Reunion [1/?]
Silence falls over the room as the young man hovers his fingers about the piano keys, preparing to start his piece. His long, pale fingers tremble slightly, as if this is his first time performing in front of such a large audience. It’s far from his first performance though, about 3 years from the small dinner party his old master insisted he perform at.
He’s much too used to performing in front of audiences, but never before has he played for the guest sitting in the box directly behind him. For the past 2 days, the newspapers had been reporting on the possibility of the young prince attending the concert during his military leave. Kyuhyun had read and reread the articles several times, trying to see if his eyes were deceiving him.
-
Eleven years ago, the prince had been his first love, something kept inside the palace walls. Kyuhyun was the youngest son of the king’s favorite concubine and being just a few months older than the prince, he naturally became his playmate.
From the time they were just 10 years of age, the two were inseparable, and the servants often called the two “Prince Siwon and Princess Kyuhyun”. Their relationship was nothing but an innocent relationship that the King and Queen predicted would fade out as the boys got older and attend to their separate duties.
In between Siwon’s schooling and lessons in royalty, the two would play hide and seek in the young prince’s wing of the house, pull pranks on Siwon’s older siblings (Kyuhyun’s idea), or skinny dip in the koi pond (Siwon’s idea). During these private moments together, Kyuhyun would eagerly listen to a recap of his friend’s school lessons, hoping to gain a bit of knowledge. As a servant’s son, there was no guarantee Kyuhyun would ever get a formal education, but Siwon always spoke of sending Kyuhyun to school if he were king.
Kyuhyun remembers how both their bodies started to change the summer of their 13th year. Their voices had become lower over the few years they’d been companions, and hair began to grow over their bodies, especially around their private parts which had always been growing as they aged. Siwon told him about the way boys became men and girls became women and how one day the two of them would start developing strong feelings for the opposite sex.
During a secret sleepover one hot summer night, secret because Kyuhyun is supposed to be in the south wing with the rest of the servants, Siwon wakes up in the middle of the night panting and drenched in sweat. He pulls back the covers to inspect his sleep pants, but immediately covers himself when Kyuhyun wakes up and sleepily looks over.
“Are you alright,” he asks in a low voice Siwon just heard in his dreams moments before waking.
The young prince swallows and nods, not able to look his friend in the eye. “I am fine. I-I just need to use the restroom, that is all.”
Kyuhyun sits up and stretches his arms about his head, revealing a strip of skin between his sleep pants and one of Siwon’s old play shirts. The prince resists the urge to reach out and touch the skin that had been so warm and soft in his dream. “Can I come with you?” They’re much too old to be going to the restroom together, but none of the servants had the heart to tell them when they just had a few more years to be together. Besides, the servants quarters’ restroom was much smaller than Siwon’s, and Kyuhyun liked to fiddle with the tub’s taps while Siwon did his business.
“It will be better if you stay here, Kyuhyun.” Siwon’s words come out measured as he shifts around, feeling very uncomfortable in his soiled pants. “I’ll be right back, okay?” The smaller, pudgy boy nods and wraps himself back in the expensive silk sheets he likes so much.
It was then that Siwon knew that what he felt for his playmate was something his tutor had told him that he would feel for a girl. Never in his life had he heard about another boy liking a boy in the same way, so of course he felt frightened and scared of the foreign feeling. Avoiding Kyuhyun seemed like the best option until he could find a pretty servant’s daughter to focus his affections on and stop dreaming about his bare skin sliding against his friend’s.
But avoiding Kyuhyun proved to be difficult as he lost his slight roundness and his boyish features. He had begun to help with laundry as he was still considered too weak for outside work and came to Siwon’s bedroom twice a week to collect his sheets and clothes. Siwon knew he had hurt Kyuhyun when he started avoiding him because he always displayed his emotions freely. The small hurt smile he gave Siwon while gathering his clothes didn’t get pass Siwon’s observation.
“Would you accompany me to the koi pond like old times?” He asks at the beginning of their 15th summer.
Kyuhyun is taken off-guard but nods. “Yes, just let me first begin your laundry, young master.”
“When have I ever been “young master” to you, Kyuhyun?” Siwon smiles at his old friend and takes the sheets from his arms. “I’m sorry I have not called for you as often as I used to, but I would like to make up for that now.”
