Chapter Text
You’re not sure how long you were on the bus. Not really even sure where you are. It's a big city, you know that. Maybe you're still in the same one. Or maybe the way that fungus has a tendency to spread, mold grows out until it touches more mold tendrils overlapping, maybe that’s the way this sprawling metropolis was. No vast farm lands with rolling hills and unbroken sky, just miles and miles of infill separating point a and point b.
It's not really the point. Time and location. Neither matter. All that mattered was the distance you put between the points on a map. Maybe you don’t know the exact details but you at least know that it was early morning when the first hints of orange were creeping into the sky. When the shadows start to grow fingers turning to claws grasping at you.
Ok so that was probably paranoid. It's not like Omegas had to be chaperoned. Technically. Still. Every curious look makes you crouch in on yourself. Like you’ve done something wrong. You’re not supposed to leave your pack. No one was, least of all, a little omega. People like you need an alpha, or two or three or like your old pack had 5. Too keep you safe. In line.
Just look how you had already mucked things up. You tried to remember how much they charged for a blow job. How much anything costs. You hadn't handled money in ages. You think probably the 20 you requested was under charging. The bitter taste in your mouth and the fact that you have a single rumpled one left from the 5 you were given instead makes you wonder if perhaps you were overestimating our worth. The other 4 were gone. Spent on a single water three stops ago.
You should have demanded the full payment you just couldn't quite remember if what you were doing was legal. Your pack, Ex pack you remind yourself, told you it was. Told you that they loved you, that they would always take care of you. You think about the taser. The one they promised wouldn't hurt too bad. Their client just had very specific tastes. Tastes that included you not being to fucked up to care. Not to get any of those pretty pills that you like just a little too much. That lets you turn your brain off. Not that you used it much anyway they reminded you. The guy, this guy who owed you 15$ was only a beta, he probably wouldn't have hurt you too bad but the thought of yet another bruise was too much.
You approach the vending machine you’ve been trying to make a purchase from for what feels like an hour. You back away each time anyone else approaches it. Alpha beta, even an as of yet unpresented pre teen causes you to retreat. Jimin, who has been watching you for 55 minutes exactly and he’s kept careful track of exactly when you started, takes another sip of coffee.
At minute 15 he had missed his bus. A rare affair for him at the get go but he just wanted some time to himself. No one asked questions, no one wanted anything from him and there was nothing quite like the bus for the solitude Jimin craved. Alone but still surrounded by people. Noisy. At minute 30 the curiosity had turned to concern. You weren't a kid. Omegas were small but clearly you had presented and there was something about your movements that had a weariness that didn't seem to go hand and hand with youth. By 45 he realized that the single bill you had on you was just one. Now, he’s just waiting for 60. Just in case he’s just being an asshole and you're just nervous. That dollar isn't for the peanuts, the only thing that costs a dollar, Because, you look, well hungry.
At last 59 minutes you make it to the machine. The orange is almost leaving at this point but in the dying light you look absolutely breathtaking. He doesn't know how so many people can just pass you by. The curious stares aren't enough. This must be how his lover must feel when he strikes a cord of just notes. A muse, or something like that. He frowns behind his large sunglasses and mask. He hates the combo honestly but if he’s totally honest he’s flattered by the fact that even after 2 years since his last single he still gets stopped on the streets. He frowns because these thoughts are not for someone like him. They are for the creators of the world. The Yoongis.
You insert your dollar. Right when it's time to go. It spat out. You try again. And again. Officially in the over the hour status. A pass from the universe if he’s ever got one. To interfere with something he has no business interfering with. You try again but the dollar is snatched out of your hand. It's very quickly replaced but a crisp five by a beta who smells so pleasant for a moment you almost forget to be afraid. The betas were always nicer. Especially when they smelled like this, citrus with an almost sweet smell rather than sour. Sometimes scents could tell you a lot about a person. You remember the beta from earlier today. You had approached him for much the same reason. Sometimes a person's smell didn’t mean shit. Hyunwu, your old alphas who’s name hurts to even think about, always smelled nice and he was the worst of them all, even if it was Dol who hit you most often. If Dol was the fist then Hyunwu was the brain deciding to let it fly.
Jimin watches the confusion turn to fear in your eyes and inhales sharply. He pulls down the mask and you see his pretty lips that seem almost familiar. His glasses come off next. He wants to take a better look at you. At the small scar on your face. A childhood accident maybe? Omegas healed slowly though and this one has traces of still healing. He’s pretty you realize. Almost as pretty as another omega. Possibly more so. Not in the way Alphas were attractive, all hard lines. He looks soft. You want something soft.
