-bald head.
Before Jack and Jungkook could start a most likely tense and awkward conversation, you came out of the bathroom, a smile on your face that faded as soon as you saw the other man standing there. Jungkook held back a snort at your reaction.
“Jack’ you said, pale even if he was an expected-ish guest.
Jack waved, a little less nervous with you in the room. “Hi.” he said with a strained smile. “How are you?”
Jungkook watched the wheels turning in your head as you thought over how much of the chaotic past weeks you wanted to share with the man responsible for a good chunk of all the chaos - nevermind the fact that Jungkook was probably the reason for the other half. “I’m okay” you settled on at last, probably thinking I almost died! would be far too alarming.
You didn’t ask how Jack was and he noticed. Jungkook wanted to high five you, but decided against it.
“I brought your stuff,” Jack said, raising a medium paper bag. “Just a couple of shirts and knick-knacks. Some stuff you left at my mom’s”.
You nodded, grabbing the bag in silence, placing it over the counter without checking what was inside. You didn’t thank him or asked about his mom, seemingly perfectly happy to make the conversation as difficult as possible. Jungkook wondered what could possibly have happened to turn a years-long relationship into the world’s most stale and one-sided dialogue.
“Can-can we, hm” Jack stuttered, but if he were completely candid, so would Jungkook under your cold scrutiny. “Can we talk? Alone?”
“No.”
Jungkook didn’t know whether to laugh or wince.
“No?”
“I don’t really have anything to say to you.”
“I have things to say to you.”
“Then you can say it in front of Jungkook.”
Jungkook, still struggling slightly to follow along the quick and foreign exchange, understood enough to decide that he wanted no part in that particular conversation. No one seemed to care much about his opinions on the matter though, but if he had a say he really wished he could either disappear or at the very least hide behind the kitchen counter.
Not one for confrontations or awkward apologies, Jungkook. His last breakup, many years ago, happened over a short and straight to the point text. Instead of being offended, he was relieved for skipping tears and the prospect of voicing his grievances out loud, handing over his phone to Jimin, who was much better at scathing replies than him. Needless to say, he got blocked.
Jack was apparently just as avoidant, as he chose to hold back his speech and said only “I’m sorry for how things ended.”
Jungkook held back the gossipy bitch clawing its way out of his consciousness, holding onto the urge to ask how did things end?
You nodded, pursing your lips. “You should be.”
Jack sighed, resigning himself to the fact that there was no salvaging to that particular situation, as you seemed more likely to eat a whole bag of peanut M&M’s before giving him any grace. “I’ll stay in Korea for a couple more days” he stepped back, heading to the door and you followed him with careful steps. “Let me know if you want to talk.”
“Don’t hold your breath” you closed the door forcefully, giving Jungkook one last quick glimpse at Jake’s dumbstruck face before it shut. For good measure, you threw a single house slipper at it. “That’s closure, I guess” you murmured.
“Did it feel as satisfying as you thought it would?”
You shrugged “As satisfying as it could get without a flame thrower.” Leaning into the closed door, you turned back towards Jungkook “I’m sorry you had to be here for this. Must be awkward for you.”
Terribly so, but Jungkook only smiled. He had had enough international interviews to know how to deal with awkwardness. The trick? Space out and let Namjoon speak. If a question is directed at him, spew non-sense until the microphone is taken away. Look good while doing it.
Unfortunately for him, his emotional support Namjoon was not available at the moment, so he had to make do with spacing out and looking great.
“It’s okay. I wish I could’ve done more.”
“You being here was enough. I felt calm enough to stand my ground. I’m - I’m not usually this harsh” you sighed, “I feel like I owe you an explanation.”
“It’s okay, really-”
“Do you drink?”
Jungkook blinked. “I’m sorry?”
“Alcohol. Do you drink it?”
Jungkook thought back to only a couple nights ago, when he fell asleep holding onto a bottle of Soju and a bluetooth microphone as the karaoke version of the Camp Rock soundtrack played on his TV like a lullaby. “Sporadically.”
“Great. I’m gonna need it” you power walked towards the kitchen, pulling a bottle of red liquor out of the fridge as well as a couple of Sprite cans and he instinctively knew that whatever concoction those two liquids would create when combined could fuck up as small sorority. “Bottom’s up”.
