The Magic Touch
Title: The Magic Touch
Pairing: Jongin/Sehun
Rating: PG
Length: 6.2k
Summary: Sehun loses his friends in Disney Land on the first day. He thinks it’s Disney magic when Prince Phillip finds him instead.
Notes: originally for maknaerulez.
Warning(s): [spoilers]Zitao as a side character (along with Amber, Soojung, and Junmyeon), one or two swear words
“Hello there.”
The sounds of people chattering and children laughing surround Sehun as he stares hard at the map in his hands, foreign letters trying to form familiar words in his mind, and he frowns when he realizes his past year in university proves to be fruitless in actually reading the English language. His glasses are starting to slip down his nose the longer he’s in the heat and he quickly pushes them back up, frown deepening when he feels them starting to fall again.
He knows he’s near the refreshment corner, as indicated by the similar looking letters matching the ones on his map, and that Sleeping Beauty’s castle is right there next to him along with the statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. But other than that, he knows he’s pretty much lost, thanks to his good-for-nothing friends. He doesn’t even know where they were supposed to meet up before he had to relieve his bladder of the large lemonade he got thirty minutes prior to exploring Main Street, USA.
“Who are you?”
Sehun pushes his glasses up again, hearing that same voice before suddenly realizing there’s a pair of feet in front of his own. His eyes widen as he stares at the nicely polished boots before trailing his gaze upwards past a pair of legs dressed in tight, grey pants - wow, his thighs are nice - and up a torso covered by a black shirt and tan tunic - oh wow - to finally land on a handsome face, decorated with a crown on top of his head and a curious gaze.
Once his attention completely focuses on the unknown man, the other smiles brightly at him, full of white, shining teeth. Sehun’s confused.
“What’s your name?”
“My name?” Sehun echoes, watching the man nod in affirmation.
“I am Prince Phillip,” the other answers instead, giving him a polite, princely bow before re-emerging to give him an encouraging grin. “And what might your name be?”
Sehun gapes at the man. “You’re a prince?” That could explain everything considering this man is simply downright attractive, with fine cheekbones, a lively gaze, and strong jawline. The crown should be a hint too but - “Prince… Phillip?”
The man laughs, and oh, it sounds so nice too, “Why, yes, kind sir. My mother is the queen in her native land.”
“Prince! Prince!” someone suddenly calls out and it jerks Sehun out of his daze, looking around for the source of the voice to see a child running up to them, a young girl with an open book and a pen. “Prince Phillip!”
“Yes, my little princess,” the prince quickly addresses, crouching down to catch the little girl in his arms. He laughs as he steadies her before grabbing her book and pen. “What would you like?”
“I thought she was your princess!” the little girl exclaims before pointing back in the direction where she came from. Both Sehun and the man follow the direction of her finger before they see a princess dressed in pink with a crown on top of her head, hair golden as she smiles at the little children surrounding her.
The prince smiles softly. “Of course, little one,” he says before looking back to her, “She will be my future queen.” He winks at her before putting the pen to the blank page. “But today, you will be my princess. What is your name, little one?”
Sehun watches as the man writes the girl’s name down on the page before signing his own name, Prince Phillip, written in script. The girl makes a noise of excitement before she’s running out of his arms to go back to the princess trying to sign everyone else’s books. He looks to the prince when he stands back up and faces him.
“You never told me your name,” he gently reminds, voice softer than before.
If the sudden wave of heat shooting up his neck and to his cheeks were because of the hot, summer weather, Sehun will readily admit to that and not because of the soft smile still on this prince’s face directed at him. “My name?” Sehun questions again, his tongue still having the habit of curling at the ends of his words. The prince nods his head in affirmation again, giving him a brighter, encouraging smile. Sehun’s lips quirk upward and he knows his eyes are about to do those happy crescent things they do when he smiles brightly or laughs. “My name is Sehun Oh,” he finally responds, his smile growing as he watches the prince’s eyes light up right in front of him.
“Sehun,” the prince says slowly, as if trying to test the surprisingly familiar name on his tongue. He smiles at him then, hand reaching out as a gesture as he bows again at the waist. Sehun stares at him in confusion before the man lifts his head again and gives him a wink. “May I ask for your hand?” he questions and Sehun immediately scrambles with his map before placing his left hand gently on top of the prince’s curled fingers.
He does not gasp when he feels a pair of warm lips brush against his knuckles.
“It was a pleasure meeting you, Sehun,” the prince says before gently lowering his hand and standing up. He gives him a smile, “If you ever find yourself lost, call for my name and I will be the one to find you.”
Sehun openly gapes as the prince tilts his head towards him one last time in farewell before walking away to go back to his princess. They look like the picture perfect version of Sleeping Beauty and her prince, arms together and smiling and waving at the children. It reminds him of his childhood where he and his mom would always watch Disney movies late at night and it makes him smile at the sight. He flinches when he feels a tug on his shirt.
“Are you a prince too?”
Sehun whips his head down to see a little boy staring up at him curiously, eyes wide with innocence written all over his face. His gaze softens as he immediately takes a step back and kneels to be eye-level with the boy. “No,” he answers truthfully, watching as the boy’s expression falls from the one-worded answer. He then gives the child a smile. “You are.”
“What?” The boy’s eyes are wide with shock.
The smile on Sehun’s face grows wider as he places a hand gently on the boy’s shoulder. “You are a prince. Not I, little one.”
“But I don’t have a crown-”
“Wait here,” Sehun immediately interrupts with a secretive smile, rushing to the nearest stall to buy a small, plastic crown. When he returns, the boy is still looking up at him with wide eyes as his mother stands next to him with shock written all over her face. He smiles brightly as he kneels again and gently places the crown on the boy’s head. “Now,” he says, making sure the crown is in place before tilting his head down in the form of a bow, “You are a prince.”
“Oh-”
“I’m really a prince?!” the boy exclaims happily, eyes lit up in joy as he jumps around happily. He turns to his mom who still looks shocked and uncertain with the turn of events. “Mom, I’m a prince! That means you’re a queen now!”
Sehun laughs as he stands, giving the mother a reassuring smile. “Please, enjoy the rest of your day, my queen.”
The mother’s expression of uncertainty falls away to one of relief and happiness, letting her child tug her along to show a different princess his new crown. “Thank you,” she mouths back and Sehun just smiles and waves.
He turns around just in time to see Prince Phillip’s smile directed towards him from across the courtyard.
Air conditioning is a wonderful invention created by the gods themselves. The air outside is becoming stifling and almost deadly, causing children to become whinier and parents to become more exhausted and short-tempered, and Sehun feels no different as he tries to wipe the sweat away from his forehead, accidentally knocking his Mickey Mouse hat off kilter on his head.
He’s standing in Café Orleans, standing behind a family of five as they all wait to be seated somewhere inside the cool, breezy place. There are some other braver couples and families sitting outside on the patio, but really. Sehun needs to find some colder areas other than the bathrooms to prevent an oncoming heat stroke. He frowns when he feels his phone finally buzz inside his pants pocket.
“Oh Sehun!” Soojung screeches right when he puts the phone up to his ear. “Where have you been?! We’ve been texting and calling you wondering where you’ve been!”
“It’s not my fault you were the ones to leave me in my time of need,” Sehun drawls back in Korean, finally able to breathe the fresh, cold air as the family of five enters the café and he’s next in line to find a suitable spot.
“Where are you? Do you need help? Where you kidnapped, oh my God, my parents are going to kill me if you were kidnapped at Disney Land of all places!”
