Audio Chapter 3

      This was the right time.       

       Taehyung's eyes darted from the ceiling to his classmate leaning back on the bean bag, a leg stretched out leisurely and the other propped up to seat Taehyung’s MacBook.

       They'd taken out the laptop to look up things neither understood, but after watching a few music videos and bickering over or agreeing on the better artists, they came to the decision that it was high time for a break. The last three hours with the exception of about fifteen minutes were productive enough.

       His eyes swept over the other lazily, taking in the relaxed position, and the gaze that darted from side to side of the computer screen, Taehyung wondered idly what he was reading. Jungkook's blazer hung on one of the chairs at his desk, and Taehyung hadn't noticed till then how much of a difference that made in appearance till that moment as his eyes caught a movement of his arms as Jungkook shifted to be able to type and push his sleeve higher, and the shirt’s material didn’t hide the movement of muscles moving under it. Were his eyes deceiving him or did Jungkook seem pretty well built? But he hadn't known him to be particularly athletic. A few buttons of his shirt were undone because of the heat and—

       No. He was losing sight of what he had meant to do; Taehyung turned his gaze to the ceiling. He sighed quietly and stretched, crossing his arms behind his head.

       "Y'know what's weird?" He mumbled, then raised his voice a little as he continued, "I had this really freaky dream during history class today."  Jungkook was fiddling with another button, but the words had him stilling.

        Taehyung turned his head to glance at the other, speaking as nonchalantly as he could. "'Bout some prince or something. And there was someone in it that sorta looked like you." A playful grin on his lips, he added, "I didn't know you left such a profound effect on my subconscious after working on just one project together."

       Jungkook’s eyes widened as he looked at Taehyung. "We've had the same classes before... but..." He mumbled in an attempt to blow it off before he apparently gave up and placed the laptop off to the side.

        "Seung-yoon and Yejun?" Jungkook used the names as though he knew the two in question personally, but it was clear this was a test for Taehyung, to see if he would recognize the names he spilled forward.

       And Taehyung was sure he was passing with flying colours as he stared in plain astonishment as what he was sure would be a fruitless attempt at deciphering an odd dream became a whole lot more with the utterance of two names. Stunned into silence, he sat up.

       "Yeah...How did you..." He knew the answer, of course- but he needed to hear it from Jungkook himself.

       Jungkook too was quiet. Standing up, he shook his head a bit and waved his hand, suddenly keen on forgetting the dream rather than examining it further.

       "Dream..." turning to something random in the room, Jungkook quietly asked as a distraction, "Do you have anything to eat or drink..?"

       Taehyung was sure that in his very short lifetime, he had come across plenty of odd incidents. But this took the cake.

       He pushed himself off the bed. Apart from the ice cream they had stopped to get on their way back from school, neither had anything to eat but that was the farthest thing from his mind at the moment.

       Nonetheless, he was happy to oblige the distraction, "Yeah, of course. What would you like?" Taehyung enquired distractedly as he headed towards the door. He stopped for a second and turned around, noting it was almost eight o’ clock. If they were going to discuss this, it couldn’t go on for long if Jungkook needed to get home at a reasonable time.

        "Hey, um... You wanna have dinner? There should be something I can heat up and my parents should be back by like...ten? They could drop you off then." He paused, then added as an afterthought. "Seems better than walking. It's already getting dark."

       "I..." Jungkook started, hesitating for a second. "If your parents would be okay with that... I wouldn't mind..." He replied, looking over at Taehyung decidedly.

       "They wouldn't mind," Taehyung reassured as he made his way through the hall and down the stairs to the kitchen, smiling a little at the sigh of relief from Jungkook.

       "Do you have anything spicy to eat, Taehyung?"

       Taehyung chuckled at the request. "I was going to ask if you had a problem with spiciness since most of the food here tends to be pretty spicy." Looking through the fridge, he made a face before finding what he needed. Pulling out the chilli, he set it on the table.

       "Dad's been bent on learning how to cook western food, I hope you don't mind." It took him a few more seconds to fish out the packet of bread rolls, shaking his head as he set them up. "My parents are weird."

       Jungkook laughed. "I think we all say that about our parents at one point or another, Taehyung. I mean, my father was definitely... eclectic." Flashing a smile, he took a seat at one of stools at the breakfast bar.

       The statement had Taehyung breaking out in a small laugh. Of course, that had to be true- he hadn't met anyone who had interesting stories about their parents. He kept his own to a minimum, not because there were few but for other reasons. It wasn't fear or embarrassment; the first he'd overcome and the second he’d never felt, but simply because he refused to give anyone a chance to judge those he loved. Jungkook’s voice brought him out of his thoughts.

       "But yes, I love spicy food! My mother hates it though so it's kind of a rare treat for me." Jungkook explained, and Taehyung caught himself grinning as his classmate watched him prepare to heat up some of the chilli with curiosity. "Western style? I haven't had much Western food... does it taste good?" He moved closer, glancing down at the food, "This is spicy, right? How do we eat it?" Jungkook turned back to Taehyung, "It reminds me of a meaty soup..."

       "Meaty soup?" An amused smile spread across Taehyung's lips. "Sounds about right. And whether it's good or not..."after heating the items and serving them with the utensils, he flashed the other a grin. "Like all food, depends on the skill of the person making it, right?"

       Moving to look at the food, he looked back up at Taehyung, "Well, I have never been against trying new things. Western or not, it sure smells good." Jungkook complimented genuinely and Taehyung took a seat at a stool on side of the kitchen bar, with only one remaining empty.

        Jungkook leaned in and took a small mouthful, eyes quickly widening in surprise. "Woah... this is good. What does your dad do that he can make something like this, Taehyung?"

