Chapter Text
His second year of school passed uneventfully. Except for minor squabbles with people who were against the pack, nothing significant happened. It was calm, pleasant and a time when his confidence in doing certain things with Jimin grew. Sharing embarrassing secrets, opinions that might drive others crazy or earn them a slap, pulling off the occasional prank with the confidence that he wouldn't be caught. What didn't they do that school year? Having to say goodbye to spend the holidays at home is anticlimactic and hateful. Living on letters and shouting messages, hoping it would be somewhat similar.
"Who do you write to so much, Taehyung?" Mrs. Kim asks, approaching her son. It's a miracle he's away from the window or the desk.
"A friend." Mr. Kim takes one of the pieces of paper and puts a hand to his chest. The wax seal keeps its shape because of the tear in the paper.
A snake coiled around a deer antler.
"One of the Parks? Ah! That's wonderful, darling." She suddenly hugs him. Taehyung finds his parents very changeable. Sometimes it seems they see him as meat for sale, other times as the beloved and only son they have. "Keep it up, maybe we can see each other soon, arrange an engagement and—"
"He's just a friend," Taehyung insists shyly.
"Even better! Nothing is more beautiful than a happy Omega getting married," she fantasizes, her hands on her cheeks. "An Alpha who loves is an Alpha who doesn't do harm… You could have many pups! Live in a big house, be part of that ancestral legacy… You'd never go hungry! Your life would be as perfect as it is!"
His mother, unlike his father, was a very poor woman in the past. A country girl who sold herself because of her sick mother. Taehyung didn't get to know his grandmother very well; she died when he was nine, but he did and he can say that's enough. His mother knows what it's like to live in poverty and is terrified at the thought of her son experiencing it too. She's willing to give him away to anyone on the condition that he never goes hungry or cold, wearing down his hands and selling his body.
An Alpha is better, but an Omega isn't bad either. A strange way to love and care.
"I'll get more parchment and ink. I'll give you my quill; it writes nicer." Taehyung bites his lip; now he doesn't know if it's a good idea to write where his mother can see.
Jimin noticed the change of quill and mocked it, at length in a Howler. Irrelevant. They continued texting each other all summer until it was time to return to Hogwarts. Mrs. Kim went to great lengths to groom him, letting him dye his hair however he wanted and wear whatever clothes he liked, even at the risk of being conspicuous.
He already is.
Her son is the most beautiful Omega in all of England.
The most beautiful and brilliant light anyone could ever aspire to. Even the Parks.
At the train station, Taehyung instantly recognized the black hair with red streaks. He moved quickly and before saying anything, he stared at Jimin. Jimin stood still, the trunk slipping from his grasp. The Alpha smiled, tilting his head and hiding his lips so they appeared to smile as well.
"I actually waited for you this time," Jimin remarked, trunk in hand.
"Y-yes, yes," Taehyung stammered. Jimin slicked his hair back. "I-it's a miracle, but… You've grown a bit, haven't you?"
"Yes. In the end, exercising really did work," he exclaimed, entering the designated station. Taehyung calmly followed him. "I'm still a few centimeters short of being perfect for my age and caste, but I'm much closer than before."
"What kind of exercise?" he asked tensely.
"The basics, a little advanced, dance classes and taekwondo. My parents were fascinated to see me like this. Maybe that's why they didn't nag me this summer… And you? They let you dye your hair. It suits you very well." Jimin complimented, setting the trunk down for a moment to run his hands through Taehyung's blue hair.
"Yeah, well… M-my mom insisted."
"Lucky you." Jimin didn't find it strange that Taehyung was staring at him, his expression blank and indifferent, the one he usually wore to avoid revealing more. Once on the train, inside one of the cabins, Jimin continued talking and Taehyung observed. Sure, Jimin is still shorter than ideal, but you could tell he'd grown; he could tie his hair samurai-style and his arms looked broader. Taehyung bit his lower lip and looked down for a moment, distracted.
"Your hormones are raging. Did something happen?" Jimin asked discreetly. Taehyung shakes his head instantly, surprised by his own impulse to release pheromones from staring. Jimin smiles at him, tilting his head. Amused.
"Did you fall in love with someone on vacation? You can tell me about it."
"No, not at all," Taehyung denies instantly. "It's just… I don't know. Don't you ever get hot explosions inside you out of nowhere?"
"No. I mean, yes, but they're different from what you might feel. You know, the difference in castes."
