"You adore her, don't you?"
"W-what.. H-hyung haha.. what are y-you.. Is it that evident?" Namjoon bit his nail sitting up hastily from the ground to look up at the older who was laying back on the garden bench.
One leg extended over the armrest and one flexed with a hand on the knee, Jin never averted his gaze from up above. Head resting on his folded arm he observed the bright blue sky.
A boundless canvas, colossal spreading to miles far beyond the eyesight can accommodate. Colors of assortments of all sorts but the most in the foreground was Jin's shade.
The blue. Blue in his melancholy.
"Jin hyung! Tell me!" Namjoon whined now vigorously shaking the man's arm on his knee, still sitting on the ground.
"Lord! Calm down." he scolded, eyes finally preclude scrutinizing the sky and turn to the worried younger. "It's not obvious, I'm just too good of an observer."
Namjoon nodded in return and sighed now resting his head on Jin's leg; elder reaching out to brush his fingers through the buoyant brown hair that fall on his face in the process.
"Well, if you are a good observer of these things, you must also have seen who she is exorbitantly fond of."
"I'm not a good observer of these things, Joonie. I'm just a good observer of you." mumbling nimbly he espied at the flowerbed beside them. "If Taehyung has to leave I shall take it upon myself to nourish his garden."
"Do you envisage him winning, hyung?"
"The boy has given his heart and soul, every piece of his body into the training for the last three weeks, Joon. If he still tastes vanquish, I might annihilate my belief in the almighty."
"That boy, Jungkook, I really hate him if truth be told, yet I can't help but be grateful to him. He gave us a Taehyung who talks for himself, believes in himself.. Loves himself."
"I could not agree more with you. He called the queen 'witch' to her face! Can you believe that?! I almost fainted when Hoseok told me about that day."
Both of them cracked up reminiscing the faddish tale of the meeting from three weeks ago. No matter how egregious the servants found Taehyung to be for the other things, they revere him a hero just for that one remark on the queen.
"And if you see the starry smile that decorates when I serve him his food everyday. It's spellbinding! I have no idea what the scarred-man did besides the betrayal, but it must be something right to give that result."
The older nodded, reaching out his hand to pluck a turf and mindlessly twirling it between his finger and thumb when the younger broke the silence again.
"You."
"Hm?"
"The one she is exorbitantly fond of.. It's you."
"What? You're delusional, Joonie! Why shall anyone be fond of me in that way?" cocking his head to the side Jin elicited a mocking tone.
"No hyung, you're ignorant! She carries her heart on her sleeve for you. Even the moths on bamboo plants can see it, and the bamboo plants are three kingdoms away!"
Namjoon chuckled as dry as the fields in Arauna that year.
Jin sat up straight aghast by this new information. And not in a good way.
The glum smile on Namjoon disappeared suddenly as he frowned at the older. "Wait! What do you mean? Why would anyone not be fond of you? If you were a girl, I would be head over heels for you!"
It was a sentence like lemon juice. With all the ingredients that Jin craved for, just a particular tinge a tad bit too much for him. It was too sour.
'If you were a girl.'
Taehyung was Jin's actuation. Ofcourse his love was far more on the edge of a sword than Jin's. However, it was a minute fact how he was atleast lucky enough to confess his love.
While he just has to gulp down the juice.
"Why don't you ask her for lunch again?" he beamed at the younger but only received a pout in return.
"She barely started talking to me again after.. You know. She will never agree to that."
"She may if I persuade her." the older smiled as if offering a bribe to a kid for eating his vegetables and grinned successfully when the kid's pout morphed to a gasp of fervor.
"You will?"
"Ofcourse. Anything for you."
********
It is never too late to be exactly who you wish. He would smile at the adduced quote. What a load of nonsense!
It is late to be a brave teenage boy, to stand up against his father's will of having him incarcerated merely for a will to not hold a contention against his own brother for the throne.
It is too late to be chivalrous enough to forbid his new 'mother' from whiplashing him for the most frivolous issues- like earning more praises for his semblance than her daughter.
It is too late for being the older brother that Anaya needed whenever she was proffered like a mere doll to earn engrossments of princes from wealthy kingdoms at the tender age of thirteen!
It is too late to be the lover who could protect his significant other from the trounce given by his own family. Or not pollute his life at all with himself.
The routine.
Morning beginning with pre-decided apparels (that were no longer the opulent ones they used to be, rather more simulating that of Arauna army) mockingly spread across the detested bed that he never once slept in.
Namjoon strolls in a food stroller, dimples denting his cheeks in a grin bright enough to light up the whole kingdom, asserting how it is Taehyung's smile that induces his.
