Jungkook was late. Taehyung had been waiting near Namjoon's medical center for over two hours now, but still there wasn't any sign of the younger. He knew Jungkook hadn't left yet, because the latter was aware that Taehyung will be accompanying him home today. Jungkook wouldn't just leave him there, Taehyung was sure of it.

After about another 10 minutes, Taehyung heard the sound of hurried footsteps. When he lifted his head, he was greeted with the sight of Jungkook, looking slightly troubled.

“Hi.” Taehyung said with a smile, but didn't get one back as he hoped.

“Did you wait for long?” Jungkook's voice sounded upset.

“It wasn't that-” Taehyung paused mid sentence, his eyes never leaving Jungkook's face. “It's okay, I don't mind.”

“Still, you should have just left.”

“I'm not gonna leave you, Kookie, just because you got a bit late. For you, I can wait till the end of days, if I had to.”

Jungkook tightened his lips and didn't answer. One thing he didn't like about this new development of their interactions, was Taehyung's blatant flirting. He would say ridiculously endearing stuff with zero shame, and Jungkook was having a hard time not letting his face react to it. He keeps his mouth shut, without really acknowledging them, but he can't exactly stop himself from getting red in the ears so he doesn't know how successful his attempts to appear nonchalant were.

They were walking down the road in silence, occasionally talking about something random. Earlier, Jungkook found this travel arrangement to be rather uncomfortable but now, he has started to like it. One could even say that he craves it, enough to miss it on the days Taehyung doesn't come.

Something was different today though, and after much contemplation, Jungkook decided to address it.

“No flowers for me today? Not that I want it.'' He was quick to reassure the other. “You don't have to bring me flowers everyday.”

Taehyung smiled a bit, for he had already noticed how Jungkook was stealing glances at him discreetly. “I did bring one, but it wilted with time. Unfortunately, today I have picked a flower that closes its petals the moment the sun goes down.”

Jungkook gave a nod in understanding. Namjoon had a patient today whose arm had gotten stuck under a tree he was cutting. The arm had fractured in several places and Namjoon had to spend a long time treating it. Which was why Jungkook got late as well. Luckily it was a full moon day so the roads were lightened up with moon light.

They walked in silence for a little while, before Taehyung noticed a group of men was walking towards them from a distance. By the way they were making a ruckus, pushing and pulling each other and laughing, it wasn't hard to tell that they were drunk. Taehyung and Jungkook were walking under the shade of a few big trees so the oncoming group hadn't noticed them yet.

Driven by a sudden impulse, Taehyung grabbed Jungkook by his wrist and pulled him behind a tree. The younger had his round eyes widened even more, as Taehyung pushed him against the tree trunk and stood in front of him.

“What-”

“Shhh..” Taehyung shushed while placing a palm over Jungkook's mouth. “Don't make a sound.”

Jungkook stared at the elder for a few seconds, before tapping the hand over his mouth. Taehyung, who seemed to have just realized where his hand was, quickly pulled it away as well.

“Sorry.”

Jungkook gave a quick nod, silently saying it was okay. He looked over his shoulder, to the direction Taehyung had his eyes focused all this while, and saw the group of men.

“Do you think they will cause trouble?” Jungkook asked in a quiet voice, making Taehyung look back at him.

“I'm not sure.” Taehyung answered in the same quiet voice. “But I'd rather not find out.”

They were silent for about a minute, while the group came closer to where they were standing.

“I can fight them, you know.” Jungkook said, making Taehyung look at him. “Bunch of drunkards are no match for me.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course.” Taehyung can almost hear the huff in the younger's voice. “I've been trained in all forms of combat for years.”

“I'm not doubting you, my prince. But how can you explain the skill? Common people don't have the luxury of training like that.”

“They seem too drunk to remember though.”

There were a few seconds of silence after that, which was broken by Taehyung.

“Are you that eager for a fight? Huh?” Taehyung raised one hand and placed his palm next to Jungkook's head and leaned forward a bit. “Never thought you'd be the kind for physical fights.”

“I'm not! But I'm no coward either.”

“It's not cowardice to avoid trouble, my prince. It's simply a survival skill.”

By then, the group was almost at the cluster of trees where Jungkook and Taehyung were hiding. But like Taehyung was hoping, the group didn't simply walk past them. No, they stopped as a few of them seemed to think that this was a good place to relieve themselves.

Jungkook grabbed Taehyung's hanbok from both sides, and pulled the elder flushed against his body, while moving around the tree trunk a little to stay out of sight of the three people who were peeing from a little distance from them. It was really a tight spot to hide because if they moved even a little to the other side, there was a chance of them being visible to the rest of the group.

Taehyung's breath hitched as Jungkook sneaked a hand over his waist, probably in an unconscious attempt to keep him out of sight. One of Taehyung's hands laid flat against the tree trunk, curled around Jungkook's head, while the other just hung down freely. He wanted to move it closer, and touch Jungkook, but he didn't have the courage. Being this close to hear Jungkook's heartbeat and the heat emitting from his body was enough to short-circuit the wires in Taehyung's brain. He wasn't even sure whether he was breathing.

Jungkook had his head turned away to the side, while tightly holding his hand around Taehyung's body. He could feel Taehyung's warm puffs of breath hitting the side of his neck, as well as the slight tremor in his body. With the irregular way Taehyung was breathing, Jungkook knew that the elder was just as affected as he was by their proximity. 

They had to stay like that for a few minutes, but it did seem like an eternity to both of them. Once the drunkards were out of sight, Taehyung moved away, and took a few steps to create a little distance between them.

“Uhh..” Taehyung scratched his nape, avoiding eye contact with Jungkook. “We should go.”

Jungkook had to clear his throat, because the sound refused to come out at the first attempt. “Y-yeah.”

They walked the rest of the way in utter silence. Both were too mortified to say anything anyway.

Once they reached Jungkook's house, they could see Jimin pacing back and forth in front of it. Obviously, not in a good mood.

“Where the hell were you two?!” Jimin yelled as soon as he saw the duo. “Do you have any idea how worried I was?”

Jungkook didn't say anything and simply walked past Jimin. For a second or two, Jimin just stood there, for it was the first time ever that Jungkook completely ignored him. Even when he was angry, Jungkook would pause to acknowledge the guard. It was very strange that the prince avoided Jimin's eyes.

After the initial shock, Jimin turned to Taehyung.

“You!” Jimin's eyes were blazing with fire. “What the fuck did you do?!”

“Nothing.” Taehyung waved his hands and backed away a bit. “I didn't do anything!”

“Don't lie to me!” Jimin sneered. “I swear to God, Taehyung, if you even think about hurting him again, I will kill you myself. And I promise it won't be pretty.”

“Geez! Calm down, man. Nothing happened. He was late to finish work and we encountered some drunk idiots on the way. We waited until they passed and came. I swear.”

Jimin had a frown on his face, when Taehyung finished with his explanation. “Did a fight break out? Did he lose? Is that why he's upset?”

“No no. We didn't engage at all. We stayed out of their sight till they passed.” Taehyung assured, a little relaxed now that he knows Jimin won't kill him this instant. “He's upset? I sort of convinced him to hide, instead of fighting. Would that make him upset?”

Jimin frowned even more. Jungkook would always try to avoid physical confrontations, mostly because he knows his opponent is at a disadvantage. Jimin can count with one hand the total number of times Jungkook participated in an actual fight. So he knew it's not that.

Jimin gave another look to Taehyung, before turning around and walking into the house. The slamming door was a good enough message for Taehyung to know that it was time for him to go home.