"I'm planning to start something historical again," Hoseok said as he sipped his wine slowly.
"Ohh? That's great! Is it fiction again?" Seokjin asked while Taehyung nodded along to the question.
Upon Hoseok's assurance that he wasn't visiting him with any special purpose, Taehyung had also invited Namjoon and Seokjin home - Jimin and Jeongyeon were a given - and thus, they had had dinner together and were now settled in the living room with bottles of wine and whiskey on the coffee table.
"Nope. It's going to be based on history again. I don't know why, but he's been obsessed with history for a few months now," Yoongi said.
"Can I give you s-some advice?" Jeongguk asked, surprisingly sounding drunk. He was normally the most tolerant towards alcohol among them all. Seeing him drunk was a cultural shock to all of them including Taehyung. He didn't know why but this night, Jeongguk brought all of his guards down and drank to his heart's content.
"Yeah, sure," Hoseok said.
Jeongguk leaned forward and placed - slammed - his wine glass on the table before crossing his legs and resting his elbow on his knee. He pointed his finger at Hoseok clumsily and let a hiccup pass before starting.
"Do you research properly bef-before you start something historical, es...especially if it is based on someone's s-story. I o-once saw a movie. It w-was the worst!!" his elbow slipped from his knee from the intensity of his sudden anger and he flopped forward, but he was way too drunk to feel embarrassed about it.
Taehyung, who felt embarrassed in his stead, quickly abandoned his wine glass and pulled him up and against his own side, giving his body support to lean on.
"Ggukie, shut up," Taehyung said, knowing what movie Jeongguk was talking about. There was only one historical non-fiction movie that Jeongguk had watched.
"Wh-Why shut up?" he asked Taehyung exaggeratedly before looking back at Hoseok. "I'm only giv-giving my opinion s-so that you can do b-better than that horr-rrible movie," he placed both of his hands on his chest and then stretched them towards Hoseok.
Taehyung exchanged a worried glance with Jimin, who just gestured for him to let it go. "I think he drank so much because he's just happy about the house you're building for him. He came and cried to me about it earlier saying he was too happy and that he didn't need anything else in his life except for you," he leaned and whispered in Taehyung's ear.
Taehyung missed Hoseok's question, but he didn't mind. His heart melted and he subtly tightened his hold around Jeongguk and pulled him closer, though his lips fell at Jeongguk's next words.
"I don't r-remember the name, but it w-was about me," Jeongguk slammed his hand on his chest twice with a hiccup punctuating it.
"I see," Hoseok sat back and threw a glance at Taehyung. The horror and fear on his face were enough to tell Hoseok that Jeongguk was indeed talking about his own movie. Still, he had learned over the years the difference between people who criticize genuinely and people who do it just to insult.
"Is there any reason why you didn't like it?" he asked. He truly wanted to know.
"There are m-many!!" Jeongguk exclaimed angrily and freed himself from Taehyung's hold so that he could express himself freely.
"F-First of all," he held two fingers up, "MOST impor'antly, that is not what happened to me," he deadpanned and all of them couldn't help but snort and agree. They surely did know that Jeongguk did not meet a woman and settle down with her.
Seokjin wanted to say, "You met a man and settled instead," but he stayed silent to keep his throat attached to his body.
"And s-second, the actor looked nothing l-like me!!" Jeongguk looked so offended that Hoseok didn't have the heart to tell him that he didn't know what Jeongguk looked like when he took that movie.
"H-How would the director know what you look like, Ggukie?" Taehyung asked with a chuckle that got accompanied by a chuckle from Namjoon, Seokjin, Yoongi and Jeongyeon as well.
"H-He should have atleassst known that I'm n-not so skinny!! Princes are alwayssss w-well built!!" Jeongguk exclaimed desperately.
"But Jimini-"
"NEXT!!" Jimin yelled loudly, stopping Taehyung from continuing his words. He understood what Taehyung had tried to say, but his secret was still a secret. And he might be small, but he was Jeongguk's teacher. He could easily take him down whenever he wanted.
"Yes, next!" Jeongguk said and slammed his own thigh. Taehyung winced at the loud sound but Jeongguk didn't even acknowledge it.