Sehun winces when Soojung’s voice cracks at the end before the phone is taken away and he can hear somebody else talking into it.
“Sehun.” And Sehun breathes a sigh of relief. Junmyeon is always so calming. “Are you okay? I’m sorry we lost you.”
“It’s okay, Junmyeon,” Sehun mumbles as he gestures for a table for one and is immediately let inside. He relaxes the moment he feels the cold air on his skin. “I’m doing fine on my own.”
“Okay,” Junmyeon says slowly, and Sehun knows the elder feels guilty about everything. “Do you want to meet up now? Where are you?”
Everything on the menu looks delicious, according to the pictures provided of some of the dishes, and he nods, completely satisfied with his choice. Soojung and Amber are more proficient in the English language considering they grew up in America compared to the rest of them, but he really doesn’t want to be near Soojung of all people when she’s just going to be dramatic about the whole losing him thing later. “I’m in a restaurant in New Orleans Square,” he answers before telling his waiter what he wants, “I’ll just meet up with you guys later.”
“Are you sure, Sehun?”
“Yeah, I’m good, Junmyeon.”
Bless Junmyeon’s heart when he offers to pay for whatever he wants for dinner later. He doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal anymore anyways. Especially when he sees another little boy with a crown on his head and immediately thinks of that prince and his kind smile.
“I’m looking for a boy.”
Sehun looks up from his map to see the same prince from earlier standing next to him, bending slightly at the waist with his hands clasped casually behind his back. He’s rocking on his heels and Sehun can’t help but smile at the cute gesture. “A boy you say?” he questions, amused with the conversation starter.
“Yes,” Prince Phillip answers in reply, tilting his head to give him a large grin. “He has large mouse ears perched atop his head and glasses that seem to be quite loose on his handsome face.”
The same prickling heat from earlier makes its mighty return up Sehun’s spine. It settles itself around his neck, and Sehun will readily agree that it’s because the sun is shining bright above them and not because of this handsome prince’s attention on him. He immediately brings his opened map up to cover the lower half of his face, eyes forming beautiful crescents as he laughs. “A boy with mouse ears?”
The prince smiles brightly, straightening up to face him completely. “The largest of its kind.”
Sehun watches as the man’s gaze flicks up to an area above his head, clearly indicating his Mickey Mouse ears still perched there lopsidedly. “Do you know his name?” he asks softly, biting his lip in anticipation as he watches the prince’s expression quickly turns into one of thought and looks away up to the castle and the sky.
“He told me his name once,” the prince muses, sparkles returning to his eyes. “I believe he is a prince as well. Prince Sehun, traveling from a foreign land.”
Sehun’s eyes widen at the title, mouth gaping as the prince turns to give him a bright smile full of teeth. “Prince?”
“Prince Phillip!” someone calls and they both look to see his princess calling out for him and waving her hand in the air. “We must head on our way!”
Sehun doesn’t expect the light touch to his back as the prince walks ahead of him before turning to bow his farewell.
“When will I see you again, my prince?”
“Your prince?” Sehun echoes, still shocked by the ghost of a pressure on his back not a minute prior.
The prince raises his head to give him a look of confusion. “Aren’t you traveling through these roads? I am but your prince to protect you from the evil witch’s hands.”
Sehun wants to snort at the instant image of Soojung appearing in his mind.
“Will I see you later in the day? Perhaps, tomorrow?”
“Prince Phillip!” the princess calls again.
“Will you be in the parade later on?” Sehun quickly questions, taking a step forward when the prince takes a step back. “You know, with everyone else?”
The smile returns to the prince’s face at the question, retracing his step and moving forward towards Sehun. The lack of space between them makes Sehun’s head spin, blushing when the other moves to bring his hand up to his lips again. “I will search for you in the crowd then, my prince.”
Sehun almost faints when the prince gives him a small, shy smile before rushing off to his impatient princess, both of them smiling but looking like they’re arguing all the same. He thinks he needs a drink. Or ice cream. Ice cream sounds good right now.
The weather is starting to cool, the sun setting as it retreats for the day to allow the moon to breathe, and it’s doing wonders for everyone walking about right now. The sweat clinging to Sehun’s skin is starting to dry and he feels nothing but relief as he eats another ice cream bar and sits on the sidewalk of Main Street, USA waiting for the Disney Parade to start in another thirty minutes.
His legs are splayed out in front of him, jeans clinging onto his skin as he tries to shift to become more comfortable on the concrete. Families and couples are walking past him and he looks around curiously, wondering if his friends are actually going to meet up with him for the parade tonight or if they’re going to ditch him again like earlier today.
“If we didn’t know any better,” and Sehun instinctively rolls his eyes at the sound of his best friend’s voice, “We’d think you were a child who lost his mother and had a stranger buy you that ice cream bar.”
“Nice to see you too, Soojung,” Sehun drawls out as he looks the other way to see his friends making their way for him. He instantly recoils when Soojung runs up to him and kicks him in the thigh. “Ow! Soojung!”
“That’s what you get for leaving us!”
“Hey! You were the ones who left me!” Sehun shouts back, glaring up at his friend before noticing Junmyeon, Zitao, and Amber trailing behind her.
“And you look so ridiculous in that hat and your glasses,” Soojung continues on even though she rightfully seats herself next to him and loops her arm with his. “Do you even need glasses?”
“Stop torturing the poor boy,” Amber comments, looking around them before grabbing Junmyeon’s arm to go to the nearby refreshment corner. “Come on, dad. Let’s get some more snacks before the parade starts.”
Junmyeon splutters in nonsense as Zitao simply moves to sit on Sehun’s free side, linking his arm with his free one as well. The sudden added weight of two more people against him makes Sehun frown, trying to finish his ice cream in peace. His best friends hate him.
“So,” Zitao mumbles, leaning his head on his shoulder, “How was your day, Sehunnie?”
Sehun grumbles as Soojung purposely moves his arm and he misses a bite of his ice cream. “It was fine.”
“Meet anyone cute?”
Sudden flashes of Prince Phillip enter his mind and Sehun frowns even harder as he almost smacks Soojung in the face with his ice cream. “No,” he resolutely says, smirking when Soojung panics and instantly stops her sabotaging mission.
“You were gone from us the whole day,” Zitao adds on, lifting his head to give him a critical look. “You must’ve been up to something by yourself all day.”
Sehun chooses to stay quiet at that, finishing up his ice cream before neatly wrapping up the packaging to throw away in a trash bin later. There are families hurrying to try and get a good spot to see the whole parade, and Sehun grunts, as he, Soojung, and Zitao are pushed further and further onto the street and all three of them try to keep their spots on the side of the main road. They only get to breathe when Amber and Junmyeon reappear with snacks and drinks and manage to squeeze in behind them, standing and trying to make space for all of them as the parade finally starts.
Music blares out of the speakers on top of the buildings and they watch with wide eyes, as one of the princesses appears first with her prince. It’s like a childhood dream come true for them, watching each of their heroes walking or dancing past them, and Sehun smiles as he quickly takes his phone out to record parts of it while Zitao records everything for precious memories later.
He’s busy filming Tinkerbell and Peter Pan dancing and rushing past them to notice the upcoming float of Snow White, Rapunzel, and Sleeping Beauty with their princes walking in front of them, greeting and smiling brightly at everyone. Sehun freezes when he sees someone briefly stop in front of him and he quickly looks up to see Prince Phillip smiling down at him, his own camera unwillingly following his movement to capture the moment. He barely registers the words “Come back tomorrow” before Prince Phillip is dancing away again, waving brightly to a young girl in a princess costume and joining the rest of his friends.
