Chapter Text
He dreams of the fields of flowers.
He’s running within them, laughing and hollering while he’s being chased playfully.
He turns, and upon closer inspection it’s his father, pretending to be the ‘big bad wolf,’ holding out his fingers like claws as he and Jimin run together, seeing nobody else save for his mother at the end of the field, waiting for them.
“I’m going to beat you, daddy!”
“Run, my boy! A diamond always shines!”
And shine, Jimin does, especially as he zooms forward into his mother’s waiting arms, and she spins him around and around until he’s dizzy.
“Again?” he says eagerly. “Can we stay?”
His parents both laugh, and he feels the soothing touch of his mother’s fingertips as they gently scratch his scalp.
“For a little longer,” she whispers, kissing him on his cheek. “Stay with us for a little bit longer.”
---
It’s the stench of blood which compels him to open his eyes.
He doesn’t turn his head, knowing immediately that he shouldn’t because the sting is currently bordering on unbearable. It burns like fire, and it shocks his system. And after a moment, Jimin wishes to just close his eyes again, hoping that falling back to sleep will help ease the pain.
But there’s no way to do that now.
Not when the worried faces of Jin and Taehyung are hovering over him, calling his name. Nor when he musters the smallest ounce of strength to lift his head and sees Hoseok speaking urgently to the Pack Alphas Jeon and Cha, pointing this way and that while Namjoon stays behind him with a protective hand on his shoulder.
His eyes flutter open and closed, and a calming peace like he’s never felt before - a peace that passes all understanding, consumes him. Even when his eyes flit in response to the movement beside him, and he turns his head to see Jungkook on top of Minjun, looking deep into his eyes as Minjun chokes, sputters, and emits a death rattle because of the dagger Jungkook has sheathed within the side of his neck.
But still, all he feels is peace. Transcendence.
“What can we do? Do you need the other healers? What is happening?” a deep looming voice sounds from somewhere close. It sounds like Alpha Jeon.
“There is nothing we can do,” Hoseok says forlornly, and he hears whimpers and pained sobs. That’s Taehyung. “The bond was only halfway completed. His body is in shock and he’s lost a lot of blood. An incomplete bond cannot usually be survived.”
---
Jimin is back in the fields now, playing with his parents and running towards the arms of his mother once more.
He keeps going there. And each time his mother asks him to stay just a little longer. But then he returns, and his eyes flutter open for a few moments at a time. Each time, he sees something new.
One time, he’s looking at the sky, surrounded by some familiar faces of his pack along with the faces of some of the southern mountain wolves. There are prayers, and there is chanting. He also hears crying, but he’s still deeply at peace. Soon after, he fades, and he’s back in the fields again.
---
Later, he’s being carried by a pair of big, strong arms, though he doesn’t see where they’re going because he’s not awake long enough to.
One time, he opens his eyes because his senses are flooded with a most delightful scent. A strong, deep earthy scent with a tinge of petrichor, but he can’t stay long enough to tell the person scenting him hello, and he’s a little sad he can’t offer his thanks.
That’s how it goes for a while, and for Jimin, time stands still. He visits back and forth, and when he opens his eyes there’s usually someone new.
But when he returns to the fields of flowers, it’s always his parents waiting for him.
---
On his final journey, it’s his father who says that it’s time to stop playing now, because soon the moon will be high in the sky, and they must return home. That’s when he joins hands with his mother, and they kiss his cheeks lovingly before they’re off, waving and blowing kisses until they disappear somewhere along the horizon.
“Jimin.”
Jimin’s eyes open, and something is different about this time.
Everything is bright, and he feels. He feels the furs beneath his body, and he feels how warm they are because he wriggles his toes. He moves his fingers too, and he touches the face of the man hovering over him. He’s done this a couple times lately, and he returns to the fields shortly thereafter.
But this time, he stays.
“Will you stay this time, my little pearl? You’ve been coming back and forth for a few days now. You must be so tired.”
“Hm,” Jimin mumbles sleepily, and his fingertips graze over Jungkook’s cheek.
“If you need to go back though, it’s OK. You can go back if you need to as long you continue to come home. I will wait for you until you’re ready to stay.”
“Jungkook,” he whispers, and as soon as he says it, Jungkook’s eyes widen in disbelief.
“Jimin?” he says breathlessly, and then there’s a whirlwind of movement, as well as hushed, yet excited whispers.
“Are you home, baby? Is your journey over?”
