Chapter Text
Over a thousand years ago, the first second gendered wolf was born.
The beast inside used to be soothed by the moon, drawn to a slumber only when fulfilled by the moon goddesses love that shimmered under moonshine.
The moon goddess grew fond of the creatures, for they thirsted for blood and terrorized others, but purred under the moonlight. They found calm within the blue-tinge of the night sky.
As a reward, as a sign of her love, they were gifted the most expressive gift a goddess could have possibly given—
Omegas.
Most creatures themselves were built to be instinctual, bloodthirsty, savage, they were built to be alphas, but, occasionally, there had been a breed in which their instincts came secondary to the mind. These were betas.
It was within these betas that the moon goddess found hope that the most gentle of breeds, the newest ones, would be cared for.
Omegas were gentle. They were mesmerizing. They were built out of love, blessed by the touch of the moon goddess and sprinkled with moonlit kisses.
They were too enchanting.
The worst mistake the creatures had made was mistreating a gift from the moon goddess. Mistreating these enchanting wolves, taking advantage of their sensitivities, and their scent.
Overpowering such gentle, loving, and caring omegas and staking price on their worth with a bloody claiming bite labeled, ironically, a moon bite for the way it healed like two crescents nestled in the crook of an omega’s neck.
The moon goddess would have loved this, she did love this, until things got out of hand. Until the small population of omegas she'd gifted were being slaughtered.
Alphas were strong, they were the majority, and many did not take into account how gently they needed to hold an omega, touch one. They were built to harm, not to love.
Omegas needed love.
They did not need the bruising grip of alphas fighting over them, nor the sting of teeth constantly tossing their smaller forms about, and the moon goddess grew angry. Livid.
She couldn't believe her gift was being mistreated in such a way, that what she had blessed was being killed before many pups had even been born.
As a lesson, she stopped blessing pups.
The moon goddess only blessed one in every hundred wolf pups as an omega, and it had been this way for centuries. An omega would be the rare gift she intended them to be; they would be treated as she wished them to be, and alphas and betas would have to do as she wanted.
They had to treat the omegas as golden gifts.
In a world overrun with terrifying alphas and betas that did their best to survive around monsters, an omega was the moonlight.
Only a few packs were granted an imprint that bonded an omega to them.
It was very rare for an incomplete pack to earn one, and even more rare for an omega to be imprinted on under such distressing circumstances—
“Don't fucking look at him, he's not for sale.”
“Baby, baby. It's okay.”
An imprint was oftentimes the cause of many of the feelings an alpha felt, it tugged a physical bond inside of the alpha, forced them to pay attention to everything the omega felt whether or not they were near one another, but there were no words to explain the way it felt to look into those wide, fearful chocolate eyes and have your emotions plummet.
It always felt like the world was falling apart when Jungkook was afraid.
“Hey,” Taehyung continued to soothe, shifting up onto his knees to tug Jungkook into his arms, hands running up and down his spine and running his nose along the omega’s cheek, “Ignore them. Ignore it. Look at me, baby. Look at alpha only, we'd never let anything hurt you. Hm? You know Jimin is just worried when it gets dark. Close your eyes. Go to sleep. We love you, puppy.”
Those words were more than true.
It hadn't exactly been Taehyung or Jimin's plan to imprint. They'd never been alphas who wanted to imprint.
Then came along Jeon Jungkook.
Jungkook, who had such sparkly eyes. Who had the prettiest button nose. Who had the cutest laugh and the kindest heart. Who smiled so hard his cheeks met his eyes.
Jungkook, who had two black eyes when they met him. Who'd been running so fast he stumbled for words and nearly passed out. Who was so thin his bones poked at his clothes. Who had such a hard life that he had two grown men in tears from the first glance.
Jungkook, who still wore the same old black hoodie and sweatpants from that day. Who had rips in his clothes and was dirty, but so, incredibly beautiful.
Jungkook. Who'd been on the streets for exactly three days before they'd met.
That had been six months ago.
Six months ago, when Jimin and Taehyung, too, had run away from home after their parents refused to accept that the duo cared for one another in a way much more than two alphas should.
