Chapter Text
“P-prince Jimin is arri–”
“Mother!” Jimin exclaims as he bursts through the door of the throne room. He walks in with just his pajamas on, the matching silky blue material with small white polka dots shimmering slightly in the early morning sunlight, which shined through the high glass windows. Jimin marches on, not caring about the royal attendants, servants, nor the villagers that are in the room as well. “What is this I’m hearing,” he continues, “I’m getting engaged?!”
“Oh, so you’ve heard,” his mother replies calmly while flicking her wrist to everyone in dismissal. The room cleared quickly, knowing the prince’s temper can get quite volatile. His mother is used to it though, seeing as he got it from his father.
Jimin walks closer to his mother, who is sitting properly on her throne a little left to the center of the king’s throne, wearing a red, full draped sleeved, off-the-shoulder, velvet dress with gold embellishments and matching belt, complete with a tall, thin, gold crown on her head. The throne next to her is empty, as the king has travelled to another fairy kingdom.
“Is that why father isn’t here? To go pick up a bride or groom for me? Of which I never asked for?!”
“Well we both knew you’d never ask,” she stated diplomatically, “so he went and arranged it. And I agreed with him for once, Jimin. It’s time for you to get married so you can carry out the duties of a prince more… princely.”
“I’m the one and only son to a king and queen of a kingdom and I’m a fairy of silver, how much more princely can I get?” Jimin huffed with an eye roll to match.
“Exactly,” his mother soothed, “you’re our only son. And so… well you know where this is going, right?”
Of course he knows. He’s known this day would come ever since he turned 20. He’s been avoiding it for 3 years somehow by saying he’s too young, too busy, too much to handle and not mature enough. But marriage is a big step, one that goes in the wrong direction in Jimin’s eyes. Ever since he learned about his fairy powers to control silver as a child, and about how much divide there was in their kingdom in terms of wealth, he had started making plans as to what he’d do to fix it as king. Marriage never made it in that plan and if it does, like it is now, things will either slow down to a stop, or take a turn for the worse.
“I’m not ready yet mother. I’ve been thinking of my life ahead of me and there’s still so much I want and need to do. I can’t let myself settle into something ridiculous like marriage!”
“Jimin you can still do all you want, just with a partner by your side. And they’ll be good! Your father is indeed picking one up for you and he, as you know, does have excellent taste,” his mother chuckles as she flicks a lock of hair back.
Jimin doesn’t take her attempt at humor because he’s too busy trying to think of a way out of all of this. But then there’s a knock on the door and they both turn to look at the attendant who is already bowing and saying, “the villagers refuse to leave until they have finished conversing with you. It seems they have a train waiting for them that they cannot afford to miss.”
“Ah yes,” his mother straightens up again, “the trains don’t come often for their Sub-Sector. Send them back in.” She doesn’t turn to Jimin but gives a side glance while addressing him. “Jimin, there will be no further discussion about this.” She looks away and Jimin knows he’s been dismissed. He tries to hold his stare but eventually looks down to stare at his feet in defeat when the villagers begin filing in again. With a clenched jaw, he begins to turn and make his way back to his room but as he lifts his head, he spots a familiar set of shoulders accompanied by an even more familiar fur coat.
Jimin suddenly has a way out of this.
#####
Flashback
Jungkook is running. He’s not out of breath yet because he’s done this before, running away from the trouble he’s caused. He doesn’t do it on purpose though. It’s not his fault that the horse he was hiding behind kicked part of a tent that came crashing down onto the cabbage stall. Or maybe it was, since he was hiding with bags of stolen garlic and onions, which may have tickled the horse’s nose. Jungkook can’t control scents of vegetables, only the flowers that he grows. Either way, Jungkook still had to keep running since he was being chased by that bratty old woman who’s too selfish to share from her garden. Well, more like the bratty old woman’s son who can actually keep up with Jungkook. But not enough. Jungkook runs into Khullar, the market which is always bustling with traders and merchants and beggars and pretentious men and women vying for attention that will lead them nowhere. Just the average hustle and bustle, but also the perfect crowd to get lost in. Jungkook turns back occasionally to check if he can still see the young man with a horrible buzz cut still chasing him.
“Has that fucker been practicing? Why haven’t I lost him yet, sheesh,” Jungkook pants slightly. He takes a sharp right to the edge of Khullar, nearing the forests. Yes, soil. I can grow a rose bush and hide there. He enters the woods as quietly as he can and finds a clearing easily. The forest is dying slowly and there aren’t enough wood fairies left to replenish what the Capital Sector has taken and used. He slowly focuses on one spot in the soil and in seconds, a sprout begins to form. Within 20 more seconds, the rose bush has grown to 3 ft tall and Jungkook can crouch behind it enough to hide once more. He peeks through the branches to see if buzzcut is still following. He sees him come toward the edge of the forest, pause, squint, and then turn to rush back into the crowd. Just to be safe, Jungkook waits it out for a few more minutes while checking to see if any onions or bulbs of garlic had fallen out when one onion managed to escape. “Get back here you little son of a–”
A hoof comes crashing down onto the onion, squashing it to an inedible state. Jungkook backs up abruptly, falling on his ass, palms stinging from falling onto the gritty soil. And looks to see where the fuck that horse had come from and “why the fuck did you let your horse do that?!”
