Cherry Blossoms

FOUR

Jaehyun's sixth birthday arrived faster than Jimin expected.

In the morning, Jaehyun woke up at five am and jumped inside his bed, not leaving him a second longer to sleep. He squealed and jumped and sang around until Jimin finally got up to take a shower.

The boy was going to get all his presents later, when the guests arrived, but that didn't change the fact that he was excited. They were lucky it was a Sunday, so Jimin was free for the whole day. He played with Jaehyun for hours, listening to his countless stories about various superheroes and even played with some action figures. He kept confusing the Hulk with the Thing but, to his defence, the colours were already coming off and both of them looked pretty grey to him.

In the afternoon they began decorating for the party, setting up balloons and blowing streamers to give the living room more colour.

Taehyung and Yoongi were, of course, early. Yoongi was packed with bags and presents and the cake while Taehyung was holding the car keys, jingling them together meaningfully before calling for his "favourite birthday boy".

Yoongi walked in behind them, giving Jimin an eyeroll through the boxes in his arms directed at Taehyung as if saying "the things I do for love".

One whiff of Jimin was all it took Taehyung to flash him a judgemental look. Without another word he pulled down the collar of Jimin's shirt, only to see the small, purple bites Jungkook had left there whenever he scented him.

The relationship between Jungkook and Jimin had become quite intense this past week, to say the least. They were a lot more touchy, Jungkook embracing him any time possible and even the scenting had been increasing in the past days. Jimin didn't know what to make of that but he was definitely enjoying it.

The light touches whenever they were with Jaehyun, the cuddling on his couch after he had tucked the pup to bed. They didn't do anything more and they didn't talk about it either. Sometimes it felt so incredibly domestic, it made Jimin all gooey inside.

The guests were slowly settling in. Two playmates of Jaehyun were coming as well, a boy named Jinwoo and a girl called Mina, that went to his kindergarten class. Jimin had met their parents before, both well situated, high classed mates, classy and rich. They had quite a hard time warming up to him.

He remembered when Mina's parents hosted a get-together for all the parents of their child's new kindergarten group. When he showed up, there were all eyes on him, scanning his tattoos and pink hair warily before Mina's dad carefully asked where his mate was.

I wish I knew, Jimin had replied and settled in his seat. The table had been quiet after that, judgemental looks gracing him from every corner, but there was nothing he could do about it and it was better to get it out of the way instead of getting caught up in sorry lies that would be revealed in the end either way. That evening, he didn't talk much to anyone except Jinwoo's mother, who - much to his surprise- initiated conversation with him again and again. She wasn't as preserved towards male omegas and she didn't seem to have any prejudice against unmated pregnancies and that stuff, so they got along quite well.

He could tell that Mina's parents didn't want to see him again after their first encounter, mind too blocked by stereotypes. But as Mina and Jaehyun became closer and closer friends, and with Jinwoo's mum inviting him and Mina's parents to talk while their childs were having a playdate more and more often, they started opening up a little. Over time, they became more comfortable with each other, though it seemed that Mina's family still wouldn't trust him with their child, which was why the girl's mother would be attending the party as well.

Jimin didn't mind. She was a rich, spoiled beta mum with stereotypes and if he could breake some of those by cutting her a slice of Jaehyun's birthday cake, he'd gladly do that.