“I believe it’s just begun,” someone says, and as Jimin comes to, he recognizes the voice as Yoongi’s.
Slowly, he regains his strength, and soon he’s running both thumbs over Jungkook’s cheeks as the Alpha lays over him, beaming like a pup who just received a gift from the goddess herself.
He turns his head, and he sees that he’s in a small, cozy room, brightly lit from the moon looming large and peeking in from the window beside his bed. He’s laid down, his body naked but covered by a lush blanket of fine furs. He sees Taehyung who’s covering his mouth with his hand, stifling his sobs while Yoongi holds him from behind, his nose dug deep into his neck to soothe him.
He sees Hoseok, who sits close, looking a bit exhausted but relieved. And Namjoon is there beside him, smiling so wide Jimin can see that he has the prettiest dimples.
He sees Jin who is leaning against a wall, his arms crossed as he looks on and smiles.
And finally, there’s Jungkook.
Jimin stares into his eyes, and it’s like all the peace and transcendence he’s experienced culminates into an emotion so deeply poignant that it must be what ‘euphoria’ feels like.
Love, perhaps.
It’s why he says what he says next. Instinctually, he knows what must happen if he wishes to stay. Yet despite that, it’s also what he wants. Aside from duty, aside from destiny -
It’s just simply what he wants.
“Jungkook,” he whispers, pressing his fingertips into his beautiful, golden cheeks. “Mate with me.”
Jungkook doesn’t hesitate.
He leans down and kisses him, the sweetest, most gentle kiss. “It would be my honor.”
Jimin smiles, and a tear trickles down the side of his face. There’s a quiet rustling of movement, but their gazes never stray, even as the others quietly exit and leave them alone with each other.
The moon shines bright, illuminating their bodies as if offering a blessing. And there it stays, high in the sky for hours as Jimin opens up for Jungkook. The Alpha takes him over and over until they’re breathless, bodies glistening as they writhe against each other desperately, refusing to let go.
When Jungkook’s knot is snuggly nestled inside him, they rest.
But there the moon remains, and the stars too. Waiting and watching. It’s right before sunup that Jimin bares his neck at last, and they say yes to forever with the goddess as their witness.
They lie in bed together thereafter, and Jungkook holds Jimin protectively within his arms. Soon, Jimin will deliver his bite too, and then it’ll be finished.
That night, as the newness of the bond overwhelms them and forces them into a deep, sated sleep, Jimin dreams of the fields again, one last time. But this time, he’s as he is now, no longer a child.
Even so, he sees the retreating forms of his parents, waving goodbye to go take their rest.
When he turns around, there’s only Jungkook.
His Alpha holds out his hand, and Jimin runs to him, accepting it eagerly.
“Come, my pearl,” he whispers, turning them towards the horizon. “Let’s go home.”
---
2 years later
“I told you to drink it slowly!” Jimin hisses, suffering under the dead weight of Taehyung’s arm as it sits lazily around Jimin’s shoulder. “Now where is that stupid Alpha of yours? He was supposed to be watching you but he’s proven himself useless as ever –“
“He’s” - hiccup - “in the tent. Asleep probably. I snuck out when he started snoring,” Taehyung says in a fit of giggles, stumbling as Jimin sighs and turns them around in the direction of he and Yoongi’s tent.
True to his word, Jimin kept his promise to protect and honor the Treaty of Peace, and the neutral territories remain free for all to use and enjoy to this day.
It’s a promise that’s been easy to uphold, because it’s not like he was met with resistance - especially when it was Jungkook who signed the Treaty in ink and blood after Jimin brought him home to the northern mountains to introduce him as their new Pack Alpha.
The Pack was understandably shocked and wary at first, but after hearing of everything that happened, including the truth behind the murder of the previous Pack Alpha and Pack Omega, their hearts softened.
The transition was smooth enough, and it was Jimin himself that ordered the banishment of Minjun’s generals and those that supported his crusade to claim the neutral territories as his own.
They rule together. But without fail, Jungkook always defers any final decision to Jimin.
The idea of an annual festival, however, was Jungkook’s. A way for all the mountain packs of the four corners to come together and celebrate unity and peace on one of the lands of the neutral territories. It’s become a cherished event and a wonderful way for their packs to share their customs, their food and drink as well as their unique ways of life.
Like last year, the Jeon Pack have brought barrels upon barrels of wine to share, made with grapes from the Unity Grounds.
But unlike last year, Taehyung is no longer pregnant.
