Cigarettes On Balconies

Party

Kicking his shoes off Jungkook moved towards the small kitchen of his apartment. Placing the pack of drinks on the counter, he retrieved his phone from his pocket. Moving his thumb across the screen, he gave his friend a call.

“Hey Jungkook. Didn’t expect to hear from you tonight” Yugyeom answered with a relaxed ease. “How's life outside of the dorm treating you?”

“Fine” Jungkook answered with a small shrug. Yugyeom had been the other alpha’s roommate for the first three years of Jungkook’s school experience.

 “Ah Jungkookie. A man of so few words” Yugyeom gave a little laugh of amusement. “What can I do for my sweet ex roommate this evening?”

“Wanna come over?” Jungkook cut straight to the chase. He wasn’t much for small talk, as he didn’t enjoy it.

“Do I want to come over? Let me think about that… come over to your personal private apartment… or stay in my crappy dorm with my new shitty roommate? Yeah I’ll be over in twenty. Want me to text Mingyu and Cha Eun Woo?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jungkook said, not caring much about who came or went. “Sounds like a party.”

“Damn straight,” Yugyeom said with another laugh.

“See ya soon” Jungkook said before swiftly ending the call. Knowing that his friends would be there shortly, the alpha had just enough time to take a quick shower and change into another set of clothing. Now dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans and a white t-shirt tucked in at the waistline, Jungkook buzzed his friends inside.

When Jungkook opened the door about ten different guests greeted him. Mingyu stood at the front of the group with a large grin on his face. “Yugyeom texted me and said you were having a party. We had one going on at the dorms but it was totally lame. And not to mention supervised” the man added with an eye roll. “So we thought we’d bring it here instead.”

The alpha’s eyes widened a little. He stepped aside without a word and allowed the crowd to enter. This is not what he had in mind when he invited his friends over for an evening of drinking.

“Jungkook, where’s the stereo?” Mingyu called. Jungkook was barely able to force the words out – directing him to the bookshelf in the living room – before the buzzer rang again.

By the time Yugyeom arrived, there were two dozen people forcing their way through Jungkook’s small apartment. “I thought it was just going to be the four of us?” Yugyeom asked Jungkook as he entered the apartment. He eyed Jungkook carefully.

“Yeah I thought so too,” Jungkook stated in a huff. “But once Mingyu got here the door kept ringing and more people just kept showing up.”

“s**t” Yugyeom glanced around. “Where is he? I could tell him to shut it down,” he suggested. But both men knew that wasn’t a probable outcome.

“Or” Jungkook added with a growing smile. “We could just embrace it.” He shrugged a little as he moved into his small kitchen. “Beer?” he asked, grabbing a can for himself and holding another out for Yugyeom. Jungkook hadn’t had a single drop of alcohol in nearly six months. He had been on the right track. But now, with the temptation devil so close, he couldn’t resist caving to the want. It was only one drink after all, at the end of an extremely shitty week.  

 Yugyeom looked as though he was going to question Jungkook for a moment. But eventually he shrugged and accepted it. “I guess if you can't beat them, join them.”

And join them Jungkook did.

Jungkook had immersed himself into the party and he was greatly enjoying it. He was certain he had finished two bottles of red wine himself. Glancing around the room he noted the guests filtering in and out through the door. Some had gone to get some air in the hallway or balcony and others had gone back to the two apartment bedrooms. Jungkook would’ve been furious at the thought of someone potentially having s*x in his bedroom – including his guest bedroom – but the alpha was far too wasted to actually care. The dancing was heavily taking place in the living room, and Jungkook found himself on more than one occasion pressed into a group of swaying hips.

Admittedly Jungkook was actually having a fairly good time. Especially if he ignored the fact that he was pretty certain someone had gone into the hallway to vomit. Maybe this had in fact been exactly what the alpha needed – a carefree night to party and drink as much as he wanted. It began to feel like he was in his sophomore and junior years all over again.

“Jungkook!” Cha Eun Woo called over the music. He had a cigarette between his fingers. Stepping in from the balcony door he continued to call out for the other alpha. “There’s someone on the balcony looking for you.”

Jungkook glanced up, twirling the glass in his hand slightly. “Who is it?” he called back in return. He was comfortable on the dance floor. He wasn’t going to interrupt it just because someone was either sick or in search of a smoke.

“I don’t know.” the man answered back, having made his way deeper through the crowd. “It’s an omega. A real cutie, but he’s got an attitude problem. He demands to see you this instant.”

