Prettiest Lie - A Taekook Love Story.

20 - Best Voices Of The Country.

"Oh come on!! That's not fair!"

"You guys can't be serious!"

"You're putting us mortals against Gods!"

"You're kidding, right?!"

Soobin and Yeonjun had to cover their ears at the outburst and the complaints that were coming from all sides.

"Okay, okay, STOP!!" Yeonjun had to yell for his voice to be heard over the noise. "We get it!"

"You'd better." Jimin huffed as he waved a barbecue stick threateningly at Yeonjun. "Who the hell can compete against these two and hope to win?"

Everyone agreed loudly while the two in question looked away in apparent shyness.

It was late evening, everyone had freshened up and the barbecue party was in full swing. As usual, the organisers had yet another fun activity planned. This time, it was a singing competition. It was all well and fun, until the random lot draw put Jungkook and Sana in one group. That's when the chaos started.

After all, they aren't being dubbed as the hottest male and female idols of the country for nothing..

"How about this then?" Yeonjun raised his hand to silence the crowd. "Sana-ssi can join Taehyung-ssi's team. Would that be a fair pairing then?"

Few people spoke up in agreement to this idea but Jungkook's voice was able to cut above all of them.

"How about we don't have teams and just sing? I mean, everything doesn't have to be a competition right? Let's just all have fun. Together."

There was silence for a few minutes following that statement. Jungkook looked at everyone with a smile but Taehyung was the only one who knew it wasn't a genuine one. He has seen Jungkook smile enough and more times to notice that this smile wasn't reaching Jungkook's eyes.

Jungkook didn't actually care about competition or no competition. But the thought of Taehyung and Sana singing a damn duet didn't sit right with Jungkook at all. As far as talent is concerned, Taehyung wasn't that far behind either. It was not common knowledge but Taehyung can actually sing very well. Can play the guitar even better. Jungkook and Taehyung love to sing sweet ballads in the evening, in the safe haven of their apartment.

"That's a good idea actually." Hoseok's sudden voice was able to break the silent spell everyone was in. "I'll go first."

Half a minute into Hoseok's surprise performance, almost everyone was rolling on the grass, laughing. For one, Hoseok had picked a song with high notes and was making an absolute delight out of it. And for another, after the first two lines, Yoongi decided to join him too. Making the song a fun duet. Both were screaming by the top of their lungs, making the song much more hilarious than it needed to be.

(A/N - I had the Otsukare performance by Sope in mind when I wrote this. 🤭)

Hoseok has always had a great sense of humour and is genuinely a funny guy, but nobody could believe their intimidating and serious director could be such a goofball. They both lifted the atmosphere into such heights, that everyone was eager to join the fun.

After a while, things calmed down a bit. There were a few slow songs, upbeat songs with great dance moves and folk songs. Of course, the group didn't let Jungkook or Sana be without singing pop songs either. They sang a popular love duet also which brought out the dreamy feature in both their voices. The same feature that made them be at the top of their game, keeping the whole of Korea in awe.

But nothing prepared the group for the song that Jungkook sang with Taehyung. Their voices were so uniquely different, with Jungkook's angelic pure tenor voice and Taehyung's baritone, but it blended remarkably well together. In some parts, both voices overlapped so perfectly that it was hard to identify them separately. It was like a well practised song, rather than a first time singing. The end result sounded absolutely magical and the listers were left spellbound, even after the song finished.

"Woah!" Jimin was the first to speak, after the cheers died down. "I didn't know you could sing so well, Taehyung. You could be an idol yourself!"

"Yeah." Hoseok nodded in agreement. "Companies would line-up to debut you."

A murmur of agreement passed through the crowd.

Taehyung chuckled lightly. "Oh no! I'm happy with my little dramas. I don't have the energy to keep up with the idol life."

"It's not that bad." This time it was Sana's manager, who seemed to be vibrating with excitement due to the possible new artist debut. "I mean, yeah, it could be little tiring-"

"-Trust me, I know exactly how tiring it can be. And I have absolutely no desire to be sucked into that."

Another silent few seconds passed, before Soobin tactfully diverted everyone's attention away with a freshly made barbecue platter.

If anyone was wondering just how exactly Taehyung knows about idol life, they didn't voice it.

________________________________

Taehyung and Jungkook were sitting in front of the small campfire near their tent. Half of the group were already asleep, as the hike was rather tiring. But the rest were still up, enjoying the warmth of fires under the clear sky.

Hoseok was with them up until about 15 minutes ago, before he retired for the day.

"This was fun." Jungkook said in a soft voice. "I'm so happy."

Taehyung gave a small smile to his boyfriend. "Yeah, me too. Let's do this again."

Jungkook silently sipped his beer can. He would love that but opportunities like this are hard to come by. "Hmm.. sure."

It wasn't hard for Taehyung to understand what Jungkook was feeling. He looked around to see whether anyone was in the hearing distance before leaning towards the other a bit.

"But we can, baby. Earlier, we didn't have any reason for public appearances together, which I think is very stupid on our part. We could have found ways to interact. But now, we know each other. I mean, I go for trips with my other friends, so people would not find it that surprising."

Jungkook stared at the fire for a few seconds before turning to look at Taehyung. "But we are not friends."

An answer along the lines of 'no one needs to know that' was at the tip of Taehyung's tongue but something about the emotions swirling in Jungkook's eyes stopped him.

They stared into each other's eyes. Jungkook desperately tried to convey the insecurities that seem to be invading his mind lately, ones that he was unable to say out loud. But for the first time, Taehyung was unable to read it.

"Let's go to sleep." Jungkook got up from his chair and walked into the tent.

Taehyung stayed there for about another minute, before he got up too. There was a nagging feeling in his mind, a feeling that something was not right. Something that was urging him to talk to Jungkook, and to ask if something was bothering him. But like a fool, he ignored it. Chucked it out to the stress of the shooting, the tiredness from the hike, the beers.

Years of togetherness and comfort clouded his mind. It didn't even occur to him for even a second that Jungkook might be doubting about the hold he had on Taehyung's heart.

When Taehyung walked in, Jungkook was already settled in his sleeping bag. From the moonlight seeping through the little patch of transparent material part of the tent, Taehyung could see that Jungkook had his eyes closed. But when Taehyung kneeled and leaned to kiss Jungkook's cheek, the latter opened his eyes and turned his head slightly to the side, so that Taehyung could kiss his lips. It was really short, chaste even, but when he pulled back, Taehyung could see the small smile on the other's face.

He silently got into his sleeping bag. This must be the first time that they were sleeping in the same place but not wrapped around each other. The distance felt rather weird to Taehyung, and he was sure that it must be the same for Jungkook too.

"Good night Kookie." Taehyung said in a soft voice and had to wait for a few seconds to hear an answer.

"Good night Tae."

Jungkook's voice was so filled with sleepiness, that Taehyung knew he was just seconds away from dreamland.

A light snore that followed almost immediately, confirmed that.