“That wine really is strong,” Taehyung says, hiccuping again as they weave throughout rows of tents.
“I almost escaped on horseback without a saddle or reins while only partially drunk on it the morning after I was fully drunk on it. Don’t say I never told you so.”
Soon, and by some miracle, they find Taehyung and Yoongi’s tent, and upon entering Jimin chucks the bag Taehyung is carrying at Yoongi’s head.
“Wha - wha- wha -” he mumbles, sitting up with a startle and looking around frantically until Taehyung runs over and falls on top of him.
“I’m not even sure why I’m wasting my breath on this, but remember Tae that we have to accompany Hoseok in the morning to find the flowers he wants for he and Namjoon’s mating ceremony –“
“Out, Jiminie” Taehyung slurs as he straddles Yoongi’s waist, falls to his knees and proceeds to pull his tunic up over his head.
“Gross,” Jimin mumbles as he hurriedly exits and makes way for his own tent. The festival is still bustling, but it’ll continue to do so for the next 3 days. For now, he’s just tired.
And when Jimin is just tired, he wants his little family and nobody else.
A short while later, he comes upon his own tent, large and ornate and sitting at the very center of the makeshift village that’s created just for the festival.
“And when daddy finally had papa over his shoulder, he took him to go meet your big sister, Tika. But unfortunately, papa wasn’t really happy with daddy right then, so he called him a ‘stupid, dumb brute –“
“Please do not tell me you’re pleading your case to our daughter so you can gain some sympathy,” Jimin interrupts as he enters the tent. “You may be her daddy, yes. But before that you were still her papa’s kidnapper.”
“I’m telling her the story of how we met,” Jungkook says triumphantly, holding the cooing pup in his arms as he rocks her back and forth, laying her against his bare chest. “And she’s very intrigued.”
“I bet she is,” Jimin says, kicking off his shoes to come and sit next to them. “But I don’t know about her getting the story from you only. I feel like you will omit or embellish.” He leans down and kisses her cheek, and then Jungkook’s.
“Hyeri, you have my word that I will not omit or embellish. I will tell you the story just as it was and you can decide whether daddy was the bad guy. I know it may seem like he was but your papa can be awfully mean. They don’t call him the Diamond of the North on his good looks alone. His tongue is the sharpest of all.”
“But don’t let him fool you, hm?” Jimin says, smiling and tickling her arms as she starts laughing, staring up at her parents wide eyed. “My tongue was sharp, but I was otherwise smooth and delicate. He’s likened me to a pearl ever since.”
Jungkook laughs.
“I’ve likened your papa to a great many things. Beautiful, enchanting things. And all he’s done is likened my scent to a moldy loaf of bread. Can you believe that?”
Jimin smiles and snuggles up to him, laying his head on his shoulder as he stares at Hyeri whose eyes dart back and forth between him and Jungkook.
“This is true,” he says softly, and then he looks up at him. “But you know what?”
“What?” Jungkook says, looking down at him expectantly.
Jimin doesn’t respond right away. He simply gazes at him, and he reaches up to run a gentle finger over his cheek, down to his lips.
“At least Hyeri doesn’t smell like a moldy loaf of bread. Because nobody wants a pup that smells like mold.”
Jungkook narrows his eyes.
“Shall I tell her how you drunkenly rubbed flower petals on your skin with the expectation they’d serve as soap?”
“Shall I tell her how you rode through an entire mountain for over a week without even bringing soap?”
Jungkook pauses, and he pouts before he looks down at Hyeri.
“Your papa held a dagger to my throat.”
“Your father kidnapped me.”
“I borrowed him.”
“Borrowing something means you have the intention of giving it back,” Jimin says, leaning in to rest his forehead against Jungkook’s.
“I did technically give you back,” he says. “But as fate would have it, it was me coming back with you.”
“Ah, yes. Funny how life works sometimes, hm?”
“So if we’re being honest with ourselves, I believe it’s you that kidnapped me,” Jungkook says, smiling mischievously.
“That’s just not true. I simply borrowed you.”
“But borrowing something means you have the intention of giving it back. You told me that yourself,” Jungkook says before pressing their lips together. “Will you be giving me back then, my little pearl?”
Jimin smiles, and he tilts his head like he’s thinking until Jungkook nips at him playfully. They stare at each other, and then Jimin’s gaze falls to their pup, now sleeping peacefully in Jungkook’s arms.
“No,” he says, sighing contentedly. “There’s no way I’ll ever be giving you back now.”