Hide & Seek ➤ Taekook/Vkook

Chapter 7

"Still got the salty air in your joints, kiddo?" Mr. Jeon tousled Jungkook's hair a little with a fond smile as the boy dragged his body to the breakfast table and slumped down on the chair next to his father.

"You brought home a nice tan, Kook-ah!" Mrs. Jeon giggled, teasing her son, "Your fans attending the concert are gonna love it!"

Jungkook didn't even have the energy to grumble, too tired for how he had to leave his bed at 9:15 after allowing himself 'five more minutes' of sleep one, two, three...six times since he needed to go to practice- in time, that is. Moreover, he needed to eat. After a long night, his stomach was aching for food.

And he swore he almost broke down when the mouth-watering smell of his mother's blueberry pancakes filled his nose as she put down the plate in front of him on the table. He didn't waste a second and took a bite, cheeks puffed as he chewed the as-always delicious food, basically gobbling it down. Mrs. Jeon chuckled at that, giving a short kiss on the crown of his head before she walked back to the kitchen counter to resume what she had been doing.

"Is Taehyung-ah still sleeping?" Mr. Jeon asked, picking up the newspaper again and carrying on going through the pages, unmindfully searching for something that might catch his eye.

"I don't know." Jungkook nonchalantly shrugged. "Maybe."

"He must have been really tired." Jungkook heard his mum snicker, "Imagine Kook-ah waking up before Taehyung-ah on a normal day, Hyunwoo. I could count the times we saw such a scenario on the fingers of one hand!"

Now Mr. Jeon also joined in the tittering, while Jungkook only rolled his eyes. He was used to it after all: his parents comparing him with Taehyung- how the older was (used to be) better at studies, an early riser, more convivial and outgoing, more obedient...blah blah blah.

Even though his parents wouldn't be at all harsh about it, always keeping the teasing light and playful, it would never fail to irritate Jungkook. And if his annoyance was a compass, then poor Taehyung would be the 'north' every damn time, having the magnetic needle of offense unfailingly point in his direction instead of Mr. and Mrs. Jeon; because Jungkook despised how the older would turn into 'the best kid of the world' in front of them.

Jungkook always felt the need to defend himself, saying that Taehyung wasn't as good in athletics as he was, he couldn't cook for the life of him, nor did he have a sense of creativity like the younger, that his obedience was only a facade, a mask he wore inside the house, whereas on the other side of the main door he was absolutely wild, a rager teenager.

However, all those words would die inside Jungkook's throat along with his desperation to speak up at the thought of having his mum shutting him down by scolding him and saying that he was 'unnecessarily jealous' of Taehyung.

And now, there was a new addition to the list of reasons to not complain: no matter how much his parents compared him with Taehyung and he disliked it, they were still far better than Taehyung's parents.

"But Taehyung-ah should be awake, no?" Mr. Jeon asked, turning his head at his son, "Isn't he going with you, Jungkook-ah?"

Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows, confused, "Going with me whe- Oh!" But then it hit him. Shit, he had totally forgotten that he was supposed to bring Taehyung along to their dance studio today!

He looked down at his wristwatch, 9:55. He was supposed to be at the studio by 10 and was already going to be nearly fifteen minutes late, if not more due to the rush-hour traffic. Now if he would have to wake Taehyung up, then wait for the guy to get ready, have breakfast and leave after that, oh, it would take them immense luck to make it to the dance studio before noon— which would definitely lead Jungkook to be heavily scolded by Hoseok, and if given a choice, the boy would do anything to avoid the older's glare and frown.