The Royal Family part 2
The Royal Family part 2
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Supper was a partly chaotic affair. There was a lot of stabbing and yelling, mostly by Kyungsoo and Sehun who were seated next to each other with a basket of cherry pies between them. Chanyeol and Baekhyun sat close together as they always did. Jongdae sat across from them, trying not to blatantly stare at Yixing who was seated directly across from him. He also tried not to blush when Yixing met his gaze or get flustered when Yixing smiled. He failed miserably, knocking things over and making weird noising but that seemed to make Yixing laugh and smile more so it wasn’t all bad.
Luhan had pushed his chair right beside Minseok’s-for special protection of course. Who knew what kind of dangers hid in the castle’s great dining hall? Luhan certainly didn’t and so obviously he had to have Minseok right by his side. Kris and Joonmyun were seated next to each other at the head of the table; occasionally intervening when between the epic battle between Sehun and Kyungsoo got a little out of hand, but for the most part ignored the two youngest in favor of making small talk with the rest of the table.
After supper the family retired to the family room as they did every night. Chanyeol called the cluster of seats by the window and dragged Baekhyun and Jongdae along with him. Kyungsoo joined them, sitting on the duvet beside Jongdae. He had learned not to take the seat next to his two older siblings, especially not when they were trying to be subtle.
They played Fox and Geese for a while and then Alquerques. Kyungsoo was grateful when Jongdae suggested a change of game. They had played many rounds and he had lost most of them. He suspected Chanyeol of cheating. Baekhyun suspected it was because a certain guard, who was sitting only a couple feet away, was distracting Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo couldn’t help the heat that spread over his face or the way his foot jutted out, accidentally colliding with Baekhyun’s shin when the other three started laughing. He turned away from them, which probably wasn’t the best of ideas. It was bad enough that Kyungsoo could see Jongin staring at him through the periphery of his vision, seeing it head on made him feel hotter and not just in his head.
Sehun and Tao fell over each other in poorly stifled giggles. Doing his best to ignore them, Jongin, his face flushed red, turned to back to the game. He moved his chess piece and winced at the noise his piece made when he set it on the board a little too roughly. Sehun and Tao’s laughs got louder.
“Yo-” Jongin croaked. He cleared his throat and tried again, “your turn.”
“It’s no fun playing when you can’t even focus on the game.” Sehun said but moved his piece anyway. “I don’t even know why I call you up here when all you do is stare at my brother.” He backed away from the table and leaned into Tao. He twisted his hands in Tao’s fur jacket, the one the youngest guard always insisted on wearing everywhere he went. It was soft and Sehun loved the feel of the black fur on his skin.
“Why don’t you just go over there and talk to him or something? It’s not like you don’t go to his room every night anyway.” Tao snickered.
“We don’t do anything.” Jongin said quietly and Sehun rolled his eyes.
“Really.” It wasn’t a question but Jongin wasn’t about to lie about his relationship with the youngest princess when Kyungsoo’s parents, weird uncle and scary older siblings-minus Sehun because Jongin could deal with Sehun-were sitting only a couple feet away. They spoke in low voices but he wasn’t about to take any chances.
“Really. We don’t do anything. He just-he just likes fairytales.” Jongin muttered. Ignoring the looks his two friends were giving him, Jongin made his move. “Check.”
Baekhyun watched Jongdae’s retreating back. The room was slowly emptying. His father and mother were going off to do whatever they did at night after dinner, Baekhyun tried not to think about it. Uncle Luhan and Minseok had gone off towards Luhan’s chambers and probably weren’t going to be seen again for the rest of the night. Yixing had disappeared around the same time as the brats had.
“Where’s he going off to?” Chanyeol’s eyes blinked open. He had been drifting in and out for the last couple minutes. It was getting late. The sun had set hours ago, and Baekhyun supposed it was time to get to bed.
“The bathroom.” He wrapped an arm around Chanyeol, “You should get to bed.”
“What? No way. I’m perfectly fine. Not tired at all.” Chanyeol made a show of sitting up. He wrapped his arms about Baekhyun in a tight embrace and they both laughed.
