It had been a couple of hours since Jungkook said goodbye to Taehyung in the cafeteria. Now he was stuck in a room with Yoongi, who looked as indifferent as always. Even up until now, Jungkook never saw a hint of guiltiness in Yoongi’s eyes. It was as if he never cared for the younger boy. He hated the idea of Yoongi being cold-hearted as always. Although he knew he actually cared for Jungkook, he never cared for any other people, which was starting to bother the younger. He would often tell Yoongi about how he hated it when he did that, but that was in Yoongi’s nature. He was too much focused on one single job and that was it.

Jungkook stayed with Yoongi the whole time because of the older’s instructions. Right then Yoongi was giving him a private lesson. He should be having those at least once a week. Even though Jungkook had moved in the academy, that didn’t mean he could skip his lessons about royal manners. He could not escape that with Yoongi around.

Jungkook’s legs were crossed as he looked at Yoongi with a dull expression. He watched his hands dance on an old parchment paper as he hummed a new song.

Jungkook in his breath: he was furious, and he couldn’t just ignore that.

“Hyung! You can’t just ignore what happened this morning,” Jungkook groaned and rolled his eyes. Yoongi just kept walking inside the empty classroom with a book in his hand. His eyes were scanning the page when Jungkook protested, “Hyung! I am disgraced with your actions!”

“Jungkook, when someone is bothering Your Highness, it is the knight’s duty to keep them away so you can continue your task.” Yoongi slammed the book down and when Jungkook looked at the cover of the book, it was torn up from the spine to all the pages. He had noticed that Yoongi’s ring had turned into a thin needle that tore the book into shredded pieces. Jungkook made an audible gulp.

This was what happened when Yoongi was irritated. “It’s not bothering, it’s called making friends!” Jungkook stood up.

“It’s called bothering when they interrupt your education. You should choose your friends wisely. Someone who is not ‘cuddly’, someone who is not a comedian, and definitely someone who is not stupid. Of course it’s obvious I’m talking about not befriending anyone like Kim Taehyung nor Park Jimin.” Jungkook widened his eyes as sadness clouded his features. He wasn’t just angry, he was upset and disappointed.

“Now, where were we?” Yoongi walked in front of him. “When a prince declares a rule or a statement, what does he say?”

“Yoongi-hyung, you never, ever care.”

“That’s not the answer, Jungkook.”

“But you never care!”

“Answer please?”

“You never made any friends besides me, why? Why are you so heartless?!”

“Answer.”

“You can’t always tell me what I should do, I need freedom!”

“Jungkook if you don’t answer right now you will face the consequences.”

Silence.

Jungkook’s eyes dropped down to the ground and his hands were grasped so tight that his nails scraped the inside of his palms. Yoongi’s eyes were cold; so cold that it was starting to affect him too. When Yoongi saw the apprehension overtaking Jungkook’s face, he immediately gave a weak smile, trying to placate him. Jungkook gave in. It was clear that Yoongi didn’t want to talk about it.

“I, Jeon Jungkook, prince of Clastoria, hereby make an announcement regarding of.” Jungkook immediately frowned when Yoongi nodded slightly. He knew he had upset him but he didn’t want to say sorry. He wanted to remain his pride solid for the time being.

“Good. Greeting visitors from the other side of the land, you should—”

“Always greet with enthusiasm as I accept them in our kingdom. Yes, yes, I know that already.”

“When you walk around during a ball you—”

“Give the ladies a smile or a wink to make them all feel loved and always keep my posture straight and my chin held high to show my highness and my power. Never show weak emotions towards others.”

“You’re learning very fast, Jungkook.”

“How would I not learn it if you have been repeating the same thing for the last five years!”

His voice resounded in the empty classroom, and as the bell rang, Yoongi sighed and claimed his ring, still stuck in between pages of the book. The metal turned liquid and shaped into a worm before it closed itself around his finger.

“It’s time for your Spells class,” Yoongi grabbed his bag.

Jungkook was impressed and a bit troubled knowing that Yoongi had memorized every single schedule of his. Impressed because he was just that intelligent to know every single room, teacher, and his subjects inside his timetable. Troubled because knowing those things meant Yoongi got him trapped in between his palms. There was no escape. Now he was really upset that he didn’t get to have that coffee with Taehyung because of that stupid lesson. Yoongi had pulled him  again, lecturing him again about what he should and shouldn’t do.

