Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter One

Jaebeom certainly had no idea what the future was going to hold for him when he auditioned for JYP Entertainment. All he knew was that he enjoyed music, and he certainly enjoyed dancing, b-boying most especially. When he met Jinyoung, they just happened to click immediately. There was just an instant connection and chemistry between the two. They ended up tying for first place out of 10,000 applicants, and one could say that was where the two became inseparable. They trained together for a few years, before making their acting debut in 2012 with Dream High 2 and then their idol debut with their duo called JJ Project. Around the time of the release of Dream High 2, Jaebeom reached his 18th birthday meaning that he had his presentation. He--to the surprise of virtually no one--presented as an alpha. Pretty much everything about Jaebeom screamed stereotypical alpha. He was clearly a natural born leader. He had a very strong protective streak for the ones that he loved. He was very traditional and by the book, and he most certainly could make his presence intimidating, when he wanted to.

Jinyoung followed in September of 2012, reaching his own 18th birthday. He presented as a beta, once more to the shock of very few--certainly not Jaebeom. Jaebeom had always found Jinyoung’s presence comforting. While Jaebeom’s scent was the strong smell of bergamot, Jinyoung was a much lighter scent of peaches. This was much to the chagrin of the boy who knew that he had quite a large backside, often compared to a peach. The two of them certainly weren’t enough people to be in a pack--it was rare for packs to be smaller than 5 people, although not entirely unheard of. However, that really wasn’t on either of their minds yet. They were just so thrilled to be able to debut and start to follow their dreams. They were very much aware of how few people were ever able to even debut as an idol, let alone make it in the industry. They were going to do everything in their power to focus on work, so that they could succeed.

“We are pulling the plug on JJ Project,” producer Park Jinyoung said one afternoon in mid-2013, after calling the two boys into his office.

Jinyoung stared at his company CEO in shock, while Jaebeom, who was sat next to him, sat with his jaw dropped open.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Jaebeom finally managed to choke out. “Did we do something wrong that I wasn’t aware of?”
“No, it’s not something that either of you are entirely responsible for I’m afraid,” producer Jinyoung replied. “It’s just that there is something...missing. You guys are good, but I’m afraid not good enough. You just don’t have that same intrigue that say Wonder Girls, 2AM, 2PM, or Miss A has. There needs to be something more.”
“Are you kicking us out?” Jinyoung asked, trying to rapidly make sense of the words that were coming out of the producer’s mouth.
“Not at all!” producer Jinyoung replied, aghast at the thought. “You two are insanely talented. I would be an idiot to throw that away.”
“So what are you saying then?” Jaebeom asked, trying to keep his voice even and show as little emotion as possible. “I’m not sure that I follow.”
“I want you guys in a group,” producer Jinyoung replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “You two will go back to being trainees for a little bit while we put together a new team. I’m thinking there will be around 6 of you.”
“And do you already know who some of these other members are going to be?” Jinyoung asked.
“A few of them, yes,” producer Jinyoung replied. “Do you know Jackson?”

Jaebeom and Jinyoung made eye contact for a moment at that. Did they know Jackson? The more appropriate question was if anyone in the building DIDN’T know Jackson. The boy could literally socialize with a telephone pole if he wanted. He was loud, and exuberant, and a lot to handle at times.

“From Hong Kong?” Jaebeom asked politely, receiving a nod in reply. “Yes, I’m fairly certain the entire city of Seoul might know Jackson at this point.”
“Yes--he does like to socialize,” producer Jinyoung replied with a chuckle. “That’s why he will be a perfect addition to you two. Now what about Mark Tuan?”
“Erm--quiet? Hangs out with Jackson...or well puts up with Jackson’s endless chatter?” Jinyoung asked.
“That sounds about right,” producer Jinyoung replied. “He is from Los Angeles so he speaks fluent English, which will be insanely beneficial for your team. Then we have Yugyeom. I assume you know him as well?”
“Yeah, we’ve gotten fairly close with Yugyeom,” Jaebeom admitted. “He calls me when things get...well when trainees get mean sometimes.”

Park Jinyoung nodded in understanding. He would never endorse trainees bullying each other, but he was well aware that there were bound to be things that happened while his back was turned. He wasn’t stupid. It’s a very competitive industry, especially as a trainee. He was happy to hear that Yugyeom had found someone to turn to, and he was sure that Jaebeom was doing his best to protect the boy while not fully coddling him.

“Your close relationship with him will be even more of an asset then,” producer Jinyoung added with a satisfied nod.
“So who is the 6th member then?” Jinyoung asked.
“His name is Choi Youngjae,” producer Jinyoung replied. “He is from Mokpo and he just started here less than a week ago.”

Jinyoung and Jaebeom looked at the CEO in shock once more. He had just started and was already good enough to be placed in a debuting group? This boy had to be incredibly talented---or happened to know the right people.

“Three of the boys that will be in your group are preparing for a show that YG is hosting,” producer Jinyoung continued. “They will be appearing on it later this afternoon, which I actually have to be leaving shortly to go do as well. You two need to go back to your dorm and get packing. You will be moving together into a new dorm tomorrow where you will be joined by those other boys.”

Jinyoung and Jaebeom knew that they ultimately had no say in the matter, so they nodded and thanked the man for his time. If Park Jinyoung said that they were going to be in a group, well then they were going to be in a group. It was either that or leave the company and may the odds ever be in their favor.

“This is going to be a big change ‘Nyongie,” Jaebeom said, plopping down on his bed while shoving some more of his clothes into his bag. “Do you think I’m even still going to be the leader?”
“They would be insane to put anyone else as the leader,” Jinyoung replied. “Hyung, you are so clearly meant to fill that role. Anyone who thinks otherwise is crazy.”
“But how am I going to deal with them?” Jaebeom asked. “What if they don’t listen to me? You have always been so easy. We get on like white on rice. And isn’t Mark an alpha, as well? What if he wants to fight me for the position of leader?”
“I have hardly heard Mark string 15 words together,” Jinyoung pointed out. “I really don’t think he is going to fight you for the position of leader. Besides, I think he is still very much learning Korean. It wouldn’t make sense for him to take the place.”
“But what if--” Jaebeom began to fret again.
“Stop!” Jinyoung cried out, jumping on top of his hyung and crushing him on the bed. “You are letting your thoughts go crazy, silly alpha. What if the sky turns into cotton candy? What if we wake up tomorrow and everything is upside down?”
“Now you are being ridiculous. My questions at least had merit,” Jaebeom argued.
“But they can be answered about as well as mine can,” Jinyoung shot back. “Stop worrying about the what ifs, and start focusing on the present. You are always going to be my leader, and I promise those boys are going to look up to you as well. We can’t know what is going to happen in the future, so stop trying to figure it out.”
“I don’t know what I did to deserve you, Jinyoung-ah,” Jaebeom said with a laugh.
“I know, I’m the gift that keeps on giving,” Jinyoung said in reply, sticking his tongue out in reply before jumping up off the bed to avoid the playful swat Jaebeom was swinging at him. “Now let’s get back to packing! Manager-nim is going to be here at 8am tomorrow morning.”

--

Jinyoung and Jaebeom walked into the practice studio right at 8:15 the next morning. Their manager had gathered the team that was going to move their stuff to the new dorm, and had taken the boys to the company so that they could officially meet the new members of their group. When they walked into the studio they saw that they were actually the last to arrive. The boys who were sat on the floor scrambled to stand, giving a deep bow and confidently saying their greeting of “안녕하세요!” (An-nyeong-ha-se-yo!).

“I will leave you boys to get to know each other for a bit. PD-nim wants to speak with you in a bit, so he will be here shortly,” the manager said before walking back out of the practice room.

Jinyoung looked at Jaebeom in askance--hinting that the boy should lead the conversation. Jaebeom saw that the other four were staring at him wide-eyed and in awe, watching him closely.

“Why don’t we all sit down,” Jaebeom suggested, gesturing to the floor.

All of the boys immediately did as asked of them, and Jinyoung gave him a smile of reassurance.

“Right...erm my name is Im Jaebeom,” Jaebeom began. “I’m not sure if I’m going to be the leader of this team as well. I was the leader and one half of JJ Project. I’m 19 years old and I’m an alpha.”
“I’m the other half,” Jinyoung spoke up. “I’m Park Jinyoung. I will be turning 19 this September and I’m a beta.”
“It’s so nice to be joining the team with you guys!” Jackson added in, practically looking like he was vibrating in excitement. “I’m Wang Ka-Yee, or Wang Jia-Er, but really you can just call me Jackson! I’m from Hong Kong. I’m also 19 years old and I’m an omega, although some people don’t believe me when I say that because I have lots of muscles. But those people are just idiots. Omegas can be as strong as they want I say! Right B-Boy King?”

Jaebeom just stared at Jackson in shock for a few moments before coming to his senses and nodding and gesturing towards Mark to give his introduction.

“Mark. I’m from LA,” Mark informed, playing with the sleeve of his long-sleeved t-shirt. “I turn 20 in September and I’m an alpha.”
“My alpha!” Jackson exclaimed, pulling Mark tightly into his arms--who just chuckled and rolled his eyes.
“I’m Kim Yugyeom,” Yugyeom introduced. “Erm...I actually know all but one of you so this is awkward, but I’m 15 and I turn 16 in November. I’m from Gyeonggi-do, and clearly I haven’t presented yet, so I have nothing else to add.”
“Our little pup!” Jackson exclaimed, letting go of Mark to pull Yugyeom into his arms. “And now for our last member? Do you know you look like an otter? Like in the best way!”

The last member blushed at those words, as well as realizing the attention of the entire room was on him.

“Erm I’m Choi Youngjae,” Youngjae introduced himself. “I’m turning 17 in September so I still haven’t presented yet either. I’m from Mokpo and I will work hard and do my best!”
“We have two pups on our team!” Jackson exclaimed, very much looking like a little kid in a candy store. “You two are so cute and little, especially our new maknae Yugyeomie!”
Yugyeom looked at his hyung in confusion. He was very tall for his age and was about as opposite as you could get from the term ‘little’.

Before anyone could say anything more on the matter, the door to the practice room opened once more. Producer Park Jinyoung walked through the door with another trainee following behind him. This trainee looked so young that Jaebeom was almost in shock. The boy had to be like 10? 11 maybe?

“Bambam!” Jackson exclaimed, clearly knowing the boy who smiled at him in reply, and nodded towards Mark and Yugyeom before stopping and blushing at the site of Youngjae who also looked a little uncomfortable.

Jaebeom made a mental note of that one, deciding he would ask about it later.

“After some further review of performances from yesterday’s YG filming,” producer Jinyoung began. “We have decided that you will be a seven member team with Bambam as your final member.”

Bambam looked up at the producer in shock. He truly didn’t know why he had been called there this morning. This was beyond his wildest dreams! He thought for sure that he would have to wait a while to debut along with his other trainee friend Bang Chan.

“A choreographer will be here in about 30 minutes to assess your dance level,” producer Jinyoung continued. “And then later this afternoon you will hear and start to practice your debut song called Girls, Girls, Girls. Now I have to be off to a meeting, but congratulations and please work hard to make me proud. Just because I say you can debut now, doesn’t mean I can’t change my mind over the next few months--remember that.”

With that worrying warning, Park Jinyoung was out the doors just as quickly as he had entered them.

“Bambam, is it?” Jaebeom asked, to which he got a nod in reply. “Interesting name.”
“My name is Kunpimook Bhuwakul but we don’t go by that name in Thailand, we go by a different name that we are given. I was given Bambam,” Bambam explained. “I’m from Bangkok.”
“Nice to meet you Bambam,” Jinyoung piped in. “You seem to know everyone else here, but I’m Jinyoung and this is Jaebeom hyung. You surely must be our new maknae?”

Bambam looked around and shifted awkwardly.

“Erm...actually no,” Bambam replied. “I’m older than Yugyeom by around 6 months.”

Jinyoung and Jaebeom both did a double take at that. This tiny boy, who looked to be about 11, was older than the boy who was already on track to being taller than their entire group???

“I know I’m small, but I promise I’m already 16!” Bambam added on.
“Also I can’t help but ask, how do you know Youngjae-ssi?” Jaebeom asked.

Bambam blushed even more red at that, refusing to make eye contact and instead finding the floor in front of him very interesting.

“I lived in the same trainee dorm with him,” Youngjae explained, clearly seeing that Bambam didn’t want to answer their hyung’s question. “When I first walked in he thought I was someone else and was waiting by the door...with no clothes on.”

Jackson and Mark immediately started cracking up at the story, which was contagious and was quickly followed by the rest of the members joining in. Jaebeom mentally noted that Bambam might end up being quite the hand-full as well. Jinyoung PD-nim had certainly put an interesting group of people together.

Yesterday hearing the news of JJ Project’s end had felt like the closing of a story, but now Jaebeom could see that this was just the beginning.

Chapter Text

Chapter Two

The first day together didn’t turn out anywhere near the way that Jaebeom thought it would. Things started going downhill in their dance assessment. Yugyeom, much to the delight of everyone--most especially the choreographer--was clearly born to dance. Walking out on the dance floor was where Yugyeom was born to shine.

“Great job, Yugyeom,” their choreographer praised as the boy wiped sweat from his brow. “You are going to shine as a member of the group! I can already tell!”

Yugyeom blushed and bowed in thanks.

“Youngjae-ah,” the choreographer said with a grimace, turning towards the newest trainee of the bunch. “There is a lot that we are going to need to work on. Your dancing can be sloppy at times, not to mention that you struggle to keep up with the speed of the song and the intensity of the choreography. We are going to need to work on your stamina through increased exercise and an intense diet.”

Youngjae avoided all of the glances that were being sent his way, and instead bowed his head and nodded. With that said, the choreographer wished them a good rest of their day and made his way out of the dance studio. Their manger appeared a few moments later, carrying with him their lunches. Youngjae looked at the other’s meals with jealousy as a small salad was placed in front of him, but said nothing. He wouldn’t be the one to let this group down.

“So why don’t we get to know each other a little bit better,” Jinyoung suggested as they all sat on the floor, digging into their much deserved meal.
“What do you want to know?” Jackson asked before taking a long swig of his water.
“Well,” Jinyoung thought for a moment. “How about any interesting hobbies?”
“I used to be a fencer,” Jackson replied. “Ranked number one in Asia.”

The members of the group who weren’t privy to that information turned towards Jackson with their jaws dropped open.

“And you gave that up?” Jaebeom asked. “To be a trainee? To go through long rigorous exhausting hours of training to potentially never even set foot on a stage?”

Jackson looked uncomfortable for a moment and then finally shrugged.

“Just because I was good at fencing doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t pursue my passion that lies elsewhere,” Jackson pointed out. “I know people will think I’m crazy, but I would never forgive myself if I didn’t give this a shot.”

Jaebeom nodded. He could understand that logic. He had plenty of people that thought he was crazy for pursuing this line of work, too.

“So what about you, Bambam?” Jinyoung asked, looking over at their smallest--and quite frankly cutest--member.
“I love to dance,” Bambam replied. “I was in a cover dance crew for Rain Sunbaenim. We came in first place.”
“That’s incredible!” Jackson exclaimed, brightening up from the slightly down mood he had for the last few minutes. “You never told me that! That’s cool right, B-Boy King?”

Jaebeom looked at him in confusion once more.

“It’s hyung,” Jaebeom replied with an astounded laugh.
“B-Boy King hyung?” Jackson teased, to which Jaebeom couldn’t help but roll his eyes in exasperation.
“So what about you Mark hyung?” Jinyoung asked, deciding to steer the conversation back to the original topic.
“I like sports,” Mark replied. “I enjoy skateboarding a lot. I also really like to do martial arts tricking.”
“I heard!” Jinyoung exclaimed. “You guys were the talk of the company yesterday. Manager hyung said that you guys literally flew through your performance.”
“It was a lot of fun,” Yugyeom piped in. “Nerve-wracking, for sure, but also a lot of fun. The YG trainees were so cool.”
“What about you, Youngjae?” Jaebeom asked, noticing that Youngjae had yet to say anything in their conversation.
“I like to sing,” Youngjae replied.

And oh boy did that boy have quite the voice. It was later in their vocal practice that Jaebeom and Jinyoung discovered why Youngjae was here and ready to debut in a group so soon after joining the company. The 6 boys watched in awe as Youngjae made the song his own, belting the words in his clear and colorful voice.

“So it’s definitely talent that got him here,” Jinyoung whispered in Jaebeom’s ear, to which Jaebeom nodded in awe.

It felt like the day had been a million years long by the time they finally made their way to the new dorm. All of the boys were so ready to crash in their beds and sleep soundly--after showering and eating some dinner, of course. The new dorm honestly wasn’t much different than the old dorms that the boys had been living in, just a few more rooms. In the end it was decided by rock, paper, scissors that Jaebeom and Youngjae would share a room, Bambam and Yugyeom would share a room--with Jinyoung in an attached room, and Mark and Jackson would share a room. The last room in the apartment belonged to their manager, although he would often be so busy that it was rare for them to see him.

To say that things over the next month or so went smoothly would be--well it would quite frankly be a lie. Tensions were high, and there was just this massive cloud of hidden emotions and feelings and thoughts that seemed to be hovering over them. No one seemed to want to ever say what they were feeling. Jaebeom was trying his hardest to keep himself in a constant state of perfection, not wanting to slip up in front of the others. Jinyoung tried to play mediator between them all, but had mostly given up in defeat. Jackson seemed almost night and day with the way he acted. He would often put on this front of being this joyful, loud, carefree people person and then would later be quiet and reserved and closed off. Mark--well, Mark quite frankly was just hard for anyone to read. He hardly said much, preferring to keep to himself. Youngjae seemed like he was about five seconds from breaking down at any moment. Then there was Bambam and Yugyeom. Despite the fact that they were the same age, they didn’t seem to like each other one bit. Noone was quite sure if something had actually happened between them. They never outright said anything in front of the other members, but it was so genuinely clear in the way that they spoke to each other--or ultimately tried NOT to speak to each other.

“Jinyoungie, I don’t know what to do,” Jaebeom admitted late one night while the two were sipping on their cups of tea in the living room.

They were the only ones left awake, the others having retired to bed after taking quick showers about an hour previously. Jinyoung was getting ready for bed when he noticed Jaebeom’s down state--his scent seeming very off and not the usual rich comfort that Jinyoung found it to be. He very quickly boiled hot water for tea, and ushered Jaebeom in to sit down.

“Everything is off balance, and I haven’t the slightest clue how to fix it,” Jaebeom continued. “I almost wish that we were all a pack so I could better understand how they were all feeling through the bond. It’s just so hard to read them. I can tell that they are off, but I can’t tell why.”
“I don’t think instantly forming a pack is going to solve our problems,” Jinyoung pointed out. “I think maybe you need to step in and lead the team, you’ve been keeping off to the side instead of guiding us.”
“But that’s the thing, Nyoungie,” Jaebeom said with a sigh. “I don’t know where I stand in this team. It’s not like I’m pack alpha or even know if I’m team leader.”
“As I’ve said a million times before,” Jinyoung replied, grabbing on to Jaebeom’s hand and giving it a tight squeeze. “I really don’t think that Mark is going to challenge your position. I don’t think he wants to.”
“You can’t know that for sure,” Jaebeom refuted, shaking his head in disbelief of Jinyoung’s words. “Besides, you heard Jackson. He said that Mark is his alpha! What if Mark thinks that I’m trying to come in between that? I just can’t read either of them to know what their dynamic is.”
“You know,” a voice came from the hall, startling the two who were sitting on the couch. “If you want to talk about me--or even Jackson for that matter, I would prefer if you did it to my face and not behind my back.”
“Mark hyung!” Jinyoung exclaimed, standing up from the couch and trying to look as placating as possible. “I promise we weren’t trying to speak behind your back, we were just having a light discussion about the team in general. Please come sit down and join us.”
“I’m actually really tired,” Mark said with a shake of his head. “I was just passing through on my way to the bathroom.”

Mark looked like he was about to turn and leave, but he stopped himself.

“If you want to understand Jackson better you just need to talk to him,” Mark advised, and then continued when he saw Jaebeom open his mouth to reply. “And I don’t mean that hyper-active overly excited prattle he does to lighten situations. I mean sit down and have an honest to God conversation with him. I promise he will be an open book, you just have to put in a little effort first.”

With that said, Mark bid them good night and headed on his way to the bathroom. He certainly left Jinyoung and Jaebeom with a lot of things to think about. Unfortunately their next few days were so full of training schedules that the intended conversation that they wanted to have had to be put on the back burner.

Things all came to a head three nights later. They were all sitting down in the kitchen having an after practice meal, that was quite frankly much too late to be called dinner but they hadn’t actually eaten dinner so it was as good a name for the meal as any.

“Can you pass the pepper?” Bambam asked the table at large, since three members were equally in distance of the pepper grinder, and any one of them could easily pass it.
“What? You aren’t going to do aegyo to get what you want?” Yugyeom asked with a sneer.

The entire table snapped their heads to look over at Yugyeom in shock.

“Yugyeom-ah!” Jaebeom scolded. “That wasn’t very nice.”
“Sorry, I’m sick and tired of watching him charm all of the noonas with his dumb aegyo,” Yugyeom spat out. “It’s so annoying and I shouldn’t have to watch it!”
“Oh yeah? Like you don’t show off everyday!” Bambam shouted, standing up from the table and throwing down his chopsticks. “We get it, you are an incredible dancer. You don’t need to act like you are the coolest guy in the room to everyone.”
“It’s better to act cool than to sit in someone’s lap and act like a virtual baby!” Yugyeom shouted standing up as well, so now the two were face to face. “‘Oh look at cutie Bambam. He was clearly born to be the maknae. He’s so loveable!’ I’m so sick of hearing that day in and day out! Just because you literally look like a four year old because you are so tiny doesn’t mean that you are actually a better maknae! I hate your dumb small face!”

Bambam reached out and shoved Yugyeom as hard as he could, sending the boy staggering back. As soon as Yugyeom regained his footing, he started making his way forward ready to retaliate; raising his hand to slap Bambam. He never got the chance though, for Mark and Jackson had both already sprung into action. Mark grabbed hold of Yugyeom, gripping the boy tightly with both of his arms secured behind his back. Bambam was being held back in a very similar manner by Jackson.

“Knock it off guys!” Jackson bellowed, causing several of the members to startle at how loud his voice got.

Yugyeom and Bambam were both breathing heavily, and the reality seemed to dawn on them both at the same time. They looked over to the table with dread to find that Jaebeom looked like he was about to pop a vein he looked so angry, Youngjae looked like a deer in headlights and Jinyoung just looked plain old tired.

“Alright,” Jaebeom said standing up from his seat, and looking like he was choosing his words very carefully. “Here is what is going to happen. Yugyeom you are going to go to Mark and Jackson’s room. Bambam you are going to go to your room. I don’t want either of you stepping foot outside of those rooms until we come to get you. Is that clear?”
“Yes, hyung,” Bambam and Yugyeom both muttered in reply, avoiding all eye contact and instead focusing on the planks of the wooden floor.

Mark let Yugyeom go first, gesturing for the boy to do as told. Yugyeom quickly scurried off to Mark and Jackson’s room, not needing to be told twice. Once they heard the door close, Jackson let go of Bambam and gestured for the boy to head to his own room.

“Hyung, I’m sorry,” Bambam said, looking at Jackson pleadingly.
“We will discuss this later, Bam,” Jackson replied. “For now, you need to go to your room while we chat.”

Bambam nodded and finally did what he was told, muttering another sorry before scurrying off.

“Youngjae-ah,” Jinyoung said, turing towards the only other unpresented member. “Hyungs need to talk. Do you think you can entertain yourself for a bit in your room?”
“Yeah, no problem,” Youngjae replied, getting up and heading off just as quickly as Yugyeom had.
“Why don’t we go to the couch and all have a seat,” Mark suggested. “We might as well be comfortable for this overdue conversation.”

The others nodded, and they all headed the few feet that it took to get to the living room. The apartment wasn’t very big by any means, so they knew they were going to have to be fairly quiet in their discussion or the maknae line would end up hearing it anyway.

“Okay, I’m going to say something that I probably should have said awhile ago,” Mark began, much to the surprise of both Jaebeom and Jinyoung. “You need to step up to the plate here, Jaebeom.”

Jaebeom looked up at Mark in confusion.

“You have it in your head that I want to be leader or something, don’t you?” Mark asked.
“It only makes sense,” Jaebeom replied. “You are older than me and you are also an alpha, and Jackson already said that you are his alpha.”
“I was kidding!” Jackson defended. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m very clingy. Mark just likes to humor me and play along. We, as of now, have zero established relationship.”
“And I have zero intention of being the leader of this group,” Mark added on. “It wouldn’t make sense for me to. You are Korean, I’m not. You have a grasp of Korean customs and culture in a way that I’m still very much learning. I would be afraid my actions as leader would accidentally offend someone. Also, I’m still learning Korean. It can sometimes take me awhile to get my point across, and as leader you need to be good at communicating.”

Jaebeom nodded in understanding, turning towards Jinyoung and Jackson.

“And neither of you desire to be leader either? Just because you aren’t an alpha doesn’t mean you can’t make a damn good leader,” Jaebeom pointed out.
“You know you will always be my leader, Jaebeom,” Jinyoung replied, with a shake of his head. “I trust in you.”
“And I’m going to quote the same reasoning as Mark,” Jackson added on.

Jaebeom caught the slight smirk that appeared on Jinyoung’s face.

“You are dying to say ‘I told you so,’ aren’t you?” Jaebeom asked.
“Just a little,” Jinyoung replied with a shrug.
“Okay, that’s one problem down,” Mark said, before turning towards Jackson. “Now we need to address you.”
“What did I do?” Jackson asked, raising his hands in surrender.
“Oh come on Jacks,” Mark replied, rolling his eyes. “You know that you haven’t opened yourself up to them yet. They probably think you are nuts at this point, you’ve been so up and down and back and forth. Just tell them how you actually feel.”

Jackson sighed and looked like he was about to close himself off again, before he finally nodded.

“I know you slightly know my background story,” Jackson said softly, twisting and playing with his hands in discomfort. “But I don’t know if you fully understand what that means.”

Jackson went quiet for a moment, trying to choose the right words in his head.

“I left Hong Kong behind,” Jackson explained. “And with that not only did I leave my parents and my brother behind, but I left behind all of my chances of making something out of myself through fencing. I gave up a fairly secure future. I had a scholarship offer for University, a damn good University at that. I was almost guaranteed to be fencing in the Olympics. Most people would say that I’m insane for it.”
“You decided to follow your dream,” Jaebeom added with a nod. “I admire you for that.”
“Yes, but you also have to realize that it means that I feel like I have to work a million times harder to make it,” Jackson explained. “I have to prove that giving everything up was worth it. That I didn’t just give up my entire future for nothing.”

Jaebeom and Jinyoung sat there in stunned silence for several moments. That was a hell of a lot of pressure to put on oneself.

“I get quiet sometimes because I just get too in my head,” Jackson explained. “And then sometimes I get overly enthusiastic as a way to try to get out of my head and force my thoughts and my mood in a different direction. I promise I naturally am a people person, and I do really have a lot of energy. But, I also am aware that I come off too strongly sometimes. I know I turn people off with my overabundance of energy too often. I’m sorry for that.”
“Please don’t ever apologize for your personality,” Jinyoung immediately replied. “It’s part of who you are and I would hate to have you feel ashamed for it. Your feelings and emotions are just as valid as anyone else’s.”
“Is there anything we can do to help you when you get too deep into your thoughts?” Jaebeom asked.
“Honestly, just talking to me works,” Jackson replied. “Mark hyung may not seem like it, but he is very good with his words. I always say that he doesn’t say much, but when he does speak he says what really matters.”

Mark blushed at those words and lightly shoved Jackson with a chuckle.

“Now I think we need to discuss the two youngest…” Jinyoung said with a sigh, giving everyone a sobering reminder that there was still a lot of unfinished business for them to deal with that evening. “We can’t just be the fun pushover hyungs anymore.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Three

Yugyeom knew that he was risking getting himself in even more trouble by doing this, but he needed to talk to Bambam. He needed to apologize; he needed to set things right. Yugyeom quietly crept down the hallway to the room he shared with Bambam and opened the door slowly, so as to not make a peep. Bambam, who had been laying on his bed staring at the ceiling, looked up when he heard the door opening. He stared in confusion while he watched Yugyeom slip into the room.

“What are you doing here?” Bambam whisper--yelled. “You are going to get us in even more trouble!”
“I had to talk to you!” Yugyeom replied, sitting down on his own bed. “I had to apologize to you. I’m so so so sorry! I never should have said what I said. Now you probably hate me!”
“Why did you say it?” Bambam asked.
“You are just…” Yugyeom began, taking a deep breath to center himself. “You’re adorable, and cute, and tiny and the picture perfect maknae. I’m...I’m tall and lanky and immensely shy. I don’t reach out for touch, or for comfort in the same way you do. This team, they don’t need me as their maknae.”

Bambam stared in shock before getting up and launching himself at Yugyeom’s bed, grabbing hold of the other’s arm.

“Are you kidding me?” Bambam asked. “You are so cool. You are such an incredible dancer. Everyone raves about you. I’ve spent the last several months being insanely jealous of you! No one takes me seriously. I’m just the cute tiny kid, but the way they look at you is so different. They think you are incredible!”

Yugyeom blushed at the compliments.

“Wait...so I’m jealous that you are the ideal picture of the cute perfect maknae…” Yugyeom summarized. “And you’re jealous of me because I’m the opposite of you?”

Bambam nodded before the two broke out into giggles. Bambam then launched himself on top of Yugyeom, pulling him into a tight hug.

“We are so stupid, aren’t we,” Bambam asked through his laughter.
“Yeah, yeah we are,” Yugyeom replied, squeezing Bambam tightly as well.

They lay there for a moment just basking in the glow of the turn of events.

“I distinctly remember telling you to go to separate rooms,” Jaebeom’s voice came from the doorway. “Although, I am very relieved to see that you two appear to have worked things out.”
“Yeah, it was just a big misunderstanding, hyung,” Yugyeom replied, looking up at his hyung with a pleading look. “So that means we can just move on and pretend like this never happened...right?”
“Not on your life, kid,” Jaebeom replied, gesturing towards the living room. “Let’s go to the living room, the both of you.”

Bambam and Yugyeom cringed, but did what they were told, walking into the living room to see that the rest of the hyungs--including Youngjae--were all sat on different couches and seats. The only thing left open for the two was for them to sit on cushions on the floor.

“I walked in to find them hugging,” Jaebeom informed as he trailed behind the youngest into the living room.
“Okay, you two are going to have to explain yourselves,” Jinyoung said, looking at them in sheer confusion. “You were just at each other’s throats not 20 minutes ago.”

Bambam and Yugyeom exchanged a look, deciding who would ultimately explain.

“Well...it’s turns out we were both jealous of each other,” Yugyeom began, looking down at his clasped hands in his nervousness. “I was jealous that he is like the perfect picture of a maknae. He was jealous of my dancing skills.”

Jaebeom sighed and ran his hands through his hair, desperately trying to figure out how to best handle the situation. It was so much easier when it was just Jinyoung and himself.

“Gyeom-ah,” Jackson said, getting up off the couch and crouching down in front of Yugyeom. “Do you think you are not good enough as the maknae of this group?”
“I’m the last thing you would think of as a maknae,” Yugyeom replied softly. “I’m tall, and broad, and terrible at acting cute, and I am shy about touch.”
“There is nothing wrong with you the way you are,” Jackson vehemently protested, holding on to the boy’s arms to get his eye contact. “You are incredibly talented, and endearing, and funny, and smart. That’s what we want in our youngest, not some made up image that the media deems as the ideal maknae. The media isn’t the truth. Don’t ever let it make you question if you are good enough, right guys?”
“He’s right,” Jinyoung said, getting up off the couch and joining Jackson on the floor. “You may be a pain in the butt sometimes, but you are our pain in the butt. No one can replace you. And you, Bam. Why do you think that you have to be like Yugyeom?”
“He is so incredible at dancing,” Bambam replied. “I feel like people actually take him seriously, while I’m just there to look adorable.”
“Don’t you ever for a second think you didn’t get into this group based on talent,” Mark spoke up from the couch. “I was there. I witnessed what got you into this group. You stood out. You are incredibly talented, Bam-ah. Just because you come off as adorable, doesn’t mean you can’t be both.”

Bambam nodded with tears forming in his eyes over his hyung’s compliment. He knew that if Mark said something, it was something that he really meant.

“So what I’m getting from this is that we need to learn how to better communicate with each other,” Jinyoung summarized, squeezing Yugyeom and Bambam’s hands tightly, before getting up and walking back to sit down next to Jaebeom. “We had no idea that either of you were feeling this way, and that fight in the kitchen could have been avoided if we did.”

Yugyeom and Bambam solemnly nodded.

“I know it’s a new situation--for all of us,” Jackson said, joining Mark on the couch once more. “But we do need to learn to trust one another. We are never going to work as a team if we don’t have that.”

Jaebeom sat there amazed at the words of his new team members. He had been so worried about finding the right words to say in this situation, when it turns out that he didn’t need to. His team members stepped up to the plate when he was lost as to what to do.

“I think we need to form a pack,” Mark stated, causing the rest of the occupants of the room to all look at him in shock and confusion. “Not taking the pack bite and all. That would be stupid when we don’t know each other well enough yet. I mean we need to start acting like a pack. Make it a sort of trial run. I think it would clear up roles and everything nicely. And before you open your mouth, Jaebeom. No. I’m not going to be the pack alpha.”
“So what would that mean for us?” Youngjae asked, finally speaking up for the first time since the conversation had begun.
“Well I think first and foremost that we need to have an open door policy,” Jinyoung spoke up, already fully understanding the concept that Mark was proposing--and quite frankly, whole-heartedly agreeing with it. “If any of you need to talk, day or night, we are all stating that we are there and that we are willing to listen.”
“I think we should schedule some pack bonding time,” Jaebeom added on. “Time for us to sit down and do something fun together, whether that be watch a movie, listen to new music, or even play board games together. We need to have interactions with each other that aren’t strictly work. This is a stressful job, and an even more stressful industry. We need time to relax and grow closer together without all of the pressure.”
“I think we should implement a cleaning schedule as well,” Jackson added in. “Rather than just cleaning your individual stuff and leaving the common areas alone, I think we need to organize a system that means we can fully take care of our dorm. Our dorm, and most especially the common areas, should be somewhere that we can relax and feel comfortable and at home.”
“That’s a great suggestion,” Jaebeom agreed. “Is there anything you guys would like to add on?”

Jaebeom looked in question at all three of the maknae line.

“Not that I can think of,” Yugyeom replied with a shake of his head.
“Me neither,” Bambam replied.
“Can...can we implement a support system like a pack would have?” Youngjae hesitantly asked.
“What do you mean by that?” Jackson asked, turning and giving his full attention.
“Nevermind,” Youngjae quickly replied, shaking his head rapidly.
“Youngjae-ah,” Jaebeom said, getting up and kneeling in front of the younger boy. “You need to speak what is on your mind in order for this to work for us all.”
“I...I am someone that likes physical touch,” Youngjae admitted with a bright blush appearing on his cheeks. “If that makes any of you uncomfortable I completely understand and I can always…”

Youngjae didn’t get to complete his sentence, for Jackson had proceeded to squeal, stand up, and leap onto the other boy on the couch, pulling him tightly into his arms.

“This is the best idea EVER!” Jackson proclaimed, much to the amusement of the rest of the room.
“So I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say this one won’t be a problem,” Jinyoung added with a laugh.
“I take it back, hyung! I take it back!’ Youngjae pleaded from where he was being squashed under Jackson’s affection--his laughter proving his pleading invalid.

Jaebeom chuckled and moved to sit down once more.

“Next order of business,” Jaebeom said when the squeals of Jackson and Youngjae had finally died down. “We need to discuss rules and consequences.”

Yugyeom and Bambam barely held back their groans of displeasure.

“Oh come on, hyung!” Yugyeom whined, quickly stopping when he saw Jaebeom’s intense stare boring into him.
“I know it’s not a fun conversation,” Jaebeom continued. “But it’s one that we need to have as a team. We all need to know the expectations, and all of us are going to live by them. Agreed?”

The rest of the members nodded their heads in agreement.

“Fighting is definitely on the list of unacceptable behaviors,” Jaebeom said. “I will let the both of you off with a warning this time, but if it happens again there will be consequences. Understood?”
“Yes, hyung,” Bambam and Yugyeom replied in-sync.
“I think a no drinking underage, no sneaking out, and just letting each other know where we are going should be added,” Jinyoung piped in, earning a chuckle from Bambam. “What?”
“Us three youngest aren’t the ones who have the reputation in the trainee dorm for sneaking out,” Bambam replied, looking directly at Mark and Jackson.

