Anger doesn't even begin to describe how Namjoon feels at the moment. Doesn't even touch on how his blood boils as he glances at Jungkook, who's walking next to him without a care.
Behind them, Seokjin and Soobin walk quietly. The press basically ate up the story of Jungkook taking on the role in his brother's stead, but Namjoon was clearly not happy about it, not considering the way his jaw was set in place.
Stopping in place and reaching out, Namjoon grabs his little brother by the wrist. "We need to talk," he tells him sternly.
"Namjoon," their grandmother warns.
Jungkook throws her a smile. "It's okay," he assures her, "You should rest. I'll talk to Namjoon-hyung."
The Royal Queen Dowager looks between the two, wrinkles heavy on her forehead as she frowns. "Behave you two," is all she says before she leaves them to it. Namjoon wastes no time.
"Take it back," he says firmly. "Go back and tell grandmother that you will not be in charge of producing an heir."
A frown appears on the young boy's features, he yanks his hand back, staring straight at his hyung with unyielding eyes. "No."
"Kook—"
"No."
"Just listen—"
"No."
"Yah!" Namjoon yells, eying his brother with a look of rage. Jungkook flinches but manages to hold his ground. Shaking, Joon takes in a deep breath, trying his best to calm himself. "Don't do this. You don't even like girls."
"You don't either," Jungkook retorts. "It would've been the same case whether it had been you or me. The only straight one among us was Geongmin-Noona and guess what? She's not here anymore."
"That still doesn't mean you should be the one to do this," Joon protests. "This isn't right."
"It's more right for me to do this than you," Jungkook insists. "Or is an heir more important to you than Jin-hyung?"
Namjoon opens his mouth to say something. He has nothing to say.
"Thought so," Kook says, voice lowered. "I have nothing to lose, but you do. That's why I'm the one that should do this in your place." He starts leaving.
"Jungkook," Seokjin calls out, stepping forward, "if this about Taehyung then—"
"It's not," Jungkook immediately answers, turning around and wailing his hands in exasperation. "Hyung, do you not support me either? Am I that unreliable."
Seokjin feels the drop in his stomach, Jungkook's eyes are glassy and it pains Jin. "No! It's just that I know that you—"
"Hyung," the young prince interrupts again, "No."
Pressing his lips together, Seokjin can't help but feel that he's going nowhere with this. "I just want to make sure that you're not doing something stupid because you're heartbroken or something." Enough people have done that already. His tone softens. "I'm worried about you."
Jungkook's shoulders relax, he sighs, scratches the back of his head. "I'm not stupid," he whispers. "I'm not doing this because of your brother. If anything, I understand what Taehyung-ssi is doing." His eyes flicker to Jin, firm and unyielding. "Jin-hyung. I'm underaged," he says, "I've got two whole years to wait before I'm an adult. Also," he points to the two of them, "you two are going to get married, that would make Taehyung my brother-in-law and that...that'd be weird."
"Taehyung is cool," the younger continues, "He's handsome and fun to be around, but he also made a choice. Despite that, I feel like you're trying to push him on to me because of a stupid crush I had and that's not right. So stop." He glances at the two of them. "I'm doing this for you two, so just stop."
Namjoon and Jin watch him go. Watch him turn around and walk off, clearly not wanting to continue their talk. Soobin bows to them and follows after him. Namjoon sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "I'm still not comfortable about this," he comments.
"You now know my pain," Seokjin mutters. "Who would he even marry?" he wonders out loud.
"Some politician's daughter no doubt," Namjoon answers. "My grandmother would probably hold another competition so he can at least choose one he likes. Jungkook is a romantic though, he literally wants to hear bells to know if someone is right for him."
Seokjin sighs. "Our little brothers are something else," he mutters under his breath. "I kind of want to hit both of them."
"Two years," Namjoon mutters under his breath. Seokjin turns to look at him.
"What?"
"Jungkook becomes an adult in two years, meaning he can't be forced to marry nor make a kid yet." He tucks his hands into his pocket. "That gives me two years to do something about this."
Raising a brow, Seokjin asks, "Can you do something about this?"
"Not right now." Namjoon grins at him, pearly whites and dimples on full display. "But once I marry you? I'll be a real king." He glances to the right where a group of court official walk by in their suits, all chatting away without a care in the world. "And I'm going to wreak havoc on every single one of these bastards."
"Hurry up!" The general calls out through the megaphone, "We really don't have all day for this!"
The remaining candidates all line up according to their districts, large luggage in hand as several soldiers hand them their personal belongings. Cellphones, tablets, wallets and more all being returned without any damage. Once they had their stuff, they were to step inside the large Hyundai Palisades that were ready to take them back home.