“Ah… yes,” Kyuhyun agrees, but he looks away from Siwon’s face as he’s trained to do. This action makes Siwon frown but figures that’s something they’ll work on in later days.
They walk down to the koi pond in silence, their hand occasionally brushing each other from how close their walking. At one point Siwon reaches over to take the slender hand in his, but Kyuhyun suddenly crosses his arms in front of him and doesn’t relax until they're sitting side by side in front of the water.
“How is your mother?” Siwon politely asks.
Kyuhyun shrugs and looks down into the pond. “She lost a child a couple of months ago. It was your father’s; our half-sibling.”
“Oh…” He regrets asking, but after almost a year, he’s not really sure how to talk to Kyuhyun. “Uhm, I know I’ve never asked before, but I’ve never really wondered before now,” he trails off. The young servant looks over and raises an eyebrow. “Are we perhaps… related?”
Kyuhyun chuckles and shakes his head slightly. “I asked my mother after she lost the baby, and she told me that I was 3 before your father took her as a concubine.” He sticks his hand into the edge of the pond and watches as a koi swiftly swims away from it. “My father was a farmer, I believe. He may have died in the drought after my mother was brought here.”
“Do you miss him?”
“I was not old enough to really remember him when I last saw him. Do not worry though, not having a father is something I became very used to over the years.” Siwon nods and the pair fall into another tense silence.
“Let’s swim in the pond,” Siwon abruptly suggests. “Nothing like swimming on a hot day.”
The slender man warily looks up at Siwon, still not meeting his eyes. “Are you sure? I really should be doing laundry, and I am sure you have some d-“ He doesn’t get to complete his sentence as he’s pushed into the pond and the fish scatter away from the sudden intrusion. “Siwon!” he shouts when he resurfaces. “Have you lost your mind?!” Instead of answering him, Siwon is laughing and quickly ridding himself of his garments before he jumps in besides the drenched boy. He wraps his arms around Kyuhyun’s waist, but the servant boy slaps the arms away so he can climb out and sit in the grass in his soaked clothes.
“You might as well take off your clothes and join me while they dry,” Siwon remarks in an amused tone.
“You are absolutely infuriating,” Kyuhyun bites back, but he begins to remove his wet clothes and arranges them in the sun to dry. “You have no idea how hard it is to find well-fitting clothes among the servant quarters, and now these are ruined because of pond water of all things.”
Siwon hardly pays any attention the teenager’s rant because his eyes can’t help but sweep over Kyuhyun’s pale, exposed skin. He’s seem to grow into his body quite well since the last time Siwon had seen him naked. The bit of fat that used to cling to his face and belly have disappeared, but his lower body was still a bit soft around his butt and thighs. Siwon doesn’t think he can ever find a girl as perfect as he finds Kyuhyun.
“Are you alright?” The young prince almost slips under the water as he realizes how close Kyuhyun has gotten while he’s been daydreaming about his body.
“Yes, yes, perfectly alright.” He backs up away from Kyuhyun, reassuring him even though he can feel the familiar stirring between his legs.
A comfortable silence finally settles over them as they swim around the pond, chasing after the skittish fish and trying to dunk each other into the water. The two are falling back into their old routine of their friendship, Siwon’s never been more sure of anything.
That is, until Kyuhyun gets to close and Siwon’s half-hard member travels over Kyuhyun’s stomach. Kyuhyun freezes and finally looks into Siwon’s eyes. “Siwon?”
Siwon wishes for a current to pull him under the water because he has no idea how to explain to his childhood friend that the whole reason for avoiding him had been to evade this predicament from happening. “I am so sorry, Kyuhyun, I just- I know that I should not feel like this about you, and I have tried to stop, but obviously has not been working…” An eerie silence sits over them as they have both stopped swimming and the fish are inaudibly approaching them. “Please say something.”
“Is it not wrong?” he starts. “To feel that way about another boy? You should want to kiss and marry a pretty girl.”
“I think I would rather prefer a handsome boy. I would much rather marry you.”
Kyuhyun makes the first move, throwing his arms around Siwon’s neck connecting their lips in a chaste, inexperienced kiss. Neither are really sure what to do as they’ve both been living sheltered in the palace, but Siwon takes the initiative to start move his lips against the other boy’s, who awkwardly copies him.
A few minutes of kissing leaves them breathless, and Kyuhyun pulls back looking flushed and embarrassed. “Is this alright? Will we not get in trouble?” He begins to remove his legs from where they had somehow wrapped around Siwon’s waist, but the young prince tightens his hold on Kyuhyun’s thighs to keep them in place.
