CHAPTER NINE
"Definitely a nerd."
When Jimin stirs awake the first time, he catches himself on time to not flinch at the arm wrapped around his middle, secure and heavy against his side. The whole room was cold from the breeze outside coming from the one open window in front of his study table, the sky still dark outside, his alarm clock glaring a bright red of 2:03AM atop his bedside table.
He released a small sigh at the recognition; inhaling the smell of fresh lavender and salty beach in the air, basking at the familiarity of it. Carefully shuffling on the bed, he kicks the blanket a little lower his body because he feels warm despite the cool air, listening to the quiet whirr of his air-conditioner in the room to make sure it's working. He closed his eyes again when he confirms that it is, pushing himself against the other body on the bed, his back pressed against Taehyung's broad chest.
The arm around him tightened instinctively, pulling his body in even more firmly until he felt a cold nose nuzzling his nape, slightly jolting at the sensation as a warm breath fans against his skin. A light shiver runs down his spine without his permission, feeling his cheeks burn a little.
"Sleep, Minnie." Jimin feels more than hear Taehyung whispers, voice husky from sleep, lips slightly brushing against his skin in the process. He wonders if he's having a start of fever by the way his body is slowly warming.
He ignores it though, the urge to go back to sleep stronger, his eyelids getting heavier and heavier by the second, Taehyung's body warmth pulling him in back to deep slumber.
"Goodnight, Taehyung."
---
The second time Jimin wakes up, he's alone. The arm wrapped around his middle and chest against his back gone. He turns to his other side, eyes still closed, patting the empty space beside him and feeling it cold. He sighs at it, strangely feeling annoyed by the idea that he slept all alone.
The whole room was completely lit by the sun outside, high in the sky, making his room feel a little warmer than last night. They forgot to close the window, comfortable on the bed and engrossed with catching up with each other for the past week they're not together.
Jimin had a good laugh when Taehyung revealed on constantly receiving an earful from Seokjin every minute of the day, not missing a chance to rag on the alpha whenever he has chance to. Taehyung says he had to live off take-out chicken from that Chinese restaurant near their university and pizza from Domino's for a couple of days when he so much as refused to listen to his brother one time. Seokjin only pitied his brother when he saw Taehyung resorting on cup noodles for dinner, the alpha whining childishly at the ugly memory.
Jimin was silently grateful at the information of Seokjin putting effort and doing what he can to make them up together. The idea alone sends warmth to his chest. He makes a mental note to thank the beta and maybe treat him to dinner and dessert.
Taehyung had been reluctant at first with the idea of sleeping in the same room when Jimin asked him to stay for the night. It's nothing new, really—being always together for a whole three years and sharing sleepovers in each other's place countless of times. Jimin has to assure the alpha that it was fine, he's fine, and that they're really fine. That Jimin genuinely forgives him and that they could just forget about it if they want—if it'll make them comfortable around each other again.
The idea of being awkward with Taehyung doesn't sit well in Jimin.
The alpha had apologized over his territorial tendencies again that night, admitting that he acts immaturely by avoiding Jimin and not telling him why, letting the omega wonder what he had done wrong. Jimin cannot really blame him on that, he understands; Taehyung has always been territorial towards him ever since. He thinks it's an alpha thing, and that Taehyung has been naturally protective of him. And maybe, also the fact that he himself is an omega. It's like natural, in nature, in biological law.
Jimin managed to bite his tongue and swallow the words before he makes a mistake of telling Taehyung that he almost thought the alpha has been probably sick of him that's why. He didn't want Taehyung to feel anymore shitty by saying those things so he remains quiet and accepts his apology over and over until the alpha was rest assured. He's just happy it's not the reason.
He turns on his stomach once he felt the heat of sweat on his back, his white sleep shirt sticking on his skin, sighing in slight relief when the cool air of air-conditioner hits the wet material and cooling his skin. It honestly feels gross. Forcing an eye open, he peeks over to his digital clock; it reads 12:28PM. He groans under his breath, scratchy from the lack of use, burying his face on his pillow. He's known as a morning person, 'an early bird' as Seokjin calls it; and waking up at past noon was never a good sign for him.
Oversleeping only means two reasons for Park Jimin: 1) he's probably going to be sick and, 2) it's time for his cycle that both always lasted for a week. Sweet hell, Jimin's going to miss a lot of lessons either way.
Good thing, it was Saturday.
Bad thing, he has pop quiz on Monday.
He groans for the second time at the realization that it was an actual good thing Taehyung left even before Jimin wakes up. He doesn't want to cause anymore worry to his friend.