“Right.” Baekhyun snorted. “Well, I don’t want to go just yet.” He said. The smile on his lips was soft, the look in his eyes more than fond. He wasn’t allowed up in Chanyeol’s chambers after dark and Chanyeol wasn’t allowed in his tower. On any other night, he wouldn’t have cared-their parents had already left and he wasn’t so scared of getting caught. They were already betrothed to each other, Baekhyun didn’t understand why they even had this stupid rule-but this wasn’t any other night.
“Worried?” Chanyeol laid his head on Baekhuyn’s lap. Baekhyun stroked his hair and after a while he nodded.
“And excited.” He sighed, “and so fucking scared.” Baekhyun said and Chanyeol laughed.
“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Chanyeol remembered. Chanyeol had had his coming of age ceremony a year ago. It was Baekhyun’s turn now. He knew what the other boy was going through, knew how anxious he was. He hadn’t been able to sleep the night before his ceremony. Jongdae, Baekhyun and him had snuck down into the forests behind the castle and stayed there, talking and watching the stars until they were too tired to keep their eyes open and then made their way back to their rooms before anyone noticed they were gone.
Chanyeol took Baekhyun’s hand in his own, looking up at his princes, his voice raspy with sleep. “It’ll be fine. I’ll be you with you.”
“Yeah.” Baekhyun muttered, leaning down. “Yeah.” He repeated, pressing his lips to Chanyeol’s, quick and sweet, and laughed.
Tomorrow he would be of age. He wouldn’t be seen as a child anymore, even though sometimes he still felt like one. He would have all these new responsibilities thrust upon him. He would have to start getting serious in his trainings. He was going to be queen in a couple of years but he was so far behind Yixing in training it was almost a joke. Yixing didn’t even want to be queen. Baekhyun had never really taken the training seriously, not even after his father had announced his betrothal to Chanyeol when he was crowned heir to the throne.
He felt like he was entering another world, like everything was going to change once the ceremony was over. This was growing up, he thought and it frightened him. It frightened him so much but he was also excited. There were so many things he could do after his ceremony like travel overnight and speak at court and stay up after midnight.
This was more than a little overwhelming but he knew he could handle it given time. Also he knew he wouldn’t be alone which took much of the stress off. He had his family, even though they irritated him to high heaven more than half the time but he knew they would stand by and support him in any decisions he made. He had Jongdae, who he knew would stay by his side no matter what. And then there was Chanyeol.
When Kris had first brought the young boy home Baekhyun had hated him. He was dirty and had no manners even though he had already passed six summers. His parents should have taught him better, Baekhyun had told him. He had gotten in trouble for that and he didn’t understand why until Joonmyun sat him down and explained to him that Chanyeol didn’t have any parents, that he hadn’t had any parents for a long time now. Baekhyun had gone easier on the boy after that. It took only a few short years before they began to actually get a long, a couple short months later they become inseparable.
Baekhyun doesn’t really know how he had fallen for Chanyeol, not really. He hadn’t woken up one day and professed his love to the other boy-no, it had probably taken years, Baekhyun thought. Each year, Chanyeol had grown more and more beautiful until he had become the most beautiful person Baekhyun had ever seen, not just in looks alone but also in his actions and his words.
There was beauty in the way Chanyeol held himself, in court and at home. It was in the successes he gained and in the mistakes he made. It was even in the way his features scrunched up into the comical expression when he laughed. He loved just about everything about the other boy. What he loved the most was that Chanyeol felt the same way, but about him.
“Baek?” Chanyeol’s warm hand caressed his cheeks and Baekhyun didn’t know when he had gotten so tired. “C’mon, let’s go up.” Chanyeol sat up and wrapped an arm around Baekhyun and Baekhyun leaned into him.
“Yeah.” He muttered, burying his face in Chanyeol’s shoulder. “Big day tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Big day.” He heard Chanyeol mumble and drifted off.
“Stop smelling me.” Tao laughed but did nothing to push Sehun away.
“Shut up, you like it.” Sehun muttered into the shoulder of Tao’s fur overcoat.
“And watch your hand!”
“What?” He held up their intertwined hands. “You said I could.” He had even asked permission and everything this time.
“The other one.” Tao threw him a look and Sehun’s mouth went dry. He wondered if Tao knew how hot he looked when he narrowed his eyes like that.
“Oh, right.” Sehun did his best to make his voice sound normal, willed his brain to focus on the topic at hand. His hand. His other hand. The one that had somehow found its way to Tao’s ass. Sehun couldn’t blame his hand. Tao had a fantastic ass. Obviously his hand had great taste he said and Tao laughed. Sehun loved his laugh. He let his hand drop.
