Chapter Text
six years ago
"never forget your heritage." daniel tells him. "and your duty to your parents."
not my parents, seokjin thinks rebelliously. the lack of answer from him results in a strike across the face.
"answer me." his father's voice remains the same, neutral and controlled. seokjin can see jasper, all lanky and scrawny and awkward in his own body. he was ten, after all. he's hiding behind a pillar, looking at them. before seokjin can open his mouth, jasper runs forward and hugs him tight.
"jasper!" daniel reprimands but his dark mood has dissipated in front of his favourite son.
"promise you'll come back." jasper looks up at him with those watery blue eyes that he once envied.
"of course i will." seokjin answers, but it sounds odd, and unsteady to him. jasper's eyes narrow, and he flees.
now
"morning hyung." jungkook tells him warily as he edges around him to grab his cup of coffee.
"good morning." seokjin replies absently, flipping a pancake.
"jimin didn't go out today?" seokjin asks him and jungkook shrugs.
"i bunked with hoseok-hyung last night, and jimin never went out." he answers, taking a sip. seokjin hums vaguely. the other boys trickle down slowly and equally as wary as jungkook did, like they are encountering the scene of some epic battle. judging by the way they walk, seokjin imagines live landmines hidden under the top layer of the floor. he chuckles, but it dies in his throat when namjoon appears at the landing, thudding down slowly.
"good morning." namjoon says and looks around, eyes drifting before landing on seokjin.
"good morning." seokjin keeps his voice neutral, controlled. the boys echoes his greeting and settle in their seats. seokjin looks up at the clock.
"erm," hoseok rasies his hand and seokjin and namjoon look at him. he cowers a little. "could you two explain what happened last night?"
namjoon blinks.
"i mean," yoongi chips in. "as fellow fraternity members, we should know, right?" his voice dies off.
seokjin sighs. he had expected this, but the thought of confessing left him with a sense of awful, awful dread.
"who are you?" jungkook asks him a little fearfully, and seokjin sees another scared little boy in his eyes. yoongi is staring unabashedly at him from across the table. below, namjoon slides one hand over his and squeezes. seokjin jumps and looks up at namjoon.
"you should have told them a long time ago." namjoon says simply and the tension rises in the room.
seokjin sucks in a breath and turns to the boys. his boys.
"my name..." seokjin says, voice coming out in a harsh whisper. he clears his throat noisily and tries to focus.
"my english name," he repeats. jimin leans forward, and so does hoseok. they look like they're both waiting for a cruel shock, like a push in the back off a cliff. "is sebastian james bernadotte, and I am a prince of Scotland."
for one terrible second, everyone's breath stops. but yoongi laughs, a little hesitantly, a little brokenly.
"hyung." he whined slightly. "don't joke about these kinds of things. we just want to know what happened with you and namjoon last night, about why he was screaming about your family and stuff."
"that is the problem." seokjin says. "the royal family of Scotland is my family."
yoongi's mouth opens and closes, like some confused goldfish. taehyung is studying seokjin from across the table. jungkook looks at namjoon, then seokjin.
"it's true?" jungkook asks namjoon slowly, and he nods. seokjin fishes out his leather necklace and draws the heavy metal ring off the cord. he places it on the table, where it rolls to a stop with a light clang.
"look." he offers sadly. "it's the insignia. of the swedish royal family."
"oh, hyung." hoseok says and seokjin bows his head, ready for the anger. instead, an arm wraps gently over his shoulders and he shudders.
"i'm not," he swallows. "i don't..."
"seokjin's wanted to tell you lot for a long time." namjoon speaks up now, and everyone's head darts to his. "I first met him in new zealand. that was six years ago, and he only told me in the fourth year. it takes him long to trust people."
seokjin nods warily.
"but you don't look european. you look asian, just like the rest of us." taehyung says. "how could-"
"my father made love to my mother when he was three months into his marriage with Queen Caroline." seokjin cuts him off. "it was a major scandal, and my mother fled to korea. when i returned here, i took on my korean name."
"but i've called you seokjin all this while." namjoon interjects.
"i know." seokjin shrugs. "you were korean, and I didn't even think before I told you I was seokjin. it seemed right, somehow."
"so," jimin says. "when you say your family wants you to take a different major..." he trails off hestitantly.
"it's a royal order." seokjin says and quirks a sharp smile. "i can't go against it."
"unless." namjoon peeps up again. "unless we give them a better offer."
"what?" seokjin snaps, then tries to soften his voice as he sees namjoon flinch. "who told you that?"
"miss scotlynn did." namjoon says, sticking annoyingly to the formal title. seokjin pinches the bridge of his nose and yoongi holds out his hands.
"hold up." yoongi interupts. "who's scotlynn?"
"my sister on my father's side." seokjin explains absently.
"what are we going to do then?" jungkook asks.
"what?" seokjin echoes, before sharpening his voice to knives. "no, you lot are not getting involved in this."
"and namjoon can?" hoseok counters.
"hey!" namjoon yelps as five pairs of accusing eyes dart to his. then his hand darts to the buzzing phone in his pocket. he pulls it out and stares at it. then he picks him up.
"hi?" he says uncertainly into it, then his eyes flick over to seokjin's, which gives him all the indication he needs. seokjin bangs his head on the table and mutters a quick shit.
"okay." namjoon says into the phone and puts the touchscreen model down. he puts her on speaker.
"sebastian." scotlynn sings. "have you and joonie made up yet?"
"don't call me/him joonie." namjoon and seokjin say at the same time and they glance up at each other, then away.
"oh my." scotlynn giggles into the phone. "who are all these people at the table?"
"you can see us?" there's a note of incredulity in jimin's tone.
"of course I can, sweetheart." she replies, voice like dripping honey. "i'm special."
"cut the crap." seokjin spits into the phone. "these are my fraternity members, and they all know."
scotlynn makes a tsking noise into the phone.
"they all know." she mimicked. "please, don't make your life sound so odd."
seokjin snarls.
"touchy." she says and seokjin can see her face, smug and proud. he curls his hand into a fist.
"open the door, brother dearest. time for catch up." she says, and hangs up.