i hope everyone is ready for the story to truly begin
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Jungkook quickly decided that he would forever regret agreeing to go camping with Yugyeom and his pack. Yugyeom and Jungkook had been best friends since they were toddlers. Yugyeom's family pack had moved to the same block as Jungkook's and the two family packs had quickly bonded over they're toddlers and the two boys had been inseparable ever since. Due to their close friendship normally Jungkook was very thankful of Yugyeom's friendship and unwavering presence in his life, but as he adjusted the heavy backpack on his sore shoulders as they hiked further into the woods, he cursed the other Omega to hell and back and wondered why he let his friend convince him to come camping.
Jungkook, Yugyeom, and Bhuwakul, who everyone called Bam Bam, had just graduated from highschool and as a fun trip before going away to university in the fall Yugyeom's pack wanted to take him and Bam Bam, their youngest Mates, camping. Yugyeom convinced his Mates and Jungkook to allow Jungkook to come with, as he didn't want to leave his best friend alone for the week, especially since he didn't have many close friends or a pack of his own yet to spend time with.
Yugyeom's pack had seven members, including him, the four oldest, Mark, Jae-Beom, Jackson, and Jin-Young, were the one who decided to go camping. The four loved camping, and went as many times a year as they could, when school and weather allowed. They were always going to new places, wanting to see and go to as many places as they could, and loved finding beautiful, untouched, isolated places. When they usually went camping they liked going to far, out of the way places. This meant that they spent hours diving and even more hours hiking far away from roads and people, only stopping when they found somewhere suitable to set up camp.
That's how Jungkook found himself hiking through dense and rough woods near some mountains with his feet, shoulders, and back killing him. Despite going to the gym often and having a well muscled body that was used to working out Jungkook was not used to walking this much while carrying so much weight and it quickly was taking a toll on his body. But he didn't speak up and voice his discomfort. Jungkook was shy even around people he knew well and was very much a people pleaser, he hated feeling like he was being a bother to anyone, and as he hadn't originally been invited, he didn't want to make a fuss and give the others any reason to regret bringing him along. Though that wasn't the only reason he didn't say anything. Jungkook was an Omega, and while Omegas weren't looked down upon like they had been in the past, Jungkook hated seeming weaker than Beta's and Alpha's. So Jungkook kept quiet even though his body was screaming at him, demanding that he stop and rest.
Yugyeom, on the other hand, didn't have the same reservations as Jungkook and had started complaining not long after they had left the van and started hiking and hadn't stopped yet, though he didn't really have the same outlook on being an Omega as Jungkook did, and had accepted his secondary gender much more easily than Jungkook. Growing up, despite his sweet and soft nature, everyone had been sure Jungkook would present as an Alpha when he grew older. Jungkook was tall, strong, and his underlying unpresented scent as a pup had a light herbal smell, a classic Alpha scent. Alphas usually had strong herbal and earthy scents while Omega's had sweet and floral scents, and Beta's usually had clean and fresh light scents. Between his physical attributes and pup scent, so many people assumed Jungkook would be an Alpha. It then came as a great shock to everyone, but to Jungkook most of all, when he woke up one morning a few weeks after his fourteenth birthday not with a knot but burning up, covered in sweat and slick, his slightly herbal scent having deepened and strengthened into a rich sweet lavender.
In the years since he presented Jungkook had slowly come to terms with his presentation, but that didn't mean that some aspects of his secondary gender didn't still bother him. While there had been many great advances over the past few decades against the discrinination and negative views on Omegas there were many people who longed for "the good old days." The days where Omegas were kept at home with the pups and had very little freedom, unable to have jobs or to live without an Alpha "looking after" them. Even now it was harder for Omegas to get "important" jobs and get into "difficult" majors at university like law or medical school. And that was just on the job front. Jungkook, despite having big, cute doe eyes, and a soft beautiful face, he was too tall, and too strong and too this, and too that for an Omega. Alpha's often said how he would be better if he was smaller, less strong, and how it wasn't proper for him to work out so much as Omegas were meant to be delicate and soft, and it would be embarrassing if he was stronger than his Alpha's.
His looks, habits of working out, and having top marks in their class were just some of the reasons Jungkook didn't have a pack yet. Not that Jungkook hadn't been approached by many solo Alpha's and packs to be courted, but none of the ones that seemed serious were able to get very far. Most of them were only interested because he was an Omega, not that that surprised anyone, Omegas were greatly outnumbered by Alpha's and Beta's, nearly ten to one. And those that were interested in Jungkook for more than his second gender often wanted to change who he was and tried controlling what he did, where he went, and who he saw.
