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An hour later, Namjoon stepped from his room and headed for the kitchen.  A flurry of activity suggested itself around the figure that suddenly appeared in front of him.  Looming large, Jin redirected Namjoon to the living room.

“Sorry, Joonie, you’re not welcome in the kitchen for the next two hours.”

Namjoon’s eyebrows flew north.  “What about breakfast?”

“I’ll bring it to you.  What would you like?”

“Anything?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Pepperoni pizza,” Namjoon responded without batting an eyelash.

“Pepperoni pizza?” Jin croaked.

“You said anything.”

“But I don’t have pepperoni.  Or pizza.”

Namjoon’s dimples started dancing.  “What do you have?”

“Eggs, rice, gochujang…”

“Surprise me.”

Jin flashed him a grateful smile.  “That I can do!”  Then he spun around and headed back to the kitchen.

Jungkook wandered into the living room and plopped down on the couch across from Namjoon.  Their eyes collided.

“Hey, Joon.  Did you find anything interesting outside your door this morning?” 

Jungkook was trying to keep a straight face, but his grin kept peeping out.  He finally chewed on his rebellious lips in an effort to control them.  He had figured it would take Namjoon a little while to compile the verses.  But he’d been hidden in his room for nearly two hours.

“I did.  I found a pile of books.  Someone must know that I love to read.”

“Everyone knows that,” Jungkook replied as another grin escaped him.

“Mmm.”

“So…did you find anything of interest in any of those books?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Which one?”

“All of them.”

Eyebrows ascending, Jungkook responded with mock surprise, “All of them?”

“Yes.  They all covered intriguing topics.”

“Did they?  Was that all?”

“What do you mean?” Namjoon asked innocently.

“Well, you were in your room for over two hours.”

“I was reading.”  Namjoon glanced at him suspiciously.  “How do you know how long I was awake and hiding in my room?”

“Oh.  Um.  I saw you pick up the box and take it to your room.”

“I see.”  Namjoon was trying hard not to laugh.

“You didn’t notice anything unusual about any of the books then?”

“Quite to the contrary actually.  I noticed something unusual about all of them.”

“What?”

“They were all used.”

“Used?”

“Mm-hmm.  Somebody had written in them and circled words at the oddest times.”

“Really?” Jungkook sounded baffled.  “Why would they do that?”

“Apparently, to write me a song,” Namjoon’s dimples were throwing an all-out party now.

So were Jungkook’s teeth.  And his dark eyes were riding his cheekbones high up in his face.  “You found a song?”

Namjoon nodded.

“The whole thing?”

“I think so.  I had to search all six books for it.  How long did it take you to find all those words, Jungkookie?”

“I had a little help,” he admitted.

“What he means is that all of us spent a perfectly good Friday night searching through a book to find certain words in a specific order,” Tae interposed as he entered the room with Jimin following closely at his heels.

“And driving ourselves crazy” was Jimin’s input.

“But we couldn’t find them all,” Hobi added as he too joined the group.

“So we added a few words to some of the books,” Yoongi explained from the recliner he’d been snoozing in until a few moments ago.

Namjoon smiled.  “But you wrote the song, didn’t you, Jungkookie?”

Jungkook nodded.  “I did.”

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“Are you going to sing it for me.  Or not?”

Jungkook blushed.

And Namjoon laughed.  “Come on, Kooks, I know you’re not that shy anymore around us all.  You sing for us all the time now.”

But not about their beginnings.  That still felt painfully personal. 

Namjoon seemed to discern Jungkook’s feelings as their eyes locked over the course of several seconds.  Finally, Jungkook sighed and reached down under the table next to his seat.  He pulled out another gift.  This one was a flat rectangle.  It was also wrapped in shiny green paper.  He handed it to Namjoon, who quirked a dark eyebrow as he opened it.  His face lit up when he saw that it was a CD entitled My Hero.

“I recorded it for you.  You can listen to it later.”

Namjoon’s lips twitched.  “All right.  How about I perform a song for you then?”

Brow furrowing, Jungkook gazed at him in consternation.  “What?”

“I was so moved by your song that I wrote you a response.  Mine’s a rap, though.”

Jungkook smiled.  “Let’s hear it.”

Namjoon cleared his throat as he glanced down at his notepad.

“Need any backup, Joon?”  Yoongi asked.

Namjoon smiled at him.  “The next time I perform it.”

Yoongi nodded with understanding.  Right before Namjoon began to rap out his response to Jungkook’s thoughtful song.