He’s too close though. Not exactly not trapping you against the glass that is at least warm against your skin. Your clothes are unseasonable to say the least. This is the last few days of fall and if Jimin had to guess there would be frost tonight. You don't even have a jacket. Just a shirt that looks a little small and shorts that border on scandalous. When your back hits the glass warmed by the electric lights inside with his mask down he can smell your scent shift in the briefest moment in a tiny pleasure. He looks at the bill you hold between the two of you like a talisman.
“Are you hungry?” He asks you in a voice that is nothing like you expect. With a face as beautiful as it is intimidating you expect something harsher deeper maybe, but his soft and melodic voice is anything but. He smiles at you and you’re good at hiding your scent but he can tell you like his smile. You nod just once. You don’t know what this meal will cost you but you do know it will be better if you pay the price now. Before you are truly desperate. Before it's some other beta of god forbid an alpha who's angry that there's any price to pay at all.
Jimin points to the vending machine. “Get your snack first you’ve been waiting over an hour” Shit did that sound creepy? You don’t smell afraid but you have turned around so he can’t read your eyes. You buy the one dollar peanuts after all. All the choices in the machine and you still go with the peanuts. He wonders briefly if they are your favorite but you spin around quickly and offer him the change. It's all in quarters now and they almost overflow. “Keep it” there's no just in case said out loud but it lingers there in the air between you.
It bulges in your pocket and the effect almost makes you look like a kid. No purse? The possibilities of you just traveling are shrinking by the second. He holds out his hand to you and you take it. It's as soft as his face. Nails buffed until they gleam. Warm. You don’t really want to take it but it is so clear that he wants you to take it. He seems eager. You don’t know what to do and it makes you nervous. You follow him out of the bus stop and down a street that still seems bustling in the creeping night. Jimin is careful to keep the two of you in the bright light. He’s not stupid, an omega with just a beta at her side might attract the wrong kind of attention.
The nearest restaurant with a reputation good enough to attract the likes of him is a bit of the walk and when the night truly sets in he lets go of your hand and instead wraps an arm around your waist. You notice that his scent might not be entirely natural. The sweet smell isn't coming from the scent gland that you are suddenly very close to. To compliment him like this. It must be expensive. That sets you further on edge. The rich ones were almost always meaner.
Jimin smells your scent change and scowls again. He doesn't know what changed it. The arm strung about you so casually maybe? You were shivering though and he’s somehow sure you won't take his jacket. Besides, this is safer. It's harder to tell who’s what when the smells get all tangled together. Something can’t be helped. Not if he wants to really help you, and he does. He doesn't know what it's like to be an omega. But he knows what it's like to feel afraid. Nearly his whole life is spent on praising the opposite. Of safety and comfort.
He leads you into a place with an honest to god bouncer. Are they still called bouncers when the place is clearly nice? You’re not sure. That's what they call it on TV, your dont watch it often but you were allowed when the others were high or in a good mood. At first you're sure they won't let you in. There is no way you’re up to the dress code but Jimin pulls down his mask once again and the man blinks at him surprised and scrabbles to find him a table. He gives you a quick up down and then winks at Jimin before leaving. Typical alpha behavior. Ok. well to be fair you do look. Well not like jailbait exactly, but certainly like you have something to sell. You don’t seem embarrassed or ashamed of his look however and you do definitely notice it. You only look up at him to see if it makes him mad but when it doesn't you look back at the table cloth intrigued. It's the nicest fabric you've ever touched and you keep touching it. Now this on the other hand is typical omega behavior. A pretty waitress brings him two menus and you frown trying to figure out why an alpha is looking at a beta like that. With an almost reverence before she leaves.
“You can get whatever you want. I'm buying” Your to distracted by the feel of the paper on the menu, by the warmth of the building and the plush velvet of the chairs to even think about your doubts of the situation. You would go behind the restaurant after and let him do whatever it was he wanted to do to you. Or if he wanted to think of himself as classy to the cheap hotel. Maybe if you were lucky he would pay by the night and not by the hour and you would get to sleep on a bed. You bite the inside of your cheek and Jimin can smell the slightest hint of blood.
I don't know what most of the stuff on the menu is. Mr.” Your voice is soft. Discreet and he doesn't care for the way you call him Mr. like he’s old. Like he’s his father. He has no ill will against the man but he wants your eyes to sparkle in delight when you see him. The way the waitress had. There was time. If you would let him have it.
“Park, Jimin” He supplies for you curious to see if the name rings any bells for you. It clearly doesn't. He turns his menu around and taps one of the items. An easy dish one with ingredients that wouldn't be too outlandish and would be mild enough for most omegas. Hey if you didn't like it he'd order everything until he found something you did like. It's in a language that means nothing to you and there’s no price for anything. You give him another little nod. “And what's your name?” you give it to him. No last name. Good. Omegas typically took their alphas last names. He didn't know you. Didn't know anything about you. He doesn't want you bound to an alpha though. Not if they let you out like this. Not if they made you this afraid.