"V-Very poor fighting s-skills and war strategies. Those weren't wh-what I used at all," Jeongguk shook his head disapprovingly. "The movie was about m-my battle," he slammed his hand on his chest again, "but....but the battle was only for fiffffteen minutes!" again, he looked so sad about it that Hoseok couldn't help but snort at it.
"Ev-Even Jimin hyung could have done better in m-my role than whoever that actor was. That man had v-v-very poor war moves," he shook his head again. "N-Now that I know what acting is, I can tell that he w-wasn't good at ex...expressing himself either. There were s-so many things that were sh-shown but weren't present in my time. Whoever took that movie, m-might have taken it well according to other people, b-but according to me, he didn't do his rrrresearch well."
Hoseok nodded slowly, taking what Jeongguk said seriously. There was no insult, he could clearly see that. Jeongguk was just saying what he thought about the movie, and he saw nothing wrong in what he said.
"Okay, then, Jeongguk, let's drop this for now and when you are sober, let's meet and talk about it again. I'd love to take your opinion into consideration," Hoseok said and Yoongi nodded along.
"Yes!" Seokjin clapped, glad that it was finally over. He had spent the last few minutes fearing when Hoseok would get offended. "How far along are you, Jeongie?" he asked, swiftly changing topics.
"Seven months, oppa," she answered, smiling fondly with a hand on her belly.
"OKAY, then!!" Jeongguk exclaimed loudly and leaned into Taehyung, letting him wrap his arm around him. "Let Jeongie decide our w-wedding date!!" he clapped loudly.
"WHAT?!" the others exclaimed and Taehyung was left to show them his left hand in embarrassment while Jeongguk continued whatever he had been talking about.
"Jeongie," Jeongguk stood up and stumbled to where Jeongyeon sat before kneeling on the floor in front of her. Jeongyeon's eyes widened in fear and her body stiffened. Her prince was kneeling in front of her and she suddenly couldn't breathe. "Y-Your Highne-"
"Shhhhhhhh," Jeongguk put a finger on his lips and closed his eyes until Jeongyeon shut up. "M-My name is J-Jeonggukie," he said with a huge bunny smile. "What a s-sweet name it is!" he put both of his hands on Jeongyeon's knees for support, and it made both Jimin and Taehyung stiff. "Call me that!"
"O-Okay, J-J-Jeonggukie," Jeongyeon stuttered after throwing a scared glance at Jimin. This was the first time she had seen Jeongguk so out of it.
"Now," Jeongguk said and stabilized himself. "Do y-you wanna attend my wedding w-with your belly," he poked her belly with his finger, "or w-without your belly?" he poked it again.
Horrified, Taehyung shot up to grab his fiance. "Okay, that's enough, let's go to sleep!" he exclaimed in panic. "I'm very sorry, Jeongie, he's out of his mind!" Taehyung grunted heavily as he dragged Jeongguk towards the stairs.
"It's okay, it's okay!" she exclaimed in a rush. She really didn't mind what just happened. She was just really shocked to see Jeongguk like that. Never had she ever seen the prince let his guard down so much.
"HEY! THIS IS ABUSE! CALL THE GUARDS!" Jeongguk yelled, flailing his arms violently without actually trying to get out of Taehyung's hold.
"Yeah, I'll call the cops on you instead, you just wait and watch," Taehyung grunted, kicking Jeongguk on his ass before looking pitifully at Jimin. He had no strength to haul the protesting muscle pig up the stairs.
Chuckling, Jimin skipped up to help Taehyung with his fiance. With utter ease, he dragged Jeongguk up the stairs and into the bedroom.
Taehyung tucked Jeongguk in and shushed him heavily when he tried to protest again. "Jimin-ah, you take care of them, please," he requested when Jeongguk didn't let him leave.
"Yeah, okay, you better take good care of this big baby," Jimin chuckled and left, leaving Taehyung to get onto the bed and immediately get attacked by heavy limbs.
"Ahh, my beautiful magical king," Jeongguk said with a sleepy grin and gave Taehyung a sloppy kiss that landing more on his nose than his lip.
Taehyung chuckled and gave Jeongguk a correct kiss. "Why are you being such a comedy piece right now?" he asked.
"Because that would make you laugh," Jeongguk grinned again, this time with his eyes closed.
He was almost gone.
"Because y-you are pretty when you....laugh."
"B-Because...I love...."
If given a chance, Taehyung would gladly get his hand cut right at that moment.