***
You didn’t open up about your relationship right away, deciding against the immediate trauma dump in lieu of easing Jungkook into your lore. First, you drank. Then you talked, keeping it casual, discussing career dreams and light hearted ambitions. “I really wanted to be in one of those Matt Steffanina videos when I was younger” he admitted after a healthy sip of the dangerously sweet poison you offered him, and you nodded sympathetically. You wanted to be a Buzzfeed editor or a RuPaul judge, you confessed in commiseration. Neither happened. It was their loss, you both agreed.
You drank again and someone (most likely Jungkook) suggested busting out the karaoke machine, neighbours be damned. As it was, singing your heart out to some ballad or other turned out to be a real bonding opportunity and soon enough you and Jungkook were both jumping on top of the couch. While he hopped around to the beat of Daechwita, of all things, you thought to yourself that you had never connected to someone so fast, so there must’ve been something to be said about the social prowess of shared microphones and alcohol.
Then you drank. Again. And that was when the details started getting a bit fuzzy, the spaces between happenings and timelines escaping you, leaving blank spots in your memories. When did you and Jungkook settle on the carpet, despite the perfectly comfy available couch? Who ordered the fried chicken you were both happily munching on and, most importantly, who paid for it?
“He cheated” who started this conversation? You couldn’t remember, all you knew was that the words were slipping out of your mouth before you could stop them, encouraged by the heavy weight of Jungkook’s presence. “He traveled a lot because of his mom. She was a researcher of a very specific biology field that I couldn’t pronounce right now even if you paid me to and he didn’t want to leave her all alone, because his dad died when he was much younger. That’s why I started vlogging. It felt like a way to connect with him. And it worked until it didn’t.”
You let out a long suffering sigh, taking Jungkook’s silence as an incentive to keep going. “He hadn’t been home in months and I could feel things getting, I don’t know, stale? He didn’t call as often and it hurt me to admit I didn’t care. I knew it was all coming to an end and I was reading myself to let him go. He had a flight scheduled home in a couple weeks and I was going to do it then. But one day his mom called me, bless her heart. She told me that she missed me and how she was sorry that we had broken up.” You paused, as if remembering the call, leaning back to rest your head on the couch's cushions and closing your eyes. “She said she didn’t like his new girlfriend as much as she liked me. That’s how I found out.”
With your eyes still shut, you carried on in a suspended moment of drunk catharsis and self-reflection that only eating chicken on the floor could bring: “I know I was about to break up with him anyway, but him cheating and lying to his mom, who I loved by the way, felt like such a slap to the face. Before he was my boyfriend he was my friend and I wanted to keep that sentiment, you know? I felt like he ruined our chances at an amicable break up, like I couldn’t keep our happy memories because they were all tainted. I-I made that video to talk myself into… Well, not forgiving him, but maybe letting go of all that resentment? I felt like I didn’t have the right to be that upset if I was just waiting to break up with him anyway, you know?” Jungkook let out a non-committal noise. “But he called me after it all and he was so blase about the whole thing. Barely apologized. Kind of implied that it was my fault. So I thought, fuck letting go. I will hold on to my anger like a buoy in a storm. Let it guide me towards the path of self-actualization by throwing a shoe at my door. At least it wasn’t at him.”
Another unidentifiable noise followed and you smiled. “You’re such a great listener, Jungkook. I’m not usually this open with people and Sam always says I’m too introverted for such a loud person but I guess I just feel comfortable around you. Is that weird to say? Maybe I’m just too drunk, but I feel like being around you makes me forget all of that anger. In fact, it makes me really happy and I think… I think I want to keep, you know, being around you” you blushed. “Is that okay?”
When there was no answer, you opened your eyes, scared of an incoming rejection. And found Jungkook fast asleep, drooling on the carpet.
***
Sam arrived much later, for once not forgetting her keys. As she stepped into your shared apartment, she couldn’t help but notice the odd quietness, the living room silent but for soft snoring. She walked around the couch, avoiding the raspberry flavored vodka bottles and KFC buckets that littered the ground and smiled machiavellianly at the touching scene splayed out over the soft carpet.
Before you two could wake up, she took a picture and forwarded it to the six contacts she had stolen from Junsu’s phone. Then she turned in for the night, leaving both you and Jungkook on the floor, locked in each other’s arms.
providence is so gooood!!! I love it so far!!
also is the reason why they don’t know that she is their mate because they are not able to smell her ?
Anyways i can’t wait for the next chapter
Hello, my love! Im sorry for the delayed response!
