By the fifth day, Taehyung is well again. He doesn't even believe it himself but Doctor Song is already disconnecting him from the machine and there was no longer room for any doubt.
Jungkook had made every meal for him for the last five days. Three times a day, Soobin would knock on his door and bring in the tray. Hoseok and Jimin would sit next to him to keep him company while he ate, both of them looking at him with proud looks on their faces when he finished.
"I'm glad you recovered well," Doctor Song tells him as she sets the machine aside. "I'll still be monitoring you closely, of course, but you've made a huge improvement." She smiles at him. "You should be proud of yourself for getting through this."
Taehyung nods, clutching at his arm where they've removed the connections to the machine. He picks at the small hole where the needle once was, it itches.
Jimin is on him in seconds, wrapping his arms around him and hugging him close. "I'm so glad, Tae." Taehyung lets him. He's solved one problem in his life already, but it was too soon to start solving another.
Doctor Song leaves them. Hoseok and Jimin hang around a bit longer before they head to their rooms to shower and get ready. Taehyung gets ready as well and hangs out outside his door while his friends get ready.
Being outside again was a weird feeling. The sun is blinding, the air however feels lighter around him, fresher. He closes his eyes and takes it in.
"Oh, Taehyung-ssi!"
He opens his eyes, squinting as the sun's rays hit his eyes. The king was walking in his direction, taking long strides towards him with a smile on his face. He stops right in front of him, eyeing Taehyung up and down then has a quick look of relief on his face. "You look a lot better,I'm glad." he states, smiling softly. "Do you know if you're completely cured yet?"
"I think so," Tae says. "I started eating other things along with what your brother made for me." It had been difficult at first.
The king nods, the smile still on his face. "That's good to hear."
"Yeah, thank you," Tae says, "for the medical treatment and all that."
"It's the least I could do." His smile fades a bit. "I couldn't save your brother after all."
Right. Sometimes Taehyung forgets he was there but he still remembers how the king had turned and ran as soon as he found out Seokjin had still been inside. Taehyung hadn't been allowed in no matter how much he begged the guards, so he was forced to wait, he silently prayed.
But one look on the King's face and he knew. He understood.
That part still felt weird to him. The guy standing before him was a man with power, the man with the most power in the whole country. Yet he looked absolutely devastated leaving the place that night, like he had lost his world.
Taehyung could relate since that person had also been his world.
Now here they were, both breathing. Perhaps not fully alive. Just because you're living doesn't mean you're alive. But they were getting there. Taehyung was sure that both of them were readjusting their worlds.
He's about to say something, when the stack of papers tucked into the king's arm catches his attention. It has Seokjin's name on it.
Namjoon notices his staring and follows his line of vision. "Oh," he says, bringing the papers forward. His voice grows softer, "These are for the funeral. Last minute preparations." He pauses before adding, "I was kind of hoping you'd get better so you could attend." He hands the papers out to him. "Check it and if you want to add anything else let me know."
Reaching for the papers, Taehyung feels his insides become a mess again, but the feeling wasn't as bad as before. He glances over the documents, sees the decorations that are planned, sees the layout of the video they're going to show, then he stops at the photograph they were going to use. It was a simple headshot photo, with Seokjin in a black suit with a white collared shirt and his hair black and fluffy, a soft smile on his face.
Taehyung stares at it longer than he should.
"I know that my pain can't compare to yours," the king whispers softly, his expression pained. "But I miss him too."
"He practically raised me," Taehyung whispers back, a bit broken. "Our mom was always busy working so hyung would do everything for me. I depended on him a lot. And the day we were brought here was our mother's first day off in a long time."
"I'm so sorry," he says and Taehyung starts feeling bad for bringing it up because the king does actually look very sorry about it.
"You didn't shoot her," Tae responds, trying to ease the guilt a bit.
"No, but the guy that shot her did it in my name. I might as well be guilty." He gazes down at the photo. "And Seokjin is also gone because I was stupid and didn't just pick him from the beginning. All because I was too scared of what people would say."
Taehyung doesn't say anything about that. In a way, it wasn't wrong. And a part of him wanted the other to suffer a bit more, because it was because of him that all these things were happening. He hands him the papers back.
"Jin-hyung made me very happy," Namjoon says, staring at the image. "We didn't know each other long but he changed me a lot. I always thought that I should live life fiercely but he seemed to learn how to live it delightfully."
In his last days in the competition, Seokjin had indeed changed. He became happier, bolder, he stopped doing things he didn't want to do just to please others, yet he still cared for those around them and still love them as before.
Perhaps that's why Taehyung never wanted to let go. Why he didn't want to eat anything that wasn't from his hyung. Because when times had been hard for him, Seokjin had cooked for him without complaint, and those dishes would comfort Taehyung just as his hyung's presence did. Eating anything else was like forgetting the taste of those feelings he had with his brother by his side.
It had been a stupid reasoning. He thought only Jin-hyung could provide such a feeling but then Jungkook had been able to replicate perfectly. It was like a slap to the face, a reality check. That those feelings he had felt were not because of the food itself, but because of the person who made the food thinking of him.