It feels like time has frozen, all of his friends staring at him in shock, as he openly gapes up at nothing in particular. Both his and Zitao’s cameras are still filming parts of the parade, but it isn’t until Junmyeon knees him in the back that Sehun jerks forward and almost falls into the middle of the street.
“We need to talk!” is what Junmyeon yells when Sehun scrambles to get back on the side of the road without dropping his cell phone.
“You caught the eyes of a prince and thought it wasn’t a big deal?!”
Sehun winces as Soojung screeches right into his face, eyes wild and sunglasses tipping dangerously off the side of her head. He feels uncharacteristically small in front of his friends and all of them are giving him various looks of disbelief and betrayal, but really. They’re the ones who left him. He should be the one giving them looks of disbelief and betrayal. Why is life so cruel?
“Who was that guy?” Amber asks, voice considerably softer than the other three combined. She then gives him a look. “And don’t say he’s Prince Phillip because that cannot be his real name.”
The unsure, lopsided smile is enough of an indication for all of them to throw their hands up in exasperation, Soojung surging forward to grab his collar and shake him senseless. “He’s been talking to you practically all day and you don’t even know his real name?!”
“I’m sorry?” Sehun gasps out, trying to stop the girl from knocking his brain out of his skull. “Keeping the magic alive?”
“What nonsense are you even spewing, child?” Amber retaliates, crossing her arms in front of her chest as Junmyeon goes in to try and save him. Sehun watches as she fixes a look on him and he gulps, clinging onto Junmyeon’s shirt for dear life. “You’re going to tell us everything that happened to you today.”
Okay, not so bad.
“And then you’re never leaving our sight tomorrow.”
Okay. So pretty bad.
The summer is relentless but so are his friends. Sehun feels like such a child even though Soojung is the youngest and it makes him wish they would lose him again just so he can have the whole day to explore the rest of Disney Land for himself.
He’s frowning, walking behind his friends’ obnoxious chatter and laughter, that he almost growls in annoyance when he feels a tap on his shoulder. He opens his mouth to ask ‘What’ but then he sees the gold crown atop fluffy brown hair and his mouth instantly shuts again.
“Why does my prince look so aggravated?”
He looks like he’s glowing, face soft and eyes shining with concern, and he feels like he’s lost his tongue again so he simply shakes his head, biting his lip because he doesn’t know what else to do.
“Will you accept this rose?” Prince Phillip questions, holding up a pink rose clearly taken from a nearby garden. His cheeks match the color of the flower but Sehun thinks it has to do with the heat bearing down on them, not because he’s bashful or embarrassed. He’s surprised the man isn’t having a heat stroke in his clothes. Or sweat stains, Sehun muses, That’s amazing. “Prince Sehun?”
“Sehun? Sehun!”
Soojung’s voice snaps Sehun out of his daze, quickly taking the rose from the prince and giving him a princely bow. “The witch calls me to her,” he quietly murmurs, earning a burst of surprised laughter from the prince, “Please save me later.”
He runs off before Soojung and the rest can find him, trying to avoid questions about his pink rose like the plague, and he quickly looks over his shoulder to see the prince already back with his princess but giving him a fond smile before they leave the area. He bites his bottom lip to stop the smile from spreading on his face.
“Where is he?” Amber questions, snapping her fingers in front of Sehun’s face, “We didn’t even see him.”
Sehun just shrugs, staring down at his pink rose with flutters in his heart.
“I’m telling you, that guy was trouble for you, Soojung,” Zitao says, shaking his head in disappointment at her, “I mean, look at the way he’s making you dress!”
Soojung looks appalled, but it makes Sehun, Amber, and Junmyeon snicker behind them. “I always dress like this, you jerk!”
“Exactly! You need to change your fashion sense!”
“You need to change your-”
“Okay!” Junmyeon calls out, reaching forward to wrap an arm around Soojung’s shoulders and lead her off in another direction. He looks over his shoulder as Soojung huffs in annoyance. “Take Zitao somewhere to cool him off. Let’s meet back here for the parade again later.”
“I don’t need to cool off!” they both screech and the rest wince before they’re all being separated again. And Sehun doesn’t know how it happens, but he loses Amber and Zitao between Adventureland and Tomorrowland and finds himself wandering the streets near Sleeping Beauty’s castle again. What the hell?
“I believe you have a penchant for getting lost, my prince,” the same voice greets, humor apparent in his voice, “I should send fairies to watch you and ensure your safety during your travels.”
“How are we always meeting?” Sehun breathes out, spinning around to see the prince smiling brightly at him again. He smiles in return, taking a step closer to the handsome prince. He still has the rose, sticking out of a bag of souvenirs he bought for his family back home. “You’re not following me, are you?”
The prince laughs, takes a step closer to catch his hand. “Of course not,” he says, gently holding onto his fingers, “It must be fate.” He glances down to see the rose and his smile softens. It makes Sehun’s heart beat a little faster, but then there’s a sudden troubled look in the prince’s eyes, glancing around to see people staring at them but continuing on their ways without a second thought. “I won’t be at the parade tonight,” he whispers, bringing his hand up for a kiss, “But I will see you tomorrow.”
“Prince Phillip!” They both look over to see Princess Aurora waving him over, staring at them curiously. “We must head off!”
The prince nods, letting go of his hand slowly, before he turns back to Sehun. “I will see you in a day’s time, my prince.”
Sehun rolls his eyes at the words, but he can’t fight the smile off his face as he takes the chance to quickly grab the prince’s hand again and give it a small squeeze. “I want to see if you’ll be my knight in shining armor.”
It makes the prince laugh, loud and genuine, “I am only but a prince, sir Sehun,” and it makes Sehun laugh too, letting him go and watch him join the princess again to leave the area.
The parade that night is different than the night before, only because his friends won’t stop bugging him about the prince, but it’s nice to have Soojung and Zitao talking comfortably with each other for once, enjoying each other’s company as they wait for the show to begin.
Sehun is standing this time, letting Junmyeon and Amber sit on the ground, and he’s decked out in a Goofy hat that blocks the views of other visitors behind him, but nobody has complained about it yet. He sighs as he drinks more of his lemonade, lets the parade do its thing and notices that the Prince Phillip walking isn’t the actual prince who’s been talking to him all this time.
If his friends notice his change in attitude, they don’t say anything.
(Sehun smiles later that night when Junmyeon plucks the rose from his bag, admiring it quietly and saying how lucky he is to find somebody like the prince. He reminds the other that the prince isn’t an actual prince, but all Junmyeon says is, “In the world of Disney, we’re all princes and princesses in our own rights.”
Zitao scoffs next to them, but his gaze is affectionate too. “Find out his real name before we leave in a few days. It’ll be an interesting story to tell when we go back home.”)
The heat isn’t as bad today. The sun is shining and the children are laughing, even the parents and couples seem to be having a great time as Sehun waltzes past them to make his way for Sleeping Beauty’s castle. He veers off to the side where the princes and princesses are usually gathered, determined to try and lose his friends amidst all the children and families passing through here.
Today, he’s wearing a baseball cap instead of his Mickey Mouse ears or Goofy hat, glasses in place again, and a looser shirt with tight jeans. Maybe it’ll be enough to throw his friends off because he can already hear Zitao and Soojung whining again about him walking too fast and Amber making jokes about finding her own prince charming.