“Better?”
“Much better.” Tao smiled. He leaned in and Sehun stilled. “Thanks for walking me prince Sehun.” Tao smirked into the skin of Sehun’s neck then disappeared down the dark corridor to the guard chambers.
“Night.” He muttered, dazed. He brought his hand up to the spot on his neck where Tao had pressed his lips, a slow smile spread on his face.
When he could no longer hear the sound of Tao’s footsteps, Sehun slumped down. He hated it when Tao did that, hated it even more that it turned him on so much. He was so doomed when it came to Tao. He knew it; Tao knew it and took full advantage whenever he could, not that Sehun minded.
At least Tao let him hold his hand this time. That was new. He had also kind of, sort of kissed Sehun-well it was close to a kiss as Sehun was probably going to get right now, but he was working on that. It wans’t all hopeless, Sehun thought. Now all he had to do was wipe that grin off his face before one of his family members or Jongin saw. They would never live that down.
“Where are you going?” Luhan reached out for Minseok’s hand. They had reached his chambers but Minseok was walking off in the other direction. Minseok raised one of his perfectly plucked eyebrows.
“To my room sire.” He said slowly and Luhan made a face.
“Yes, but why?” Luhan opened the door to his chambers. Tugging Minseok along, he entered his rooms. “You can sleep right here.” It’s not like he wasn’t going to sleep here anyway. Luhan had a perfectly good bed. It was soft and warm and fit two just fine.
“Sire.”
“You ditched me this afternoon and evening and then left me alone with that evil princess to play with those brats. There’s no way I’m gonna let you escape this time.”
“But sire-” Minseok started and stopped when Luhan puffed out his cheeks and looked away, “But Luhan…” Minseok corrected himself. He cupped Luhan’s cheeks in his hands, turning it so the taller man was facing him.
“Better.” Luhan muttered slipping his arms around Minseok’s waist.
“I have to go change. I’m all sweaty.” He was. Very. He had been out in the sun all evening after dinner. His forehead reflected light a homing beacon even in the candle light. His hair was matted to his head in clumps. Luhan thought it was adorable but didn’t say anything. He knew how much Minseok hated being called that and angering the man was far from the quickest way to get him into Luhan’s bed.
“But I like you sweaty. You look very dashing,” is what he said instead. “My knight in damp armor.” Minseok laughed and Luhan counted that as a small victory. “Besides you can shower in here. I don’t mind. I mean,” Luhan muttered leaning in, “What if ninjas attack me while you’re gone? What’ll I do then? Surely I can’t defend myself.”
“Not even with a lifetime of self-defense training and weapons training?” Minseok sounded more amused than anything else. Minseok fiddled with Luhan’s hair. He shifted as Luhan nuzzled the crook of his neck; breathed out a laugh as Luhan’s breathe tickled his skin.
“Oh please Minseok. We all know you’re the only one fast enough for ninjas.” Luhan traced little patterns in the back of Minseok’s shirt.
“I supposed am.” Minseok tried to guess what they were but gave up when Luhan’s finger found the line of his spin.
“So stay?” Luhan asked with a bright smile and really Minseok no longer had plans of leaving.
“You know I was going to come right back right?” He removed Luhan’s hand from his back and began unbuttoning his top shirt, making his way to the bathroom.
“Well now you don’t have to ever leave.” Luhan smiled, trailing behind his bodyguard.
“Well…here we are.” Jongin motioned to the door, “At your room.” He said so awkwardly, mentally kicking himself. Could he have been any more of an idiot?
“Would you like to come in?” Kyungsoo asked quietly, not looking at the guard. “I mean only for a bit, for a story.” He smiled and that was really all it took to get Jongin to follow him inside.
Three hours later Joonmyun quietly opened the door to his youngest princess’s room. He was careful enough not to make a sound and swiftly made his way towards to bed. Kyungsoo lay snoring in between the sheets, tucked in neatly, clutching a pillow towards his chest. Joonmyun ran a hand down his template, brushing away loose strands of hair. He kissed Kyungsoo’s cheek and whispered a soft good night.
