The Perfect Trap // jeon twins

6. jungkook

Jungkook dragged his feet along the pavement. His friends waited in front of their favorite café. The first one to spot him was Hyewon. One by one, all eyes were on him.

"Oh no." Youngji gasped. "He's wearing the sad pants."

Jungkook did stop at his apartment to put on the cerulean blue wide joggers. All he needed was comfort and familiarity. He almost took Jiji with him, but Jungkook never wanted her to listen to the crap he had to say about Jungwon. She knew he was the unlikable one, but there was no reason for her to hear all the profanities.

Jungkook liked to use opportunities given to him even if he was upset, so when the hugger of the group – Taehyung – opened his arms, Jungkook walked until he was slumping against Taehyung, wrapped in his favorite scent.

"I hate him," he mumbled, resting his head on Taehyung's shoulder.

Youngji patted his head, but Jungkook enjoyed Taehyung's fingertips running along his back the most.

"Anti-copycat meeting has officially begun," Hyewon said. "Let's go inside and eat a lot of sugar."

Jungkook fake-sniffled. "I love you, guys."

Every waiter in the Monster High themed café – Coffee High – knew them and knew to always keep a table at the back for them. They owned exactly one (1) badge that said "reservation". Purple walls, long full springline windows tinted, black and white chessboard floor, purple glass tables. Fake cobwebs, spiders and skulls.

Every Friday the waitresses cosplayed Monster High dolls. Today was, unfortunately, Wednesday.

They'd been there so many times, the owner of the café grew so fond of them she'd do everything for them. They stored their favorite mugs and cutlery separately, switched to reusable straws and napkins Taehyung asked them for, always contacted Youngji when there was a change in the menu to make sure they would never put out a menu without anything for the four friends to enjoy.

The usual Lagoona Blue cosplayer approached them. "Jungkook? Sad pants?"

"Sad pants, Changmi," he mumbled.

"Here." She gave them four menu cards, a post note and her pen. "Make a list. I'll come back in a few."

Youngji smiled. "Thanks, Changmi."

They barely fit everything on the post note. Two pieces of carrot cake, four chocolate cupcakes, four pieces of cheesecake, a plate of frosted sugar cookies and four coffees – each different. For a moment, as they all added and added to the list, and Youngji wrote it all down, Jungkook felt at ease.

It was after half of the coffee and a piece of cheesecake fueled him that Jungkook was ready to speak. He pulled the plate of cookies onto his half of the table.

"This is going to be a disaster," he said.

When Jungkook told his friends about his idea, he expected they'd try talking him out of it. He should have known better. Hyewon was the first one to consider him a genius. Youngji and Taehyung naturally agreed.

"You're giving up already?" Youngji asked.

Jungkook sighed, slumping against the table. "They want Jungwon to win. Obviously. They say it's a fair game, but it's a complete lie."

"They as in?"

"My father and this apparently super important wizard from Silvia. He's organizing the competition. And they will do everything for Jungwon."

"What did you do today?"

"A fucking magic quiz. Sure, my magic knowledge is limited, but they didn't even think about me when making the questions. They were perfectly created for Jungwon."

"That's so fucking unfair. Whether you care about the land or not." Hyewon crossed her arms over her chest, her black t-shirt letting her show off the strong arms. Jungkook always liked poking her biceps. Jungkook used muscles for the aesthetic value, Hyewon for strength. "Imagine if you actually were doing this because you were passionate about the land. They are hyping the copycat, because he's a wizard."

"He can't fucking see it. He thinks he's so perfect no one else will ever be good enough to lead Silvia. Or for anything else, for that matter." Jungkook took a bite of the cookie. "You know what's the stupidest thing about it? I don't believe he is doing it because he dreams of being the king there."

"Why then?" Taehyung asked, taking the longest to drink his latte. "He's always been onto it, right? Since childhood."

"I don't know why," Jungkook said. "But he cannot possibly want to leave the life he has now. Look, I don't like him-"

"That's a nice way to say it." Hyewon chuckled.

Jungkook shrugged. Watching the shapes of sugar cookies – ghosts, witchy hats and bones, he said, "I don't like him, but that doesn't make him, like, incapable of feelings. And I'm smart enough to notice that he actually loves Myeongsoon. And she's not going to Silvia with him."

"No?!" That was a collective reaction Jungkook expected.

Everyone who'd ever had anything to do with them knew Jungwon adored Myeongsoon. That might have been the only thing Jungkook learned to tolerate about his twin, the genuine love he had for his girlfriend and how he wasn't afraid to express it. Jungkook was always convinced if Jungwon was becoming the king, Myeongsoon was becoming the queen.

Jungwon's reaction earlier was clear – Myeongsoon wasn't going to Silvia with him. Even Jungkook knew Jungwon wouldn't choose anything over Myeongsoon. Something else must have motivated him to inherit Silvia if he was willing to leave his girlfriend behind.

"Are you going to figure it out?" Youngji asked.

"Not really. If he tells me one day, cool. But I don't really care."

Not many people understood him. So many family 'friends' and relatives tried to convince him to like Jungwon. When they were younger, he'd hear the same thing over and over again. How can you not care, silly boy? It's your twin. He's got the same face as you.

For starters, Jungkook found this reasoning ridiculous. He never said Jungwon's face was the reason he hated his brother. Luckily, they did not share a personality – the reason Jungkook was never willing to even pretend he liked his twin.

Jungwon was perfect. The more people noticed and praised him for it, the more perfect he seemed to get. The more perfect Jungwon was, the more insignificant Jungkook became. The face that Jungkook had a love-hate relationship with was the reason anyone had even noticed him. The same face was the reason he got into modeling. Early on Jungkook figured out his family paid attention to him when his face was involved.

Emphasizing his face with crazily matched outfits – Jungkook had always had a sense for fashion – was a miracle.

He loved and hated his face for the same reason – it got him attention because it was the same as Jungwon's.