Jinyoung and Jaebeom both turned to look at the two in accusation.

“I plead the fifth!” Mark immediately said, raising his arms in surrender--only earning himself several looks of confusion. “Must be an American thing…”
“We promise we will be good!” Jackson said, holding his hand up. “Scout’s honor!”
“You were a boy scout?” Youngjae asked.
“Erm...no?” Jackson replied with a shrug.
“So your oath doesn’t mean anything,” Yugyeom pointed out.
“Shouldn’t we be focusing on the point here?” Jackson asked, wrapping his arm around Mark and pulling him close. “Mark used to sneak out and go to Cheonho!”

Mark used his free arm to slap Jackson hard on his arm.

“Owie!” Jackson replied in a baby voice. “Mark hyung hit me!”

Jaebeom and Jinyoung looked at each other in pure awe. How had the conversation swerved so quickly?

“ANYWAYS,” Jaebeom spoke up loudly. “For the three youngest, we will treat you like any pack treats their pups. That means you should know the consequences range from scolding, grounding, and even to a spanking if deemed necessary.”

The three youngest nodded. They weren’t surprised. This was nothing unusual for a pack, and honestly the expected consequences of their home packs.

“But what about you hyungs?” Yugyeom asked. “Do you have the same rules and consequences.”
“It wouldn’t be fair to not have to live up to the same standards,” Jaebeom replied. “We can obviously drink, but I do think we need to think of our image. The image of us drinking, being in a club, or otherwise doing questionable behaviors can be very detrimental to the group. So I want to urge you all to use caution. Got it?”
“Got it!” they all replied.
“I feel like we need to do a chant of some sort!” Jackson exclaimed. “Like putting our hands in and...and how about GOT7, since we are 7 boys and we’ve got it!”

There was some laughter, and some grumbling at Jackson’s suggestion, but they all followed suit.

“GOT7!” the boys cheered.

That evening was one that they knew they would all remember for a long time. It was the first time that they truly felt like they were a team.

Chapter Text

Chapter Four

Things did get easier for the boys over the next couple of weeks. It was like the thick tension that was in the air before had mostly disappeared. However, that’s not to say that the stress entirely went away. They were just much more willing to talk to each other about it. Or at least that’s what Jaebeom thought, until one day at dance practice another issue came to light. He should have seen it coming. He really should have. He was cursing himself for not having foreseen it.

It was well into Friday evening and the seven of them were in one of the practice rooms working on the choreography for their debut title track. All of them were exhausted and sweaty, but trying hard to keep their spirits up.

“Let’s go!! From the top!” the choreographer directed, messing with the sound system to get the title track to play from the start once more.

Jackson quickly took a swig of water, half-spilling some of it on his shirt in his rush. He didn’t really care, though. It felt good to his very much overheated body. Jackson reached out a hand to pull up Mark who was sitting on the couch next to him. Mark groaned, but didn’t resist. Jaebeom and Jinyoung were already in their positions, and Bambam and Yugyeom were making their way over as well. Jackson turned to check on Youngjae who had also been sat on the couch with himself and Mark. Jackson’s stomach dropped when he caught sight of the younger boy. To say that he looked pale was the understatement of the century. He looked almost as white as a ghost.

“Youngjae-ah!” Jackson exclaimed, causing everyone in the room to look over at him and for Youngjae to look up.

Youngjae wasn’t fully able to make eye-contact with Jackson. It was like he was in a daze and he just couldn’t focus on anything. The world was spinning around him and it was like sound was coming through tinny and distorted into his brain. He knew that the others were speaking rapidly to him, but he couldn’t process who it was or what they were saying. Then he felt like a top that stopped spinning, and the world proceeded to turn black.

Mark had luckily had enough time to catch the boy before he crashed down on the floor. Youngjae fell heavily into the boys’ arms, almost taking Mark down with him.

“Help me get him laid down on the couch!” Mark exclaimed, to which Jaebeom immediately rushed over to help move Youngjae.
“Yugyeom-ah, can you go and wet a towel!” Jinyoung commanded, to which the boy nodded and immediately ran off.
“Someone please go get the medic,” Jaebeom asked.
“Choreographer hyung already did,” Jinyoung replied, brushing Youngjae’s bangs off of his sweaty forehead. “Bambam, can you grab something to prop Youngjae’s feet up with?”

Bambam nodded and started looking around the room. He ended up finding some of their discarded sweatshirts and piling them together to lift Youngjae’s feet. Youngjae stirred while his legs were being lifted.

“W--what’s…” Youngjae stuttered out.
“Shh it’s okay,” Jaebeom said from where he was now running his hands through the boy’s hair. “You just fainted.”

Yugyeom returned with the cold wet towel and handed it to his hyung, who immediately put it on Youngjae’s forehead in order to help cool him down.

“Hey Youngjae-ah,” Mark said, walking over with a cold bottle of water. “Do you think you can drink some of this for us?”

It took a moment, but Youngjae nodded his head. Jinyoung helped prop Youngjae’s head up a little so that he could drink the cold water without fear of choking. Youngjae took small sips, reveling in the way the cool liquid felt.

“I’m here! I’m here! What’s going on?” the medic on staff asked, rushing into the room.

The boys parted so that he could get a closer look at Youngjae.

“We were getting up to continue with dance practice and he looked really pale,” Jackson explained. “I had just noticed when he proceeded to faint not many moments later.”
“How much have you had to eat today?” the medic asked, checking on Youngjae’s pulse.
“A salad,” Youngjae answered.
“And?” the medic asked.
“Some water,” Youngjae replied.
“And that’s all?” the medic asked, to which he received a hesitant nod. “Well there's your problem right there. Don’t tell me the company has you on some dumb one meal a day diet.”

Youngjae shook his head. It was true they had him on a diet, but he was actually eating less than they recommended. He wasn’t seeing results before and he wanted to be good enough for this group.

“Well my advice is that you need to rest for a couple days,” the medic said. “I’m going to schedule you to sit down with myself so that we can go over a healthy way to diet. I will ask your members here to ensure that you are eating at least three meals a day and drinking plenty of water. With the amount of dance, exercise and even vocal training that you all do, you need to be very cautious that you are giving your bodies all of the nutrients that you need.”
“Thank you so much,” Jaebeom said, shaking the medic’s hand before he headed out of the room once more.

The choreographer came in a few minutes later and let them know that they were dismissed for the evening. Then, not two minutes later, their manager came in to let them know that they were being instructed to take the next two days off to rest and recover. Youngjae opened his mouth to complain, but Jaebeom quickly shut him down with a look.

The boys all gathered their belongings--except for Youngjae who was scolded by Mark when he tried to get up.

“Let hyungs take care of you,” Jinyoung piped in, placing Youngjae’s water bottle in his bag for him.

Youngjae shyly nodded and watched while the rest of the members got everything together. He was feeling truly guilty that he was causing them to get behind because he couldn’t take care of himself right.

“I can literally feel your negative thoughts,” Jackson said, plopping down on the couch next to where Youngjae was now sitting. “And all the negative things you are thinking are just plain wrong. We will get to that later, though. Are you ready to go?”

Youngjae nodded, accepting Jackson’s offered hand and letting the boy pull him up from the couch. Jackson kept his arm around the other boy all the way to the car, through the entire car ride, and up the elevator to their dorm.

“Okay guys,” Jaebeom said when they walked through the door. “Showers and pajamas first. I’m ordering some food and it should be here by the time all of us have changed.”
“Youngjae you should shower first,” Mark suggested.
“Is there anyone you trust to be in the bathroom with you?” Jinyoung asked. “I don’t feel comfortable with you alone in the shower. The last thing we need is for you to fall and knock your head on the tiles.”

Youngjae blushed red as he thought about the question.

“J--Jaebeom hyung,” Youngjae answered shyly--they shared a bed, it just seemed to make the most sense.
“Give me 2 minutes to order our food and I will be there,” Jaebeom replied, squeezing the boy’s shoulder before pulling out his phone and scrolling through the Yogiyo app.

--

All of the boys were showered, dressed in pajamas, and squeezed around their kitchen table. Jaebeom had ordered kimchi stew, kimbap, and mandu that of course came with a plethora of side dishes. Jaebeom wanted Youngjae to feel the comfort of things he would have eaten at home--of course they would have been made by his own mother, but these would have to do. He really wished that Youngjae was presented so that the members could comfort Youngjae with their scent. Only a pup’s immediate family could do that until they were presented, since their scent gland wasn’t fully formed yet.

Youngjae looked hesitantly at the plate that they had stacked full of food in front of him. This was absolutely about to throw his personal diet out the window with one meal.

“Youngjae-yah,” Jinyoung said a few moments later. “I know what you are thinking, but your body needs nutrients. You have deprived yourself of too much. We really really don’t want you to pass out again.”
“I promise we can help you if you really think that you need to be on a diet,” Jackson added, squeezing Youngjae’s hand. “But for now, you just need to get some food in you, okay?”

Youngjae hesitantly nodded, before starting to pick up some of the mandu with his chopsticks and eating them. He wasn’t able to eat all of the food that they had dished out for him, but the members were happy enough with the amount that he had eaten that they just let it go.

“Okay, let’s get the mats out,” Jaebeom directed after they had cleaned up all of the dishes from their late dinner. “We are all going to crash in the living room tonight.”

Yugyeom and Bambam cheered and headed immediately to the hall closet to start grabbing the mats, pillows, and blankets. It only took a few minutes for the floor to be full of all seven boys cuddled up under different blankets. They had placed Youngjae in the middle, with Jackson on one side and Jinyoung on the other. Omegas and betas were stereotypically able to provide the most comfort--something about them being more openly attuned to their emotions. Jaebeom was next to Jinyoung, while Mark was on the other side of Jackson. Bambam was on the end next to Mark, while Yugyeom was on the other end next to Jaebeom.

“So I know that this is probably the last thing that you want to talk about, but for your sake and for the sake of the entire team, we need to discuss it.” Jackson began. “What’s going on?”

Youngjae remained quiet for a few moments, but it was clear that he was just carefully picking his words rather than that he was trying to avoid the conversation all together.

“I don’t want to be the reason that we don’t debut,” Youngjae finally answered, so softly that it was hard for the boys to hear what he had said.
“Where on earth did you get that idea?” Jinyoung asked, looking aghast at Youngjae’s words.
“PD-nim told me that my dancing is subpar and that my vocals are generally weak and that I’m not working hard enough,” Youngjae muttered softly, playing with the blanket that was draped over him.

To say that there was a cacophony of protests from the other boys is an absolute understatement. They were all talking over one another in their pure anger and disbelief.

“Guys!” Jaebeom finally yells out, causing Youngjae to jump--which then led to Jackson pulling the other boy into his arms to ‘protect’ him. “One at a time or he isn’t going to understand what we are saying. I will start. Youngjae-ah, your vocals literally blew us away the first time that we heard them.”
“Yeah, PD-nim tends to have a bit of a distorted idea as to what the proper way to sing is sometimes,” Jinyoung added.
“He has his own particular style,” Jackson added in. “But that doesn’t mean that you aren’t amazing. He would be an idiot to pull you from this team. We need you.”
“Please don’t focus on that,” Mark begged. “You are incredible and you need to have confidence in your skills, even if PD-nim is trying some weird way to almost break you down and build you back up again.”
“Is that why you haven’t been eating, hyung?” Bambam asked in concern.

Youngjae waited a few moments, before hesitantly nodding.

“Yeah, I thought that it was one of the easiest things that I could control,” Youngjae admitted.
“Do you understand that the way that you were going about it was wrong and that it’s only going to put your health at risk?” Jaebeom asked, receiving a nod in reply. “I hope you know that it’s not that we don’t trust you, or think little of you, but we are going to be keeping an eye on your eating habits for a little while.”

Youngjae nodded in understanding. His entire body felt this complete rush of relief and joy at the fact that clearly the other members cared enough about him that they were willing to spend time keeping an eye on him. Jackson squeezed him tightly, further proving Youngjae’s thoughts.

“You know I really think we should do this more often,” Yugyeom said after a few moments of silence. “Not the passing out...I mean the sleeping together in the living room. It really feels like a pack.”

Jaebeom rolled over so that he was facing Yugyeom, and pulled the boy tightly into his arms.

“We can do this as much as you want,” Jaebeom replied. “I want everyone to feel comfortable and loved.”
“Awww!!!” Jackson squealed, making Youngjae laugh at him.

Jinyoung allowed the two a few more moments, before reaching his arms out for their eldest pup. Jackson allowed Jinyoung to take Youngjae into his arms, before turning around.

“Does Markie-pooh need some love too?!” Jackson asked, jumping on top of Mark and giving him no choice but to accept his love.
“Jackson!” Mark squealed trying to escape his embrace--when that didn’t seem to work Mark tried for another tactic. “Bambam is lonely! Jackson, you need to spread your love to him too!”

Jackson paused in his playful attack on Mark. What Mark wasn’t expecting was for Jackson to crawl over Mark, lay in the middle of Mark and Bambam and to pull them both into his arms. Both Mark and Bambam ended up squealing and shouting out in protest--very much in between peals of laughter.

Yugyeom was right. They really were starting to feel like a pack.

Chapter Text

Chapter Five

It was almost Halloween and if there was one thing that Mark was not fully willing to admit, it was that he was homesick. There was something about the holiday that reminded him of being a little kid, dressing up with his siblings, and having his parents take them around trick-or-treating. Korea didn’t celebrate the holiday exactly the same, but Mark was old enough that he could partake in the popular more adult version of the holiday. Only problem was, the only other members of the group who were legal were Jaebeom and Jackson. Mark knew better than to ask if Jaebeom wanted to go out and party on Halloween. That was going to be a big fat resounding no. It wasn’t that Jaebeom had anything against legally drinking or having a good time. Jaebeom just made it clear that he thought they had to be very careful of their images in the time leading up to debut. Mark would typically agree with this...if he weren’t so homesick and in need of a distraction. That left Jackson.

“No,” Jackson said, not even looking up from his phone where he had been messaging away on KakaoTalk.
“But--” Mark began to argue.
“You know we would have to sneak out as hyung would never approve,” Jackson replied, finally putting his phone down and leveling Mark with a look.
“Oh yeah, and that stopped you when we used to in the other dorms. We didn’t have approval then either,” Mark said rolling his eyes.
“We weren’t almost debuting then,” Jackson argued. “Besides, you heard hyung’s warning to us. He will treat us like the maknae line if we do dumb shit.”
“He’s bluffing,” Mark replied, rolling his eyes.
“You really want to test that theory?” Jackson asked.

Mark sighed and sunk down on his bed in frustration.

“If you want to go out and risk the wrath of one Im Jaebeom be my guest,” Jackson added. “I’m not going to stop you, but I personally enjoying being able to sit.”
“He was bluffing,” Mark mumbled to himself, before rolling over and picking up his phone to scroll through social media once more.

Mark didn’t bring it up with Jackson again in the days leading up to Halloween, nor did Jackson ever inquire if Mark was still planning to go out. He still did fully plan on going out, though. Thus that Friday evening, after all of the others went to bed--fairly early since they were all tired-- Mark quietly made his way out the front door.

--

Jackson woke up not long after falling asleep feeling weird. He felt an odd combination of achy and itchy and overall uncomfortable. It took him a moment to realize that it was his heat. He had been so busy with prepping for debut that he had lost track of time. Now Jackson was on suppressants. That meant that he didn’t fully get his heat. This was good because he would not be out for several days, unable to work. This didn’t mean that when the time came that he wasn’t completely left feeling like it was any other day. He still had stronger urges to be closer to others--especially alphas, but betas and omegas would do amazingly as well--and would feel empty and weird until it all passed. He would also have heightened emotions and be a bit more sensitive for the time being. Rolling over and looking at the room he found why he had woken up. Mark wasn’t there. There was no alpha presence in the room and his entire body felt the absence.

Not even thinking twice about it, Jackson got up out of bed and made his way to Jinyoung’s room. He would normally have headed for Jaebeom, but the boy shared with Youngjae and he didn’t want to also disturb the pup.

Jackson tiptoed his way through Yugyeom and Bambam’s room, where the two were snoring away in their beds. He made his way to where Jinyoung’s room was situated and was surprised to find that 1--Jinyoung’s light was on 2--Jinyoung was wide awake and 3--that Jinyoung was sat whispering with Jaebeom, who was also present and very much wide awake.

“Hey Jackson, what’s wrong?” Jinyoung asked, immediately sensing that something was off.

Jackson didn’t wait for an invitation, and instead sat down on the bed and draped himself over Jaebeom, basking in his comforting bergamot scent.

“Alpha,” Jackson hummed in content, causing Jaebeom to look over at Jinyoung in confusion.
“Heat?” Jinyoung asked after a few moments of thought, to which Jackson nodded. “Even though he is on suppressants, he is going to feel really clingy when it comes to the time he would normally be in heat.”
“Mark hyung isn’t home so I came to you,” Jackson said softly before seeming to realize just how overbearing he was potentially being. He pulled away and looked at the two in question. “I hope that’s okay. I really should have asked before climbing into the bed and draping myself all over you. I’m sorry!”

Jaebeom shook his head and immediately pulled Jackson back to him and adjusted them so that they could lay down. Jinyoung pulled the covers back and allowed the two to slip under them before curling up on Jackson’s other side. The three lay there in contented silence for a few moments until…

“What do you mean Mark hyung isn’t home?” Jaebeom asked, finally seeming to have processed what Jackson had said.

Jackson blushed and buried himself into Jaebeom’s neck.

“Nothing! Forget I said anything!” Jackson exclaimed.
“Jackson,” Jinyoung said sternly. “You know that’s not going to work. You might as well tell us where Mark hyung is.”
“Well to be fair, I don’t actually know for certain,” Jackson muttered, finally pulling himself away from Jaebeom’s neck. “But he had asked me to join him for Halloween parties in Itaewon. I said no, since I knew you would never approve. He thought you were bluffing about the whole...erm...you know spanking thing, and I guess he decided to go in the end.”

Jinyoung sighed and looked over at Jaebeom who seemed to be slowly taking in the words.

“I wasn’t bluffing, I’m not bluffing,” Jaebeom finally said, clearly upset that he wasn’t being taken at his word.
“I know that, hyung,” Jackson immediately appeased. “Please don’t be mad at me!”

Jinyoung reached over and smacked Jaebeom on the arm.

“Not around the overly emotional and clingy omega,” Jinyoung scolded.
“Sorry,” Jaebeom sheepishly replied, pulling Jackson back to him and settling him comfortably so that both himself and Jinyoung were able to rest their heads on one of Jackson’s shoulders. “For now we should just relax, I will deal with him tomorrow.”

The three were laying there for only a few moments, when in walked Youngjae rubbing at his eyes and looking very much like an oversized child.

“Youngjae-yah, what’s wrong?” Jinyoung asked, sitting up in bed.
“I didn’t know where hyung went,” Youngjae explained around a yawn. “I woke up and he wasn’t there and then I went to the bathroom and noticed no one was in the kitchen or living room so I came to see where he went.”
“Were you lonely without me?” Jaebeom teased.

Rather than denying it, Youngjae just nodded his head.

“Awe, come here Youngjae-yah,” Jinyoung said, opening up his arms in invitation, one that Youngjae instantly accepted.
“Hey! Are you guys having a pack cuddle without us?” a voice belonging to Bambam asked from the doorway.

The four in the bed looked up to see Bambam and Yugyeom standing there as well.

“Okay, there is no way in hell that we are all fitting in this bed,” Jinyoung said with a laugh.
“Let’s get the mats out and go in the living room,” Jaebeom suggested, earning an enthusiastic nod of approval from Jackson who was very much now koala-ed onto the leader.

--

Mark quietly walked into the dorm, shutting the door as softly behind him as he possibly could. He kicked off his shoes, and walked with light footsteps down the hallway. He jolted to a stop when he walked into the living room area to find all of his members spread out on the floor. Jaebeom was the closest to him, curled tightly around Jackson, with Jinyoung on his other side. Youngjae was in the middle of Bambam and Yugyeom who were both cuddling up to one side.

Jaebeom rolled over and sat up, clearly hearing Mark enter even though the boy had tried to be as quiet as possible.

“Jaebeom…” Mark said softly, cutting himself off because he didn’t actually know what to say.
“Go get your pajamas on and come join us,” Jaebeom whispered back in reply. “We will discuss your late night adventures tomorrow.”

Mark sighed and nodded. It was much too late to discuss, and would be much better dealt with in the morning. He turned to go do exactly as Jaebeom asked. When he returned Jaebeom moved back a little bit so that Mark could squeeze in between himself and Jackson.

“He’s at the time that would be his heat,” Jaebeom whispered to Mark as the other boy settled down.
“He woke up uncomfortable because I wasn’t there, right?” Mark asked, already feeling guilty about it. “I should have never gone out tonight.”
“Was it at least fun?” Jaebeom asked.
“In the end, no. It didn’t make me feel the way I thought it would,” Mark admitted.

Jaebeom reached out and squeezed Mark’s arm in comfort.

“We will discuss it more in the morning,” Jaebeom reiterated. “Let’s not wake the others up.”

Mark nodded, and laid his head down on Jackson’s shoulder to get comfortable. Jaebeom rolled up close behind him, placing a careful hand on the older boy’s waist.

“Good night, hyung,” Jaebeom muttered.
“Good night.”

The next morning dawned much quicker than Mark would have liked it to. They were due for dance practice at 1, giving them most of the morning off. They were expected to do a run--with photo evidence to be sent to their managers--but Mark had a feeling today would be one of the days that they used their pre-prepared pictures they created by bringing multiple outfits on one day. This talk would not be easy, nor would it be fun. If only he hadn’t felt so homesick...if only he didn’t still feel so homesick.

“Good morning,” Jackson said softly, startling Mark who didn’t realize that anyone else was in fact awake. “I’m sorry, I think I got you into some major trouble. I woke up all weird and you weren’t there and I…”
“Hey, hey,” Mark said, reaching out and putting a hand over the other boy’s mouth to get him to stop talking. “It’s okay. I should never have put you in that position. I got myself in trouble, not you.”
“You know he wasn’t bluffing right?” Jackson asked, getting a groan in reply.
“I hardly think what you are referring to is necessary,” Mark muttered into his hands, where he was currently laying his head.
“Then we will be having quite the conversation, because I do,” Jaebeom’s voice added in, once more startling Mark.
“Can we put this to a vote?” Mark pleaded, looking up at Jaebeom with his best puppy dog pout.
“I’m with Jaebeom hyung,” Jinyoung piped up from his spot on the other side of Jackson.
“What are we picking sides on?” Youngjae’s asked--making it clear that the entire group was indeed awake now.
“If Jaebeom hyung should spank Mark hyung for sneaking out last night,” Jackson helpfully supplied.
“Do you have to put it that way?” Mark asked, his cheeks glowing red and shifted pulling at the collar of his shirt.
“Can we vote to outlaw spanking as a punishment?” Yugyeom mused.
“No,” replied both Jinyoung and Jaebeom at the same time.
“Then I’m with Jaebeom hyung,” Yugyeom replied with a shrug. “If I’m gonna have to deal with it--”
“And let’s be real, that’s a when and not an if,” Bambam piped in, earning himself a smack on the arm from Yugyeom.
“Then I want it to be fair game for everyone,” Yugyeom finished up.
“Can’t argue with that, now can you?” Jaebeom asked, raising an eyebrow at Mark.
“I’m older than you,” Mark pouted in reply.
“So one would think you would have made a better decision,” Jaebeom pointed out.
“Can we at least eat first?” Bambam asked, his stomach grumbling loudly.
“Come on kids,” Jinyoung said with a chuckle, standing up and leading the way to the kitchen.

Jackson looked like he was torn for a second, before standing up and running after those who had headed to the kitchen. That left just Mark and Jaebeom in the living room.

“Come on, talk to me,” Jaebeom pleaded. “What made you decide to go out last night?”

Jaebeom could practically see the walls going up around Mark. The older boy was practically curling in on himself.

“Hey, hey,” Jaebeom said, reaching out putting a comforting hand on the other boy’s knee. “I can’t make things better if I don’t know what the problem is.”
“It’s not something you would understand,” Mark muttered in reply.
“Try me,” Jaebeom urged. “I may not understand it fully, but I will do my best.”
“I miss home,” Mark answered with a hollow chuckle. “Sounds dumb, right? But Halloween was a special time back home. I just kept thinking of these different memories that I had with my family and it made things worse. Some part of me thought that if I went out and did something on Halloween that those feelings would go away. Turns out it did nothing of the sort, and actually ended up making me feel even worse.”

Jaebeom nodded, taking in what Mark was saying and thinking of how to best reply.

“Now I obviously don’t know exactly what you are going through,” Jaebeom carefully answered. “I’m obviously nowhere near as far from home as you are, but that’s not to say that I don’t miss my family any less. I understand our situations are different, but if ever you need to talk to someone about it--I’m here. Sometimes all you need is someone who is willing to listen, and I promise to be that for you.”
“Thanks,” Mark replied, swiping at the tears that had started to fall on his cheeks.
“Do you think calling and talking to them would help?” Jaebeom asked.
“I don’t want them to see me suffering,” Mark admitted. “If I call them and tell them how much I’m missing them and that I’m struggling in some way…I--I just don’t want them to think I made the wrong choice by coming here. They were so skeptical to begin with and I don’t want them to see me having a hard time.”
“While I think it’s unfair of you to hide yourself from them, I get it,” Jaebeom replied. “I understand not wanting to put more burden on them. But Mark, I think you will find that they miss you, too. It might actually help all of you to talk about it. You can admit that you are struggling, but also emphasize that you are doing the right thing. You are following your dreams, and I don’t know them but I’m sure that’s what they want more than anything in this world.”

Mark sniffled, but gave a nod of understanding.

“Also, have you had this conversation with Jackson or even Bambam?” Jaebeom asked, to which he got a shake of Mark’s head in reply.
“I didn’t want to burden them,” Mark admitted.
“I really wish you wouldn’t see yourself as a burden,” Jackson said, walking into the room and carrying a plate of several pieces of toast slathered with nutella. “I laid all of my crap on you guys about fencing and walking away from that. I want you to do the same.”
“Weren’t you the one who suggested we act like a pack?” Jaebeom reminded. “And first and foremost, packs have each other’s backs.

Mark chuckled and nodded in reply.

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Mark said with a smile. “I will learn to use my words better”
“I can stop having conversations with the walls?!” Jackson exclaimed.

Mark just shook his head in exasperation, snatching a piece of toast off of Jackson’s plate and biting into it. He chewed and swallowed before turning towards Jaebeom.

“So that whole spanking thing...we can forget it for now, right?” Mark asked.
“Good try,” Jaebeom replied with a snort. “I’m gonna go eat some breakfast and then I expect you to report to my room for that discussion.”

Jaebeom got up and left before Mark could protest.

“Save me,” Mark pleaded, turning towards Jackson and pouting.
“I tried,” Jackson said with a shrug. “I warned you, but you insisted that he was bluffing.”
“You think if I told him I’ve never been spanked before he would go lighter on me?” Mark mused.
“You really want to add lying to him to the list?” Jackson questioned in disbelief.
“How do you know I’m lying?” Mark shot back, to which Jackson raised an eyebrow in question. “Fine. I could just run away…”
“What are you 8?” Jackson asked with a snort. “Are you sure you are the oldest member? I think you are actually the maknae, not Yugyeom.”
“We can call him the Mark-nae!” Yugyeom exclaimed, walking into the room snacking on some grapes with Bambam trailing after him.
“That’s Mark-nae hyung to you,” Mark teased, sticking his tongue out at Yugyeom.
“Case and point,” Jackson laughed.
“Oh shut it!” Mark shot back.
“Mark hyung, I expect you in my room in 10 minutes!” Jaebeom called from the kitchen.

Mark groaned and leaned back on Jackson. Oh, this was going to be a long day...

Chapter Text

Chapter Six

Before they knew it, it was late December. The weather had gotten much colder; it was very uncomfortable to leave the house without padding, gloves and a scarf at the present time. The boys were still working their butts off, even more so because they finally had a set date. They were going to debut as GOT7 on January 16, 2014 and they were all over the moon with excitement. They lived and breathed practice, wanting their debut to be nothing short of perfection.

It was late on a Monday night, two days before Christmas. The boys were all exhausted and had come home drenched in sweat. Rock, paper, scissors had decided the order of their showering, and then the boys had shoved down a quick meal before heading off to their own rooms to crash. Jaebeom thought he was the last one up, looking over the schedule that the manager had dropped off for them. It was the details of their photoshoots, music video shoots, and the tentative plan for their initial promotions. They had been given the next two days off for the Christmas holiday--a rare treat, since Jaebeom knew that once they debuted as idols their holiday season would be jam-packed with Gayo Performances (including SBS Gayo which fell on Christmas itself every year).

Jaebeom was by himself in his room, since Youngjae had fallen asleep cuddled up with Jinyoung in his bed. The younger boy had a rough day, feeling like his dance skills still weren’t up to par, and Jinyoung was doing his best to reassure the boy that he was doing a great job. Last Jaebeom saw them, they were both curled up around each other and snoring away.

A soft knock on the door startled Jaebeom from his thoughts, causing him to turn around in his desk chair to look at the doorway. It was a surprise to see Mark stood there tentatively, his pajamas oversized and making him look even younger and more vulnerable.

“Hey Mark hyung, what’s going on?” Jaebeom asked, putting down the highlighter he had been using.

Mark paused for a moment, seemingly trying to gather the words to explain himself. He stood there awkwardly before shaking his head and turning to leave muttering ‘nevermind’. Jaebeom shot out of his chair and over to Mark in a flash.

“Hey, come on,” Jaebeom said softly, grabbing on to his hand and leading the boy over to his bed. “You can tell me what’s on your mind.”
“I...it’s just…” Mark stuttered out, before attempting to take a deep and calming breath. “Well you had said that if I was getting homesick that I could talk to you anytime. I’m sure you’re exhausted, and you looked to be busy, I didn’t mean to bother you. I just didn’t want to ‘eff up like last time and then not be able to sit for a week.”
“A bit of an exaggeration there,” Jaebeom chuckled, trying to lighten the mood in the room a little.
“Your hand is like a friggin’ rock,” Mark replied, shaking his head. “You don’t know your own strength, man.”

Jaebeom rolled his eyes, but reached out and squeezed Mark’s arm in comfort.

“I’m really glad that you came to me,” Jaebeom said sincerely. “It means a lot that you trust me. Is it the holidays that are making it particularly worse?”

Mark nodded, playing with the edge of the sheet on the bed.

“My family are doing all the things that I used to do with them,” Mark explained. “And I know it’s not my first time missing Christmas. This isn’t my first Christmas away from home...I don’t know why these holidays this year are so much harder.”

Jaebeom could smell the subtle shift in Mark’s lime-like citrus scent. The scent became too sour--too pungent. He reached out to start rubbing up and down the boy’s back in comfort.

“Hey, it’s okay to miss them,” Jaebeom reminded. “And our emotions don’t always make sense. There could be a million reasons why it’s worse this year compared to last year. It could be that you are starting to see them get older and realize how much you really are missing. Or it could be that the stakes and the pressure have upped this year, now that you know we are debuting.”

Mark nodded in agreement. It did make sense. Jaebeom hesitated for a moment, before gathering his courage.

“I know that we are still very new to trying to act like a pack,” Jaebeom began. “But, would you be okay if I scented you? I think it could really help comfort and ground you. Maybe your mind just needs to be given a reminder that you have a place that you belong.”

Mark thought over Jaebeom’s words for a moment, thinking of the pros and cons. Pros: he would get great comfort and possibly feel even closer and more bonded with Jaebeom. Cons:...well honestly, what was he doing? There weren’t any cons really. The only time it sucked to be scented is if it was by someone unwanted.

“I would really like that, Jaebeom-ah,” Mark admitted.
“Okay, let me put the rest of my things away,” Jaebeom said, standing up and moving across the room to tidy up the desk a little.

Once he did so, he turned off the desk lamp and returned to his bed. He pulled back the covers to allow for Mark to slide under them before joining himself.

“Please let me know if at any point you want me to stop,” Jaebeom reminded. “I’m not going to do anything that you don’t want me to do, okay?”
“Got it,” Mark replied. “Thanks again for taking care of me, Beom-ah.”
“Anything for you, hyung,” Jaebeom replied with a smile.

Jaebeom shuffled over so that he had Mark in his arms, The boy's scent gland, located where his neck and his shoulder met, was now perfectly placed for Jaebeom to nuzzle against. Jaebeom placed a soft kiss to the spot--Mark instantly melting at the feeling. It wasn’t long before he felt himself fully surrounded by the scent of bergamot. It mixed so well with his own scent of lime. Mark felt himself so relaxed that the next thing he knew sunlight was streaming through the window into the room. Mark took a moment to bask in the warmth that was surrounding him. It took him a moment to realize that he felt not one, but two pairs of arms around him. He could smell the bitter tangy bergamot scent that was enveloping him, but underneath that he could smell the floral and soft scent of orchids--Jackson. Mark squinted into the sunlight that was streaming right on to his face, to find that Jackson was curled up to his front, while Jaebeom was still placed with his chest to Mark’s back.

“Good morning,” Mark whispered when he saw Jackson’s eyes flutter open.
“Morning,” Jackson croaked out in reply.
“When did you join us?” Mark asked, feeling the arms wrapping around him tighten from behind--it seemed like Jaebeom was waking up as well.
“I woke up around 3 in the morning and felt lonely,” Jackson explained with a shrug. “I wanted to be with my two best alpha hyungies.”

Mark felt Jaebeom chuckle from behind him.

“So what’s on the schedule for today?” Mark asked, turning in Jaebeom’s arms so he was now pressed against Jackson’s chest and face to face with Jaebeom.
“Nothing official,” Jaebeom replied around a yawn. “I figured we would probably run over the choreography a couple times. We could do that in the dorm so that the managers aren’t taken away from their break.”
“We should make a nice big dinner,” Jackson suggested. “Make the most of the holiday season and all. I know that Mark is used to celebrating Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in a way none of the rest of us are, so why don’t we embrace it.”
“That would be really nice,” Mark admitted.
“Okay, let’s make it happen then,” Jaebeom replied with a smile. “Now as lovely as this moment is, I really have to go to the bathroom.”

Jackson and Mark chuckled and un-koalaed themselves from Jaebeom so that the man could escape.

“Are you doing okay?” Jackson asked, squeezing Mark tightly. “I’m assuming there was a reason that you came to Jaebeom hyung last night and not to me.”
“Jealous?” Mark teased with a chuckle, turning back around so that he was facing Jackson once more.
“Always,” Jackson replied with all of the seriousness that he could muster.

Mark rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help the smile that spread over his face.

“You were sound asleep,” Mark explained. “And I promised Jaebeom that I would talk things out instead of just acting rashly. He helped me out and I saved my ass, so all in all a great decision.”
“Hyungs,” a whine came from the doorway to the room.

Jackson and Mark turned to look and see who was interrupting them. It was Bambam that had whined, while Yugyeom was in the doorway behind them.

“I’m hungry and we ran out of rice,” Bambam whined.
“We have a cupboard full of cereal,” Mark pointed out.
“I don’t want cereal for breakfast,” Bambam pouted in reply.
“Neither do I,” Yugyeom added on with a shake of his head.
“And what do you want us to do about it?” Jackson asked.
“Come with us to the grocery store,” Bambam replied. “Jaebeom hyung said we aren’t allowed to go out on our own since we are underage.”
“Hey, that’s the company’s rule, not mine,” Jaebeom said, walking back into the room from the bathroom. “What are they complaining about now?”
“A lack of food in the dorm,” Mark explained.
“Well, we need to go shopping anyway if we are going to do a big celebratory meal tonight,” Jaebeom reasoned, sitting down on the edge of the queen sized bed.
“We are having a celebration?” Yugyeom asked in excitement, looking like an overeager puppy.
“A celebration for what?” Youngjae’s voice was heard from the hallway.

Bambam and Yugyeom walked into the room so that Youngjae and Jinyoung could join the conversation as well. The two youngest climbed onto the bed, Bambam flinging himself onto Mark’s lap and Yugyeom was pulled into Jackson’s.

“We are going to have a celebration for Christmas,” Jaebeom explained.
“Can we decorate?” Youngjae asked in excitement.
“I’m sure Daiso has some things left that we can pick up to decorate the place,” Jinyoung added in, moving to sit down next to Jaebeom and pulling Youngjae to sit with him.
“This is going to be so much fun!” Bambam exclaimed. “You guys are the best hyungs ever!”

--
The boys ran out to the grocery store and to Daiso to get all of the food and decorations that they needed. Upon returning to the dorm, they powered their way through the choreography practice. It wasn’t too tiring, since the dorm was small enough that they could really only mark the dances instead of doing the full out choreography. They most definitely could not participate in flips or tricks.

