When Jungkook was pronounced the ‘golden maknae’ he felt a surge of pride. It meant the predisposition of being perfect, the ability of turning anything he touched into gold, and everyone likes gold. Everyone wants gold. Everyone wants the one with the golden touch. And Jungkook bares that title with pride, with worth, with his golden fingertips.

It takes time to learn that being gold is not always what it seems. It takes time, but once he learns, he knows it forever. Being golden is a burden, a weight he learns to carry on shoulders too young for such knowledge. It’s not easy learning that being gold often means that you’re isolated. Stored in a glass box, watching those who are free to move, free to run.

Watching those who are free.

They stand in front of your display, and no matter how much you want them to reach out to you, they keep their hands in their pockets and move on quickly. It takes time for Jungkook to learn that being golden often comes with a sign that reads ‘do not touch’.

Being golden means proving that title, it means the disapproving looks when he doesn’t measure up to the value placed on him. It means that some people will believe he is counterfeit if he doesn’t show that he is what people have told him he is.

Golden.

Jungkook knows being golden means having restrictions, but he can’t help but watch what he can’t have. The way Jimin is so carefree makes him want to throw the title of being perfect away, it makes him want to be called a fraud, a fake, counterfeit, if it means that the do not touch sign will be removed and Jimin will reach out and touch him and there will be no glass between them. Jungkook would happily throw the title away if it meant he could be the same value as Jimin, if it meant he could be, in some way, with Jimin.

But he doesn’t and he won’t and he can’t. So instead, he watches closely with reflections passing through the glass as people measure his worth in gold.

It’s Namjoon who tells him about the story of King Minos with the golden touch. It’s Namjoon who tells him about the man who foolishly asked for the ability to turn anything to gold, the man who turned the one thing he cared about to gold and in the end, was so unable to deal with it, turned himself to gold.

Jungkook understands the story, but he can’t help but ask the meaning. To which the blond haired man, smiles, but it isn’t a real smile, it doesn’t reach his eyes, its bitter and wrong and it makes Jungkook’s chest ache.

“Not all good things comes with being golden when everything you touch turns to gold.” Namjoon says.

The words curl around Jungkook’s heart and squeeze until he feels like hes choking, they repeat themselves until its all Jungkook can hear. Not all good things come with being golden when everything you touch turns to gold.

It takes a few days to realize that Namjoon’s smile, Namjoon’s bitter smile, it was for Jungkook. It takes a few more days to figure out if he is angry or comforted by the knowledge that Namjoon might understand what hes going through. In the end, he learns that it just makes him sad.

Jungkook learns the meaning of Namjoon’s words more clearly when he reaches out to Jimin, but all he touches is gold. He doesn’t turn Jimin to a statue like King Minos did to his daughter. What he did is much worse. Jimin spends hours in the studio, working to exhaustion, pushing until he collapses. Trying to be golden. It makes Jungkook sick. He didn’t want this, he never wanted this. He never asked for the golden touch, for the golden title, he never asked to be golden.

It takes time, but Jungkook learns quickly, he’s always had the ability to be good at whatever he tried. But he learns to keep the do not touch sign close, learns to keep the glass between him and whoever comes close, learns to keep his hands in his pockets. Namjoon’s words echo in his head everytime he finds himself reaching for the carefree boy.

Not everything good comes with being golden when everything you touch turns to gold.

Jungkook sometimes wonders what King Minos would’ve done if he knew how having the golden touch would turn out. But then he remembers, he turned himself to gold. Jungkook finds himself wishing he could turn himself to gold too. But being golden and having the golden touch are two different curses that often have no way out. No loophole. No happy ending. Jungkook sometimes wonders if being golden is worth it.

He finds it isn’t.