Awake | Jinkook ✓

8.0

If anyone were to ask - and no one ever did, because no one ever cared enough to find out - Seokjin would admit that he didn't actually have a favorite brother. Growing up it had always been Taehyung, mostly due to the fact that they were the closest in age. Namjoon was always five years ahead of them, the first and therefore the best at everything. Setting an unfair expectation that neither of them could ever quite reach.

That changed as he got older and he began to notice the burdens that had been placed upon his brother's shoulders. How he was apparently solely responsible for their families future survival. How nothing he did was ever quite good enough, despite the way he worked himself down to the bone. How he somehow operated on four hours of sleep and endless amounts of caffeine just so he and Taehyung could enjoy their childhoods just that much longer.

Now that Namjoon was twenty six, he had assumed most of the control. Most, but not quite enough to extend into the family, his mothers iron grip never loosening enough for any of them to find the room to wiggle.

Except her nose was lifted so high into the air that she never realized what was happening right below it.

...

"Jinnie?" The voice was quiet, and for anyone listening it would seem as though the intruder was simply trying to not interrupt his sleep. But they all knew none of them actually went to sleep when they said they did.

"Come in, Joonie." Currently he was curled up near the head of his bed, legs pretzel-ed beneath him with his laptop balanced on top, glasses perched low on his nose. His mother absolutely insisted that he wear contacts, but they tended to dry his eyes out so severely they would itch, which would lead to him blinking endlessly like an owl and rubbing them until they were red and bruised.

"You're still awake." The door was carefully shut behind the tall alpha, before the lock was slid into place, ensuring that no one - not even their mother, despite how shocking it was that she didn't have a key - would be able to enter.

"Of course I'm still awake." Despite being an omega, there was, apparently, still plenty for him to do. Namjoon was the one with a mind for business and the stunning intelligence to match, while Taehyung had an eye for art and fashion. Seokjin's talents, on the other hand, were many and varied. It somehow just didn't seem like he should be such a capable chef while being do good at interior design, yet here he was, finalizing the plans for the renovations of one of their over seas offices.

"Which office does he have to working on now?" Namjoon slipped deeper into the room, moving to perch on the edge of his bed, leaning over the laptop to take a look at his work.

"The one in Hong Kong. Apparently it hasn't been redone since the late nineties."

"Wait, the head office for the Chinese branch? That's a pretty big deal, Jinnie."

"Yeah, apparently me getting married means I can finally handle more responsibility."

"Actually... that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Sure." Careful to save his work - once, twice, and then a third time just to be extra sure, because he would actually cry if he lost it all now - he closed the laptop and set it aside, turning his full attention towards his brother. "What's up?"

"This is kind of awkward but -"

"You know you're supposed to save your objections for the actual wedding, right?"

"Oh, it's not an objection. I think you and Jungkook are gonna be really great together."

"Oh...kay then. Stop being vague and just spit it out Joonie."

"I was wondering if you could get Jimin's number from Jungkook for me."

"You know he's married now, right?"

"And you know divorces exist, right?"

"You can't be serious."

"I am. Look, I'm not supposed to be telling you this but... dad is planning to retire next year."

"Not real sure how that's gonna allow you to do whatever you're planning."

"Because he's planning to divorce mom and leave everything to me. Control of the businesses, the family, everything."

"You're kidding." It wasn't entirely shocking that their father would actually go through with it. He had only been sayng he should just retire and move to some secluded island for as long as any of them could remember. But the fact that it also included divorcing their mother was - well, also not that surprising, considering who their mother was. Separations and divorces happened literally all the time - Jungkook was the product of a fourth marriage, after all. It wasn't that odd. But - "What's gonna happen to the rest of us?"

"Whatever you want. It's why I kept trying to get mom to hold off on you getting married. But Jungkook is turning nineteen and apparently there's no time like the present."

"I want to marry Jungkook." It was a lie.

It was mostly a lie.

It was, honestly, not even that much of a lie.

"Sure you do. And I wanted to watch Jimin marry someone else."

"You just don't want me to marry Jungkook because you want Jimin." He could already hear the judgement now. Both of them marrying so far below them, and brother's to boot. It would be a field day of malicious rumors.

"I don't want you to marry Jungkook because you're being forced into it, Jinnie. Look, I can't promise that I can convince mom to wait but I can -"

"No." If what Namjoon said was true, if their father truly was going to just hand everything entirely over to him, then they would all be free. And not marrying Jungkook now would be leaving him behind. "I'm serious, Namjoon. I want to marry Jungkook."

"What if you regret it?"

"Then... I guess divorces exist."

"If you're really sure about this, then you know I support you no matter what."

"Sure you're not just saying that so I'll get you Jimin's number?"

"I figured it couldn't hurt."

"Sometimes I can't even believe I'm related to you."