After that, they started cooking and decorating the dorm. Jinyoung, Jaebeom, and Mark were on the cooking team while Jackson, Bambam, Yugyeom and Youngjae were on the decorating team. It wasn’t long before the dorm looked like a Christmas Wonderland and smelled heavenly.

“I really appreciate you doing this guys,” Mark said softly while they were finishing up their cooking. “I know you have a lot of pressure on you as a leader and everyone as group members in general, so my being homesick shouldn’t be added to your already heavy loads.”
“Hyung, we all want the best for each other,” Jinyoung piped in from where he was spreading icing on a few cookies that they had managed to make in the toaster oven--since ovens in Korea were very uncommon and their mediocre dorm certainly didn’t have one. “Your mental health and wellness is as important as anyone else’s. You know that if it were Bambam or Youngjae, or honestly any of us, you would do the same.”
“Let us rely on each other like a pack and a music group should,” Jaebeom added in, giving Mark a supportive pat on his back. “We are all away from our homes, and our youngest are away at an exceptionally young age. We need to become each other’s support systems and family.”

Mark nodded in reply, honestly too choked up to say anything out loud.

“Is he doubting his worth again?” Jackson asked, walking into the kitchen and noticing the weird vibe.
“Yep,” Jinyoung replied. “But we are always going to remind him that he is worth it until it finally sinks in.”
“Hyungs are being sappy again, aren’t they?” Yugyeom asked, walking into the kitchen with Youngjae and Bambam trailing behind him.
“What are you guys doing here?” Jaebeom asked with a sigh. “Did you finish decorating?”
“Yep! And we are starving!” Bambam replied. “Like seriously, I think I could eat an entire cow and still have room for dessert.”
“You are literally a stick,” Jackson shot back. “You couldn’t even eat half a chicken.”
“Oh yeah?” Bambam challenged, puffing up his chest in a hysterical attempt to make himself look larger than he actually was. “I dare you to a chicken eating contest!”
“Guys!” Jaebeom shouted out. “Dinner is ready if you are done with your yapping.”
“YES! FOOD!” Yugyeom exclaimed, causing Youngjae to cover his ears with his hands. “That’s funny coming from you, hyung! You are literally the loudest member of this group.”
“Am not!” Youngjae protested. “Jackson hyung is a million times louder than me.”

Jackson clutched his chest in shock.

“How dare…” Jackson began to reply.
“Can we please eat, children?” Jinyoung asked, rolling his eyes at their antics.
“Yes, eomma!” Jackson, Yugyeom, Youngjae and Bambam all replied at the same time, causing the entire kitchen to almost fall over in laughter.

It took a few minutes to collect themselves, but they finally were dishing out their dinner onto plates that they were going to eat in the living room while watching Christmas movies together.

“Hey, if Jinyoungie hyung is eomma, does that make Jaebeom hyung appa?” Yugyeom wondered aloud.

Before Jaebeom could give any reply, Mark, Jackson, Youngjae, and Bambam all turned towards the leader and in their most whiny obnoxious voices possible called out: “APPA!!!!!”

Jaebeom sighed and reached over to hold hands with Jinyoung.

“Honey, I can’t control our children,” Jaebeom said with a mock seriousness that was very much betrayed by the upward curve of his lips.
“Guess they should be put up for adoption so we can get our quiet life back,” Jinyoung replied without a beat.

This was without a doubt going to be one of Jaebeom’s favorite Christmas memories...

Chapter Text

Chapter Seven

He looks 12 years old. What is he even doing in that group?

He can’t even speak Korean very well. His pronunciation sucks.

He brings down the image of the entire group.

I wish they were GOT6. They didn’t need the little kid in the group.

Debut was supposed to be the most incredible time of Bambam’s life. He was literally living the dream that he has had since he was little. He was finally going to be able to make a name for himself and be able to give back to his mother who had done so much for her family on her own. And yet...Bambam found himself looking at comments like this every night. He didn’t let his members know that he was looking at negative comments. He didn’t want to bring their mood down as well. It wasn’t fair to them. So he suffered in silence. Anytime he could get a minute or two of privacy--mostly late at night when all the other members were sound asleep--he would allow himself to have a nice cry in the hallway while reading the comments on his cell phone. It was too risky to look at it anywhere in the dorm itself.

This particular evening Bambam was feeling incredibly stressed because things hadn’t gone well at dance practice. He had been scolded by the choreographer not once...not twice...but five whole times. Bambam just couldn’t seem to get out of his head and get the steps right.

Wiping his tears one last time, Bambam stood up, straightened his pajama bottoms and walked back into the dorm room--and smack bang right into Jackson.

“Bam-ah, what are you doing out so late?” Jackson whispered, trying not to wake anyone else at the super late hour.
“H--hyung, just getting some fresh air,” Bambam replied, praying that Jackson would just let this go and allow him to go back to bed. “I couldn’t sleep.”
“Have you been crying?” Jackson asked in concern, hearing the wetness in Bambam’s voice.
“Just was watching a sad video, no big deal hyung,” Bambam lied, hoping his tone came off as nonchalant as he intended it to.

Jackson studied Bambam for a moment before nodding and gesturing for the boy to go off to his room. Bambam started to go on his way, before stopping and facing Jackson once more.

“Erm--if you could keep this between the two of us that would be great,” Bambam said before finally turning and walking off to his room once again.

If Jackson was suspicious when Bambam had first walked in, his suspicions had elevated to an even higher level now. Bambam wasn’t usually secretive. It was clear the boy was lying about something...but what that was remained a mystery. Jackson made a mental note that he would keep an eye on the boy.

--

By the next morning things seemed to be back to normal. Bambam ate breakfast with his usual gusto. He joked around with Yugyeom. He had the energy back that Jackson associated with their second youngest member. Jackson was starting to think that maybe he had imagined everything.

“Okay guys, we are going to start the recording for the next couple episodes of Real GOT7 soon,” their manager explained to them. “I want you guys to be brainstorming what things you want to be doing in those episodes. Your suggestions are due this Friday.”
“Our what?” Bambam asked quietly to Yugyeom who was sitting next to him.
“Suggestions,” Yugyeom answered and then noticed that Bambam still didn’t seem to understand. “Our ideas.”
“Oh…” Bambam said, blushing a little at the misunderstanding and nodding.

Jackson couldn’t help but note that Bambam wasn’t one who usually got frustrated by not understanding something in Korean. Like himself, Bambam was more likely to brush it off and make a joke rather than get flustered like Mark sometimes did. Once again, he shrugged it off. Maybe Bambam was having an off day.

Things went a lot better in dance practice that day. Bambam seemed to take all of his mistakes from the previous day as motivation and absolutely crushed all of their dances.

“Great job Bam! That’s what I’m talking about!” their choreographer complimented, causing a beaming smile to appear on Bambam’s face.

A couple of noonas who worked in the company squealed over how adorable Bambam looked when he beamed like that. They were saying how they just wanted to gather him up and keep him in their pocket. Jackson thought it was quite the compliment, but he noticed that the smile on Bambam’s face immediately dropped and it almost seemed like tears were starting to form in his eyes. He quickly excused himself to the bathroom, leaving Jackson even more confused.

By mid-afternoon, Jackson decided that he couldn’t keep things to himself anymore. He needed to get some other opinions. They were given an hour break to grab food, work on school work, or just crash. The maknae line all went to one of the break rooms to work on their piles of homework, while the older members were about to disperse to do their own things.

“Can I talk to you guys?” Jackson asked with enough urgency that the other members all looked at him in concern.
“What’s wrong?” Jinyoung asked. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Is it your heat?” Jaebeom asked in concern, immediately putting a hand to the other boy’s forehead to feel if he had a fever.
“I’m literally on suppressants,” Jackson answered, rolling his eyes and gently pushing Jaebeom’s hand away. “And it’s not about me. It’s about Bambam.”

This was certainly unexpected, causing all of the others to stare at Jackson in even more confusion.

“Let’s go to the cafe and sit down,” Mark suggested. “This seems like it might be a bit of a story.”

Five minutes later found the four oldest members gathered around a cafe table with four iced Americanos.

“So what’s up with Bambam?” Mark asked, taking a long swig of his drink and almost crying out in joy over the boost of caffeine that he so desperately needed.
“Well...that’s sort of what I’m trying to figure out,” Jackson admitted. “I got thirsty in the middle of the night last night. When I was on my way back to my room from the kitchen the front door swung open and Bambam ran right into me.”
“He snuck out last night?!?” Jaebeom exclaimed, standing up and ready to go and have a word with the boy.
“Calm down, hyung!” Jackson yelled, grabbing Jaebeom’s wrist and yanking him to sit back down. “He was in his pajamas. I think he literally was just sitting out in the hallway. The more concerning thing is that he seemed to have been crying. He brushed it off saying that he was just watching a sad video, but then he said to not tell anyone about it. That seemed weird to me, but I decided to just observe today and see if I was overreacting or not.”
“And what did you notice?” Jinyoung asked.
“He’s been off all day,” Jackson replied. “Getting more flustered by language misunderstandings. Getting upset about being fawned over and called cute. It’s subtle, but he just isn’t acting like our Bammie.”
“Was he maybe more upset over dance practice yesterday than we realized?” Jinyoung suggested.
“That wouldn’t make sense with the cute thing, though,” Jaebeom reasoned. “And why wouldn’t he just admit that. We have all gotten scolding in dance practice. It’s not like he is alone in that. No offence to Youngjae, but that boy gets scolded every other day. Bambam should know that we all understand.”

They all sat there in silence for a few moments trying to gather their thoughts.

“What if this isn’t the only night he went out and cried?” Mark asked, causing the other three to look at him in confusion.
“Do you know something that we don’t?” Jaebeom asked in accusation.
“Not really,” Mark answered with a shrug. “I’ve just heard the front door close at late hours since Jackson and my room is at the front of the apartment. I always go and check and nothing is out of the ordinary, so I just assumed it was the manager coming back in. What if it’s actually been Bam?”
“Well, there is only one way to find out,” Jaebeom said with finality. “We wait up tonight and see. I don’t want to confront him and make him feel uncomfortable if we are wrong.”

--

By the end of the day they had to admit that their plan was going to be hard. Like most days, they were exhausted by the time that they made it back to the door at a late hour. Luckily they got to sleep in a bit the following morning. They didn’t need to be anywhere until early afternoon when they would film an episode for Real GOT7.

Everyone showered, brushed their teeth, and bid each other a goodnight. Bambam went to his room and waited until he heard the gentle snoring from the bed next to his and then grabbed his phone off of the nightstand and as silently as possible walked through the dorm and out the front door. He sat down just to the left of the door and opened up one of the chat forums to see what those ‘fans’ were saying no. He had just gotten a couple comments in, when the front door of the dorm opened and there stood none other than Im Jaebeom. Without a moment’s hesitation, Jaebeom grabbed the phone from Bambam’s hands to see what he was staring so intensely at. Bambam froze in shock.

“Why are you reading this absolute shit?” Jaebeom asked, only needing to read a few of the comments to get a gist of what the entire chat thread was about.

Bambam sat there frozen, unsure of how to respond. Well shit...no one was supposed to find out.

Chapter Text

Chapter Eight

Things were incredibly silent and tense in the dorm. Jaebeom had escorted Bambam into the living room, where he told him to sit and wait on the couch. Then he went and got all of the rest of the members up and into the living room as well. They were going to have a group meeting, and he didn’t feel that it could wait until the morning. They needed to get this resolved, and they needed to get it resolved now. When he went to gather the older members he had briefly explained to them what was going on, but Yugyeom and Youngjae were still in the dark.

“What’s going on, hyung?” Yugyeom asked, rubbing at his eyes sleepily--he had been in the middle of a very nice dream when he had been abruptly woken up and told that he was needed for a group meeting.
“An issue has been brought to my attention that needs to be addressed,” Jaebeom answered, sitting down on the couch next to Bambam who looked very ready to curl himself up into the tiniest ball possible. “I think this issue is applicable to everyone, so that’s why I thought I would have all of you gathered here.”
“It won’t happen again,” Bambam whispered in promise, tears forming in his eyes.

Jinyoung slapped Jaebeom on the arm, reaching around Bambam to do so, giving him a look of warning to be kind to the very clearly upset boy.

“Oh Bambam,” Jaebeom realized, putting a comforting arm on the boy’s shoulder. “I’m not mad at you. I promise.”
“Can someone please get us up to date here?” Youngjae asked, looking around in confusion. “What on earth happened?”
“Bambam, do you want to tell them?” Jaebeom asked softly, getting a fervent shake of his head in reply. “Okay, I will then. Bambam has taken to sitting out at night and reading negative comments about himself on the internet. Jackson noticed something was off with you all day and came to us, and then us hyungs kept a close eye on you. That’s how I found you in the hallway tonight.”
“Bamie,” Jackson said softly, leaning forward in his seat to get a better view of the boy. “Why would you want to read such awful things?”
“Because they are true!” Bambam fiercely shot back, finally looking up at his members. “I am bringing this group down and the only way that I can know how to fix my mistakes is by reading what people are saying!”
“I don’t even have to know what the comments say for me to know that they aren’t true,” Jinyoung added in, with just as much fierosity as Bambam had made his own statement.
“You guys even thought when I first joined that I looked like the maknae and way too young for this group!” Bambam argued.
“Their problem with you is that you look young?” Mark asked in confusion. “Isn’t that usually a good thing, especially when we get a little older. You are going to be the fresh youthful face that everyone loves. Also, I get comments that I look young too. Some people actually thought I was the maknae!”
“I look too young, my Korean sucks, I bring down the group image, I make the songs sound wrong because of my pronunciation, I….” Bambam began to list, but got cut off.
“‘Bambam is my favorite member,’” Youngjae suddenly read out loudly--none of the other members had noticed that the boy had pulled out his phone. “‘He does the best fan service! I really hope to meet Bambam one day so that I can tell him how much I love him’”

Bambam’s jaw dropped open a little in his shock, staring directly at Youngjae in confusion.

“‘GOT7 is such a well-rounded group, they are the perfect mix of personalities. The group wouldn’t be right without even one of them in it,’” Youngjae read another comment. “‘I love that GOT7 has foreign members. It makes me think that I too can follow my dreams and learn another language.’ There are literally hundreds upon hundreds of comments like this.”
“But the negative comments…” Bambam began to argue.
“Are ALWAYS going to be there,” Jackson cut in. “No matter how hard you work, how much effort you put in, it’s never going to be enough for some people. You have to learn to ignore them.”
“But how will I know what I need to improve on if I don’t read what people are saying?” Bambam asked, his voice sounding weak and full of desperation.
“Do you trust us?” Jinyoung asked.
“Of course I do,” Bambam replied. “But you guys are biased.”
“Do you think that our company would lie?” Mark asked. “That they would let a subpar video or song go out?”
“Well no…” Bambam admitted. “But it’s more than just me and songs and videos, it’s interviews, variety shows…”
“Do you think I’m ‘obnoxiously loud and trying to steal the entire show?’” Jackson asked.
“No, why would you think that?” Bambam asked.
“That’s what some people are saying online,” Jackson answered.
“I’m ‘no fun and much too quiet. I bring down the entire mood,’” Mark added in.
“I’m too ‘obnoxious and broad to be the maknae,’” Yugyeom added in.
“Have...have all of you read the bad comments about yourself?” Bambam asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked around the room.

Bambam received six nods in reply.

“How do you let them roll off your back?” Bambam asked.
“For every bad comment there are dozens of positive comments,” Youngjae answered. “If we focus on just the bad comments, then we are saying that the opinions of all of those fans that love and support us are invalid.”
“I--I never thought about it like that,” Bambam admitted. “But I just get so upset, because one of the main things that they hate about me is that I’m Thai. I can’t change that! I...I just thought if I worked hard to change the other things, then it would make up for the fact that I’m Thai.”

Jaebeom felt his heart break a little at that comment. He felt terrible remorse that there were people so prejudiced against other countries in his own country. Even though it wasn’t his fault, he felt personally responsible.

“Bam-ah,” Jackson said, getting down on his knees in front of the second youngest member. “I promise the day will come when you are incredibly proud to be Thai. Some people aren’t able to get over their ignorance and their hatred. They have to hate on others to feel better about themselves. That is not something that is unique to this country or these ‘fans’--my country has its own faults, and so does Mark hyung’s as well. I know how you feel. I have gotten treated like the dirt on the bottom of someone’s shoe when they find out that I’m Chinese. No matter how hard I try, there is just no changing the way that they feel because of their own personal bias. So, as hard as it is, and believe me I know it’s hard, you have to just let it go.”
“Let it go, let it go, can’t hold it back anymore…” Youngjae sang, causing a smile to appear on Bambam’s face at his hyung’s silliness--Youngjae’s intended reaction.

Bambam wiped away a stray tear that had fallen down his face.

“Thanks hyungs and Gyeomie,” Bambam said softly. “You guys really are the best. I’m so lucky to have been placed in this group with you.”
“We are the lucky ones,” Yugyeom shot back, causing Bambam to giggle and to pretend to gag at his cheesiness.

Jaebeom ruffled the hair on the back of Bambam’s head, smiling down at the boy.

“I know it’s going to be hard,” Jaebeom spoke. “But you really need to stop looking at the comments.”
“I have an idea,” Jinyoung suggested, getting the attention of all of the other boys. “I know a lot of groups hand over their cell phones for their first year of debut. They do it so that they can better focus on their work. Maybe that would be a way to ensure that you don’t look at the bad comments.”
“That might actually be good for all of us,” Jaebeom suggested. “It’s clear that every single one of us have looked at them.”
“But hyung--” Jackson began to protest.
“Don’t worry, we will figure out a way to make sure you have access to contact your family back home anytime you want or need to,” Jaebeom reassured.

At that moment, the door to their manager’s room opened and out walked their favorite manager Jisung.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” Jisung admitted. “But you guys weren’t exactly being quiet.”
“Sorry hyung!” the boys all apologized at once.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jisung said, waving off their unnecessary apology immediately. “I can hold on to your phones if you’d like. You know that I’m usually either at the dorm with you or taking you to schedules. That would give access to the members when they need to talk to their families.”

Jaebeom smiled and nodded at their manager. This was exactly what they needed. Now, he just had to look and see if the others agreed. Mark looked very reluctant, but nodded.

“I will do anything to help Bam out,” Mark admitted, getting up and running into his room to grab his phone.

Jackson nodded and followed after Mark, appearing a few moments later together. They handed over their cellphones and returned to sit on the couch. Youngjae powered his off and handed it to their manager without complaint.

“Can I get it back to play games?” Yugyeom asked.
“Sure you can, but you will have a time limit,” Jaebeom answered. “I don’t need you staying up all night and playing games.”

Yugyeom nodded and then ran to grab his phone. Jaebeom reached into his pocket where he pulled out his cellphone and the one that he had confiscated from Bambam. He handed both over to their manager. Yugyeom returned, handing his over as well. Jaebeom looked over at Jinyoung, confused as to why the other boy hadn’t made any moves yet since it was his suggestion.

“I accidentally left mine at the studio today,” Jinyoung explained. “It’s sitting next to the computer, if anyone happens upon it first.”
“I will message Taeyong and let him know,” Jisung said, talking about one of their other managers. “He will be there early tomorrow to get the studio ready for your recording. He can grab it and hand it to me. Now, goodnight guys. I’m running out to a meeting first thing in the morning but then I will be back to grab you guys for your schedule.”
“Goodnight, hyung!” the boys all called, while their manager walked back into his room and shut the door behind him.
“Now we should all get some sleep,” Jaebeom suggested. “But I want to make sure that you understand what we’ve been saying tonight, Bam. No one who matters wants you to be anything other than the amazing Bambam that we all know and love, okay?”
“Yes, hyung,” Bambam answered shyly, blushing a little at the compliment.
“Group hug!” Jackson yelled, jumping up and pulling Mark along with him.

There was some grumbling, but all of the members followed suit. Jaebeom couldn’t help but note that these six guys standing with him were special. He and Jinyoung were great together, but they truly had been missing something--and that something was these 5 other incredible guys.

Chapter Text

Chapter Nine 

If the boys thought they had to work hard as trainees, they seriously had no idea what was coming when they actually debuted. Time seemed to fly by for the members of GOT7, who were now in September of 2014 in the blink of an eye. 

Things were going well for the boys. They were getting along well with each other, and they were enjoying what they were doing—even though it could be mentally draining and tough at times. That’s not to say that there weren't arguments between members still. Jaebeom had to sit all the members down on multiple occasions to discuss their conflicts. As a group, they were just getting better at solving the problems quickly and efficiently. Taking away their cell phones had actually ensured that they spent more quality time chatting with one another, and Jaebeom couldn’t help but feel that they had made the right decision there. Bambam certainly seemed a lot happier now that he wasn’t looking at ‘fan’ comments that were trashing him. 

Overall, they seemed to be more aware of one another’s moods and emotions. This being in-tune with the members, and quite frankly his innate senses as a beta, were what tipped Jinyoung off about something being wrong with their third youngest. He had gone quiet and reserved, and not his usual bubbly sunshine self. He brought it up with Jaebeom when the two were sat with tea one evening after practice.

“Should we sit down as a group and discuss it?” Jaebeom asked, putting down the cup of tea and giving Jinyoung his full attention.
“I don’t want him to feel cornered,” Jinyoung replied with a shake of his head. “I think maybe I should just talk to him myself. It might be the most comfortable situation for him.” 

Jaebeom nodded in understanding. He was more than aware that he could come off as intimidating at times. It wasn’t always intentional--Jaebeom swore it was his sharp features that really upped the intimidating factor. Jinyoung, especially as a beta, might be the most comfortable to approach Youngjae. Jinyoung really was like a ‘mom’ in that sense, he somehow innately knew how to best comfort and ease the anxieties of their members.

 “If something is going on you will let me know?” Jaebeom asked, his concern evident in the softness in his eyes.
“You know I will, hyung,” Jinyoung reassured, patting Jaebeom comfortingly on the shoulder before getting up and heading towards Jaebeom and Youngjae’s room.

Youngjae looked up from the book he was reading when he heard the door open.

“Hey, hyung,” Youngjae greeted, putting the bookmark into his book and setting it down on the bedside table. “What’s up?” 
“Well, I was actually going to ask you that same question, Youngjae-yah,” Jinyoung said, sitting down on the bed beside Youngjae. 
“What do you mean?” Youngjae asked, his eyes narrowing in confusion.
“You haven’t been yourself lately,” Jinyoung explained softly. “I wanted to know if there was something going on. Is there something that you are worried about?” 

Youngjae blushed at those words, his cheeks turning an adorable rosy shade that Jinyoung was very tempted to pinch. He refrained himself, but instead looked at Youngjae in askance.

“It’s...it’s nothing, hyung,” Youngjae answered, shifting awkwardly on the bed an avoiding eye contact. 
“No, no, come on,” Jinyoung replied, reaching over and gently lifting Youngjae’s chin up so that the boy would look him in the eyes. “You can tell hyung anything, even if you think it’s stupid. I promise that I am here to listen, not to judge.” 
“What if I’m an omega?” Youngjae asked in a breath, barely over a whisper. Jinyoung heard him though, even though it left the boy in confusion.
“What’s wrong with being an omega?” Jinyoung asked, studying Youngjae’s face in hopes to understand something that he was missing—did he miss a conversation between Youngjae and Jackson or something?
“What if Jackson gets upset that he is no longer the only omega in the group?” Youngjae asked quickly, the words almost getting slurred together in his haste. “You guys are the perfect balance. Two alphas, an omega and a beta. Anything that I present as will ruin that balance. I can’t be responsible for...” 
“Youngjae-ah!” Jinyoung cut off Youngjae’s rant, grabbing on to the younger boy’s hand. “Why on earth would you think that you being an omega would ruin that balance? There are all sorts of ratios of alphas, betas, and omegas in packs. Heck, we aren’t even a pack yet! There is no balance to ruin!” 
“Growing up I had always heard that as soon as there was more than one omega in a group that fights start,” Youngjae explained. “At school the kids in my grade said that omegas don’t work well together, because they are always fighting over their alphas. They used to bully me by saying that I was going to be the unwanted omega—the extra.”

Jinyoung was horrified to hear what those kids had said to a young and impressionable Youngjae. Jinyoung originally planned to handle this conversation on his own, but he knew that anything that he, as a beta, would have to say wouldn’t get through to Youngjae. He needed to hear it from an actual omega.

“Come on,” Jinyoung said gently, standing up and grabbing ahold of Youngjae’s hand. 
“Where are we going?” Youngjae asked, but allowed himself to be lead by Jinyoung out of the room and through the living room. 
“What’s—” Jaebeom began to ask as he watched Jinyoung walk through the living room and head towards Mark and Jackson’s room. 
“Come with us,” Jinyoung commanded over his shoulder, not stopping in his stride at all. 

Jinyoung knocked softly a few times before opening the door and walking in. Jackson and Mark were sitting on their beds chatting, and looked up in confusion when Jinyoung came in, dragging Youngjae along with him. Jinyoung sat Youngjae down on the bed next to Jackson, and then sat himself down on the desk chair. Jaebeom appeared a few moments later, sitting down next to Mark. 

“What’s going on?” Jackson asked, looking first at Jinyoung and then at Youngjae in confusion. 
“I don’t mean to put it so bluntly, but Youngjae is worried that he is going to present as an omega, throw the balance of the group off, and that you will resent him,” Jinyoung explained, causing Youngjae to blush scarlet and to place his head in his hands in his embarrassment. 
“Are you kidding me?” Jackson cried out immediately, turning and pulling Youngjae into his arms. “There is nothing that I would love more than to have my little otter be an omega like me.” 
“But then we will have to fight over the alphas and--” Youngjae argued as best he could while being squished in the tightest hug Jackson could muster. 
“Why would we fight over the alphas?” Jackson asked in confusion. “Even groups that have one alpha make it work, and we literally have two.” 
“It’s just what I had heard growing up,” Youngjae shyly answered.
“The bullies in his school used to tease him that he would be the extra unwanted omega,” Jinyoung added softly—he didn’t want to embarrass Youngjae, but he knew that he had to be blunt and lay it all out in the open so that they could get this addressed. 
“Whenever you need one of us, we are going to be there Youngjae,” Jaebeom finally spoke, looking over at Mark who nodded in agreement. “You are never going to need to fight for our attention, nor are you ever going to be the ‘extra.’”
“I know how scary it can be to be close to your presentation,” Jinyoung said, walking over and sitting on the other side of Youngjae so that he could rub the boy’s back in comfort. “You are overthinking everything, clinging to some of the stereotypes of what it will be like to be that sub-gender. Even things that you thought were ridiculous growing up, suddenly start seeming like the truth in your head.” 
“I was so afraid that presenting was going to change me in some way,” Jackson admitted. “I don’t fit the stereotype of an omega, so I thought that I would have to change something about myself to be a good omega. I couldn’t have been more wrong about that, and my older brother really helped me see that.” 
“I was actually worried that I was going to be a beta and that I wouldn’t have the nurturing nature or innate calming skills that betas are supposed to be good at,” Mark admitted. “I was convinced that I was going to be the worst beta in history.” 
“You guys all had some worries about your sub-gender?” Youngjae asked, looking around at his hyungs with teary eyes, only to receive four reassuring nods in reply. 
“I was terrified with my quick temper that I was going to be the worst stereotype of an alpha possible,” Jaebeom admitted. “It was actually all of you guys that have helped me.”
“I—I just,” Youngjae started out, before taking a deep breath and continuing on. “In some ways I don’t feel like I fit any of the sub-genders. Everyone assumed growing up that I would be an omega, but I don’t know that I feel like I fit being an omega. But then I don’t know that I would fit a beta or an alpha either. Hearing you guys say that you all felt this way makes me feel so my better.”
“Oh otter,” Jackson said pulling the boy tightly into his arms once again. “Anything that you present as is going to be incredible because it’s going to be you. Don’t think you have to fit any stereotype whatsoever. I’m a muscly, confident, and outgoing omega. I couldn’t be further from the quiet, demure, submissive stereotype if I tried!”
“Whatever you present as is what you are meant to be,” Mark reassured. “We are going to be so proud of you no matter what.”

Youngjae wiped away some of the tears that had begun to fall down his cheeks at his hyungs’ comforting words. He didn’t nearly say it enough, but they were all seriously the best hyungs anyone could ever ask for.

“We do need to discuss something though,” Jaebeom said after they all spent time hugging and comforting the boy.

The other four members all looked at him in askance, wondering where he was going to go with that statement.

“Well we talk about all of these dynamics and the way that we are with each other,” Jaebeom began. “And I think we really need to start thinking about what we are going to do about the pack.”

Jinyoung nodded in understanding. They were ‘playing’ at being a pack currently, but ‘playing’ and actually being a pack were two different things. There were deeper emotional connections that came with being an actual pack and taking the pack bite. They would be able to understand each other even more deeply, but with that also came higher stakes. If they were to break apart and decide that the pack actually wasn’t what they wanted before they took the bite they would be a little upset, but would be fairly easily able to move on from it. If they were to decide that after, it would be very emotionally and mentally taxing.

They were all lost in their thoughts for awhile, thinking about the implications of Jaebeom’s words. Jinyoung gathered himself the quickest and decided to start off.

“You know that you are my alpha, my leader, and my hyung,” Jinyoung answered. “I have looked to you for guidance ever since our audition days, and there is no-one else in this world that I would want to be my pack alpha. When we first found out that JJ Project was going to be a thing of the past and that we would be debuting as a group I was very confused and torn and upset. However, over this past year I have truly grown as a person because of the incredible people that were added to this group. I feel understood in ways that I never have before, and I would love nothing more than to share the rest of my life with you guys as a pack. I want to and am very ready to take the pack bite.”
“I know I tend to be quiet a lot of the time, but I do want one thing to be understood,” Mark said, gaining the attention of everyone in the room even though he was speaking fairly softly. “This group and this pack really feels like the place that I belong. I am more than ready to take the pack bite and I want it to be Jaebeom to do it.”
“You guys have been with me through my ups and my downs,” Jackson spoke. “You have helped me have confidence in myself when I thought I was severely lacking. I truly feel the bond between all of us, and want to take the pack bite. Like Jinyoung said, Jaebeom hyung I would want no one else as my pack alpha.”

Jaebeom sat there speechless at all three of their confessions. He felt moisture building in his eyes at their words. Mark squeezed his hands in comfort, realizing the emotions that Jaebeom was going through.

“I know I won’t be allowed to join the pack until at least a month after I present, but as of right now I can’t imagine any other place that I would want to be,” Youngjae added on, causing Jinyoung and Jackson to squish him in a tight sandwich-hug between them.
“Speaking of pack dynamics,” Mark added on, suddenly looking very serious. “I think that we should keep the um…sexual side of things on the down low until all of the pups have presented. Even if they don’t end up joining our pack, I think it would be rude to them to have sex here in our shared dorm in the meantime. I would imagine they are already going to feel excluded to begin with when we take the bite and start a pack.”

Mark received four nods of agreement in reply.

“That’s something that we need to discuss as well,” Jaebeom realized. “Are we all giving our consent to start adding the romantic and sexual elements to our relationships? I know that some packs won’t let their members take the bite until they know that they all have good sexual chemistry together.”
“I am more than willing to find out, sign me up!” Jackson exclaimed, causing Mark to chuckle and roll his eyes.
“I know from my family pack that the way they did it was that they formed their pack through friendship and then just explored along the way,” Jinyoung explained. “If some of the members of the pack wanted to form sexual relations then they could, and if others preferred to be more platonic then that worked as well. The thing that mattered the most was consent. As long as everything that was done within the pack was consensual, then nothing else mattered. They didn’t worry about it, just allowed life to take its course. Every single member of my family pack has been there for 25 years now.”
“That sounds like the right way to approach it,” Jaebeom agreed with a nod of his head. “We should discuss this further in the morning with the maknaes when they are awake, but I do think that we are ready to start a pack.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Ten

The morning after the hyungs had their chat with Youngjae, the leader had sat down with the two youngest members to inform them of the upcoming changes. Even though they were too young to be in the pack yet, Jaebeom didn’t want either one of them to feel like they were being left out in any way, shape, or form. They deserved to know what was going on in their dorm.

Jaebeom wanted to make the pack bite a special occasion, not something that was a rushed experience because they had to head off to dance practice, or an interview, or some other sort of group activity. The group was very busy with different promotional and practice schedules and hardly had a moment to themselves to think. There was a break coming up on the horizon, but it was still a few days out. They just had to get through the hard work, and then they would finally be given a whole week of freedom! When they had the time off, then they would be able to take the pack bite and have time to process the meaning and the feelings attached with that.

Their break was supposed to start the day before Youngjae’s birthday, allowing for the boy to have time off for his presentation. Your presentation usually left you pretty drained and sometimes had side effects like a fever, chills, headaches etc., so companies usually tried to allow time for those going through their presentation to recover. But, as often was the case: the best laid plans usually have a way of going awry…

Jaebeom was in the kitchen frying up some eggs for breakfast. They were having a quick breakfast of eggs and rice with sesame oil and green onions. They also had a couple side dishes left over to pair with the meal. Mark was practically asleep with his head on the table, drooling next to where his cup of coffee was sitting. Jackson wasn’t much better, his eyes bleary as he was taking small sips of his coffee. Jinyoung was plating and placing the side dishes on the table. He had just walked into the kitchen after waking up Yugyeom and Bambam on his way, since he had to walk through their room. A few moments later a sleepy looking Bambam and Yugyeom walked into the room as well.

“Gyeom-ah,” Jaebeom said, turning towards their youngest. “Can you wake up Youngjae? Breakfast is ready.”

Yugyeom nodded around the massive yawn that he was letting out. Without a word he turned to do as asked. Not a few minutes later, Yugyeom came running back into the room.

“Hyungs!” Yugyeom cried out. “Youngjae hyung is burning up and he said he had no strength to get out of bed!”
“What’s going on?” Bambam asked, his voice shaking. “It can’t be his presentation, right? His birthday isn’t for a couple more days!”

Jinyoung was out the door to the kitchen and on the way to Jaebeom’s and Youngjae’s room in a flash. Jaebeom trailed behind him, leaving with about as much speed. Bambam and Yugyeom moved to head after them, but Mark held out his arms to stop them.

“Let the hyungs deal with it,” Mark said softly, putting a comforting arm around each of the two youngest, pulling them both against his sides. “We don’t want to crowd him.”
“It could be his presentation,” Jackson said from where he was sitting at the table, though he was looking much more awake now. “It’s not unheard of to present a few days early, especially if his inner sub-gender feels that it is in the company of a group of people that it sees making a pack with.”
“What are we going to do?” Bambam asked. “We have an interview in an hour and a half.”
“Well, one of us will stay here with Youngjae and the rest will head to the interview,” Mark answered, guiding the two to sit down at the table with Jackson. “I know it sucks, and it goes against our very natures, but we have to do what we have to do.”

Despite the hyungs’ comfort, Bambam and Yugyeom still seemed pretty worried about Youngjae. Their heads snapped to attention when Jinyoung walked back in the room.

“What’s going on, hyung?” Yugyeom asked.
“It’s his presentation,” Jinyoung replied, sitting down in a chair next to Mark. “There is no way that he is going to be able to make the interview. Jaebeom is on the phone with manager hyung as we speak.”
“Surely they will let one of us stay to take care of him...right?” Jackson asked.
“They sure as hell better,” Mark added, before Jinyoung could reply. “I don’t care what they say, you don’t leave a presenting person on their own. They are much too emotionally fragile!”
“I agree with you,” Jinyoung replied with a sigh. “Let’s just hope that Jaebeom can work his magic.”

The next five minutes felt like a lifetime until finally Jaebeom walked back into the room.

“Manager hyung is letting me stay with him,” Jaebeom explained. “You guys need to eat your breakfast and get ready to leave. The rest of the schedules after the interview are cancelled, and they are starting our break then instead.”

There was a huge sigh of relief in the room at those words. Jaebeom then turned to Mark.

“Will you take over the role as group leader for the interview?” Jaebeom asked. “You are the oldest, so that would make the most sense.”
“Of course, Jaebeom,” Mark answered. “Anything you need me to do, you’ve got it.”
“Don’t worry, hyung!” Yugyeom piped in. “We will be on our best behavior!”

Jaebeom couldn’t help but smile fondly at his youngest member’s eagerness to please and be helpful. Whether or not Yugyeom sees it, he truly is the best maknae they could ever ask for.

“Head back in with Youngjae,” Jinyoung directed. “I will get some water, snacks and some medicine for him and bring it in. We will also come in and say goodbye before we head out to the interview.”
“Thanks ‘Nyongie,” Jaebeom said with a genuine smile, getting up and walking over to plant a kiss on the other boy’s forehead. “You’re the best.”

Jinyoung beamed up at Jaebeom and the unusual show of affection. It wasn’t that Jinyoung thought Jaebeom didn’t like him, it was just that it was rare for the leader to outwardly show it.