The irritation must be evident on his face because right as he passes by a family with teenagers, he feels somebody grab his hand and starts tugging him a different direction than he actually knows of the place. He quickly looks to his side to see the side profile of Prince Phillip and hurriedly follows after him, looking over his shoulder to see Junmyeon trying to calm Zitao and Soojung down while Amber gets the autograph of Snow White.
They pass through a different passageway through the inner castle and Sehun’s surprised to find himself out back on the ways to Peter Pan’s Flight area and off towards Mickey’s Toontown, if he remembers correctly from his map. He looks to his side surprised to see the prince not in prince gear.
The Prince Phillip he met the days before is now wearing plain, ripped jeans and a regular tee with Mickey Mouse on the front. He has no crown on today, but the same radiant smile is back on his face when he turns to look at him.
“Prince Phillip?” Sehun questions, quickly pushing his glasses up when they slide down a bit too far for his liking.
The man in front of him laughs, a bit breathless, before he takes a step back and bows that same polite bow made for princes. “At your service,” he says happily before tilting his head up to look at him, “But today, I’m Jongin Kim.” Sehun’s breath catches in his throat as Jongin stands up again and they meet eye-to-eye, the man taking a step forward to gently fix his hat so they could see each other better. “It looked like you didn’t want to be near your friends, so I felt the need to save you.” His expression immediately turns into one of concern and Sehun holds back the urge to grab the hand still trying to gently tip the bill of his hat up and out of his eyes. “Was I wrong in thinking so?”
“No,” Sehun breathes out, a small smile coming up to his face when that one word seems to release all the tension in Jongin’s body. “You’re right. They’ve been bugging me since that first night.”
The tension is back in Jongin’s face and Sehun instantly decides he doesn’t like that. “Was it because of me? I shouldn’t have stopped in front of you like that. My manager gave me an earful afterwards too.”
The way Jongin shivers as if his manager is still there yelling at him is adorable, a complete contrast to the confident prince he’s been talking to all this time. Sehun smiles as he simply takes off his hat and ruffles his hair, hoping to dispel any possible beginnings of hat hair and hooking it onto the belt loop of his jeans. He pushes his glasses up again before hesitantly reaching out to touch Jongin’s hand, gesturing for him to start walking with him to Mickey’s Toontown. “So, you’re off today?” he questions instead, watching as Jongin quickly gets his hint and easily falls into stride with him.
“Yeah,” Jongin replies, looking around curiously as if he doesn’t basically live here all day every day when he works, “I’m off for three days.”
Sehun hums, still watching Jongin out of the corners of his eyes, and he’s curious too. He looks around to the people they walk past, none of them paying them any mind. “Does anybody recognize you when you’re off?” he asks, looking back to his newfound crush when he laughs.
“If they don’t see the crown, they don’t really see me.” The answer seems… wrong, until Jongin points out a little boy. “See that boy over there?”
Sehun frowns at the question, following the man’s pointer finger to see it’s the same little boy he bought a crown for the other day. He’s surprised to catch the younger’s gaze and for him to run up to him to give him a hug. Sehun laughs in shock as he immediately falls to his knees and returns the hug briefly before pushing the child away to look him in the eyes.
“Hello, little prince,” he says softly, watching as the boy’s eyes light up even more. “I hope you are treating your queen right.”
“I am, sir!” the little kid exclaims, smiling at him before looking to Jongin next to him. “Is he a prince too?”
Jongin laughs and Sehun looks up to him surprised. “No, little prince,” he answers, crouching low to be eye-level with the child as well. “You are the only true prince of this land.”
“But you two need to be princes too!” the child exclaims. Sehun laughs softly at his insistence, smiling as the mother walks up to them again to get a hold of her child. “Mom!” the child immediately starts to whine, throwing himself forward into Sehun’s arms. Sehun tips backwards but a hand on his back keeps him upright.
“Oh, come on, Kevin,” the mom says, sounding a bit tired with the whole exchange.
“But I’m a prince!”
“And she is your queen,” Sehun reminds him firmly, pushing the child away enough to stare him in the eyes. “Remember that, Prince Kevin. You need to abide by her rules to be a good prince.” Big, pleading eyes stare back at him, but Sehun stays firm, holding his gaze until the boy pouts and nods, reaching out to hug him once more before turning to grab a hold of his mother’s hand.
“Thank you,” the mother says, smiling her gratitude as they walk away from him once again.
Sehun only gives her a similar smile in return, watching them leave before he sees a hand outstretched next to him. He turns to look at it confused before he realizes it belongs to Jongin, smiling up at him as he grabs his hand to help himself up. “Thank you,” he breathes, freezing momentarily when he tries to let go of Jongin’s hand but he doesn’t let him.
“Without the crown, they don’t notice me,” Jongin reiterates with a simple smile, turning to start leading them to their unspoken destination. “You would’ve made a great prince too, if I might add,” he comments, his thumb gently rubbing small circles on the back of Sehun’s hand, “That little child is right.” He tilts his head towards him to give him a small smile. “You have the magic touch.”
Sehun wants to scoff at that, but his heart is too busy jumping all over the place inside his body and it’s making it a little harder to breathe for him. He remains quiet as they continue to walk, heart speeding up incredulously as he feels Jongin tug on his hand and they’re making their way for a food stop instead. And he knows there’s a dumb smile on his face because when Jongin turns back to look at him, he smiles in return as well.
“What would my prince like?” Jongin suddenly questions and Sehun immediately chokes on his own spit. His eyes widen in panic and Jongin lets go of his hand to hold onto his arm and pat him on the back. “Sehun? Sehun, are you okay?”
Sehun’s looking at him with wide eyes and he wouldn’t be surprised if he looked crazy right now. “What did you just call me?” he asks in return, trying to breathe calmly and not accidently choke on thin air again.
“Sehun?” Jongin questions back, nose scrunching up in his confusion and - oh wow, he’s insanely cute. Sehun shakes his head, trying to gesture to the words before he called his name. Oh wait. He remembers his name. “My prince?” Sehun suddenly points at his own nose and it makes Jongin laugh in surprise. His eyebrows scrunch together this time and Sehun winces when Jongin lightly slaps him on the arm in his laughter. “Aren’t you my prince though?”
“I am?”
“Hey Jongin,” somebody greets, and they both look over to see another guy standing there with a tie and apron on. “Is this the guy you were talking about the other day?”
“Moonkyu!” Jongin suddenly exclaims, and Sehun watches in fascination, as the man’s ears turn pink at the revelation. “Why?” he whines.
Sehun feels a whole lot better at the turn of events, feeling a smile crawl up his face as he grabs Jongin’s hand to try and help calm him down. He laughs as the pink in his ears turns even brighter and Moonkyu whistles in front of them before leading them to a table for an early lunch.
“This guy right here is going to give you whiplash, Sehun,” Moonkyu warns, taking their drink orders and trying not to laugh when Jongin mumbles what he wants. Sehun simply smiles at the information, laughing when Jongin shoves his face in his hands to hide his embarrassment. “One minute he can be as confident and charismatic as a prince, and the next he can be as nerdy and dorky as a man who thinks of three toy poodles as his own children.”
“Moonkyu!” Jongin screeches, arm flinging out to attack the poor waiter on the arm. “You said you wouldn’t do anything! I trusted you!”
“And see how he denies nothing,” Moonkyu adds with a laugh and a wink before skipping away to another table.
Across the table, all Sehun can do is laugh and smile as Jongin tries to mumble out everything that could make him seem like a handsome prince again. Sehun simply thinks it makes him even cuter and more adorable than he was before.