Absolutely, yes! In Providence, scent is the most important thing to identify your mate, but since she has no smell, they cannot recognize her as a fated match.
As you can see, the lesson so far is that the right way to find your one true love is to stop showering. Follow me for more relationship hacks.
𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚: The one where Jungkook develops a huge crush on a Youtuber he found after falling into the rabbit hole of his recommended videos. Unbeknownst to him, you were also recommended to his hyungs.
Part 14: How to get closure (you will need: red liquor and a flamethrower)
(<<< part 13)
Due to his unsuccessful attempt at wooing you and successful yet accidental attempt at poisoning you, Jungkook hadn’t had the chance to see the inside of your apartament, only the hallway and a glimpse of an entryway. So when you let him into your living space, days after the unfortunate hospital date (could it really be a date, he wondered, considering the circumstances and the untimely interruption of Taehyung, who he had to shoo away from your bedside?), he could barely disguise his curiosity, staring at photos and assorted knick-knacks you had laying around.
“Don’t mind the mess” you said, the hint of a blush lighting your face as you pushed away a stray pair of shoes under the couch.
“I live with six other men,” he reminded you gently. “I’m familiar with messes.”
He decided to withhold the information of what percentage of that mess was caused by him. That detail was inconsequential.
“I made brownies” you said, calling ahead of him from the kitchen, a plant-filled counter separating the two rooms. “Thought it would be funny.”
Well, if anything, Jungkook was glad you could both laugh at his near homicidal faux-pas. “Suicide?” he asked and you laughed.
“Nutless. But that might change depending on how the day goes. I got a whole bag of peanuts ready to be shoved down my throat if it all goes south.” You took a deep breath, extending the tray of chocolate treats towards him. “Thank you again for being here, Jungkook. I hope I’m not getting in the way of your schedule.”
Jungkook scoffed, hiding his vibrating phone with 46 unanswered calls from his manager and 10 Google Calendar notifications. “Don’t worry about it. I had a free day and I’m happy to help.”
“From what he texted, he should be here in an hour or two, so we got some time. He wanted me to stop by his hotel, but I don’t care enough about whatever shirt of mine he has to go to him, so I asked him to come over. I just want to get this over with, you know? Closure or whatever.” You sighed “So, what do you feel like doing?”
You both settled on watching silly videos on the living room TV, bonding over favorite creators and common tastes. For a moment, Jungkook (and you as well, or so he hoped) forgot why he was there. The casualness and domesticity of it all made it seem like a candid moment between friends or even - dare he dream? - a date.
He was building the courage to extend his arms over the back of the couch in a classic rom-com move, ready to disguise it as a yawn or a shoulder injury that demanded constant stretch, when you stood up, calling for a bathroom break. As you walked down the hallway, the doorbell rang and you called out “Can you get that? It’s too early, it’s probably just Sam. She’s always losing her keys.”
Jungkook stood as well, fighting the disappointment at the opportunity lost and went to the door, still mumbling to himself.
But the person waiting on the side was definitely not Sam.
Now, Jungkook could admit that he was not the most unbiased commentator as his opinions were clouded by 20% self-confidence and 80% pettiness, but even with those factors taken into account, he thought you could do so much better than the man standing outside your door.
He wasn’t necessarily ugly, he just wasn’t Jungkook. A malady many a man suffered from.
“Hi?” the man said in english, looking around in confusion. “Maybe I have the wrong address ? I’m looking for Y/N.”
Jungkook hummed, the universal noise of pettiness. “Come in”.
The guy shuffled awkwardly around Jungkook, who made no effort to move out of the way, arms crossed over his chest like the bouncer in a club staring at a fake ID. “You must be Jack” he said at last in his accented English, closing the door behind him. You had quickly briefed him about Jack, going over some details like his name and how you met, but Jungkook didn’t ask too many questions. Partly to avoid bringing up any painful memories but also because his ridiculous, borderline draconic jealous and territorial tendencies made him stay away from thinking too much about your past relationship. Similar to other unpleasant things, such as warts or frat boys, he knew they existed but rather not dwell on it more than necessary.
He watched as Jack shifted nervously, looking around the apartment, eyes lingering on Jungkook’s shoes by the door, his jacket thrown casually on the loveseat and two cups on the coffee table, cataloguing his presence in your living space and what it could possibly imply. Jungkook decided at that moment, motivated purely by his own lack of forethought, that it was not in his best interest nor was it his obligation to correct any assumptions your ex made in his hopefully-soon-to-be-bald head.