It was uncommon for alphas to feel the connections that they did. Jimin and Taehyung had been friends since high school, but they'd known relatively soon that what they felt wasn't quite friends, they'd even gone as far as to call each other soulmates. Once they'd met Jungkook, it became clearer that their bond was one meant to pull. To force them into a pack. To have many alphas to protect Jungkook.
Jungkook was always first. He deserved to be first. He deserved every single penny they spent getting him a winter coat. He deserved all of the sleepless nights they stayed up watching over him. Despite never asking for anything, Jungkook deserved everything.
It was hard to give him what he deserved when their home was a dirty pile of blankets, two backpacks, and a handful of random toys and books.
Jungkook deserved so much more.
“I'm okay.”
Taehyung looked at Jungkook immediately, eyes flickering away from Jimin, who was pacing a foot away and chewing on his lip as he counted cash they'd snatched from an older woman’s wallet earlier. They weren't proud of this. Not at all.
They'd tried, for a while, to get jobs, but no place wanted to hire anyone without any paperwork and neither Taehyung or Jimin had thought to bring along birth certificates when running away. They'd tried it all just to get off the streets. They'd tried to enroll in universities, but had no proof of high school completion.
They'd stayed at homeless shelters for a while, but having an omega around drew too much attention and, although they'd never discuss it with Jungkook, it made Taehyung and Jimin feel even worse about the situation, because an omega should never have to be there in the first place.
Jungkook was their responsibility and seeing him like this was incredibly painful. It didn't matter how many pretty eye smiles Jungkook gave, or how giggly he'd get every morning, or how many times Jungkook said he loved them and that they were doing their best.
That pain was always there. Sitting deep inside.
“‘m okay.” Jungkook slurred sleepily, nose scrunching up into that gorgeous, dewy-eyed smile that he gave when he was really sleepy. “Is alpha okay?”
And Taehyung's chest suddenly felt lighter as he adjusted his arms around Jungkook and sighed, so fondly, while cupping his cheek, “Always. Alphas are always okay.”
Sometimes, Jungkook argued with them when they said things like that. When they lied or tried to lessen the pressure of their situation. Sometimes they argued so much that Jungkook burst into tears and tucked himself into the furthest corner until he cried himself to sleep and Jimin had to tuck him in.
It wasn't one of those nights.
Jungkook only hummed tonight and mumbled a soft, “Kiss,” while closing his eyes and tilting his head back.
Taehyung pressed a kiss to his lips, and another to his chin and his nose and the side of his jaw until Jungkook laughed sleepily and shifted to curl up on their blankets with his cheek on the alpha’s thigh and fingers running comfortingly along Taehyung's torn jeans.
It felt like yesterday that Jungkook blushed and shied away. Like the way he did when they'd first suggested he sleep with them, he'd turned bright red and fumbled an excuse about being dirty and smelling which hadn't been true at all because Jungkook always smelled like vanilla and a tinge of milk, a scent meant to entice protective instincts in other sub genders.
Holding Jungkook always felt like the first time. He was always so warm. Always so soft. Jungkook always felt so perfect pressed up against them. To the point where they used to fight over who got to hold him.
They used to have a lot of petty fights like that at first. Omegas weren't common, and it was even less common to imprint on one, so the possessive instincts used to be really strong.
They were still there, but much less often. They both recognized that protecting Jungkook was much more important than petty arguments.
“Tae?”
Blinking hard, fingers laced in Jungkook's hair, Taehyung looked up at Jimin who immediately moved to take a seat beside him on the blankets, hair sprawled around messily and visibly greasy.
Just by his worried tone, Taehyung frowned. “Yeah?”
Jimin reached over to pet Jungkook's hair off of his forehead, raking fingers through his locks around Taehyung's fingers while tilting his head in thought, hesitant, “We have enough to rent a motel room for a night, maybe two, but I was thinking… we should save it for his birthday.”
Immediately, Taehyung's eyes widened, “It's almost September?”
