Smell of Freedom//vminkook

9

"The room down that hall is a spare if you want to get settled in there," Jungkook says as he points to the hall on the right us after he turns the light on.

Dad and Jimin have both seemed to calm down considerably during the car ride, but neither have said anything.

With the lights on the first thing I notice is a rather large painting hung right in the middle of a wall all by itself so its the first thing to see when you walk in the door.

The long branches of a tree silhouetted against a red, blue, and green back ground.

The logo for the equality movement all those years ago...

See! I told you!

This doesn't prove anything.

That's bull and you know it.

I really don't have time this, and besides where have you been? I haven't-

"Taehyung?" Jungkook gently says, "you OK?"

"Uh, yeah. Sorry," I awkwardly say as I turn to look for dad but when I don't see him I head down the hall look for him.

The walls in the hall are lined with pictures frames of the two men who live here, and who I assume are their families. They range from old pictures of them in diapers to last baseball season when Jungkook's team won substate.

One picture in particular catches my eye, however. It's a picture of Jimin and Jungkook at a party somewhere. The dim purpleish lighting the picture make it kind of hard see but when I look closer it's perfectly clear. Jungkook has his hands on Jimins hips and with a smile on his lips. Meanwhile Jimin looks to be laughing whole heatedly at something, leaning into Jungkook with his eyes closed.

Our mates are so beautiful.

Yeah, they sure are.

I fucking told you so!

Shut up.

The hall isn't very long and in a few short steps I'm in the spare room that Jungkook is letting us barrow.

Dad is sitting on the end of the bed with his head in his hands, looking at the ground. Where he hears me walk in he lifts his head and just give me a tired look.

"How are you feeling?" I ask. I know its a stupid question but it's all I could come up with.

He just sighs and lays back on the bed, "I honestly don't know. I feel fine now, but I've never broke down like that before."

"Well maybe its for the best?" I say, "at least now we're out of that house and we can finally-"

"I'm not staying here," he says as he sits up again.

"W-what?"

"Tae, I've told you before. I'm not going to leave them."

I can feel the irritation rising in me at his words.

How can he possibly want to go back?

Right as I'm about to say something, I hear my wolf speak up.

Don't do it. Just leave him be. I know you can't see where he's coming from but I can and someday you will too. You only get one set of mates, Tae. You shouldn't expect him to leave his. No matter how terrible they are. And besides, now is not the best time to argue.

I let out a irritated sigh and nod because I know she's right.

"OK.... OK well how about you get some rest for now and once things have calmed down we can see if Jungkook and take us back."

"What do you mean us?" Dad says, giving me challenging look.

"I'm not letting you go back there alone. I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

"No, Taehyung, I'm not gonna let you do that." The older man says, with a firey look in his eyes.

"I'm not gonna argue with you about this. If you go back, then I'm going with you." I tell him, matching the intensity of his gaze. Leaving the room in tense silence.

"Whatever, I'm going to take a nap." Dad, says with a huff of annoyance. He really doesn't handle arguments well.

And with that he crawls up to the top of the bed to the pillow and closes his eyes. Falling asleep almost immediately, or at least that's what it seemed like.

Now I finally have a chance to look around the room and notice an armchair setting by the rather large window that over looks the front yard.

Considering the fact that Jimin and Jungkook are both still in highschool, this house is ridiculously nice. I wonder how they pay for it all.

I walk over and plop down on the chair and pull out my phone, only to see that I had about 10 new messages from Hoseok asking if we were OK and where we went.

It took a few minutes to type but in the end I sent him a huge paragraph explaining what happened and that we would not be home for a while, hopefully.

In his reply he said that he was staying at Yoongi's tonight and that he hadn't seen Namjoon or Jennie since the fight.

Hoseok
I honestly can't believe he said all that. Even for him that was fucking rediculous! Plus as and alpha and as his son it was hella embarrassing! Especially in front of Jungkook😭

Taehyung
What more can you really expect? Besides why does Jungkook make this any different?

Hoseok
I guess I've never told you this bc he's you mate and all that but he is literally my role model. I've wanted to be just like him since the first time I saw him three years ago at that camp Namjoon made me do for football, you know? He just got that vibe about him that makes people feel at ease and comfortable. I'd never met an alpha like him before then it was the most eye opening thing ever.

Taehyung
Dude, why didn't you ever tell me this before? I didn't even know you two were that close.

Hoseok
Honestly, we're not. The only time I see him is at practice and we hardly ever talk, but I never had an alpha growing up that I could look up to and that changed when I met him. Especially this last year since we're on the same team and all. He's a great guy, Tae. You should really be proud.
Hell! All the Beta in school are gonna be pissed when they find out him and Jimin are off limits now!

His text made me smile. I never realized just how much of an impact Jungkook had made on my little brother, but I guess it makes sense since I have noticed how much He had changed in the year or so. Becoming more confident and happy since his freshman year. Looking at it through this new perspective you can really tell it's the same confidents and happiness that Jungkook has.

As I'm half way through my next text I hear a knock at the door and I immediately look over at Dad to be sure he didn't get woken up by the noise. When I see that he is still asleep I go to open the door only to see Jungkook with Jimin standing slightly behind him.

"Can we- uh-we were just-"

"We need to talk." Jimin interrupts his studdering mate before shrinking back behind the alpha.

"Yeah, what he said," Jungkook says nervously, as if scared I'd say no, or run away.

Gee I wonder why.

I mentally roll my eyes and nod my head at the two.

They visibility relax at that and slowly turn to walk down the hall into their living room.

This should be fun on think to myself as I get up to follow them.