bloom | BTS

Pretending

"It's because my rank is a mistake."

Jungkook glanced up just long enough to see a frown on each and every dominant's face. A frown of what though? Anger? Confusion? Disgust? Pity?

"What I'm trying to say is," Jungkook wanted to look around and be able to gauge the reactions of the members, but his head refused to rise as his eyes remained locked on the floor. "Is that I should never have been marked as a submissive. I'm a dominant. I know I am. I can't work in this industry as a submissive, so I won't be one. I need you all to respect my decisions and treat me like any other dom. The sub-heat thing never happened, and I'll take care of any other sub-symptoms on my own. From now on, you can forget anything you remember of sub Jungkook and start treating me accordingly, or I will leave the group."

Jungkook finally found the strength to once again lift his head. Now facing all the members, except Taehyung, he was able to truly see the emotions flowing from each dominant.

Yoongi's face remained passive, but something like regret laced his eyes.

Seokjin appeared astounded, his mouth opening and closing like a gaping fish on land.

Namjoon had a small supportive smile making his dimples pop, but his features were lined with worry.

Hoseok conveyed only pure understanding.

Jimin was attempting to muster an encouraging expression, but he was failing miserably to hide his confusion.

And Taehyung. Jungkook tried his best to keep his shoulders square and posture stiff as he slid from Taehyung's lap. Jungkook unwrapped the blanket from himself, dropping it to the ground as he forced a stoic expression onto his face. He struggled to drag his eyes up to Taehyung's face. And the wall Jungkook was hurriedly building between himself and the rest of the members nearly came crashing down upon the emotions Taehyung did not even try to hide.

Taehyung looked completely and utterly heartbroken, sadness and anger and disappointment seemed to flow from him like tidal waves.

Please. Just don't look at me like that. I'm not a sub. I could never be your submissive. I could never be any of yours... You all deserve so much better.

"I'm- I'm going to go dance at the studio. I just need to be alone." The maknae collected his things and walked out the door, the soft click of the lock echoing through the silent dorm.

"That's it?" Seokjin finally found his voice, yelling loudly. "He just told us that his genetic makeup is wrong, that we need to treat him like a dom, and he'll leave the company if we don't. He's just going to drop all that information and leave!?"

Hoseok snuggled into Seokjin's side, rubbing his shoulder softly. "It might be hard to understand as a full dom, Jinnie hyung, but I can understand where Jungkookie is coming from. I mean, I'm a switch, which is still a whole level above submissives; but even I get lots of h-hate and threats. Y-you know what happened to m-m-me, and I can only imagine h-how much worse it must be f-for submissives."

The switch's voice wavered as tears gathered in his eyes. Imagining the horrors that submissives are subject too, on top of the flashbacks that already plagued his mind, Hoseok was overwhelmed.

Namjoon moved to the other side of Hoseok, pulling the boy into a comforting embrace as both he and Seokjin  soothed him, "We didn't want to trigger those bad memories, sunshine. Thank you for sharing, Hobi. We'll figure things out with Kookie, you just rest." The teary switch's eyes grew droopy as calming pheromones fogged the air.

Once soft snores lilted through the room, the dominants found it safe to speak.

"I just thought that submissives like to be treated gently and specially, you know?" Jimin's sweet voice rang out, "We could have told everyone he's a dom, but still cared for him properly..."

"We can't be certain why this is the only route Jungkook is willing to take," Yoongi finally spoke. "But it's the only option unless we want him to leave the company altogether."

BANG!

All eyes shifted towards the dominant sitting in the armchair with a baby blue blanket now in one hand and a curled fist atop the coffee table. Taehyung was breathing heavily, his pupils dilating larger and smaller as he fought to control his instincts.

"If Jungkook wants to be treated like a dominant, then we'll treat him just like a dominant. Like any fucking dominant you would see on the streets."

He stood from the chair swiftly, marching towards the room that swam with sweet pheromones.

Taehyung had pulled himself up the small ladder and was about to flop onto his own disheveled comforter when he thought better of it. He leapt to the carpeted floor with a muffled thud. Taehyung dusted off his clothes casually. Then the dominant laid atop the maknae's bed.

The natural, intoxicating perfume of Jungkook was nearly able to dissipate all of the dominant's anger. But a plan still brewed in his mind.

We'll treat him like a true dominant, show him what it's really like to be in our shoes. And he'll hate it so much, he'll be willing to accept his rank and the fact that he needs dominants of his own.