Minri was fuming. The other day she and her classmates had left their almost finished projects on the shelves of the lab. It was probably the most important project so far for the subject: they had to create an original potion that could mutate or change any part of the body of any animal or person in any way they liked, as long as it wasn’t a permanent change or affected the health of the being who drank it. The marks for that project were going to be a high percentage for the final mark, and Minri worked really hard on it. They just had one more class left to finish it before the deadline, and that was next week. She was confident in her project, for she just needed to throw the final touches on her cauldron. That is, until Becca and her friends saw her that morning in the corridor, and commented things along the line, ‘Hey Minri, I thought your potion had a bad colour, so I threw some stuff in it to make it prettier. Pity I can’t do the same with your face.’

Upon hearing that, Minri had widened her eyes and had run towards the lab, leaving Becca and her friends laughing behind. She took her small cauldron to check the content, but she quickly had to cover her nose: the smell was nauseating. And the potion didn’t have a much better aspect; it looked almost corrosive. What the hell did she throw in there? She started analysing it until she saw perfectly what Becca had used. So, her final project was ruined . Weeks of work flushed down the drain. She yelled in frustration, and, furious, she got out of the lab, almost running in the corridors in search for Becca. When she saw her at the other end of the corridor, laughing and chatting with her friends, she pointed her finger at her and started chanting.

“For ruining my project with sulphur and fluorine, your skin will turn into an ugly green! ” she said through gritted teeth.

However, someone slapped her hand away from Becca’s direction before she could release her spell. Outraged, she looked at the person who stopped her, while he responded her with a reproachful look.

“Noona!” It was Namjoon. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Wasn’t it enough to make her have a moustache that lasted for a week the last time?” he said in rushed whispers.

“She ruined my potion!” she said, tears of frustration threatening to appear in the corner of her eyes.

“And why don’t you report it to the professor or the student council instead of attacking her?” another voice said. She didn’t notice that Seokjin was standing behind Namjoon. Well, .

“I don’t have proof that she did it, she’d just get away with it. She always does,” she retorted while rubbing her eyes to prevent herself from crying. She finally raised her head, scowling. “It’s not like you’d understand anyway, Seokjin. Everyone loves you here,” she said in a mock tone before turning around and starting to walk away.

“Noona…!” Namjoon called as he started to run after her. Seokjin was left there, standing in the middle of the corridor for a few minutes without knowing what to do. In the end, he sighed and followed them.

He saw them in an area where there weren’t many students at that hour, sitting on some stairs. Minri was hugging her knees against her chest while Namjoon was talking to her in a soft tone while putting a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. When she heard Seokjin’s footsteps, she raised her head and scowled at him again.

“Uh… I’m sorry about your project,” he muttered. He felt awkward saying it like that, but he genuinely felt bad about it. He knew that even though the Academy had strict rules, there were still bullies in there. And they couldn’t do anything about it if those bullies had a high status. Just like with their society in general, Seokjin thought sadly.

“Well, what’s done it’s done,” she sighed, slumping her shoulders. “It’s not like it’s something new. I’ll just… I don’t know, I’ll make something easier or whatever. I won’t get the grade I was expecting, but well,” she mumbled. “Anyway… What’s with the grape hair, Joonie?” she suddenly smirked.

Namjoon suddenly covered his hair with his hands, embarrassed. “I had an accident yesterday, okay!” he spluttered. Seokjin snorted. Cute.

“Oh really?” she asked.

“Yeah, yesterday we were analysing this new species of flower rose that we found in the surroundings of the Academy and somehow it had a reaction,” Seokjin clarified.

“Oh my god, did the rest of your class end up with purple hair too?” Minri laughed.

“No! I didn’t do this in class…”

“Hmm?” she raised her eyebrows with a questioning gaze, making Namjoon sigh.

“We were experimenting in the student council office, so no, there weren’t any other ‘victims’...”

“Excuse me?” Seokjin interrupted. “What about Hoseok and Yoongi? What about this?” he said as he gesticulated wildly with his hands around his own hair.

“Well, you can’t really call yourself a victim when the colour looks good on you!” Namjoon blurted out, upset. That made Seokjin widen his eyes, faint blush on his cheeks. Sure, he received lots of compliments from many students: he knew he was handsome. So why did that caught him so off guard? Namjoon also widened his eyes when he realised his slip of the tongue, and immediately kept talking. “I mean, you and the other two got normal hair colours, that’s kind of unfair…” he mumbled.

Then, there was a minute of awkward silence where the two of them just stared at each other, until Minri cleared and spoke. “So, what colours did the other two get?”

“Uh, Yoongi got blond hair…”

“Huh, really? That’s a pity. I think black would suit him better.”

“Well, the one with black hair is Hoseok now.”

“Aw, no!” she whined.

“What?” Seokjin asked.

“I worked really hard on his pink highlights,” she pouted.

“Well, it’s not like we did it on purpose,” Namjoon scoffed. “The office is still a mess… There’s colour everywhere in the room.”

“Wow. I bet Mrs. Choi is not gonna be happy about it.”

“Well, she is preoccupied with other things right now…” Seokjin commented. “By the way, we actually were looking for you because of that.”

“Huh?”