He was almost always followed by a poised-as-ever leutinent Park Jimin with his hands folded at back and sword hanging from his waistbelt bouncing up and down against his right knee with every second step.
Sometimes the Lt. would wait outside the door and other times may stay to make small talk with Taehyung while he swallowed down one of the two meals he gets all day and girded himself for the day of parkours.
The entire day would be desperate attempts of surmounting years of disciplines within a month, that were never his forté to begin with.
The training was a re-run of his teenage years only this time instead of a patient ballast Sir Yoongi with every move calculated, was a desperate older brother who did not wish to give up on his magnificent failure of a brother.
At the beginning, Yoongi would just discern from far impatiently tapping his foot on the ground when Taehyung clumsily tumbled over his own feet; or would nudge another guard to give the prince some bullet points that Jongha managed to miss.
However with time Yoongi could not subdue his urge to jump in. Soon he was in the ground, helping the boy furnish his rusted skills, not like it made a drastic impact on the clouts but it did warm Taehyung's heart.
"You can do it, your highness!"
he would curtly inform known full well to him and the mentioned that his highness could not do anything.
When for the greater part of the day he would engage in vicious armoury, brutal acrobatics or plain hand-to-hand with his unmatched older brother, he took everyone by surprise.
Not because of any exceptionally prim competence or unmatched skill at fighting ; those were as lousy as ever.
It was his determination.
Everytime he was pushed or attacked or escaped the slash of sword by the width of a thread, he would get right up, stand straight and smugly wave for a rematch no matter how thick the blanket of sweat or how grave a bruise.
It is never too late to be exactly who you wish. He would smile wide at the adduced quote, Every. Passing. Day.
Somehow, not today.
Today he has run out of grease. Today his 3 a.m thoughts have knocked him out hard at 8 p.m, as he lays on the concrete floor, chest pressed against the wall causing his nose to gently brush against the cold stony area with every inhale.
His hand is extended upwards to graze an agile, almost airy, finger on the eighth brick as his last salvage of Jungkook's touch.
"Choo-choo! Food train has arrived to emplane it's favorite passenger!" loud voice chimed through the bleak walls and echoed in austerity. "Want to take a wild guess on the menu-"
The wheels of the food stroller halted in accordance with the loud voice. "Tae, why are you laying there facing the wall? Is something wrong?"
"Everything is dainty. I just wish to sleep away."
"Are you exhausted?"
"A little tired, yes. And I apologize I'm not actually hungry, can you be kind and take the food back?" in a sombre tone he muttered never turning away from the wall.
"Nonsense! The big day is in three days, we can't have you-"
"Joonie hyung. I'm not hungry."
"Sheesh! You really must be tired. I shall leave the food trolley here. I will collect this and my favorite smile tomorrow morning."
"I certainly will not be eating so-"
"GOOD NIGHT!"
Taehyung sighed at the fading voice and the loud familiar screech of the door being locked. He continued his corny sulking once it was the lion-in-the-clock silence again.
After a few minutes, he presumes twenty, of the mundane movements he thanked heavens for Namjoon's persistence on leaving the food stroller there since even though he was not going to eat, he did indeed need the water.
Finally turning away, he sat up. His head felt heavy like the weight of thousand bricks dragging him down to the repudiated concrete.
As blasé as ever, he turned the malaise suffering body to the trolley not expecting his throat to throw out the loudest yell it could muster.
Howling in terror he squeezed shut his eyes and clutched at his ears curling into a small ball of yarn, just a cat-paw away from withering.
"Do I look that hideous?" the dark silhouette beside the stroller devised concern although the timbre of amusement was more than evident in his voice.
The wailing boy however was far gone. He kept yelling with ears closed something between the lines 'kill me after three days' and 'I promise I'm a good boy'.
His vociferations turned into whimpers when the silhouette was felt approaching him languidly, chanting "don't kill me please don't kill me" especially when both his wrists were firmly held to remove from his ears.
He backed away further to anyhow dissolve into the wall and hoodwink the predator's eyes that he could not gather the gallantry to look into.
So much for being the brave prince.
"Would you not look at me, petal?"
It was one-hundredth of a second within which his eyes shot themselves open to size of saucers and plum lips parting far from each other to agape the mouth wide.
"No. No. Nononononono" he vigorously shook his head wriggling his wrists violently out of the firm grasp.
"T-taehyung?" the hilarity in his speech had dissipated entirely contorting into a sudden heave of distress. He felt scared.
He wishes it doesn't come down to this but if at all Taehyung wishes for him to leave, he shall with utmost respect.