Yugyeom on the other hand had found his pack Mates not long after presenting at fourteen and had been courted by his pack for years, it was only after he started his last year of high school that he was allowed to Bond with all his Mates and officially join their pack. In fact Jungkook often wished he could join Yugyeom's pack, though he didn't feel any romantic inclinations to the Beta's and Alpha's Yugyeom was Mated to.
BTS
Jungkook wiped the back of his hand over his forehead to brush the sweat off his brow, the air heavy with a humidity he wasn't used to, as he followed the others as they continued to walk ahead. They had been walking for at least eight hours, having stopped twice for snack breaks and once for lunch since they left the van and headed into the woods. It was getting late and Jungkook was sure that the sun would start setting before the hour was over.
"Haven't we gone far enough," whined Yugyeom as he slumped against a tree. "We've been walking for hours."
"We're almost there," said Jin-Young as he looked at his map. They had to use paper maps as once they left behind the roads and towns there was next to no chance of getting any kind of signal on their phones.
"At the base of this mountain is an outcropping of caves and a small river that runs between the caves and the mountain," he said, pointing to some small lines on the map. "It shouldn't take us long to get there, maybe half an hour."
"I'm so tired, I could fall asleep right here," Yugyeom said as he leaned heavier on the tree, his eyes looking so heavy that Jungkook wasn't sure how he was keeping them open.
"Just a little further little one," said Jackson as he pulled Yugyeom up off the tree and started to lead the tired Omega forwards.
"Maybe we shouldn't have picked such a far away spot for his first time hyung," said Mark, as he too was looking exhausted after all the hours of intense hiking.
"You might be right," commented Jae-Beom as he looked at Jungkook and Bam Bam who looked just as bad as Yugyeom. "but we've been meaning to come to this area for months, remember last year there was that mudslide in the mountains and the area was closed off by all the damage?"
"Yeah, but we still could have held off until they would be more prepared for walking so far," Mark said as he took a sip from his water bottle.
"Well there's no use bothering about it now," said Jin-Young as he folded the map back up and walked on with the others.
Just as the sun was starting to set they began to hear the sound of running water and knew they were close to the river and quickly kept walking until they spotted the river then stopped. Putting down their backpacks they split into three groups, Mark and Jae-Beom went left while Jackson and Young-Jae went right to look for the caves they were going to use for protection. Thankfully Korea was covered in mountains and caves so when they went camping they often stayed in a cave instead of dragging tents along as food and the other supplies were heavy enough without bringing tents and poles.
Bam Bam, Yugyeom, Jungkook and Jin-Young stayed together by the river while they waited for the others to come back once they found the caves, taking the time to refill their water bottles using the portable water filter to clean the river water and make it drinkable.
"Now remember to only get water from running sources like streams and rivers and some lakes instead of ponds, ponds being smaller and often the water doesn't move much making it able to collect more toxins and pollution. Also make sure to not go off alone, even to go to the bathroom, if you wander too far away without anyone knowing you can easily get lost or hurt," said Jin-Young as he finished filling the empty water bottles and started double checking the water filter before taking it apart and putting it away.
"Do we really need someone else to come to the bathroom with us hyung?" Yugyeom asked, his face tinted red.
"Yes, you don't want to go to the bathroom too close to where we're going to be sleeping and eating and like I said it can be very easy to get lost on your own, and out in the middle of the woods you can run into a lot of troubles. Wild animals and steep hills can easily lead to an injury, it's much better to be safe now than sorry later."
Just as it began to get dark, the first pair, Jackson and Young-Jae, returned, having found the caves just upstream over the hills. While both pairs were gone, after having refilled the water bottles, they had started dinner which consisted of meal kits that campers and hikers often used for long trips, all you needed was fire, water, and the dehydrated meals, most of which were like ramen and stir-fry with rice. They started eating while they waited for Mark and Jae-Beom to come back.
