THE RAVEN KING, yoonkook

chapter xix: confessing

Jungkook hopes heaven is a giant bed. Because, when he's resurrected, there's nothing he wants more than to curl up within his blankets and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist. If heaven isn't a giant bed, he's been ripped off.

Unfortunately he hasn't been allowed to entirely forget the world, as Yoongi sits only a few metres away on the bedside seat. He hasn't said much—or made any loud noises at all, for that matter—but the king is very aware that he's there. There's a tingling down his neck, like he knows that the guard is staring at his mound beneath the doona. It goes away every so often, but always returns, never quite giving him peace. He figures it must also be terribly boring for the guard, to have to sit there doing absolutely nothing but watch a bed. So, after succumbing to his guilt, the raven pulls the blanket from his head and sits up.

Yoongi is sitting rather contentedly within his chair, reading a book he must have found on the table beside him. In fact, the way he glances up in slight surprise suggests he mhad barely been paying attention to Jungkook. The boy had emerged for nothing.

"What's up?"

"Nothing." Jungkook groans as he lowers his head back down on the pillow. He blinks his eyes slowly, rubbing them. "I was more wondering what you were doing."

"Just reading. You have a large collection." The king nods. The books aren't his, though; his father had been an avid reader and collected books from all around the place. Jungkook had kept them out of memory, rather than a desire to read them. In fact, he's barely read any. "Sorry, if I touched anything I shouldn't have."

"It's fine. Read as much as you want—anything you want." This seems to please the older male, as it makes him smile quite widely as he gazes around the bookshelves. Jungkook watches him for a few moments, admiring the way the sun makes his wings and hair shine and glows against his skin. He then grumbles again, rolling over. "Come sit with me. Or lie. Just come over to the bed."

Yoongi obliges, regardless of whether he wants to or not, and sits awkwardly at the edge of the bed. The raven stares at him for a few seconds, frowning slightly.

"Sit closer. You're making me feel awkward with the way you're sitting." The crow pulls his shoes off and sits properly on the bed, while still keeping a bit of distance from the king. However, despite the size of the bed, the tips of their wings still brush against each other (especially when Jungkook purposefully stretches his wings out a little further). "Let's chat."

"About what?"

Jungkook shrugs, "Anything. I need to know stuff about you, know what I'm getting into." The knight frowns slightly, as though he doesn't understand. When no flash of comprehension is evident on Yoongi's face, the younger begins to worry he really doesn't understand. "If we get married?"

"Oh... Yeah." He blinks. Then there's a change in his expression: a small smile slowly returns back to his lips, the confusion vanishes almost completely. "What do you want to know?"

"Not sure. What do you like? Why did you become a knight? What are your parents like? Where did you come from before this? Stuff like that."

Yoongi nods slowly and stays quiet, thinking. This goes on for a few more seconds. And another couple of seconds. Far longer than Jungkook would have thought needed.

"I like... books." The crow eventually says as he looks around the room. "I didn't realise I did, but I do. They're entertaining, like happy little worlds where you can ignore real life for a little bit. I also like—oh! Dancing is a lot more fun than I thought too. And I do like your beds."

Jungkook can't help but chuckle at this, covering his wide smile with his hand. "These are all things that you've had here. What about before?"

The silence returns.

"I liked walking around the markets, checking out the wares. And... running."

"Running?" Yoongi nods. "You don't look much like a runner."

"You'd be surprised..." The smile curls against the edge of the older male's lips again. "Okay, you also wanted to know why I wanted to be a knight and about my parents. I can answer both of them at once."

"Really?"

"Mhmm. See, I never knew my mum. I don't know what happened to her, but whatever it was it happened when I was a small chick–"

"Wait, but you said she loved dancing."

"I lied." Yoongi confesses, looking genuinely remorseful. "It seemed easier than explaining the truth, and I honestly never thought I'd get this far."

"It's okay." Jungkook smiles as he places a hand on the older's arm, quietening his rambling. "I understand."

"Good. I'm glad. Now anyway, I was raised by my father and only my father. And he..." Yoongi falls silent, a glazed look taking his eyes. This lasts few seconds before he snaps back to Jungkook, uncomfortable smile on his lips. "He was a bad man. Eventually, he angered the wrong person and... they killed him. But I decided, after that, I had to protect people from other bad men. And I became a knight."

For a few moments, Jungkook is speechless. He reaches out, takes the older male's hand and gives it a comforting squeeze. Yoongi's expression grows vacant again, possibly reliving the past, and the king forces himself to say something to help the crow escape back to the present.

"I'm sorry." That sounds insincere. "Really."

"It's okay—character building." And then Jungkook rolls over, overwhelmed by his sympathy, and hugs the knight. There's a moment where the older male does nothing to respond. But then a pair of arms slowly wrap around the king's small frame and rest just below his wings.

"I promise, if you marry me, you won't have to worry about those sort of things again. You'll be safe, trust me."

"Jungkook, I don't think– what about your other suitors?" Yoongi asks from where his head rests near Jungkook's shoulder. However, before the younger male can answer, a knock at the door interrupts them. The king rolls off of the crow and gets up to see who's there.

Yoongi sighs as he sits there, watching the raven leave, struggling with the newly emerged issue of being a suitor. It had never been a problem—an actual reality—when he'd believed the king to be dead before his eighteenth, or for him to be long gone. But now that he'd quit that job, he's actually in the running to marry the kid.

And he couldn't do that.

NOTE: and we have now hit phase 3 of Raven King