Before Jack and Jungkook could start a most likely tense and awkward conversation, you came out of the bathroom, a smile on your face that faded as soon as you saw the other man standing there. Jungkook held back a snort at your reaction.
“Jack’ you said, pale even if he was an expected-ish guest.
Jack waved, a little less nervous with you in the room. “Hi.” he said with a strained smile. “How are you?”
Jungkook watched the wheels turning in your head as you thought over how much of the chaotic past weeks you wanted to share with the man responsible for a good chunk of all the chaos - nevermind the fact that Jungkook was probably the reason for the other half. “I’m okay” you settled on at last, probably thinking I almost died! would be far too alarming.
You didn’t ask how Jack was and he noticed. Jungkook wanted to high five you, but decided against it.
“I brought your stuff,” Jack said, raising a medium paper bag. “Just a couple of shirts and knick-knacks. Some stuff you left at my mom’s”.
You nodded, grabbing the bag in silence, placing it over the counter without checking what was inside. You didn’t thank him or asked about his mom, seemingly perfectly happy to make the conversation as difficult as possible. Jungkook wondered what could possibly have happened to turn a years-long relationship into the world’s most stale and one-sided dialogue.
“Can-can we, hm” Jack stuttered, but if he were completely candid, so would Jungkook under your cold scrutiny. “Can we talk? Alone?”
“No.”
Jungkook didn’t know whether to laugh or wince.
“No?”
“I don’t really have anything to say to you.”
“I have things to say to you.”
“Then you can say it in front of Jungkook.”
Jungkook, still struggling slightly to follow along the quick and foreign exchange, understood enough to decide that he wanted no part in that particular conversation. No one seemed to care much about his opinions on the matter though, but if he had a say he really wished he could either disappear or at the very least hide behind the kitchen counter.
Not one for confrontations or awkward apologies, Jungkook. His last breakup, many years ago, happened over a short and straight to the point text. Instead of being offended, he was relieved for skipping tears and the prospect of voicing his grievances out loud, handing over his phone to Jimin, who was much better at scathing replies than him. Needless to say, he got blocked.
Jack was apparently just as avoidant, as he chose to hold back his speech and said only “I’m sorry for how things ended.”
Jungkook held back the gossipy bitch clawing its way out of his consciousness, holding onto the urge to ask how did things end?
You nodded, pursing your lips. “You should be.”
Jack sighed, resigning himself to the fact that there was no salvaging to that particular situation, as you seemed more likely to eat a whole bag of peanut M&M’s before giving him any grace. “I’ll stay in Korea for a couple more days” he stepped back, heading to the door and you followed him with careful steps. “Let me know if you want to talk.”
“Don’t hold your breath” you closed the door forcefully, giving Jungkook one last quick glimpse at Jake’s dumbstruck face before it shut. For good measure, you threw a single house slipper at it. “That’s closure, I guess” you murmured.
“Did it feel as satisfying as you thought it would?”
You shrugged “As satisfying as it could get without a flame thrower.” Leaning into the closed door, you turned back towards Jungkook “I’m sorry you had to be here for this. Must be awkward for you.”
Terribly so, but Jungkook only smiled. He had had enough international interviews to know how to deal with awkwardness. The trick? Space out and let Namjoon speak. If a question is directed at him, spew non-sense until the microphone is taken away. Look good while doing it.
Unfortunately for him, his emotional support Namjoon was not available at the moment, so he had to make do with spacing out and looking great.
“It’s okay. I wish I could’ve done more.”
“You being here was enough. I felt calm enough to stand my ground. I’m - I’m not usually this harsh” you sighed, “I feel like I owe you an explanation.”
“It’s okay, really-”
“Do you drink?”
Jungkook blinked. “I’m sorry?”
“Alcohol. Do you drink it?”
Jungkook thought back to only a couple nights ago, when he fell asleep holding onto a bottle of Soju and a bluetooth microphone as the karaoke version of the Camp Rock soundtrack played on his TV like a lullaby. “Sporadically.”
“Great. I’m gonna need it” you power walked towards the kitchen, pulling a bottle of red liquor out of the fridge as well as a couple of Sprite cans and he instinctively knew that whatever concoction those two liquids would create when combined could fuck up as small sorority. “Bottom’s up”.