The members were all dressed and ready to go by the time their manager arrived to drive them to their schedule. They all peeked in to say goodbye to Youngjae and Jaebeom, although Youngjae was actually sound asleep in Jaebeom’s arms when they left. It was very hard to motivate themselves to walk out the door and head to their schedule, when the only thing in the world that they wanted to do was curl up beside their member. They knew it was a sacrifice that came with their chosen career, though, and they powered through.

The interview went as best it could, the members definitely feeling the absence of both their leader and one of their precious maknaes. The other two remaining maknaes were on their best behaviors, making sure to act out enough to be silly, but not too much that it would cause any unnecessary stress on their Mark hyung. All in all they were only gone for a couple hours, but it really felt like a lifetime to them. Finally, their manager was driving them back to their dorm and they would be free for their break!

“What do you think Youngjae hyung presented as?” Yugyeom asked from his spot in the back seat.
“I think he is going to be an omega!” Bambam guessed. “I don’t know why, but it just seems right.”
“I think you’re wrong, he is going to be a beta,” Yugyeom countered. “He seems to fit that better.”
“Oh yeah?” Jackson asked. “He is probably going to prove the both of you wrong and present as an alpha. Seriously, the last thing that people thought I would present as was an omega and yet, look at me now.”
“Those people don’t know you then,” Mark teased. “You are the most clingy and touchy person on the planet. Of course you are an omega.”
“I can beat you up,” Jackson retorted, sticking out his tongue in reply.
“I’d like to see you try, Mr. Mark Hyungie Is My Alpha,” Mark countered. “You love me too much to beat me up.”
“Are we seriously having this debate right now?” Jinyoung asked in disbelief. “You two are literally the oldest members in this car, and yet you are acting like the youngest.”
“I already said that Mark hyungie is the Marknae,” Yugyeom pointed out. “I’ve seen the fans' comments, no one believes that hyung is actually the oldest.”
“It’s because I’m too beautiful and youthful,” Mark replied with a dramatic sigh. “It’s hard to be this good looking sometimes.”

Jackson smacked Mark hard on the arm at that.

“I’m prettier than you are!” Jackson protested. “We should post a poll on twitter and see what the fans actually think!”
“They would vote for me! I’m the visual, remember?” Mark replied, this time being the one to stick his tongue out.
“Okay, we are NOT doing that,” Jinyoung replied with a heavy put-upon sigh. “Why wasn’t I the one placed in charge? I’m going to have to have a conversation with Jaebeom hyung about this.”
“But what do you think he is going to present as, hyung?” Yugyeom asked, bringing the conversation back around to the original topic.
“I don’t know,” Jinyoung admitted with a shrug. “I don’t believe in any of the ‘stereotypes’ that people say they can see before you present. I think that, while yes I have qualities that are stereotypically beta, I also have other aspects as well. I think in a lot of ways that we present and then we adjust our worldview based on that. I presented as a beta and grew to appreciate being the ‘peacemaker’ more. I saw the way that my scent and my very presence was able to calm hyung, and I started to value that in myself more.”
“I can agree with that,” Jackson added with a nod. “When I first presented I didn’t like my presentation. I thought that my body had gotten it wrong. Over time though, especially with getting close to Mark hyung, I started to appreciate my desire to be close to others and to be a people person. Being the way that I am has opened me up to people that have really helped me out along the way. I grew to love being an omega--as Jinyoungie said, my worldview changed and I got to understand myself better.”

Yugyeom and Bambam listened to the conversation in awe. They truly couldn’t wait to have their own presentations and to be able to feel fully comfortable with who they were in their own skins. Presentation didn’t sound like it was about fitting some boxes that society said that you had to belong to. Rather, the hyungs were making presentation sound as if it were a big puzzle piece along the way to finding yourself.

Finally the members of GOT7 had made it back to the dorms and were making their way up the staircase to their apartment. The members felt like they had a weight off of their shoulders and were ready to take on the task of taking care of their presenting member. As they all piled in the hallway, kicking off their shoes, Jaebeom appeared in the entrance to the hall.

“Are you guys ready to come greet our newest beta?” Jaebeom asked with a grin.
“Ahh!!” Jackson squealed. “Our little otter is a beta! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!”
“You said he was going to surprise us and be an alpha,” Mark countered, slapping Jackson on the arm--retaliation for the earlier slap the boy had given him.
“I know not of what you speak,” Jackson pouted, rubbing at his arm as if Mark had really slapped him hard--they all knew the boy was milking it, Mark hadn’t actually hit him very hard.
“He’s in the living room if you want to see him,” Jaebeom offered, looking back and forth between Mark and Jackson and realizing he definitely missed some conversation.

Yugyeom and Bambam hurried to head into the living room to see Youngjae where he was now curled up on the couch under some blankets. Mark and Jackson were hot on their heels.

“How were they?” Jaebeom asked Jinyoung, the beta slowly walking towards the living room with Jaebeom by his side.
“Everyone was well behaved and the interview went really well,” Jinyoung replied. “How was Youngjae?”
“He was good,” Jaebeom replied. “I got him to take some medicine and he napped for a while. His full scent came out when he was napping. He was feeling much better when he woke up and I was able to get him to eat some food. I think he will just be tired for the next couple days, but the initial fever and extreme weakness has already passed.”
“If he's anything like me I was only majorly tired for about 24 hours,” Jinyoung supplied.
“Hey!” Jaebeom protested, stopping and staring at Jinyoung in accusation. “You made me wait on you hand and foot for like three days!”

Jinyoung just smirked at Jaebeom and made his way into the living room to crouch down in front of Youngjae and run his hands through the boy’s hair.

“How is our healthy beautiful beta?” Jinyoung asked, causing a blush to appear on Youngjae’s face at the compliment. “Does our Mokpo boy smell like the ocean?”
“Hyungie!” Youngjae said weakly, smiling softly at his older member. “I’m a beta like you!”
“And what a great beta you are going to be,” Jinyoung mused, patting the younger boy on the head in comfort. “Have you been getting good rest?”

Youngjae nodded, somehow looking even more innocent and adorable.

“Can you cuddle with me, hyung?” Youngjae shyly asked. “I want to take another nap and I just think that you would be really calming to have with me.”
“Of course, otter,” Jinyoung replied, shrugging off his jean jacket and handing it to Jaebeom who had followed him into the room.

Jinyoung wasted no time climbing on to the couch and curling up behind Youngjae, so that the younger member was cradled in his arms.

True to Jinyoung’s prediction, it took about 24 hours for Youngjae to start feeling like himself again. Those 24 hours were filled with a constant rotation of members cuddling up to and coddling Youngjae. The boy was hardly left alone during that time, and he enjoyed every second of it. Truthfully, the members were all stoked to be able to take some time to rest. It had been awhile since they had been given a break It felt like not long after they finished the promotions for GOT Love they were in the studio again working on the next big project: the first full length album. It was tentatively scheduled to be released in early to mid November, and all of the members were putting their every effort into ensuring that it would be their best album yet.

Finally, after Youngjae was up on his feet again, Jaebeom thought that it might be time to revisit the formation of their pack. Youngjae had shown great loyalty and love for his members. Only someone who really, truly, and deeply, in their heart felt that they had found their pack would present a couple days early. The thought made the other members of GOT7 grin whenever they thought about it. It only felt right that Youngjae witness the formation of the pack, but that left another problem...

“Can Bambam and I watch?” Yugyeom asked the morning that Jaebeom had planned for the formation of the pack.

Jaebeom and Jinyoung shared a look, unsure of what they should answer. While there was nothing innately sexual about the pack bite, they still had some valid worries. Mostly, they didn’t want to make the younger members feel left out. On the one hand, if they let them watch then they would feel left out that they weren’t joining the pack yet. On the other hand, if they didn’t let them watch then they were going to feel left out by ‘pack activities’.

“It would be nice to know what is going to happen in the future,” Bambam added. “I’ve always been kind of nervous about the whole pack bite thing, and it could ease my nerves.”
“He has a good point,” Jackson said around the bite of toast that he was eating.
“Gross!” Mark squealed, slapping Jackson on the arm. “You are getting toast and spit on me!”
“We are about to be a pack,” Jackson replied, rolling his eyes. “I’m about to get a whole lot of other things on you.”

Jinyoung almost choked on his bite of toast.

“Wang Jackson!” Jaebeom yelled. “Not around the children!”

Jackson pouted at the scolding, folding his arms across his chest but muttering a soft ‘sorry’ regardless.

“Someone is feisty this morning,” Mark sing-songed, taking a swig of his coffee.
“My inner omega is just excited and ready to be bonded with you all,” Jackson explained with a shrug. “When my Sunnie is excited, I guess I get feisty.”
“You NAMED your inner omega?!” Bambam asked in disbelief.
“Of course! Little Sunnie likes long walks on the beach and Whiskey Sours,” Jackson replied with a smug grin.
“Of course he does,” Mark replied, rolling his eyes. “We didn’t mean to get off track of your question though, Gyeom-ah. To answer it, I’m not sure it’s the best idea to let you guys watch aside from Youngjae. It’s just that you two haven’t presented yet. On the off-chance that things do get taken...um too far, I don’t think it’s appropriate to make you sit through it. I don’t want you to feel left out, though.”

Jackson was deep in thought trying to figure out how to appease everyone, when he was suddenly struck with an idea.

“You guys know how I’m good friends with Namjoon?” Jackson asked, receiving confused nods in reply. “Well he has a member born in 1997, too. His name is Jungkook and I think you guys would get along very well. He is also the youngest in the group and is the only one not presented and already in the pack.”
“That’s a great idea!” Jaebeom exclaimed. “Do you know if they are busy today?”
“If I get my phone from manager hyung then I can call and see if they are free,” Jackson replied, already getting up and heading towards their manager’s room. The man had some meetings in the afternoon, but he was currently in his room working on some schedules.

An hour and a phone call later, Yugyeom and Bambam were walking up to the BTS dorm feeling fairly nervous. Their manager had dropped them off, and they were making their way up to the dorm on their own. Bambam hesitated for a second before ringing the doorbell, realizing they didn’t personally know anyone in the dorm. They weren’t left to wait long, before a door was swung open and a bright smiling face greeted them.

“Hi!” the voice exclaimed, incredibly loud and reminding the boys of their Jackson hyung. “You can call me Hoseokie hyung! I’m so excited that you guys are over here to hang out with our Jungkookie.”
“Don’t scare them!” a voice called from behind the smiling Hoseok; a shorter man with a mop of dark hair walking forward. “Hi, I’m Yoongi. Sorry if he is a bit much.”
“I love it!” Bambam replied, genuinely grinning. “I’m Bambam and this is Yugyeom.”
“Come on in!” Hoseok said, opening the door as wide as possible and gesturing for the two boys to walk in.

--

Back at the GOT7 dorm the boys had all finished breakfast and were gathered in the living room. The general feel of the room was awkward, but also palpable excitement.

“So before we get started, are there any concerns that you guys have?” Jaebeom asked, sitting down on the loveseat and looking at the rest of his members that were currently gathered.

There was a moment of silence before a voice spoke up.

“I thought about this for a while,” Mark began, looking shyly down at the floor in front of him and awkwardly shifting. “But I do have something that I think is crucial to talk about.”

The boys all turned to look at Mark in confusion, wondering what the boy could be wanting to talk about.

“I...I know it’s not common here,” Mark began softly, his cheeks burning a little. “But it was something that I grew kind of...um, dreaming about. In America, when packs are formed it’s customary for the other members to take the last name of the pack alpha. It’s another way for everyone to feel like they are all close and bonded. Now, I’m not asking everyone to do that and I know that in public we would keep our names/stage names, I just wanted to know if you were alright if it was something that I did.”

Mark looked up slowly after having asked the question, nervously looking around at the other members to see their reactions. He didn’t know why, but in some ways this felt like a make or break moment for him.

Chapter Text

Chapter Eleven

“So you would want to take my last name legally?” Jaebeom asked, his voice sounding oddly choked up.
“Well yes,” Mark replied, and then quickly added. “Unless you aren’t comfortable with that, in which case I completely understand and you can just forget that I said anything. In fact, just forget I said anything.”
“No, no,” Jaebeom replied, rapidly shaking his head. “I think you misunderstand. I’m just incredibly touched that you would want to do that. I have no problem with you wanting to do that. Im Yi En or Mark Im, I like it.”
“I want to do it too!” Jackson exclaimed. “Im Jia Er. Jackson Im. Im Jackson Yep, they all sound great! Although, I’m still the king around here and no one shall forget it.”
“Whatever you say,” Mark muttered, rolling his eyes, and admittedly feeling incredibly relieved.
“I actually think this is incredibly sweet,” Jinyoung spoke up. “And as a way to honor Mark’s culture and upbringing, I really want to do so as well.”

Mark looked up in shock. He was admittedly not all that surprised that Jackson wanted to join him. Jackson and Mark just had this special bond--not that his bond wasn’t great with the others, he and Jackson just also had a shared background. Mark may be American, but he grew up in a proud Taiwanese American home and spoke the Chinese language. Jackson grew up in Hong Kong but went to an American International School. They got very close--inseparable--because of it. What Mark wanted to do, Jackson was usually very eager to tag along with. However, Jinyoung was very much his own man. Jinyoung, though very closely paired with Jaebeom, could be very independent.

“S..seriously?” Mark asked. “You don’t have to do that for me. I don’t want you to do something that you will regret.”
“I really don’t foresee a future in which I will regret taking the surname Im,” Jinyoung replied with a laugh. “Besides, there is already a Park Jinyoung in our company and this would be an excuse to eventually hopefully get him to stop calling me Junior. Im Jinyoung has a nice ring to it.”
“I would like to add that when I join I want to take our pack leader's name as well!” Youngjae added, receiving a crushing hug from Mark in return. “Maybe that way you guys will stop making fun of ‘Twae.’”
“You wish!” Jackson shot back, cackling at the memory. “Remember, you will still be Choi Youngjae to the public.”

Youngjae pouted...well as much as one can pout when now being crushed in a hug by both Mark and Jackson.

--

Over at the BTS dorm Yugyeom and Bambam were really enjoying their time there. They had been fed with delicious food from Seokjin, laughed like crazy with Hoseok who was teasing Yoongi, played games with Jungkook, Jimin and Taehyung, and helped save Namjoon from multiple clumsy disasters.

The older members eventually ran off to run errands, and Jimin and Taehyung had a practice for a performance they were doing. This left Bambam and Yugyeom alone in the dorm with Jungkook. Jungkook had popped some popcorn for them and they were hanging around eating and drinking colas.

“So all of your members are in a pack together?” Bambam asked as they were lounging around on the couches in the living room.
“Yeah, they’ve been a pack for awhile now,” Jungkook replied. “Jimin hyung and Taehyungie hyung are two years ahead of me.”
“Is Namjoon-ssi the pack leader?” Bambam asked, curious about the dynamics of the other group--he was too shy to ask when the other members were still there.

Jungkook shook his head in reply, swallowing his mouthful of popcorn.

“No, he thought it was too much with him being one of our main producers, our group leader, and our main rapper,” Jungkook explained. “Hoseok hyung is actually the pack leader.”
“So who is his second in command?” Yugyeom asked.

A second in command was the member of the pack who gave the pack alpha their pack bite. Supposedly, the second in command would be in charge of the pack when the pack alpha was not able to be present.

“Yoongi hyung,” Jungkook replied. “He and Hoseokie hyung are complete opposites, but they somehow work so well as a team.”

Yugyeom nodded in understanding, thinking of his own Mark hyung and Jackson hyung. They were opposites in so many ways, and yet they worked so well together. They seemed to bring out the best in each other.

“I hate to be the one to ask,” Bambam started, pausing to take a breath before continuing. “But how is it being the only one in the dorm with all of them in a pack together?”

Jungkook hesitated in answering for a moment.

“I’m not going to say that it doesn’t suck at times,” Jungkook admitted. “My members are pretty good at making sure that I feel included, but there is always a part of me that knows that they are bonded to each other in a way that I’m not. It makes me feel...well, quite frankly lonely.”

Yugyeom nodded in understanding and placed a comforting hand on the other boy’s arm.

“If I’m honest, I don’t know where I fit in the pack,” Jungkook continued. “They already have two alphas: Namjoon hyung and Hoseok hyung; two betas: Yoongi hyung and Jimin hyung; and two omegas: Seokjin hyung and Taehyungie hyung. I don’t feel like they need me. What dynamics are in your group?”
“Jaebeom hyung and Mark hyung are alphas, Jinyoung hyung and now Youngjae hyung are betas and Jackson hyung is an omega,” Bambam replied.
“Have you talked to your hyungs about the way that you feel?” Yugyeom asked delicately, latching on to Jungkook's feeling of unwantedness--Yugyeom knew that he too was going to by far be the last one to join the GOT7 pack and couldn’t help but relate to Jungkook.
“No, this is actually the first time that I’ve ever said those thoughts out loud,” Jungkook admitted. “It feels nice to have someone to talk to.”

Yugyeom and Bambam beamed and nodded their heads in agreement.

“I’m sure they want you to join their pack,” Bambam added, his voice sounded very secure and like he was confident about the words that he was saying. “Even spending the short amount of time with them that we did, it was so clear how much they treasure you.”

Jungkook felt his cheeks heat up at those words.

“When will you be able to join the pack?” Yugyeom asked.
“My birthday is September 1st,” Jungkook replied. “So a month after that. What about you guys?”
“I’m May 2nd,” Bambam replied.
“And like always I’m the baby,” Yugyeom whined. “I’m November 17th.”
“You sound like a baby,” Bambam said, copying Yugyeom’s whine and causing Yugyeom to tackle him.

Jungkook somehow got involved in the wrestling that was happening, and not five minutes later found the three of them a mess of laughter on the floor.

--

“So one last question before we begin,” Jaebeom said, bringing the focus of the room back on himself. “Who is going to be the second in command?”
“I think you as pack alpha should pick,” Jackson pointed out. “I mean based on good looks alone, you should go with me, but it’s your choice.”
“Because good looks are what qualify you for that role?” Jinyoung asked, narrowing his eyes in disbelief.
“I would win if that were the case,” Mark interjected. “I am the visual, after all. Okay, but seriously Jaebeom you should pick. Your second should be someone that you are the most comfortable with, and you should be able to understand each other well. I think we all know who that should be, but I’m not going to be the one to say it. It needs to be you.”

Jaebeom pondered Mark’s words for a moment before he nodded his head in understanding. Mark was right. Deep down inside he knew exactly who should fill the role as his second.

“Jinyoung-ah,” Jaebeom spoke softly. “Will you do me the honors of being my second?”

Jinyoung looked up in shock, honestly thinking the Jaebeom was going to choose Mark over himself. Mark was another alpha, and some packs thought it was good to have both your leader and your second to be an alpha.

“Seriously?” Jinyoung asked, his voice cracking a little on the word.
“JJ PROJECT!” Jackson yelled out, causing Youngjae to jump in his seat in fright. “Do the JJ Cross! Do the JJ Cross!”

Jaebeom and Jinyoung rolled their eyes, but ultimately appeased the boy who claps and cheers at its completion. Jaebeom’s eyes turned to thin slits with how much he was beaming at the other boy. The moment had finally come, and they both knew it. He grabbed hold of Jinyoung’s hand and started to walk him towards an empty couch.

“Are you ready?” Jaebeom asked softly, the question only meant for Jinyoung who nodded in agreement.
“I’ve been ready for awhile now, hyung,” Jinyoung whispered back.

Jaebeom sat down on the couch, pulling Jinyoung on to his lap so that the other boy was straddling him. Jinyoung’s breath caught in his throat as he felt Jaebeom place small kisses up his throat on the opposite side of his scent gland. The kisses were delicate and feather light and Jinyoung felt shivers through his body. Jaebeom opened his jaw wider and clamped down on the crook of Jinyoung’s neck with enough force to break through the skin. Jinyoung always thought that the pack bite had to hurt at least a little bit, but he was wrong. He felt higher than he had ever felt before, like he was floating on a cloud. Colors rushed behind his closed eye lids and the universe felt like it was slotting itself into place. It took him a few moments to gather himself, before he opened his eyes once more to see Jaebeom staring down at him in concern.

“Are you okay?” Jaebeom asked in a rush. “I didn’t hurt you did I?”

Rather than answering Jaebeom, Jinyoung leaned forward and pulled the older boy into a deep kiss letting his lips answer the question in another way.

“I’ve never been better, hyung,” Jinyoung replied when he pulled apart from the kiss, panting a bit at the intensity of it.

Jinyoung pecked at Jaebeom’s lips, before making his way down the boy’s jaw and throat until he got to where he was going to give the leader his very own pack bite. Unable to wait any longer to be completely bonded with Jaebeom, Jinyoung copied the earlier actions of his hyung and bit down on the crook of Jaebeom’s neck. Jaebeom let out a small gasp, his eyes fluttering shut as he too felt the intense emotions and feelings of getting the pack bite. Jaebeom’s recovery time was about the same as Jinyoung’s, and a few moments later the leader appeared to have gathered himself once more.

“Well that was both hot and adorable!” Jackson exclaimed, causing the two on the couch to jump for a moment.

It wasn’t necessarily that they had forgotten that the others were in the room, but that they had gotten so caught up in their feelings that they were distracted from it.

“Are you going to give me soft sweet kisses too, hyung?” Jackson teased, making heart fluttering motions and noises with his hands.

Jaebeom blushed, realizing that he had just had his first very intimate kisses with Jinyoung. He had been so caught up in the moment that he hadn’t really processed the meaning of it. Not all packs had a sexual element to the relationship between all members. There were packs where there were both sexual and platonic relationships. He didn’t want to cross the line with anyone if that wasn’t what they wanted.

“I--I’m,” Jaebeom stuttered out. “I don’t have to make anyone else’s like that. I don’t want to do something that you don’t want me to do. I can…”
“He is just teasing, Jaebeom,” Mark interjected, loudly slapping Jackson on the arm. “Do whatever you are comfortable with. I know that both Jackson and I are very willing to explore the romantic and sexual side of this as well, but do it on your own terms. We know that you have known Jinyoung much longer than us, so things might be at a different level for you.”
“Yeah hyung, I was just joking. You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to,” Jackson stated, his joking manner vanishing for a few moments.
“And if you don’t want to hear any more of his jokes, you can always gag him,” Mark added on with a smirk aimed at Jackson. “He doesn’t need his mouth for this.”
“MARK!” Jackson squealed, slapping Mark on the arm in protest.

Jaebeom gathered himself once more and turned to Jinyoung.

“I can’t believe I even thought for a second someone else could be my second,” Jaebeom said with mock seriousness. “They both fight like toddlers.”
“Hey!” Mark and Jackson protested in unison.
“It’s true, they do,” Youngjae cheekily added in, causing both Mark and Jackson to turn on the younger boy and tackle him.

Jinyoung and Jaebeom just watched the scene unfold in front of them in contentment.

“I’m really glad we all got put together,” Jinyoung admitted softly, adjusting himself so that he was sat curled up beside Jaebeom and could lay his head on the other’s shoulder.
“Me too,” Jaebeom admitted. “I didn’t even realize what I was missing before they joined us.”

Jaebeom felt at peace, and he couldn’t even imagine how he would feel after the next two pack bites. He knew that this day was going to be one that he looked back on very fondly in the future.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twelve

Mark and Jackson finally stopped play-fighting with Youngjae and the living room settled into calmness once more. Mark and Jackson looked at each other, realizing that they needed to decide between the two of them who was going to go next. Mark glanced over at Jaebeom before making a decision in his mind. He took a deep breath and gathered the strength to speak his mind.

“I...I think that maybe I should go next,” Mark awkwardly suggested, trying to sound confident and sure but not too demanding. “I know that we always joke about it, but there is a level of possessiveness that I have when it comes to Jackson. I think I need Jaebeom to make me a part of the pack to appease my alpha, before he gives the bite to Jackson. If that’s okay, that is.”

Mark hesitantly glanced over at Jaebeom.

“That’s completely understandable as another alpha,” Jaebeom answered, an idea forming in his mind of how he would handle Mark and the pack bite.

Jaebeom gestured for Mark to come join him on the couch. Mark quickly obeyed, standing before the couch only moments later because of his haste.

“How do you want me?” Mark asked, hesitating once in front of the couch.

Jaebeom grabbed onto the other boy's arm and gently tugged until Mark fell down on the couch. Jinyoung had moved to sit on the far right side of the couch, giving Jaebeom and Mark all of the room on the other side. Jaebeom pushed Mark backwards until his head was fully rested against the armrest and his hair was spilling over the side of the couch. Jaebeom then fully climbed onto Mark, straddling his hips. The other boy’s breath hitched at the show of dominance from Jaebeom, his heart beginning to race in his chest.

“Are you sure you are okay with exploring the sexual side?” Jaebeom asked in a breathy whisper, leaning down towards Mark from his position above him.
“Yes,” Mark answered,his pupils dilating and his breath quickening. “A million times, yes.”

That was all the Jaebeom needed to hear before leaning fully down and pulling Mark into a very intense kiss that was so different from the ones he had just experienced. His overall interaction with Jinyoung had been more delicate and soft. Kissing Jinyoung had been comforting and the feeling of home. This kiss with Mark was like taking a wild ride. It was an adventure. Jaebeom was sort of testing their inner alphas’ levels of dominance. Jaebeom’s alpha was making sure Mark’s inner alpha was really willing to belong to a pack led by another alpha.

Mark moaned under him, his head turning a little in the kiss to expose his vulnerable neck. This was the sign Jaebeom was looking for. Without a moment’s hesitation, Jaebeom leaned down and sunk his teeth into Mark’s neck. Mark let out a loud gasp, his back arching and his head sliding even further over the armrest of the couch.

The feeling was intense for all three parties who were now part of the pack. Jaebeom could feel Mark slotting into his mind. He could feel the whirl of emotions, thoughts, and the general presence and essence of Mark. It was like another piece to the puzzle--the puzzle itself changing shape to fit his new piece and feeling all the more complete for it. Jaebeom slumped against Mark who was very much off in his own world.

Mark felt like he could feel the pack bite traveling all through his body, enveloping all of his veins. It was taking his essence and making him a part of something greater.

Jinyoung had closed his eyes at the intense rush of emotions that felt like they tangibly swept over him. He could feel Mark being added to the bond, an even greater sense of calm and peace washing over him with the feeling of just how right the addition seemed.

“Woah, that was insane!” Jackson exclaimed when all three boys seemed to finally be back into their right states of mind.

Jackson was clutching Youngjae’s hand tightly, neither one letting go while watching the intense ordeal.

“Are you alright?” Jaebeom asked, picking himself up off of Mark and grabbing the other boy’s hand to pull him upright as well. “It wasn’t too intense?”
“No, it was perfect,” Mark replied, shaking his head and feeling absent-mindedly at the pack bite on his neck. “It was like you knew exactly what I needed to get over that annoying hurdle of my inner alpha’s dominance.”
“So are you ready to add our omega?” Jaebeom asked, looking at both Mark and Jinyoung in question.
“The omega is ready!” Jackson exclaimed before either of the others could reply.

Jackson squeezed Youngjae’s hand tightly before letting go and jumping up off the couch to join Mark, Jaebeom and Jinyoung. Mark had moved to sit down next to Jinyoung, so that the entire left side of the couch was free for Jaebeom and Jackson.

“Are you going to go all rough and alpha on me too?” Jackson teased, causing Jaebeom to roll his eyes.
“You might have been on to something when you suggested gagging him,” Jaebeom replied, glancing over at Mark who giggled and nodded.
“Hey!” Jackson pouted. “You know you love me! I’m the reason this group has so much fun!”

Jaebeom grabbed a hold of Jackson’s hand and pulled him down onto the couch.

“Is that so?” Jaebeom teased, pulling Jackson into a delicate kiss that sent shivers down both boys’ bodies.

When he pulled back, Jackson was looking at him speechless. Jaebeom smirked and leaned back in to kiss Jackson once more, this time making it much more sensual and a lot less innocent. Jackson was breathing heavily and looking at Jaebeom was lust in his eyes when they finally parted.

“Are you ready to become our omega?” Jaebeom growled into Jackson’s ear, receiving only a frantic nod from the younger boy who was at a loss for words.

Jaebeom smirked once more, placing his hands on Jackson’s head to push it to the side and expose his neck. Jaebeom leaned down and sucked a hickey onto the younger boy’s upper neck.

“Hyung!” Jackson groaned in complaint, his impatience clear in his whine.

Jaebeom chuckled as he nosed against Jackson’s neck, moving to lay light delicate kisses all the way down to the crook. He finally decided he didn’t need to make the boy wait any longer. He clenched his jaw down, biting into the boy’s neck. Jaebeom felt a shiver run through his body. There had been an element of protectiveness that he felt when he bonded with Jinyoung and Mark, but this felt different. Jaebeom could feel not only his desire to protect their omega, but Jinyoung’s and Mark’s desires as well. Jaebeom clutched onto Jackson, pulling him even tighter in his arms. Jackson’s eyes blinked open after a few moments, looking a little dazed but ultimately very happy.

“Hyung,” Jackson said softly after a few moments. “You are crushing me.”

Jaebeom reluctantly let go, smiling down at Jackson who was now laid backwards on the couch looking very much like Mark had not long before. Jackson sat up, a smirk appearing on his face.

“You are gonna be overly protective, aren’t you hyung?” Jackson asked. “I can feel it through our connection.”
“It’s not just me, it’s them too!” Jaebeom defended, pointing accusingly at Mark and Jinyoung.
“You know you love it,” Mark argued, rolling his eyes with a fond smile on his face. “You want all the attention you can get.”

Jackson put on his best pouting face and stood up, reaching his arms out towards Youngjae.

“Youngjae-yah,” Jackson said with his best puppy dog expression, walking over to the other boy. “They are being mean to me.”

Jackson launched himself on top of Youngjae, tackling the surprised boy onto the couch. Youngjae squealed and began to laugh so hard that it sounded painful. Once they finally calmed down, Jaebeom suggested that they get out the mats so that they could all cuddle in the living room and put on a movie. Jackson called the manager who picked up Yugyeom and Bambam and dropped them off so that they could join. About thirty minutes later, all seven members were in pajamas, cuddled on the floor, with massive bowls of popcorn.

“How was it meeting the Bangtan boys?” Jackson asked Yugyeom who he held tightly in his arms.
“They were great!” Yugyeom replied, his words rushing out in his excitement. “They were all so nice. Jungkookie was really great. We get along so well. There is so much we have in common.”

The other members couldn’t help but smile at the maknae’s excitement.

“I’m glad you had a great time,” Jinyoung spoke up. “It’s good for you guys to make some idol friends who understand what you are going through.”
“Yeah, it was good to have someone to talk to that wasn’t you guys,” Bambam admitted, and then cringed and added on. “No offense.”
“Don’t worry, we get it,” Jaebeom replied. “You do need to have someone to talk to that isn’t in this group. We already live together and work together. Everyone needs someone outside of the people that they spend almost 24/7 with.”

Bambam breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, glad that his members seemed to really understand him.

(PREVIEW)

Being in a kpop group was hard. There were a lot of late nights coupled with early mornings. There was a lot of practicing so hard and for so long that your muscles felt like they were going to quit in protest. It was insane hours, lots of pressure to perfect, and a lot of highs and lows. Add to this having to go to school, it sometimes felt absolutely impossible. It helped a lot that he was going to an arts high school, so the teachers were incredibly understanding. However, that didn’t always mean that the other students were as understanding. As one can imagine, the students that didn't debut yet could be more than a little bit jealous. He usually tried to let it roll off his back, but this time… this time things went too far.

Chapter Text

Chapter Thirteen

Being in a kpop group was hard. There were a lot of late nights coupled with early mornings. There was a lot of practicing so hard and for so long that your muscles felt like they were going to quit in protest. It was insane hours, lots of pressure to be perfect, and a lot of highs and lows. Add to this having to go to school, it sometimes felt absolutely impossible. It helped a lot that he was going to an arts high school, so the teachers were incredibly understanding. However, that didn’t always mean that the other students were as understanding. As one can imagine, the students that hadn’t had their debut yet could be more than a little bit jealous. He usually tried to let it roll off his back, but this time… this time things went too far.

There were three boys who seemed hell-bent on making Yugyeom’s life absolutely miserable. They would make comments to him about how terrible of a singer, a dancer, and a person he was. His lanky build and his prominent high nose were a common favorite to mock. Yugyeom could mostly let those comments roll off his back. He was in an officially debuted group, and he knew that you didn’t debut at JYP if you weren’t incredibly good. Yugyeom had seen his competition in his fellow trainees every single day. He knew what he was up against.

The boys’ comments turned to small shoves and shoulder slams when he was walking by them. One time a boy even stuck out his foot and attempted to trip Yugyeom--although, joke was on them because Yugyeom didn’t fall on his face since he had incredible balance as a dancer.

Today...well today they took it to the next level. Yugyeom wasn’t always in school. In fact, most of the time he did his school work “from home”--usually studios or waiting rooms. However, with about a week off of major promotions and events, Yugyeom was expected to go in for the full week. After the week they were going full force with prep for ‘Around the World’ their first Japanese release. Yugyeom was really excited for their Japanese debut, and knew that he just needed to power through this week. That wasn’t made easy though. Day one had been bad. Day two… well there was a reason he was now sitting in the reception area of the principal’s office icing his face--that hopefully wouldn’t bruise too badly--and having his knuckles tended to by the nurse.

Yeah...his parents weren’t going to be too happy. He assumed that would be who the school would call. They lived in Gyeonggi-do, so it might take them a little bit to come--but it had to be them, right? Surely the school wouldn’t call management...right?

Right as the nurse finished bandaging his knuckles, the door to the office opened. In walked the last people that Yugyeom expected to see. If not his parents, he expected his manager to walk in or even some member of the JYP staff. There was no scenario in which he expected to look up and see Jaebeom and Jinyoung walking through that door. To say they didn’t look happy...yeah, that would be an understatement. Yugyeom didn’t know if he had ever seen either of his hyungs look so peeved before.

“Hyungs--” Yugyeom said softly in pleading, but got cut off by Jaebeom holding up his hand.

Yugyeom caught Jinyoung’s eye, but the other boy shook his head. Now was not the time, they would discuss things later.

“Hi, we are here for Yugyeom,” Jaebeom said to the receptionist in the office, turning towards the older woman in a green polka dot dress and giving her a weak smile.
“Ah! You must be two of his members?” the lady asked, glancing between the two very handsome young men. “Your manager mentioned that he would be sending some of you.”
“Yes, Im Jaebeom and Park Jinyoung,” Jaebeom replied.
“The principal is with the other boy and his parents,” the receptionist explained, and then gestured to the seats next to Yugyeom. “If you would like to sit and wait with Yugyeom, he will be with you momentarily.”

Jaebeom thanked her and moved to sit down next to his maknae. Jaebeom sat on the boy's left, while Jinyoung sat down on his right. Despite his actual parents not being called, Yugyeom couldn’t help but feel like he was sat between two parental figures. The wait seemed like forever, but finally Young-suk and his parents left--including an awkward greeting between the two parties--before Yugyeom and his hyungs were called in.

Principal Choi gestured for the three of them to sit down across from his desk in three chairs that had been pre-placed for them.

“I take it you are two members of his group?” Principal Choi asked, looking at the two boys who were much too young to be the boy’s guardians but looked nothing like Yugyeom so he knew they couldn’t be siblings.
“Yes sir,” Jaebeom replied. “I’m the leader of the group and pack Im Jaebeom. This is my second Park Jinyoung.”

The principal did a double take at hearing both of their names. It was a fairly common occurrence whenever they introduced themselves.

“Yes, believe it or not we both have names of other famous people,” Jinyoung replied softly, the sides of his lips curling up in a soft smile.

Principal Choi nodded and decided that it was time to get down to business, looking at the boy who was slouched in the middle seat looking like he wanted to be anywhere in the world other than here.

“Yugyeom here is usually a model student,” Principal Choi began. “He does all of his school work on time--an impressive feat when you consider how much he is having to juggle.”

Yugyeom felt his cheeks heating up a little at the compliment.

“This behavior is unusual for him,” Principal Choi continued. “I understand that some comments were made by the other student to Yugyeom that sent him over the edge.”

Jaebeom glanced sideways at the boy next to him, curious about that remark. He couldn’t help but wonder what the other boy could have said that would have riled up their maknae that much.

“I am addressing the matter of the other student and his supposed continued harassment of some of the other students. However, regardless of the situation, this school does not tolerate fighting on any level,” Principal Choi emphasized. “So therefore I feel that we have no choice but to suspend Yugyeom for the rest of this week.”

Yugyeom tried not to look too relieved at that. He couldn’t help but feel like that honestly would be better for him anyway. He was feeling overly tired with how many activities and promotions that they had been doing lately. GOT7 was releasing not one, not two, not even three, but four songs in their debut year. Three Korean title tracks and one Japanese title track. Yugyeom loved every second of it, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t tired at the end of the day.

