It was no secret that the King and Queen were rushing the marriage between Eunbin and Taehyung immensely. Why, no one knew for sure.

And just like that, the whole palace was busy working again. Buttercream cakes in all shapes of sizes were skillfully made in the kitchen, a heated debate going on about the colour scheme, pastel pink or pale gold. Eventually, pastel pink was chosen since it was viewed as a more 'romantic' colour and therefore, more fitting for a happy royal wedding.

Jungkook and Jimin were needed in the kitchen nearly every day, Jungkook having developed quite a skill for catering, now that he watched the other servants do it an abundance of times. However, there was no point denying that he didn't get to spend as much time with Taehyung as usual, which made him a bit sad.

Overall, things got better for him and he didn't sneak out at night to overthink his situation and cry about it. Why, he wasn't sure. Because it did annoy him that Taehyung was getting married.
And he wasn't dumb, he knew exactly why that was.

He had had crushes before. Tiny, stupid little teenage crushes that nearly everyone had. Seeing someone walk along the hallway, feeling his heart race as he imagined himself walking alongside the attractive (in his case) boy. Internally slapping himself for getting such embarrassing thoughts. Of course, he had felt it all.

Truthfully, none of his crushes had anything much in common. Some of them had been shy and quiet, some of them stubborn and outspoken, some of them shorter, some of them taller, some of them rich and poor. He never had many standards, he just felt pulled towards individuals that felt... compatible.
Adding to that, he never felt those crushes develop into anything that he would consider serious. This led to him never having professed his liking to anyone.

He had never actually thought of being in a relationship before. Why would he, he was just a high school student trying to have fun and live with as few rules as possible. Why would you like being bound to another person when you could be free with lots of possibilities and lots of other people to find attractive?
However, he felt that now, his viewpoint had changed a little.

He had no idea why. Spending so much time with Taehyung, he had really grown to care for him as a friend. But then, why did their connection feel so different from all his other friends?

Of course, Yoongi and Yugyeom were very different from Taehyung and so was the way he acted with them. Or the way they acted with him. There were things Taehyung did that particularly caught his attention, especially lately.

He seemed to blush and retreat when Jungkook came physically close. Maybe he was just shy when it came to physical contact in general. But he wasn't like that when Jimin stood in close proximity to him, styled his hair and even helped him change clothes.
So was Jungkook somehow special? Or was Taehyung just not used to his presence? But he must be, right?

Jungkook spent a lot of time speculating and overthinking about this. There was no way Taehyung had a... crush on him, right?
It wasn't like he could just go up to him and talk to him about this. Taehyung surely wouldn't know what a crush felt like.

There was also something else he had to consider. Say, purely hypothetically, what would happen if Taehyung did have a crush on him?
Not as in what would happen to the kingdom, princess Eunbin and the King and Queen, no, how would Jungkook feel about this?

The brunette had come to the shocking realization that he wasn't opposed to the idea of the prince having a crush on him. In fact... he'd find it cute.

But why? Was he a sadistic jerk who took pleasure in breaking people's hearts by playing with their feelings and then abandoning them?
He knew he wasn't, he was better than that!
So did he actually like Taehyung?

This particular question, he probably spent his most thoughts on. He imagined what it would be like to be in a relationship with the other boy. There would probably be a lot of book-reading and talking about how to interpret them. Taehyung would also be very interested in biology and medicine, he would love telling his partner about different healing methods and how to prevent sickness.

He would also spend a lot of time in nature, probably riding horses or sitting in pretty garden pavillions. He would probably like having fluffy pancakes for breakfast, with strawberries and blueberries. Oh no, was he getting carried away?

Jungkook really didn't know what he was currently feeling, seeing the pretty wedding decorations and the light pink flowers everywhere aswell as pink crystals making the rooms glitter even prettier than usual. Was he starting to fall for a betrothed person? What if he had completely misunderstood and Taehyung didn't feel anything at all, and his delusions were making him crush on the older?

In his current situation, the blue-haired boy was the only person he could trust and confide in. He knew they needed each other, it was just unclear in what way they needed each other.
Or was it actually clear and Jungkook was just being stupid?