It hadn't taken long for Mark and Jae-Beom to return as they had given up after not finding the caves after walking for fifteen minutes, just making it back before the sun fully set. As the last two quickly ate their meals the others took care of putting out the small fire they made and made sure to go over the small area to make sure they didn't leave anything or any grabage before getting out the flashlights and making their way to where Mark and Young-Jae had found the group of caves. They took their time making their way up the hill to the caves as it was much easier to lose your footing and get hurt in the dark then in the daylight as you were unable to see things properly, but compared to the hours they had spent walking into the woods it was a short trip, though Jungkook was happy when it was over. When the caves came into view they placed their packs into a plie and again divided into pairs, Jackson and Mark set out to look at which cave would be the best and safest to stay in while the other six split up and were sent to gather firewood. They didn't really need a lot of warmth as it was the middle of summer, but they needed the fire to cook they're dehydrated meals.
Bam Bam and Jungkook were sent by Jin-Young back down the hill to look for firewood and had orders to not go too far, but also to find as much firewood as they could before coming back. Thankfully as they had just walked up the hill it was easier to navigate the side of the hill and before long they had found a good amount of wood and headed back up the hill and to where everyone's packs were still sitting on the ground. Less than a minute later Mark and Jackson came back, having found a dry and large enough cave to where they would all fit quite comfortably without having to split up between two caves, as it was safer to sleep together in one large group.
Once everyone was back they gathered up their packs and went to a cave just a few minutes away from the clearing they had stopped in, the cave was a little further away from the river, Mark had said the ones closer to the water felt very damp and would have no doubt made them sick had they slept there. Thankfully the cave they chose had a large open space inside past the narrow entrance and so far seemed to be unoccupied. Mark and Jackson had done a quick check and scenting, but they made Yugyeom and Jungkook stay out of the cave with the backpacks and fire wood while the others doubled checked that there were no dangerous animals hiding in the back to the cave before they allowed the two Omegas to come into the cave.
The first thing that hit Jungkook was the heavy smell of the cave, a little damp, heavy with stale, dusty air that tickled his nose and made him give a small cough.
"Do we really have to sleep in here," Jungkook asked as he lifted a hand to rub under his nose. "It smells horrible in here."
"We know it isn't a pleasant smell but that's why we brought incense and yes, it's much safer to sleep inside. We don't have to worry about rain or animals coming across us at night, and with so many people the cave should warm up a little without the need of a fire. We don't want to have a fire going while we sleep in case something were to happen and have the fire get out of control," explained Jae-Beom.
Despite understanding and agreeing with the Alpha's logic Jungkook still didn't like the smells that assaulted his nose in the confined space of the cave and bothered his sensitive sense of smell.
Without much else to do and having already eaten dinner the group began unpacking their sleeping bags and sleeping mats and the eight of them prepared to go to bed. The Alpha's insisted that Yugyeom and Jungkook sleep further in the cave, far away from the entrance of the cave with everyone else sleeping between the two younger Omega's and the mouth of the cave, unable to fight their protective instincts that demanded the Omega's be protected from any possible dangers. As he was too tired and didn't feel like putting up a stupid fight over something so dumb Jungkook followed Yugyeom and set up his bed next to his best friend towards the back of the cave next before joining the other in brushing his teeth. Jungkook then quickly toed off his boots, changed into his jammies and fell asleep before anyone could say goodnight.
BTS
Morning came all too soon for Jungkook's taste, feeling like he had only just fallen asleep and still in need of many more hours of sleep. It was his insistent bladder that forced him to leave his warm sleeping bag. Quickly he tugged his boots on, he stopped briefly to wake Jackson, so he could tell the Beta he was leaving the cave to go and pee before taking off leaving the half awake Beta to scramble after him.
After peeing Jungkook glanced down at his watch, a graduation present from his family pack, and saw that it was only just after six am and he threw his head back and sighed. In spite of the fact that he had only just woken up Jungkook knew he was too awake now to go back to bed and decided that he would stay awake and hang out in the clearing outside the cave and get the fire started that they were going to need for breakfast.
"Hyung I'm too awake to go back to sleep, I think I'm just going to hang around out here, and maybe start a fire," said Jungkook as he looked around to the area which was getting easier to see with the sun coming up.
"Make sure to stay close by the cave, don't go wandering around," said Jackson as he fished a lighter out of his pocket and gave it to Jungkook before turning and going back into the cave intent on going back to bed while he could.
