Much Needed Company

"Taehyungie…?" Prince Jimin croaked. He winced at his own voice and coughed a few times to relief his dry throat. He lazily rolled to the opposite side and chuckled when he saw Taehyung sitting cross-legged on the bed, shamelessly eyeing the packed food on the bedside table. The journey from his home must had tire him so much that the alluring and tempting smell of roasted mutton with thyme came from inside the tin-wrapped container was making his stomach grumbled and mouth drooled.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up, but is that for me?" Taehyung asked, eyes still squinting towards the packed food. Prince Jimin let out a blaring laugh before saying yes, the food was indeed for him. Even in the dark, Prince Jimin could see how Taehyung's eyes lit up as he yelled a 'Thank you, Jiminie!' and quickly grabbed the packed food and settled down on the carpeted floor. Prince Jimin got up and crawled to the edge of the bed to lay down on his stomach after he flicked on the night light switch right beside the wooden headboard of his bed. He watched Taehyung intently with a smile spreading across his face.

"Is it tasty? I think the chef cooked deliciously today. But I wasn't really in the mood so I couldn't eat much," Prince Jimin revealed. Taehyung swallowed a lump of mutton and paused eating. He turned his head to look at Prince Jimin sadly with his mouth slowly forming into a full pout.

"Are you hungry now? What happened? Did J-Hope resurface?" Prince Jimin shook his head. Taehyung hated it when these kinds of things happened. He knew how much his childhood friend used to struggle with eating disorder when his father— biological father, divorced his mother, Queen Adora. He tends to lose appetite every time he was feeling upset and unhappy. He slowly developed a disorder when that bitter feeling became more permanent in his life as he started to blame himself for his parents' divorce. But he managed to overcome it in a couple of years after he started living inside the castle. His whole life turned upside down. But his role and responsibility as the prince was a good distraction for him. At first, he was devastated because he had to separate with Taehyung but Seokjin helped him a lot by letting Taehyung snuck inside the castle once in a while. He was grateful of Prince Hoseok as well, his hyung was one of the main reasons why he learnt how to wear his beautiful, crescent-eyed smile again. So yeah, Taehyung hated it when his Jiminie was beginning to lose appetite once more.

Taehyung wasted no time in pulling Prince Jimin so that he was joining him on the floor. His mouth produced the buzzing sound of an airplane while he grabbed on a piece of mutton and made a flying motion with it, travelling from left to right through the air towards Prince Jimin's closed mouth. The prince giggled and nudged Taehyung's hand away. Taehyung brought up his other hand to squish Prince Jimin's chubby cheeks together with so much force that his mouth became slightly agape from the pressure. Taehyung took the opportunity to jab the mutton piece inside the prince's mouth, quickly closed it shut, hold onto the jaw and gritted through his teeth, "Eat and spill."

Prince Jimin couldn't stop himself from giggling while muttering an 'Alright, alright, I'm eating!' as he started to chew. They feed each other food for a while in silence. Prince Jimin was thankful of Taehyung because he was always there for him during his bad days. During that one time when he tried to converse with Hobi, he had put Hobi quite a bit on edge because he didn't know how to properly talk with him without being pushed away. Hobi had suddenly gotten very angry because Prince Jimin was forcing him to join dinner. J-Hope appeared not long after and shoved Prince Jimin so brutally that he stumbled and fell on his butt. J-Hope screamed all the mean words that Prince Jimin couldn't even imagine being spat out from his hyung's mouth and kicked him, literally, on the side of his small body. He crawled out from the bedroom, writhing in pain and calling for Yoongi. That was also the day Prince Jimin started to avoid Hobi, in fear of making him pissed again. Doctor Namjoon said there were no internal damage, only a few black bruises on the outside. The throbbing pain was there, but it couldn't compare to the ache he was feeling inside his heart. He didn't stop crying that night, even after Taehyung came, he was rocked to sleep by his childhood friend while the tears dried on his face. Taehyung caught a cold the next day because it was raining heavily when he was on his way to the castle. He would've ridden a taxi if there was one at that time. But he didn't care though, he only knew that he needed to be there for his Jiminie.