The waitress comes back after a respectable amount of time and takes your order. She pays little attention to you but it's not the dismissive way that so many alphas have. It seems far more like she's started being struck by the man in front of you. Jimin orders for both of you and asks for two extra plates. He asks if you drink and you nod. Sometimes they liked you drunk. He orders a sweet white and a dry red and the alpha turns to you. She should ask for your ID but something stops her. Instead she asks you if you’re cold. Her instinct to care for a shivering omega finally triggered. You shake your head and she frowns but doesn't press. She can’t risk pissing off this customer.
Dinner is a quiet affair. Made even quieter by the fact that while you eye the food with clear desire you make no move to eat until he insists. He files that away for later. He knows that some packs still clung to tradition. Eating in terms of hierarchy. His alpha when he had first started courting him had preferred instead to hand feed him little bits of peeled fruit. Each one a declaration of love. You kept eyeing him. Like you were trying to gauge if you were eating correctly. Not too fast or too much. Jimin eats more than he normally would in an effort to encourage you. To push past your anxiety at the table like this, he wonders when the last time you ate was.
The wine on the other hand you down. He wonders if it's liquid courage for whatever you plan on doing next. He offers another glass but when you ask if he wants you to drink more in that same small voice so ready to give him whatever he wants he shakes his head. Maybe he shouldn't have offered any at all. He offers you his light jacket this time and you take it. He’s not even an alpha but he can see your will bend. At least he smells nice.
The car he called for is warm but Jimin scoots you close to him. He doesn't care for the alpha driver's eyes on you in the mirror. Hungry. He leaves his mask off. It's usually enough to make strangers back off. Tonight though, with your sweet almost but not quite nutmeg smell that pushes threw the grime on your skin it seems to be too much for the man. He’ll file a complaint later. You let him manhandle you. His hands stay soft, and he doesn’t seem to have any interest in fucking you in front of the driver. You’re grateful for that. That was a surprisingly common fantasy. Alphas watching their betas fuck an omega. Pushing them to be dominant and then showing them who's really in charge. Sometimes alphas had other alphas lower in hierarchy do it too.
When the car pulls up to the apartment building he asks you to step out first. His voice is sweet and calm but he’s sure that you would have obeyed no matter what. When the door gently shuts, Jimin leans forward. “Keep your eyes to yourself next time alpha” he hisses. His eyes remain on your shivering in his light jacket.
The alpha recoils. Jimin is a beta. He’s also Park Jimin. He remembered a story in the newspaper about an alpha who had cut him in a line and the way his fans had ruined the man's life. Officially Jimin had been against the backlash the man had faced but there were rumors. Alpha hater. The only people who got taken down by his sometimes rabid fanbase were alphas. Jimin pulls up his phone and shows him the video he took of the way the alpha was looking at you. “I'm sorry sir I’ll apologize to her I’ll”
“You’re never going to speak to her. And I'm going to follow up with your employer. If you have anything on your record, this will get leaked. Good night…alpha” he says the word with a sneer and exits the car shutting the door in an almost slam. Ok maybe an actual slam. You flinch startled but your neck is chained to the sky. “Tall right?” Your impressed. He likes that your impressed.
“What floor are you on?” you say in a near whisper as the car peels away just a bit too fast. Jimin smiles. It's more of a smirk really. Perhaps he can’t impress you himself, not yet anyway but the apartment, penthouse actually, always did the trick. 42 stories up and on a beautiful art nouveau building the place screamed luxury. Screamed Money. It wouldn't have been Jimin's first pick. Not if he’s honest but Yoongi, Yoongi wanted not only to spoil Jimin but also to make sure everyone who was anyone knew about it too.
“The top. Come on, I’ll let you push the button” He waves his wrist over a sensor hidden in the door frame and your eyes widen as the door makes a low chime and pops open.You know rationally this isn't magic. But the building has curves and sweeping marble and silver. This looks like a place where magic could be real. Mr Park looks like he might be magic already and in the warm light spilling out from the frosted glass on the roof casting the ghost of a shadow on his face it seems even easier to believe. He could be a fae you think, in the stories you heard as a child they were always making deals. You have already accepted his food, what will you have to pay? What did fairies want in story books? Names. If only you had one to bargain with.
He pulls the door open for you and you step inside. It's warm inside and the light makes it feel like sunrise or sunset. It's like being in an eternal spring. A door man dressed in a sharp red uniform eyes you up and down but says nothing, only greeting Jimin. Jimin cordially greets back. Jimin watches you head for the elevator but steers you by the shoulders gently further back to a smaller door. You tense up but bite your lip and press on further into what looks like heaven but seems somehow dangerous. He waves his wrist again and this door opens up as well.