Jungkook released a deep groan. With the mention of an attitude problem he knew instantly that the specific omega was none other than his neighbor. The omega that had a chip on his shoulder and freely rode a high horse. Stepping away from the dance floor he moved towards the balcony door. “You requested my presence?” Jungkook snorted a little. Request was a kind word to use. It was more like the omega had ordered or demanded. “How may I help you?”

“Shut the party down” the omega stated. It amazed Jungkook with the way the omega conducted himself. There was nothing submissive regarding his behaviour – which would’ve been typical for an omega. Usually, one would cave to an alpha’s will and submit to orders. Never had Jungkook experienced an omega with this level of backbone, which stood up to an alpha and talked back. Jungkook was impressed by it. It was feisty and sexy.

“Can’t do that,” the alpha answered back with a careless tone. Although he hadn’t planned the party – nor did he want it when it first began – now that it was in full swing, Jungkook was reveling in it.

“Uh, yes you can.” the omega stated. “It’s midnight. And you’re blasting music. How the f**k is anyone supposed to get any sleep around here?” the man crossed his arms over his chest and continued to stand his ground. The moon was shining a bright white light across the man’s naturally pale skin.

“And what exactly do you suggest I do?” the alpha asked. He gave a small shrug. “It’s a party. There is bound to be music.”

“Are you kidding me? You’re just brushing my concerns off as though they are nothing?” the omega grumbled. Again he appeared to be getting more agitated as he continued to stand tall with force.

“I’m not brushing them off,” Jungkook explained. “They just aren’t valid.” Jungkook was starting to get annoyed even more with this individual. It was a party. What did the omega expect? Everyone kneeling on the floor with some tea and cookies as they gossiped?

“Aren’t valid? My concerns aren’t valid?” the omega grumbled. His back had grown stiff and his shoulders pushed back in pride. Standing straight he forced himself to appear taller. “Music disturbance isn’t a valid complaint?”

“Exactly” Jungkook called holding his wine glass out in a cheers gesture. “A little music never killed anyone.”

“It’s not just a little music,” the omega hissed. “The music is blaring. My entire apartment is shaking from the stupid vibrations. For f**k’s sake my vase fell over and broke.”

“I’ll be sure to buy you a new vase,” Jungkook answered with ease. Raising his glass he took a small sip. “Tell you what, I’ll even include flowers with that vase. What kind do you like? I picture you enjoying sunflowers or daisies, I’m certain they match your sunshiny personality. But maybe you’re into expensive classic roses.”

“The only thing I’m into is getting some damn sleep around here” the omega stated. “And for the record, music isn’t the only concern. This balcony is not just yours. I believe I told you that once before, but clearly you need a refresher. I don’t take kindly to coming out onto my balcony to find a couple practically having s*x. Nor do I like god damn wine and beer bottles thrown about.” As if to make a point the omega kicked his toe lightly against a discarded beer bottle and rolled it in Jungkook’s direction.

“Not to mention” the omega continued “the f*****g vomit that is currently stinking up the hallway, where not only I, but twenty other people have to walk through on a daily basis. It’s pretty f*****g disgusting.”

“It’s a college party,” Jungkook answered. He held out his drink for the omega “here. Have a drink. Liven up a little.”

The omega took the drink with a smile. Spinning the liquid around inside he glanced at the burning red drink. Giving it a small sniff the blonde released a deep chuckle. “Ah cheap stuff. It’s not that good anyways.” Blondie slowly turned the glass upside down and completely drained the drink away, coving the floor with the red wine.

“What the f**k man!” Jungkook hissed grabbing the glass quickly from the other male’s hand.

“Like you said” the omega shrugged. “It’s a college party.” The man squinted his eyes and scowled in anger. Taking a step forward he pushed his index finger into the alpha’s chest. “But let me explain something to you.” the omega hissed. His voice had gotten low and deep. Jungkook almost couldn’t hear it over the music playing.

“This isn’t a college dorm. This isn’t a setting where dozens of other students live. There’s no common room to have s*x on the couches. Or hiding in the bathrooms to take your shots. There are no hallways to run down without fear of disturbance because everyone else is doing the same shit.” The omega continued to eye the alpha with deep hatred. “This is an apartment building. People live here. And I get that you might not comprehend that yet, but this isn’t some temporary stop over for some people. This is home. You can’t come into someone’s home and make this level of a s**t show.

“There are children that live beside you. And considering it’s midnight, your college party has forced them to stay awake. And you might not have children, but sleep deprived pups become any parent’s little devils. Taehyun, a high school student, lives down the hall. He’s no older than sixteen. He lives alone with his single mother, and has been here since his appa died ten years ago. They are children, Jeon Jungkook. None of them deserve to be exposed to this level of bullshit. Seeing vomit in the hallway or hearing s*x take place? That’s not right for a child to experience.”