Pairing: Jongin/Sehun
Rating: PG
Length: 6.2k
Summary: Sehun loses his friends in Disney Land on the first day. He thinks it’s Disney magic when Prince Phillip finds him instead.
Notes: originally for maknaerulez.
Warning(s): [spoilers]Zitao as a side character (along with Amber, Soojung, and Junmyeon), one or two swear words
“Hello there.”
The sounds of people chattering and children laughing surround Sehun as he stares hard at the map in his hands, foreign letters trying to form familiar words in his mind, and he frowns when he realizes his past year in university proves to be fruitless in actually reading the English language. His glasses are starting to slip down his nose the longer he’s in the heat and he quickly pushes them back up, frown deepening when he feels them starting to fall again.
He knows he’s near the refreshment corner, as indicated by the similar looking letters matching the ones on his map, and that Sleeping Beauty’s castle is right there next to him along with the statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. But other than that, he knows he’s pretty much lost, thanks to his good-for-nothing friends. He doesn’t even know where they were supposed to meet up before he had to relieve his bladder of the large lemonade he got thirty minutes prior to exploring Main Street, USA.
“Who are you?”
Sehun pushes his glasses up again, hearing that same voice before suddenly realizing there’s a pair of feet in front of his own. His eyes widen as he stares at the nicely polished boots before trailing his gaze upwards past a pair of legs dressed in tight, grey pants - wow, his thighs are nice - and up a torso covered by a black shirt and tan tunic - oh wow - to finally land on a handsome face, decorated with a crown on top of his head and a curious gaze.
Once his attention completely focuses on the unknown man, the other smiles brightly at him, full of white, shining teeth. Sehun’s confused.
“What’s your name?”
“My name?” Sehun echoes, watching the man nod in affirmation.
“I am Prince Phillip,” the other answers instead, giving him a polite, princely bow before re-emerging to give him an encouraging grin. “And what might your name be?”
Sehun gapes at the man. “You’re a prince?” That could explain everything considering this man is simply downright attractive, with fine cheekbones, a lively gaze, and strong jawline. The crown should be a hint too but - “Prince… Phillip?”
The man laughs, and oh, it sounds so nice too, “Why, yes, kind sir. My mother is the queen in her native land.”
“Prince! Prince!” someone suddenly calls out and it jerks Sehun out of his daze, looking around for the source of the voice to see a child running up to them, a young girl with an open book and a pen. “Prince Phillip!”
“Yes, my little princess,” the prince quickly addresses, crouching down to catch the little girl in his arms. He laughs as he steadies her before grabbing her book and pen. “What would you like?”
“I thought she was your princess!” the little girl exclaims before pointing back in the direction where she came from. Both Sehun and the man follow the direction of her finger before they see a princess dressed in pink with a crown on top of her head, hair golden as she smiles at the little children surrounding her.
The prince smiles softly. “Of course, little one,” he says before looking back to her, “She will be my future queen.” He winks at her before putting the pen to the blank page. “But today, you will be my princess. What is your name, little one?”
Sehun watches as the man writes the girl’s name down on the page before signing his own name, Prince Phillip, written in script. The girl makes a noise of excitement before she’s running out of his arms to go back to the princess trying to sign everyone else’s books. He looks to the prince when he stands back up and faces him.
“You never told me your name,” he gently reminds, voice softer than before.
If the sudden wave of heat shooting up his neck and to his cheeks were because of the hot, summer weather, Sehun will readily admit to that and not because of the soft smile still on this prince’s face directed at him. “My name?” Sehun questions again, his tongue still having the habit of curling at the ends of his words. The prince nods his head in affirmation again, giving him a brighter, encouraging smile. Sehun’s lips quirk upward and he knows his eyes are about to do those happy crescent things they do when he smiles brightly or laughs. “My name is Sehun Oh,” he finally responds, his smile growing as he watches the prince’s eyes light up right in front of him.
“Sehun,” the prince says slowly, as if trying to test the surprisingly familiar name on his tongue. He smiles at him then, hand reaching out as a gesture as he bows again at the waist. Sehun stares at him in confusion before the man lifts his head again and gives him a wink. “May I ask for your hand?” he questions and Sehun immediately scrambles with his map before placing his left hand gently on top of the prince’s curled fingers.
He does not gasp when he feels a pair of warm lips brush against his knuckles.
“It was a pleasure meeting you, Sehun,” the prince says before gently lowering his hand and standing up. He gives him a smile, “If you ever find yourself lost, call for my name and I will be the one to find you.”
Sehun openly gapes as the prince tilts his head towards him one last time in farewell before walking away to go back to his princess. They look like the picture perfect version of Sleeping Beauty and her prince, arms together and smiling and waving at the children. It reminds him of his childhood where he and his mom would always watch Disney movies late at night and it makes him smile at the sight. He flinches when he feels a tug on his shirt.
“Are you a prince too?”
Sehun whips his head down to see a little boy staring up at him curiously, eyes wide with innocence written all over his face. His gaze softens as he immediately takes a step back and kneels to be eye-level with the boy. “No,” he answers truthfully, watching as the boy’s expression falls from the one-worded answer. He then gives the child a smile. “You are.”
“What?” The boy’s eyes are wide with shock.
The smile on Sehun’s face grows wider as he places a hand gently on the boy’s shoulder. “You are a prince. Not I, little one.”
“But I don’t have a crown-”
“Wait here,” Sehun immediately interrupts with a secretive smile, rushing to the nearest stall to buy a small, plastic crown. When he returns, the boy is still looking up at him with wide eyes as his mother stands next to him with shock written all over her face. He smiles brightly as he kneels again and gently places the crown on the boy’s head. “Now,” he says, making sure the crown is in place before tilting his head down in the form of a bow, “You are a prince.”
“Oh-”
“I’m really a prince?!” the boy exclaims happily, eyes lit up in joy as he jumps around happily. He turns to his mom who still looks shocked and uncertain with the turn of events. “Mom, I’m a prince! That means you’re a queen now!”
Sehun laughs as he stands, giving the mother a reassuring smile. “Please, enjoy the rest of your day, my queen.”
The mother’s expression of uncertainty falls away to one of relief and happiness, letting her child tug her along to show a different princess his new crown. “Thank you,” she mouths back and Sehun just smiles and waves.
He turns around just in time to see Prince Phillip’s smile directed towards him from across the courtyard.
Air conditioning is a wonderful invention created by the gods themselves. The air outside is becoming stifling and almost deadly, causing children to become whinier and parents to become more exhausted and short-tempered, and Sehun feels no different as he tries to wipe the sweat away from his forehead, accidentally knocking his Mickey Mouse hat off kilter on his head.
He’s standing in Café Orleans, standing behind a family of five as they all wait to be seated somewhere inside the cool, breezy place. There are some other braver couples and families sitting outside on the patio, but really. Sehun needs to find some colder areas other than the bathrooms to prevent an oncoming heat stroke. He frowns when he feels his phone finally buzz inside his pants pocket.
“Oh Sehun!” Soojung screeches right when he puts the phone up to his ear. “Where have you been?! We’ve been texting and calling you wondering where you’ve been!”
“It’s not my fault you were the ones to leave me in my time of need,” Sehun drawls back in Korean, finally able to breathe the fresh, cold air as the family of five enters the café and he’s next in line to find a suitable spot.
“Where are you? Do you need help? Where you kidnapped, oh my God, my parents are going to kill me if you were kidnapped at Disney Land of all places!”
