The Luna

Am I Prematurely Ageing?

It was the next morning that Jimin got his first silver strand of hair. He awoke, boiling hot, with one of Taehyung's arms hanging heavily over Jimin's stomach. He wriggled away from Taehyung's sweltering body heat. 'Since when was the guy like a freaking furnace?' He rolled over Taehyung, who let out a grunt at the weight of Jimin's body on his. Jimin yawned as he made his way to the bathroom. Upon seeing his reflection in the mirror, he did a double take. Around five strands of his hair had turned completely silver. Was he prematurely aging? Jimin didn't hesitate to pluck each of the strands out. He hoped it was just a one time thing and didn't think any more of it. That was until, of course, he awoke with triple the amount of silver strands the very next morning. Thankfully, Taehyung hadn't stayed over that night. Jimin didn't want anyone to know about his mysteriously changing hair colour. He panicked and threw on the first hat he could find. When questioned by his mother, he defended himself saying "It's cold now you know? Winter's coming." She just rolled her eyes and didn't bother him further.

The next morning, Jimin got up extra early to colour each silver strand individually with a black sharpie. As expected, the number of silver strands had grown exponentially. He studied his appearance in the mirror. It looked... Alright. He was kind of pulling it off to be honest. However, he was seriously confused by it. Sighing, he began painstakingly coloring in each strand.

A few days and many silver strands later, Jimin was studying in the school library, a beanie hiding his hair. A group of girls his age were chatting rather loudly near him. Jimin didn't mind though, he found their conversation interesting.

"You'll never guess what guys; one of the new kid's mom is a Luna."

"No way! How do you know? Did you see her?"

"Yeah, I saw her picking the girl up in the car park. She looks so young and pretty it's crazy."

"Wow..."

"That's because she probably is young,' an alpha girl spoke up, 'Lunas usually don't wait to have pups."

"That's true..."

There was a short silence.

"Hey, Ayla? You're pack's Luna passed away didn't she?"

Jimin's ears perked up. He knew Ayla since they were both in the Evergreen pack.

"Oh yeah, she died a few years ago. We're still waiting for our new Luna to arrive. She's a little late to be honest," Ayla nervously laughed. "Now that I'm getting close to presenting I have to keep checking my hair in case its me!"

The other girls laughed.

"Oh shit, really?"

"Yeah, every girl in the pack's been checking their hair for the past few years now."

Jimin was getting increasingly more confused.

"Hey, Ayla?," he asked. The girls turned to look at him.

"Oh hey Jimin, what is it?" she smiled politely at him.

"I just...heard your conversation and was wondering..what exactly are you checking your hair for?"

"Oh you don't know? We're checking our hair for silver." She took note of Jimin's lost expression and continued. "It's how you know if you're the Luna or not... If your hair turns silver when you're presenting."

Jimin froze for a second before forcing himself to smile and nod. He abruptly turned back to his work. He stared blankly at the page. Of course he knew what Lunas were. He knew his pack was missing one. He even knew that they had silver hair. What he didn't know, however, was that the Luna wasn't just born with it. He sat, paralyzed in his seat, the girl's conversation washing over him.

"Isn't your pack's next leader gonna be Kim Namjoon?"

"Holy fuck that guy is so hot, the Luna will be so lucky."

"Hey, wait, we don't know if it'll even be Namjoon... I mean... He's kind of already in a relationship with another omega," Ayla interjected.

The girls jumped in fright at the sound of Jimin's chair suddenly scraping back. He stood and slammed his hands on the table. The girls stared at him wide-eyed as he faced them. He gave them a small smile, bowed politely, packed up his things and walked out of the library in a trance. He found himself in the nurse's office.

"I need to go home."

She gave him an unimpressed look.

"I.... I'm in heat," Jimin lied.

The nurse sighed and stuck a thermometer in Jimin's mouth.

"That you are." She began writing him a permission slip.

"I - I am?!" Jimin stuttered.

She lifted an eyebrow and pointed at the thermometer. His temperature was way above average. Jimin tried to hide his surprise, but realized that the nurse didn't care anyway.

----------------------------------

When he got home, Jimin's mother checked her watch.

"Why are you home early?"

Jimin had already reached the bathroom door.

"I need to wash my hair." He knew he sounded deranged. He looked deranged. His mother rose from his seat.

"Park Jimin if you don't give me a proper reason right now..."

"...Eomma - I'm in heat."

He hurried into the bathroom and closed the door. It technically wasn't a lie, its what the nurse said after all. As he scrubbed at his hair, black going down the drain, he could hear his mother freaking out outside the door.

"What do you mean you're in heat!? You've presented Jimin? You're an omega like me?!" She squealed.

Jimin blasted the door open, making his mother jump. Water dripped from his hair and his shirt was entirely drenched. His hair was now more silver than black. He leaned one hand on the door and his chest heaved as he spoke.

"I'm not just an omega, Eomma - I'm the Luna."

He had to catch his mother as she fainted.