"It's true," he says, keeping up the front for both their sakes. "But with enough makeup, you can look almost as handsome as me." The joke feels thin in the air and Seokjin offers Jungkook a weaker but more genuine smile.

"I learned how to do it in middle school. My father usually...was better about disciplining me in ways that didn't show," he said. It had only been for truly unfortunate infractions that his father would resort to something so crude as physical violence when cutting words and clear disgust were so much more efficient. "But sometimes I was very disappointing."