Another 10 minutes of staying on bed just staring at the stray thread at the corner of his pillowcase, he finally pushes himself off with a small grunt under his breath and sits up on the edge of the mattress, feet flat on the cold floor. It helps a little relieving the warmth of his skin and he sighs.
Walking slowly to the bathroom inside his bedroom, Jimin quickly strips off his clothes, letting them fall on a heap on the floor before stepping under the showerhead. He sighs in content as the cold water hits his back, quickly wetting his whole body. He takes extra 20 minutes than his usual time consumption, finding huge relief from the extra cold water.
Rummaging through his closet, he decides on a pair of black boxers and plain off-white sweater that smells like his own fabric conditioner for once and not Taehyung's scent, a little too oversized for his small frame that the neckline slightly slides down on one of his shoulders before walking to the air-conditioner and adjusting its temperature drastically lower than normal to make the room colder for the season.
He walks back to his bed, sitting on the middle while eyeing the spread textbooks and notebooks atop his study table. The original plan was to study for the Wolf Ethics class in advance for the pop quiz so he could've Sunday all to himself, a school-free day. But that plan was obviously not gonna work at his current state, still feeling feverish even after taking cold shower. He made sure to drink paracetamol before burying himself under his comforter and calling it a day.
---
Turns out, the Deity loves Jimin when he wakes up at 5PM feeling normal all over again. He blinks at the white ceiling until his vision isn't blurry anymore and could hear his ringtone blaring from his bedside table clearly. He thought it was just a dream but seems like someone has been calling him for the past minutes. He reaches out and sees Seokjin's name displayed on the caller ID. With a little groan, he slides the answer key and puts the device against his ear.
"Minnie! Finally!" Jimin winces at the loud greetings, immediately regretting answering the call. He rolls on his side, mushing the left side of his face on his pillow and closing his eyes again.
"What's up, Seokjin?"
"Oh," the beta says softly (thank goodness), "It's already afternoon and I haven't heard anything from you; just wondering if you're still alive or something. Have you eaten?"
Of course, Seokjin will check if he ever bothered to put food in his stomach and not let himself starve to death with his nose buried to his notes. "I felt feverish when I woke up at noon so I decided to sleep it away in hopes to get better—"
"Are you sick? Did you drink medi—"
"I'm fine. I'm fine. Feel a lot better than earlier," Jimin immediately cuts the other off, finally deciding on pushing himself up and sitting against the headboard; the light of the sun setting outside casting a yellow-orange glow inside his room, finding peace in it. "I made sure to drink paracetamol before going back to sleep and yeah, I'm all fine now."
There's a small sigh from the other line. "That's good to hear." And then a short silence before, "And oh, Taehyung was worried though. He said he stayed the night there but had to wake up early and leave for his gym class this morning without telling you. He doesn't want to bother you sleeping, you know him. But the dumbass forgot to leave a note and you haven't reached him out yet so he's worried sick you're pissed at him again." The beta released an exasperated huff making Jimin chuckle a little under his breath. "He said he's been trying to call and text you but you never responded and now he's sulking because you answer my call in few rings."
Jimin feels a little guilty for letting his alpha friend think about that, so with a little thinking, he offers, "I was not mad or anything. I was just asleep the whole day. Do you guys wanna catch dinner with me? At 7PM in that little restaurant around the 5th Block?"
Seokjin agrees the moment he hears about 'dinner'. Grinning to himself, Jimin bids goodbye and hangs up.
---
Dinner had been fun like the usual with the three of them. They split the bill after inhaling all the cancer food they'd ordered—except for Jimin who sticks with lettuce and tomato salad with extra cheese—and a couple of bottled beers in each. They stroll on the empty sidewalk with the Kim brothers sandwiching Jimin in the middle with their broad and towering form, Taehyung's arm wrapped around his shoulders until they reached the front of Jimin's apartment door and he's inside the safety of it.
But unlike the original plan for Sunday, he spent the day outside his apartment and in the clearing. Alone, he walks over the back of their empty school premises early in the morning and into the woods where one of the secret entrances to the forest of their town was located. He spent almost half an hour of walking before he reached the riverbank, choosing a huge tree and sitting under the shade of it. He has a small sling bag with him where his sketchbook and pencils were, alongside the Wolf Ethics book, neatly placed.
He works on school stuff first, making sure he has the latest lesson memorized before tucking his book back in his bag and pulling his sketchbook and other art materials out next. He spent hours just admiring the green and serene surroundings, the cold wind feels nice against his skin, the sound of the water of the river relaxing enough to lull him to a short nap—his drawing left unfinished half-way and fingers loosening the grip around his pencil.