“Excuse me?” he heard a strong but melodic voice say. For some reason, Jungkook felt like the harshness from it was too forced, it wasn’t suited for shouting, but for lullabies. “First of all, watch your language. Secondly, you’re the one who’s stealing, I’m assuming. That’s not right.”
“It’s also not right to assume, don’t ya think? What if I was stealing them back?” Jungkook shoots back as he begins to stand up and dust off his ratty pants and sweater. He gathers the sack with the stolen vegetables and looks at the horse rider. He was wearing a thick fur coat with a hood that covered his hair and a white veil-like fabric covering every part of his face except his sharp, dark brown eyes. The rider leaves his coat on the saddle, gracefully leaps off of the horse, and approaches Jungkook quickly, as if–
“Hey, don’t steal my onions and garlic, I need that shit!”
“Oh? But what if I’m stealing it back? Since you obviously were running and hiding from someone that you stole from FIRST!”
The masked horseman lunges for the sack again but Jungkook quickly dodges the hand. He knows he should run again. He certainly has the stamina for it. Maybe not enough to outrun a horse though. “Ok wait!” Jungkook shouts after just barely dodging a third attempt, using the few inches of height to his advantage.
“…Waiting.”
“How about a trade? I’ll give you half of whatever’s in this sack if you give me that coat.”
“Oh, is it because you only stole half? No, I’m taking the whole thing. I don’t care if you need it, whoever you stole it from probably needs it more.”
“So, I can take the coat?” he perked up with his eyes widening exaggeratedly.
“You can take your head out of your imagination. You won’t be keeping EITHER!”
A switch in positions and now Jungkook is in between the horse and its rider. “Ya know, you really gotta stop attacking at the end of your sentences, it’s getting predictable.” He hears a huff and then, seemingly out of nowhere, the masked rider was to the side of him, kicking off of the edge of the saddle, and swinging up and over, swiping the sack out of Jungkook’s raised hands.
The rider triumphantly swings the sack around, wearing the smuggest grin that said I told you so. The smug remained as the roles were reversed and Jungkook was the one reaching for the sack, failing every time because the other would somehow step out of his line of sight. Fuck, I don’t have time for this bullshit. Jungkook pretends to trip and falls at the rider’s feet, grabbing onto an ankle.
Hook.
Jungkook sighs at the ground, huffs, sniffles, and chokes on a fake cry. He looks up to see the shining amusement in the others’ eyes is gone and replaced with worry.
Line.
“P-Please, I really, really need it. It’s not just for me b-but my family. There’s 5 of us and the air is too harsh for the three youngest ones to go and get food and I’m the only one. We were running low a-and I’ve never stolen anything before I-I was just desperate. I didn’t know what to do. I–”
“Hey it’s- it’s ok, it’s fine, I see.” The rider sets down the sack and crouches down as well, urging Jungkook to kneel instead of flat on the ground. “I guess you do need it more. I understand what desperation can do to someone. I also understand that it’s not your fault. I’m sorry, I should have realized earlier.”
“Yeah, there’s a lot of things you should have realized.” Jungkook’s eyes flick up with sadness that he blinks away in an instant with a small smile on his face.
“Wha–”
Sinker.
Jungkook snatches the sack away from the other and begins to stand up and walk back to the horse. When the rider tries to do the same, his foot gets caught in the branches that Jungkook had formed and twisted around his ankles. He’s stuck, so Jungkook takes the coat and his chance, and runs with it, literally. He runs further into the forest and along the small stream when suddenly the sack in his hands gets lighter and lighter until it feels empty. Because it is. There’s a large, straight cut slicing open the bottom of the sack, allowing all the garlic and onions to roll out and into the stream, floating further and further away.
Sinker part 2.
Jungkook stops in his tracks, a shocked look on his face as he turns around to see the rider still caught in Jungkook’s trap, but in a position as if he’s thrown something. So he can do flips and has bronze fairy-level knife throwing skills? What the fuck? Jungkook ditches the sack and continues to run away, not noticing the porcelain dagger stuck in a tree stump just ahead of him. He’ll just have to go back to the bratty old lady’s garden at night instead.
#####
I can’t believe I fell for his sob story. My heart is just too big sometimes. Jimin has summoned his dagger back into his hands and is cutting away at the branches around his ankles. The thief was clever, agile, and unnecessarily dramatic. All signs of a person who has done this many times. And has gotten away with it too. He huffs again as the last branch is cut and frees him. His dagger is a porcelain one, but just as an outer casing. Inside, it has silver that Jimin can control with practiced ease. He hides it to not let people know he’s a fairy of silver. His kind are rare and if anyone figured it out, he’d be in big trouble. One, for leaving the palace and two, for meddling around in affairs in which he, technically, has no jurisdiction over. Yet.