“Once had a dream:

Be the best rapper;

Gonna fly to the top;

Be the greatest hereafter.

“But I met six

Made my dream expand;

Gonna fly to the top

While holding their untrained hands.

“The youngest caught my eye.

He was just a little guy,

Eyes wide open to the world,

Daunted by the words it hurled.

He was terrified to dream,

Scared to be heard it seemed.

“But I could see

A golden maknae

In the quaking.

“And I could see

A marvelous man

In the making.

“Now had a dream:

Be the best leader;

Gonna fly to the top;

Gonna be a believer.

“‘Cause I met one

Made my heart expand.

Gonna fly to the top

While holding his untrained hand.

The youngest caught my heart.

He captured the biggest part.

Ears wide open to my voice,

Gaining strength to make his choice,

He opened his wings to dream,

Flowed on a happy stream.

“‘Cause I could see

A golden maknae

In the quaking.

“And I could see

A marvelous man

In the making.

“Traded a solo spot

At the top of the heap

To build a family.

“Got back more than

My wildest imaginings.

“Traded my life’s dream

In fame’s cool steady stream

To nurture six brothers.

“Flew higher than

My wildest fashionings

“We flew higher than

All the others.

“‘Cause I could see

An amazing team

In the quaking.

“And I could see

Six marvelous men

In the making.

“We flew higher than

All the others.

“Higher,

Higher.”

Namjoon fell silent.  Everyone applauded.

“Wow, Namjoons!  That was beautiful,” Jimin breathed.

A chorus of agreement followed his statement.  But Jungkook was silent.  Simply staring at Namjoon.  He could tell the kid was trying not to weep.  Jungkook’s eyes were shining, their rims red now.

“Kookie, I loved your song.  Thank you,” Namjoon murmured graciously when Jungkook remained quiet.

Now his lips quirked upward in a soft smile as he bowed his head towards Namjoon.  Who suddenly jumped up off his chair and crossed the room to engulf Jungkook in a mammoth hug.  Then he breathed into his ear, “Now I’m off to my room to listen to your song!”

“Oh, no, you don’t,” responded Jin as he swept into the room carrying a plate loaded with eggs, rice, and gochujang sauce.  “You’re going to enjoy your birthday breakfast first.”

Namjoon peeped up at him.  “Does that mean that I can finally enter the kitchen?”

“Not on your life,” Jin admonished him.  “Secret happenings are still happening in there.  Today’s your birthday, you know.”

Namjoon chuckled.  “Yes, I know.”

Jin bobbed his head decisively.  “Good.  Now eat your breakfast.”

“Yes, Eomma,” Namjoon quipped.

Jin picked up the newspaper off the table, rolled it up, and smacked Namjoon on the top of his head.  “Who you calling Eomma?” he asked in his deepest voice.

The room erupted in laughter.

‘Keep this one out of trouble,” Jin instructed the group as his gaze swept over them all.  “Those happy happenings won’t happen if I’m in here keeping an eye on the birthday boy.”  Then he spun on his heel and returned to the kitchen.

“So what do you think, Namjoon?” asked Hobi.  “Did you like our inventive gift?”

“I knew your brilliant brain would find a way to do some work today, so we decided we’d send you on a treasure hunt of sorts,” Jungkook explained. 

“A little different from the traditional kind,” expounded Yoongi.  “If your beautiful mind wanted to explore, we wanted to give it a unique opportunity.” 

“So, how did we do?” Jimin asked.

“Brilliantly.  I loved the challenge of it!” Namjoon responded with a flash of his dimples.

“Excellent,” Tae replied.  “I guess I didn’t waste a perfectly good Friday night after all.”  But the upward quirk of his lips gave him away.

“Not at all,” Namjoon murmured.  “It was quite creative.  Even if you couldn’t find every word you needed in those six books.”

“Well, we might have been able to…” Jimin began.

“…if we’d wanted to spend an entire week searching,” Tae finished.

“And quarantine might have given us a lot of free time…” Hobi pointed out.

“…but not that much!” Yoongi opined.

Namjoon glanced at Jungkook.  “Yeah, but I rather think Jungkookie spent a long time writing that song for me.  Even aside from circling the lyrics in a book.”

Jungkook pressed his lips together as he chewed on them.  Then he spoke, “Definitely longer than it took you to write a rap!  One hour!  Joon, you’re amazing!”

Namjoon shrugged.  “I was inspired.”

Jungkook met his eyes then.  Namjoon might have noticed their sheen, but he didn’t draw anyone’s attention to it.