Joonmyun then turned to the other boy. Jongin sat slumped in the chair beside kyungsoo’s bed. He was drooling on a pillow Kyungsoo had probably lent him and Joonmyun was careful not to touch it when he shook the boy awake. The boy woke with a start, like usual, and Joonmyun waited the necessary moments for Jongin to realize where he was and what time it was. He turned bright red, as per usual, when he caught sight of the queen. Joonmyun put his index finger to his lips, nodding his head to Kyungsoo. Jongin nodded back.
Jongin returned the chair to its place at the small table in the middle of the room, picked up the book that he must have dropped when he had nodded off and placed it on the Kyungsoo’s nightstand.
“Thank you Jongin, for reading to him.” Joonmyun said once they were out of the room, walking down the hall.
“No problem uh your highness.” Jongin muttered. He never did know how to act around the queen. It was even worse around the king. He always muttered and murmured and the king and queen had to ask him to repeat himself. Joonmyun didn’t know why he was so nervous, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t known each other since the boy was just a lad who followed his father to the castle everyday just to catch a look at the youngest princess, which he had dubbed the prettiest of them all. Kyungsoo hadn’t liked that nickname, claiming that it wasn’t manly enough for a princess and Jongin had blushed bright red.
They had gotten into a fight that day, Jongin and Kyungsoo but had soon gotten over it. They hadn’t gotten close per say, not like Baekhyun and Jongdae, though Joonmyun supposed they were close in their own way. On some nights, most nights actually now that Kyungsoo knew he could get away with it, Kyungsoo invited Jongin in to his chambers. Kris and himself had been pissed as hell then he had found out what was going on but had a laugh about it when they had learned what was really going on.
“Fairy tales,” Jongin has stammered, unable to look at the King and Queen with those frightened eyes of his all those months ago. “He likes fairy tales, so I read them to him. Just until he falls asleep. Then I leave. I swear.”
After that, the King’s heart had been at peace. Joonmyun’s though, not so much. He had kept a small group of servants whose main duty was to spy on the two when they were alone together in Kyungsoo’s room because he wasn’t an idiot. Kyungsoo got away with a lot of things but Joonmyun was not about to allow his youngest princess to get deflowered at such a young age by a castle guard of similar age. Kyungsoo could be very persuasive when he wanted to be, and Joonmyun worried for both of them.
Joomyun’s heart had calmed when he it because obvious that Jongin was too much of a pussy to do anything to his precious princess. Joonmyun had means of making it stay that way until long after Kyungsoo’s coming of age ceremony. He had long given up on the idea of Kyungsoo being the saving grace in the family and marring someone rich, successful, preferable with a title above duke, but, Joonmyun sighed, this was love and he couldn’t get in the way of that. Not when his own mother had let him follow his heart.
He bid Jongin good night and made his way to his own chambers. Kris was already is bed when he arrived, just where Joonmyun had left him.
“Everyone’s in bed and asleep?” Kris mumbled, his eyes still closed.
“Everyone’s in bed and asleep.” Joonmyun repeated, changing into his night gown. He crawled into bed, curling up against his husband, tired and ready to pass out. “At least I think.” He muttered. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that something wasn’t quite right but for once chose to ignore it.
“What?” Kris asked, wrapping his arms around Joonmyun.
“Oh probably nothing.” Joonmyun shook his head and yawned, smiling. He pressed his lips to Kris’s. “Good night.” He settled under the covers and closed his eyes. It was hard work having a family, especially one as boisterous as his was, but he loved them just the same. Tomorrow, though, was going to be one hell of a day. He was going to need all the energy he could get.
Yixing leaned against the stone wall, looking out the window. The sky was filled with stars but Jongdae had trouble focusing on them when Yixing was right there. He had trouble focusing on a lot of things when Yixing was around. And when Yixing wasn’t around.
“So, when we do get married,” Jongdae walked to stand beside eldest princess. He leaned on the edge of the window and crossed his arms over the ledge.
“Who said we were getting married?” Yixing asked and Jongdae poked him in the ribs then proceeded to tickle him until he was gasping for breath.
“Okay, okay.” Yixing cried, clasping both of Jongdae’s hands together to stop him from tickling him. Jongdae took a couple moments to process the fact that Yixing was touching him and was this considered holding hands because this should’ve been considered holding hands. And if they were holding hands did that mean something? Should be have said something? What would he say? What should he say to Yixing?