Managing to free his wrists from the grasp that had now gone flacid, Taehyung hastily grabbed the scarf and started tearing it off the boy's face.
"No. No. No. I'm catching Mama's disease. You are not real. You are not real."
It was a mixed rush of relief and agony for Jungkook. Relief because Taehyung did not ask him to leave. Agony because how can he wish from him to leave when doesn't even believe he is here.
"I've gone completely asinine, haven't I? Oh dear lord! This is repugnant! Or is it? Perhaps they wouldn't want to marry a lunatic! But what about jungko-"
His prattle halted mid-sentence when a chapped confident pair of lips juxtaposed on his soft shivering ones. In a matter of seconds the scarf was on the cold floor while it's owner stood up from his squatted position with the prince in his arms.
Taehyung didn't know if Jungkook lifted him up or he started floating in air in a trans but either way, he was not complaining about the feeling of dancing on clouds.
He coiled his arms around the older's neck and legs around his waist, hands walking to the blonde locks to give them a rather hard tug when his body pressed against the cold wall again. This time however, a completely different underscore.
With the prince still wrapped on him he started ascending his hand from the petite waste to the back and shoulder blades, gripping the muslin cloth in his large fists.
It was a necessity. The collide of two opposite seasons in the wing of passion. Like the shamrock dash where the blue sea whips into the yellow sky of setting sun.
They were a horizon.
Drawing back reluctantly a string of saliva still connected, Taehyung breathed heavily while cherishing the face that his organs had him craving for.
"I hope now I don't seem unreal to you." Jungkook nudged his nose to that of the other and pecked it lovingly.
"Oh, I would never mind an imagination so comprehensively vivid." Taehyung rested his head back on the wall behind him as Jungkook tenderly placed him back on the ground pecking his lips again.
"I've died to kiss this face." cosseting the rosy cheeks in his hands Jungkook uttered with an a grin that illuminated the room much more than the poor excuse for candles in the corner.
Taehyung's blush only dredged more and he found himself purring at the contact.
"How did you-"
"Bottom cabinet of the trolley. "
"Took so long-"
"Had to wait for the guards to trust Namjoon enough to let him in without perusing through the stroller."
"Oh my! The guards.. I was yelling-"
"Have had enough poppy seeds in their food to be knocked out till the morning."
Smiling cheekily, the prince fiddled with the collar of the thief's shirt, smoothly running a finger on his neck simultaneously. "So I suppose you mean..?"
"Precisely what I mean." Jungkook smirked and bent down to gently bite at the royal's lower lip. "Let's sit down and make you eat first."
"I am not-"
"Truth." Jungkook uttered sternly to which the younger sighed.
"Fine. I'm starving, I just didn't wish to do the chore."
"That's alright, your highness. I'll feed you."
Setting down the the cutlery and bringing the candles near, Jungkook patted the floor beside him signing him to sit beside him. The prince however stepped ahead and made himself comfortable on the older's thigh instead.
"Ah, how long has it been since I've sat on cushion so comfortable."
"Not more than the cute cushion that sits on it." He landed a soft bite on the prince's arm whilst pinching his butt and then pretended to play hurt when Taehyung elbowed him in the chest.
While feeding the baby placed on the lap and constantly wiping off the soup that accidentally dribbles down his chin; Taehyung and Jungkook fell into a serene conversation as if they are back in Taehyung's chamber when everything was soft as new silk and not the rumpled one like it is now.
As if Taehyung's life did not hang by the sword-tip.
"Where are you staying?" Taehyung spoke before biting the rice cake waiting between the chopsticks in front of his mouth.
"Um.." he lifted another rice cake "would you like some fish-sauce with it?"
"No. It's alright."
"With Trisha. I'm staying with her."
"Oh." Taehyung nodded. "How is she?"
"However a good woman with a catastrophic marriage is. However I tend to predict that everything will turn for better. Wouldn't it?"
"Ofcourse, my love. How is little Jade?"
"He has not paused his rave about you for one minute. What is with you bewitching all the Jeon men, huh?"
"Oh I wish to capture all of them in the centre of my palm."
"You have one man down, sir." Jungkook deepened his voice talking like a commander as both giggled at the aloofery.
After the dinner was fed, both continued to snuggle into each other. With Taehyung's hand in his Jungkook examined the little bruises on his beautiful skin.
"These are so many."
"The pain has grown on me. I don't really feel it anymore."
"Is that why you smile that fraud every single minute? Hmm?" Jungkook knowingly raised a brow, lips twitched in an annoyance.
A pout protruded from Taehyung's plum lips as he peered at his fumbling hands.
"I perceive why you must feel the need to pretend for others. However, is it necessary to be done in front of me? Is that how much you supposedly entrust this relationship?"