"You appear very sunk in thought," the prince remarked the other day, observing a very conflicted-looking Jungkook as the two of them stood in the horse stables feeding the royal horses. The brunette smiled apologetically, watching Roseanne munch on some sugar cubes happily, her absolute favourite.

"Sorry. I shouldn't be the one thinking so much, you're the one getting married, not me." Taehyung shrugged.
"I actually appreciate it. You thinking about my marriage and about me. It makes me feel very... warm inside." His cheeks slightly flamed up. He only meant this in a completely innocent, friendly way!

Meanwhile, Jungkook's confusion could only grow. Warm inside? His heart started beating faster. "W-Well... I'm sorry you have to go through this. I wish you wouldn't have to be married." He widened his eyes.
"Because I know you'd be unhappy!"

Taehyung sighed while taking another sugar cube out of his pocket. This was something he did every Sunday, when they had sugar with their breakfast tea. Sneaking out a bunch of sugar cubes to feed them to his precious horses.
"A very big part of me does not even know that this is reality yet. And it will keep denying it until I stand on the altar and we are forced to exchange forced wedding vows."

He widened his eyes as Jungkook took his hand full of sugar cubes to collect a few of them and also feed them to the apparently still hungry Roseanne. Their eyes met and an awkward silence formed between them. And Jungkook's hand was warm, very warm.
The prince knew, no interaction with Eunbin could make him feel these things. Panic, embarrassment, happiness, dizziness, shyness. All at once.

Feeling overwhelmed, he kept his head down and watched Roseanne munch her sugar cubes as if it were the most interesting thing in the world instead. The other noted this gesture and added it to his "Could Taehyung theoretically like-like me?"-list inside his head. After all, he was only speculating. But subconsciously, he couldn't help but smile. Why did he care so much again?

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Just know that I'll be with you every step along the way. No matter what happens or what you decide to do. Even after the marriage." Taehyung, who had just wanted to refill his dear horse's water bucket to make sure she was hydrated after all those sugar cubes, was a little caught off guard. So caught off guard that he didn't see the little puddle on the floor right below him and slipped on it.

Today was definetely not his day. Due to his feet slipping, the prince lost balance and threatened to fall, all the way on the hard ground.

It was only too lucky that Jungkook had been able to anticipate this happening and had reflexes quick enough to prevent him from hitting the ground, by catching him and wrapping his arms around him and pulling him close to himself. And maybe he should not have done that.

The tension was now extremely thick, both of them seemed to be malfunctioning and the only thing they could do was stare at each other with round eyes and cheeks dusted in a deep red out of pure embarrassment. For a minute or so, Jungkook completely forgot to let go of the other.

When he did, he gasped a little and lifted Taehyung up properly, carefully letting go of him and taking a step back in panic. "Umm... yeah. Be careful." Not knowing if it was safer to look at Taehyung or Roseanne, who was curiously observing them with an almost judgy gaze, he fled the stable with a little bow, hoping that Jimin was not currently searching for them.
Why was he panicking so much? And why was he running? This was very unlike him.

Meanwhile, Taehyung couldn't help but clutch his chest, feeling its contents make quite an agitated fuss and his heart flutter like a wild bird's wings. "What is happening?," he whispered in shock, wondering if he had a disease that would make his blood circulation malfunction every time Jungkook was near.

"I think I am turning mad," he murmured to no one in particular, though his horses seemed to be listening very attentively.

All of a sudden, he ran towards Roseanne and threw his arms around her neck, burying his head in her mane which she answered with an affectionate snort.
"Goodness, why do I feel so embarrassed?"

Could this perhaps be love? Or was it just madness?

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

(A/N: omfg finallyyyy i updated this book too XD tysm for 10k reads by the way i can't believe it🥺🥺

i have my biology exam about cytology and proteins and shit tomorrow so i'm definetely not looking forward for tomorrow lmao but at least i can say i kinda did my best🤷🏻‍♀️

thank you very much for reading (it was a short one but the next one will be interesting ig) and i'm sorry for taking so long sometimes, i love you lots and i'll see you soon💜💜🥰)