Despite this being the first time Jungkook had gone camping he was able to quickly get a fire started, though that was only because he, Yugyeom, and Bam Bam had been shown how to make a fire, use the metal teapot in a fire and several other things the hyungs deemed necessary for them to know before heading into the woods. So it didn't take long for Jungkook to have a small fire going strong and the teapot full of water heating up in the orange flames, though he accidentally woke Yugyeom up when he crept back into the cave to gather the teapot and tea supplies out of his backpack. Besides the teapot and dehydrated meals, and dry snacks they had brought along a small selection of tea and some honey for the morning as most of them preferred having a caffeine boost when they woke up.
It wasn't long after Jungkook had made and started to drink his second cup of tea that a few of the others had woken up and quickly left the cave making beelines off into the trees, no doubt in a rush to relieve themselves like Jungkook himself had done nearly an hour earlier. Just as Jungkook could hear them coming back towards the cave Jackson left the cave and plopped himself down beside Jungkook, having already gone to the bathroom with Jungkook earlier, and started to make a cup of tea for himself.
"It's so nice that tea is easy to make and bring along. I don't think I would be able to come camping, let alone like camping, if I couldn't have a nice hot cup of tea when I wake up," said Jackson as he poured the hot water into his own cup and stirred some honey into the steeping tea.
Bam Bam, Young-Jae, and Mark hummed in agreement as they passed around the tea, cups, and the hot teapot, each making their own tea as they began to properly wake up and settle around the fire.
"How long have you been awake," Bam Bam asked Jungkook as he refilled the teapot with more water and set it back on the fire to reheat.
"Almost an hour," Jungkook replied as he took another sip of his tea. "When I woke up I really had to go to the bathroom and afterwards I was too awake to go back to sleep."
"Oh, well," said Jae-Beom, "we'll be staying around this area for the day so if you need to you can take a nap later on."
"Good idea hyung. I might later, but not right now, I don't feel tired enough to fall asleep."
It wasn't much later that the rest of them finally woke up and everyone began to eat breakfast. Even before they left for the trip they decided that the first day should be more of a lazy day as everyone would most likely still be a little tired from the many hours of walking and travel, and that they weren't going to leave the area around the cave and take time to explore the area they were going to be staying in. The best part of camping, according to Jin-Young, besides getting away from the cities and enjoying nature, was finding cool things in beautiful and untouched places. Soon enough everyone was finished eating so they all headed over to the river to wash up their few dishes and refill the water bottles.
After reaching the river Yugyeom decided that they should go swimming as this section of the river was much calmer than the others they had seen and looked perfect to play and swim in. It didn't take much for Yugyeom to convince the rest of his Mates to join him as he started to strip off all his clothes and hopped in the cool, clear water of the river.
Jungkook couldn't help but laugh at his best friend and soon joined the other in the refreshing water, but unlike the others he kept his boxers and compressing sports bra on, not comfortable enough to be completely naked in front of the three Alpha's and three Beta's despite the fact that they weren't interested in him and were happily Mated. One of the things that Jungkook had to come to terms with when he presented was his body. While he was male Jungkook was also an Omega and while male Omegas didn't have full breasts like their female counterparts they did have something, they weren't very big, but they were definitely still there. Most male Omegas had breasts smaller than an A cup to a small B, which did grow bigger, swelling with milk, when pregnant. Then also didn't develop as much as other males making their dicks much smaller and their balls never dropped as they weren't needed.
It was time like this that Jungkook felt like he was an eighth wheel. In spite of his long and close friendship with Yugyeom and that he had known the six others since they had met and started courting Yugyeom almost five years ago and grew to be good friends with all of them he often still felt like he was intruding on their time together.
It wasn't that he didn't like spending time with them but more often than not Jungkook could see longing glances, stolen kisses, and heated looks and touches shared between the seven of the pack when he hung out with them. And Jungkook knew had he not been there things would have definitely escalated. But he was there, and the tender, loving moments he witnessed left a cold longing in his chest when he saw them. Despite turning everyone who tried to court him down, Jungkook did want a pack of his own, Mates to love him and share his life with. But each time he tried to find a Mate, a pack, or solo Alpha or Beta, he was left with nothing besides a battered, bruised, and bleeding sense of self esteem and disappointment. Sure he was pretty enough, but he was too tall, or smart, or strong, or countless other things that made him an undesirable Mate to those that approached him. So for now Jungkook had given up, not for forever, but for now Jungkook decided that he was going to focus on himself, and do what made him happy, what he wanted. So he was going to university, he wanted to be a director, or at least something to do with making films. Then when he did find a Mate or Mates he decided that he would only want ones that would love him for him.
