The King Likes Men

•72•

Six months. Six months have passed since Seokjin was announced the winner. Six months since the other candidates had been sent home. Six months since Taehyung last saw or even spoke to Seokjin after saying goodbye at the palace gates.

Tae isn't necesarily angry of the fact that he and Seokjin hadn't kept in touch. If anything it was Tae who didn't reply back to when his brother messaged him, nor did he answer his calls. It was nothing personal, but Taehyung felt that he needed to distance himself a bit from his hyung, more due to the fact that he was trying hard not to depend on others so much. He was sure that hearing his hyung's voice again would make him miss him and want him back.

There was no avoiding his hyung today, however. And at least, today, Taehyung felt he was ready.

The door clicks and Jimin steps into the living room, dressed in a finely pressed black suit and tie with his now blonde hair slicked back out of his face. Taehyung grins at him when he sees him.

"It fits," Tae comments, himself in a similar black suit, blonde hair now gone and replaced with a light brown, styled into his usual bowl-cut.

Jimin looks at himself in the mirror and nods. He had been worried the suit wouldn't fit since he was a tad bit chubbier now, Taehyung had assured him he would look fine.

Both of them had gotten their GEDs over the last six months. With the ways the competition had ended, Taehyung and Hoseok had decided it was best that Jimin didn't go to school. Mostly due to the way people would talk about him, especially after seeing his father slap him on live TV.

Taehyung had gone back to school for a few days but decided not to go back. Too many people approached him with a hidden agenda, many asking for information about the competition, others asking if he was going to also live in the palace, some asking what his brother did to win when clearly others "deserved it more".

Yeah, he wasn't going to stay around to hear a bunch of people talk smack about his hyung like that.

Luckily for him, he and Jimin were good students, so passing the GED tests was easy. The palace had even been the one to pay for everything considering that it was the competition's fault that they missed so many classes.

Another thing he got asked a lot. Why didn't he stay in the palace with Jin? Tae thought it was obvious enough. Being the brother of the king's fiancé, of course he was offered to stay at the palace. But no. Taehyung knew where he was needed.

Jimin needed a lot of support when he had woken up. He had been so ashamed when he had finally gained conscious and realized that his plan to die had failed. Guilt consumed him when he realized Taehyung was staying by his side. No matter how many times he tried pushing him away and telling him to just leave him, to let him die. Taehyung didn't.

"I'll help you," Taehyung had told him. "I'll help you through this. I can't fix this, but I'll support you. Because you're too young to let the world break you."

Despite the way he showed it, Taehyung knew Jimin loved him. You know you really love someone when you don't hate them for breaking your heart. Jimin could never bring himself to hate Taehyung despite the times Taehyung had rejected him. The pain was always there, but there was never hate.

For a while, Jimin avoided him, tried to get him to leave. After a while, he simply accepted that there was no way that Taehyung and Hoseok were going to leave him alone. Taehyung considers this a good thing, takes it as a step forward. Progress.

A car honks outside. Both males grab their phones and wallets and head on out to where Hoseok is waiting for them in the car, dressed elegantly in all black. "Ready?" he smiles when they get into the car, both boys nodding.