Taking a deep breath, Jimin continued. “Beneath you are seniors. They’ve lived here since this damn apartment was built. It’s been the only home they’ve known for decades. It’s where they raised their own pups. Where they mated. And now their peaceful life gets ruined with the sounds of people’s feet dancing and beer cans falling through the sky to their balcony!”

“You might be in college, but not everyone is. This is a place filled with single parents struggling to make things work, with pups that are just barely starting to grow, students that should be studying and seniors that just want some peace. This is not the place for a college party. A college party belongs in college. That means at a dorm room or a frat house. Not in someone’s home.”

The omega gave Jungkook’s chest a firm shove as he stepped away. “Smarten the f**k up, Jeon Jungkook.” Spinning on his heels, he marked the end of the conversation. Jungkook had been taken so deeply by surprise that he was left speechless. Sliding back into his own apartment, the omega slammed his door shut.

Nearly an hour had passed before Jungkook was drawn out of his depressing state. That damn interaction with the omega had ruined his night. Guilt weighed heavily on his thoughts now. There were pups that lived nearby; Jungkook had just met Taemin a few hours ago. And now the thought that he was forcing the little pup to lose sleep hurt him and the alpha inside. In fact his alpha was letting out low disappointed howls.

“Time for shots!” Mingyu called from the kitchen snapping Jungkook away from his thoughts. He held up a large bottle of vodka – a drink that Jungkook knew he never kept around the house.

“Body shots!” a female voice called from the crowd. That received a large cheer from others. The female omega had come forward, dressed in a pair of tight leather pants and a neon pink crop top. Hoisting herself up onto Jungkook’s small countertop, she laid back to reveal her stomach.

“The host should go first.” Cha Eun Woo called. The other alpha had been seated beside Jungkook on the couch. Reaching up with a chuckle he gave Jungkook a slight push to the shoulder. “Go on, man. Take the shot!”

“Yeah, Jungkook!” Mingyu called. Setting the glass on the omega’s middle he filled it with the clear shot. “Come on!” The group around the counter cheered out encouragement. The omega tilted her head to the side and flashed Jungkook a smirk.

Pushing himself up, the alpha gave a roll of his eyes. But he didn’t complain. Moving towards the counter, he stood within the surrounding crowd. Glancing down at the omega, his eyes slowly trailed over her body. She was certainly a beautiful little thing. As far as Jungkook could tell, she was rather short. However most of her body was made up of pure legs. The omega had a large round chest and a soft pale face with plump lips. At one point, Jungkook would’ve considered her to be his perfect type – at least in regards to looks – but what immediately turned him off was the instant distaste of her scent. It was a strong force of lavender and sugar – he was certain other alphas’ mouths would be watering at the very thought, but to Jungkook the scent was overpowering.

Locking eyes with the omega, as though Jungkook wanted to prove he wasn’t timid or turned off by her in the slightest. He flashed a small smile. Turning down to her middle, the alpha lowered his head, wrapping his lips around the cool glass. Quickly he tipped his head back, feeling the burning liquid move down his throat. Groaning slightly Jungkook grabbed the glass from his mouth to hold.

With a deep smirk the omega reached up with her slender fingers and grasped the back of Jungkook’s neck. Leaning up the omega forced her lips onto Jungkook’s. As she moved her mouth against his, the sugary pink lip-gloss transferred onto his lips. Her free hand moved up along Jungkook’s chest – itching to slide under his shirt.

Jungkook gave into the temptation. He pressed himself into the omega. Guiding his arm around the woman’s waist, he tugged her into a sitting position. Spreading her legs, he stepped forward to comfortably stand between them. Resting his hands on her lower back, he felt her pull away from the kiss. However she was quick to latch onto his neck. Jungkook tilted his head to the side slightly, giving her access to his skin, but making it certain she couldn’t reach his scent glands.

Letting out a deep groan, Jungkook noticed the sound of whistling around him. The crowd was receiving a fairly good show. Although he might hate the scent of the omega, this was exactly the type of individuals Jungkook went for. The omega had taken a couple shots herself, allowing the alcohol in her system to mess with her senses, meaning she was unable to define Jungkook’s scent as sweetened chocolate.

“We should take this to your room” the omega purred in his ear. Her hands were now lightly trailing over his waistline towards his belt.

Jungkook would likely have said yes. However a usually cheerful voice – but was now very much laced with anger – interrupted him.

“Jeon Jungkook!” Hoseok called pushing his way into the kitchen. The man stood with a pair of abstract patterned pajama pants and a loose fitting white sleep shirt. Standing with his hands on his hips, he was the spitting image of a disappointed eomma catching you out after curfew.

