Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down | TK

24 | Sweetness and Fear

"Hey," Taehyung muttered petulantly, but Jungkook didn't respond, only tightened his hold around his waist. The omega leaned back uneasily, his mouth forming in a pensive frown, annoyance disappearing instantly. "What's up?"

Again, the alpha didn't respond, so Taehyung decided to shrug it off and continue his fairs.

He aimed an arrow at the target, shuffling in Jungkook's hold to take a better stance, before letting go of the bowstring. It was a little off-putting, he could admit—but he didn't particularly mind it.

So, the omega let him do what he wanted and got used to it. But when minutes passed and Jungkook was still pressed against him, not budging even an inch, he started growing worried.

"You alright?" Taehyung asked tentatively. The alpha didn't acknowledge his question and kept staying quiet. "Are you even alive?"

Jungkook nodded against his neck, nose brushing his skin and making him shiver. It was pleasant, indeed. Every each of the alpha's touches caused his heart to fasten its beat and make the butterflies grow in his stomach.

"Okay. So, are you alright? Do you feel sick?" Taehyung didn't know if alphas could get sick but, judging from his own experience, they didn't get cold very often. "Or—or too cold or something? You were napping before this, weren't you? Did you get cold?"

Jungkook shook his head this time. The omega blew out a breath, vocalizing the essence of disappointment, and rolled his eyes. He hadn't thought so, since the alpha's skin was warm the second, he pressed his sturdy body against his.

"You know it's hard to move around with you clinging like this, right?"

"Not my problem." Jungkook whispered in his ear, so quiet he could barely hear it. Taehyung huffed in mock outrage, but he still squeezed one of the arms around him in reassurance.

The omega tried to sniff the air around him, but there weren't any changes in Jungkook's scent, which only confused him furthermore.

"You don't smell like rut either..." Taehyung said, more to himself than the alpha, as he furrowed his eyebrows together in a thoughtful grimace.

Jungkook huffed out a gust of air and curled his arms around the omega's bony hips, palms settling over his lower abdomen.

"Or you're just feeling possessive..." he trailed off, looking at Jungkook. And then he snorted—because of course the alpha would feel like that so suddenly.

Jungkook didn't answer. Instead of granting the omega with a response, he laid a small kiss to the center of Taehyung's shoulder blades, the tip of his nose nuzzling up his spine and nestling over the hair of his nape. The alpha could feel the way Taehyung relaxed into him, stubbornly remaining silent until he left a nip to his neck, gingerly kissing over the area to ease the slight sting away.

"Will you let me mark you one day?" Jungkook mumbled, his hot breath fanning over the shell of the omega's ear.

"I—" Taehyung's breath hitched in his throat. He blinked wildly for a moment, like he was struggling to find the right words. He licked his lips, eyes flitting to one side before he met them again. Like he refused to talk to him without keeping their gazes locked.

Jungkook had a sense for these moods, and it didn't have to be the obvious burden of furrowed brows, and gentle frowns. He could already gather the downfall of the omega's state of mind, the usual hint of lovely strawberries now burnt down to a dull whiff.

"Maybe..." Taehyung paused and tried to deescalate the thunderstorm in his heart, attempting to fill himself with the usual warmth of the sun. "Maybe one day." He answered vaguely and Jungkook meant to ask for more of him, but his eyes dipped, and he kept speaking with a light, pleasant, and a little sad vibration in his tone. "When everything is over and there is no more war."