“Would you be offended if I brought you flowers?” He blurted out. “Do you like blueberry bread? Or strawberry bread? My mom makes them really well and I can learn, you know, if you do like them. And I-”
“Whoa Jongdae slow down.” Yixing said, smiling. He shifted and yeah, now they were definitely holding hands. Jongdae could feel his ears redden. Slow down? He thought to himself. He was just getting started.
“But-” He promptly shut his mouth when Yixing raise a finger to his lips, Jongdae’s lips and Jongdae stood very very still.
“I love you princess Yixing.” Great, Jongdae thought. That hadn’t meant to come out. He probably should have stopped talking then, but he opened his mouth and words just kept coming through. “I didn’t mean that-I mean I did, but I didn’t mean to say it out loud. But I do like you Yixing. I like you a lot.”
“I know.” Yixing laughed. Jongdae loved the sound. It was light. So light it seemed to pass right through him and seep into his chest. It settled there and made his heart beat faster, warmed him from the inside. “You know, my parents think we’re young too get married?”
“We probably are.” Yixing had barely pasted twenty-two summers and Jongdae was a year younger, but he didn’t see any problem there. Baekhyun and Chanyeol were younger and they were practically married.
Yixing dropped Jongdae’s hands and Jongdae missed the warmth of them. Yixing placed one hand on his hips and propped his elbow on the window ledge, his head, titled, sat on his hand. He looked at Jongdae through slightly narrowed eyes. He stayed that way for what felt like a tiny infinity where Jongdae tried hard not to squirm and then he spoke as if there had been no pause.
“And you’re the son of a court advisor.”
“Advisor’s apprentice. I get my certification next month.” Jongdae had been working hard on his certification. He didn’t spend all Baekhyun and Chanyeol doing nothing all the time. He wasn’t royal like his best friends were. He had to work.
“Okay, advisor’s apprentice.” Yixing corrected himself. “Either way why would a royal princess want anything to do with you?” The question took Jongdae by surprise. He hadn’t been excepting that. He had many good qualities. He was handsome, he was kind, he was friendly and outgoing and really the list went on and one. He could’ve picked from any one of them, was going to, but then he opened his mouth.
“Because I’m in love with you.” Apparently his mouth still wasn’t working. Foolishly he tried again. “And you like me too…I think.” It was kind of off and on. Sometimes it seemed like Yixing didn’t even realize he existed and other times he paid so much attention to Jongdae it made him blush-a lot. An embarrassing amount. It had been happening so much recently too.
“Are you sure about that?” If Jongdae was to answer that question truthfully he would’ve had to make a sort of undignified humming noise but he wasn’t so sure he wanted to embarrass himself like that in front of Yixing. Not today anyway, not in this moment and especially not when Yixing was moving toward him.
He put his hands over Jongdae’s, intertwined their fingers. He pressed their foreheads together. A smile spread across his lips and then all Jongdae could focus on were his lips, bright and rosy and plump and parted.
“Yeah.” He breathed out and their lips meet briefly. The contact was too brief but even so Jongdae could feel where Yixing’s lips had been seconds before. He wanted to feel them again. “I’m sure.” He leaned in and, to his disappointment, Yixing pulled back.
“How about we start small?”
“Hn?” Jongdae asked stupidly, lifting his eyes from Yixing’s lips. He was looking at Jongdae and it was one of those looks that made him feel like they were the only two people in the world. It was one of the looks that Yixing gave him sometimes, the ones that made his heat pound.
“Be my guest at Baekhyun’s ball.” It wasn’t a question but even if it was Jongdae wouldn’t have said no.
“I’d love to.” He accepted and was rewarded with one last kiss. Yixing bid him good night. Jongdae watched him go. He hurried to his own rooms. The sooner he slept, the sooner tomorrow would come and hopefully, the sooner he’d get another kiss.
family tree:
King - Kris, Queen - Joonmyun, Oldest princess - Yixing, Oldest prince (adopted) - Chanyeol, princess Baekhyun, princess Kyungsoo, prince Sehun
Uncle Luhan, Bodyguard - Minseok
Castle Guards - Tao, Jongin
Advisor - Jongdae
This turned out so much longer than I thought it would. It almost makes me want to write a proper xingdae midieval au but all of them would be in different roles lol