“Hey hyung,” Jungkook said, forcing a smile and stepping away from the omega. He felt rather dizzy now, the drinks weighing heavily on his head and stomach.

“Don’t you hyung me,” Hoseok hissed. Hobi typically radiated sunshine. But it would appear that temporarily he was experiencing an eclipse, and the sun was nowhere to be seen.  “What the f**k is this?” he asked, making a hand gesture towards the crowd of people.

Jungkook resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Not this conversation again. “It’s a party,” he answered with ease.

“I can see that.” Hoseok stated. “What the f**k is it doing here?”

“Look hyung, I already got this speech about noise and s**t from my neighbor” Jungkook explained with a deep sigh.

“Clearly you didn’t listen.” Hobi argued. “Otherwise you would’ve long since shut this down. Besides, that’s not the only speech you need to hear at the moment.”

“Hyung-“ Jungkook started to whine.

But Hobi was quick to cut the alpha off. “No. I don’t want to hear a single damn excuse from you Jungkook. I have heard all that before. I’ve heard it for over two years as I lifted you off dirty vomit-covered bathroom flooring.” The elder male approached the younger. The crowd had since moved aside, but hung near enough to listen to the gossip. “I thought you said you wanted to quit these habits.”

“I did!” Jungkook stated in a defeated sounding tone. “I do. But it’s only one night of fun.” At that moment, Jungkook didn’t see what the fuss was about. He had been clean for several months. Just because he had a couple of drinks or one night of partying didn’t necessarily mean he was going to revert to his old ways.

“One night” Hoseok snorted and rolled his eyes “isn’t that what you said last time? It would only be one night to hang with friends and drink and smoke. That’s what you said freshman year? And look what it leads to. You spent your nights in the dorm drinking until you could barely function. You would crawl into beds with nameless and faceless omegas only to sneak out in the middle of the night. You missed classes and when you did complete your assignments they were half-assed. It got to the point where you nearly flunked out of college sophomore year!” Hoseok was beyond pissed.

“How many times did Yoongi hyung have to pick you up off the bathroom floor where you were hugging the toilet? How often did I come to your dorm to force you to wake up only to get cussed out? What about Yoongi bringing you food in hopes of getting you to open up to him? Or the times I came and picked you up at some random ass locations because you couldn’t find your way home from a hookup? You went down a self destructive spiral, Jungkook. You need to be hyper aware of your habits – especially now, considering your previous struggles.

“Isn’t that why you wanted to find your own place? Because being in the college environment was too tempting? You couldn’t get and remain sober for as long as you remained there. Well guess what? We found you a place Jungkook. You’ve got your own apartment that allowed you to get away from the negative environment. And what do you do? You bring it here. I thought you knew better by now, Jungkook. I thought you wanted better for yourself.

“This isn’t a club or some bar. There are people living on this floor too that are trying to get some sleep. But did you even consider that possibility? There’s a single eomma living beside you, he has two pups under the age of four that are probably confused as hell right now with all this noise. f**k’s sake, Jungkook, it practically sounds like people are having s*x. You think pups want to hear that? I have work tomorrow morning and I’m wide awake standing in the middle of your apartment at one am.”

Jungkook stood in defeat with his head hanging low. He had already received a similar scolding just an hour before, which had driven his guilt through the roof. However, it coming from his hyung was worse. Earlier, the omega had listed typical concerns, ones that could be referred to anyone making this level of disturbance. But Hobi knew exactly what would harm Jungkook the most.

The alpha had struggled in the past with substance use.

Jungkook had set out to school with high expectations of himself. He had intended to achieve great heights in his chosen double major of photography and videography. Jungkook had always struggled with himself and his identity due to his sweetened scent. Sometimes he felt like he was barely able to keep his head above water. However, when Jungkook’s infertility came to light, it became an extra defect that Jungkook wasn’t able to handle. Who would ever mate an alpha with a chocolate aroma and the inability to provide pups?

In desperation, Jungkook had turned to drinking, smoking and partying as a way of forgetting. Letting go of the parts of himself that he viewed as failures. At the beginning, it was only on the occasional Friday or Saturday night, when Jungkook was bored and the thoughts ate away at him. But Jungkook quickly became reliant.

From that moment on, things had spiraled downwards. Jungkook had done exactly what Hobi accused him of. He spent countless nights partying and drinking rather than studying. He slept around in a desperate attempt to feel worthy despite the sweetened omega like scent he gave off.