Sehun winces when Soojung’s voice cracks at the end before the phone is taken away and he can hear somebody else talking into it.
“Sehun.” And Sehun breathes a sigh of relief. Junmyeon is always so calming. “Are you okay? I’m sorry we lost you.”
“It’s okay, Junmyeon,” Sehun mumbles as he gestures for a table for one and is immediately let inside. He relaxes the moment he feels the cold air on his skin. “I’m doing fine on my own.”
“Okay,” Junmyeon says slowly, and Sehun knows the elder feels guilty about everything. “Do you want to meet up now? Where are you?”
Everything on the menu looks delicious, according to the pictures provided of some of the dishes, and he nods, completely satisfied with his choice. Soojung and Amber are more proficient in the English language considering they grew up in America compared to the rest of them, but he really doesn’t want to be near Soojung of all people when she’s just going to be dramatic about the whole losing him thing later. “I’m in a restaurant in New Orleans Square,” he answers before telling his waiter what he wants, “I’ll just meet up with you guys later.”
“Are you sure, Sehun?”
“Yeah, I’m good, Junmyeon.”
Bless Junmyeon’s heart when he offers to pay for whatever he wants for dinner later. He doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal anymore anyways. Especially when he sees another little boy with a crown on his head and immediately thinks of that prince and his kind smile.
“I’m looking for a boy.”
Sehun looks up from his map to see the same prince from earlier standing next to him, bending slightly at the waist with his hands clasped casually behind his back. He’s rocking on his heels and Sehun can’t help but smile at the cute gesture. “A boy you say?” he questions, amused with the conversation starter.
“Yes,” Prince Phillip answers in reply, tilting his head to give him a large grin. “He has large mouse ears perched atop his head and glasses that seem to be quite loose on his handsome face.”
The same prickling heat from earlier makes its mighty return up Sehun’s spine. It settles itself around his neck, and Sehun will readily agree that it’s because the sun is shining bright above them and not because of this handsome prince’s attention on him. He immediately brings his opened map up to cover the lower half of his face, eyes forming beautiful crescents as he laughs. “A boy with mouse ears?”
The prince smiles brightly, straightening up to face him completely. “The largest of its kind.”
Sehun watches as the man’s gaze flicks up to an area above his head, clearly indicating his Mickey Mouse ears still perched there lopsidedly. “Do you know his name?” he asks softly, biting his lip in anticipation as he watches the prince’s expression quickly turns into one of thought and looks away up to the castle and the sky.
“He told me his name once,” the prince muses, sparkles returning to his eyes. “I believe he is a prince as well. Prince Sehun, traveling from a foreign land.”
Sehun’s eyes widen at the title, mouth gaping as the prince turns to give him a bright smile full of teeth. “Prince?”
“Prince Phillip!” someone calls and they both look to see his princess calling out for him and waving her hand in the air. “We must head on our way!”
Sehun doesn’t expect the light touch to his back as the prince walks ahead of him before turning to bow his farewell.
“When will I see you again, my prince?”
“Your prince?” Sehun echoes, still shocked by the ghost of a pressure on his back not a minute prior.
The prince raises his head to give him a look of confusion. “Aren’t you traveling through these roads? I am but your prince to protect you from the evil witch’s hands.”
Sehun wants to snort at the instant image of Soojung appearing in his mind.
“Will I see you later in the day? Perhaps, tomorrow?”
“Prince Phillip!” the princess calls again.
“Will you be in the parade later on?” Sehun quickly questions, taking a step forward when the prince takes a step back. “You know, with everyone else?”
The smile returns to the prince’s face at the question, retracing his step and moving forward towards Sehun. The lack of space between them makes Sehun’s head spin, blushing when the other moves to bring his hand up to his lips again. “I will search for you in the crowd then, my prince.”
Sehun almost faints when the prince gives him a small, shy smile before rushing off to his impatient princess, both of them smiling but looking like they’re arguing all the same. He thinks he needs a drink. Or ice cream. Ice cream sounds good right now.
The weather is starting to cool, the sun setting as it retreats for the day to allow the moon to breathe, and it’s doing wonders for everyone walking about right now. The sweat clinging to Sehun’s skin is starting to dry and he feels nothing but relief as he eats another ice cream bar and sits on the sidewalk of Main Street, USA waiting for the Disney Parade to start in another thirty minutes.
His legs are splayed out in front of him, jeans clinging onto his skin as he tries to shift to become more comfortable on the concrete. Families and couples are walking past him and he looks around curiously, wondering if his friends are actually going to meet up with him for the parade tonight or if they’re going to ditch him again like earlier today.
“If we didn’t know any better,” and Sehun instinctively rolls his eyes at the sound of his best friend’s voice, “We’d think you were a child who lost his mother and had a stranger buy you that ice cream bar.”
“Nice to see you too, Soojung,” Sehun drawls out as he looks the other way to see his friends making their way for him. He instantly recoils when Soojung runs up to him and kicks him in the thigh. “Ow! Soojung!”
“That’s what you get for leaving us!”
“Hey! You were the ones who left me!” Sehun shouts back, glaring up at his friend before noticing Junmyeon, Zitao, and Amber trailing behind her.
“And you look so ridiculous in that hat and your glasses,” Soojung continues on even though she rightfully seats herself next to him and loops her arm with his. “Do you even need glasses?”
“Stop torturing the poor boy,” Amber comments, looking around them before grabbing Junmyeon’s arm to go to the nearby refreshment corner. “Come on, dad. Let’s get some more snacks before the parade starts.”
Junmyeon splutters in nonsense as Zitao simply moves to sit on Sehun’s free side, linking his arm with his free one as well. The sudden added weight of two more people against him makes Sehun frown, trying to finish his ice cream in peace. His best friends hate him.
“So,” Zitao mumbles, leaning his head on his shoulder, “How was your day, Sehunnie?”
Sehun grumbles as Soojung purposely moves his arm and he misses a bite of his ice cream. “It was fine.”
“Meet anyone cute?”
Sudden flashes of Prince Phillip enter his mind and Sehun frowns even harder as he almost smacks Soojung in the face with his ice cream. “No,” he resolutely says, smirking when Soojung panics and instantly stops her sabotaging mission.
“You were gone from us the whole day,” Zitao adds on, lifting his head to give him a critical look. “You must’ve been up to something by yourself all day.”
Sehun chooses to stay quiet at that, finishing up his ice cream before neatly wrapping up the packaging to throw away in a trash bin later. There are families hurrying to try and get a good spot to see the whole parade, and Sehun grunts, as he, Soojung, and Zitao are pushed further and further onto the street and all three of them try to keep their spots on the side of the main road. They only get to breathe when Amber and Junmyeon reappear with snacks and drinks and manage to squeeze in behind them, standing and trying to make space for all of them as the parade finally starts.
Music blares out of the speakers on top of the buildings and they watch with wide eyes, as one of the princesses appears first with her prince. It’s like a childhood dream come true for them, watching each of their heroes walking or dancing past them, and Sehun smiles as he quickly takes his phone out to record parts of it while Zitao records everything for precious memories later.
He’s busy filming Tinkerbell and Peter Pan dancing and rushing past them to notice the upcoming float of Snow White, Rapunzel, and Sleeping Beauty with their princes walking in front of them, greeting and smiling brightly at everyone. Sehun freezes when he sees someone briefly stop in front of him and he quickly looks up to see Prince Phillip smiling down at him, his own camera unwillingly following his movement to capture the moment. He barely registers the words “Come back tomorrow” before Prince Phillip is dancing away again, waving brightly to a young girl in a princess costume and joining the rest of his friends.