This isn’t the first time he’s snuck out of the Capitol Sector where he lives. He likes exploring all 3 Sectors, which are set up as concentric circles, without the gaze of his subjects being on him as a prince. Hence the mask and a standard black fur coat that he asked for, to look as common as possible. Ugh, I have to ask for another coat now, that’ll be a hassle. It’s not that he doesn’t have other coats, it’s just that they are all very royal and shiny and, well, wealthy looking.
Technically he could have his stylist Taehyung make coats for each Sector that he goes to. One for the Capitol, all structured and decked out in jewels for the fairies of expensive stone, metals, and light energy. One for the Mid-Sector, where the fabrics are rich in comfort, seeing as mostly water, rain, and ice fairies live there. They make clothes that are easy to move and sleep in (that’s where his pajamas are from). And lastly is the Outer-Sector, where fairies of wood and fire reside. Because of the scarcity of resources there, there’s oftentimes clashes between villages, resulting in wood being destroyed and fire being wiped out by the air fairies. Though recently, the fire hasn’t been put out as quickly since the air fairies have been recruited to clean the air of the Mid and Capitol Sectors. The fairies of iron mainly made factories to produce goods for its people, thus the pollution was bound to occur. There aren’t any factories in the Outer-Sector, so the fumes and smoke are all just pushed out from the inner circle. Jimin has been researching to find a way to get that under control. He’s working with his palace scientists Namjoon and Yoongi to figure out a more efficient and less harmful way to produce these goods. There’s so much work to be done. I should head back, no more exploring. And so Jimin mounts his horse again, with a scowl on his face as memories of the bunny smile and long arms occasionally interrupt his thoughts.
End of flashback.
#####
Jungkook would recognize that voice anywhere. He’s been thinking about it for 2 fucking months, albeit unwillingly. Along with the mischievous eyes and the confident stance of a person who is used to getting everything he wants. No wonder. The same harshness he heard all that time ago doesn’t seem so forced anymore, and rings out into the throne room. Jungkook was standing with his mother and a few other villagers, including the bratty old woman, to discuss the food shortages and the way the fire fairies have been hoarding supplies. As he was being herded out of the room, he ducked to make himself less noticeable to the horse rider which he now knows to be the damn prince. It's good he was able to leave the room so he can gather his thoughts, which were just repeats of what the fuck.
His ma looked at him with furrowed brows. “Hon what’s got you sweatin’?” She puts the back of her hand to Jungkook’s forehead asking if he was feeling alright. He brushed it off with a strained smile telling her everything is fine. Even though it’s not. What if the prince recognizes me, and still hates me for what I did and orders for me to be arrested! Or worse, hanged!
The fear that was bubbling in him is interrupted by another shout from the prince. He knows he shouldn’t, but he leans on the door to listen in anyway. He needs to know if he’s been spotted and made the prince’s temper rise or not.
“...And I agreed with him for once, Jimin. It’s time for you to get married so you can carry out the duties of a prince more… princely.”
“I’m the one and only son to a king and queen of a kingdom and I’m a fairy of silver, how much more princely can I get?” he heard the prince huff. Jungkook can practically see the eye roll through the door. What a fuckin brat.
“Exactly,” The queen soothed, “you’re our only son. And so… well you know where this is going, right?”
“I’m not ready yet mother. I’ve been thinking of my life ahead of me and there’s still so much I want and need to do. I can’t let myself settle into something ridiculous like marriage!”
Jungkook begins to pull away from the door wondering why the prince doesn’t want to get married. Wouldn’t that speed up the process of him being king? It would help him since he’s so eager to deliver justice, even if it’s just about a sack of stolen vegetables. Jungkook thinks back to his fight with the prince with a scowl, which quickly morphs into a face of fear because holy shit I had a fight with the prince. He was startled out of his thoughts as the doors began opening again. He walked low again and saw the prince turn to leave with a little bounce in his step. He probably weaseled his way out of it and got what he wanted. The meeting with the queen finishes quickly after a promise to handle the situation in the best way possible. Which is rich folk talk for ‘it’s not our priority, but we’re gonna pretend it is just to shut you up for a while.’ Once again they are all herded out of the throne room when Jungkook feels a sharp tug on his arm and suddenly he’s in a narrow hallway standing in front of none other than–
“Holy shit you’re the prince.” Prince Jimin shushes him with a finger to those plush lips, sheesh how can lips look li–
“How many times must I tell you to watch your language? And yes, I'm the prince we all understand. Listen, I need you to do something for me,” the prince hurriedly says.
“Me? Why? I mean, I’d be happy to do anything for the prince! Whatever you ask, I’ll do it just please don’t throw me in jail, I’m sorry for stealing but I can’t go to jail, I’m too young, I’m–”
“Hey, get a hold of yourself, you’re not going to be arrested, you’re going to be my boyfriend.”