“I will be providing an essay prompt for Yugyeom to write about what he could have done to handle the situation better. It must be turned in by the end of his suspension,” Principal Choi continued.
“We are very sorry for our youngest member’s behavior,” Jaebeom apologized, bowing his head. “We promise to address the situation with him and ensure that there will not be a repeat.”
“Thank you so much for your time and we will let you get on with your day,” Jinyoung said, standing and pulling Yugyeom to stand alongside him.

Jinyoung elbowed Yugyeom in the ribs, prompting the other boy to bow deeply and mutter his apology to the principal for his behavior. After he raised back up, Jinyoung put his arm around the other boy and proceeded to direct him out of the office. They waited in the outer office for about another minute for Jaebeom to finally join them. It was silent all the way back to the car, and Yugyeom could feel his nerves growing with the extended silence. Jaebeom walked up to the driver’s door and unlocked the car for them all. He got in without a word, while Jinyoung opened Yugyeom’s door and encouraged the boy to enter the car with a nice resounding slap to his rear. Yugyeom yelped in surprise, but held his tongue. Arguing with his hyungs would certainly not get him anywhere.

Once the car was on the move, Jinyoung pulled out his phone to call their manager and put it on speaker.

“Hello?” their manager asked.
“Hyung, it’s Jinyoung,” Jinyoung explained. “We have picked up Yugyeom and we are taking him back to the dorms. He has been suspended for the rest of the week.”
“I talked to the principal and he assured me that there is no video evidence and that the students are all being reminded that they are not allowed to discuss any incident involving Yugyeom,” Jaebeom added.
“We are lucky he has such an understanding principal,” the manager spoke up, and Yugyeom couldn’t help but silently agree with him. “Am I to understand that you will handle the consequences.”
“Yes, hyung,” Jaebeom replied, turning his turn signal on and switching lanes. “You can trust us.”
“Like I said I will be in Busan for the rest of the week,” the manager added. “Call me if you need anything and I will ensure another member of the staff handles it. You guys should all be left alone for the time being.”
“Thanks hyung,” Jinyoung replied.
“Anything for my favorite boys,” the manager replied with a teasing tone before hanging up.

Yugyeom gulped, understanding that their manager was ensuring they were going to be left on their own so they could deal with and handle Yugyeom’s punishment.

Yugyeom followed slowly behind his hyungs when they got back to their dorms. He was not looking forward to their conversation, and was very happy to postpone it for as long as possible. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make the walk actually last forever so before he knew it he was standing just inside their dorm taking off his shoes and adding them to the overflowing pile on the rack.

“Why don’t you head into the living room and sit down. I’m going to gather the others so we can talk,” Jinyoung ordered, gesturing with his hand towards the living room--as if Yugyeom didn’t know where it was.

Yugyeom hesitated for only a brief moment before nodding in resignation, and turning and doing what his hyung asked of him.

“What’s going on Jinyoungie?” Mark asked when Jinyoung walked into the ‘Markson’ shared bedroom. “I could feel your disappointment and confusion through the pack bond.”
“You two should come to the living room,” Jinyoung replied with a dramatic sigh. “Our maknae got himself into some trouble at school.”

Jackson and Mark shared a look, before nodding and following after Jinyoung. The only other member who was at home was Bambam who was completing his schooling in Thailand through an online program. Jinyoung hesitated before the boy’s closed bedroom door, unsure if he should grab their Thai member as well.

“We can fill him in later,” Jaebeom suggested, walking up behind Jinyoung and putting his arms around the younger boy in a back hug. “I don’t know if he is taking an online test or even on a live call. We don’t need to disturb another of our member’s schooling.”

Jinyoung melted into the back hug, so relieved to take in Jaebeom’s comfort. The two stood there for a few moments before walking into the living room where Mark and Jackson were now fussing over Yugyeom’s bruises on his face.

“So Yugyeom,” Jaebeom said, sitting down on the love seat and pulling Jinyoung to sit next to him. “I know that the principal gave us an overview of what happened, but I would really love to hear it from your point of view.”

Yugyeom hesitated for a few moments, unsure of how exactly to explain to his hyungs what had transpired earlier that day.

“I…there are these three guys at school who have been making things pretty hard for me for a while now,” Yugyeom explained. “Usually it’s dumb comments and I just let it slide, especially because I’m hardly ever there in person.”

Yugyeom paused in his story and shifted on the couch, feeling nervous because he could feel all of his hyungs’ attention on him even if he was staring at his hands.

“Then yesterday they accelerated into tripping, knocking into me, and lightly shoving me when given the chance,” Yugyeom explained. “I still brushed it off with the thought that after this week I would be so busy for a while that I wouldn’t have to see them much again and they would move on to someone else.”

Jaebeom really wanted to argue with that logic, but Jinyoung reached over and squeezed his hand signaling for him to hold his comments until after Yugyeom finished the story. This was Yugyeom’s time to speak.

“So today they started in on me early, bothering me even before classes started,” Yugyeom continued. “They shoved me in the hallway. They made fun of my singing voice, saying that it’s too nasally--once again, nothing new. It was at lunch time that Young-suk started in on you guys, starting to make fun of you guys one by one. He was alone because the other two had to talk with the Math teacher. Me--me I could handle him making fun of, but the moment that he started to make fun of my hyungs...I saw red. I don’t know what took over me, but I punched Young-suk in the face. As you can imagine, a brawl broke out and well...here we are.”

Jaebeom felt a massive wave of love and affection go through the pack bond from those sitting in the room. He himself couldn’t help but stare at their maknae with deep adoration and affection.

“Yugyeomie,” Jackson said, his voice a little shakier than they were used to hearing it. “I--I don’t even have words!”

Jackson got up, ran over, and crushed their maknae in a hug.

“Hyung!” Yugyeom whined after a few moments of being crushed against his hyung. “I need to breathe!”

Jackson chuckled and pulled away from the boy a little, but still kept him in his arms.

“Gyeomie,” Jinyoung said, causing the youngest to turn his head and look at his other hyung--well as much as he could in Jackson’s grip. “We are incredibly honored and proud to be your hyungs. You protecting us like that...I don’t even have the vocabulary to put those feelings to words.”
“You guys are my hyungs and I also hope, my future packmates,” Yugyeom replied with a shrug. “I would do anything for you guys.”
“That’s incredibly sweet Gyeom-ah,” Jaebeom said with a fond smile. “I completely understand the protectiveness that you feel. However, we do need to talk about you getting into a physical altercation. That part, I’m not too happy with.”

Yugyeom nodded and hung his head in shame. He knew this was coming.

“As someone who is prone to losing their temper, I get it,” Jaebeom continued with a sigh. “But as you’ve seen, I’ve been working on it. It is best for this entire group that I do. Just like it’s best for the group if you are not seen brawling with others.”
“I--I know,” Yugyeom replied. “I lost my head for a minute there. He just irked me so much I couldn’t take it anymore.”
“We will definitely be contacting the school about the way that you have been treated,” Mark added in, speaking up for the first time. “That’s not acceptable and you shouldn’t have to deal with it.”
“He’s right!” Jackson said vehemently, nodding his head.
“Oh believe me, I already have the manager on it,” Jaebeom replied. “For now, all we can do is talk about how you reacted and come up with solutions so that it doesn’t happen again.”
“I know it’s hard sometimes,” Jinyoung said. “But we do have an idol image that we have to think about. There is not a minute outside of these dorms where we don’t have to think about the way that we are being viewed. Anything can find its way onto the internet. It’s an incredible burden, and I’m sorry that it’s one that you are facing at such a young age.”
“The only thing that we can promise you is that you are not alone and that any time you need to talk about the way that you are feeling our door is wide open,” Jaebeom added.
“Thanks hyungs,” Yugyeom replied with a sigh and a nod. “I get it. It’s hard, and sometimes I feel upset that I don't get to be a teenager in the way that my friends do. I wouldn’t change this for anything, though. I love my career and I love you guys.”
“We literally have the best maknae ever!” Jackson squealed, pulling Yugyeom close once again. “We love you so much Gyeomie!”

Mark chuckled and got up to make his way across the room to join Jackson and Yugyeom.

“I love you too,” Mark said, pulling Yugyeom out of Jackson’s arms and into his own. “I may express it with a lot less squealing, but you are my baby and I love you.”
“Hyung...I’m taller than you,” Yugyeom reminded and then screeched when Mark turned the hug into an attack of tickles. “Okay! Okay! I’m your baby!”

Mark smirked and gave Yugyeom a kiss on the top of his head.

“Now as your baby,” Yugyeom continued. “Do you think you can persuade hyung to not spank me?”
“I couldn’t persuade Jaebeom to not spank ME,” Mark replied with a chuckle. “So good luck with that.”

Yugyeom groaned but got up and looked over at Jaebeom.

“Can we please get it over with?” Yugyeom asked. “It’s killing me to wait in suspense.”
“Okay,” Jaebeom said, standing up and gesturing for Yugyeom to head towards Jaebeom and Youngjae’s room.

Jaebeom stopped Yugyeom before he could walk by, pulling him into a hug that Jinyoung joined from the back.

“We love you makane-yah,” Jaebeom whispered. “Please come talk to us next time.”
“I will,” Yugyeom promised.
“Don’t think I won’t kick the ass of anyone who comes for my pup,” Jinyoung whispered.
“Okay mom,” Yugyeom replied, rolling his eyes and receiving a playful flick on his forehead.
“Now you best go off with dad,” Jinyoung said, pulling away from the hug. “So that mom can smother you with love right after.”
“Looking forward to it,” Yugyeom replied, feeling Jaebeom grab on to the back of his neck and start to steer him towards his room.

Yeah, getting your ass handed to you sucked...but the love and affection that he felt afterwards made it all worth it. Yugyeom wouldn’t trade his hyungs for anything.

Chapter Text

Chapter Fourteen

Waiting a month for the pack bite probably works perfectly fine for most people--most people as long as they are not in a Kpop group that is incredibly busy and spending the majority of their time not in their pack dorm. Youngjae understood why it was suggested to wait for the bite. One needed time to process their presentation, and they needed to be absolutely sure that the pack they were choosing was the one that was right for them. Pack bonds were no joke to break, and no one should treat them like they were. Youngjae was absolutely sure his pack was the one that he wanted to be with. His body even forced an early presentation on him because he was that sure. What he didn’t anticipate was being in the middle of their first Japanese tour when he was supposedly ready for the bite.

Youngjae didn’t think that the other members forgot about the date that Youngjae could get the bite...he just thinks maybe with everything going on that they didn’t have time to think about it. Youngjae was so excited to be touring in Japan. They had previously done two shows as a part of their debut showcase in April, but this was a real life tour with nine shows in five cities throughout Japan. It was very much everything that Youngjae had dreamed of growing up, he was supposed to be over the moon with excitement. That’s not to say that he wasn’t, but there was very much a part of him that felt--well felt sad and disconnected. He just wanted to belong. He wanted to belong so badly. Since no one had said anything, Youngjae assumed that he would have to wait until after the tour to join the pack, meaning he would have to wait in this feeling of limbo for even longer. He was admittedly too afraid to bring it up, since he didn’t want to be disappointed with the answer. The not knowing was driving him nuts, though.

It was October 15th, two days before Youngjae would be ready for the bite and their last concert in Tokyo before heading to their next stop in Nagoya. The concert went amazingly well, the fans loved every second of their show. The boys all walked off the stage feeling a complete high from the concert. They all went back to the hotel and hung out in Mark and Jackson’s shared room, eating lots of food and drinking (“Non-alcoholic for the babies,” as Jackson teased.)

“This is what I was born to do,” Bambam squealed, dancing a little with fried chicken held in his hands. “That was the best crowd. Even with them being a little bit quieter because that’s the way it tends to be in Japan, you could still just tell how much they were enjoying themselves.”
“I was so on tonight!” Yugyeom added. “I nailed all those dance moves.”

Jabeom couldn’t help but beam at his two youngest, so happy to see both of them fulfilled.

“I’m so incredibly proud of all of us,” Jinyoung said with a smile, taking a sip of his beer. “If it wasn’t for our great teamwork we never would have been able to do a show like this. No offense to Jaebeom hyung, but this truly felt like nothing that we have ever done before!”
“None taken, Nyeongie,” Jaebeom replied with a smile. “I whole-heartedly agree. We were missing pieces when we were just JJ Project. We didn’t know it at the time, but there was absolutely something missing.”
“Awe!!!!” Jackson squealed, standing up and dropping his piece of pizza back on his plate. “Hyungie!”

Jackson practically jumped across the table to pull Jaebeom and Jinyoung into a hug.

“We love you too!” Jackson practically yelled in their ears, causing them to wince at how loud he was being.
“Jackson,” Mark said with a chuckle. “You can love them without suffocating them and screaming in their ears.”
“I’m sorry, doesn’t compute,” Jackson said, shaking his head, but pulling away nonetheless and heading back to his spot to continue eating his pizza, fried chicken, and pasta--yeah, they weren’t exactly healthy with their choices this evening.
“Jackson hyung doing math, now that’s a laugh,” Bambam teased, receiving a slice of pizza tossed at his head in retaliation.
“Shove it,” Jackson said, sticking his tongue out. “Markie hyung thinks I’m a genius, right?”
“Whatever gets you to sleep at night,” Mark replied flippantly, taking a big bite of pizza and rolling his eyes.

The rest of the evening went by quickly with that light and playful mood. The next thing they knew they were all heading to bed to rest up. They would have a free day the following day where they could hang around Tokyo, and then the next day they were headed to Nagoya where they were scheduled to practice, and record in a studio for the couple days before the first concert there.

The room arrangements on the tour were pretty much going to be the same throughout. Mark and Jackson shared because they were incredibly close, and Jackson loved to be very clingy with Mark who didn’t mind. Jinyoung was sharing with Yugyeom, and Jaebeom was sharing with Bambam--the hyungs feeling like there would be nothing but chaos if Yugyeom and Bambam shared together. That meant that Youngjae got a room by himself, something that he should be incredibly happy with according to the others. He knew objectively that it was nice to have a place to go to get away from the chaos of the other members. Normally he would actually be happy with it...but right now, right now it just seemed to leave him with nothing but his thoughts which weren’t exactly happy.

What...what if it wasn’t just that they were busy and they hadn’t brought up Youngjae joining the pack. What if it was actually that they didn’t want Youngjae to join the pack? Maybe after spending so much time with him, they had all changed their minds?

Youngjae started to feel a tightness in his chest, and it began to feel like it was hard to get a full breath. He began to pace, trying to get rid of the feeling. His skin began to feel slightly itchy, as if his body wasn’t his own but something outside of himself. A dampness began to appear below his eyes, and Youngjae bit down on his fist in an attempt to muffle a sob. His room was in between Mark and Jackson’s room and Jaebeom and Bambam’s room. The walls were not exactly soundproof, so he didn’t want to risk anyone hearing his panic.

Knock-Knock.

Youngjae froze and looked at the door in confusion, making no move to go answer it. Turns out he didn’t need to, since he heard a key being inserted into the slot and the door opening to reveal Jaebeom. Jaebeom froze in the doorway for a second, before gathering himself and running over to Youngjae and pulling the younger boy into his arms.

“Youngjae-yah,” Jaebeom said softly, rocking the boy back and forth in his arms. “I knew something was wrong when you were so quiet this evening, but didn’t realize it was this bad.”
“H-hyung,” Youngjae choked out through his sobs. “I--I…”
“Shh,” Jaebeom soothed, bringing the boy over to the bed and sitting down with him. “Hyung is here. Hyung’s got you.”

Jaebeom sat down against the headboard, positioning Youngjae so that the boy was laying against his chest with his head placed in the crook of Jaebeom’s neck. Jaebeom pulled out his phone and texted a quick ‘SOS Youngjae’ to Jinyoung, knowing the boy would gather the others. Once he was done, he placed his phone on the side table and focused all his energy on whispering comforting words to Youngjae and rubbing the other boy’s back. It was only about a minute or two before the door opened again and in walked the rest of the group. Bambam and Yugyeom looked very concerned, looking over at their hyungs in confusion as to why their Youngjae hyung was sobbing into their leader’s neck.

“Otter, what’s going on?” Mark asked, delicately sitting down on the bed next to Jaebeom and rubbing the boy’s back as well.

Youngjae’s sobs didn’t die down, so Mark looked at Jaebeom in askance but the other boy shook his head indicating that he was just as in the dark as Mark was. The boys all piled on the bed, all making sure to touch some part of Youngjae so that the other boy could feel their presence and comfort. Finally, after what felt like ages, Youngjae seemed to calm down a little. When it seemed like Youngjae’s sobs had reduced to just some sniffles, Jaebeom pulled Youngjae away from himself a little to get a better look at the boy.

“Youngjae-yah,” Jaebeom said softly, afraid the boy would be reduced to tears once more if he spoke too loudly. “Can you please tell us what’s going on? We want to do everything in our power to make sure that you’re okay.”
“I--I,” Youngjae stuttered out awkwardly, his cheeks turning a little pink. “The pack bite…”

Youngjae cut off, ducking his head back down to place it on Jaebeom’s shoulder once more.

“Are you nervous about the pack bite?” Jinyoung asked softly, but received a shake of the head in reply.

Mark studied the boy for a minute, before voicing his guess.

“Did you think that we changed our minds?” Mark asked, receiving a choked sob in reply telling him everything that he needed to know. “Oh Youngjae-yah, we would never do that!”
“You...you guys hadn’t said anything and it’s in two days,” Youngjae mumbled into Jaebeom’s neck. “At first I thought it just meant that maybe we were going to do it after the Japan tour, but then in my head...I...I just.”
“You started second guessing things and panicking?” Jackson asked, guessing at the end of Youngjae’s sentence.

Youngjae nodded into Jaebeom’s neck, feeling his cheeks burn even more.

“Can you please look at us, otter?” Jaebeom asked, pushing lightly at Youngjae to try to get him out of his hiding spot.

It took a moment, but Youngjae finally bashfully revealed his tear-stained face to the others once more.

“I wanted you to look at us so you can know how genuinely we mean it when we say that there is nothing that we want more in this world than for you to join our pack,” Jaebeom said, keeping direct eye-contact with Youngjae for every word. “We love you, Youngjae-yah.”
“If you had told us your concerns we could have appeased them right away,” Jinyoung explained. We have the entire afternoon free after we go to Nagoya, and planned to do it then.”
“I guess no one specifically said anything,” Jackson added. “Because we assumed you knew that we also don’t want to wait any longer than necessary.”
“We are so sorry we didn’t realize,” Mark apologized, placing his hand under Youngjae’s chin and turning the boy’s head so that they were looking at each other. “I promise there isn’t even one shred of doubt in our minds that you are meant to join this pack.”
“I have been counting down the days until we can have our Im Youngjae,” Jaebeom added with a smile, earning a smile from Youngjae in response and two looks of confusion from Bambam and Yugyeom.
“Did we miss something?” Yugyeom asked. “When did Youngjae change his name?”
“How do we suck THIS much at communicating?” Jackson asked, looking around at the others in shock.
“Especially when you never stop talking,” Mark quipped, earning a smack on the arm from the other, which he ignored in favor of explaining the whole last name story to Bambam and Yugyeom.

The night certainly didn’t end the way that Youngjae thought it would. He was no longer feeling panicked and afraid that the others didn’t want him. They had gone above and beyond to prove that they did. He no longer felt like he was in limbo, his body accepting that he just had to wait two short days to join the pack that he knew he was meant to join. And last but not least, he was no longer sleeping on his own. All six of his members settled themselves down on the bed--a tight squeeze, but none of them were willing to leave their precious otter that evening.

Chapter Text

Chapter Fifteen

Youngjae had never felt more loved and connected with his members than he did over those next two days. It was like they all had a pact with each other that they wouldn’t let Youngjae forget how much they cared for even just two seconds. It was everything from holding his hand, putting their arms around him, surprising him with gifts and food and drinks. Even Yugyeom and Bambam were in on this show of love and affection.

The boys were currently in the car on their way to their hotel in Nagoya. Youngjae was in the back seat between Yugyeom and Bambam. Both boys were sleeping with their heads on Youngjae’s shoulders. If Youngjae could pick one word to describe how he felt it would be: content. His heart felt full, and his mind felt at ease.

“How are you doing?” Mark asked in a whisper, turning around from the middle row where he was in between Jackson and Jinyoung--Jaebeom was in the passenger seat of the car.
“I’m happy, hyung,” Youngjae whispered in reply. “Thank you guys for making sure to be beside me all the time.”
“All you ever have to do is ask, Youngjae-yah,” Jinyoung whispered, turning around to face the back seat as well. “We want to know what you are thinking and what you are feeling. We are never going to judge you for it.”
“I--I know,” Youngjae admitted with a sigh. “It is just taking me a little bit to fully realize what that means. I’m sure you are aware, I was bullied a decent bit growing up and so I tend to be a bit more reserved about my feelings. If you don’t share them, they can’t be mocked or teased.”

Jackson turned around to look at Youngjae with a heartbroken expression.

“Can I go kick those bullies' butts?” Jackson asked, a little too seriously for Youngjae’s liking.
“No, hyung,” Youngjae replied with a chuckle. “I don’t think that would fit the idol image too well, do you?”
“I’ll hold ‘em while you punch,” Bambam said, lifting his head off of Youngjae’s shoulder.
“I didn’t mean to wake you, Bamie,” Youngjae said, looking over at the second youngest with an apologetic expression.
“I never really fell into a deep sleep,” Bambam said with a shrug. “It’s okay. Yugyeom snores too loud.”
“I do nothing of the sort!” Yugyeom protested, lifting his own head from Youngjae’s shoulder as well.
“You were just snoring like 2 seconds ago!” Bambam retorted.
“Lies!”
“Children,” Jaebeom scolded from the front of the car--although his words lacked any real bite. “Some of us are trying to read.”
“Sorry, dad,” Yugyeom, Youngjae, and Bambam all replied at once, causing their manager who was driving the car to start laughing.
“You have taken so naturally to your fatherly duties,” the manager teased.
“He would be lost without Jinyoung Eomma,” Jackson argued.
“So we have a full family dynamic I see,” the manager replied, causing Jaebeom to roll his eyes in exasperation.
“I wanted to send them back,” Jaebeom stated with as much of a serious tone as he could muster. “But I guess that’s not really how kids work, is it?”
“We could always put them up for adoption,” Jinyoung suggested, earning himself a slap to the back of the head from Yugyeom who was sitting behind him. “Well that does it, you are definitely not my child anymore.”
“You would miss us too much, eomma,” Bambam refuted. “Who would play with you when we were gone?”
“No one,” Jinyoung replied. “It would be so peaceful and quiet.”
“You thrive on chaos,” Mark argued. “Admit it. If no one was chaotic, you couldn’t come up with your witty savage remarks.”
“I plead the fifth,” Jinyoung said with a smirk, teasing Mark for the boy’s previous use of the phrase.

This earned Jinyoung another slap, but this time by Mark on his arm.

“I don’t know what criteria PD-nim used to pick you seven, but I think it may have actually been on your chaotic level alone,” their manager said in awe, shaking his head in fondness.
“Thanks hyung!” Bambam and Yugyeom exclaimed, grinning as if it were the greatest compliment they had ever received.

Youngjae chuckled at their manager’s clear look of exasperation that he could see in the rearview mirror. He definitely didn’t 100% mean it as a compliment, but was amused by Bambam and Yugyeom regardless.

Finally, the group arrived at their hotel in Nagoya where they would be spending the next several days until their shows. This time the rooms were split up with Bambam and Yugyeom sharing a room--with the older members having a key to their room just to check in on them, and the older members sharing a suite. Bambam and Yugyeom felt a little left out, if they were being honest, but were also incredibly pumped to get to share a room together. They lived together in the same room, but Jinyoung was very much right THERE to watch over them. This was the first time that it was truly going to be just them. They could vent any frustrations about their hyungs, they could laugh ridiculously loud, and they could stay up until whatever hour they wanted! It was going to be great! Even better: they were getting to go out and explore with their manager hyung! It was going to be the best evening ever!

Twenty minutes later found the members all unpacked and the maknaes off to explore the city. Youngjae went into the restroom to wash his face, feeling kind of gross from having been in a car for a significant amount of time. When he returned from the restroom, his stomach dropped as he walked out into the living room and saw all eyes on him. Jaebeom and Jinyoung were sat on the couch, looking very much like the alpha pack leader and his second in command. Mark and Jackson were on two of the plush armchairs, smiling encouragingly at Youngjae who looked at them a little wearily--nerves finally setting in with the realization of how big of a moment this was.

“Youngjae-yah,” Jaebeom said, his tone soft and light but with the authority expected of an alpha leader. “I am going to give you another chance to change your mind. Are you sure this is the pack for you? Do you need more time to think things over?”
“No, hyung,” Youngjae replied, feeling the truth of his answer so incredibly deeply in his gut. He wasn’t making a mistake. “I want to be a part of this pack.”

Jaebeom felt the love surge through the pack bond from all the members, and couldn’t help but grin at their perfectly dubbed: sunshine otter.

“Then come over to hyung so we can make it official,” Jaebeom commanded, scooting a little over on the couch so there was a space between himself and Jinyoung for Youngjae to occupy.

Youngjae didn’t need to be told twice, practically skipping over to the couch and eagerly placing himself in the empty spot in between. Youngjae couldn’t help but note that, although he slept in the same bed as his hyung practically every night, he had never before quite appreciated how incredibly beautiful Jaebeom was. The way the man was looking down at him, emphasized how long his eye lashes were. Once noticing that, Youngjae couldn’t help but glance over all of the small intricate features of his hyung’s face. Without even realizing it, Youngjae lifted his hand up to delicately touch the twin moles that resided below the other boy’s brow.

“You are so beautiful, hyung,” Youngjae said in an awed whisper, causing the older boy to grin even wider.
“Not anywhere close to the beauty of our sunshine,” Jaebeom refuted, reaching out and running his hand through the younger man’s hair.

Jaebeom leaned down and placed a delicate kiss to the top of Youngjae’s head. Jaebeom knew that this bite was going to be different than the others so far. His bite with Mark was about dominance and control, his with Jackson about passion and sexuality. His and Jinyoung’s bites with each other were about the line between teasing and jokes and the absolute trust and faith in one another. His bite with Youngjae was going to be much more delicate, full of joy and pure love. That wasn’t to say that he wouldn’t see Youngjae as a sexual partner in the future, it just wasn’t what their relationship was about now. It was more mutual appreciation and admiration for one another. A true love based on their belief of beauty and goodness in one another. There was no question in Jaebeom’s mind that Youngjae trusted him and the rest of the pack fully.

Jaebeom pulled back from kissing the top of Youngjae’s head, to make eye contact and smile at the boy once more. This caused Youngjae to blush at the attention, something that almost made Jaebeom squeal out loud (and very much made Jackson do so from across the room, although he held himself back and didn’t come squash Youngjae in the hug he wanted to give him). Jaebeom leaned down and kissed Youngjae once on each of his blushing cheeks, loving the flood of color that had rushed to them. Finally, Jaebeom leaned down and captured Youngjae’s lips in a delicate kiss.

“Ready?” Jaebeom asked in a whisper, receiving an enthusiastic nod in reply.

Jaebeom leaned down, his lips delicately pecking the spot at the crook of Youngjae’s neck in a light kiss before quickly clamping his teeth down. Jaebeom saw a blinding yellow light flash through his vision--something he was positive was happening to all of the pack bond--as Youngjae gasped and tilted his head back where it landed on Jinyoung’s shoulder who leaned down and placed his own delicate kiss to the boy’s head.

“You really are our sunshine!” Jackson exclaimed when it looked like Youngjae was finally regaining his senses. “We literally got a glimpse of the sun when you joined us.”
“Really?” Youngjae asked in awe, looking quickly around at all of his hyungs to see if they all agreed with what Jackson said.
“Welcome to the pack, Youngjae-yah,” Jaebeom said with a smile when Youngjae’s gaze finally landed on him.

This was it. This single-handedly had to be the greatest night of Youngjae’s life so far.
--

In a room on the other end of the hall BamBam and Yugyeom were having a very different night. They had gotten to explore the city with their manager for a bit, but the man had orders to have them back in their room by 9pm sharp and no matter how much whining or complaining they did, he was not moved.

“We had to come back just when all the fun was starting,” Yugyeom whined, collapsing back on the bed with an overly dramatic sigh.
“I know, I really wanted to go for karaoke,” BamBam complained, joining Yugyeom in his dramatics by flopping down on his own bed as well.
“We are seriously left out of what the members are doing, and then are treated like we are like 10 year olds,” Yugyeom complained. “Seriously, 9 o’clock is way too early. We are 17!”
“You’re still 16,” BamBam replied, sticking his tongue out at Yugyeom in teasing.
“I’m 18 in Korean age!” Yugyeom argued.
“Not much of a comeback, when so am I!” BamBam teased. “But regardless, we are both much too old to be treated like actual babies.”

The two lapsed into silence for a few minutes before both sitting up at the exact same time.

“We could sneak out!” BamBam exclaimed, saying exactly what Yugyeom had been thinning.
“They are going to be so focused on pack bonding they are never going to know!” Yugyeom agreed, already getting up off the bed to look through his clothes for something suitable to wear out.
“We will just go to karaoke for a bit and then be back before anyone notices,” BamBam said, getting up and looking through his own things as well. “Having our own room is so awesome!”

Chapter Text

Chapter Sixteen

BamBam and Yugyeom successfully made their way out of the hotel without anyone the wiser. They wandered around for a little bit, debating what to do with their ‘freedom’. They ultimately decided that the best idea was to go for ramen--they were in Japan after all. After they ate their delicious ramen, they decided that it was time for karaoke! They wished they had their phones to look up suggestions of the best locations, but they decided that they would just walk around in the nearby area and pick one at random.

-

Youngjae still felt as if he were on a high, even though about an hour had passed since he had received the pack bite. He had never felt more at one with his own body than he was currently feeling.

“I can’t wait until BamBam and Yugyeom can join the pack as well,” Youngjae said from where he was laying on the bed with his head in Jackson’s lap. Jackson was running his fingers through Youngjae’s hair while they were all watching a movie on the TV.

Mark was sprawled out on the bed next to Jackson and Youngjae, laid with his head on Jackson’s shoulder. He hummed in agreement, fighting to keep his eyes open that were closing with more and more frequency from how tired he was. Jaebeom and Jinyoung were curled up against each other on the other bed, with Jinyoung tracing lazy patterns on the palm of Jaebeom’s hand and Jaebeom laying with his head leaned on top of the other boy’s.

“We can’t assume they will actually join us,” Jaebeom said softly. “They have every right to decide to spend more than a month before choosing a pack and could very well not pick us.”

Youngjae didn’t like that answer. All of him felt like they wouldn’t be complete as a pack without their two makanes.

“I know that might be hard to hear, Jae-ah,” Jinyoung said, understanding just what the other boy was probably thinking. “But it is the truth. The only thing we can do is show them what we would be like as part of their pack and it is then up to them.”

Youngjae nodded, tilting his head up to look at Jackson.

“Did you ever think you were going to join a different pack?” Youngjae asked.
“Not really,” Jackson replied. “I never had a close group of people that I was like this is it, this is the pack I’m going to join. At least, not before I met you guys. The only thing I knew is that when I met Mark, things clicked and I knew that no matter what I needed to be in a pack with him. It’s why I was so clingy with him.”
“So you would have joined another pack if Mark decided he didn’t want this one?” Youngjae asked, his voice going up in pitch with his worry.
“You are worrying too much, Youngjae-yah,” Mark said with a chuckle, reaching to rub a hand up and down the other boy’s back. “Jackson and I chose this pack and we aren’t going to go anywhere.”
“Yeah, I would drag Mark back here kicking and screaming before I would follow him to another pack,” Jackson replied with a laugh, ignoring the eye roll he got from the older member.
“You are understandably feeling very protective of this pack,” Jaebeom explained.
“It’s something we all experienced when we got the bite,” Jinyoung explained. “You see Yugyeom and BamBam as a part of that pack, so you are feeling the need to protect them and keep them close. It’s in your nature.”
“What if they don’t want me as much as I want them?” Youngjae asked.
“Even if they don’t end up picking this pack,” Jackson replied. “They are still part of GOT7, which means that they are still a very important part of your and our lives. That isn’t going to go away. We all see the way they look up to you, Youngjae. They love you, trust me.”

Youngjae didn’t seem persuaded enough by this conversation, so Jinyoung and Jaebeom shared a look of understanding before Jinyoung got off the bed.

“Where are you going?” Youngjae asked, his eyes narrowing as they followed Jinyoung’s path towards the hotel room door.
“To ease your worries,” Jinyoung replied, grabbing a hold of the handle and opening the door without another word.

The room was mostly in silence, waiting for the return of Jinyoung with their two maknaes. A few minutes later, the door to the room swung back open and a panicked Jinyoung came running through the door.

“They aren’t in their room!” Jinyoung exclaimed, causing all four of the members to shoot up into sitting positions.
“What?” Jaebeom yelled, jumping out of the bed and over to get his shoes. “I’ve got to inform manager hyung.”

If Jaebeom thought the others would stay behind while he went to go talk to their manager, he had another thing coming. The boys all trailed behind him as he hurried down the hall and knocked on their favorite manager’s door.

“Jisung hyung, do you know where BamBam and Yugyeom are?” Jaebeom asked as soon as their manager opened the door.
“They should be in their room,” Jisung replied, looking confused as to why 5 members were currently standing outside of his door. “I brought them back by 9pm like I was instructed to by the company. They complained, begging me to let them go to karaoke, but I stayed strong.”
“I just went to get them and they aren’t there,” Jinyoung said from right behind Jaebeom, peeking around the older boy’s broad shoulders.
“You don’t think they’d go for karaoke on their own...do you?” Youngjae asked.
“I think that’s exactly what they’d do,” Jaebeom replied with a sigh, running his hands through his hair in frustration. “They thought that with their own room tonight that no one would notice.”

Jisung looked panicked at the thought that two of the underage idols that he was in charge of were out in the city, without cell phones to contact them.

“I’m going to have to report this to the others at the company,” Jisung said in a panic. “Oh God--this could be my job.”
“Hyung!” Jaebeom said, grabbing onto the manager’s arm. “Give me an hour to find them before you contact anyone. I don’t imagine they would have gone far. You did what was expected of you, sneaking out is on them and they should be the ones punished for it and not you. If we find them within an hour, no one but us will ever have to know, and we can deal with the consequences ourselves.”
“And trust me, they will be punished,” Jinyoung added.

Jisung nodded, still looking apprehensive but also very thankful for the members’ understanding.

“Let me grab some phones for you,” Jisung said, turning back towards the hotel room and running inside to grab a couple of the members’ phones out of his bag. He was incredibly thankful that he made a point of keeping at least a couple of the members’ phones charged at a time. “I’ll have you go one way and I will go another.”
“Okay, Jinyoung and I will go out to look and Jackson, Mark, and Youngjae will wait in BamBam and Yugyeom’s room to see if they return back here first,” Jaebeom said.

Everyone jumped into action immediately, their worry making the members who had previously been tired very wide awake. Twenty minutes later and neither Jisung nor Jaebeom and Jinyoung had had any luck tracking down their maknaes. They were checking every restaurant, cafe, and karaoke that they came across on their way.

Little did BamBam and Yugyeom know the chaos and worry that they were causing, nor the amount of trouble they were about to walk into. They had an incredible time at karaoke. They sang as many songs as they each wanted, before deciding that it was time to turn in and not push their luck any further. They walked back to the hotel joking with one another, feeling on a high. They were young, living their dreams of being idols, and in Japan for their own tour! Could things get any better?

They quieted down as they got to the hall of their hotel, not wanting to cause one of their managers--or worse, their hyungs--to come out and investigate the noise. BamBam pulled out his key card, quickly opening the door and then freezing in shock when he moved to step in and looked up to find Jackson, Mark, and Youngjae staring at them--worry and anger evident on their faces. Fuck. They were done for.

BamBam heard a squeak from behind him, and then heard the noise of feet running on the thick hallway carpet. Mark took off running, zipping by BamBam in a flash, chasing after their maknae. Jackson walked to the door and grabbed hold of BamBam’s arm, pulling the boy fully into the hotel room and forcing him to sit on the bed that he had abandoned only a few hours earlier. Jackson was clearly ensuring that BamBam wouldn’t have the same idea as Yugyeom. BamBam almost wished that he would have run like Yugyeom, but that thought changed not even a minute later when Mark dragged Yugyeom back into the room. He shut the door behind them, and then proceeded to smack Yugyeom on the rear five times. The smacks were loud and solid, and clearly painful if Yugyeom’s wincing was any indication. The maknae didn’t say anything in protest though, and just allowed Mark to drag him over to his own bed where he was led to sit down as well.