"No hard feelings, really," Jackson tells Seokjin as he pats him on the back. "In fact," he reaches into his back pocket to pull out the wallet he just received, "take this as a congratulations gift from me," he says as he takes something out of his wallet and places them in Seokjin's palm.
Seokjin stares at the condom and the pack of lube in his palm. Jackson wiggles his brows at him. "Use them well."
Jin just tucks them into his back pocket, grinning. "Thanks."
Jackson gives him a quick wink before he heads with his luggage on to the car. Seokjin watches as one by one the candidates leave to their vehicle, each one bowing towards him or congratulating him.
Well, all except one.
"I hope you go bald, Donghyuk-ssi! But tell the kids I said hi!" he shouts as Donghyuk heads to his car, the latter wincing but ignoring him as he steps inside the car and it drives off.
Last one of the candidates —not counting Hoseok, Tae and Jimin who were still not ready— was already walking forward. Seokjin smiles as he Jaehwan approach him but also winces as he sees the pained expression on the other as he walks.
"Don't give me that look," Jaehwan laughs, giving him a smile. "I'm fine really. Consider it a battle scar for saving the next king of South Korea," he winks.
Seokjin rolls his eyes. "You still shouldn't be sent home yet till you recover."
"They're sending me to Seoul National University Hospital to get weekly checkups so I'll be good." He gives Jin a look, lowers his voice. "Besides, something tells me your boyfriend just didn't want me here for much longer."
A smile breaks out on Seokjin's face at the thought of a possibly jealous Namjoon. "He doesn't have anything to worry about."
"Obviously," Jaehwan mutters, "you're too enamored that you don't even notice when other guys are flirting with you."
"Flirting when it comes from a straight male doesn't count," Jin states, waving it off.
Jaehwan sputters. "Straight?!" he shrieks, causing Seokjin to jump. "Me?! Fuck, Kim Seokjin, is that what you thought of me?"
Seokjin cocks his head. "Wait. You're not?"
"No! I took a bullet for you, dammit!"
Suddenly Jin is gaping like a fish. "I thought you were pretending to be into men because your dad forced you to."
By now, Jaehwan is trying his hardest not to pull his own hair out. "You know what?" he says, "I take back my love for you. You don't deserve it."
Jin is trying really hard not to laugh. "Didn't want it anyway."
They both just sort of stare at each other before they burst out laughing. They're dynamics too much for the other. They stay laughing till General Min comes up and knees Jaehwan in the back of his legs, the taller male losing balance for a moment, but managing not to fall. Standing again, he shoots a look at the general.
Yoongi just shrugs. "Sorry," he says, pulling out his phone and showing it to them, "orders from the higher-ups." Both males glance at the phone screen. It's just a message from Namjoon.
--
Namjoonie
Make him go away. ₍₅:₀₆ₚₘ₎
--
Jaehwan gives Seokjin a dull look, the latter just grins at him.
Groaning, the taller male grabs his luggage with his good arm. "Fine," he grumble. "I'm leaving. Tell your boyfriend I hope those thighs of his deflate."
Seokjin just laughs as he leaves.
Him and the general wait around a bit more. Finally Seokjin sees, Hoseok and Taehyung approaching the gate, a medical team with a bed on wheels pushing Jimin out.
Hoseok and Tae grab their stuff and start walking towards the gate, Hoseok reaching him first. Seokjin thinks of what to say but before he can get a word out, Hoseok is on him, hugging him and pulling him close. Seokjin blinks but smiles and hugs him back, the tension suddenly leaving the both of them.
"Sorry about being an ass," he mumbles.
Seokjin pats him on the back reassuringly. "No worries. I love you for more than just your ass."
Hoseok smacks him and shoves him away, to which Seokjin just laughs, finding his own pun hilarious and throwing himself on Hoseok's back as he walks away while shouting "Aigoo, it's so hot," and Hoseok telling him to get off.
Yoongi watches their dynamics from the sideline, suppressing a smile, but the corner of his lips turn ever so slightly.
"You should ask for his number," someone says suddenly, making Yoongi jump. He turns and sees Taehyung right in front of him, watching him with a smirk on his face. Yoongi pretends to be dumb.
"What?"
"Ask Hoseokie-hyung for his number," Taehyung repeats as if they were talking about the weather. "He's bad when it comes to feelings so you have to be direct with him." He pauses for a moment. "Even though that doesn't always seem to work either. With you it might though."
Yoongi doesn't say anything, just sort of glances over to where Hoseok and Jin are laughing and in the corner, eyes focusing specifically on the way Hoseok's mouth forms a heart when he smiles.
"General, you're cute when you blush, did you know?"
