Times Six

5

"Wait, Namjoon, we want to go first," Hoseok interrupts quickly with an uncharacteristically nervous look on his face. Namjoon raises his eyebrows and nods, lips folded in on themselves. "First, we want to say – well, I just did it again but – we're sorry for not listening. For choosing for you, for letting you, I don't know. Be alone. For making you be alone for a long time because we didn't ask. We thought that's what you wanted. We were wrong, and we're sorry. We should have asked you. We're just cowards. We don't know what we're doing. And we're sorry." The group nods its agreement together.

"That's –" Namjoon gears himself up to protest, to say it's no big deal, forget about it but one look at Taehyung's glassy eyes and he's changed his mind. They did do something wrong, and they know it. They don't want him to brush it off; to tell them that it's okay wouldn't be honest or helpful. So he settles on the truth:

"I forgive you." The relief is tangible in the close space of the entryway, even as he sees them start to protest.

"You don't have to forgive us," Jimin says softly, looking at Namjoon with those concerned, sleepy eyes. He wasn't angry at them to begin with. A little sore, yes. But not angry – and he's not sure he could be angry, looking at him now.

"I know, but I do." He knows if he were to ask Jimin if he's okay right now, he'd burst into tears. He loves that about him. "Let's sit?" He gestures towards the interior of the apartment and Hoseok's face colors.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, we just ambushed you. Let's sit."

This time, they all move together, in step; Namjoon is surrounded on all sides by them . They all settle down simultaneously, but still keep a careful distance away from him, not quite touching – but this time the distance feels different. It doesn't feel awkward, or cold, or empty, like it did before. The inches between them now are a product of smothering warmth. He aches. He really, really does. All it takes is a purposeful shift of his legs to press up against Jimin's and they're moving towards him slowly, foggily, to touch the points of their bodies together.

The sectional has more than enough room for all of them, but they end up all squished together anyway. It's nice. It's good.

"I need to apologize." There's a displeased noise from Jeongguk but Jimin shushes him gently. "I – got confused. And overwhelmed. I thought that – I thought that I made you do it. I'd heard that that's how it was. Like, omegas tricked alphas into having sex with them during their heats. And so I thought... when hyung said that it was, um, your 'responsibility,' like, a 'pack' thing, I really thought that I'd made you do it."

" Seokjin-hyung told you that? He said pack ? Gross." Hoseok's voice is absolutely scandalized and Seokjin, in a way so unlike him, gets a complete deer-in-the-headlights type of look on his face.

"That's – that's not what I meant! I meant it like a good thing! Like, don't feel insecure, it's safe, it's natural , I don't know!" he yelps, his ears turning bright red.

"How could that possibly be a good thing ? And you said you hadn't said anything to him!" chimes in Yoongi accusingly.

"No, it's fine ," Namjoon interjects, "that's not important. It's not – that's not the point. I just thought that I had tricked you or coerced you or something and you did it because you had to, not because –"

"– we wanted to? We wanted to. We want to. If you want to, we want to," Seokjin says in a rush. Even given that they've all seen him in a very compromising, vulnerable state and that he had completely heat-sober sex with two of them, the eagerness of the outburst still brings a little color into Namjoon's face. They wanted to fuck him through his heat, maybe more than that.