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to skip your classes again.”

“No, I promise I won’t…”

Yoongi’s shoes clicked on the marbled floor, and that’s the only thing he heard before the door opened. He was left there with only the sound of his breathing surrounding his ears.

“In modern mathematics, a function is defined by its set of inputs, called the domain; a set containing the set of outputs—”

One thing that Taehyung didn’t like about his math teacher is that she stinked. She literally did and there were big dark circles that decorated the underside of her eyes. Her eyebrows were so arched up that it made it seem like she was always angry. Finally, of course, she lectured with the most monotonic and dull voice you’ll ever hear.

It was like a sleeping pill for Taehyung. On the other hand, he could see Jimin in the front writing his notes down. As usual, Jimin was always energetic and Taehyung wondered if he ever had a single subject where Jimin fell asleep. He groaned in desperation to get out of the class, so he ripped a page from the back of his notebook and started to scribble down something. It should be a good idea, only twenty minutes until the bell rang and might as well get out of that hellish place faster.

He threw the crumpled paper sneakily, making sure that it hit Jimin’s head. When it landed on Jimin’s nape, he turned around to see Taehyung’s smile. ‘Something tells me that he is having the most stupid idea ever. I know that smile,’ he thought. He bent down and looked at the small paper on the ground and quickly snatched it before anyone saw. He unraveled the paper slowly, revealing its words.

Let’s get out of here. It stinks.

XOXO, Taetae

Jimin’s eyes widened at the words. He didn’t want to skip class now, he was not in the mood. He really needed be productive in the only class that he didn’t skip that day. His first day, to be more precise. He looked back at Taehyung in the back to shake his head and refuse his offer. The other one pouted at him, he put his hands together to beg at him. Jimin crossed out his hands forming a big ‘X’ while mouthing ‘No’. Taehyung, in exchange, mouthed ‘Yes’.

“I don’t want to,” Jimin whispered, hoping that Taehyung heard it.

“But, Chim, it’s ing boring,” the other whined as he brought his thumbs upside down.

“Is there something wrong, Mister Park?” a croaky and flat voice greeted Jimin, who was still in his ludicrous position, with his body twisted and his arms forming an X.

“Ah… No, none at all,” Jimin sheepishly smiled. That brat. Taehyung must be enjoying this right now.

“Mister Park, what are you doing?” the teacher deadpanned.

“I was uhh…” He tried to look around to get some sort of source for his excuse but he failed. “I was trying to find X. You know, Algebra…” The teacher sighed and the class turned into a pit of laughter. Jimin could have sworn he heard Taehyung’s loud and annoying laugh at the back. His cheeks turned crimson red and tried to hide his face by covering his cheeks with his book.

The teacher furrowed her eyebrows and pointed her finger to the front door of the class and motioned for him to get out. Jimin rolled his eyes and sighed, he picked up his things and walked away from his desk. Taehyung grinned and snuck away using the back door while all the eyes were fixed onto Jimin’s figure. He felt really bad, but at the same time, victorious.

Jimin’s face was placid and Taehyung got worried that he had crossed over the line. Taehyung patted his shoulder, “Hey Chim, I am really sorry—”

“It’s fine. She’s a stinky and cranky old lady anyways. Been struggling with not falling asleep. Seriously, it’s a hard task.” Jimin slapped Taehyung’s hands off and the other just shrugged. “Why are you in such a good mood all of a sudden anyway? Shouldn’t you be—”

Before Jimin could finish his sentence, Taehyung was gone by his side and had ran off somewhere else. He turned to look and saw a young man with adorable bunny teeth. “Jungkook!” He ran up to the man and ruffled his hair. Jungkook in return laughed and smiled.

“Where were you the whole time? You left me.” Taehyung pulled his best aegyo and posed for him, completely oblivious about the faint pink against Jungkook’s cheeks.

“I was with Yoongi-hyung in a class. I couldn’t escape him obviously. Private lessons,” he mocked.