“Namjoon said you usually notice Taela more than the rest of the students.”

“Yeah, so?” Minri arched an eyebrow.

“Well, we were wondering if you have seen her lately?” Namjoon wondered.

“Hm, now that I think about it… It’s actually been a long time since the last time I saw her.” Upon hearing this, Namjoon and Seokjin threw each other a worried glance, making her feel uneasiness in the pit of her stomach. “Why? What’s going on?” she asked.

“No one has seen her in a while, not even her mother,” Namjoon stated as he got up. “It’s like she’s vanished into thin air.”

Yoongi’s fingers swiftly slid over the keys, producing a soft melody that it was only in his head before. He smiled to himself, a peaceful feeling washing over him. He really didn’t like clubs or having compromises with other people, but he was glad that he joined the music club. It had been too long since he played the piano, and it was one of his biggest passions. The advantage of being in the music club is that he could use the room and the instruments whenever he wanted. So, yes, he went to the club meetings and played the standard melodies of Clastoria, but what he liked the most was to sneak into the club room when there was no one around, and play for himself. Those moments made him feel liberated, worries slipping away from his mind, and only leaving a sense of happiness. Therefore, he kept playing the melodies of his head, the ones he thought of when he was alone, in the gardens, in his room; the ones he composed when he thought of someone beloved… The sound of something shifting made his hands stop in the middle of the melody, and he raised his head.

“Who’s there?” he asked while looking at the window of the room that was slightly open.

“Uh… Sorry,” a familiar face said as he peeked through the window, “I didn’t want to interrupt you.”

“You brat,” Yoongi scoffed, smiling. “So you decided it was better to sneak up on me?”

“Well, I just wanted to listen. You hardly ever play back at home anymore,” Jungkook said with a sheepish smile.

The older sighed and got up, opening the window wide and offering his hand to the prince. As the younger took it and Yoongi helped him get inside, he spoke. “Why would I? I have responsibilities to fulfil as a knight, and you already can play the piano as well as me.”

“But I prefer you playing. It’s more beautiful.”

“Yeah, right,” the blond scoffed as he sat at the piano again. Jungkook sat next to him.

“Keep playing, please?” the prince pleaded with his dark, doe eyes.

“Okay,” Yoongi gave in as he rolled his eyes.

His fingers started to move again, melody softly invading the quiet room. Jungkook closed his eyes, content smile on his face as he leaned a bit against the older. At some point, he started humming along, which made Yoongi smile as well. And at the end of the song, both of them stayed quiet for a while, comfortable silence in the air. Then, Jungkook nuzzled against Yoongi’s arm.

“I’m glad you’re okay again,” he whispered.

The blond just hummed in response, leaning his head against Jungkook’s. He didn’t really want to think about the incident, or anything related to it. So he cleared his throat, sitting up, and looked at Jungkook. “Hey, why don’t you sing that lullaby you used to sing when we fell asleep?”

That startled the younger. “H-here?”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know, hyung…”

“There’s no one in the room. Come on, I played for you!”

“Um…”

“Don’t make me beg, Jungkook,” he said, frowning.

“Why not?” the prince suddenly smiled, playful. “I begged.”

“Well, yeah, but that’s like, your thing.”

“Hey!” he exclaimed upset while punching Yoongi’s arm.

The older just laughed. “Come on. I’ll also play the lullaby if you want.”

“... Alright.”

Feeling victorious, he showed Jungkook a gummy smile before starting to play again. Seconds after the melody started, Jungkook began to sing. And God, how much Yoongi had missed his voice. How much Yoongi had missed that old lullaby that the queen sang to his son since his most tender childhood years. A lullaby about a beginning, about love, about discovering yourself and the world through that love. Strangely, it was a sad song too, but it was charged with feeling in a way that made Yoongi have goosebumps whenever Jungkook sang. The prince kept singing, the knight kept playing. When they reached the last verse, they remained silent, the faint echo of the younger’s voice and the last piano keys still resounding softly in the room.

“Damn,” a voice said, making both of them jump and look at the door. They had been so absorbed in the lullaby that they hadn’t noticed that someone had been standing at the doorframe of the club room.

“Mother!” Yoongi cursed, grabbing his chest.

“Jimin-hyung!?” Jungkook squawked. “What are you doing here? Don’t you have class?”

The pink haired boy simply shrugged. “I didn’t feel like going, so I was just wandering around. Then I heard singing from this room and I got curious,” he smirked. He saw how the younger blushed a beet red, while the older just refused to look at his face. He probably was mad because of how easily Jimin had spooked them. “Sorry I scared you.”

“You’d better be if you want to get inside the dorm again, kid,” Yoongi spat.

That made him pout. “I said I’m sorry,” he mumbled as he shrugged and crossed his arms. Yoongi simply huffed in response, and the pink haired boy approached them. “But really… I know Jungkook told me you liked music and all, but I didn’t actually believe it.”

“You what,” the blond said through gritted teeth while shooting daggers at Jungkook. He visibly shrunk.

“And you!” Jimin exclaimed again, looking also at the younger. “First dancing, and now this? What the hell are you doing in the athletics club? You obviously have a talent for the arts branch.”

“Please don’t tell anyone about