It was a little before lunch time when he woke up at an odd position, his back still leaning against the trunk of the tree and neck stiff on the right side. He lets out a small grunt when he tries to arrange his position, sitting up straight placing his art materials on the ground from his lap, the pencil had rolled a little far from him.
It's when he reached for the pencil that he caught a whiffed of familiar scent, body freezing and brain short-circuiting. He tried to scramble fast, albeit a little clumsily as he shuts his sketchbook, accidentally folding one of its leaves and cursing himself in irritation. He hates it when any of his papers so much as crumple a little on the corners.
Standing up and swaying on his footing from the sudden momentum, he quickly works his legs to run away from the clearing, mentally debating in changing forms because he'd successfully run to the road if he's in wolf form. But before he could even decides his final pick, his nose had hit on something hard, almost sending him flying on his ass if not for the arms that catches him around his waist.
Jimin's breath hitches in his throat at the sudden intensity of scent he's trying to run from, eyes shooting wide open—he doesn't even realized he has closed them—and staring directly at equally wide pair of dark brown eyes, shocked written all over the person's face.
It's a couple heartbeats before Jimin realizes their unfortunate position and stumbles away from the arms around his body, putting an exaggerated distance between him and the other person. He schools himself on his neutral face, acting like he wasn't affected at all though his heartbeats are still hammering against his ribcage like crazy from his little stunt he's sure the other could hear it if he ever concentrated on it. Sweet hell.
"Jimin—"
"What are you doing here?" Jimin immediately cuts off, not wanting to give the other an opportunity to start something to talk to. He's not fun of small talks, especially with a certain Jeon.
Jeon's initial expression of shock falters his mouth closing into thin line as he stares Jimin down. This is what Jimin hates about alphas, you talk them a little casually and they'll take it as disrespecting. They could climb and do free body falling with how high their egos are.
"I'm about to do some running," the alpha answers, though a little clipped that Jimin's mood would appreciate. "What about you? What are you doing here..." he paused, tilting his head in the air to catch another scent other than them before looking back at Jimin. "...alone?"
Jimin, against all the bubbling irritation inside of him, holds himself back from rolling his eyes. So much for not wanting small talks with Jeon. He slings his bag around his body, dusting himself from imaginary dirt just so that he could do something with his hands than let them shake against his sides from talking and standing in front of an alpha that isn't Taehyung.
"I did some school stuff," he answers despite himself, "Pop quiz on tomorrow, gotta secure my grades."
"Grade conscious, kid."
"Excuse me?" Jimin's head snaps, directing a withering glare to a smirking Jeon. "Did you just call me a kid?"
Jeon snorts, a grin lingering at the corners of his lips as he walks past Jimin. The omega follows him with his eyes; still glaring at the other's broad back over his shoulder, mentally wishing the alpha to suddenly burst into flames.
"Definitely a nerd."
Jimin lets out an incredulous scoff, intending to throw the alpha another more intense eye-laser-beam when he noticed the boy was actually in the process of pulling his shirt over his head, the hem already half-way off his back, the slightly tan skin imprinting the back of Jimin's eyes and he's sure he's never turned his head away so fast he hears a legit crack on the base of his neck. He's gonna worsen his forgotten stiffed neck at this point and maybe snapped it too until it rolls on the ground. Gross.
"What the..." he whispers, mortified. His eyes scan the surroundings, making sure no one is in the clearing except for them. He subtly sniffs the air for good measure and sighs a little when he deems it safe and glares on the ground at the reminder of Jeon topless a few steps behind him when he hears boots scuffing on the ground.
"You wanna go for a run together, Park Jimin?"
Jimin can definitely hear the smirk on the alpha's voice that only sets an irritating feeling in him and before he can think of it, he's turning to look at Jeon properly, eyes never straying down away from the other's face and frowning to make sure he shows his displease at the alpha's smugness.
"No thanks, Jeon. But I don't have time for you," he says, firm and steady.
Jeon's expression shifts into something serious, meeting Jimin's eyes. "I'm sorry..." Jimin's left eye twitch at the sudden change of topic, lost and curious. He stays rooted though to hear the rest of the alpha's sentence. "...for the last time, I mean. I didn't mean to impose on you and be rude. I'm sorry."
But even before Jimin could find his words to answer, the alpha was already running deeper in the forest and shifting; Jimin only managing to catch a jet black color of furry tail.
__________ ___ __ _
Hi :))
Sorry, I took forever finding time to continue finishing this short draft. Done with thesis defense and finals but still not completely free off uni stuff.
I also just realized I never talked about the possibility of them shifting (or changing into wolf forms) in this story. I may or may not intend to include that info here tbh because I lack of knowledge about it.
Anyways, I hope you still enjoyed this short long overdue update. See you next chapter! ^^