Neither of the maknaes realized that Youngjae had a cell phone, nor that he had dialed said phone until the other boy began speaking.

“They came back hyung,” Youngjae said without any other introduction. “Yeah, Yugyeom tried to run but Mark hyung caught him very quickly. We are in the maknaes’ room and have them seated on their beds.”

BamBam and Yugyeom shifted nervously on their respective beds. There was no question in their minds that Youngjae was speaking with their leader and that their leader was surely unhappy with them.

“Yeah, sure,” Youngjae said, pulling the phone away from his ear and pressing the button for the speaker phone.
“You two better not move one inch off those beds until I make it back to that hotel,” Jaebeom’s voice came through the phone in a deceptively calm and even tone. “Is that understood?”
“Yes, hyung,” BamBam and Yugyeom replied in unison, their voices weak and shaky but loud enough to be heard.
“We will be there shortly,” Jaebeom stated before hanging up the phone so that he could call Jisung and update their manager.

The silence in the room was stifling to the two boys in trouble, both of them almost wishing that someone would just yell at them to break it. BamBam decided that he would try a sympathy tactic. They needed someone on their side before they could face their angry leader.

“Mark hyung,” BamBam said softly, receiving no reply other than Mark looking in his direction. “We just felt so stifled. We are in this beautiful foreign country and we had to be back by 9 like we were 12 year olds. You know what it's like, you snuck out too.”
“I snuck out in Seoul, a city I’ve lived in for several years and therefore know my way around,” Mark replied. “We weren’t debuted, I was of age, I spoke a decent amount of Korean by that point, and I had my cell phone on me.”
“And if you recall, Mark was punished for sneaking out,” Jackson added, glaring at BamBam--knowing that the boy was trying to win sympathy and understanding before having to face Jaebeom.
“Hyung is not actually going to kill you,” Youngjae added, rolling his eyes at the pitiful looks on their maknaes’ faces. “Is he mad? Yes. You could have lost Jisung hyung his job.”

BamBam and Yugyeom looked up in horror at that statement, something clearly neither one of them thought of. Before they were given the chance to speak, the door to the hotel room flung open and in walked Jaebeom and Jinyoung. The boys sat there frozen on their beds, unsure of what to do or say. They didn’t need to do anything though, because Jaebeom immediately ran up to BamBam and pulled the boy into his arms while Jinyoung did the same to Yugyeom before they switched.

“You scared us so much,” Jinyoung said, gripping BamBam even tighter in his arms as he said this.
“Sorry hyung,” BamBam said softly, feeling like the guilt inside was going to eat him up.
“I just kept running through all the things that could have happened to you in my head,” Jaebeom added, his hand reaching up from his hug to hold the back of Yugyeom’s head in embrace. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Sorry hyung,” Yugyeom said as well, feeling water begin to well in his eyes.
“If you aren’t now, you sure as heck will be,” Mark mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the wall.

Yugyeom had always thought that Jaebeom was the scariest hyung when angry, but he was beginning to think he might have been sorely mistaken. Mark was giving him a run for his money. Mark’s words seemed to remind everyone of what needed to be done. Jinyoung and Jaebeom pulled out of their hugs with the maknaes, sitting them back down on the beds and walking over to join where Jackson and Mark were standing. Youngjae had taken a seat on the armchair that was sat by the window of the hotel room.

“Jisung hyung will be here any minute,” Jaebeom informed, causing Yugyeom and BamBam to look up at him in confusion. “He was in charge of you two this evening, so naturally he had to be informed. Luckily he gave us an hour to find you two before alerting anyone else in the company. You don’t even want to think about what the consequences could have been if the company had to be informed. We are a ROOKIE group, guys. Don’t take that lightly.”
“Not to mention that if you guys were hurt or anything bad happened, it is very likely he would have lost this job. You better give the best and most sincere apology to hyung and assure him that this will never ever happen again,” Jinyoung added. “Is that understood?”
“Yes, hyung,” BamBam and Yugyeom added, wondering if it were possible to feel any more guilty than they currently were.

At that moment the door to the hotel room opened once more and Jisung came running through the door, only sighing in relief when he saw Yugyeom and BamBam safe and sound with his own eyes. He was panting, clearly having sprinted there from wherever he had been looking for the boys. Yugyeom and BamBam shared a look before both getting up, kneeling on the floor and proceeding to fully bow.

“We are so sorry hyung,” Yugyeom begged. “We weren’t thinking. We didn’t even imagine that this could cause you to lose your job.”
“We were just thinking about ourselves and no one else,” BamBam added. “We promise that we will never do something like this again.”
“I’m so glad that you two are okay and not physically harmed in any way,” Jisung said, clutching at his chest while trying to catch his breath.
“For now,” Mark muttered, earning a slap on the arm from Jackson. “What? It’s no secret how they are going to be punished. It’s better that Jisung hyung knows that we aren’t going to take this lightly.”
“Hyung, if I could actually talk about that with you in the hall for a few moments,” Jaebeom said, gesturing towards the door.

Jisung nodded and followed Jaebeom out into the hall. BamBam and Yugyeom sat up from their bows of apology but remained on their knees, uncertain if they should get up or not. None of the hyungs said anything to the contrary, so they remained there until Jaebeom and Jisung walked back in a few minutes later.

“I offered hyung the chance to dish out his own punishment to you two,” Jaebeom informed, causing BamBam and Yugyeom to look at him in horror--surely he didn’t mean that Jisung was about to spank them.
“I decided to leave the actual punishment to Jaebeom,” Jisung added, much to the relief of the maknaes. “I do have a caveat of my own, though. Tomorrow you will each be given your phones to call your parents and inform them of your misbehavior.”

Yugyeom and BamBam paled at that instruction.

“Mark hyung didn’t have to tell his parents!” Yugyeom argued.
“Are you kidding me?” Mark asked. “Jackson merrily told them all about how I got my ass handed to me and that I should listen to Jackson in the future because he was right about Jaebeom not bluffing. I had to listen to my mother lecturing me about responsibility for an hour after that one.”
“When did you--” Jisung began to ask, but then shook his head. “Nope. I don’t wanna know. It was clearly handled. I’m beginning to think I’m better off in the dark on most things you guys get up to.”

Jackson got a sly smile on his face, running over and crushing their manager in a hug.

“This is why I’m your favorite right?” Jackson asked a very confused hyung. “I never do anything wrong! I’m an angel!”
“I could literally write a 10 page list refuting that,” Mark said, rolling his eyes. “But also, this isn't about you, Jackson. Let’s get back to the point here.”

Yugyeom and BamBam looked like that was the absolute last thing they wanted to get back to.

“It’s not fair, I will have no choice because you all speak Korean and will know what I’m saying to my parents,” Yugyeom whined. “BamBam could be telling his mom about the weather and we’d have no clue.”
“I think we would know what a scolding sounds like enough to know, even if it’s in Thai,” Jinyoung pointed out.
“I wouldn’t do that to you, Gyeomie,” BamBam said softly, grabbing hold of his best friend’s hand. “If you have to face the consequences, so do I.”

Yugyeom seemed appeased at those words, nodding his head and squeezing BamBam’s hand.

“Well it is late and I’m going to bed,” Jisung informed. “I will see you all in the morning.”

They all nodded and wished their hyung goodnight, watching as he walked out the door. As soon as the door was shut, Jaebeom’s attention snapped back to the two boys kneeling on the floor. The two boys couldn’t help but gulp in nervousness. This was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

Chapter Seventeen

“You have 10 minutes to pack all of your things and be in our suite,” Jaebeom ordered, and then continued when he got looks of confusion in reply. “You didn’t seriously think you’d be allowed to stay in your own room after this, did you?”
“You better get used to your hyungs’ attention because we will not be letting either one of you out of our sights any time soon,” Jinyoung added.

BamBam and Yugyeom shared a look, but wisely decided to not voice any protest. They knew they would not win. Resigned to their fates, the maknaes began making their way around the room packing their things. Jinyoung, Jaebeom, Youngjae and Mark headed back to the suite to move things around so that they would have room for the two youngests’ things. They were left alone with Jackson, their best option given the circumstances--or at least, in their minds.

“Hyung, we didn’t mean to make everyone worry,” BamBam pleaded as he was throwing his clothes back into his suitcase. “We just were bored and wanted to have some fun.”
“Please don’t let Jaebeomie hyung be too harsh on us,” Yugyeom begged. “The last time he spanked me I swear I couldn’t sit for like a week and he wasn’t nearly this mad!”
“I’m more worried about who else might be spanking us,” BamBam said with a groan. “I’m going to assume Jaebeom hyung wouldn’t spank both of us.”
“Oh God,” Yugyeom said, stopping in his packing to look over at BamBam in horror. “You don’t think Mark hyung would, do you?! I bet his hand is even harder than Jaebeom hyung’s!”
“I don’t know that Jinyoung hyung would be much better,” BamBam pointed out, both boys simultaneously looking over at their fourth hyung and then groaning when they thought about how strong Jackson was as well.
“I don’t know who hyung is thinking,” Jackson replied with a shrug. “We honestly haven’t had time to discuss it yet, guys. Get back to packing!”
“We need it to be like Youngjae hyung,” BamBam said with a shake of his head, but returning to packing nonetheless.

Much sooner than either boy wanted, they were all packed and headed to join the others in the suite. The two reluctantly walked into the suite with Jackson trailing behind them, clearly making sure that nobody got any bright ideas. They weren’t stupid, though. It would be useless to run, they all lived together and worked together--there was no way out of the consequences.

BamBam and Yugyeom certainly wouldn’t put that night down as one of their favorite nights on tour. In the end, Mark ended up spanking BamBam and Jaebeom spanked Yugyeom. They both swore up and down that they had it worse, but neither wanted to experience the other hyung’s punishment so they were going to have to trust each other’s word for it. They also both received a grounding: which mostly just meant that they weren’t allowed to go out without their hyungs anywhere and they were being annoyingly closely watched. They were so busy the rest of the time they were in Japan, so neither was really all that bothered by it. Their phone calls with their parents certainly weren’t sunshine and daisies. They both got an earful, and swore they would never do anything of the sort again.

When they got back to Korea, things didn’t slow down in the slightest. The release date of their first full length album was rapidly approaching. They were really excited about it...but also had some reservations.

“Do you think the fans will still like us?” Youngjae worriedly whispered to Jaebeom as they were laying in bed one night. “We look absolutely ridiculous in those clothes. I mean I swear some of them look like trash bags.”
“I--I wish I could answer that with confidence and reassurance...but honestly, I don’t know,” Jaebeom admitted. “There are too many styling choices that I don’t understand. It’s too bad we are still rookies, we don’t have enough experience yet to speak up about it.”
“I really like this job,” Youngjae whined. “The fans are amazing, I’m getting to do what I love. I just don’t want that to go away because of some stupid music video.”

Before Jaebeom could reply, a soft knock was heard on the door. The two looked up to find Mark and Jackson standing there.

“We felt you two were upset through the pack bond and wanted to see what was going on,” Jackson explained, not even waiting for an invitation to walk over and plop down on the bed.
“Hey, what’s going on guys?” Jinyoung asked, appearing in the room as well and glancing around at Mark, Jackson, Youngjae and Jaebeom. “Things felt weird.”
“We are discussing the music video and the styling choices,” Jaebeom explained, getting a knowing cringe from the others in reply.
“I do think our fans are loyal,” Mark said, pulling out the desk chair and choosing to sit there. “They aren’t going to leave us over one video. Besides, a lot of the music on the album is really good.”
“I don’t know if we will gain new fans from this,” Jackson said with a shrug, reaching up and messing with his hair that he was less than happy with. “But I don’t think the loyal ones will go anywhere.”
“Are you guys having a group meeting without us?” BamBam said, walking into the room and crossing his arms over his chest.

Yugyeom walked in behind him, looking much less upset than the other boy but still peeved.

“It wasn’t official,” Jaebeom appeased. “They just felt something was off in the pack bond.”
“Oh, so something we can’t be a part of,” Yugyeom said, a pout appearing on his face.
“Don’t be like that!” Jackson replied, standing up off the bed to pull Yugyeom and BamBam into his arms. “You can join us soon enough. For now, we promise to always try to let you know if some group thing is happening. Okay?”

BamBam didn’t look completely appeased, but nodded his head.

“Now why don’t we go put the mats in the living room, pop some popcorn, and discuss our worries and thoughts about this comeback,” Jinyoung suggested, getting enthusiastic responses in reply.

To say that they were happy by the end of their ranting would be incorrect, but they certainly felt better about it. It really helped to get their thoughts and feelings out with each other, knowing that they all cared about one another.

“Hyungs...can I admit something?” BamBam asked after they had all fallen quiet for a few moments of time.
“Yeah, Bamie,” Jackson said, turning to his left hand side to look at the other boy.

BamBam and Yugyeom were in the middle of the floor with Jackson and then Mark on the side with BamBam and Jinyoung, Youngjae, and Jaebeom on the side with Yugyeom. They were all cuddled pretty closely together, since the late October weather was quite chilly.

“Part of the reason that Gyeom and I snuck out in Japan was that we were feeling left out,” BamBam explained. “You guys are all in a pack together. You can know and understand each others’ feelings in a way that we can’t. It just felt like we were being pushed to the side, like an extra burden. Like stay here and be quiet, we have more important things to do.”
“Oh Bamie,” Jackson said with a sigh. “Do you know how we found out that you two had snuck out?”

BamBam and Yugyeom looked at each other for a moment, before shaking their heads in reply.

“I had come to get you two to join us,” Jinyoung explained. “We never ever want you to feel like you are left out or that you are an afterthought. You two are so special and important to us.”
“The next time that you are feeling like this, come talk to us,” Jaebeom urged, and then turned to look at their oldest member. “It’s a lesson that Mark hyung has learned will save his butt, right?”

Mark rolled his eyes, but nodded.

“I will be the first to admit that opening up can be very hard for me,” Mark said. “But Jaebeom is right. If we are going to work as a group, and hopefully one future pack, we have to communicate with each other or things will never work out.”
“Okay, hyung,” BamBam said with a nod. “You’re right. We should have talked with you about it.”
“No matter how stupid or insignificant you might think a thought is, we wanna know,” Jaebeom added.
“That’s what mom, dad, and your three older brothers are here for,” Jinyoung said with a smirk, fully expecting the smack from the pillow that he received from Youngjae.

COMING UP NEXT

It’s January of 2015 and the boys are about to embark on their first Asia Showcase Tour after finishing their first anniversary fan meeting. They couldn’t be more excited about it, but there is one problem: they can’t seem to stop arguing. Will a visit to Jackson’s family help them figure things out?

Chapter Text

Chapter Eighteen

“Those were my favorite pair of socks and you ruined them!” Jackson yelled, holding up the socks with a very clear hole in the heel. “Why would you wear them?”
“They look exactly like my socks! They are just generic socks! How could they be your favorite pair?” Mark yelled in reply, his volume just as loud and shrill as Jackson’s had been.
“They just are!” Jackson yelled in reply.

Jaebeom sighed, sliding down further on the couch in defeat. It was their last day in Shanghai before heading to Hong Kong for the end of their Asia Showcase Tour. When Youngjae had joined the pack things had gone well for a little while--the pack and their pups feeling happy and complete. Jaebeom realized now that it was just their ‘honeymoon phase’. It wasn’t too long before the fighting began. It seemed like not a day could go by without them fighting about something else. Jaebeom didn’t know how they all managed to find new topics to fight about--it was insane!

There was a small hope that they would get their acts together by the time they reached their last stop of the Showcase Tour. It was Hong Kong—Jackson’s home. They were going to get to meet Jackson’s family as a pack and their two pups for the first time. Things were going alright on the flight over. Everyone was tired, so mostly the members just slept on the plane. They also reached the hotel alright, where once again they were checked into a giant suite that all seven of them were expected to stay in. Despite swearing up and down that no one would sneak out this time, their manager wasn’t taking any chances. Once they had checked into their rooms, that was where the day took a turn. To be honest, he doesn’t even know how the fight started. He had been in the bathroom and came out to raised voices and tension palpable in the room.

“Guys, can we please make it through one night without a fight?” Jaebeom begged, sitting down on one of the arm chairs in defeat. “What are we fighting about now?”
“Jackson hyung is being really mean! He took my headphones and refuses to give them back!” Youngjae explained, pointing to the headphones in Jackson’s hands.
“Jackson, please give Youngjae back his headphones,” Jaebeom ordered with a sigh.
“He told me that I could borrow them and I’m not done using them yet!” Jackson protested.
“You borrowed them like 5 hours ago, it’s not my fault you didn’t start using them until I wanted them back,” Youngjae argued.
“You can borrow someone else’s headphones then,” Jinyoung offered. “If Youngjae wants his back, then let him have them.”
“Of course you would side with Youngjae!” Jackson yelled, throwing the headphones at Youngjae with a huff.
“What in the heck is that supposed to mean?” Jinyoung asked, cutting off Jaebeom who was about to yell at Jackson for throwing the headphones.
“I’m always the one singled out,” Jackson argued. “Everyone has got their little duos and I’m left out! No wonder no one ever sides with me!”
“I side with you all the time!” Mark protested.
“No, you side with your precious alpha buddy all the time,” Jackson shot back. “And we have our two buddy-buddy betas, and our two partners-in-crime pups. Then there is me, the lone omega--all ganged up on.”

Jackson stood up and started heading towards the door.

“Where on earth are you going?” Jaebeom asked, standing up from his seat as well.
“I’m going out, I need fresh air,” Jackson replied. “Don’t you dare tell me not to. I know this city like the back of my hand and I have a hat and mask. I’ll be fine.”
“Jackson, it’s 11 o’clock at night,” Jaebeom argued. “I don’t care how well you know this city! If you walk out that door there are going to be consequences to pay.”

Jackson turned towards the others with a hand on the door knob.

“Watch me,” Jackson stated, before swinging the door open and running out into the hallway.

He took the stairs, hearing the others calling behind him but he didn’t care. He knew he could outrun all of them but Mark--and Mark had been sitting furthest from the door so he had a pretty good shot. When he was a couple blocks away he slowed down, seeing and hearing no one behind him so he figured he was safe. He wandered around a little, trying to cool down. Next thing he knew he was standing in front of a very familiar building--he had just naturally wandered there.

--

The other members had pursued Jackson down the stairs and part of the way down the block before Jaebeom decided to call them all back to the room. He knew that they weren’t going to catch Jackson, and he was right he knew the city way better than any of them did.

“I don’t know what to do anymore,” Jaebeom admitted, when they were all sitting back in the living room of their hotel suite. “We are falling apart at the seams.”
“We need to figure out the source of all of our fighting,” Jinyoung said. “Maybe if we talk with our manager hyungs they could help us. We might need an outside perspective.”
“Shouldn’t we be searching for Jackson hyung?” Bambam asked, sounding incredibly worried. “He could be anywhere right now.”
“It’s okay, I know where he is,” Mark said softly, reaching over and running a comforting hand through Bambam’s hair.
“What?! How?” Yugyeom asked, looking up at his hyung in shock.

Mark glanced around the room to see that all of his members were looking at him with the same confusion.

“He is upset in his home city,” Mark replied. “There is only one place he is going to go--consciously or not.”
“His parent's house,” Jaebeom finished Mark’s sentence with an understanding nod. “You’re right, that’s absolutely where he went.”
“Does anyone know where it is?” Yugyeom asked, sounding just as concerned as Bambam had. “Should we go to him?”
“I think we need to give him some time with his parents first,” Jinyoung suggested. “He needs time to cool down.”

--

To say that Jackson’s parents were surprised to open their front door to their clearly upset youngest son standing there, is quite frankly an understatement. Mrs. Wang immediately pulled her son into the apartment and into a tight hug. After she was assured that he wasn’t physically harmed in any way, shape, or form, she allowed him out her arms to allow Jackson to hug his father.

The Wangs lived on one floor of an apartment complex with the rest of their pack. This pack in particular ended up with ‘family segments’ of the pack each having their own apartments. Some families consisted of more members than others, with the Wangs being one of the smallest units. In Jackson’s parents' case it had just been the two of them and their two sons in the apartment. The pack still functioned as a whole though, with very open door policies.

Tea and cookies were brought out to the family room coffee table and they sat down to have a conversation about what in the heck was going on.

“We just can’t seem to stop fighting,” Jackson bashfully admitted. “Like even over the tiniest things. Like today for example, I know I should have just given Youngjae back his headphones but some part of me just wanted to be stubborn. The sad thing is, I didn’t even believe those things I was saying. I was just frustrated and wanted them to feel upset too. I know it’s horrible.”
“Well at least you did the mature thing of asking to step away from the situation,” Mr. Wang pointed out, but narrowed his eyes when he saw the way Jackson squirmed on the couch. “You did let them know you were leaving...right?”
“Erm, they certainly knew I left,” Jackson said sheepishly.
“Wang Ka Yee!” Mrs. Wang yelled, smacking the side of his thigh hard--causing the boy to yelp, and immediately start rubbing the area. “What did you do?”
“Well my leader may have said that I was under no circumstance to walk out the door or I’d be in trouble...and I did,” Jackson replied, moving over as far away from his mother as possible.

The problem was he was sitting in the middle of his mom and dad. Moving away from his mom meant that he was right up against his dad. Mr. Wang took the opportunity to pull Jackson down over his lap so his backside was perfectly positioned for Mrs. Wang to smack. She landed five hard hits before gesturing for his father to let him back up.

“You know you were not raised to be that way,” Mrs. Wang scolded. “If you need some space to think, you let your pack know and you step right outside or something. You don’t defiantly cross an entire city!”

Jackson hung his head in shame and nodded. He avoided eye contact for a few moments, before looking up in confusion when he heard hurried footsteps and rustling. He looked up to see his parents gathering their coats and his mom grabbing her purse.

“Where are you going?” Jackson asked.
“WE are going back to your hotel and WE are going to work things out,” Mrs. Wang explained in a very no-nonsense tone. “You are going to have to act as a translator and I will have Mark to hold you accountable. I don’t care how long it takes, but we are going to work things out tonight!”

Jackson knew that it was fruitless to argue, so he just nodded and accepted the coat that his dad handed him. Jackson followed their lead to their car, trying to discreetly rub at his sore backside--they may have been only five swats, but dang had they been hard.

“You deserved every one of those and many more,” Mrs. Wang said, swatting the boy’s hand away and opening the car door for the boy to get in.

Jackson tried to get in as quickly as possible, but was not quick enough to avoid his mom’s hand once more. Jackson sighed and leaned his head back in the seat--this was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

Chapter Nineteen

Jackson and his parents made it to the hotel and up to the hallway in front of the room way too quick for Jackson’s liking. Next thing he knew, he was standing in front of the intimidating double doors to their hotel suite. He hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath before knocking loudly. The last thing on earth Jackson wanted was for either of his parents to feel that he needed motivation. The door swung open a moment later to reveal Mark clad in sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt.

“Uncle! Auntie!” Mark exclaimed upon seeing Jackson’s parents standing behind him.
“Tuan Yi En! It’s so good to see you,” Mrs. Wang exclaimed pulling the boy into a tight hug, before letting him go so that Mr. Wang could do the same.
“Thank you for bringing GaGa back to us,” Mark said with a light punch to Jackson’s arm.
“I hope you weren’t too worried,” Mrs. Wang said, clutching at her chest dramatically. “I was beside myself when I learned he just walked out on you all.”
“I assumed he would go home in his distress,” Mark explained. “Are you staying for a while? Or are you just dropping Ka Yee off?”
“Oh you best believe we are staying,” Mrs. Wang exclaimed, already in the process of taking her shoes off. “We heard about the difficult time you all are going through, and what this situation needs is some good, solid, parental advice.”

Jackson groaned, while Mark smiled brightly and nodded.

“Come on in,” Mark gestured, opening the door wide and leading the way into the hotel suite. He then switched to Korean. “We have guests! Jackson’s parents are here to try to help us out.”

All of the other members immediately got off the couches to welcome their visitors, bowing deeply in greeting.

“How do you say ‘nice to meet you’?” Jinyoung asked Mark and Jackson.
“幸会xìnɡ huì,” Mark answered, which the boys all copied in reply.

Mr. and Mrs. Wang beamed at the boys, gesturing for them to sit down and make themselves comfortable.

“We heard that there were issues and want to see how we can help,” Mrs. Wang explained, turning towards Jackson expectantly, who obediently translated.
“That would be amazing, thank you,” Jaebeom replied earnestly, to which Mark translated.

The boys all looked at each other before deciding that Jaebeom should be the one to explain how things had been going: from Youngjae joining the pack, the seven of them getting much closer, going through the ‘honeymoon’ period, and finally realizing it was a ‘honeymoon period’ only when it ended. Mark and Jackson took turns translating so that neither of them got too tired. Once they got to the end of the story, the boys were very confused when Mrs. Wang let out a good hearty laugh. They looked at each other with questioning eyes, waiting for her to explain.

“I’m sorry, I’m not making fun of you,” Mrs. Wang quickly explained. “It’s just: you work together, you live together, you eat all your meals together, you find comfort in each other as a pack together.”

They all nodded, still confused as to where this was going to go.

“Well, it’s actually a wonder that you guys haven’t all killed each other,” Mrs. Wang explained. “Everyone needs some space.”
“You guys need to talk to people outside of your group,” Mr. Wang explained further. “You need to make time for both yourself and for hanging out with other people. That provides space and also something for you guys to talk about when you get back together.”
“I promise with even a little time apart you will find that you fight less than you do now,” Mrs. Wang explained.

The boys nodded in understanding, realizing that Jackson’s parents were right--they were literally spending all of their time with each other and without their cell phones they weren’t even really interacting with any of their other friends.

“I think maybe we do need our cell phones back,” Jaebeom said after a moment of thought. “I don’t know how to address the no looking at negative comments issue, but we will work that out as well. We might just need to monitor each other’s browser history.”
“We also need to discuss the things that you said right before you left, Jackson,” Jinyoung added. “Is that the way that you really feel? Do you really think we leave you out and that we don’t value your opinion?”

Jackson shifted awkwardly in his spot. He didn’t want to answer that question, but knew that he owed the members an explanation.

“To be honest, not in the slightest,” Jackson explained, his cheeks turning a little pink in his embarrassment. “It was just something that I knew would hurt you and make you all feel bad. I was just so angry, so I said it. I know that’s terrible. I don’t mean to be that vindictive. I was just angry, and in my head, and I wanted to put all of those feelings on you guys, too.”

Jaebeom sighed and nodded, Jackson’s words truly resonating with him.

“I understand,” Jaebeom admitted. “I can get like that sometimes when I’m angry as well. It’s something that I’ve tried to work on, and I fully expect you to work on as well. As long as you don’t actually feel that way, I don’t think there is anything else that we need to discuss on that matter.”
“Just don’t use it against us in the future,” Mark added. “We want for you to feel happy and accepted in this pack, regardless of our group’s different subgenders. It’s something that should be taken seriously, and not used against us.”
“Completely understood, and I promise that I won’t do it again,” Jackson said seriously, looking at all of his members in the eyes to show them that he was being completely genuine with his words.

Mrs. Wang cleared her throat, causing all of the others in the room to turn and face her.

“It is getting late and things seemed to have been tentatively resolved here,” Mrs. Wang said, turning now directly towards Mark. “Can you ask Jaebeom if he wants me to handle Ka Yee’s running out or if he is going to do it?”
“Please don’t translate that!” Jackson quickly turned and begged Mark in English.

Mark rolled his eyes, and then turned immediately towards Jaebeom and proceeded to ask what Mrs. Wang had wanted to know.

“He disobeyed my order, even when I directly told him that there would be consequences for his actions,” Jaebeom replied. “I think it is only right that I handle the punishment myself.”

Mrs. Wang nodded her understanding while Jackson groaned and slouched down on the couch. This didn’t last long, since his mother whacked the side of his thigh and gestured for him to sit properly.

“Yi En, please let me know if Ka Yee doesn’t behave for his leader,” Mrs. Wang said, standing up from her spot on the couch with her husband following after her.
“Of course, Auntie!” Mark replied, ignoring Jackson’s look of betrayal, and following her and Mr. Wang to the door.

The boys all gave their thanks and their farewells to Jackson’s parents, with the promise to see them soon. They would be attending the GOT7 Hong Kong show, and were planning on treating the boys to a nice dinner afterwards.

The moment the door closed behind Jackson’s parents, he turned towards Mark.

“‘Oh of course Auntie, I’ll tell you all the trouble Jackson gets into’,” Jackson said, imitating Mark’s voice.
“Oh please,” Mark said, rolling his eyes once again. “What was I supposed to say? Besides, you literally told my parents everything I did! I got an HOUR long lecture, Jackson!”
“You know, you could just behave and then Mark hyung wouldn’t have to tell your parents anything,” Youngjae pointed out.
“Youngjae has a point,” Jinyoung said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Of course you think so,” Jackson said, rolling his eyes. “You’re not the one who is about to get his ass handed to him.”
“Did I or did I not warn you before you stepped one foot out that door?” Jaebeom asked, to which Jackson just shifted his eye contact to the floor. “Im Jackson!”
“Yes,” Jackson grudgingly admitted.
“And what would I be if not a man of my word?” Jaebeom asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I still don’t like it,” Jackson pouted.
“No one said you had to,” Jinyoung answered for Jaebeom. “It would kind of defeat the point if you did.”
“Can we please just get this over with?” Jackson asked, looking resigned to his fate.
“You take care of things out here,” Mark suggested. “Jinyoung and I will get everyone ready for bed and ready to cuddle when everything is over.”
“Thanks, hyung,” Jaebeom replied, watching as everyone but Jackson filed behind Mark into the bedroom with the massive California King bed.

Despite what some of the boys might think, there was nothing that Jaebeom hated more than having to discipline them. Many times he felt like it was ridiculous, considering their ages, but knew that they were under a different sort of pressure and circumstance than normal teens. Mistakes would cost them all a hell of a lot more, and he was going to do his damndest to make sure his boys would never have to experience that.

The only good thing about punishment was the chance to absolutely coddle the miscreant afterwards. As per usual, not a half hour later found Jackson curled up in the middle of the bed with his two alphas on each side of him. It was the position that Jackson preferred the most, regardless of whoever was on either side of him. He loved to have attention on him.

“Hey Jaebeom hyung,” Yugyeom said after the boys laid there for a few moments in silence.
“Yes?” Jaebeom asked, rolling over a little so that he could see Yugyeom who was situated on the other side of him.
“Would you seriously punish Jinyoungie hyung?” Yugyeom asked, the thought coming to him randomly.
“What?” Jinyoung asked at the same time that Jaebeom asked: “Why?”
“No, that is totally a good question,” BamBam added. “We all know you are whipped for him.”
“Excuse me?” Jinyoung asked, smacking the back of BamBam’s head who was laid in front of him.
“Oh please, don’t deny it,” Youngjae said with a giggle from his spot behind Jinyoung. “You two constantly have nothing but heart eyes for each other. Our mom and dad truly love each other.”

Jaebeom rolled his eyes, leaning his head down on top of Jackson’s head.

“I can always get Mark hyung to do it,” Jaebeom replied off-handed.
“You do NOT want that!” BamBam cried out, shaking his head and shuddering at the memory of Mark’s hand. “He may not look like it, but he is built like the Hulk!”
“I don’t plan on getting into trouble, so this conversation is unnecessary,” Jinyoung replied.
“Not to mention weird,” Mark added with a chuckle.

Jaebeom couldn’t help but smile, though. The conversation may be unnecessary or weird, but he was so happy that they were having a light-hearted conversation without yelling at each other. With a proposed solution from Jackson’s parents, it was obvious that they were all feeling much happier and a lot less tense. Things were the way that they should be.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty

In some ways time felt like it was moving at an incredibly slow pace when it came to their long work hours and some stressful days, while at other times it felt like they blinked and it was five months later. Before they could really even process it, May was quickly approaching and with that meant another member was going to be presenting. This time the company was smart about giving them even more time for a break, since the odds seemed to favor that BamBam would follow in Youngjae’s steps and also present early. GOT7 would be in the middle of the first fan meeting tour, but their last show in Asia was in Singapore on April 25th and their next show wasn’t until May 6th in San Francisco. There would be plenty of time in between for BamBam to have his presentation.

After what had happened with Youngjae, Jaebeom made an effort to keep an eye out on BamBam incase there were any major nerves about him presenting. There didn’t seem to be any signs there, though. The boy seemed content, and generally excited about getting his presentation. He wasn’t distracted at all in his work, giving his all in all of their fan meeting concerts. He joked around with the members, same as always–maybe even acting a little more mischievous than he had been before. When he asked Jinyoung about it, the other boy said that he didn’t think that had anything to do with BamBam’s upcoming presentation but more likely that he had grown even more comfortable with the other members and felt like he could act even sillier and crazier now around them.

Things seemed almost too good, so Jaebeom decided on the night after they got back to Korea that it would be best just to talk about this with BamBam. It was while Yugyeom was taking a shower that Jaebeom decided that this was his moment. He knocked softly on the door to the shared maknae’s room, waiting for the soft ‘come in’ that came in reply.

BamBam looked up when Jaebeom walked into the room, putting down the comic that he had been reading to give his leader his undivided attention.

“What’s up, hyung?” BamBam asked with a soft smile–happy to see that Jaebeom actually seemed fairly well rested for once since they had time to sleep in that morning for the first time in a very long time.
“I just wanted to see how you were doing, Bam-ah,” Jaebeom said softly, sitting down on the bed next to BamBam. “You know with your presentation coming up so soon and all.”
“Oh that?” BamBam said with a smile, that couldn’t be read as anything other than completely genuine. “I’m doing great! Excited, actually. I already know what I’m going to present as.”
“I’m sorry?” Jaebeom asked in confusion, unsure if he heard BamBam correctly.
“I said I already know what I’m going to present as,” BamBam said with a shrug. “I know you are going to say that’s impossible, and I can’t really explain it, but I just know.”
“What do you feel that you are going to present as?” Jaebeom asked.
“An omega,” BamBam replied with confidence. “It’s like I can feel it in my bones.”
“That’s great,” Jaebeom said softly, trying to figure out how to delicately approach what he knew he had to say. “But I don’t want you to be disappointed if that isn’t what you present as.”
“I won’t be,” BamBam replied. “It’s not like there is anything wrong with betas or alphas, it’s just that I feel this connection with Jackson right now. Like almost as if I can understand him the best, even though I haven’t even presented yet.”

Jaebeom was the first to admit that he didn’t know everything there was to know about sub-genders, let alone presenting. He guessed it was possible that maybe in some way BamBam’s sub-gender was making itself known to him even before his presentation.

“Have you told Jackson this?” Jaebeom asked.
“Yeah,” BamBam admitted with a nod. “He said that he didn’t want to get my hopes up, but that he felt like he could feel a connection as well.”

Jaebeom nodded, mentally noting that he wanted to talk to Jinyoung about this. He would have to do so later, because last he saw Jinyoung was sound asleep in between Mark and Jackson and Jaebeom was not going to wake him.

Jaebeom wrapped up the conversation, happy that unlike Youngjae, BamBam didn’t really seem to be worried about what he was going to present as. He quickly got himself ready for bed, sliding into bed next to the already sleeping Youngjae and wrapping his arms tightly around the beta. It wasn’t long before Jaebeom was lost in dreamland as well. It felt like only minutes later that he felt himself being roughly shaken awake.

“Hyung! Hyung!” Yugyeom cried out as he shook his leader, to which Jaebeom immediately shot up in bed in alarm.
“What’s going on?” Jaebeom asked, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to wake himself up faster.
“It’s BamBam!” Yugyeom answered, his voice still sounding very panicked. “I woke up to him moaning and tossing in the sheets. He is sweating like crazy and I couldn’t get him to wake up.”

Jaebeom shot out of the bed and ran towards the maknaes’ shared room. When he arrived he saw that Jinyoung, Mark, and Jackson were all crowded around the second youngest. Jinyoung was holding a cold washcloth to the boys’ head.

“We woke up to his moaning,” Mark explained without even having to be asked. “It’s got to be his presentation. His is even earlier than Youngjae’s!”
“That’s not a problem, is it?” Yugyeom’s voice cracked in the question.
“I was fine, wasn’t I?” Youngjae said softly, pulling Yugyeom to him so that he could wrap his arms around the younger boy.

Jaebeom startled for a second, not even realizing that Youngjae and Yugyeom had followed him into the room.

“He should be fine,” Jaebeom reassured, finally waking up enough to go into full leader mode and start giving directions. “Yugyeom and Youngjae, will you go get the mats out of the closet and start setting them up in the living room?”

The two nodded and quickly ran off to do as they were asked.

“Mark hyung, can you go get some fever reducer medication and a glass of water for him?” Jaebeom asked. “I want him to take them when he wakes up. And then Jackson, if you could carry Bam into the living room when everything is set up. He is going to be a lot more comfortable if we are all surrounding him.”

