THE RAVEN KING, yoonkook

chapter vi: wings

Jungkook wakes in a good mood, with the sun already shining through his opened curtains. As he blinks sleepily, crust clinging to his eyelashes, he thinks that the curtains were probably opened with the intent of waking him up. His guess is soon confirmed when Hoseok enters with a tray of food in his arms, wide smile (one that'd rival the warm sun outside) on his lips. Still tucked in his bed and half asleep, the king gives a smile and pats the space beside him. The kookaburra lies down beside him, on top of the blankets, and places the tray on his lap.

"I hope you realise I'm not going to feed you." The older male suggests when Jungkook does nothing to take the food. The dark haired male just gives a childish groan and pout in response. Still smiling fondly (albeit a little exasperated), Hoseok reaches over and rubs some of the sleep crust from his eyes. This is followed by the ruffling of already messy hair. "You're almost eighteen ― that's too old to not be feeding yourself."

"Too tired." Jungkook mumbles and his eyes droop shut as if to prove his point. A tired exhalation of air leaves his nose and for a few seconds he feels himself falling back to sleep. Hoseok stares at him for a few moments, knowing full well what he's doing, and then caves. He picks up the spoon, scooping up some of the flavoured porridge from the bowl. The raven's eyes crack open a little and he grins, now shuffling around so he's sitting up a bit better.

"This is the last time, Kook." Hoseok's threat is empty ― it's been the last time multiple times now. And Jungkook understands that he is passed the age where this might be acceptable, but he also can't deny that he loves being babied by his two stand-in parents. "And I'm only doing it because you need to get up soon. You're going flying today, remember?"

"Will you wash me too?" The boy asks with his mouth full of the porridge that tastes of apples and oats, although he doesn't mean this. The kookaburra knows this and just smiles, shaking his head. Hoseok gets another spoon of the cooked oats, blowing on it as he waits for the boy to finish his current one.

As Jungkook is being fed, Namjoon enters the room. At the sight, he shakes his head but smiles nonetheless. The owl sits down beside his husband, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. When he sees the way the king pouts at this, he leans across and gives Jungkook a kiss as well. The dark haired boy gives a sticky kiss back.

"A couple of guests are already up, but not many." The grey haired male informs them, getting settled in the bed as well.

"Want me to go down and entertain them?" Hoseok asks, but gets two shakes of heads in response. "Alright."

"Feed me." Jungkook orders, mouth opened, feeling a bit neglected. To shut him up, the older shoves a spoon of the porridge in the open mouth.

Running his fingers through black hair, Namjoon asks, "How's the dating going, Kookie?"

"Yeah, spill the goss, kid."

"Don't like that hawk ― the one uncle chose. I mean, he's nice but he's too nice, y'know? And I don't like that dove. I think she's just interested with the title of queen. Same with a couple of the other ones. And all that owl goes on about is the war ― it's just war this and war that and where do you stand on the war? Surely you have a side, you can't actually be neutral. Can't stand him."

"And is anyone good?" Before answering, Jungkook eats another two spoonfuls of porridge.

"Yeah. I like Prince Jin, but that's more friendly. We've always been friends, anyway. It'd be weird marrying him. That Taehyung guy is cool too, but I don't know a lot about him. I've only got to talk to him once. Sir Yoongi is nice too ― he makes me laugh." The king opens his mouth, silently demanding more food. They're running out, scraping against the bottom of the bowl. Soon he'll have to get out of bed and deal with people again.

"Hurry up and eat so you can clean yourself up." Namjoon says as Jungkook purposefully savours the next mouthful, trying to stretch out its life. "I want to make sure your feathers are neat before you go out flying."

* * *

Yoongi can't go flying with the prince and the rest of the group. If he did, he'd blow his cover as an individual's true form is always revealed during the transformation: dye can hide the patterns of his wings when he's in human forms, but all this goes away when he's in the bird form, the true form. So, instead, he is forced to come up with an excuse and spend time with the rest of the group that isn't flying. This is a group of one ― the mysterious Taehyung, who can't fly for the obvious reason of a lack of wings.

The dark haired male would prefer to return to his bedroom, but the mysterious brunette approaches him before he can do anything. Despite the whole cool and enigmatic aura that surrounds the wingless male, there's a wide smile on his lips as he blocks the magpie's path and greets him with, "Hey, Crow, why aren't you flying?"

"I have a recovering wing injury; flying might cause damage." Yoongi's blank tone does nothing to discourage the brunette.

"That's a shame ― looks like a nice day too." Gazing up at the clear sky, the black haired male has to nod and agree. The conditions seem perfect for flying and he's almost disappointed he can't be up there. For a moment, neither say anything as they just admire the pretty blue sky. "Sometimes I forget how nice it is to be up there... but then, in moments like this, it all just comes rushing back. Y'know, once my brother tried to take me flying ― we realised pretty early on that his claws aren't made for holding things gently."

"So you are a bird?" The other male gives a small nod, a smile tinged with sadness resting on his lips.

"Yeah. Can't change anymore though. Stuck in this human form." Taehyung tugs at the bottom of his shirt, looking as though his body is too heavy and weighing him down. The magpie feels sympathy, trying to imagine what it must feel like to be cut off from such an important piece of his identity ― he can't. No matter how hard he tries, he can't imagine how it'd feel: he can guess, apply labels to potential feelings (empty, incomplete, lacking) but he can't feel it. And that is what makes him feel the worst for the stranger standing beside him. But, despite this revelation, the brunette doesn't seem to linger on the topic. In fact, he grins again, cheerful expression taking his face, "Wanna go get something to eat? I reckon they won't be back for hours now."

This time, with his newfound sympathy, Yoongi gives a shrug that serves as an affirmative (he doesn't want to seem too eager and potentially encourage others). This time, Taehyung's smile doesn't fall.

"So, what's your name, Crow?"

"Yoongi ― I'm a knight."

"Hey, me too! Or, at least, I was." The implication that his title was stripped with his wings hangs heavily in his air, but it isn't touched. "Pretty boring job, though. All I got to do was stand around all day; this is way more fun." The magpie just hums in response. "I have a better idea: instead, how about we go get lunch, get it to go, and then go check out the markets. It's outside the palace wall, but I've heard they're good. Never been able to go myself though."

"That sounds good."

There's a sparkle in the younger's eyes and his smile looks as though it's ready to split his face in two when he responds with, "Great!"