♔ Royal Pain ♔ → kth | jjk

XXXV

So, being married was actually a lot different than anyone in the palace had expected. 

Did Jeongguk or Taehyung notice, or even care for that matter? No. Not really. 

"You'd think they'd be sick of each other after a long honeymoon." Namjoon raised an eyebrow as he sat on the back balcony with Hoseok, a cup of tea in hand as he watched the newly-weds stroll through the gardens below. 

Hoseok hummed in agreement, watching the pair as well. "It certainly is endearing, I must admit." He smiled. "I don't believe I've seen either of them frown since returning."

Namjoon nodded thoughtfully. "Seriously, though. Look at them." He gestured down to the two Kings. "They look even more in love than they did before they left for Jeju." 

And it was true. 

Now that wasn't to say Jeongguk and Taehyung weren't in love before they left for their honeymoon, but that love was certainly amplified while they were away. 

Jeongguk never knew he could fall more in love than he already was, but their first night away changed that. 

He had woken up around 2 in the morning after catching a few hours of sleep and immediately noticed Taehyung wasn't in bed. There was mild panic, if he were to be honest, but it hardly lasted a second. The silhouette on the balcony of their suite was all too familiar to Jeongguk. 

Jeongguk rolled out of the bed and untangled himself from the thin sheets, walked over to the balcony, and slid his arms around his lovers torso. Taehyung cozied into Jeongguk's hold and hummed contently. 

"Why're you out here?" Jeongguk murmured, leaving a soft kiss on Taehyung's shoulder. 

Taehyung turned his gaze away from the ocean to look at Jeongguk slightly over his shoulder. "Couldn't sleep," was his soft response. Jeongguk almost insisted on going back to bed, but instead he decided to question further. 

"Why not?" He asked. 

Taehyung looked back out at the view, his eyes studying the way the sea met the night sky and how the stars seemed to be swallowed by the deep shades of purple and blue above them. "We're officially married." He whispered and he felt Jeongguk's arms tighten around his waist. It wasn't an uncomfortable tightness, rather he felt secure; safe. "I just can't get my head around it."

Jeongguk was quiet, although he did laugh a little with his face still burrowed into the crook of Taehyung's neck. 

Taehyung's hands rested over Jeongguk's arms. "What did you think of me when we first met? At that dinner before your 19th birthday?" 

Jeongguk raised his head and thought, his gaze fixing itself out on the horizon. He would be turning 22 in just a few weeks, so that was nearly two years ago now. Had time gone by that fast?

"I thought... that you were just like a typical Prince." Jeongguk hummed. "Self-absorbed, stuck up, snobby, spoiled..." 

"Oh really?" Taehyung smiled a little. "And what about now?"

"Now?" Jeongguk looked at him, meeting his gentle eyes. "I know that you are the most selfless, loving person on the planet." He pulled an arm off of Taehyung and held his left hand up in front of them. Taehyung did the same with his own left hand, and the two men admired the matching wedding bands (and mismatched engagement rings that the two refused to take off) that decorated their ring fingers. "And to think that two years ago I wanted get you banned from our Kingdom." He teased. 

"Banned?" Taehyung glared at him, although it was only truly half serious. 

"Maybe not the Kingdom, but the palace at least." Jeongguk taunted. "Ugh, you drove me nuts. Always had to be better than me at everything. You made me feel like a loser, Tae." He stuck out his lower lip into a pout, at which Taehyung cooed. 

"Aw, baby." Taehyung kissed his cheek. "You know I'd never do it on purpose. You're a winner in my book."

"I better be." Jeongguk grumbled and reciprocated the tender peck on the cheek. "What did you think of me?"

"You seemed like a brat." Taehyung answered with ease, then looked at his husband (that was still weird to him). "A handsome brat, to be fair."

Jeongguk smiled lazily. "That's fair." He shrugged. "Do you want to go back to bed?"

Taehyung hummed quietly before shaking his head. "I want to stay here and soak it all in... You're free to stay." 

Jeongguk smiled. "It'll be my pleasure." He murmured. 

-  -  -

Naturally after two weeks spent in intimacy and drowning in affection, Jeongguk and Taehyung were inseperable when they arrived home. They went on walks around the palace gardens hand in hand almost every afternoon, when they weren't away at separate royal duties they were together. Namjoon had joked that he wouldn't be surprised if the two started spoon-feeding each other at dinner, which earned a less than amused look from the Kings. 

"You two are worse than Jimin and Yoongi." Namjoon shook his head as he watched the couple at dinner one evening. He swore they had been staring into each others eyes all night.

"What?" Jeongguk tore his gaze away from Taehyung. "Sorry. Couldn't hear you over my abounding love for my husband." He put a hand over his heart and gazed wistfully (and dramatically) at a smiling Taehyung. 

Namjoon rolled his eyes. "See, now you're just doing it on purpose."

Taehyung pouted. "You mean he doesn't love me?"

To which, Jeongguk was quick to respond to with, "Oh no, baby, I love you so much. Don't listen to that old man," and kissed the top of his hand. 

Hoseok laughed from where he sat beside Namjoon. "They know it bothers you, so they're going to keep doing it."

"What bothers you?" Jeongguk hummed, although the look in his eyes was one all too familiar to the butler. The boy knew all too well what Namjoon was referring to and he and Taehyung were purposely playing it up a few notches. Namjoon wasn't keen on people being overly affectionate around him. Jeongguk knew this, and if Jeongguk knew this, then Taehyung knew this as well. 

Namjoon shook his head and said nothing, deciding the two Kings would win this time. 

-  -  -

To be quite honest, though, no matter how different things might have been after the wedding and the honeymoon, there was nothing wrong with it. In fact it was a good different. No one had seen Jeongguk quite that happy before, and the fact that it seemed to be a constant state for him now was most certainly a blessing. 

Jeongguk still dressed in his usual attire, sweatpants, a tee-shirt, beanies and Timberlands, but he had managed to balance his comfort with his duties; that was all thanks to Taehyung. Likewise, thanks to Jeongguk, Taehyung had accepted that it was okay to be lazy sometimes. 

Jeongguk and Taehyung were seemingly opposites when they first met, and for a while after, but somewhere along the way they balanced each other out in the most needed ways. 

After all, they say opposites attract, don't they?

no this isn't the last chapter. But there also isn't a lot left, maybe 2 or 3 chapters, we'll see. There's still a few loose ends I gotta tie up! That's weird to type out bc it feels like this story is still so fresh and new in my mind I can't believe it's already been so long! Wow! 

Thanks for hanging onto this wild journey of plot-holes and unexpected time jumps! I really need to start planning out my stories more lmao but oh well.