In all the nine hours that Taehyung had been with Jeongguk so far, he hadn't thought he would ever witness the uptight Prince let everything go and get as excited as a little kid would.
And so a highly overwhelming bout of affection attacked his heart when he saw Jeongguk getting excited about hearing Namjoon from the phone and realizing that he could actually talk to someone so far away from him.
His doe eyes, always cold and stern and judgemental, suddenly went wide in exhilaration and sparkled as if they were suddenly sprinkled with stardust. His lips pulled up in a wide smile that popped out really cute bunny teeth that Taehyung did NOT expect from him. His nose scrunched up as he grinned at Taehyung and then back at his phone.
And Taehyung suddenly understood why Jeongguk said he didn't smile without a reason.
Because it was fatal.
It was so fatal, it could kill people with its cuteness and brightness.
Like it did Taehyung.
"Do you wanna try calling someone else?" he asked after the heated call with Namjoon(who calmed down after hearing Jeongguk squeal "NAMJOON-NIM!!" at him when given a chance to speak), just so he could keep seeing that smile for a little more while. He hoped Jeongguk didn't remember out of the blue that he was smiling and dropped it like a hot potato.
Jeongguk nodded excitedly, the stardust in his eyes moving as his eyeballs bounced. "Jimin-nim!!" he exclaimed, even his voice sounding like a little boy in excitement.
And so Taehyung held his phone up and quickly clicked a picture of Jeongguk's smiling - grinning - face before putting it back down.
Poor Jeongguk didn't even realize it. He just waited impatiently for Taehyung to call Jimin.
Deciding that he wanted to see what else Jeongguk could do in excitement, Taehyung decided to video call Jimin.
"JIMIN-NIM!!" Jeongguk all but yelled when Jimin's face appeared on the screen. Jimin, who seemed confused, now only mouthed 'aww' at a shocked Jeongguk, who shot up from his seat (throne, really, with the way he sat on it) and did a little tap-dance-like-excited-dance when he realized that he was not only talking to someone far away but was also looking at them as he talked.
Watching him marvel at Jimin's face on the screen, Taehyung felt a strong urge to put Jeongguk in his locker and lock him up. This wasn't a healthy combination. Jeongguk couldn't just be hot-as-fuck a second and cute-as-fuck the other and still expect not to get kidnapped by perverts like Taehyung himself.
"Call me hyung, Jeongguk. I call you by your name too, remember?"
Those words brought Jeongguk back to his senses and he finally realized what he had been doing all this while. He abruptly put all his guards back up and looked at Taehyung with a very unamused expression. "I shall not fall for these cheap tricks," he said.
Taehyung barked out a loud laugh at that. Even though it had only been nine or so hours since he met Jeongguk, and even though more than half of that time went in trying to figure out what on earth was happening, he felt like he knew Jeongguk like the back of his palm.
"I'm not even trying to trap you with it," he said, his words still coated by little chuckles. "This is just how this witch works. That's it. Do you want one for yourself?"
"No. I said I shall not fall for such cheap tricks," Jeongguk repeated, going back to cross his legs and sit back on his 'throne'.
Sighing with a little scoff, Taehyung looked at Jimin. "Don't mind him. How's Jeongyeon adjusting to everything?" he asked.
"Don't ask," Jimin chuckled. His background told Taehyung he was busy shooting. "She is sitting in my trailer right now. D'you remember that girly shirt I have at home? My mom's shirt? I gave her that and a pair of jeans and she wouldn't stop twirling because of how free her legs felt," he chuckled. "I brought her here 'cause I don't trust her with all the new things at my house."
Taehyung laughed heartily at that and then looked at Jeongguk, who was busy scowling at him. He supposed it was because more than half of what Jimin said wouldn't have made sense to him.
"What is she doing in your trailer?" he asked, ignoring Jeongguk.
"I showed her Hwarang. She couldn't stop watching. She was super excited to see you in it," Jimin said, his crooked tooth shining as he grinned. "I've been checking on her every half-an-hour to make sure she didn't blast my laptop or something. She's comfortable," he said with another chuckle.
Taehyung chuckled as well. "And what did you tell everyone about her?" he asked.
"Oh, I told them she's my mother's brother's wife's brother's daughter's niece's mother. Complicated, right? No one questioned me after I said that," Jimin said, chuckling again.
"Please ask him not to laugh too much. It seems hazardous for himself," Jeongguk said to Taehyung. It took a little while for both of them to realize that Jeongguk was referring to Jimin's eye-smile and how it seemed as if Jimin wouldn't be able to see anything when he laughed. While Taehyung laughed with his head thrown back, Jimin mock-glared at Jeongguk for making fun of him.
"Okay, then. You go back to your shooting. I'll get back to teaching stuff to our harabeoji here," Taehyung shot an amused glance at Jeongguk, who was back to scowling at him. "I accepted the offer for The Vagabonds, by the way. Long story, I'll tell you in the evening," he said.
"Oh, okay, that's good. We'll talk in the evening. Bye, Jeonggukie!!"
Jeongguk's eyes widened. "What did he call me?! How dar-"
"He's being nice to you, Jeonggukie. You be nice too," Taehyung said, his smile still there but his voice turning dangerous.
Jeongguk scowled again and sat back. "Alright. We shall talk in the evening, Jimin-nim," he forced the words out of his gritted teeth.
Taehyung hung up on Jimin after that and turned back to Jeongguk to smile sweetly at him. "You can call me hyung, by the way," he said.
"I shall call you hyung only if you do not call me harabeoji. Your eyes seem to not work properly, but I'm very youn-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. You are two years younger, I already know. But you are also six hundred and something older than me, remember? My harararararararabeoji," Taehyung said and stuck his tongue out at Jeongguk.
Jeongguk's eyes widened at the nerve Taehyung had to tease him, and his hand shot forward to grab his sword and threaten him, but Taehyung was faster.
"Uhuh!!" he said and grabbed the sword, pulling it away before Jeongguk could reach for it. "You promised, remember?" Taehyung reminded, but Jeongguk wasn't listening. He was busy trying not to laugh at how Taehyung was struggling to hold his heavy sword in his hand.
"YAH!!" Taehyung yelled, yanking Jeongguk out of his thoughts.
"Right, I apologize," Jeongguk said and sat back, crossing his arms and fixing Taehyung with a stare. "When are you going to serve food? I'm hungry."
"What?! How?! You ate like ten pancakes just three hours ago!!"
"And?"
"Huh," Taehyung scoffed, "come to the dining room, I'll serve it. Ajeomma already cooked everything in the morning itself. We just have to heat them and eat," he said.
"Alright," Jeongguk said and got up to follow Taehyung to the dining table.