All of the members listened to their leader, doing what was asked of them. When Jackson picked up BamBam to carry him into the living room, Jinyoung grabbed ahold of Jaebeom’s hand and squeezed it tightly in reassurance.

“I swear our members are trying to outdo each other on how dramatic their presentations are,” Jaebeom joked. “You, you were easy–well other than lying to me about how tired you actually were.”
“It’s just because their inner sub-genders are so excited to belong to the pack that they feel like is theirs,” Jinyoung answered with a smile. “It may be dramatic, but it’s a good thing.”

Jaebeom smiled softly at Jinyoung in reply, grateful every single day that the other boy was right there by his side. He couldn’t help but feel like one of the luckiest people in the world, to have the partnership of not only Jinyoung but the rest of his members as well. Truly, what had he done to deserve such an incredible fate.

–

It was several hours later, with light peeking through the curtains, that Mark woke up to a moan. He rolled over to see that BamBam was rubbing his eyes and looking around in confusion.

“What’s going on?” BamBam asked, looking up at his hyung through very tired eyes. “How did we end up out here and why do I feel like crap?”
“Your presentation decided to come both early and dramatically,” Mark answered, sitting up on the mat so that he could reach the table behind him to finally hand BamBam the fever reducers and the glass of water.

BamBam took them without question, not fully awake until after a few sips of water that he realized what Mark had just said. The more he thought about it, the more that he could feel the shift that had happened to his body. He was an omega, just like he knew deep down that he was going to be.

“What do I smell like, hyung?” BamBam asked, looking excitedly at Mark.
“You smell like coconut,” a voice said, coming from the other side of BamBam.

BamBam turned around to see that it was Jackson that had been curled up very closely behind him. He couldn’t help but smile at Jackson’s answer.

“Home,” BamBam said softly, thinking about how whenever he ate or drank coconut it reminded him of his childhood. He reached up to rub his eyes, saying: “That’s good.”

Jackson gave him a soft and indulgent smile, pulling BamBam down into his arms once more.

“It’s too early,” Jackson grumbled, positioning BamBam so that Mark could lay back down and curl up once more. “Back to bed.”

BamBam wholeheartedly agreed, succumbing to sleep very quickly once more.

–

BamBam’s presentation had been easy, almost too easy if you asked Jaebeom. They had the proper amount of time off for him to present, and they were going to be back in Korea when his month was up so that he could join the pack if he wanted to. He should have known that there would have to be some drama about it, it was too easy. The drama didn’t come from BamBam though, it came from someone that Jaebeom kicked himself for not thinking about: Yugyeom.

Yugyeom had been quiet since BamBam’s presentation. At first, Jaebeom thought it was because he was just relaxing during their rare time off. He acted as if nothing were wrong when asked, and Jaebeom guesses he was stupid for believing him. It was much easier to just believe him, though.

It was two days before they were set to fly to the United States, to continue their fan meeting tour, that shit hit the fan.

“I don’t want your fucking sympathy!” Jaebeom heard Yugyeom yell from the maknae’s shared room.

The hyungs and Youngjae were all sitting in the living room, some on their phones, others reading books. The two youngest had gone to their room about 20 minutes before, claiming that they were tired and wanted to head to bed.

“It’s not sympathy!” BamBam shouted back. “It’s empathy!”
“It doesn’t matter, I don’t want it!” Yugyeom shot back.
“I’m trying to be thoughtful here, and you are just being a dick!” BamBam replied.

Jaebeom sighed, standing up and looking over at Jinyoung who nodded and stood up as well. They were halfway to the maknae’s room when Yugyeom came storming out and down the hall.

“What’s going on here?” Jaebeom asked, following after Yugyeom while Jinyoung ducked into the room to go talk with BamBam.
“Nothing, I need some air,” Yugyeom replied, sliding his feet hurriedly into his sneakers.
“It is 11 at night, you are not walking out that door alone!” Jaebeom replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Please hyung!” Yugyeom begged, looking at Jaebeom with moist eyes–tears clearly only moments away.

Jaebeom looked at him for a moment, before walking over next to Yugyeom and sliding on his own sneakers.

“What are you doing?” Yugyeom asked, his eyes narrowing in confusion.
“You aren’t going alone,” Jaebeom replied, his tone firm and warning Yugyeom to not argue with him. “You need some air, I’m coming with. We don’t even have to say a word if you don’t want to.”

The tears began to spill out of his eyes, streaking down his cheeks as he looked at his hyung in thanks. Jaebeom reached out his hand, grabbing hold of Yugyeom’s and pulling him towards the door and into the night.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty One

Jaebeom and Yugyeom walked in complete silence for a significant amount of time, just enjoying the nice cool air that was typical of an evening in early May. Jaebeom decided that he wasn’t going to be the one to break the silence, Yugyeom was going to have to open up when he was ready. It took a little bit longer than Jaebeom expected, but Yugyeom did finally decide to start speaking.

“BamBam wants to hold off on joining the pack,” Yugyeom explained softly.
“Okay,” Jaebeom said slowly and with more than a little confusion. “That’s not incredibly unusual. The mandatory month waiting time really isn’t that long of a time. He deserves all the time he wants to pick a pack. He needs to be sure we are the right one.”

Yugyeom shook his head rapidly in reply, seemingly frustrated that Jaebeom wasn’t understanding what he was trying to say.

“No, you are misunderstanding,” Yugyeom whined. “BamBam knows already that you guys are the only pack for him. He has no doubts about that. As you said, he literally presented early because he is so sure that this is the pack for him.”
“Then I must admit confusion,” Jaebeom said softly, pulling Yugyeom over to sit on a bench in the park that they just stumbled upon. “What’s going on?”
“He wants to hold off joining the pack so that I don’t feel left out,” Yugyeom explained, his whine indicating that he thought this should have been obvious to Jaebeom. “But I refuse to be the reason that he holds off joining the pack! I don’t want to be blamed for making it so you guys aren’t together as soon as possible. I know Youngjae hyung especially can’t wait until BamBam is part of the pack. What if he hates me? What if he thinks I’m the reason that things are messed up? The reason that you all have to wait!”

Jaebeom took a few moments to process what Yugyeom had just informed him of.

“Gyeom,” Jaebeom said, grabbing Yugyeom’s hands in his own and turning so that they were facing one another on the bench. “I want one thing to be incredibly clear before we move on to any other part of this conversation.”

Yugyeom nodded shyly, looking at Jaebeom in question.

“Not a single member of this group hates you, nor will they ever hate you, especially over something so trivial as this,” Jaebeom said, keeping his tone even and his voice and his face as serious looking as possible–there had to be no room for doubt. “We love you so very much and only want the best for you, is that understood?”
“Yes, hyung,” Yugyeom said, choking up a little over his reply.
“Good,” Jaebeom said with a smile. “Now what has he said to you about why he wants to wait?”
“He said that he doesn’t want me to feel left out in the months until I can finally present,” Yugyeom explained. “I said that I have Jungkook though, since he doesn’t present until September. He won’t listen to me, no matter what I say! He insists he knows what I am thinking! I don’t want to come off like a baby who can’t handle being the only pup for a few months!”

Jaebeom nodded in understanding, smiling softly at his youngest member.

“He really cares for you Gyeom,” Jaebeom said softly, running a hand through Yugyeom’s hair. “You two have come a long way from the two who got into a fight in our kitchen.”

Yugyeom couldn’t help but chuckle at the memory of their massive blowout fight. Honestly, if you had told him that they would end up being best friends he wouldn’t have believed it at the time. They just seemed so polar opposite of each other that he didn’t see how it could work.

“All you can do is explain to him how you feel,” Jaebeom continued. “But ultimately Bam is the only one that can make the decision. I can’t force him to join the group any earlier than he wants to. It needs to be his choice. You are going to have to be okay with it if he decides to wait, even if you feel that you don’t need him to.”
“But what about…” Yugyeom began to protest.
“I repeat, not a single member of this group is going to have any ill thoughts towards you because of it,” Jaebeom cut him off. “And if they do, you best believe that I am going to have a talk with them, but I don’t foresee that happening. They are all going to understand.”

Yugyeom nodded, still not completely appeased, though.

“Gyeom,” Jaebeom said softly after a few more moments of silence. “Tell me honestly, just between the two of us, are you actually okay if he does join the pack many months before you can?”
“I–” Yugyeom began and then sighed and shook his head. “It shouldn’t matter.”
“But it does,” Jaebeom protested. “It matters because we all love you so much and care for your mental state.”
“Am I going to feel lonely and a little left out,” Yugyeom said so softly that Jaebeom had to strain to hear. “Of course, but isn’t that the nature of things? There are always going to be some downsides to being the maknae of a group. It’s a burden in many ways.”
“I really hope the rest of us go out of the way to lessen that burden,” Jaebeom said, his heart breaking a little to hear Yugyeom say that.
“You do, you do,” Yugyeom said, vehemently shaking his head. “You guys are seriously the greatest hyungs I could ever ask for. It’s just always going to suck to be the youngest at least a little. I’m sure it also sucks in many ways to be the leader.”

Jaebeom nodded, pondering Yugyeom’s statement.

“I think we would find that every member and every position of this group has its own hardships,” Jaebeom mused. “I think all the time of how hard it must be for our foreign members. The most important thing is that we have open communication about it.”

Yugyeom nodded, leaning his head against Jaebeom’s shoulder and staring off into the distance for a while.

“Thank you for coming out with me hyung,” Yugyeom said softly.
“Anytime you need to clear your head like this, just let me know,” Jaebeom replied, squeezing Yugyeom’s arm. “I will do my best to make sure you get the time and the space that you need. Are you ready to head back? I think we need to have a conversation with not only BamBam, but the rest of the group as well.”
“Yeah, I think I’m ready,” Yugyeom replied, but then added. “But can we take the long way home? It’s actually really nice out tonight.”

Jaebeom couldn’t help but smile fondly at the younger, before nodding his agreement.

–

Jinyoung had walked into the room to find a very upset omega. BamBam had begun angrily ‘organizing’ the room–more like throwing laundry in the basket and trash into the trash can, although half the time he missed because he was too emotional to aim well.

“Bam,” Jinyoung said with a sigh, sitting down on BamBam’s bed and patting the spot next to him. “Why don’t you sit down so that the two of us can talk.”
“I’m fine!” BamBam snapped. “Just because Yugyeom is actually nuts doesn’t mean that I’m not fine!”
“Even if you are perfectly fine, why don’t we sit down and talk about why you think Yugyeom is nuts,” Jinyoung suggested, trying to hold in a chuckle at how ridiculous the difference between BamBam’s words and BamBam’s demeanor and actions were. “It might help for you to talk about it.”

BamBam looked like he was going to protest, but ultimately chucked his dirty t-shirt towards the laundry basket—missing by several feet–and going to sit down next to Jinyoung.

“Tell hyung what’s going on,” Jinyoung prompted, placing an arm around BamBam and pulling him close to him.
“Yugyeom is a dick!” BamBam muttered bitterly.

Jinyoung held back an eye roll at that.

“Okay, I really don’t like you calling him that,” Jinyoung said, trying to remain calm. “But can you please elaborate.”
“I’m trying to do something nice for him!” BamBam explained. “I completely understand what he must be thinking and feeling, but he acts like I’m an idiot. He acts like I don’t know anything about my own best friend!”

Jinyoung ruminated over that for a few moments before ultimately deciding there weren’t really any clues in the statement. He was still as lost as ever.

“Erm–Bam,” Jinyoung said sheepishly. “Still gonna need you to elaborate.”
“I don’t want him to feel left out!” BamBam exclaimed. “I understand how hard it is to be upresented when the rest of the members are in a pack together. It was hard for us when Youngjae joined, and I know it’s going to be even harder for him now!”

Jinyoung finally felt like he had a leg to stand on in this conversation.

“Are you talking about holding off on joining the pack?” Jinyoung asked. “Waiting until Yugyeom has presented as well?”
“Yeah, but he says he doesn’t want my pity!” BamBam exclaimed once more. “It’s not pity, it’s understanding! I get it!”
“That’s a very sweet thing for you to do for him Bam,” Jinyoung said softly, a warm feeling growing in his heart at how truly selfless his second youngest is.
“Why doesn’t he think so?” BamBam asked, looking up at Jinyoung with very lost and heartbroken eyes.
“Well, I’m not going to say that I understand everything that goes on in his head,” Jinyoung began. “But I will say that if it were me, I would be afraid that others or even the person who was putting off joining would grow to resent me. You know how much Yugyeom hates to trouble anyone. Just think back to when we pulled that awful prank on him. The boy was heartbroken that he might have done something to justifiably anger us, when deep down he knew that he had done nothing wrong. That’s just who Yugyeom is, he has a heart of gold and an insane desire to please.”

BamBam pondered those words for a second, taking in the new perspective and beginning to admit that there were some things that he hadn’t taken into consideration.

“Would you guys resent him?” BamBam delicately asked. “Would you be mad that he is the reason that I want to wait to join the pack?”
“Not in the slightest Bam,” Jinyoung replied with conviction. “And I guarantee if you go out there and ask the others they would all give you the same answer.”
“But isn’t Youngjae dying to have me join the pack?” BamBam asked.
“We all are, Bam-ah,” Jinyoung refuted. “But that doesn’t mean that we would resent you or him for such a thoughtful and heartfelt decision. At the end of the day, we all just want you guys to be happy. I hope you never doubt that.”

BamBam smiled and laid his head on Jinyoung’s shoulder and allowed the older boy to cuddle him closer. They sat in silence for a while, each just lost in their own thoughts and processing their own feelings. The two were interrupted by the clearing of a throat, shaking them out of their thoughts. They looked up to see Jaebeom standing in the doorway.

“I’ve gathered the others in the living room,” Jaebeom said softly, smiling at the cute image of Jinyoung and BamBam cuddling so closely together. “I think we all need to have a nice long chat about this.”

Jinyoung and BamBam got up to follow Jaebeom into the living room. While doing so, BamBam couldn’t help but quip: “I swear all we ever do is have group chats anymore.”

Jinyoung chuckled, but couldn’t help but mentally agree. It was what allowed them to work as a team though, so he knew they wouldn’t be giving it up anytime soon.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty Two

The members were all gathered in the living room, a very familiar site in the GOT7 dorm. Jaebeom, Mark, and Jinyoung were squeezed onto one couch, while Jackson and Youngjae sat together on an armchair and Yugyeom and BamBam sat on cushions on the floor. It was late, and all the members looked tired, but eager to have this conversation so that hopefully their night could end on a good note.

“Okay, so I’ve heard Yugyeom’s side of the story and I know that Jinyoung has heard BamBam’s, but I think it’s important that you guys recap what has happened so the other members can understand what is going on as well,” Jaebeom instructed, gesturing to BamBam to speak–knowing that if he didn’t pick a member to talk first, they could be here all night.
“I just wanted to do a nice thing for Gyeomie and hold off joining the pack until he could join as well,” BamBam explained. “I know how left out we felt with it being just the two of us who aren’t in the pack, so I didn’t want him to experience it even worse with just him.”
“And while I appreciate his kindness, I don’t want to be resented as the reason that BamBam is waiting to join the pack,” Yugyeom added, tensing a little while he waited for the reaction–it was one thing to hear from Jaebeom that he wouldn’t be resented by the members, but it was another thing to actually hear from the members themselves.
“WHAT?!” Jackson cried out, jumping up off the couch so quickly that he almost knocked Mark down on the floor. “Resent you? Who in this group do you think is going to resent you?”
“I don’t know,” Yugyeom replied sheepishly. “Jaebeom hyung reassured me that it’s all in my head but I…”
“It’s absolutely all in your head,” Mark cut Yugyeom off. “There is not a single member of this group who would even remotely dream of resenting you.”
“Once again, I want to make it clear that even if neither of you end up choosing this pack we wouldn’t resent you,” Jaebeom added. “You are both so important to us, and no matter what you always will be. We are in this GOT7 thing together for life. Understood?”

BamBam and Yugyeom nodded, looking up at all of their hyungs with their hearts full of love. They truly were lucky to have been placed in such an incredible group.

–

The very next day Jackson reached out to Namjoon to see if all of the members, or even just Jungkook, would be available to hang out. He figured that it might do the maknae line some good to see each other again after a while. Namjoon replied almost immediately that they were actually free that day and set up plans for his group to come over to the GOT7 dorm. Their managers were off for the day, meaning that the apartment was going to be just theirs for the entirety of the day.

The day was going great, the members of both groups getting along exceedingly well with one another. Seokjin, Yoongi, Jinyoung and Jaebeom had taken to cooking a massive elaborate meal for the members, while the other members chatted or played video games together. It was refreshingly normal, given their hectic and chaotic lives. At one point in the afternoon Jaebeom and Namjoon had peeled off to chat in the small office of the dorm, discussing some of the chaos and the hardships that came with being the leader of a kpop group.

“Hey, thanks again for sending Jungkook home a couple weeks ago,” Namjoon said after a moment of silence. “I don't know what got into that boy, but I made sure my lesson stuck.”

Jaebeom paused and looked at Namjoon in confusion, racking his brain for the incident the other man could be talking about.

“When are we discussing?” Jaebeom finally asked when he couldn’t help but conclude that he was totally blank.
“The night Jungkook got drunk at your dorm,” Namjoon replied, growing suspicious as well.
“Erm–he did?” Jaebeom asked, raising an eyebrow. “How did I not know about this?”
“You sent Youngjae to bring him home,” Namjoon replied slowly. “Or at least that was what Youngjae said when he walked Jungkook into the apartment. He said that you sent him with Jungkook because the boy could hardly walk in a straight line and that you were dealing with your two maknaes.”

Jaebeom took a deep breath, trying to center and calm himself.

“Im Youngjae, get your butt in here right now!” Jaebeom called out into the dorm, hearing all of the other conversations in the dorm stop and even the video game being put on pause. “And you might as well bring BamBam and Yugyeom with you!”
“You too, Jungkook!” Namjoon called out.

It was only a few moments later that the four boys sheepishly walked into the room, trying to look as innocent as possible. Jinyoung followed right behind them, looking thoroughly confused.

“What’s going on here, hyung?” Jinyoung asked, looking between Namjoon and Jaebeom in question.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Jaebeom replied, crossing his arms over his chest and giving his three youngest a thoroughly disapproving look.

The three all squirmed under their leader’s gaze, dropping their eye contact to the floor in front of them.

“You know what, I’m gonna get old school here,” Jaebeom said. “Kneel, arms up, and get to telling me what in the hell happened the other week. The quicker you tell me, the quicker you can put your arms down.”
“You can join them Jungkook-ah,” Namjoon ordered as BamBam, Yugyeom, and Youngjae moved to do as they were ordered.
“Hyung! Jungkook didn’t know that we didn’t tell our hyungs,” Yugyeom protested. “He was so drunk he didn’t know what was going on and then you grounded him so we couldn’t text and then…”
“Okay, okay,” Namjoon said, holding his hands up in surrender. “Jungkook, you don’t have to join them, but you will be staying here to help provide information.”
“ Didn’t tell your hyungs what exactly?” Jinyoung asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Did you all get drunk in our dorms? When was this?”

The three youngest GOT7 members looked at each other warily. No way were they getting out of this conversation with the ability to sit.

“So, you remember when we all went on break a couple weeks ago…” BamBam began hesitantly.

-A Few Weeks Prior-

“Okay so I will be at my parents house, but if you need anything you know you can still contact me,” Jaebeom said while zipping up his weekend bag. “Jinyoung messaged to say that he made it to Jinhae and Jackson and Mark should arrive in Taiwan to see some of Mark’s family in a few minutes' time. Youngjae is already on his way to meet his brother in Gapyeong. What time are you heading to the train station?”
“We leave in 20 minutes,” Yugyeom replied from where he sat on the couch with BamBam. “Don’t worry about us hyung, we know how to get around Korea.”
“I will always worry about my maknaes,” Jaebeom replied, earning chuckles and eye rolls from his two youngest. “But I best be off so I can make it home in time for dinner.”
“Bye hyung!” Yugyeom and BamBam said, giving their leader hugs and escorting him to the door.

They knew that if they didn’t physically walk their hyung to the door, he would fret for a significant amount of time more. Honestly, you would think they were babies with the way that Jaebeom sometimes worried about them. With Jaebeom finally off, BamBam and Yugyeom were making sure that they would have everything they needed for their short weekend away. About 10 minutes before they were ready to head to the train station bound for Namyangju, to meet up with Yugyeom’s family, Yugyeom’s phone rang. Yugyeom’s father’s results had just come back and he had the flu. It would be best if they didn’t go home, in fear that they would get sick as well right before their tour.

“Well I guess we get the dorm to ourselves this weekend,” Yugyeom said as he plopped back down on the couch next to BamBam.
“Hey we could make this fun!” BamBam replied, trying to cheer up his friend who he knew had been excited by the prospect of seeing his family. “There will be no one to tell us to turn our music down, or stop playing video games!”
“I can text Jungkook and see if he is available to come over!” Yugyeom exclaimed. “We could make it like a little party with the three of us. I’m sure he wants some time away from his overprotective hyungs as well.”

About 30 minutes later the three boys were sitting in the living room playing all sorts of video games and laughing and telling stories about their hyungs. Things had started out innocently enough, and it wasn’t until after they had ordered their dinner from a delivery app that things started to take a turn.

“Do you ever wonder what chi-maek tastes like?” Jungkook asked. “The hyungs all swear that chicken and beer is life-changing.”

BamBam laughed and nodded, before pausing and tilting his head.

“We always have a ton of cheap beer in the fridge,” BamBam said. “I don’t think the hyungs would notice if a few bottles went missing. They would probably just assume another older member drank it.”
“Do you really think so?” Jungkook asked, cautious but not opposed to the idea.

One bottle had turned into two and then three, when the door to the dorm opened. Yugyeom immediately hurried to the entry hall to see who it was. It turned out to be Youngjae.

“Youngjae Hyung!” Yugyeom exclaimed loudly, hopefully giving warning for Jungkook and BamBam to hide the bottles of beer. “What are you doing here?”
“I got halfway to Gapyeong when my brother called to say that he had to go last minute into work and couldn’t make it this weekend,” Youngjae replied while taking off his shoes. “I almost went to Gapyeong by myself, when I decided I would rather come back here and relax in Seoul for the weekend. What are you doing here? I thought you and Bamie were going to your parents.”
“My dad has the flu,” Yugyeom replied. “They didn’t want us to possibly get sick as well.”
“Makes sense,” Youngjae replied, now walking down the hall and into the living room. “Oh hi, Jungkook.”
“Hi hyung,” Jungkook replied, trying to look as innocently as possible.
“Ooh! You guys ordered chicken!” Youngjae exclaimed. “Can I have some?”
“Sure, sure, of course,” BamBam said, gesturing for Youngjae to sit down.

It was when Youngjae sat down next to BamBam that he looked suspiciously at the other boy.

“Have you guys been drinking?” Youngjae asked with narrowed eyes.
“W..why would you think that hyung?” BamBam asked.
“Your breath smells like beer,” Youngjae replied, looking at the three of them in suspicion.
“Please don’t tell the hyungs!” Yugyeom pleaded, moving to sit down next to Youngjae as well. “You know they would kick our butts and then probably never trust us on our own again. Do you know how long it took after Japan for them to not watch our every move! It was awful, hyung just awful! We just wanted to see what chicken and beer tasted like together. We promise!”

Youngjae felt torn. He knew the younger members shouldn’t be drinking, but he was only a year older than them. He didn’t feel like it was his place to punish them, nor did he want to rat them out to his hyungs. Especially not when they looked at him with such sad puppy eyes. He knew what it was like to be the younger person, left out of things that older members or siblings could do. That was what led him to make the admittedly stupid decision to allow them to continue to drink. It was also what led him to leading a very drunk Jungkook home a couple hours later, trying to unsuccessfully sneak the boy into his dorm but being confronted by an angry Kim Namjoon.

“What happened here?” Namjoon asked, taking the half-passed out boy from Youngjae’s hands.
“The maknaes got into a little trouble while the hyungs were away,” Youngjae said, coming up with the story on the spot. “Jaebeom hyung was worried he wouldn’t make it home in one piece, so he had me escort him. He is a little busy dealing with the youngest members of our group.”

Namjoon looked upset, but nodded his head, clearly believing what Youngjae had just said.

“Well please thank him for making sure that my maknae made it home okay,” Namjoon said. “I will deal with this one in the morning. It’s time for him to get to bed.”

Youngjae gave a small smile and nod in reply and turned to head back to his own dorm, counting his blessings that even though Jungkook had gotten into trouble at least it seemed like he and his two youngest wouldn’t. The hyungs wouldn’t be home for two more days, plenty of time for them to sober up and get rid of all the evidence.

-Present Day-

“And that was what happened,” Youngjae said, finishing the story and looking down at the floor in front of him in shame.
“I thought it looked like some of the beer bottle stash had been depleted!” Mark exclaimed from the doorway, causing the members to look up and realize that everyone else had come to the hallway to hear what was going on. “I just thought it was Jackson.”
“And I assumed it was Jaebeom hyung,” Jackson said with a shrug.
“And I assumed it was Jinyoung,” Jaebeom said with a sigh. “It looks like we are going to have to keep an inventory of our alcohol.”
“Hyung! We won’t do it again!” Yugyeom pleaded.
“Oh you are right about that,” Jaebeom replied. “Because I’m gonna make sure you think about it a million and one times before taking another sip underage.”
“I also can’t believe you guys were okay with only Jungkook getting in trouble,” Jinyoung said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“We weren’t!” BamBam exclaimed. “We just were terrified that you were going to really lay into us and the fear of that won out.”
“Well the fear of that is about to come true,” Jaebeom grumbled.

The three youngest GOT7 members all gulped and squirmed awkwardly on their knees. Their arms were burning, but they didn’t beg to put them down. This was not going to be fun.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty-Three

Namjoon studied Jaebeom’s face for a few moments, recognizing the mix of emotions that he found there. There was anger–sure. The three youngest members had betrayed his trust in many ways. There was disappointment–absolutely. He knew that Jaebeom wanted to always believe the best in his members, and that something happening behind his back was really disappointing. But above all else, there was an emotion that Namjoon knew all too well. Fear. And it was that fear that prompted Namjoon into action.

“Hyung, I think you and I need to go talk some things out over a cup of coffee,” Namjoon suggested, and then continued when he could see that Jaebeom was preparing to reject the offer. “The boys aren’t going anywhere, and you need some time to process the situation.”
“Go with Namjoon, hyung,” Jinyoung suggested, agreeing wholeheartedly with Namjoon’s idea. “The rest of us can handle things here.”

Jaebeom still looked a little bit hesitant, but nodded and walked out of the room without another glance at his three youngest members. He feared he might lose his temper entirely if he looked at them again, and his temper was something that he had actively worked on over the last year. He didn’t want to take any steps backwards.

Jaebeom and Namjoon walked in relative silence out of the dorms and over to the Ediya Coffee that was only two buildings down. They each ordered an Iced Americano and Namjoon threw in a couple of cookies, figuring they would need them. They sat at a table in the back of the cafe, having the entire area to themselves which was exactly what Namjoon had been hoping for.

“This doesn’t make you a bad leader,” Namjoon broke the silence, his focus solely on Jaebeom’s face to see what his reaction would be to those words.

Jaebeom looked up at Namjoon in shock, his mouth dropping open for a few moments before he snapped it shut and shook his head.

“How on earth did you know what I was thinking?” Jaebeom asked, taking a sip of his coffee and sighing in relief as the cold beverage immediately began to relax him.
“Because I’ve been there a million and one times as well,” Namjoon replied. “It kind of comes with the leader's territory.”
“I just don’t understand why they would do something like this,” Jaebeom replied. “And not only did they do something like this, they lied to my face. I asked them how their vacation was and they lied to me.”
“As a means to get out of trouble,” Namjoon pointed out. “Not because they don’t respect you. I’ve seen the way your members look at you, and I promise that they respect you, hyung.”

Jaebeom looked like he didn’t agree with Namjoon’s words, but that he also had no idea of what to say in response to them.

“Put yourself in their shoes for a moment,” Namjoon explained. “Think about what it was like being 17 or 18 years old. You were worried about your grades, and your friends, and what others thought of you. You were experimenting and making mistakes, and in a lot of ways normal teens have the freedom to make those mistakes, learn and then move on. It was their own choice, but our members don’t have that same freedom. They are under a microscope, their every move and action watched just waiting for the day they do something wrong. They don’t have that freedom to be just 17, young, and stupid.”

Jaebeom sat there digesting those words for a few moments, seeing the logic in Namjoon’s words but not feeling entirely comforted by it.

“You still have every right to be upset with them, hyung,” Namjoon pointed out. “They did something they knew they shouldn’t be doing. They lied to you. They drank underage. Heck, they lied to me as well. I just don’t want you to think they did it because you aren’t a good enough leader, or that they don’t respect you. Hyung, they did it because they are 17 and still learning how to make the right choices. If there is one thing I’m thankful for it’s that they did it in the safety and privacy of your dorm, and that they knew well enough to make sure that Jungkook got back to my dorm okay.”

Jaebeom nodded, feeling that same relief that Namjoon was talking about. He was very glad that this incident wasn’t made public. That would have made things even more complicated than they currently were.

“Thanks for this,” Jaebeom finally said after a few moments of silence. “You said everything that I needed to hear. It’s hard not to doubt my abilities sometimes. I just never feel like I’m a competent enough leader for them.”
“It doesn’t come naturally to everyone,” Namjoon answered. “But I have seen the way you are with them, and I know that you are meant to be their leader. There are going to be ups and downs, but you just have to know that you don’t have to do it on your own. Mark hyung, Jackson and Jinyoung seem like they are very capable of helping you along as well.”

Namjoon took another sip of his coffee, swallowing the last bit of americano left and trying to savor the taste.

“Can I admit something, hyung?” Namjoon asked, causing Jaebeom to look at him in question. “I’m incredibly impressed that you can handle being both the group leader and the pack leader. It takes a special kind of person to be able to fulfill both of those roles.”
Jaebeom smiled, before also drinking the last swig of his americano. “It’s what you said before. It’s that I have the best members on my team who make that possible.”

–

The GOT7 maknaes didn’t know what they expected when Jaebeom walked out the door, but it was certainly not the events that followed. Jackson, Mark, and Jinyoung decided that they were not going to wait for Jaebeom to return to dish out their punishments. Mark invited their Bangtan guests into the living room where he set up some video games for them to play while they were dealing with their maknaes. Then, Jackson took BamBam to Jackson and Mark’s room; Mark took Youngjae to Youngjae and Jaebeom’s room; and Jinyoung took Yugyeom to Yugyeom and BamBam’s room. Their punishments were dealt with swiftly and painfully. All three boys tried valiantly not to cry out, knowing that they had guests in their dorm who could very much overhear them even with the high volume of the video games. After their punishments were over and they had been hugged and coddled by their respective hyung, the boys were brought back out into the living room with tear stained faces to apologize to Jungkook for making him take the blame alone and to the other Bangtan members for involving Jungkook in this kind of situation.

“You will need to apologize to Jaebeom and Namjoon when they return,” Jinyoung reminded the boys. “And we will discuss the rest of your punishments later, understood?”
“Yes, hyung,” Youngjae, Yugyeom and BamBam replied miserably, clearly wishing that this whole ordeal was over already but resigned to their fate.

It was about 10 minutes later that Jaebeom and Namjoon finally returned to the dorm. Jaebeom walked into the room with Namjoon trailing behind him. He stopped short upon seeing the three boys squirming on cushions on the floor with very evident tear stains on their faces. Youngjae looked over at his two younger members, gesturing that it was time. They all got up and bowed down deeply towards their hyung, giving their deepest apologies for their behaviors. Jaebeom felt his heart melt at the sight, opening his arms wide for all three of his members to come run up and give him a hug.

“I see your hyungs addressed the issue?” Jaebeom asked with his arms still full of his youngest members.
“Yes, hyung,” Youngjae replied sheepishly. “And I promise Mark hyung made sure I will think about things a million times over before I ever do something like that again. I swear he must have the hardest hand on the planet.”
“Agreed!” BamBam added, thinking back to when he and Yugyeom snuck out in Japan and Mark dealt with the situation. “Although, Jackson hyung wasn’t pleasant either.”
“Nor was Jinyoung hyung,” Yugyeom said with a shudder, trying not to mentally relieve those awful moments.

Jaebeom rolled his eyes at his overly dramatic maknaes, but couldn’t help the indulgent smile that came upon his face. He really wouldn’t trade his members for anything.

“Well why don’t we enjoy the rest of our time with our Bangtan friends, since getting to actually spend time together is a very rare treat,” Jaebeom suggested. “We can regroup later to discuss things further.”

This seemed to be the last thing that the maknaes wanted to do, but they nodded their understanding. In the back of their minds they were hoping that the time spent with their friends would ease Jaebeom to the point of maybe not even thinking they needed to be further punished–a small, surely unrealized hope, but a hope nonetheless.

The two groups really enjoyed the rest of their afternoon together. It was nice to hang out with another group that truly understood what they were going through. Not only did they understand the pressures of being an idol group, but they understood what it was like to be in a pack with their members. They could relate to their experiences of being too close all the time, to the point that fights also broke out in the Bangtan pack.

“I think the only thing that truly matters is that I know that I would go to the ends of the earth for any one of my members,” Namjoon explained. “The fights may be hard, but I know in the back of my mind how much I care about them and vice versa. That alone will always get us through. I don’t think there will come a day that we have a fight that we can’t come back from. We care about each other too much.”
“Most of our fights are plain stupid anyway,” Jimin pointed out, glancing over at Taehyung.
“I just wanted to eat the freaking mandu!” Taehyung argued. “It was perfectly warm and smelled absolutely delicious. Why would we wait to eat it?”
“Because we had to practice more!” Jimin argued. “If we ate it first then we would get cramps while practicing.”
“The answer is always to eat the food when it’s in peak condition,” Jaebeom butted in. “Food should be enjoyed at its most delicious state.”
“Thank you!” Taehyung exclaimed.
“Jaebeom never stops eating,” Jinyoung added on. “Don’t listen to him.”
“RUDE!” Jaebeom yelled back in reply, getting a stuck out tongue from Jinyoung in reply.

The afternoon was filled with a lot more laughter and fun. It was truly that break that both groups needed. The Bangtan boys left, wishing the GOT7 members good luck on the next leg of their tour.

It was now dinnertime and the boys also had to pack up for their US leg of the tour. Luckily the flight wasn’t too early in the morning, so they would still have some part of the day to get last minute things together. However, the youngest members knew that it was about to be lecture time.

Jaebeom had ordered them delivery app food and sent them all to their rooms to begin packing while waiting for it to arrive. It was clear when he walked in to start packing that Youngjae thought his scolding was about to start early, but Jaebeom shook his head. They would discuss things as a team.

It was about 20 minutes later that the doorbell to the dorm rang, indicating that their food delivery had arrived. The members had all made significant progress on their packing, so they were able to sit down for a meal feeling a bit more relaxed without that weighing further on their minds.

“Why did you decide to go along with the maknaes?” Jaebeom asked Youngjae after they all had sat down at the table and served themselves some food. “You are legally able to drink now, but you knew well and good that they are underage. What made you decide to go along with them instead of telling us what had happened?”

Youngjae sat there for a few moments gathering his thoughts.

“I didn’t feel like it was my place,” Youngjae admitted. “I’m only a year older than them, and I hardly feel like it’s my place to go full discipline on them. Besides, I know what it’s like to be in their shoes. I know what it’s like to be left out of things because of age.”
“Do you think it comes naturally to me?” Jaebeom asked. “That I don’t feel like a fraud every other day? When it comes down to it, I’m really not that much older than you guys. Yet despite that, I know that I need to be a good hyung and a good leader to you guys. It may not be easy, but it is still something you should do.”

Youngjae hung his head and nodded.

“We aren’t asking you to discipline your dongsaengs,” Jinyoung added. “I know that’s something that you aren’t comfortable with, and that is completely okay. We just ask that you let us know when they do something that you know they shouldn’t be doing.”
“And that goes for all three of you,” Jackson piped in. “It doesn’t matter if the member is older or younger than you, you should know in your gut if something is wrong.”
“Even if you need to go to me about something that Jaebeom did that upset you, or go to Jaebeom for something about me,” Mark added. “I don’t want any of you to feel like it’s not your place.”
“What they all said is right,” Jaebeom concluded. “This group is not going to work if we don’t all openly communicate with each other, especially about things like this. This should have been addressed that day, and instead it wasn’t so things ended up being even worse all around.”

The three youngest looked at Jaebeom in question.

“The reason that Namjoon pulled me out of the dorm to have coffee is because he knew that I was blaming myself for not being a good enough leader to you,” Jaebeom explained. “I thought that you guys did what you did because in some way I had failed you or that you didn’t respect me.”