“I didn't realize either,” Jimin admitted, face falling, shifting to press his shoulder into Taehyung's, “Fuck. I don't know how much longer we can do this. It's going to snow in a month. It's getting too fucking cold- we might have to… you know… they have those community centers where they take in omegas… they'd take him…”
“Don't say that.”
Taehyung's voice was quiet, but it came out as a hiss, “I told you. I'm not doing that. We aren't leaving him at an omega center all alone. I don't give a fuck. I'm not-”
“So you'd rather he freeze to death?” Jimin snapped. Taehyung didn't reply, but his face was devastated, so Jimin quickly backed down with a frown and a much softer tone, “He wouldn't go anyways. I'm sorry. It's a stupid suggestion, I just don't want him to have to be out here in the snow. I don't want any of us to...”
It was a stupid suggestion, so Taehyung didn't even try to deny that, but he did lean his head on Jimin's and curl his fingers around the other’s that laid on Jungkook's hair. It was quiet for a moment.
“We'll get a motel soon,” Jimin promised, shifting to lean back against the wall and running his teeth over his bottom lip anxiously, “We need to shower and get a good night of rest and-”
“You want to have sex.”
Jimin's ears went red at the sudden comment, caught off guard, but he chuckled and elbowed Taehyung all the same, snorting as he teased, “As if you don't. It's been a long while, hasn't it?”
Taehyung wet his lips and hummed an agreement, eyes running over Jungkook's big hoodie and the way it slipped down the omega’s shoulder and revealed smooth, golden skin. It had been a while, because they'd never risk exposing Jungkook’s slickened scent to the public.
Sometimes the omega tried to seduce them. It was always cute cooes and blushing cheeks, so it was more them complimenting Jungkook's seductions rather than giving in, not because they didn't want him, because fuck—
They had to be blind not to want Jungkook; he was the most perfect person on the planet, so much so that even his soft breathing sounded like gentle hums. Even though they'd only had him once, Jungkook was addicting, but there were many more important things to consider other than knotting their omega. (But they were alphas and Jungkook was an omega, so their thoughts strayed more often than either of them would admit aloud.)
“We should buy more water tomorrow,” Taehyung said instead of commenting on that topic again. As much as he wanted to discuss it, thinking too much about it would only bring up a problem they couldn't deal with right now. “Drink the rest of it. You look pale.”
“Don't parent me, I'm the oldest.”
“Shut up and drink. And I'm going to keep a look out and make sure nobody bothers us tonight, you're sleeping tonight, Chim.”
“Bossy,” Jimin scrunched up his nose in disapproval, but he did chug down the rest of their water bottle before he shifted on his knees to scoop up Jungkook. The omega wasn't a light sleeper unless he was having a nightmare, so Jungkook didn't wake up all of the way despite Jimin manhandling him to lay down properly.
Jungkook just whined a quiet, sleepy slur of, “... hyung…” and curled a hand into the edge of Jimin's collar, soothed by a handful of shushes and Jimin's warm scent of caramel filling his lungs as the alpha wrapped him up in his arms.
The omega made a contented noise before purring under his breath in a way that made Jimin beam and press a kiss against his ear while murmuring, “We're here, bunny. Always here. Sleep well. Love you.”
Then, Jimin shifted to reach out over Jungkook's back with an empty palm until Taehyung was giving him a small laugh and leaning down to fit his cheek into Jimin’s hand and complaining, “You don't smell nearly as good as Kookie does.”
“Oh god don't even get me started about you, Tae.”
They both laughed, and, despite their teasing, Jimin did tug Taehyung down into a kiss, nuzzling against his nose for a second before letting go with a quiet, “I'm really sorry.”
Jimin didn't need to say more. They both knew what he was sorry for.
“Stop apologizing. I don't regret anything.” Taehyung rolled his eyes and leaned down to press a kiss to the back of Jungkook's neck, smiling when the omega rumbled with a fit of teeny purs, “Plus, we wouldn't be able to hear that if we hadn't come out here, now would we? Now be a good boy and go to sleep.”
“Tae,” Jimin complained, both a growl and a laugh, “Don't talk to me like you do Kookie, we both know that I could take you down.”
“Debatable.”