"Oh, right…"
"You should go to the infirmary when we get there. Feeling hot while you're ‘esterilized’ isn't a good sign. It could be harmful to you," Jimin advises with a worried tone. Taehyung simply nods.
He doesn't want to talk about it anymore. He feels the heat and it's strange that it's happening while looking at him. Jimin ignores Omega's frenzied magic. It's not a bad thing, either. Light magic is warm and he likes it. Unlike his own, which is like being in contact with a Dementor. As soon as the cabin door opens for the pack to enter, Taehyung rushes to sit on Jimin's lap.
"How shy you are, you can sit on my lap too." Taehyung shakes his head at Minho's offer. He wrinkles his face slightly, looking out the window. Jimin also has thicker legs. He sinks deeper into him and Jimin presses his lips together, worried that Taehyung is taking the ‘it's his seat’ thing so seriously. With so much scent, he's going to end up with a stiff erection and the last thing he wants is to end up like that with him. Fortunately, nothing happened.
┈ ⋞ ⟨ ✷ ⟩ ⋟ ┈
"JIMINI!"
He hugs him tightly, swaying against his body. Jimin gasps and sees his cousin Seojoon on the ground with his wand beside him.
"L-let's go," Jimin pleads, flustered, before the Alpha gets up and wants to kill him with real blows, not just limit themselves to an impromptu magical duel.
One in which Jimin defeated him so spectacularly that it's humiliating. Not to mention that Taehyung realized a very important detail: Seojoon doesn't have much magic. He’s strong, but in comparison, he's a puddle and Jimin is the ocean. He knows he has a problem with the amount of magic he has and it even overflows; Taehyung thought it happened with his other relatives.
"That was incredible," Taehyung whispers, "you should do it with the others. You would be the Alpha of the pack and-"
"I don't want to be the Alpha of the pack," Jimin interrupts, looking uncomfortable. Taehyung puts his hands on his hips, reproachful and dissatisfied.
"You have more magic and strength than they do! Don't let them intimidate you. You're a-"
"I don't want to be an Alpha. I've never wanted to be an Alpha," Jimin explains, his voice tired and desperate. To Taehyung, that makes no sense. "I'm not like them. Dominating isn't my thing, I'm not interested, I can't be like them. I try and I can't."
"Maybe you're not trying hard enough," Taehyung suggests. "Listen, you're an Alpha. You were born for it. Rejecting it is… like rejecting yourself."
"It's rejecting what everyone thinks an Alpha should be. You were born an Omega. Why aren't you having pups yet?" Jimin retorts, on the verge of a hysterical outburst. "Or why aren't you marked? You were born for this and it's not like that. You don't want it. Because I can't wish to anyone to be what everyone wants."
Jimin shrinks back and moves away, tearful. It frustrates him too much. Taehyung can be saved. An Omega can be strong and they can also not be. An Alpha who isn't immediately strong is a waste.
Taehyung sits next to him. Both of them in the astrology tower so no one will come to bother them.
"I wish I were a Beta."
"A Beta? Why a Beta?" Taehyung challenges, confused.
"They can be whatever they want. Strong, weak, submissive, dominant, sweet, a jerk to people… They're left out for not having the same strength as an Alpha or the sensitivity of an Omega, but they're a perfect balance. I wish I were one," Jimin explains, his hands between his legs, his face red, on the verge of tears.
"That's… True, even so, a Beta? Please, Jimin. It's a thousand times better to be an Alpha. Besides, who as a Beta is important?" Taehyung insists, finding it so absurd.
"I read about one. He was a Viking" Jimin recounts. "He had a village of maybe four thousand people. He succeeded an Alpha and yet, Muggles still remember him today as the Viking Beta who conquered the Middle East. He had children, an Omega and was respected by all. Caste wasn't his weakness."
"It was a different time." Taehyung justifies.
"It was and yet… An Alpha, a Beta, or an Omega could act however they wanted. Not anymore."
Some of Jimin's ideas are, to Taehyung, outlandish. Dreamy and absurd. Jimin is a dreamer and no one can deny it. He sighs, leaning back against him. Taehyung ponders what's been said and comes to the same conclusion: it's impossible to consider Jimin a Beta; for him, he's an Alpha, no matter how much he refuses to admit it.
Perhaps not the Alpha everyone expects, but the Alpha he likes. His magic is subtle, an attempt to create gray. The curiosity of light alongside the submission of darkness that allows for contact.
"My parents are having a Christmas party. Would you come?" Taehyung asks hopefully.
"Maybe… I don't know. I'd have to ask permission."
"You're invited anyway." Jimin pouts, dejected.