It feels like time has frozen, all of his friends staring at him in shock, as he openly gapes up at nothing in particular. Both his and Zitao’s cameras are still filming parts of the parade, but it isn’t until Junmyeon knees him in the back that Sehun jerks forward and almost falls into the middle of the street.
“We need to talk!” is what Junmyeon yells when Sehun scrambles to get back on the side of the road without dropping his cell phone.
“You caught the eyes of a prince and thought it wasn’t a big deal?!”
Sehun winces as Soojung screeches right into his face, eyes wild and sunglasses tipping dangerously off the side of her head. He feels uncharacteristically small in front of his friends and all of them are giving him various looks of disbelief and betrayal, but really. They’re the ones who left him. He should be the one giving them looks of disbelief and betrayal. Why is life so cruel?
“Who was that guy?” Amber asks, voice considerably softer than the other three combined. She then gives him a look. “And don’t say he’s Prince Phillip because that cannot be his real name.”
The unsure, lopsided smile is enough of an indication for all of them to throw their hands up in exasperation, Soojung surging forward to grab his collar and shake him senseless. “He’s been talking to you practically all day and you don’t even know his real name?!”
“I’m sorry?” Sehun gasps out, trying to stop the girl from knocking his brain out of his skull. “Keeping the magic alive?”
“What nonsense are you even spewing, child?” Amber retaliates, crossing her arms in front of her chest as Junmyeon goes in to try and save him. Sehun watches as she fixes a look on him and he gulps, clinging onto Junmyeon’s shirt for dear life. “You’re going to tell us everything that happened to you today.”
Okay, not so bad.
“And then you’re never leaving our sight tomorrow.”
Okay. So pretty bad.
The summer is relentless but so are his friends. Sehun feels like such a child even though Soojung is the youngest and it makes him wish they would lose him again just so he can have the whole day to explore the rest of Disney Land for himself.
He’s frowning, walking behind his friends’ obnoxious chatter and laughter, that he almost growls in annoyance when he feels a tap on his shoulder. He opens his mouth to ask ‘What’ but then he sees the gold crown atop fluffy brown hair and his mouth instantly shuts again.
“Why does my prince look so aggravated?”
He looks like he’s glowing, face soft and eyes shining with concern, and he feels like he’s lost his tongue again so he simply shakes his head, biting his lip because he doesn’t know what else to do.
“Will you accept this rose?” Prince Phillip questions, holding up a pink rose clearly taken from a nearby garden. His cheeks match the color of the flower but Sehun thinks it has to do with the heat bearing down on them, not because he’s bashful or embarrassed. He’s surprised the man isn’t having a heat stroke in his clothes. Or sweat stains, Sehun muses, That’s amazing. “Prince Sehun?”
“Sehun? Sehun!”
Soojung’s voice snaps Sehun out of his daze, quickly taking the rose from the prince and giving him a princely bow. “The witch calls me to her,” he quietly murmurs, earning a burst of surprised laughter from the prince, “Please save me later.”
He runs off before Soojung and the rest can find him, trying to avoid questions about his pink rose like the plague, and he quickly looks over his shoulder to see the prince already back with his princess but giving him a fond smile before they leave the area. He bites his bottom lip to stop the smile from spreading on his face.
“Where is he?” Amber questions, snapping her fingers in front of Sehun’s face, “We didn’t even see him.”
Sehun just shrugs, staring down at his pink rose with flutters in his heart.
“I’m telling you, that guy was trouble for you, Soojung,” Zitao says, shaking his head in disappointment at her, “I mean, look at the way he’s making you dress!”
Soojung looks appalled, but it makes Sehun, Amber, and Junmyeon snicker behind them. “I always dress like this, you jerk!”
“Exactly! You need to change your fashion sense!”
“You need to change your-”
“Okay!” Junmyeon calls out, reaching forward to wrap an arm around Soojung’s shoulders and lead her off in another direction. He looks over his shoulder as Soojung huffs in annoyance. “Take Zitao somewhere to cool him off. Let’s meet back here for the parade again later.”
“I don’t need to cool off!” they both screech and the rest wince before they’re all being separated again. And Sehun doesn’t know how it happens, but he loses Amber and Zitao between Adventureland and Tomorrowland and finds himself wandering the streets near Sleeping Beauty’s castle again. What the hell?
“I believe you have a penchant for getting lost, my prince,” the same voice greets, humor apparent in his voice, “I should send fairies to watch you and ensure your safety during your travels.”
“How are we always meeting?” Sehun breathes out, spinning around to see the prince smiling brightly at him again. He smiles in return, taking a step closer to the handsome prince. He still has the rose, sticking out of a bag of souvenirs he bought for his family back home. “You’re not following me, are you?”
The prince laughs, takes a step closer to catch his hand. “Of course not,” he says, gently holding onto his fingers, “It must be fate.” He glances down to see the rose and his smile softens. It makes Sehun’s heart beat a little faster, but then there’s a sudden troubled look in the prince’s eyes, glancing around to see people staring at them but continuing on their ways without a second thought. “I won’t be at the parade tonight,” he whispers, bringing his hand up for a kiss, “But I will see you tomorrow.”
“Prince Phillip!” They both look over to see Princess Aurora waving him over, staring at them curiously. “We must head off!”
The prince nods, letting go of his hand slowly, before he turns back to Sehun. “I will see you in a day’s time, my prince.”
Sehun rolls his eyes at the words, but he can’t fight the smile off his face as he takes the chance to quickly grab the prince’s hand again and give it a small squeeze. “I want to see if you’ll be my knight in shining armor.”
It makes the prince laugh, loud and genuine, “I am only but a prince, sir Sehun,” and it makes Sehun laugh too, letting him go and watch him join the princess again to leave the area.
The parade that night is different than the night before, only because his friends won’t stop bugging him about the prince, but it’s nice to have Soojung and Zitao talking comfortably with each other for once, enjoying each other’s company as they wait for the show to begin.
Sehun is standing this time, letting Junmyeon and Amber sit on the ground, and he’s decked out in a Goofy hat that blocks the views of other visitors behind him, but nobody has complained about it yet. He sighs as he drinks more of his lemonade, lets the parade do its thing and notices that the Prince Phillip walking isn’t the actual prince who’s been talking to him all this time.
If his friends notice his change in attitude, they don’t say anything.
(Sehun smiles later that night when Junmyeon plucks the rose from his bag, admiring it quietly and saying how lucky he is to find somebody like the prince. He reminds the other that the prince isn’t an actual prince, but all Junmyeon says is, “In the world of Disney, we’re all princes and princesses in our own rights.”
Zitao scoffs next to them, but his gaze is affectionate too. “Find out his real name before we leave in a few days. It’ll be an interesting story to tell when we go back home.”)
The heat isn’t as bad today. The sun is shining and the children are laughing, even the parents and couples seem to be having a great time as Sehun waltzes past them to make his way for Sleeping Beauty’s castle. He veers off to the side where the princes and princesses are usually gathered, determined to try and lose his friends amidst all the children and families passing through here.
Today, he’s wearing a baseball cap instead of his Mickey Mouse ears or Goofy hat, glasses in place again, and a looser shirt with tight jeans. Maybe it’ll be enough to throw his friends off because he can already hear Zitao and Soojung whining again about him walking too fast and Amber making jokes about finding her own prince charming.