“I would do anything for you. I would never let you get in trouble.” Lips meet again as they both explore the feeling of being so close to each other. “Ah, Kyuhyun,” he moans as his hips involuntarily snap forward into the servant boy’s.
“How do we- I mean, you told before how a man and woman sleep together, but how do we?” Kyuhyun lets a hand leave Siwon’s shoulder to run down the firm stomach, not daring to go any lower.
“The same way? Well, not exactly the same as we both have the same parts, but we can try. Is that alright?” Kyuhyun nods and lets Siwon’s hand travel up his thigh, which makes his breath hitch. “Maybe you should turn around. It might be a little easier for both of us.”
They quietly change positions, not knowing what to say to make the event less awkward. Siwon moves his hands back to Kyuhyun’s behind and prods a bit at his opening. The lean boy’s whole body is turning from the activity and the embarrassment from his childhood friend doing this to him. Part of his is very relieved that the water is murky enough where they can’t quite see each other’s body through the water. “Do I just… go in? I do not wish to hurt you at all. But I think it might hurt no matter what. Oh, sorry, I keep talking.”
“No, no, no, please keep talking. If you stop, I might just lose my mind over this,” he’s breathing hard and holding a hand to his chest like his heart might burst forward from it.
“Should we stop?”
“I will kill you if you do.”
Siwon moves into position behind Kyuhyun and guides his member to press against Kyuhyun’s interest. “I really do not want to hurt you.”
“Just go all at once and get it over with.” Kyuhyun reaches back to hold onto Siwon’s forearm for some leverage. “I will push back and you push forward, alright?”
“Yes,” Siwon breathes out and thrusts forward as Kyuhyun pushes back. Kyuhyun cries out in pain and digs his figures into Siwon’s skin. The water doesn’t provide a good enough lubricant for their first time, but neither of them express any want to stop. Siwon rests his head in the crook of Kyuhyun’s neck and starts apologizing. “I am so sorry, Kyuhyun. I know you are hurting, but it has to get better, I want to make it better.”
“Hold on…” he tries to regulate his breathing, but the feeling of Siwon inside of him is so alien, and he’s not sure if he wants Siwon to stay or push him off.
“I need to move… my god, I need to move.”
“Go ahead, I’ll be fine.” Siwon starts with slow unhurried thrusts until Kyuhyun starts to make quiet sounds of pleasure. In a matter of a few minutes, he comes undone and empties into the servant boy. Kyuhyun groans and unconsciously palms at himself. “Siwon… please. I’m still…” The young prince shoots out another apology before he wraps an unskilled hand around Kyuhyun’s erection. The feeling is more than enough to send the first-timer over the edge and he releases into the pond.
The aftermath is awkward as neither of them are sure how to act or if they should kiss or hug. Instead, they exit the pond and pull on their clothes. Siwon goes for Kyuhyun’s hand again on the walk back and successfully wraps his fingers around the smaller hand.
-
The first notes of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata encase the concert hall. His mind finally enters the state of relaxation that usually washes over him during his whole concert. It isn’t until the last notes of Mozart’s Minute Waltz that he realizes he just played his first concert for Siwon. For his prince.
The audience rises to their feet, bringing a smile to Kyuhyun’s face with the thunderous applause. It’s only then that he allows himself to turn slightly to look into the theater box behind him.
Siwon looks proud of him, like there’s nothing else in the world except for Kyuhyun. He’s wearing a tailor suit, much more expensive than Kyuhyun’s and clutching a bouquet of yellow roses.
The theater manager already informed Kyuhyun that the prince wished to see him after his performance, something he has been dreading and looking forward to for 8 years. The last time the two had seen each other was when Siwon’s father received money from a middle-aged duke in exchange for Kyuhyun. The seventeen year old had begged Siwon to save him, but the prince had suddenly become just part of the furniture.
This was finally his chance to talk to Siwon before he went back to serve the country and marry the young duchess everyone talked about. In three days his heart would either be re-broken or finally healed.
Next Chapter
1. For wonsu_garkyub
2. Inspired by watching way too much of The Notebook
3. Set somewhere between the late 19th and early 20th century, but I'm not a history buff, so nothing too specific.
4. I hope you like it~
5. Gimme looooove