It had taken years, but finally his hyungs were able to talk some sense into him – but only after Jungkook felt like he was reaching a breaking point. From that moment on, Jungkook had sworn that he was going to do better with both himself as a person and as a student. At the hyungs’ suggestion, he rented the apartment across the hall from them, leading him to being close to those he thought of as family and away from the college party temptations.

“Hoseok” another voice joined the conversation. Yoongi, half asleep, stepped through the crowd and rested a gentle hand on his partner's shoulder. “Ease up a little.”

Hobi turned slightly and glared at Yoongi. “He needs to know that he did wrong.” the man hissed. Yoongi babied Jungkook. He often failed to see the flaws in the alpha. The elder had long since taken on a father figure role to the maknae.

“And he will,. Yoongi stated calmly. “Tomorrow when he wakes up with a towering hangover and is hugging the toilet like he was a year ago he will realize what he did wrong. There is nothing you can say now that will be worse than what Jungkook says to himself once he’s sober.”

“But that’s why we recommended this apartment. So that Jungkook wouldn’t revert back to his dangerous ways from a year ago” Hoseok argued in return. It wasn’t that Hobi wanted to be incredibly hard or judgmental towards Jungkook. But he saw the greatness in the alpha. He knew that Jungkook was capable of more than what he had achieved thus far. He had his entire faith set on Jungkook breaking the addictions.

“Hobi” Yoongi said softly, “We knew this wasn’t going to be a clean cut situation. It’s not going to be an easy uphill battle for Jungkook. He is bound to relapse.”

“So you’re saying we just let this go?” Hoseok asked his partner. It was as through the two males had long since forgotten there were others around watching the interaction.

“For now, yes,” Yoongi stated. He glanced in Jungkook’s direction and sighed softly. The alpha looked in that moment to be completely broken and torn down. He looked as though it was very probable that he could shed some tears. “Standing here disciplining Jungkook like a pup will not solve the issue at hand. He is drunk and likely won't remember much of this come morning, anyways. For now we should focus on ending the party.”

“And how do you suggest we do that?” Hobi frowned glancing around. Although several party guests had noticed the awkward tension and had chosen to slip away, the majority was still too preoccupied to notice much around them. There were a dozen still on the dance floor and people still drinking.

Yoongi shrugged and moved towards the speakers. Giving the cord a firm yank from the wall socket he cut the power. The music came to a crashing halt and groans of annoyance sounded. “Party is over!” Yoongi called out. There was another groan of protest. The crowd didn’t seem to want to listen to the elder man as none moved to leave. Yoongi rolled his eyes slightly, clearly unimpressed with the behaviour.  “Everyone get the f**k out before I call the police on you!” that got the students moving. With wide eyes, the groups started to make their way to the doorway.

“I’m sorry” Jungkook mumbled lightly, trying to maintain eye contact. “I’m sorry,” he repeated with a cracking voice. With a deep sniffle, tears began to roll down his cheeks. “I swear I didn’t invite them. They just showed up. I didn’t know how to stop it or get them to leave. And I promise I’m not that drunk. I swear it. I don’t… I don’t mean to fail.” Guilt and self-hatred ate away at him.

Hoseok’s heart broke a little. Jungkook hardly ever apologized – especially not in regards to his drinking or partying habits. This, although maybe small, was a breakthrough for the alpha. “Jungkook you didn’t fail” Hobi stated softly. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the alpha soothingly. “You only fail when you stop trying.”

Yoongi watched from a distance as his boyfriend hugged the younger boy. “We can talk more about this in the morning.” Yoongi said. He didn’t want to let the alpha off so easily. A discussion would still need to be had. And clearly removing Jungkook from the toxic environment had only been step one. They needed to come up with a more thought out plan.

Jungkook released another sniffle but gave a small nod of recognition. Hobi squeezed the alpha into one more hug before stepping back. “Yoongi is right. We will talk tomorrow. You need to get some sleep okay? You got a long day tomorrow cleaning up this apartment.”

“Yeah and the hallway. It’s f*****g disgusting out there,” Yoongi stated with a frown. “Next time, come to us before things get out of hand. The second people started showing up without permission, you should’ve come to get us. We understand that these situations can be overwhelming – especially for you. We would have been able to help.”

“Thanks, hyungs” Jungkook said softly, forcing a small smile. The few stray tears had long since dried. And although he was still hunched over in guilt, he tried to stand a little straighter. “I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”

“Anytime Jungkook” Yoongi patted the alpha reassuringly on the shoulder. “But hopefully there won't be a next time like this.”

Jungkook nodded in agreement, he was serious about getting sober. He f****d up badly today, but he could get back on track… right? The alpha answered back simply, with a small voice, “yeah, hopefully.”