"Shut up," Yoongi tells Tae, making the younger laugh.
"I'll leave you alone," Taehyung winks, already moving to head towards the car.
"Taehyung-ssi!" someone calls out behind him. Taehyung turns around, blinks as he sees Jungkook running towards him. The prince stops in front of him, breathing deeply for a few seconds while Tae stares at him. Once he finally catches his breath, Jungkook stares at Yoongi.
"Please give us a few minutes."
Pressing his lips together as if wanting to protest, Yoongi looks between them and just nods. "Just a few," he says firmly. "We have to leave soon."
Jungkook thanks him as the general steps away to give them some privacy. Taehyung patiently waits. The young prince turns to him, big eyes lock on Tae's.
"I heard about Park Jimin," he starts off. Tae waits for him to continue. "I just want to wish you good luck."
At this Tae raises a brow. It's the first time someone doesn't object to the idea, and it feels strange, foreign. "Thank you," he mutters. Kook gives him a sympathetic smile.
"I know people aren't very happy about it," the younger male adds.
"Nobody seems to understand what I'm trying to do," Taehyung sighs. "I'm not forcing myself to stay by Jimin's side and love him. I'm staying by his side because I love him." He catches himself, remembers Jungkook's confession and blushes. "Sorry," he mumbles.
Kook shakes his head, waving it off. "I get it," he whispers, shoving his hands into his pockets. "It was just a silly crush and those don't ever really work out anyway." He locks with him. "I understand what you're doing though. Wanted to thank you actually. I saw you doing that for your friend and thought that I could do that too. I love Namjoon-hyung, so that's why I can do this for him. I guess that's a part of loving people? Wanting to do things for them," he adds. "I wouldn't do something like this for just anyone, you know?"
Taehyung knows. More like, he gets it. "Just for the people that really need it. The important ones. The ones we really love."
"Yeah," Jungkook smiles, holds out his hand. "We'll be brothers soon so let's do our best to take care of our hyungs."
Tae takes it and shakes it. "Yeah. Hwaiting."
Jin appears again just as Jungkook leaves. The elder Kim glances at his little brother. "You sure about this?"
He nods. "Completely sure."
"Okay," the elder answers. "If you need anything—" Taehyung is hugging him before he can continue. Seokjin freezes under his hold for a moment, then relaxes and moves to pat his brother on the head. "Tae—"
"I'll miss you," his little brother sniffs. "But I'll be fine, really. I still have Hoseokie-hyung and Jiminie so I won't be lonely."
Seokjin nods, kisses the top of his head and pulls him tighter against him.
"I love you, Hyung."
"Love you too Taetae."
Jin leads him to the car when they're both ready to let, even though it takes them several minutes to do so. Seokjin's eyes flicker to behind the car where an ambulance wait for them to leave. Saying one last goodbye to Taehyung and Hoseok, Seokjin heads back to the ambulance, steps inside once he has clearance from the nurses.
Laying on a stretcher, Jimin lies there asleep inside. Seokjin approaches him, tucks some strands of silver hair behind the boy's ear. He leans in.
"I forgive you," Jin whispers placing a kiss on top of Jimin's head. "For everything." He leans back, grabs the boys small hands and squeezes them.
There were so many things he did wrong with Jimin. So many things he wished he could do better, but despite all the things that happened, never once did Seokjin hate him. More like he hated himself knowing it was partly his fault.
"I'm sorry," he whispers, then says goodbye.
"You okay?" Yoongi asks him as they watch the car and ambulance drive off from the main gate. "You're not getting cold feet are you? Cause I swear if you run off on Namjoon—"
"Shh, you," Seokjin states, giving Yoongi a death glare. "What? Can't a guy get sad over saying goodbye to his brother and friends? You want me to be all stoic and tough? I do what I want dammit. And I want to—" There's a quick ding that interrupts him, makes him frown and dig into his pocket.
Yoongi raises a brow. "When did you get your phone back?" the general asks as he sees Jin pulling out his phone and unlocking it.
"Your soldiers do whatever I say now," Jin says as he stares at his phone screen. "It comes in handy."
The general groans.
A sudden grin comes to Seokjin's face as he goes through his phone. He locks it, places it back into his pocket and suddenly stands straighter. "How do I look?" he asks. Yoongi is eying him, a sudden dread hitting him.
"What?" the general dares to ask. Seokjin has this mischevious glint to his eye when he turns to look at him. "Why?"
Jin holds a finger up and shushes him. "No time to talk," he says dramatically. "Got to go talk to Namjoon."
"Yah. Yah Kim Seokjin, what the hell are you planning?!" Yoongi calls out after him. Seokjin just turns to him and grins.
"To overthrow the monarchy!"