       The compliments for his dad's cooking brought a warm, proud (borderline smug), smile on Taehyung's lips, and though he attempted to keep it subtle, it fought against suppression and made clear that the compliments were well appreciated.

       "Family business—both of them actually," he shrugged a shoulder, "but honestly only one person is any good at most of it so dad spends his time..." Arm outstretched as he gestured grandly toward the kitchen, a wave to top of the motion, he finished, "more creatively. Thanks, though. I’ll be sure to pass on the compliment."

       Jungkook smiled and nodded to the words, and Taehyung started digging in as well.

       "Is this bread from the bakery near the school?" Jungkook asked, breaking the roll of bread and inspecting it.

       Taehyung raised a brow in surprise at the question, "yeah, how could you tell?"

       There was an undeniable warmth in Jungkook’s expression and eyes at the confirmation that it was from the same bakery. The boy paused for a moment before admitting, "Ahjumma, Park Ahjumma, she promised that if I fail to get a school to accept me upon graduation, she would accept me as an intern."

       When Jungkook paused again, hands stilling momentarily and shooting Taehyung a cautious look, the latter smiled in a way he hoped to be reassuring and nodded.

       "Her bakery has been family owned since it was founded, but Park Ahjumma... she doesn't have a generation to follow in her footsteps. Despite that she works hard and makes breads and cakes that radiate her personality." Jungkook continued and looked back to the food in front of him, "She's the one who convinced me to stay in school, if not I would have dropped out last year and spent all of my time with BTS."

       Such familiarity with the small place wasn't something that Taehyung expected, but it explained how Jungkook was so quickly able to tell where the bread was from. Quietly listening to the other, his gaze shifted occasionally only so that he wasn't outright staring.

       But with each word, the mild curiosity he had felt towards the younger that morning between the conversations during their assignment was quickly growing into something more. In a sense, it was admiration based simply on the quality of person that could develop as trusting a relationship with someone that most his age would barely notice the existence of. It was also the need to know more about this person who he seemed to know so very little about.

       Taehyung took a bite of his bread, gaze dropping to his food in thought as he let the taste of the bread linger in his mouth before swallowing.

       "Blood isn't the defining aspect of family," those were words he would stand to. Family wasn't de defined by blood or law. He looked up, flashing Jungkook a small smile. "Maybe it will stay a family business."

       "It might just stay in the family, hmm?" Jungkook gave Taehyung a sincere smile that made him warm all over, "I guess, in a sense, I do view her as family... thanks, Taehyung."

       There were words left unspoken by Jungkook though- and if Taehyung had dug just a bit deeper, those answers would easily reveal themselves. The death of his father that led to him befriending the bakery owner and how that death loaned itself to the change in his mother- but this was something few knew, and Jungkook was far from sharing it without being asked.

       For a moment, Taehyung flushed slightly at his own words- coming from Jungkook they sounded a lot, for lack of a better description, cheesier than he'd meant for it to. But there was sincerity in that thanks and Taehyung was more than happy to take it at face value. Nodding in acknowledgement, he thought back to the other’s earlier words.

       The name BTS struck a chord, but Taehyung couldn't for the life of him put his finger on where he had heard that before. He could have sworn that his train of thought was just one stop away from figuring it out without having to ask, when the question abruptly brought it to a stop and set it on another direction.

       "Hey, Taehyung... why do you think they chose that tree?"

       Jungkook didn’t have to specify anything more for Taehyung to understand. He wasn’t sure either what had Jungkook deciding to bring it up, but Taehyung didn’t mind.

       He looked up, pursing his lips in thought. Twirling his spoon, Taehyung rested his cheek on his palm as he gave the question thought. "I don't know..." It was almost as if they were discussing a movie they'd watched together. "Maybe because it was a little more private?"

       "Privacy for the prince. Which was never truly private... he gave up his private moments to see Yejun." Jungkook paused, before he posed a question he already knew the answer to, "They had been falling for each other for a while, hadn't they?”

       It was true, Seung-yoon never seemed to be fully at ease, though the times he came closest to it was when beside Yejun. He nodded to both statements, Seung-yoon's memories of the incident with the medicine flashing in his mind as if the memories were his own.

       "Seung-yoon was hooked since Yejun put whatever he put in his 'medicine'. I think it was some health supplement kind of thing, Yejun probably found it pretentious." He could remember the bitter taste, and swallowing without a complaint- deciding he didn't want to rat on the kid, but rather get to know him. "I guess the cliche is true," he snorted in amusement. "Treat the spoiled person badly and they end up falling for you."

         "It was quite deliberate." Jungkook stated, trying not to laugh, "His only regret when making the medicine was not being able to see the recipient cringe. Although he was hoping it would go to the king." He couldn't help but shake his head in amusement. "I think there was more to it though, Taehyung. I mean, just because the spoiled prince fell for Yejun, didn't mean he had to fall as well... I think Seung-yoon showed enough of his personality to capture Yejun."

       Taehyung had to agree—they talked about books, Seungyoon made him the gift he had given him. He glanced up from his chilli as Jungkook continued. "Although, Yejun can't be blamed for falling for the prince, despite Seung-yoon's title... Seung-yoon was nice to him in a way most of the people in the palace weren't..."

       "He felt safe," Taehyung agreed, there was something much deeper than the fact that Yejun had enough guts to do what he did, though it was a part of it. Seung-yoon felt safe to open himself up to the only person who wasn't held back by propriety and was honest. "Yejun was honest to him in a way most people in the palace didn't want to be."

       "Yejun didn't see the point in a false front with the prince." Jungkook clarified, giving a slight smile, an