“What? Private lessons? In there? What are you both lovebirds going on about?” Jimin elbowed Jungkook’s side and gave a wink. He was hinting something inappropriate for sure, and thank the heavens that Jungkook’s innocence was overpowering. He tilted his head and gave a questioning look at Jimin. “Nevermind,” Jimin pursed his lips. Taehyung didn’t know why but he felt a small pang in his chest while hearing that. Must be something else, he thought.

“Wait, we are not lovebirds, I told you before!” Jungkook’s face possibly got more red and hotter that he had to cover his whole face with his hands.

“Seems like so,” Jimin snorted.

“By the way, how are you, hyung?”

“Oh I’m fine now. Headaches happen sometimes. Don’t worry about me.” Jimin gave an angelic smile.

Something stopped their conversation. It was the voices of a crowd, the running feet towards the main hall of their academy, and the murmuring sound of the students. Did something happen? Taehyung’s eyebrows knitted and his eyes were filled with curiosity.

“Maybe we should check what’s going on?” Jimin insisted.

“I think it’s the room assignment,” Taehyung’s gaze was still fixed on the crowd in front of the board.

“Rooms?” Jungkook raised an eyebrow.

“We live in dorms with roommates, obviously. They get to choose who our roommates will be. I saw that there are rooms of two, three and four people, but I don’t really know how they assign those things. I think they decide that randomly…” Taehyung explained.

“Oh,” Jungkook looked over his shoulder to look at the students who were crowding  the whole place. There were so many people that it was hard to see what was written over there. “Is everyone really so eager to see their roommates?”

“Of course, I’m curious about who my roommate will be,” Jimin exclaimed.

Jungkook kind of felt insecure about that. He didn’t want to be with a stranger. Maybe if that ended up being the case, he could talk to Mrs. Choi and use his royal status to move some strings and have a room for him and Yoongi, he thought. They watched the bodies press onto each other. Their voices had gotten so loud that Jungkook had to cover his ears, his eyes twitching in annoyance. “How are we supposed to go through that crowd?” he asked.

To be honest, Taehyung never really cared about his roommate as long it was someone who didn’t snore loudly. They walked their way to the board and as the loud noise grew, the youngest groaned with how rackety it was. Jimin heaved his chest up and cleared his throat, “Um, excuse me, could you please—” a girl accidentally elbowed Jimin’s abdomen. His eyes widened and his face turned pale as he crouched down to hold his stomach. “I feel unmanly,” he gritted his teeth.

Taehyung laughed and tried to maintain his posture just so his friend’s temper didn’t go off the roof. Jungkook wanted to show off… Maybe this was his moment to shine, to show them that he was a man and not some boy who they could just squeeze his cheeks. He breathed in and then with a calm voice he said, “Excuse me, please let me through.” His voice had stiffened the crowd, but the silence was covered with a loud shriek.

“Excuse me! Coming through!” The guy yelling was tall, his brunette hair was sticking out in different directions. His blazer got wrinkled and his neck tie was crooked. His face was covered in a thin layer of sweat. The guy panted heavily. Jungkook squinted his eyes, had he met this guy before? He was familiar.

The guy was still panting from exhaustion and it looked like he got stumbled upon hundreds of students. Jungkook had to fight back his laughter at how ridiculous the man looked. “Who’s Taehyung and Jungkook?!”

Taehyung and Jungkook both froze when they heard their names. Jimin finally stood up, but his abdomen was still aching. “What about them?”

“They’re my roommates!” He chirped out. His mouth turned like the shape of a heart as he smiled. It was kind of cute, Taehyung thought. Jungkook didn’t like the way Taehyung was looking at the man they just met. He scoffed.

“Roommates… You? Me? Taehyung?” Jungkook’s voice was mixed with disappointment and happiness. He at least got to be with Taehyung, who was someone really nice that he met, but he was also with a stranger.

“Yes!” The man said, “My name is Jung Hoseok. I’m in third year.” The man reached out his hand to shake hands with Taehyung, and then with Jungkook, but the younger one just stared at it.

Hoseok pursed his lips and cleared his throat. “Well, then. We’re roommates now I guess we— Er…” He turned to look around but his gaze fixed onto Jimin who was calm and natural. He forgot something. He raised his index finger to say something but then again, he forgot what he was supposed to say.

“I don’t know who’s my roommate yet,” Jimin sulked. The students were still crowding the p