***
You didn’t open up about your relationship right away, deciding against the immediate trauma dump in lieu of easing Jungkook into your lore. First, you drank. Then you talked, keeping it casual, discussing career dreams and light hearted ambitions. “I really wanted to be in one of those Matt Steffanina videos when I was younger” he admitted after a healthy sip of the dangerously sweet poison you offered him, and you nodded sympathetically. You wanted to be a Buzzfeed editor or a RuPaul judge, you confessed in commiseration. Neither happened. It was their loss, you both agreed.
You drank again and someone (most likely Jungkook) suggested busting out the karaoke machine, neighbours be damned. As it was, singing your heart out to some ballad or other turned out to be a real bonding opportunity and soon enough you and Jungkook were both jumping on top of the couch. While he hopped around to the beat of Daechwita, of all things, you thought to yourself that you had never connected to someone so fast, so there must’ve been something to be said about the social prowess of shared microphones and alcohol.
Then you drank. Again. And that was when the details started getting a bit fuzzy, the spaces between happenings and timelines escaping you, leaving blank spots in your memories. When did you and Jungkook settle on the carpet, despite the perfectly comfy available couch? Who ordered the fried chicken you were both happily munching on and, most importantly, who paid for it?
“He cheated” who started this conversation? You couldn’t remember, all you knew was that the words were slipping out of your mouth before you could stop them, encouraged by the heavy weight of Jungkook’s presence. “He traveled a lot because of his mom. She was a researcher of a very specific biology field that I couldn’t pronounce right now even if you paid me to and he didn’t want to leave her all alone, because his dad died when he was much younger. That’s why I started vlogging. It felt like a way to connect with him. And it worked until it didn’t.”
You let out a long suffering sigh, taking Jungkook’s silence as an incentive to keep going. “He hadn’t been home in months and I could feel things getting, I don’t know, stale? He didn’t call as often and it hurt me to admit I didn’t care. I knew it was all coming to an end and I was reading myself to let him go. He had a flight scheduled home in a couple weeks and I was going to do it then. But one day his mom called me, bless her heart. She told me that she missed me and how she was sorry that we had broken up.” You paused, as if remembering the call, leaning back to rest your head on the couch's cushions and closing your eyes. “She said she didn’t like his new girlfriend as much as she liked me. That’s how I found out.”
With your eyes still shut, you carried on in a suspended moment of drunk catharsis and self-reflection that only eating chicken on the floor could bring: “I know I was about to break up with him anyway, but him cheating and lying to his mom, who I loved by the way, felt like such a slap to the face. Before he was my boyfriend he was my friend and I wanted to keep that sentiment, you know? I felt like he ruined our chances at an amicable break up, like I couldn’t keep our happy memories because they were all tainted. I-I made that video to talk myself into… Well, not forgiving him, but maybe letting go of all that resentment? I felt like I didn’t have the right to be that upset if I was just waiting to break up with him anyway, you know?” Jungkook let out a non-committal noise. “But he called me after it all and he was so blase about the whole thing. Barely apologized. Kind of implied that it was my fault. So I thought, fuck letting go. I will hold on to my anger like a buoy in a storm. Let it guide me towards the path of self-actualization by throwing a shoe at my door. At least it wasn’t at him.”
Another unidentifiable noise followed and you smiled. “You’re such a great listener, Jungkook. I’m not usually this open with people and Sam always says I’m too introverted for such a loud person but I guess I just feel comfortable around you. Is that weird to say? Maybe I’m just too drunk, but I feel like being around you makes me forget all of that anger. In fact, it makes me really happy and I think… I think I want to keep, you know, being around you” you blushed. “Is that okay?”
When there was no answer, you opened your eyes, scared of an incoming rejection. And found Jungkook fast asleep, drooling on the carpet.
***
Sam arrived much later, for once not forgetting her keys. As she stepped into your shared apartment, she couldn’t help but notice the odd quietness, the living room silent but for soft snoring. She walked around the couch, avoiding the raspberry flavored vodka bottles and KFC buckets that littered the ground and smiled machiavellianly at the touching scene splayed out over the soft carpet.
Before you two could wake up, she took a picture and forwarded it to the six contacts she had stolen from Junsu’s phone. Then she turned in for the night, leaving both you and Jungkook on the floor, locked in each other’s arms.
