Chapter Text
For the first time in months, Jungkook wakes up to the uncomfortable brightness of the hot sun on his face. He rolls over with a groan, trying to bury himself in the coolness of the pillows, but ends up squishing himself into someone else instead.
That makes him sit up, confused. Yoongi’s never in bed this late, especially not during the week.
Yoongi’s eyes crack open grumpily as he pouts up at Jungkook. “What d’you want,” he doesn’t quite manage to ask.
Jungkook shakes his head, looking around the room as he tries to gather his thoughts. “Why are you still in bed?”
Yoongi sits up with a snort. “Well, shit, if you didn’t want me here you could just say that.”
“No, I just mean you never sleep this late. Are you feeling okay?”
Yoongi brushes away the concern. “Yeah, fine. Jimin always wakes me up since I’m shit at mornings. I guess I didn’t have anything to be up for?”
“Weren’t you having breakfast with your mom, though? And usually Seokjin and Namjoon are asking for you by now.”
“She probably canceled.”
Jungkook only shrugs. He can’t say he’s too put out to have found Yoongi still sleeping beside him.
Yoongi, still half buried in their blankets, has a steadily growing smile. “Maybe we should take advantage of the fact that no one has come to bother us yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s go somewhere, do something!” Yoongi gets a little shy and tangles his fingers in the blankets. “I feel like we’ve never had any time to just… be . Not two heirs with a lot to fight for, not strangers pushed into an unexpected marriage, not anything. Just Jungkook and Yoongi.”
Jungkook feels unbearably warm at the thought. “You want to? Just be , with me, I mean?”
“Don’t you?” Yoongi says softly.
Jungkook can’t hold back his grin any longer. “Yeah.”
“Let’s go downtown then, just Jungkook and Yoongi.” Yoongi’s fighting his smile too, but it’s a losing battle. “It’s nothing crazy since there’s still no tech, but it’s worlds more exciting than the palace.”
Jungkook hardly has time to agree again before Yoongi clambers from bed and shuffles to get dressed, shedding his wrinkled shirt as he goes. He delves into some secret corner of his closet and emerges with a pile of street clothes, all a far cry from the traditional wear they’re used to.
Yoongi sorts through it messily. “I don’t know that I have anything that’ll fit you. You’re,” he looks up at Jungkook, “not exactly my size.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Jungkook says with a laugh, pulling out the bags he brought from Tirune. “I’ve got loads of regular clothes.”
They get dressed in record time without all the bells and whistles of their palace clothes and both of them are so giddy they can hardly hold still. They slip quietly through the back halls of the palace and out to the main road to catch a cart, hand in hand.
Just Jungkook and Yoongi .
~~
“So,” Jungkook says, “where does ‘just Yoongi’ like to go most in the city?”
Yoongi hums thoughtfully for a moment while they walk down the main street. Jungkook isn’t impatient, so he just swings their joined hands happily. It feels good to get out of the palace and out of their heads a little.
Just when he’s about to ask again if they have a destination, Yoongi pushes open the door of a little shop. A bell jingles overhead as they step inside. Jungkook doesn’t doubt that this is Yoongi’s favorite place because the woman behind the counter smiles when she sees them, even in their plainclothes. All manner of instruments, familiar and unfamiliar, line the walls and there are racks of what must be sheet music to one side.
Yoongi smiles back and gives her a little wave before he leads Jungkook to a back corner and a grandiose instrument. It’s sort of like a grand piano, except that there’s upwards of ten sets of keyboards and strings, some so small Jungkook isn’t sure how anyone could play them.
Yoongi lets go of Jungkook’s hand to sit at the bench. He plays a simple melody on the main keyboard with both hands, grinning back at Jungkook as he does.
The joy there is enough to make Jungkook smile back and he’s so distracted by the way Yoongi’s fingers move over the black and white keys that when the harmony starts to play, he almost misses it.
Yoongi’s hands haven’t left the keys, so Jungkook looks around at the other keyboards around him to see where the music is coming from and sees that several of them are playing themselves. The keys move up and down without anyone’s fingers pressing on them at all.
Yoongi’s eyes are closed now, but he’s still playing with both his hands and his magic. Still smiling like he’s the happiest being in the whole world.
Jungkook can’t tear his eyes away from the sight Yoongi makes, surrounded by music and magic and looking like there’s nowhere else in the world he’d rather be. Without a doubt, this is Yoongi with all his mantles shedded and Jungkook feels like he’s been given a gift to get to sit here and watch him in his element.
After some time, Yoongi stops playing all the keys of the upgraded piano. He plunks a simple rhythm with two fingers on a pair of keys and looks at Jungkook, shy again.
“Yoongi,” is all Jungkook really has the words to say.
Yoongi just grins a little wider.
They stare at each other for a moment. Jungkook feels a bit like he understands something about Yoongi better than he did before, even though they’ve barely spoken.
“How long did it take you to learn how to play?” Jungkook asks eventually.
