Body And Soul

19. Pretend

"What are we doing here?"

Taehyung looked over Jungkook and his covered up face as he asked the question. Before they had left the house, Jungkook had made sure to cover up since he was in an idol's body. Taehyung could barely make out his eyes above the black face mask he had tugged up over his nose and mouth. A gray beanie was tugged over most of his hair; only a few locks visible to the eyes. Around the two of them were several children and parents wandering from exhibit to exhibit. Each exhibit was supposed to allow a child to "test" out a career that interested them. Taehyung waited for Jungkook to answer him as a child escaped the grip of their parent, bumping into him as they ran towards a nearby supermarket setup.

"I brought you here because it's time you experienced different jobs."

"You're insane."

"Hey. Don't knock it until you try it. Besides, even though you didn't implicitly state it, you made it sound like your childhood was taken from you. Technically this kills two birds with one stone."

Taehyung looked about him warily. He certainly felt like a fish out of water here. Jungkook could tell, grabbing Taehyung's hand as he yanked him towards a restaurant setup nearby. They entered the small restaurant where a young boy was currently on his hands and knees in the kitchen area looking through the cupboards for something.

"Excuse me," said Jungkook to the little boy, causing him to look up and over at the two of them, "I brought you a sous chef. A helper."

The little boy had a mess of black hair on the top of his head; his tiny hazel eyes scrutinizing the pair for a moment. Before either of them could respond, the little boy grabbed a toy frying pan and held it out towards them. Jungkook turned to give Taehyung a look. Taehyung reached out his hand for the frying pan, following the little boy into the kitchen. He got down onto his knees next to him as Jungkook moved to take a seat at one of the tables nearby.

"What's your name?" asked the little boy.

"Jungkook," Taehyung replied, "What's yours?"

"Kiran," spoke the young boy. "Let's get to work cooking."

The two of them seemed to hit it off after that. Kiran put a chef hat on top of Taehyung's head before telling him what to do and how to do it. Jungkook smiled, but it was hidden under the mask he was wearing. Even though Taehyung wasn't a child, he had a youthful joy about him at that moment. Within ten minutes, Taehyung and Kiran were beside the table where Jungkook was sitting with tiny plastic plates of plastic food.

"What do we have here?" asked Jungkook as Taehyung and Kiran placed the plates in front of him.

"Spaghetti with a side of cucumber," said Kiran.

"We also prepared for you some freshly baked garlic bread with only the finest ingredients," said Taehuyng with a small grin as he nodded his head towards the plate he had set in front of Jungkook.

"Well thank you both. It smells delicious. How was your helper?" asked Jungkook to Kiran.

"He was good. He listened well, though he gave me the wrong colored plate at first."

"How dare he..." said Jungkook with fake shock as he looked at Taehyung; the other chuckling softly with an eye roll.

Jungkook moved to grab up the fork to pretend that he was eating the food that had been prepared for him after as the two of them stood by to watch.

"Why aren't you taking off your mask to eat?" asked Kiran.

"Because I have to keep my identity a secret," said Jungkook, watching as Kiran's eyes grew as wide as marbles.