Jimin has always felt that the gold and red velvet were ostentatious but Yoongi, when he thought Jimin wasn't paying attention would touch the walls. Pleased that he had finally made it. You unconsciously do the same thing. With just the tips of your fingers. As if you worry that the grime on your body will sully the walls. You barely even feel the elevator as it rises. He has to wave his wrist a final time and the door opens.
Your eyes don't widen this time. The third time apparently being what loses the charm. Jimin steps out first and gestures for you to follow. He leads you into a dining room that's all bright white walls and you see another man at the table. Your scent goes from anxious to afraid for a brief moment and the man looks up. His smell hits you and your scent spikes to terror. Alpha. You should have asked questions. You should have ran.
Yoongi's eyes narrow as he takes you in. He can’t help but push out a comforting smell to help calm you. A distressed omega reeks and he wants no part of that in his home. Jimin smiles at him like an angel. Like he's done nothing out of the ordinary and Yoongi scowls and pulls the newspaper he was reading back up to his face. They would talk later. When there wasn't a trembling stinking omega to deal with. Who knows what games Jimin was playing. He was always unpredictable. Sometimes Yoongi loves it. Sometimes not so much. He’d reserve judgment. Besides when Jimin left this morning they had been in a fight. Yoongi had no desire to immediately jump back into that fight.
It had not exactly gotten nasty. It never really did. Both of them to cautious to throw the particular bombs that rested just behind there lips. Yoongi knows Jimin wants Kids. Jimin Knows Yoongi doesn't want to be a dad. Ever. They both knew where each other stood. It was the periphery issues that got dangerous. Like how Jimin always wanted to be touching him. There was a need for every touch and Yoongi was afraid that he would never be enough. Like how if he slipped up maybe Jimin's love would consume him. Like How Jimin had the same fear. No he’d let this, whatever this was play out.
“This is Yoongi. Come on. You need a shower” he gestures to you to follow and when you don’t immediately move he grabs at your hand again pulling you along with him. You follow but Yoongi's eyebrows night at the obvious discomfort it brings you. He tells himself not to get involved. He knows Jimin well enough to know whatever he’s up to isn't going to harm you. You are pulled into a room that smells clean and nondescript. Like it belongs to no one. He points to a door and you enter the connected bathroom. He doesn't follow and you shut the door almost all the way. You assume he just wants you to clean first.
You take your time in the shower. Maybe too long. You need the time to try and control your fear. You didn't know he had an alpha. He smelled only like him. You can feel yourself start to spiral but you force it down. It's always better if you don’t fight. If you are a good little omega. You don’t come out until the water is cold. It takes a long time. There is a set of pajamas sitting right inside the now firmly closed door. They smell like Jimin. You wish you didn't like the smell as much. You wished that it wouldn't be ruined for you. You put the fulls set on and they are so soft you can’t help but hold it to your face for a moment before opening the door.
The room is empty and you’re surprised. You thought for sure they would be in there. Waiting but there's just a little note with a hand drawn map of the apartment taking you to a living room. Jimin is on a couch concentrating very hard on building something. You think it might be a tiny house of some sort. Jimin hears you and puts down the roof that he just can't get to stay on and turns to you. Your hands go to the button of your pajama shirt starting to open the garment. Jimin stands up and grabs your wrist holding them in place.
“You don’t need to do that. That's not why you're here” he says and all the playfulness of his face is gone. Your eyes finally meet him and he sees the fear in them. He lets go. Your hands stay as if they are still suspended by his. He looks honest, and behind the expensive skin care he looks a little tired.
“Why am I here?” His face softens. He wants to wrap his arms around you, kiss your forehead and tuck you into bed. To sooth the hurt that he doesn't know the cause of but that's clearly too much. He backs up just a hair and sits back down still facing you. He lets out a sigh. He lets his eyes fall back down to his model.
“You needed help. Think you can help me get this thing together?” You nod hesitantly but sit down to help. You both end up with glue on your fingers and decide to take a break. He tells you to sleep as long as you want and when you get up you can talk more. He points out the lock on your door and lets you know that there isn't a key and you can lock it at any time. You thank him and sit on the bed. Your bed. An actual bed.
It's soft and clean. You crawl under the covers and curl up. You feel tears start to flow and wipe them away. Whatever they really want you to promise yourself. Whatever they need. You’ll do it. You’ll be it. Anything to make it so you can stay.
Mr. Park.
Jimin.
What did he want?
Your mind swirls around with thoughts as you finally drift off to sleep.