After they finished eating, they climbed back up to the bed and Prince Jimin began to tell the story of how his day went. Taehyung listened carefully to each and every detail. Every now and then a tear would roll down the prince's face and Taehyung would wipe it away before it reaches his jaw.

"Father missed today's dinner. We all sat in silence until I attempted to make jokes. Hoseok-hyung looked really sad so I tried to make sure Hobi doesn't appear. He laughed at my jokes so I guess there was one good thing that came from today," Prince Jimin flashed a vulnerable smile.

"You're the strongest, Jiminie. I don't know how you do it, you just are. I wouldn't be able to survive if I was put in your shoes," Taehyung consoled him, stroking and running his fingers through Prince Jimin's blonde hair. He scooted closer and pulled the prince into an embrace, giving him all the attention and affection that he could provide. They pulled away and Prince Jimin rested his head on Taehyung's lap. He felt calm and relaxed as the warmth of Taehyung began to engulf his whole being.

"I think Hoseok-hyung's DID has gotten worse. He used to be able to control his emotions quite well. But nowadays Hobi and J-Hope appear so much often than before," Prince Jimin explained.

"Have you told Doctor Namjoon about this?" Taehyung questioned.

"I did. He said that it was kind of normal for that to happen. Sometimes the split personalities will fight each other because they want to take control of the host. I'm still trying to figure what exactly had happened to Hoseok-hyung that he somehow developed DID at a young age but I don't know much about what went on inside the castle before father married my mom. Hyung's amnesia isn't helping either. But I think Yoongi knows something, though."

"If there is anyone who knows thoroughly about Prince Hoseok, it's Yoongi. He has been your hyung's personal bodyguard since before he was even born, he definitely knows something. Have you tried asking him?"

"Not really. Yoongi is very protective when it comes to hyung. I don't think he will just simply tell me about hyung's past." Prince Jimin did ask Seokjin, though. But he was a new employee being hired to become a personal bodyguard so he didn't know any better than the prince.

"I feel sorry for Prince Hoseok. He has amnesia, a short-term one at that. He has DID; a depressed Hobi and even worse with J-Hope because he has— What was it again?" Taehyung paused to try recalling the name of the illness.

"Congenital analgesia." It was a condition that Doctor Namjoon had confirmed J-Hope possessed because he couldn't feel any pain even when his hands were bloody and bruised up from all the punching and breaking things that he liked to do. It was never a problem for J-Hope, but it was for Prince Hoseok because he was the one who had to endure all the pain later. It was tiring for him, having to deal with the collateral damages J-Hope had caused.

"Sometimes I feel tired of life because I have to deal with Jungkook every single day, but then I remember what is happening to Prince Hoseok," Taehyung whined. Prince Jimin burst out a booming laugh at the mention of Jungkook.

"That guy really likes to tease you!"

"He's so annoying. I don't know what is wrong with him. He's younger but he likes to pick on me. We're not even that close!" Taehyung pouted. Jungkook was the guy who lived next door from Taehyung's house. He found joy in making Taehyung annoyed and irritated of his existence. He liked to sprinkle water on Taehyung's face whenever he had the chance, he liked to hide under Taehyung's bed and scare him to his bones, he liked to come over and nagged Taehyung to cook him meals. Jungkook was just naughty and he loved people giving him the attention, which was exactly what Taehyung did.

"Annoyingly cute! You're always complaining about him but you did things for him anyway. You cook for him, Taehyung!" Prince Jimin sat up, placed his hands on both of Taehyung's shoulders and shook the life out of him. "For God's sake, you never cook for anyone! Not even me!" Both of them convulsed and roared with laughter because they knew how much Taehyung's cooking skills sucked. Prince Jimin felt a weight being lifted off from his back. He decided that he would deal with his sadness later.

"I guess I am very fond of Jungkook. I think I just miss the times when we were younger. We were very playful and careless. But look at you now, a prince and what not. I'm so proud of you, my big baby Jiminie!" Taehyung flashed his boxy smile and Prince Jimin giggled at his silliness. They continued to laugh and laugh and laugh as the night went on. They both ended up falling asleep tangled up against each other with a light feeling inside their hearts.