* Jungkook *

PD Nim soon showed up with his big black van, ready to drive us to the set of Rookie King. We had already filmed a few episodes of it before, so when we arrived we knew exactly what was going to happen. Basically they would give us some white cards with games on it. One member would be the moderator and the other hyungs had to play the games. Usually, the member that lost the game would get a punishment.

Only this time there would be no games. We would  have to chose between different cards and one of us would pick a death card which would qualify him directly for the punishment. Because, yes, game or no game, the loser would have to face some kind of punishment. And today it was all about luck.

When we arrived, the crew was already setting up the last details of the set and the manager explained to our leader what kind of punishments we were up for today. In addition, as usual, he told us that we should be aware not to swear (too much) and to keep it child friendly. Of course, back then he did not yet have to formulate specific prohibitions regarding Tae and myself. They would come later, once the manager had found out about us and we had had some real awkward talk.

****
Since our leader had been crowned Emperor of the games for winning at the end of the last episode, he took on the role of the moderator during today's episode. The stylists put him in emperor like robes; a true gown for a marvellous leader like him. Meanwhile the rest of us were dressed like simple peasants which nobody minded since it was all part of the act.

Indeed PD Nim had informed us that the last episode, which showed us in traditional korean clothes, had been a huge success and that the feminine audience in particular had loved seeing me dance, dressed up like a princess. As much as I love to please ARMY, Tae's opinion always matters most to me. And that night, after the shooting of the episode, when we were about to fall asleep, he had snuggled against me and he had whispered in my ear how much he had enjoyed seeing me as a cute princess. I had blushed at his words but at the same time I was curious about Tae. What would he be like, all dressed up like a girl? Of course he would be cute! No doubt about that ! But if he were a « girl » could he make my heart flutter as much as he did now ?

Tae appeared at my side, pulling me out of my reveries. « Your cheeks are red. Are you feeling hot ? ». His hand touched my forehead carefully. « No. You don't seem to have a fever. What's up, Kook? », he asked. I blushed some more and turned my head away, feeling caught in the action. Even though it had only been daydreams - and they had not even been smutty ones - I felt myself getting slightly aroused by the thought of it. I shook my head and muttered some idle words. Tae must have taken my blushing for the beginning of a nervous breakdown before the shooting because he tapped my chin playfully and told me to calm down.

« I will be right next to you and should you get a task that you really don't want to do, just tell the hyungs that you will use a joker and I will do the task in your place ». « But there are no jokers. The rules say... », I answered confused. « Rules are there to be broken! », Tae added, tapping my chin once more in order to comfort me.

« Please get ready! The shooting starts in 5 minutes! » When the stuff called for us, Tae's words were still ringing in my head. Rules were meant to be broken. Did he only talk about today's games or about us and our relationship. Because we clearly broke all of the modern korean society's rules. He and I we were rule breakers.

Before I could think some more about Tae's words, the shooting began and as it would turn out, today would clearly not be Tae's lucky day.

Until now Tae had never been up for punishment but today this would change. Already during the first game he picked the death card, marking him as loser. The punishment during this first round was to eat some disgusting smelling and tasting food. Knowing how picky Tae usually was about food, I did pity him. But he showed bravery and swallowed the drained rice pastry in one big bite. Since he was sitting right next to me I could smell how hideous it was. I did not want to imagine for one second what it tasted like. Nevertheless, Tae's cute face as he was eating the rice pastry made all of the hyungs laugh. When he had shoveled it all down I cheered the loudest for him, showing how impressed I was by my little tiger's courage.

During the second round, Jimin got unlucky. His punishment did not involve food. No, this time the punishment involved physical pain: one after another the members struck his bare soles with a woodblock. He did take it well and giggled when Suga, who was known to have the most experience with this kind of punishment, hit him. Of course we were careful not to hurt him too hard.

Next up was no one else but myself. As a third punishment, I had to drink the « poisoned beverage ». Our leader placed a golden cup filled with some sour smelling beverage in front of me. I leaned over it, smelling it first. And dear lord, it smelled horrible! I hoped instantly that it would taste not as wretched as it smelled, but seeing what kind of thing Tae had had to swallow earlier I was not very confident about it. Slowly, with both of my hands, I lifted the cup towards my lips. As I was about to drink from it, Tae asked me playfully if I had any last words I wanted to say. I muttered « Save me ». He tapped my hand, showing me that he was there for me and was sending me some courage to get through the punishment. I appreciated his small but meaningful gesture, invisible for most of the audience and the stuff. With his encouragement I was able to drain the cup, spilling no drop of the sour liquid. It did taste bad but at least there was no aftertaste that clinged to my palate.
*****

Today was truly not one of Tae's luckiest days because fate chose him again for the fifth punishment. He had to lay down on his back, hands folded and a little bit of rice was sticking to his lower lip. One hyung should punish him now by hitting the rice with some kind of spatula. While the hyungs were all laughing and enjoying to torture one of the youngest, my hands were getting all sweaty. What if they hit him too hard and bruised his lips or his cheek? Or even worse, what if they damaged his teeth!

In the end, in order to protect his lips and teeth, they decided to put the rice on his right cheek. Here they could hit him a little harder without hurting him too much. Finally, Jin hyung was chosen to be the executioner of this punishment. I guess that our leader chose him over someone like Jimin, knowing that he would not hit too hard, because he would take into consideration the pain he could cause. Nevertheless during this whole punishment I kept quiet, arms crossed, afraid that they would hurt him or bruise his face. When Jin finally hit him with the spatula, Tae flinched but did not cry out in pain. I let out a long sigh, feeling relieved.

When Tae was back, sitting next to me, I fumbled for his robes, burying my fingers in the fabric, touching his soft skin underneath. Our eyes met and he smiled at me. His right cheek was reddening slightly because of the hitting but his eyes were ablaze with love. This beautiful smile on his now stained face made me want to protect this boy from all evil that might still fall upon him, upon us. In that moment I made a promise to myself that no one would touch or hurt his face again because I would take every punishment for him!

But right there and then, I was not aware of what might soon follow. I did not know that my heart would shatter into pieces only a few moments later, and break even worse a few days from now. Because in that moment, protecting Tae was all that mattered to me.

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Have a beautiful evening/day and please enjoy FESTA together with our boys 💜

I purple you all !