Yoongi shrugs and starts playing again with both hands, softly. “I started when I was really small. Just two hands like anyone else would play. I think it was a tool to help me harness my magic at first, but…” He smiles to himself again. “I fell in love with the music and then it became about that. I don’t practice as much as I’d like anymore.”
“It was really magnificent,” Jungkook says. “ You’re magnificent.”
Yoongi blushes and Jungkook feels like the rest of the world doesn’t matter at all, as long as he can keep that content shimmer in Yoongi’s eyes.
~~
They creep back into the palace later that afternoon, giggly and happier than either of them have been in a long time. Somehow there’s still no one in the halls who stops them before they get back to their rooms.
They stop short when they see who’s waiting outside their door. Where Jimin should be is a stranger in the attendant’s uniform bowing politely to them. Jungkook can’t help the pulse of dread that runs through his entire body.
Yoongi looks them up and down with a critical eye. “Where’s Jimin?”
The attendant bows again. “He was summoned by the Emperor. I’m here to fulfill his duties in the meantime.”
Something doesn’t ring right there. “What did the Emperor want?” Jungkook asks.
The attendant shrugs. “I couldn’t say.”
“Find out,” Yoongi orders. “And tell Taehyung I’m looking for him.”
With another bow, the attendant disappears down the hall.
“I don’t like this,” Jungkook says quietly. “Something’s wrong.”
Yoongi rests a comforting hand on his back. “Me either. We’ll figure it out. My father is probably just bothering him about being Tirunese. Figures Jimin is a safer bet than you, now that we’re close. If so, we’ll just butt in, alright?”
That’s all well and good, except there’s a very concerning secret about Jimin that could be putting him in more danger than just simple curiosity from the Emperor.
“It could be something else,” Jungkook says slowly. Yoongi will find out eventually and it’s better if it’s from Jungkook himself.
“I mean, sure, of course it could, but‒” Yoongi stops mid-sentence to stare hard at Jungkook. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Jimin is working for my parents,” Jungkook says in an attempt to be subtle, in case someone else is listening to them in the hall.
Yoongi’s eyebrows scrunch as he puzzles that out. When he understands, his face goes smooth and unreadable and he pulls Jungkook back inside their rooms.
“Jimin is a Tirunese spy,” Yoongi says. It’s not a question.
“Yes,” Jungkook says anyway. He sits on one of the decorative tables near the door. “He doesn’t know about the coup, though. Too many people in Tirune would find out if I told him and I didn’t think we could afford that kind of transparency yet.”
“Okay,” Yoongi sighs. “Okay. We can figure this out.”
Jungkook fidgets anxiously with his sleeve. “You’re not…angry? That I didn’t tell you?”
Yoongi just stares at Jungkook for a moment and then his face softens into a smile. “I promised I wouldn’t be, same as you did.”
Jungkook can’t really find the words to respond to that, unsure where in his life he lost the ability to trust people. Yoongi brushes a hand through his hair, tucking the longer strands behind his ear. They just stare at each other for several moments. Jungkook wonders if Yoongi is going to kiss him again.
Instead Yoongi sits next to him, taking his hand gently. “We’ll find him.”
“I think your father might have found him out. That’s where he went.” Jungkook feels a little panicked saying it out loud.
Yoongi hums lowly. “It’s certainly possible .”
“Fuck,” Jungkook mutters. “I guess we can talk to Taehyung and see what he knows.”
“Might be nothing,” Yoongi says. “I don’t know how much Jimin would have told him.”
“Depends how close they are, honestly. I don’t know either. Fuck ,” Jungkook says again, this time with more vehemence. “Jimin could be anywhere by now. When was the last time we saw him yesterday? Dinner? Earlier?” His mind starts spiralling with every possibility of what happened, where his best friend has disappeared to.
Yoongi just strokes gently over the back of Jungkook’s hand with his thumb. He scoots a little closer like the press of his shoulder will make this easier. Somehow it does. “We’ll figure it out,” he says softly. “We found Hoseok, we can find Jimin.”
“We found Hoseok on accident because I got kidnapped ,” Jungkook all but gasps. “And we got lucky that he was still on the moon. Jimin could literally be anywhere !”
Yoongi has a hand on his back now, tracing his spine comfortingly. “Take a deep breath, Jungkook. I’d rather not repeat the whole kidnapping ordeal either, okay? You and I are going to figure this out together. As long as it takes.”
Jungkook tries to take the deep breaths Yoongi’s asking for, but every attempt to push Jimin out of his mind only brings him closer to the front.
There’s a gentle knock on the door and then the new attendant is poking their head in. “The Emperor is out of the palace for the day, unfortunately. I didn’t run into the prince, either.”
Yoongi waves them away. “Find my mother then.”
“As you command.” The attendant leaves with another bow.
“Let’s go find Taehyung, alright?” Yoongi asks Jungkook. “Sitting here thinking about it is only going to freak you out more.”
Jungkook nods, winding his hand into Yoongi’s elbow with a weakly grateful smile. “You really think we can find him? That we have a chance?”
“Jungkook,” Yoongi says. “I think you and I can do anything .”