Having never been subjected to this kind of resonance from Jungkook, the man who only sanctifies the other like diety, chin basing the prominent pout began to wobble as tears began to brink the gleaming hazel orbs.
"N-no. I- .. I apol- apologize."
"That's okay. Tell me."
"It- it hurts so much Koo- Ev- everywhere I place a finger my muscles uh-under it hurt. I'm.. I'm starting to believe there's something w-wrong with my finger!"
the prince curled up in the older's arms, nuzzling his neck as tears flowed down liberally damping his shirt in the salty moisture.
"Oh my baby!" Jungkook craddled the boy shawling him completely inside his body. "It is going to be okay!"
Taehyung retracted himself and frowned at the older's words. A hue of betrayal flashing in his irises.
"Is it, though?" he attempted to push the older's hands away but the other only gripped them tighter.
"You say we needn't fib each other and yet you go ahead and do precisely that?"
"No, Tae-"
"We both know it's not going to be okay! EVER! I'm simply doing what you asked me to do! Fight for myself!! However at what parlay, Kook?"
He sauntered away from the protective arms at the small moment of unshackle and sat fronting the boy.
"Tell me, my love. No matter what the emanation, am I not fighting a lost battle?"
"No, petal-"
"LIAR!" Taehyung distanced completely from the hold, accidentally colliding on the tray behind him.
"All you have ever done is give me counterfeiting hope! You know I'm walking into an oblivion. An obsidian abyss where I fall and fall. There is no rise!! YOU KNOW!"
Jungkook gulped thickly, his tongue felt like it had grown ten times thicker in his mouth and throat drier than sandpaper.
"I know! I know you have no light to guide me! I understand that with all my heart! However the least you can do is not lie through your teeth that there is no trench at the end of this tunnel."
Everything chocked in the boy's gut upchucked heavily on the man he fronted. The touch of candlelight shone on his face depicted how his golden skin did not glow anymore and how the cheeks that dusted carrot-color out of giddiness, were the same out of fury; garnished with the painful tears of defeat.
"If I lose the sparring, I'm a Lee. Forever oppressed and enslaved under that monster!" Virulent tears cascaded through the innocent eyes making Jungkook feel more helpless than ever.
"If I win the sparring, I shall be exiled for betraying my family name by challenging my father." a lump wallowed in the older's throat as if the brutal dungeon started to close up on them.
"The third likelihood is if I die during the embroilment. And how pernicious is the fact that this seems like the best consequence!" covering his face the prince wailed in his bottled up agony. Not abashed, only confounded.
A lone teardrop slithered down the scarred cheek. Jungkook sniffled feeling a pang settle in his chest, heart forlorned in the grief of his lover.
"You are not allowed to cry! I am! I'm supposed to be the petal and you must be my pedicel. You have to be my pedicel! Don't you dare cry!!"
Nodding strenuously the male sniffled one last time wiping his nose with his palm and tapping the floor with the other to gain a composure.
"Say something!"
"Tae, I- I don't know w-what to say-"
"What?" the aforementioned widened his eyes and scooted back closer to the other, cupping his face in his shivering clamy hands. "No no no no"
"Look at me Koo." The older acquiesced in a moment.
Looking into each other in the dim light and chilly aura was paradoxical yet differential with their first night out of the palace. The first night they relished into each other's lips and discovered each other's soul.
What travesty would it be if this turns out to be their last night together? It shall be God's own little practical joke on them.
"You cannot do that! You always know what to say."
"I d-don't."
"NO! You have to say something. Don't you see?" he leaned in and gently rubbed his cheek on the scar, his own tears smearing themselves on the other. Retracting back he bumped their now red noses together.
"I'm a worshiper of you, Jungkook. Whenever I'm in a dilemma, I think of you. Or more so, I think of something you said. You always say the right thing and it rings in my ears whenever I face the world alone. So do it now!"
"Petal, I-"
"Say something that seeps into my skin like every word that ever comes out of this." he pecked the older's lips.
"Say something that chimes in my body at the last moment of the combat." he pecked his lips again.
"Say something that no matter what the consequences behold for me, fits. Say something, Kook."
He straddled the older and took his lips by surprise. Not a moment wasted before the barrage of his tongue on the other, Taehyung held the petrified face of the older who knoted his arms around the boy's waist possessively as they shared the most passionate salutation of their fire.
"Say anything, my love, and I promise to hold on to it till my last breath."
"I love you Taehyung."
=
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Hello!
I really hope you liked the chapter.
This is perhaps the longest one.
Thank you for sparing your time.
Bye. :)