The three youngest immediately began relaying their disbelief at that statement, their denial of its truth, and their absolute unwavering respect and trust for their leader. Jaebeom held up his hand to cut them off.

“Namjoon helped me see that this was really you guys finally getting a chance to let loose and be a teenager,” Jaebeom appeased. “But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t come with consequences, just like any other teenager would face.”

The maknaes looked apprehensively at Jaebeom, nerves showing on their faces.

“I’m not going to call it being grounded, because that’s sort of a hard concept to do with our hectic schedules,” Jaebeom explained. “But just know that we will be keeping a very close eye on the three of you until you earn our trust once more.”
“You can bet you guys will not be sharing a hotel room with just the three of you,” Jinyoung added. “Youngjae you will be with Jaebeom hyung, BamBam with Mark hyung and Jackson, and Yugyeom you will be with me for the entire tour. No amount of whining or protests will change our minds, okay?”
“Yes, hyung,” the three youngest replied, feeling thoroughly chastised.

The members ate in silence for a few moments after those words, until BamBam finally decided that he needed to speak up.

“Jinyoungie hyung,” BamBam began, sounding sickeningly sweet. “You do realize that you are the only one in this group who hasn’t been punished by his hyungs yet, right? That means your time is coming!”

Jinyoung rolled his eyes, shoving the tray with meat closer to BamBam.

“Eat your dinner, Bam,” Jinyoung ordered, but couldn’t help the indulgent smile that came upon his face. “And I think you are forgetting Jaebeom hyung. It could be his time, too.”

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty-Four

It was early June 2015 and the boys were in the middle of their 1st FanMeeting Tour in Japan. They had just played three shows in Tokyo, and had two days off before their next show in Osaka. The tour would pause until October after that, allowing them time to release their next mini-album called Just Right in early July. They had already begun some of the recording for the album, and it looked like it was going to be a very cute, bright, and fun concept. Something that was a complete 180 from their most recent release–Stop Stop It.

Mark was lying in the hotel room in Osaka playing games on his phone. BamBam was in Jinyoung and Yugyeom’s hotel room, and the three were watching a movie together. Their manager had set a curfew of 9 o’clock for all of them, the memory of what had happened the last time they were in Japan was fresh on their minds. Mark didn’t honestly mind the curfew though, he would probably be laying in bed playing games even without it. He wanted nothing more than just time to chill and relax before their next big show. Jackson was absent, and Mark didn’t actually know where he was. He assumed the boy was off in Jaebeom and Youngjae’s hotel room, probably playing koala to one, if not both, of them.

Mark had just leveled up in his game, cheering softly and placing his phone down for a second so that he could stretch out his sore and tired limbs. The door to the hotel room swung open and then slammed shut behind someone. Mark sat up on the bed, looking to see who had entered. Mark was very surprised to see that not only was it Jackson, but a Jackson that looked incredibly determined.

“What’s going on Jack?” Mark asked, watching as the younger boy stalked his way over to the bed.
“Kiss me!” Jackson demanded.

Mark’s jaw dropped open, and he gaped like a fish for a few moments before shaking his head.

“I’m sorry, what?” Mark asked.
“Kiss me!” Jackson whined. “I need affection. I’m going to die without it! Jaebeom is a big meanie and won’t give me more than a peck. He says that we promised to wait until the others joined so as to not make things awkward. But I’m horny!”

Mark couldn’t help but chuckle at that, causing even bigger of a pout to appear on Jackson’s face.

“So you want me to get in trouble for defying our pack leader’s orders?” Mark asked with a smirk. “I see how it is!”
“He would never have to know,” Jackson whined, and then added. “Kiss me or I’m dumping your ass.”
“We are literally a bonded pack,” Mark said with a roll of his eyes. “You can’t break it THAT easily, Seun-ah.”

Jackson looked at Mark with betrayal for a few moments before a shit-eating grin planted itself on his face. Mark gulped, suddenly feeling unsure as to what bright idea Jackson may have just gotten. Jackson reached down slowly, grabbing on to the hem of his white t-shirt. He started to slowly and seductively pull the t-shirt up. Despite knowing exactly what the younger boy was doing, Mark couldn’t find the will-power to look away from the show he was putting on. Jackson threw the shirt in the general direction of his luggage, not looking away from staring directly into Mark’s eyes. Mark gulped once more, not moving an inch as Jackson made his way towards him. Mark felt as if his eyes doubled in size and his heart began to pound like it was trying to escape his chest. How had it gotten this way in the like 2 minutes that Jackson had been in the room?

Mark vaguely registered the sound of the hotel room door opening once more, but was too focused on the man who was only inches from his face now.

“Seun-ah,” Mark breathed out, ready to lose himself in a deep passionate kiss with one of the men that he loved so deeply.
“I thought he might come for you next!” Jaebeom’s voice resounded, shattering Mark’s deep concentration and resulting in the older man pulling back and violently shaking his head as if to clear it. “Im Jackson! I told you that we have to wait! We can’t make it awkward for the maknaes.”
“It’s KILLING me hyung,” Jackson whined once more, collapsing face down on the bed next to Mark.
“Dang he went all out, hyung,” Youngjae said from his spot next to the leader. “Shirt off and everything.”

There was a knock on the door before it opened once more and Jinyoung walked in.

“What in the heck is going on?” Jinyoung asked. “I was peacefully watching a movie and all of a sudden I felt pure lust surge through the pack bond!”
“Stupid pack bond,” Jackson muttered into the duvet cover below his face.
“Jackson has decided he doesn’t want to wait anymore,” Jaebeom explained. “He tried to seduce Youngjae and myself, and when I refused to cave he turned his full undivided attention on poor Mark here.”
“I think he got so horny he went insane!” Youngjae exclaimed with a laugh.
“I’m perfectly sane!” Jackson protested, lifting his head up momentarily before plopping it back down.
“You threatened to dump me if I didn’t kiss you,” Mark pointed out.
“And we were so close to kissing too,” Jackson said with a groan, kicking his legs like a little kid in the middle of a tantrum. “Hyung! I can’t live like this. I don’t need to go all the way, but what’s the harm of a few kisses?”
“I don’t want to make it…” Jaebeom began to explain, but Jinyoung cut him off.
“I don’t see anything wrong if we don’t take it all the way,” Jinyoung said speculatively. “Especially if the maknaes aren’t around.”

Jaebeom whipped his head to look at Jinyoung in shock and betrayal.

“Well you gave us a tease when we joined the pack,” Jinyoung explained. “It left all of us, including me, wanting a lot more. You wouldn’t have believed the number of times I’ve almost slammed you against the wall and attacked your lips because you looked way too good biting them.”

Jaebeom felt his heart skip a beat and his cheeks heat up at that image. Jinyoung caught Mark’s eye, giving the older member a wink before starting to close in upon Jaebeom who appeared to be short-circuiting. Jaebeom didn’t pull away as Jinyoung inched his way forward, reaching his arm around to the back of Jaebeom’s neck to pull the leader into a deep and passionate kiss. Jaebeom put up no protest, allowing himself to melt into the embrace. Mark watched in awe and fascination for a moment, before suddenly Jackson was on top of him and claiming Mark’s lips as his own.

Youngjae watched for a few moments, shaking his head fondly at his members before quietly making his way out of the room. It wasn’t that Youngjae wasn’t turned on by all of it. He was. He just wasn’t in the mood that evening and knew it was something that the hyungs needed to work out for themselves first. Once Jaebeom got his head back on straight he was going to be a little peeved at his words being ignored, and Youngjae would like to try to avoid the lecture that would result at all costs. Besides, there would be plenty of time to corner one of his hyungs later and cash in on their newly relaxed hooking up rules.

Youngjae made his way into what was originally Jinyoung and Yugyeom’s room, knowing that Yugyeom and BamBam were in there. When he walked in he found both maknaes sound asleep under the covers, BamBam held tightly in Yugyeom’s arms. They must have already been sound asleep when Jinyoung had left. Youngjae slid into the bed on the other side of BamBam, leaning his head down on the younger boy’s head. He looked up at the TV to see what the boys had been watching, not feeling tired enough to sleep yet. He saw that the remote was laying on top of the covers, and grabbed it to find a channel that he wanted to watch. He landed on some Japanese variety show, although he could only catch some of the major words that he knew in Japanese. It wasn’t long before Youngjae’s breath had evened out and he was in just as deep of sleep as BamBam and Yugyeom.

–

The next morning BamBam woke up to the sun shining brightly through the big hotel window. Nobody had closed the curtains the night before, so it was casting a light right on to the bed. BamBam rubbed at his eyes, looking around at the two other bodies in the bed. To his right was Yugyeom, but what was to his left made him do a double-take. It was Youngjae, who was now awake and also squinting into the bright morning sunshine.

“Youngjae hyung?” BamBam asked. “When did you get here?”
“It’s a bit of a long story, but the hyungs needed to work some things out last night so I came in here,” Youngjae explained. “You two were already sound asleep.”
“I thought we were grounded and not allowed to share a room,” Yugyeom said groggily, a groan eliciting from the man’s mouth as he stretched his sore muscles.
“The hyungs were a bit too preoccupied to care,” Youngjae said with a chuckle.

–

Jaebeom rolled over to glance at the clock on the nightstand, seeing that it was 8:30 in the morning. They didn’t need to be at the venue until about 1 o’clock so he had plenty of time to go back to bed if we wanted. Closing his eyes and basking in the idea of getting to sleep for a couple more hours, Jaebeom noticed something for the first time. He was surrounded by the scent of peaches. Now this wasn’t entirely out of the ordinary. He spent a significant portion of the day with Jinyoung. What was throwing him for a loop though, was that he was supposed to be sharing a room with Youngjae and therefore should be surrounded by the scent of sea salt. Jaebeom quickly rolled back over and came face to face with Jinyoung. The man was asleep, grasping the covers tightly against his body in an intense cuddle. Memories of the previous night came flashing through Jaebeom’s mind. Jinyoung’s lips. His soft cheeky smile. Allowing himself to curl up in the other boy’s arms and fall asleep.

Jaebeom stared at the sleeping form of Jinyoung for a few more moments before looking across the room and seeing Mark and Jackson on the other bed. Jackson was completely koala-ed on to Mark, and both boys were sound asleep. That just left….the entire maknae line. Jaebeom shot up out of bed, quickly putting on his slippers and making his way towards the door. It wasn’t that he thought the maknae line would get in trouble again…but there was a part of him that wouldn’t rest easily until he was sure.

Jaebeom was halfway to the door when he heard a groggy voice behind him.

“Where are you going?” Jinyoung asked, his voice sounding gravely from having just woken up.
“I need to check on the maknae line,” Jaebeom replied in a whisper, before leveling Jinyoung with a look. “And then we need to have a talk.”
“Whatever you say hyung,” Jinyoung said with a dramatic eye roll. “I personally don’t regret last night.”

Jaebeom stared at Jinyoung for a few more minutes, noting how soft the other boy looked at the moment. His hair was all messy and splayed out on the pillow. His cheeks looked so cute and squeezable…and his lips. Oh his lips–Jaebeom shook his head. Not the time Jaebeom, not the time!

“You could come back to bed, you know,” Jinyoung pointed out. “It’s nice and soft and you can get a couple more hours of sleep–a true rarity. The maknaes are fine. They were sound asleep when I left them, and I’m sure Youngjae just went to sleep with them. I will text them instead of you going all the way over there.”

Jaebeom would be lying if he said he wasn’t incredibly tempted by Jinyoung’s words. The bed did look inviting. Without waiting for his reply, Jinyoung picked up his phone and typed out a message to Youngjae. His phone dinged about 2 seconds later with a response.

“Youngjae is with the others and they are all just curled up in bed,” Jinyoung informed. “Now come back to bed hyung.”

Jaebeom slowly made his way back towards the bed, kicking off his shoes on the way.

“From now on, nothing more than a peck until both of the maknaes can join the pack,” Jaebeom informed, lifting the comforter and sliding under the covers. “I’m a strong man Jinyoung, I can resist your charms. I won’t be weak like last night! You just caught me so off-guard.”
“I bet I can get you to beg for it again,” Jinyoung said with a smirk.
“You’re on Park Jinyoung,” Jaebeom replied. “I’m not going to cave.”

Loud chuckles were heard from the other bed.

“Can we get in on this?” Jackson asked. “The first person to make Jaebeom beg for more than an innocent peck on the lips wins?”
“Guys, the maknaes–” Jaebeom began to protest.
“Don’t need to know,” Mark said. “We promise not to do anything inappropriate when they are in the room.”

Jaebeom sighed, but very quickly caved.

“Fine, but just know you aren’t going to win,” Jaebeom replied, allowing Jinyoung to wrap his arms around him. “Now I’m going back to bed. Goodnight.”

Jaebeom peacefully closed his eyes, allowing himself to sleep into his dreams…and if Jinyoung was repeating what he did the night before in his dreams–well Jaebeom would never tell.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty-Five

It all started with a banana. Jaebeom knew exactly what Jackson was doing. Making noises. Practically unhinging his jaw to take a massive bite out of the banana. Suggestively licking his lips afterwards and acting as if eating the banana was practically….orgasmic. This was the first time that Jaebeom thought that maybe…just maybe…he wasn’t actually going to win this competition.

Then it was their post-practice shower. The maknaes had both run off, taken quick showers and then practically raced to get to the food that they had been promised. Jaebeom was tired, and lagging behind. He entered the stadium’s big shower room, a room full of open showerheads and very little privacy. Jaebeom had somehow ended up in the showers at the same time as Youngjae. He let his guard down a little. Youngjae didn’t know about this stupid game his other pack members were playing.

Youngjae was singing along to his phone that he had brought into the bathroom. He had set it on a bench a safe distance away from any potential splashes of water. The song turned to a sexier one, and Youngjae started dancing and singing along to it. Jaebeom watched with rapt attention as he slid his arms seductively down his abdomen, soap bubbles trailing along in its wake. His voice was becoming low and raspy as he sang along.

Jaebeom gulped. He shifted. His blood felt like it was burning inside of his veins.

“HEY!” Jaebeom cried out, shaking his head rapidly. He had come to a very alarming realization. “Are you in on this?”
“In on what, hyung?” Youngjae asked, turning his innocent eyes on Jaebeom with their full force. “I’m just enjoying a nice hot shower. What’s the issue?”

Jaebeom pondered Youngjae’s words for a moment before ultimately deciding there was no way the boy was telling the truth. That would be way too much of a coincidence.

“They told you and you are in on this!” Jaebeom exclaimed. “I’m not going to cave!”
“Whatever you say, hyung,” Youngjae replied with a mischievous grin, washing off the last traces of soap from his body and turning off the water. “I looked pretty hot though, didn’t I?”

Without waiting for a reply, Youngjae winked at Jaebeom and walked off to grab a towel.

His pack mates were actively trying to kill him. That was the only explanation. They all had to have taken lessons from Jackson on body confidence or something. No way had they all been this shameless before.

The next challenge was after dinner ice cream. They had gone to a cute little ice cream shop and all had gotten ice cream cones. Jaebeom was sitting at the table in between BamBam and Yugyeom, not trusting himself to sit anywhere else. He wouldn’t be surprised if next Jinyoung or Mark start running their hands up his thigh. No, he wasn’t going to chance that. He was keeping his feet very firmly planted under his chair, too. No footsie today! Not happening!

There was one downside of his plan though, which was that his spot was right across from Jinyoung. Has Jinyoung’s tongue always been the perfect shade of pink? It was peeking out, taking massive licks of the ice cream in long swipes. Jaebeom was mesmerized, not even realizing the ice cream in his own cone was melting all over his hand.

“You okay, hyung?” BamBam asked with a laugh, waving his hand in front of Jaebeom’s face to try to break him out of his trance.
“W–what? Yeah, I’m fine,” Jaebeom said, suddenly noticing the mess all over himself and grabbing the napkins from the dispenser to start to take care of it. “Is–is it hot in here?”
“What are you talking about, hyung?” Yugyeom asked, giving him a confused look. “I’m freezing, and we are eating ice cream.”
“Are you feeling okay?” Jinyoung asked with a smirk. “Do you think you need to lie down? I can take you back to your hotel room.”
“No!” Jaebeom replied, much louder than he intended for his response to be. He got several looks from other customers in the ice cream shop. “I mean, no. It’s okay. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure about that?” Mark asked, raising his brow in question and trying and failing to conceal his amusement.
“I’m gonna head back by myself,” Jaebeom said, standing up immediately from the table. “Don’t want any of you to have to cut your time here short. Enjoy!”
“But hyung, we wouldn’t want you to go back by yourself when you aren’t feeling well,” Jackson pointed out. “We would feel awful if something happened to you.”
“We can take hyung back,” BamBam suggested, Yugyeom nodding enthusiastically in agreement.

Jaebeom jumped on that chance. As long as it wasn’t one of the members that was in on the bet, he would be fine…or so he thought.

“Didn’t Mark hyung look extra hot today?” BamBam asked as they walked along the street, passing different cafes and restaurants on the way back to the hotel.
“His hair does look great like that,” Yugyeom mused. “He looks very sexy and fuckable like that.”

Jaebeom almost choked on air. He was spluttering, but the two maknaes ignored him and plowed on with the conversation.

“Do you ever think about the things that you can’t wait to do with him when we finally join the pack?” BamBam asked nonchalantly, almost causing Jaebeom to trip and fall off the sidewalk now.
“Sometimes,” Yugyeom replied with a shrug. “With all the hyungs, really.”
“What is with this conversation?!?” Jaebeom exclaimed, looking frantically back and forth between his two youngest members.
“We are 17 and 18 with raging hormones,” BamBam pointed out as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “How are you surprised by this conversation? We aren’t babies. Gyeom just isn’t considered ‘of-age enough’ to make his decision on a pack yet because packs are supposed to be for life.”
“Honestly, I don’t know how you hyungs aren’t all over each other all the time when you are all so attractive,” Yugyeom said with a laugh. “They are trying their best to get you to crack hyung, and it’s hysterical.”
“Who told you two about the bet?” Jaebeom asked, once again feeling blindsided.
“Youngjae hyung,” BamBam answered with a shrug. “We don’t care, you know, but if you could cave to Jinyoung hyung that would be great. Both of us have our money on him.”
“There is money being bet on this?!” Jaebeom screeched, stopping in place so suddenly that someone who was walking behind him almost ran into him.
“Of course,” Yugyeom answered, his tone making it sound like he thought Jaebeom was dumb for not realizing there would be money involved. “It wouldn’t be much of a fun bet if there wasn’t.”
“Wouldn’t everyone but you two just be betting on themselves?” Jaebeom asked.
“No, that was the rule,” Yugyeom explained. “They weren’t allowed to bet on themselves. Mark bet on Jackson, saying he was so bold he didn’t see how you wouldn’t fall for it. I think that was Mark projecting his own feelings. We all know he is WHIPPED for that man, even though he does love all of us.”
“Jackson bet on Jinyoung, betting on that JJ Project connection” BamBam continued. “Jinyoung bet on Mark and Youngjae bet on Jackson.”

Jaebeom stood there for a moment, trying to process all of this information. His mind was frantically swirling, feeling like his world had been turned upside down. Finally, Jaebeom shook his head, acting as unbothered as he could, and continued walking towards the hotel. He had made a decision. He wasn’t going to play by their rules.
Once they arrived, Jaebeom led Yugyeom and BamBam to his shared room with Youngjae. Then he proceeded to message the rest of the group and inform them that they must meet in his room as well. There was an urgent matter that needed to be discussed.

It was only a few minutes later that the other members came filing through the door, looking a mix between concerned, anxious, worried, and out-of-breath. They had definitely all run there.

“What’s going on, hyung?” Jinyoung spoke first, looking the leader up and down as if to check for any injuries.

Jaebeom gestured for them all to be seated, grabbing a hold of Youngjae’s arm as he tried to walk by. Youngjae only had a few moments to look at him in confusion before Jaebeom pulled him in close and crashed their lips together–locking them in a heated intense kiss. Youngjae melted into it, his arms reaching around to grab at the back of Jaebeom’s neck so that he could deepen the kiss. Jaebeom vaguely heard shouts of surprise, and a squeak of shock that he was about 95% sure was Jackson. He allowed himself to get lost in the heat of the moment as well, realizing that the maknaes were sure as heck not as innocent as he had made them out to be in his mind. They were old enough to know how a pack worked. He wouldn’t engage in anything sexual with them until they had joined and given him their consent, but it was healthy for them to see a functioning pack.

Finally, when both Youngjae and Jaebeom had to separate to allow them the chance to catch their breath, the two pulled apart.

“Wow,” was all Youngjae could voice, his eyes looking glazed but a big grin plastered on his face.
“That was hot,” Jackson added, giving a little clap that no one else joined in on.
“So really, I think I should win all the money,” Jaebeom said through his pants, a smirk planted on his face as he looked around at his other members.
“You told him about the bets?” Jinyoung asked, turning in accusation towards the two youngest members.
“They tried to rig the outcome!” Mark accused, realizing immediately the only reason they would have told Jaebeom. “And it backfired on all of us.”
“I wouldn’t say all of us,” Youngjae chimed in, his loopy grin still planted on his face. “I will take this outcome any day.”

Jaebeom laughed, and pulled Youngjae into his side and gave his shoulder a squeeze.

“Now stop betting on me!” Jaebeom exclaimed.
“But you do see that we are right though, right?” Jinyoung asked, catching Jaebeom’s eyes so that he could show him his sincerity. “That it is okay for us to explore this side. Trust me, we talked it through with Yugyeom and BamBam before we continued.”
“We had no idea that you were doing that,” Yugyeom said with an eye roll. “We would have told you how stupid it was from the start.”
“We didn’t want you to feel left out,” Jaebeom argued. “It’s something you’ve brought up with the pack bond and all.”
“We feel left out in that you guys feel the same things and can know when someone needs something like a hug without being in the same room. Because we aren’t presented, we don’t get to have that. The sex thing though…do you honestly think Yugyeom and I don’t hook up with each other?” BamBam asked, shaking his head.

And that was the day that Jaebeom realized, even though he was the leader of GOT7, the pack alpha of his group’s pack, and the second oldest member, it sure as heck didn’t mean that he knew everything.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty-Six

The most magical word to trainees is debut. It’s what they work so hard and tirelessly for. All of those long hours, the blood, the sweat and the tears. It will all have been worth it if they could just debut. The reason that trainees are told that the training period is so hard and ruthless is because it’s supposed to be even HARDER once they debut. Jaebeom didn’t understand how that was possible…until he debuted.

If he thought the hours were long and tiresome when he was training, he had another thing coming. Truly what got him through everything at the end of the day were his members and their fans.

GOT7 was working themselves to the bone–sleep hours were few and far between and he honestly couldn’t think of the last time he had a healthy and proper meal and not a protein shake on the run. They had just landed in Thailand about four hours ago, and were set for a long week of promotional interviews. Bambam was over the moon with excitement, so happy to be in his home country and to get to show off where he was from to his members. Jaebeom didn’t know how he had that much energy left in him. Jaebeom himself felt like he was practically running on empty. The person that it seemed to be hitting the most though, was Yugyeom who appeared to be coming down with something. The members had hoped that a nap on the plane would make him feel at least a little better, but so far it didn’t seem to have made much of a difference.

“Go and get some rest guys, you’ve got a LONG day of back to back interviews tomorrow, okay?” their manager Jisung ordered, gesturing for them to head off to their hotel rooms. “Gyeom-ah, please let me know if you need anything.”

Yugyeom nodded, immediately turning and heading off to the room he was to be sharing with Youngjae and Bambam.

“Please come and get me if he feels any worse,” Jaebeom said, a little nervous to not be in the same room with the sick youngest member. The younger three had argued against changing rooms though. Youngjae was bound and determined to prove that he could take care of his youngest members just as well as any of the other hyungs.
“Of course, hyung,” Youngjae said, giving Jaebeom a soft reassuring smile. “Good night.”

Youngjae gave Jaebeom a quick soft kiss, before turning and grabbing the two maknaes and heading off to their room.

Despite his anxiety, Jaebeom was looking forward to an early night. He headed up to his shared room with Jinyoung and quickly got his pajamas on. He felt a massive amount of tension leaving his body as he curled up next to Jinyoung in the bed. There was nothing more relaxing to Jaebeom than cuddling with Jinyoung. He was out in record time, more comfortable than he could remember being in a very long time.

The first sign that there was something wrong was the slamming of the hotel room door. It startled Jaebeom awake, and he sat up quickly to look at who came in the door. It was Mark who was struggling to walk with Jackson trying to cling to him like a koala.

“Alpha hyungie, where are we going?” Jackson whined. “Why did we leave our room?”
“What’s going on?” Jinyoung asked–clearly having woken up to the noise as well.
“He’s incredibly hot and clingy,” Mark explained. “Which I know are usually signs around the time when suppressed heat is. His heat isn’t due for another two months, though. This is freakishly early. And Seunie usually doesn’t run this hot.”
“What do you mean? I’m always this hot!” Jackson whined–clearly not talking about his body temperature.

Mark rolled his eyes. Good to know the boy still had his sense of humor, though.

“I don’t know if he is just getting sick,” Mark suggested. “I brought him here to see if either of you have any insights.”
“Well I–” Jaebeom began, but got cut off by his hotel door swinging open once more.

Bambam came running in, looking around frantically before practically diving on top of Jaebeom and Jinyoung. He sighed in relief once he was settled there.

“Alpha,” Bambam said breathly, grabbing onto Jaebeom tightly.

Jaebeom and Jinyoung shared a look of confusion, before Jinyoung reached out a hand and placed it on Bambam’s forehead.

“He is running super hot as well,” Jinyoung informed. “We are going to have to call manager hyung. I don’t know if they’ve caught what Yugyeom has.”

And just when they thought things couldn’t get even weirder, the door to the room opened once again and Youngjae came sprinting in.

“Yugyeom is sweating and shaking like crazy! I couldn’t even get him to wake up!” Youngjae said, trying to catch his breath.

This got all of the members of GOT7’s full attention. They all sat there frozen for a second, before jumping hastily into action. Those words seemed to have pulled the two omegas from whatever weird haze they were both in, letting go of their tight grips on their alphas and running alongside them to Yugyeom and Youngjae’s shared room.

Yugyeom looked–well, awful. His body was full of sweat, drenching the sheets below him. He was shaking and whining, sounding like he was in an immense amount of pain.

“I’m going to call Jisung hyung,” Jaebeom said, trying to reign in his panic. “You guys stay with him and see if you can get him awake.”

The members all nodded, glad that their leader was stepping up and giving them tasks to do. They were all so incredibly frightened. Jaebeom hurriedly walked out of the room to call their manager. He didn’t want to be still in the room in case Yugyeom woke up and could hear his panic.

“Jaebeom-ah, what’s wrong?” Jisung asked the moment he answered the phone–Jaebeom wouldn’t be calling him in the middle of the night for nothing.
“Yugyeom is all hot and sweaty and shaking…and–and, hyung…they couldn’t get him to wake up!” Jaebeom exclaimed. “He looks awful! I’ve never seen him this sick before!”

Jisung froze for a moment, taking in Jaebeom’s words.

“I’m going to call a doctor,” Jisung exclaimed. “Stay with him, I will have the doctor there asap.”

Jaebeom hung up the phone and headed back into the room. To his immense relief, the other members had managed to get Yugyeom somewhat conscious.

“I feel awful, hyungs!” Yugyeom slurred out, grabbing the blanket more tightly around himself. “I’m freezing.”
“Your sweating buckets, Gyeom-ah,” Jinyoung informed, reaching out a hand to run through Yugyeom’s sweaty locks.
“Manager hyung is calling a doctor and he will be here shortly,” Jaebeom informed, kneeling down next to the bed along with his other members. “You’re going to be okay, Gyeom-ie. Hyungs will make sure of it.”

Yugyeom gave them a soft smile, before grimacing in pain once more. Jaebeom grabbed onto the maknae’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

“It’s going to be okay, Gyeom-ah,” Jaebeom reassured again, wishing so badly that he could take away the youngest’s pain.

True to his word, the doctor showed up only five minutes later. He quickly got to work on Yugyeom, taking his temperature and checking his vitals. He got the boy to take some medicine that would work to get his high temperature down. The GOT7 members watched nervously, huddled on the other side of the room to give the doctor his space.

“That medicine will probably knock him out for a while,” the doctor said, turning towards the other members.
“Is he going to be okay?” Bambam asked nervously, clinging on to Mark’s arm.
“He’s going to be perfectly fine,” the doctor replied. “He’s just presenting.”

The members all froze at those words. He couldn’t be…he was still a month shy of his 18th birthday!

“He–he’s not 18!” Youngjae stuttered out.
“It’s not uncommon to have an early presentation when you have a pack you would like to join,” the doctor replied calmly. “How far off is he from his birthday?”
“A month!” Bambam replied. “He’s a month away from his birthday!”

The doctor nodded, looking at all of the members gathered. His eyes landed on Jaebeom.

“I assume you are the pack leader?” the doctor asked, receiving a curt nod in reply. “Can we speak privately for a moment?”

Jaebeom felt his stomach sink at those words. This couldn’t be good!

“Nothing is wrong! It’s not like that,” the doctor said once the two were out in the hallway, clearly sensing Jaebeom’s distress. “I just figured this conversation would be easiest just between the two of us.”
“Okay, I’m still not sure that I’m following,” Jaebeom admitted.
“Let me ask you some important questions first,” the doctor began. “I assume all of you are a pack?”
“Five of us are,” Jaebeom replied. “Our second youngest decided that he didn’t want to join us until Yugyeom is able to. He didn’t want him to be the only one not presented and also not in the pack.”
“But he has expressed that he is absolutely joining your pack?” the doctor asked for clarification.
“Yes, he has expressed time and time again that he wishes to join our pack,” Jaebeom replied.
“And you have agreed to his joining?” the doctor asked.
“Yes, of course,” Jaebeom replied.
“Now what about your youngest?” the doctor inquired. “Has he expressed if he wants to join as well?”
“Yes…” Jaebeom answered, his eyes narrowing in his confusion. “Where is this line of questioning going?”
“I could have seen your youngest Yugyeom’s early presentation coming from a mile away based on all the answers you just gave me,” the doctor replied.
“How so?”
“Now I don’t want you to take what I’m about to tell you too lightly, okay?” the doctor asked, getting a nervous nod in reply. “His body forced an early presentation on him because it wants to join your pack as soon as possible–a month from today, which would be his birthday, the day he turns a legal adult…the first possible day you can legally allow him to join your pack. He has chosen you all, and I mean that down to the bottom of his heart. If you reject him..”
“Never!” Jaebeom immediately protested. “We would never reject him! We want him and Bambam to join us, just as much as they want to join.”

The doctor looked very relieved at those words.

“Excuse me, doctor,” Jaebeom said suddenly, realizing that this was a perfect moment to ask his question. “Could the presentation of Yugyeom have affected our other two omegas? One who is part of our pack and one who is waiting.”
“Affect how?” the doctor asked intrigued.
“They both seemed like they were getting their heat while on suppressants,” Jaebeom explained. “You know, not full blown heat but super clingy, running a little bit hotter than normal…but more in a haze than they usually are. Neither of them should be anywhere near their heat arriving, though.”

The doctor paused in shock for a moment, his eyes lighting up in both surprise and joy.

“I can’t believe I’m actually hearing this,” the doctor exclaimed. “I knew it was possible, but it’s so incredibly rare. Did you say your other two youngest presented early?”
“Yes, and it seems like each one is trying to outdo the last in terms of how early and how dramatically,” Jaebeom explained, exasperation clear in his tone.
“It’s rare, but it is not unheard of. This is proof of it,” the doctor explained. “You guys are all soulmates. You've all basically imprinted on each other.”

Jaebeom froze for a moment at the doctor’s words.

“W–what does that mean exactly?”
“It means that you finding each other was fate, since it seems multiple of your pack members are from other countries,” the doctor explained. “I hope you know that’s truly a very special thing.”

Those words stayed with Jaebeom for the rest of the evening, as he stayed by Yugyeom’s side. All of the members curled around the maknae, each of them having at least some sort of skin contact with the boy.

They were really truly destined to find each other, weren’t they? What an insane world they live in that Mark from Los Angeles, Jackson from Hong Kong, and BamBam from Bangkok all found their way into the Korean music industry and joined the same company. Not only that, they all had the skills and talent to debut in a group together…a group that would become a pack. A pack of soulmates.

“What’s on your mind?” Jinyoung asked softly from his spot cuddled up behind the leader, scaring the crap out of Jaebeom who didn’t realize that anyone else was awake.

Jaebeom jumped and Jinyoung reached out and ran a soothing hand through the other boy’s hair in comfort.

“The doctor told me that it was fate we all found each other,” Jaebeom admitted. “That we are all soulmates. That our members have been presenting earlier and earlier because they know with 100% certainty that they belong in our pack.”

Jinyoung didn’t speak for a few moments, his fingers continuing to run through Jaebeom’s hair in the silence.

“I’m uncertain what part of that is troubling you,” Jinyoung finally admitted. “Isn’t that a good thing?”
“It–it is,” Jaebeom replied with a sigh, turning in Jinyoung’s arms so they were face to face. “But what if I eff it up? What if I’m not a good enough group leader? Or pack leader?”
“Can I slap some sense into him?” Jackson’s voice startled them both. “OW!”

Mark appeared to be awake as well–the loud smack of someone slapping Jackson had to be him.

“He is having an emotional moment, now is not the time for a joke!” Mark retorted.
“It’s always the perfect time for a joke!” Jackson whined. “You just don’t appreciate my humor!”
“Shouldn’t we not be fighting next to a tired and presenting maknae?” Bambam asked. “You might upset him!”
“No–honestly this is amusing and Jackson hyung is right,” Yugyeom spoke up tiredly. “If I had more strength I would want to slap some sense into Jaebeom hyung too.”
“See I’m always ri–OW!” Jackson complained again.
“Yugyeom-ah, our newest little omega, how are you feeling?” Mark asked, ignoring Jackson’s whines.
“Tired, but much better than I felt a few hours ago,” Yugyeom admitted.
“Your temperature has gone way down,” Jinyoung said after placing a hand on the maknae’s forehead.
“Is–is it okay that I presented as an omega?” Yugyeom asked softly, causing all of the other members to whip their heads around to look at him.
“Why would it not be?” Bambam asked.
“I don’t know, three omegas in a seven member group is…” Yugyeom began to speak but got cut off.
“Is the perfect number!” Youngjae exclaimed. “And Jaebeom hyung is the perfect leader AND pack alpha. I don’t know why we are all feeling so full of self-doubt today!”
“I am far from perfect,” Jaebeom replied.
“None of us are perfect,” Jinyoung retorted. “You shouldn’t even waste your time trying to be.”
“I just don’t want to mess our pack up,” Jaebeom hesitantly admitted.
“A pack is made up of ALL its members,” Mark pointed out. “No one person is going to ruin this pack. We promise that we won’t let that happen.”
“I wish you could see yourself as the leader that we see you as,” Jinyoung said softly. “We have full confidence in you.”
“You don’t have to know all the answers, hyung,” Youngjae added. “You’ve got all of us.”

Jaebeom smiled softly at their encouragement.

–

The night wasn’t full of as much sleep as the members wanted nor needed. The manager was calling Jaebeom what felt like two minutes after he had shut his eyes.

“Jaebeom-ah,” the manager said softly. “I–I spoke with the doctor last night. I know that Yugyeom has presented…which makes what I have to say all that much harder.”

Jaebeom listened intently, knowing he wasn’t going to like the next words that were going to come out of their manager Jisung’s mouth.

“We can’t cancel all of the interviews today,” Jisung continued. “Even with Yugyeom just presenting, it would be suicidal at this state of your career to blow all of these off–even with a good reason.”

Jaebeom sighed, getting the attention of Jinyoung, Jackson and Mark who had all woken up when the phone rang.

“I–I had a feeling you were going to say that, hyung,” Jaebeom admitted. “Obviously we can’t leave Yugyeom alone though.”
“You will have to choose which one member you would like to stay with him,” Jisung explained. “We can do all of the interviews as five. The press and the fans will understand why two of you are missing. I–I just think if you ever want to be booked on any of these shows or interviewed by any of these outlets…well, you can’t skip them this last minute.”
“I understand, hyung,” Jaebeom admitted with a sigh–he knew that Jisung wasn’t uncaring. He didn’t mean anything ill by this either. He was honestly doing his job as best as he could and was advising them as both a manager…and a friend. “We will sort it among ourselves. The rest of us will meet you in your room in 20 minutes.”
“I’m sorry it has to be this way, Jaebeom,” Jisung said before hanging up.

Jaebeom sighed, looking around at his members spread all around him. He didn’t want to ruin this peaceful moment between his members but knew that it was part of the job that they had chosen. They would often be forced to make hard decisions that other packs normally wouldn’t have to make.

It was going to be a long and hard day for all, but like all other things they would get through it together.