The irritation must be evident on his face because right as he passes by a family with teenagers, he feels somebody grab his hand and starts tugging him a different direction than he actually knows of the place. He quickly looks to his side to see the side profile of Prince Phillip and hurriedly follows after him, looking over his shoulder to see Junmyeon trying to calm Zitao and Soojung down while Amber gets the autograph of Snow White.
They pass through a different passageway through the inner castle and Sehun’s surprised to find himself out back on the ways to Peter Pan’s Flight area and off towards Mickey’s Toontown, if he remembers correctly from his map. He looks to his side surprised to see the prince not in prince gear.
The Prince Phillip he met the days before is now wearing plain, ripped jeans and a regular tee with Mickey Mouse on the front. He has no crown on today, but the same radiant smile is back on his face when he turns to look at him.
“Prince Phillip?” Sehun questions, quickly pushing his glasses up when they slide down a bit too far for his liking.
The man in front of him laughs, a bit breathless, before he takes a step back and bows that same polite bow made for princes. “At your service,” he says happily before tilting his head up to look at him, “But today, I’m Jongin Kim.” Sehun’s breath catches in his throat as Jongin stands up again and they meet eye-to-eye, the man taking a step forward to gently fix his hat so they could see each other better. “It looked like you didn’t want to be near your friends, so I felt the need to save you.” His expression immediately turns into one of concern and Sehun holds back the urge to grab the hand still trying to gently tip the bill of his hat up and out of his eyes. “Was I wrong in thinking so?”
“No,” Sehun breathes out, a small smile coming up to his face when that one word seems to release all the tension in Jongin’s body. “You’re right. They’ve been bugging me since that first night.”
The tension is back in Jongin’s face and Sehun instantly decides he doesn’t like that. “Was it because of me? I shouldn’t have stopped in front of you like that. My manager gave me an earful afterwards too.”
The way Jongin shivers as if his manager is still there yelling at him is adorable, a complete contrast to the confident prince he’s been talking to all this time. Sehun smiles as he simply takes off his hat and ruffles his hair, hoping to dispel any possible beginnings of hat hair and hooking it onto the belt loop of his jeans. He pushes his glasses up again before hesitantly reaching out to touch Jongin’s hand, gesturing for him to start walking with him to Mickey’s Toontown. “So, you’re off today?” he questions instead, watching as Jongin quickly gets his hint and easily falls into stride with him.
“Yeah,” Jongin replies, looking around curiously as if he doesn’t basically live here all day every day when he works, “I’m off for three days.”
Sehun hums, still watching Jongin out of the corners of his eyes, and he’s curious too. He looks around to the people they walk past, none of them paying them any mind. “Does anybody recognize you when you’re off?” he asks, looking back to his newfound crush when he laughs.
“If they don’t see the crown, they don’t really see me.” The answer seems… wrong, until Jongin points out a little boy. “See that boy over there?”
Sehun frowns at the question, following the man’s pointer finger to see it’s the same little boy he bought a crown for the other day. He’s surprised to catch the younger’s gaze and for him to run up to him to give him a hug. Sehun laughs in shock as he immediately falls to his knees and returns the hug briefly before pushing the child away to look him in the eyes.
“Hello, little prince,” he says softly, watching as the boy’s eyes light up even more. “I hope you are treating your queen right.”
“I am, sir!” the little kid exclaims, smiling at him before looking to Jongin next to him. “Is he a prince too?”
Jongin laughs and Sehun looks up to him surprised. “No, little prince,” he answers, crouching low to be eye-level with the child as well. “You are the only true prince of this land.”
“But you two need to be princes too!” the child exclaims. Sehun laughs softly at his insistence, smiling as the mother walks up to them again to get a hold of her child. “Mom!” the child immediately starts to whine, throwing himself forward into Sehun’s arms. Sehun tips backwards but a hand on his back keeps him upright.
“Oh, come on, Kevin,” the mom says, sounding a bit tired with the whole exchange.
“But I’m a prince!”
“And she is your queen,” Sehun reminds him firmly, pushing the child away enough to stare him in the eyes. “Remember that, Prince Kevin. You need to abide by her rules to be a good prince.” Big, pleading eyes stare back at him, but Sehun stays firm, holding his gaze until the boy pouts and nods, reaching out to hug him once more before turning to grab a hold of his mother’s hand.
“Thank you,” the mother says, smiling her gratitude as they walk away from him once again.
Sehun only gives her a similar smile in return, watching them leave before he sees a hand outstretched next to him. He turns to look at it confused before he realizes it belongs to Jongin, smiling up at him as he grabs his hand to help himself up. “Thank you,” he breathes, freezing momentarily when he tries to let go of Jongin’s hand but he doesn’t let him.
“Without the crown, they don’t notice me,” Jongin reiterates with a simple smile, turning to start leading them to their unspoken destination. “You would’ve made a great prince too, if I might add,” he comments, his thumb gently rubbing small circles on the back of Sehun’s hand, “That little child is right.” He tilts his head towards him to give him a small smile. “You have the magic touch.”
Sehun wants to scoff at that, but his heart is too busy jumping all over the place inside his body and it’s making it a little harder to breathe for him. He remains quiet as they continue to walk, heart speeding up incredulously as he feels Jongin tug on his hand and they’re making their way for a food stop instead. And he knows there’s a dumb smile on his face because when Jongin turns back to look at him, he smiles in return as well.
“What would my prince like?” Jongin suddenly questions and Sehun immediately chokes on his own spit. His eyes widen in panic and Jongin lets go of his hand to hold onto his arm and pat him on the back. “Sehun? Sehun, are you okay?”
Sehun’s looking at him with wide eyes and he wouldn’t be surprised if he looked crazy right now. “What did you just call me?” he asks in return, trying to breathe calmly and not accidently choke on thin air again.
“Sehun?” Jongin questions back, nose scrunching up in his confusion and - oh wow, he’s insanely cute. Sehun shakes his head, trying to gesture to the words before he called his name. Oh wait. He remembers his name. “My prince?” Sehun suddenly points at his own nose and it makes Jongin laugh in surprise. His eyebrows scrunch together this time and Sehun winces when Jongin lightly slaps him on the arm in his laughter. “Aren’t you my prince though?”
“I am?”
“Hey Jongin,” somebody greets, and they both look over to see another guy standing there with a tie and apron on. “Is this the guy you were talking about the other day?”
“Moonkyu!” Jongin suddenly exclaims, and Sehun watches in fascination, as the man’s ears turn pink at the revelation. “Why?” he whines.
Sehun feels a whole lot better at the turn of events, feeling a smile crawl up his face as he grabs Jongin’s hand to try and help calm him down. He laughs as the pink in his ears turns even brighter and Moonkyu whistles in front of them before leading them to a table for an early lunch.
“This guy right here is going to give you whiplash, Sehun,” Moonkyu warns, taking their drink orders and trying not to laugh when Jongin mumbles what he wants. Sehun simply smiles at the information, laughing when Jongin shoves his face in his hands to hide his embarrassment. “One minute he can be as confident and charismatic as a prince, and the next he can be as nerdy and dorky as a man who thinks of three toy poodles as his own children.”
“Moonkyu!” Jongin screeches, arm flinging out to attack the poor waiter on the arm. “You said you wouldn’t do anything! I trusted you!”
“And see how he denies nothing,” Moonkyu adds with a laugh and a wink before skipping away to another table.
Across the table, all Sehun can do is laugh and smile as Jongin tries to mumble out everything that could make him seem like a handsome prince again. Sehun simply thinks it makes him even cuter and more adorable than he was before.