"Yeah," Taehyung smiles, "I know what you mean."
"If you need anything," Namjoon says, resorting the papers into their proper order, "please do not hesitate to ask. After all," he smiles a bit, dimples showing, "we were going to be family."
That fact was still hard for him to process.
"I will."
Namjoon is about to leave when Taehyung stops him. "Wait!" Namjoon looks back at him, Tae blushes a bit from how he raised his voice. "Um, where can I find your brother?"
"Jungkook?" the king blinks, then looks down to check his watch. "I think, he should be out doing laundry right now."
Laundry? What kind of prince does his own laundry?
He must've been making a face because the king lets out an airy laugh. "Jungkook is very sensitive to smells so he prefers washing his own clothes. But I can take you to him if you want."
"Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you, um, Your Majesty."
The king grins at him. "Please call me hyung."
The King guides him through several courtyards and buildings till they reached south of the Hyangwonjeong pavilion, where the prince's quarters (Donggung) were.
Tae walks on his own from that point, not wanting to delay Namjoon any further in whatever duties he might have to do. He walks around the back of the building, and just as Namjoon said he would be, there was the prince kneeling in front of a large washing machine.
He approaches him, Jungkook didn't seem to hear him coming. "Um, hey."
Jungkook glances up from where he sits with a large bottle of Downy on the floor, his eyes widen as he registers the person in front of him and scrambles to get up from the ground, his cheeks flushed pink. "Oh, hey," he says awkwardly, then notices he's still holding the bottle of fabric softener and sets it on the washer. "Wait, should you be out right now?"
"Apparently, I'm okay now."
"Really?!" A huge bright appears on the prince's face making him look like an excited little kid. "That's great!"
Tae nods. "Yeah." He's fidgeting with his sleeve, not really knowing how to go about this. "I, um, wanted to say thanks? For all the cooking you did." Why was this so awkward?
"Oh." Jungkook blushes and shakes his head. "It's no big deal," he says, turning back to the washer and reaching to close the lid. "I just wanted you to get better."
That's the thing though. A lot of people wanted Tae to get better, but Jungkook had gone completely above and beyond to help Taehyung get better. It was one thing to want for something, but it was a whole other thing to actually move things for that something to actually happen. And Jungkook, he hadn't sat around and just waited for something to happen, he did everything he could to caused the change himself.
But why?
Taehyung was so sure Jungkook was going to give up on him after he had seen the whole situation with Jimin. He was sure the prince was just going to forget about pursuing Tae, instead he had gone to try again. So when Taehyung saw that bowl of japchae, he was shocked, confused. Hadn't Jungkook been cooking just to catch his attention or something? To impress him?
Maybe, he though, he had misjudged. It occurred to him that maybe Jungkook wasn't doing this to 'win' Tae over, but he probably did it because he genuinely wanted Taehyung to get better. And for once, Taehyung had been hoping it would work, that the dish would taste like Jin-hyung's.
Because he found himself not wanting Jungkook's efforts to be in vein.
"You really like me," Taehyung states suddenly. It makes the prince sputter, makes him go red in the face, makes him accidentally smash his finger with the door to the washer and he lets out a tiny squeak from the pain and shock of the moment. Taehyung stifles a laugh. "You okay?"
"Huh? Yeah. I'm fine. Why do you ask?" he gasps out a little too quickly, ears and finger burning.
Tae just stares at him, biting his lip to keep himself from laughing. "No reason," he muses.
The prince straightens up, still clutching his thumb in his other hand. There's still a light blush on his cheeks, faint but visible and he doesn't even look Tae in the face when he says, "Yeah, I do. —Like you, I mean."
"Why?"
Blood rushes to the prince's face again. "You can't just ask a person why they like you," he spat, turning his back on the other. "It's too sudden. Besides, it would be rude to your boyfriend."
Confused, Taehyung cocks his head and asks, "My boyfriend?"
"You know," his face seems to slowly fall, as if it pained him to say it, "Park Jimin-ssi."
Tae frowns. "He's not my boyfriend."
"Are you just saying that because I saw?" Jungkook asks, pouting a bit. "Because I won't tell anybody. I'm not going to make a big deal about it."
This. This is what bothers Taehyung about Jungkook. He's too nice. Too selfless. Taehyung hasn't been the friendliest to the kid and yet Jungkook wasn't looking for a way to get back at him, nor manipulate him into anything. He seemed to just want Taehyung to be well even though Tae knew he didn't deserve the other to treat him like that.
"He's not my boyfriend," he says again.
"But he likes you," Jungkook replies, "It's pretty obvious."
"But I don't like him."
Jungkook huffs in a breath and turns to him, crossing his arms. "Why are you telling me this?" he asks, looking frustrated. His cheeks are puffed out and his lips are slightly pouting.
"I don't know," Taehyung says. "Just wanted to let you know."
Jungkook stares at him, like really stares at him. It's almost as if he's trying to read him. It's making Taehyung feel a bit weird and he can feel his face burning up a bit. But then the prince turns away and there's a soft smile tugging at his lips as he just says, "Okay. Now I know."
"Okay," Taehyung says back.
Author's Note: