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A five year old prince born into a corrupted family could only bring pain, misfortune and many assassins trying to get the neck of the child. Anyone who got the neck was promised promotion and a high rank in society. The parents of the poor boy? They did nothing. A corrupted family stays a corrupted family, even with the threat of his head being chopped off.

The problem? No one has seen his face. Multiple people a day could walk by the prince who wore ordinary clothes and gawk at the beauty of the seemingly normal child. He even played with many other children at the park. At a young age he had jet black hair, large eyes, and a bow shaped top lip. Many people who lived inside the capitol had talked of the boy's beauty and soon sparked the interest of many assassins.

When the boy turned seven, he had already sparked the interest of many people, but he never noticed. He didn’t notice the greedy eyes on him, the eyes of envy, or the eyes of wanted death upon him. Why would he notice? He didn’t know anything about the world, just that he lived with a close aunt of his. Although she acted as his mom, he knew that wasn’t the case, he looked nothing like her, and in his head, his corrupted family had flaunted their beauty and made sure people knew that it was genes and nothing else. Not to mention that the seven year old had noticed the evil eye exchanges between his aunt and the queen when she would parade around the city.

Walking around the town as a small boy was normal for the young prince, and that day was no different. He went to the playground and straight to the perfect little sandbox to the right of the green plastic slide. The young prince went to the sand box almost everyday,
always excited to meet a cold boy who sat on the opposite side of the box. His one goal in his seven-year old life was to make friends with the boy.

As the prince saw him appear, he took note of his cute doe eyes and soft facial features, the opposite of his sharp ones. The boy had jet black hair, similar to his, and an aura of being untouchable, but today the young unknown prince didn’t want to shy away from him, he wanted to be his friend. Both of them didn’t seem to have any, so he wanted to change that.

The small prince walked up to the other boy hesitantly and stopped in front of him, plopping down causing the other to look him in the eyes. They held eye contact, but neither of the two boys said anything. As the young prince tilted his head at the boy in front of him, the other scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“There’s a whole sandbox,” the boy talked in a harsh tone to the prince. His words weren’t as fluently developed as the prince’s, but they still meant the same nonetheless.

“I-I,” the prince didn’t know why he was stuttering so much. He was normally not only confident in his voice and pronunciation—his teacher had always said he was well above the average seven year old—but he was nervous.

“Can you not speak?” his question wasn’t said with concern, it was annoyance. The young soft featured boy was annoyed at the prince before him. “If you can’t speak then leave. I don’t want to play with you.” His harsh words were his way to scare off the prince, he didn’t want anything to do with this boy. He wanted to play alone. However, the words weren’t scaring off the prince, they were annoying him as well.

“I can too speak,” the prince said, angry at the little boy he wanted to befriend. “I was going to play with you, I don’t want to anymore. And by the way, I am better at speaking than you.”

The little prince walks away with a ‘hmph’ escaping his lips, and he is sure to kick down the other child’s sand castle on his way. At first the thought of getting back at the young boy for his rudeness seemed fun, but that took a wrong turn. Before he knew it, his face had come in contact with the sand he was once walking on.

“Just so you know,” the mean little boy is straddling the prince, speaking in between smacking the other’s fragile body with his small fists. “My father could destroy you and your whole family. Do not try to beat me. You little boy.” After smacking the smaller boy a couple more times, he gets up and kicks some sand at him then walks away.

Not having the energy to play anymore, the small prince takes his toys and begins walking to his aunt's house with tears in his eyes. He just wanted to play with the boy, nothing more, but apparently the boy didn’t want to play with him.

When the prince came home with bruises on his tummy and sand all over him, his aunt was terrified, thinking something more had happened than just a small boy who had been a bit rude; although the prince hadn’t been the nicest to him either. Even if the small prince had known that something was going to happen to him when he came home with bruises and puffy cheeks from crying, going home to his parents was something that he never expected to happen. It was like he was shipped off.

The carriage ride to the palace was silent, only the sound of the horse trotting and the wheels on the gravel was heard. A decision had been reached the night the prince came home, but for safety reasons the prince did not know of, they left the next morning.

During the carriage ride, the prince would look from his bag to his hands until he finally got the courage to look out the window. Many people had gathered to watch the amazing white and green plated carriage that was going through the lower regions of the capitol—or better known as the small village—only someone of the royal family would be seen in a carriage of that sort. Even the white horses that pulled the carriage, was a symbol of royalty, and the coach driver Qian Kun was said to escort the royal prince everywhere he needed to go since the announcement of the queen’s pregnancy.

Knowing that people were probably looking for a glance of himself, the little prince stayed in the shadows, scared for a reason he himself didn’t know. When he reached the edge of town, however, he did stick his head out slightly as he didn’t see any people gathered, and to his surprise, there stood the boy from yesterday in the sand box. The mean, but soft looking, little boy stuck his tongue out at the boy and put an ‘L’ shape on his head with his fingers. To that, the small prince just pouted and removed his head from the window, focusing his eyes on the bag beside him again.

***

Nine years of living in the palace, and nothing much had changed. The now teen prince was sixteen and still neglected by his parents in almost every way. He still went out to the village he used to live in with his aunt—who hadn’t been seen since the day he was sent to the palace—and he would still see the soft faced male.

The reason he got out easily throughout the years was because he is friends with one of the guards and other people who worked inside the palace. They would bring him with them when they took trips to the village or pretend to not notice when he would climb himself over the gate at the break of dawn.

Even though he often made friends easily, there was one person he never sought as a friend, the sandbox boy. It would’ve been ridiculous to just hold a grudge against him for petty kindergarten fighting, but it got worse as they ran into each other, and the day he went out at sixteen, just wanting to get some bread for his friend who hadn’t eaten in two days, it had gotten the worst it ever had before.

Although the prince was getting bullied by the male—it still, not being completely one-sided as the prince would fight back—he was always quite thankful that it was never a group of people against him, it was always just the two of them.

When the prince decided to go out and buy the bread, he was expecting a smooth travel and to not be out very long; it was a Friday meaning the queen was going to check on the prince’s studies and mastery of certain skills. Knowing that he needed to be fast, what normally feels like climbing a wall felt like jumping over it, and the prince ran swiftly towards the village that was about three miles away. The trip to the small village within the capitol was always nice; the breeze, the scenery, the lack of people, it never got to be a hassle until he got to the village’s edge.

If the prince was seen going into the village from the road he ran on, people would know that he is the prince, so he always comes in from the opposite side, well that is normally the plan. People in the village continued to regard him as handsome enough to be a king, so he always has to be careful to keep rumors away from him. However, there is someone who knew his identity who was standing at the north gate to greet him on that, was lovely before he saw his face, morning.

“Look what the dog drug in,” he sneers as he talks to the shorter male in front of him. “It’s the prince. Oh your majesty please do spare me for accidentally seeing you coming from the castle to lollygag around town.”

The prince decides to ignore the rather arrogant teen in front of him and continues his way to the east side of the village, but to his disliking, the male follows him. As the teen follows the prince, he drags his feet, being sure to kick some fallen pine cones into the heel of the male in front while sighing occasionally. Some may think of this as flirting, but both of the teens thought it far from that. Furthermore, the pine cones sent pain up the prince’s leg at contact from how hard it had been kicked, the teen dragging his feet was loud and being right outside the village meant that his stealthiness just became a lot less sneaky, and the sound of the other sighing was causing the prince to go crazy from annoyance.

“Look,” the prince turns around, facing the slightly taller teen who just raises his eyebrows at the others whisper-yell. “I don’t care that you are causing me pain like always, as much as I would rather you not, but can you be quiet. I need to get in and out of the village because my friend hasn’t eaten, so can you please just be quiet, or better yet, not follow me?”

It may be pointless, but the prince stands looking at the other, waiting for an answer. The teen looks up as if in thought, with a slight pout on his face; that the prince may or may not really want to smack off his lips. Another sigh leaves the tall male's lips and he looks down at the annoyed prince.

“Let me get this straight,” as the teen talks, he lowers himself so that he is eye-level with the prince, “you traveled three miles from the palace, to grab food to eat for a friend, from the village. Does the palace’s food not satisfy your so-called friend, or do you just not want to share such luxury with them?”

The prince began to get really annoyed by the male in front of him, “you don’t even know me.”

“Of course I do,” the teen continued to talk in a monotone voice unlike the prince in front of him. “You are the prince of one messed up family, you are the little boy who knocked down my castle, and you are one of the most wanted heads within the village.”

“I am not associated with my family like you seem to think,” even with the prince trying to tell himself to stay calm, he couldn’t. His voice was beginning to raise even when trying to keep it down. “When I am crowned, I will do my best to fix what my family couldn’t”

A laugh. That’s what he gets in return from the teen.

“What kind of sixteen year old has such big dreams, because I know I don’t,” he just keeps talking, making the prince’s blood boil. “You do realize that as soon as your face is revealed as the prince, the amount of assassins trying to get your head will be overwhelming. You will probably die before the age of thirty, and me? Oh I will be celebrating joyfully, for reasons you don’t need to know.”

“You won’t be celebrating because I won’t be dead,” the prince talks through gritted teeth.

“Look,” the teen who had finally leaned back, gets closer to the prince, matching his level as he had been before. “Just between you and me, that father I warned you about, will be the death of you. Either him or his heir, which may or may not be his second oldest. Oh my goodness, that’s me.”

He couldn’t take it anymore. Holding onto being a good guy for so long, he just couldn’t. The final straw had just been pulled, he was not going to be told by his enemy since the age of seven that he would be the one to cut off his head, so like any sane teen would’ve done, the prince punched the teen who wasn’t expecting it. That however, was a mistake.

Just like at the age of seven, the sixteen year old was pinned by the violent boy and punched around. He didn’t fight back, he just laid on the sticks and pine needles from the nearby forest and let himself get beat. Although at first he could tell that things were just gonna bruise, his thoughts take a turn as a rock gets jabbed into face by his eye.

The prince forcefully pushed the male off who just laughed slightly before running back to the north side of the village. As the prince watched his figure fade, he put his hand near his eye by the wound, wincing at the pain, and looked at his fingers. Even if the blood rushing down the side of his face wasn’t enough to prove it, the blood on his fingers did prove that he was bleeding a lot.

Ditching the thought of getting bread for his friend, he began to head back to the palace. Yes, it was true that he could’ve just gotten him food from the kitchen inside the castle; he was friends with everyone in the castle, but his friend’s mom owned a bakery in the village, and it was his favorite type of bread. He knew that his friend would greatly appreciate one of his mom’s homemade foods over one made by a random castle chef, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen anymore.

Even with the rest of that day going rather smoothly, the scar that had been left on his face was a reminder that no matter how much he tried to make friends with the people of the village, they wanted nothing to do with him. All they wanted from him was his head, and that would follow him for years to come. Whoever would have guessed that all the prince does in the years he should be preparing to be king, he is instead running around, trying to keep his head from being sliced off.

***

While the majority of princes in their kingdom can become crowned at the age of eighteen and become king at twenty-one, there was one prince who could not. Granted, if his family had not decided to change the age of his coronation, he would currently be king, and who knows, maybe he would already be giving the village hope. Instead, on the other hand, he is twenty-two and sitting in the queen’s study as she writes a letter that will be sent out to the village tomorrow morning.

Other than the fact he is currently sitting with the queen and he is to be announced as prince tomorrow, nothing much has changed in his daily life. The prince continued to jump the fence and visit the village and go shopping in the village with the chefs and maids of the palace.

Overall, there had only been one major change, and that was sandbox boy. Of course from time to time he would see the now adult, and still as petty as ever, they would get into a quarrel or the other male would scoff. Even with these little run-ins, he didn’t even see the male half as much as he used to. Also, don’t get him wrong, he was and is rather happy to not see the male as much; seeing the scar on his face everyday was enough of a daily reminder for him, but he was slightly scared. He is slightly worried that what the male told him before leaving the scar on his face was true.

No one liked the royal family; therefore, some notorious assassins within the village had their names up on posters and people talked of how hopeful they were that the royal family would be rid of by the assassins. As the prince is no stranger to the village, he naturally learned of them. The most well-known of them all, the Kim’s. The prince began to guess that they were planning a time to assassinate him and that’s why he hadn’t seen the other in quite some time.

The prince gets snapped out of his thoughts when he no longer hears the quill on the paper. He looks up and watches as the queen sets it in her holder and looks up at the prince. She clasps her hands in front of her and clears her throat.

“You are aware of why I waited so long to talk of your presence, correct?” the queen talks in an overly proper voice, as if she has to mask her true evil intentions even in front of her own son.

“You have been masking my identity due to your own greedy wishes I presume,” the prince says to the queen. He did not care if his own mother would force him out of the capitol. The worst she could truly do was behead him, and wasn’t that what the entirety of society was going to do after tomorrow?

“You WILL NOT,” the queen takes a deep breath before talking again. “Speak to me like that.” She holds a stern gaze as she looks at the male in front of her. He may be her son, there is no ignoring the resemblance between the two, but she and him never considered themselves related. The prince was a mere parasite living within the castle walls and the queen was nothing more than a kidnapper keeping him from seeing and appreciating the outside world.

“As of tomorrow you will have a personal bodyguard,” the queen decides to speak again rather than waiting for the prince to answer. “The world is a dangerous place and my reputation will not be put on the line by you getting your head chopped off. We will also up the guarding system outside the palace and outside your room. You will be moved to a safer living quarters that isn’t by any windows. No going to the village—I do notice you leave from time to time—you will come back with your head no longer attached. I think that is basically it, you can leave now.”

Not returning a fake smile to the queen, the prince gets up from his chair across from her and walks away, not bothering to push the chair in. He leaves the room, closing the door rather harshly and makes his way to his room, which will no longer be his room after tomorrow.

~

“Everyone gather around,” the official messenger stands on a box to make himself look taller as he calls out to the people of the village. Quickly, people gather around, ready to listen to the name of the prince and a painting that would be posted by the message. The long search for the face of the unknown prince was finally about to come to an end.

“The official crowning of the prince will commence on the last Friday of the month. Yesterday the 1st was his 22nd birthday, thus he is of age to officially be crowned king. The queen has requested an audience for his coronation, with the hope of many civilians of the capitol to visit the palace for the first time in fifty years. Please come and celebrate our new king of the Lee Dynasty, Lee Taeyong.” Once the announcement is over, the picture and official statement from the queen is pasted on the wall and he leaves as the people of the village rush to the picture, everyone finding him familiar.

A male of twenty-one scoffs on the side while looking at the painting of the prince, aka Lee Taeyong. He slightly cocks his head while looking at his cleaning cut features shown in the picture before him. It would be a lie if he said that the man in the picture wasn’t beautiful, but he was still the prince of the Lee Dynasty, and no one that came from that family was good news, no matter how good looking they are.

“You like the prince that much?” the male hadn’t realized how long he was staring at the painting until he heard his younger brother’s voice. “Others have already left yet you are still here.”

“I’m just analyzing the picture,” he responds to his younger brother who just gives a small laugh and joins him to look at the painting as well.

“Well,” his brother begins to speak. “He sure is pretty. It's a shame that such a good looking human being is going to waste. He probably doesn’t look this ethereal though, right? You’ve met him.”

“He does actually,” the older responds as his gaze traces the prince’s sharp jawline up his cheek and to his eye. “They missed something.” He talks in a calm voice as his younger brother looks at him confused.

“What do you mean?” the younger asks, confused.

“They forgot the scar I gave him,” the older answers in a remembering tone. “I gave him a scar beside his right eye when we were sixteen.”

“Damn Doyoung,” the younger brother says in response to the older. “What’d he do to make you so mad, you aren’t normally that violent unless it's a job.”

“Hmm,” Doyoung looks up in thought before answering the younger. “Let’s just say I don’t get along with him very well.” His younger brother nods in response.

“C’mon Jeno, we should go home,” Doyoung says as he slings his arm over his brother’s shoulders. “Dad will want to speak to us. We only have like four weeks before the coronation.”

The next day came faster than Taeyong would have liked. He is greeted by a tall man standing in front of his bed and people moving his most valued stuff to a different room. As the prince sits up, he begins to smile, but that quickly fades when he notices the queen also standing on the far side of his room.

“This is your new bodyguard,” the queen talks in a monotone voice as she motions for the tall man before him to introduce himself.

“Hello,” the bodyguard gives the prince, who is still sitting in bed, a ninety degree bow. “My name is Johnny Suh. You can call me Mr. Suh, your highness.”

Taeyong gives the man a small nod and watches as the queen nods in delight of the greeting and walks out of the room, another man walking in after her. Quickly, Taeyong gets out of bed and closes the door, walking towards his closet to find everyday clothes to wear.

“You don’t have to be so formal Johnny,” Taeyong says to the bodyguard who stood with a straight face. He then directs his attention to the man that walked into the room a bit ago. “Hey Jae.”

“Taeyong,” the man, whose name is Jaehyun, begins to speak. The prince only replies with a hum as he changes behind his changing wall, telling the man to continue. “There is someone I would like you to meet.” Taeyong peeps his head around the changing wall then walks towards the man, now fully dressed.

“Who?” Taeyong asks and not even a second later, the door opens and another man walks in, making his way to the others. He has longer white hair and a smirk that is permanently painted on his face.

“Thank you for feeding my boyfriend,” he gives the confused prince a short bow before continuing. “My name is Nakamoto Yuta, I am an assassin from Japan who has been assigned to keep an eye on you. Who has told me to protect will stay classified so I hope you understand, I will do my best.” The male gives one more short bow before taking a step back.

“Wow okay that was a lot of information,” Taeyong looks between the three men, two having a straight, professional, face, the other’s still holding a small smirk. “So lemme just grasp my head around this, Johnny is a personal bodyguard, Jaehyun is just a casual bodyguard, and Yuta is an assassin?”

“Actually I have been promoted to help Johnny protect you,” the male chimes in, a smile with dimples showing. “And you forgot the most important part, Yuta is my boyfriend.” Jaehyun slightly whispers the last part, his smile growing as Yuta’s smirk turns to a smile.

“Jaehyun,” the big bodyguard smiles widely. “Did you finally get some balls to ask? Or was it Yuta?” Taeyong raises his eyebrows at the three.

At Taeyong’s action, Johnny quickly straightens himself up, that Jaehyun laughs at, and Yuta puts back on his normal smirk. Jaehyun, on the other hand, slings his arm over the prince’s shoulders and continues to smile widely.

“Looks like we are going to be spending a lot of time together,” he talks in a happy voice that Taeyong gives a small giggle to, but the prince’s smile quickly falls.

“Only for as long as I live,” the prince looks down slightly and Jaehyun gives a small pout in response.

“Not with Yuta and Johnny here,” he smiles from cheek-to-cheek. “I mean Yuta is the best assassin in Japan, plus maybe Johnny can get his boyfriend, aka the best assassin in Thailand, to protect you too.”

“Jae,” Taeyong puts his hand on his friend’s shoulder, only removing it when he feels Yuta’s gaze. “One, we all know that Ten has his own things to deal with, my mom already requested him. Two, what about Doyoung?” Johnny looks down slightly as he hears the other’s name and Jaehyun’s smile fades.

“Who’s Doyoung?” Yuta looks between the three confused.

“His father is one of the best known assassins in the world,” Johnny speaks with a sigh. “Let’s just say he is the best out of his brother and the next heir of the company and their money.”

“Yah,” Jaehyun talks as he looks at Taeyong’s right eye. “He gave Taeyong that scar actually. He has known Taeyong's identity longer than I have in all actuality.”

“So let’s just kill him,” Yuta says blankly, the smirk still on his face.

“We can't,” Jaehyun says as he walks over to his boyfriend.

“Why not?” the Japanese male says, his smirk changing into a pout; which Taeyong at first didn’t think was possible.

“Family ties.”

“Power.”

“We would lose.”

‘Numbers.”

“Etc.”

“So what, they have power and money,” Yuta says with a shrug. “I never said it had to be a known assassination. They don’t have to know that it was us who killed him. Plus, we can sabotage him when he is alone so that the numbers won’t affect us. I do not see the reason behind why we can’t just get rid of him. How many siblings does he have? I want a head count.”

“He has two brothers, one older and one younger,” Johnny answers, but before Yuta can say anything else, he quickly continues, “but that isn’t what is important. More than anything, all of these things will affect Taeyong negatively as he is going to be the prince. What we need to do is keep him alive and away from Doyoung at all costs until he can gain the trust of the people in the village.”

“Ugh,” Yuta moves away from the three, talking to them as if they don’t understand, when in reality there is a lot that he does not know. “I am saying we can make his death look like an accident, no one has to know that he was assassinated. Two brothers aren’t that much to deal with. Either way, there will still be a hier so the father shouldn’t be as upset.”

“They aren’t like other assassins and powerful families,” the prince chimes in this time. “A dead Doyoung will lead to a hellfire. Not to add the fact that even if his older brother, Gongmyung, just goes into mourning, his younger brother will go ballistic.”

“And he is the main problem,” Jaehyun says as Taeyong finishes. “Doyoung is strong, so even getting rid of him will take a lot; then you make Jeno go crazy and it's game over.”

“A ballistic, what teenager?” Yuta scoffs. “What is he gonna do?”

“He is more psychotic than just ‘ballistic’” Johnny chimes in. “What is he gonna do? Get his whole ass gang on us.”

“I have a gang I can gather too,” Yuta replies, still very headstrong on killing this Doyoung person.

“But then Jaehyun will surrender,” Taeyong says in almost a whisper, but everyone could still hear him.

“What?” Yuta turns and looks at his boyfriend who is looking down slightly. “What is he talking about?”

“You don’t do research huh?” Johnny looks at the assassin in disbelief and the other just shakes his head in response.

“Jeno gets triggered, he brings his friends into it, really whether he wants to or not, they just follow,” Taeyong begins, looking empathetically at his friend. “With Jeno comes his friends, and his boyfriend. His friends, and boyfriend, include masterminds, people rich enough to buy the whole kingdom, and... Jaehyun’s brother.”

The room was quiet, a painful silence settling through the space. Yuta had obviously known of Jaehyun’s brother, but not of the group he was involved in.

They didn’t stay together for much longer, only Johnny following Taeyong everywhere he went and Jaehyun never far off. Yuta is staying in hiding, his presence is to stay unknown, and he is doing a good job of it. Even with all the protection, however, Taeyong still feared for his life.

He had made it past his first three days with nothing much happening. The prince is now sitting alone at his desk, reading letters written from long lost relatives and he hears the sound of wood moving. Taeyong quickly turns around and is greeted by the sandbox boy sitting on his bed.

“Good evening Prince Taeyong,” he speaks calmly. “I must say, your security system sucks quite a lot.”

“What do you want, Doyoung?” Taeyong moves from his spot at the desk and lays across his bed, in front of the place where the other is sitting.

“Wow, what’s this?” the assassin becomes intrigued by his enemies' difference in attitude. “Normally you would be telling me to leave or shut up. Or I don’t know, punching me once so that you can get your ass beat again.”

“I don’t see the point in arguing with you anymore,” Taeyong says honestly as he stares at the smooth ceiling.

“Hold up,” Doyoung moves from his relaxed position and sits closer to Taeyong. “Don’t tell me that you are like this now just because you don’t want me to cut off your head?”

“Why would I care if I get my head chopped off?” the prince looks towards Doyoung, he notices for the first time the way light reflects off of the assassin's eyes in a delicate manner.

“Do you ever think about what might’ve happened to us if I didn’t knock down your sandcastle?” Taeyong says, a bitter laugh ending the question.

“You are the prince,” Doyoung says almost immediately. “It was impossible for my adolescent self to like you.”

“But I wouldn’t have been sent to the castle,” the prince responds almost sadly. “I would be living with my aunt until the age of eighteen. I got beat, so I got sent to the palace, they believed it was more than just a quarrel over a knocked down sandcastle.”

“You wouldn’t have moved?” Doyoung’s voice goes up in surprise. Taeyong just shakes his head “no” in response.

As much as neither wanted to admit it, it wouldn’t have been hard for the two to be friends. Even if the reason for Doyoung’s rudeness at the young age of seven is unknown to Taeyong, he does know that the assassin isn’t technically a cold-hearted person. Sure, he is an assassin, but he was born into it. He was raised to believe that bad people should be gotten rid of through murder, and his father just happens to have the biggest known assassin frim, it just wasn’t known as that among the kingdom, even if everyone knew what it was.

This isn’t the first time Taeyong had thought of this either, the first time was at the age of fourteen when he saw Doyoung taking care of his younger brother. That day left an impression on him, well up until an hour later when Taeyong was going to go back to the castle and Doyoung threw a rock that led to a fistfight, quite a calm one compared to some others.

“Doyoung,” Taeyong talks kind of quietly and looks over at the assassin sitting on his bed. All he gets in response is a “hmm”. “Do you only hate me because I’m the prince?”

Rather than responding, Doyoung stands up and walks towards the back of the room. He looks back at Taeyong and gives him a small smirk.

“There is much of the village you have never seen before,” Taeyong can tell that he’s not really answering his question, it is more of a warning. “I just want you to know that even when you lived in the village, you missed a lot. Be careful. Especially now that you are the face of the prince, no one in the village is going to like you.”

Taeyong watches Doyoung lift a piece of wood off the wall and go behind it to leave. Although he feels as if he indirectly answered the question, he also feels as if Doyoung isn’t telling him something.

The rest of the week went similar to that day; Taeyong was closely followed by Johnny and Jaehyun with Yuta hiding somewhere looking out and around. Taeyong wasn’t allowed to go out, so he didn’t end up doing much, well that's a lie, he didn’t end up doing much for fun. He was actually ankles deep in the workload that came with being a king. Even the end of the day was the same, Taeyong would go into his room alone with Johnny and Jaehyun staying outside to watch, and there would be Doyoung.

Being in the presence of Doyoung for the past week constantly made Taeyong think at night, he was much too busy with preparations to think of anything outside of the coronation during the day. Taeyong would think of the many years they have been enemies, yet the fact that he felt more comfortable being alone with Doyoung in his room than alone.

Although, throughout the week, the more he thought about it, the more their hate for each other seemed petty. While Taeyong knows Doyoung probably has his reasons, the prince doesn’t feel that he really has any. He thought about the fights over the years and how Taeyong really was always the one that pushed the latter too far. When they were seven, he didn’t know what had happened to the boy that day, but instead of accepting the rejection, he knocked over the child’s sandcastle and therefore was attacked. At sixteen, Doyoung was being loud and annoying, but instead of just ignoring him after the confrontation, he punched, consequently he got beat with a rock.

Every physical fight that they got into—which is the main reason for Taeyong’s hate for the other—was initiated by the prince. Taeyong would also think at night about how he never knew Doyoung’s true intentions, nor feelings, and Doyoung didn’t know his. As far as Taeyong knew, and possibly Doyoung, their entire hatred for each other was just because they were two children who never grew up because of a sandbox.

Just like the past week, when the prince walked into his room that night and shut his door, he was greeted by a Doyoung walking in from behind the piece of wood and he lazily walked to the other's bed. Taeyong followed suit and layed down on the opposite side of the bed Doyoung was sitting on. They sit in silence for a while and the prince takes the time to look at the other who is leaning back against the headboard of the luxurious bed and closing his eyes.

“Long day?” the prince talks in a soft voice that causes the other to look down and just nod briefly. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“I just had some errands to run for my dad,” Doyoung talks slowly as he leans his head on the others headboard and closes his eyes again. “I’m just a little tired.”

Taeyong knew who Doyoung’s father was obviously, but when he looked at the other and actually inspected the sloppily cleaned up blood on the others shirt and hands, it really hit him. Doyoung was an assassin. One that would probably lead to his death in the end, but here he was, allowing him to sit on his bed and asking about his long day.

“Did you?” the assassin’s softer voice took the other out of his trance.

“There is never a day for me that goes by fast,” Taeyong says while sitting up. Once he is in a sitting position, he begins to fiddle with his fingers. “It just seems like, the older I get the longer my days go by, the opposite of most people. I would find it rather pleasing, but my day isn’t like most peoples. I’m living my life trying not to get decapitated.”

Doyoung subconsciously puts his hands on Taeyong’s fiddling ones to make him stop. Taeyong looks up in surprise and their eyes meet and time seems to stop. As if on queue with time stopping, the prince’s heart begins to speed up slightly; which he just says is nervousness from being face-to-face with an assassin.

Realizing what he did, Doyoung clears his throat while mumbling a small sorry and pulling his hand away from the others. A silence fills the room quickly after. It stays for a while until a soft knock is heard on the door.

“Taeyong?” the prince hears the voice of his younger brother Sungchan, that literally no one in the kingdom other than the royal family knows of. “I’m going to come in.”

Panicked, Taeyong, instead of sticking Doyoung back into the hole in the wall he comes from, grabs Doyoung’s wrist and pushes him into the closet.

“Stay there,” he says before quickly shutting the door. The last thing Doyoung sees before he is met with the darkness of the closet is Taeyong’s room door opening with a younger looking boy with a cute face and long limbs—in other words, he is way taller than the prince.

“Were you changing?” Sungchan looks at Taeyong’s panicked expression as he stands in front of the closet. “I am sorry, I can come back later if you would-”

“No, you are fine,” the older responds while putting on a reassuring smile. The younger smiles in response and walks with his brother who makes his way from the closet to his desk.

“What’s up?” The prince talks with a slightly worried expression. Doyoung, curious obviously, slightly cracks the closet door open and peaks around the corner at the scene laying out in front of him.

“I just talked with mom today” the boy speaks slowly with fear, worry, and sadness all lacing his voice. “She is just evil. I hate her. I hate that she is our mom. I hate that I can’t even have friends. I hate that we have to live with her. The thing I hate it most is that she told me that you were more than likely going to die soon and that I would have to get my quote on quote ‘bitchass in shape’ because I will have to become king.”

The young prince’s voice began to crack as he talked to his older brother who was sitting at his desk, “is it true Taeyong? Are you going to die and leave me? As much as I am sad that I haven’t lived yet and I haven’t left the castle before, I don’t think I would be able to go on without you. Taeyong,” tears begin to fall from the younger’s eyes, “you are all I have.”

An hour passes before Sungchan finally leaves to his own room and Taeyong lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in. After letting out a long sigh, he quickly stands up and opens the closet door to see Doyoung standing there with one of his eyebrows raised.

“You know,” Doyoung says, not moving from the darkness in the closet to the main part of Taeyong’s room. “I could have just left. I didn’t need to hide in your closet and find out about a secret brother you have.” Taeyong just sighs at Doyoung, he doesn’t want to argue, or beg for him to keep a secret.

“Can you just come out of the closet?” Taeyong says, making way for Doyoung to come out. He tilts his head as Doyoung stands there and smirks slightly.

“You want me to come out to you before my own family?” the male gasps slightly and puts his hand over his heart.

“Doyoung that’s not what I-” although Taeyong didn’t mean it in that way, and he knew in the back of his mind somewhere that Doyoung was joking, he still felt bad.

“I’m bi,” Doyoung says as he walks out of the closet. “Thank you for your question, it is more concern for my outside life than my own parents would ever ask.” Taeyong just stands there as he watches Doyoung walk back towards his bed and sit down with a plop.

“You know,” Doyoung continues to talk rather than giving Taeyong any time to say anything. “I thought myself as asexual first, but then I met someone and found that not true. At first I thought I should not label my sexuality, but you asked so I will find a way to answer. I think if I had to choose one I would say bisexual.”

Taeyong doesn’t know what to say, so he just walks slowly towards his bed and sits down beside Doyoung. A comfortable silence set in for a while, but even if it was comfortable, Taeyong was nervous. He continued to fiddle with his fingers and direct his attention everywhere except the assassin beside him. He wasn’t nervous because he was alone with Doyoung, how could he be when he has been with him alone for the past week, but because he now knew of his brother.

“Hey,” Doyoung speaks softly while grabbing Taeyong’s hands to stop them from playing with each other. “I’m not gonna go home and tell anyone you have a brother. I have more human decency than that. I also have a younger brother.”

Doyoung pauses for a second and Taeyong looks up at him. He obviously knew who his brother was, but hearing him say it was just different. He didn’t know if it was the fondness within the others words or the half smile that began to appear on his face when he thought of him, but it made Taeyong feel like he was hearing of the brother for the first time.

“When I turned sixteen,” Doyoung continues to talk, a little bit of sadness in his tone. “I was put on my first assassination mission. I remember my brother running in crying as he didn’t want me to get hurt. Too bad my first mission fell through after getting distracted thanks to you. When he turned sixteen not too long ago, I felt the fear he felt. I didn’t want him to go. I guess in a way, I still don’t want him to. I really try hard to get the family business so I can remove him from it.” Doyoung lays back on Taeyong’s bed as he talks, the prince continues to listen attentively. “I don’t want him to become what I have. He deserves to be happy with Jaemin, but they both insist on helping, and I don’t know why.”

Doyoung looks at Taeyong who is looking at him with both confusion and sadness in his eyes. Doyoung gives a small laugh and sits up before slowly walking towards the wood piece he enters and exits the room from.

“I guess,” Doyoung looks back as he holds the wood open. “I just want you to know what kind of person I really am, so that if you do die, the memory you have of me, isn’t one that brings pain.”

Doyoung quickly turns around and leaves the room and Taeyong. The prince sits on his bed in silence trying to process everything that happened and that was just said to him. Doyoung wasn’t a bad person, he was just doing evil things to protect his younger brother, but at the same time, he was probably the person that was going to cut off his head. It left Taeyong, confused?

As time went by Taeyong and Doyoung became closer. Their whole relationship with each other had changed. The late night conversations that they continued to have had blossomed a forbidden friendship between the two. No one knew of it, and it would probably stay like that, but Taeyong walking into his room every night to be greeted by the assassin, became something that the prince looked forward to.

Their conversations became more personal as time went on and they began to understand each other. If Taeyong or Doyoung were to say that they still hated each other or felt uncomfortable in each other's company, it would be a lie. They enjoyed the presence of the other. If they didn’t, Doyoung wouldn’t continue to come back to the palace, basically risking his life.

It was the night before the coronation and Taeyong’s night had been filled with so many things that he was exhausted by the time they finalized the final preparations for the festival. Taeyong now stands in front of his door and lazily opens it. Johnny and Jaehyun took their places in front of the door—both always stood in front of the door for an hour and then they would begin taking shifts so the two could still get sleep.

After Taeyong shut the door of his room, he laid down on his bed, thoughts swarming his head like crazy. When he heard the sound of wood sliding from the opposite side of his room, he didn’t bother to look up, but rather let a small smile sit on his face. Taeyong continues to lay down on the bed until he feels the mattress shift as the other sits down.

Taeyong sits up straight and opens his eyes fully, they were slightly closed before. He is met with Doyoung’s side profile only a couple of inches away from his face. Instead of moving, the prince stares at the other's profile for a while, appreciating it and removing the worrying thoughts that have been stuck in his head.

“How was the final prep day,” Doyoung turns his head as he talks to the latter, only realizing how close the older was sitting when he was face-to-face with the male beside him, but even then, neither move.

“It was stressful,” Taeyong replied, looking Doyoung straight in the eye. “I didn’t do all of this for nothing right? I’m not gonna die tomorrow, right?”

Doyoung sighed. The one secret that he never told Taeyong of was that he was assigned to be the one to chop off the prince’s head on the day of the coronation. It was just a matter of if he was going to do it.

The silence of Doyoung made Taeyong’s heart speed up in worry. Is he really going to be killed tomorrow? Did Doyoung know something? Or was Doyoung just not saying anything because he himself wasn’t sure? The prince doesn’t know, and it is driving him crazy.

“Taeyong,” Doyoung takes a quick glance at Taeyong’s lips, which he regrets as now he really just wants to see what they feel like on his own, and looks back into his eyes. He doesn’t continue until he hears a small hum come from the latter. “You would be a great king…”

The assassin stops talking, but Taeyong knows that there is more. He doesn’t get happy, nor sad, he just waits. He waits for the other male to continue. He waits for the other to decide what to say. He waits for the man to think properly and collect his words. He waits... for the other to get courage he didn’t know he needed.

“In another life,” the male talks slowly as he finally breaks eye-contact with the prince. “If you were born in a different time, a different place, a different family, you would be an outstanding king.” Although the message overall was positive, the assassin felt bad, he felt like crying for the prince.

Yah sure, Doyoung is an assassin, but that doesn’t mean that he is thick skinned. Maybe to new people, or people he doesn’t like; however, when you get to know the man you find that his presence is like glass, and he can break quite easily, he can be quite fragile. Even though he is like this, he can also be strong, and seemingly unbreakable, and now Taeyong has discovered it, the breaking side of Doyoung.

Taeyong looks at the assassin and notices a tear coming out of his watery eyes. The prince wipes it away and swiftly pulls Doyoung into a hug. Their first hug ever. Taeyong felt the need to hold the male until he was okay, but the hug made Doyoung feel worse. He cries harder when he feels the other’s arms wrap around him. Obviously he felt comforted at the same time, but the feeling of Taeyong caring so much, even to the point of running his fingers through the others hair, hurt him.

The night ended like that, nothing more happened. A hug was enough for the two of them to feel like the night was worthy compared to others that lasted much longer. Their first hug. Doyoung had left right after the hug was over, they just bid each other goodnight and off he went.

In the morning, Taeyong was greeted with an alarm and many people coming in and out of his room telling him of the progress they had made. Even while Taeyong was getting dressed in his white and green coronation outfit, people would come in to ask him about what color of flower should be in the centerpiece of the main vase the workers are to finish before the ceremony begins.

It isn’t until one hour away from Taeyong’s coronation that he finally gets some peace and quiet in his room. As he is sitting on his bed, he hears the wood on the opposite side of his room move. He doesn’t even look up, but instead, he continues to fiddle with his fingers.

“So if an intruder came in through this cute little opening that is a tunnel from outside the castle to inside the castle, you wouldn’t panic,” the voice did make Taeyong panic, however. The voice didn’t belong to Doyoung, so when the prince looked up and saw the Japanese assassin, he quickly stood up from his bed, his eyes growing in size.

“Can you be honest with me?” Yuta’s normal smirk is a face of concern. He has no evil intentions when it comes to the prince, he never will. He is genuinely concerned. “Are you and Doyoung on good terms, or has he been threatening you every night?”

The truth is, Yuta knows the answer. He isn’t concerned about the possibility of the assassin threatening the prince—he wouldn’t threaten someone for two hours straight and walk out with a smile on his face, or crying if Yuta were to bring up last night—but if Taeyong is going to tell the truth, but more than that, if there is something more between Taeyong and Doyoung than just being on “good terms”.

“H-how d-did y-you,” Taeyong is still frozen in his place, eyes still large in fear.

“Taeyong,” Yuta takes a couple steps forward and puts his hand on the other’s stiff shoulder. “Did you think that no one was going to see him walk into the palace walls and enter an underground hallway no one knew about before him? Did you think that we were that bad at our job?”

Taeyong stays quiet, so Yuta just continues. “I saw Doyoung walk in on the third or fourth day of your move, and I was terrified. I asked Jaehyun if he heard anything and he said no, so I hoped for the best. When I saw you still alive the next day without any scratches I thought that maybe he didn’t actually make it into the castle. Then he came in like clockwork, so I asked Sungchan to walk in one night when I saw him coming. Sungchan and you talked for an hour that night. All I got from him was that it seemed like you were hiding something, but nothing was off. The next day when you were out, I went through the hole Doyoung goes through and I ended up in your room. “

Taeyong felt hurt that his brother lied to him to get information for Yuta, although it did seem weird that Sungchan just walked into his room when on a normal day he would ask if he could come in. Although Sungchan saying he talked to the queen—which may have actually happened, Taeyong wouldn’t know—was a good enough reason for the other to come in without asking.

“Taeyong I just want to know,” Yuta looked daringly into the other’s eyes, trying to gather all the possible information he could. “Are you on good terms or is he threatening you.”

“Look—” Taeyong stops talking before he can tell Yuta that Doyoung is, in fact, not trying to kill him, but the door opening stops him. Him and Yuta look over slightly to see Johnny with a straight face and Jaehyun with a brow raised at the hand on Doyoung’s shoulder.

“So seriously,” Yuta begins, directing his attention back to the prince. “If you are in trouble, I will be here. I will make sure you stay safe, along with Johnny and Jaehyun. It is our duty.” Yuta then lets go of Taeyong’s shoulder and walks over to the other two as if that was what they were talking about.

“It’s time,” Johnny is the first to break the silence. He speaks with a serious tone and face. The prince just nods in response and walks in between his friends, aka the bodyguards, as Yuta goes the opposite way.

The walk is quiet, in fact, it’s suffocating. Taeyong is so nervous that it feels hard to breathe and he fiddles with the hem of his sleeve. He was scared, no, that is an understatement, terrified. The rest of his life would be so affected by this one day. This one moment. Everything he has prepared for, lived for, was born for, is riding on this. How could someone in this position not feel the need to throw up?

When Taeyong got onto the balcony of the castle and was greeted by the people of the palace below him, his nerves skyrocketed. They all stood looking up at him with displeasure. Sure, some of the women and men thought he was beautiful enough to be worthy of king, but his family ruined his chance of having any person root for him.

Taeyong swallowed a lump in his throat before giving a small speech. A speech that he decided to wing and really said from his heart, but no one believed him, and their faces showed it. Only one face stood out to him in the crowd. Only one face looked as if he believed the prince in front of him, and it was Jaemin’s. Jaehyun’s little brother looked at the prince with hope in his eyes.

After the speech, Taeyong went down to meet the people, even though the village hated him, it was a custom. It was then when an infamous family walked into the palace walls making the two bodyguards and assassin there to protect Taeyong stiffen slightly.

The sight of Taeyong walking through the village wasn’t pretty; people were spitting rude words at him right and left, and some were just flat out spitting. The people of the village who had once been nice to Taeyong, were attempting to push everything about him down as far as possible, but Taeyong continued to greet them all kindly.

Even with the rude words, things were going rather smoothly, until Taeyong felt a tight grip on his waist and the feeling of something against his neck. Some people gasped and the bodyguards began to move swiftly to the scene, but the assassin just watched, curious of what was about to happen.

“If you come one step closer I will slit his neck,” Taeyong recognized the voice instantly. He took a second to look up slightly and saw Doyoung behind him. He then shifted his eyes to the side and saw two very different images.

It is true that at this moment Taeyong was shaking in his boots, but the two different looks the prince received made him rather confused. When the prince looked to the side slightly, he was met with the image of Doyoung’s father and his younger brother. Doyoung’s father held a smirk on his face, waiting for the prince’s head to be another award for the village he deemed to take over next, secretly though. However, Jeno held a somewhat straight and happy face, he sent Taeyong a slight wink that made Taeyong shift slightly.

The shift made a little bit of blood drip down his neck, but Taeyong realized something, it didn’t hurt. The knife felt rather fake and there was no pain coming to his neck as Doyoung began to push it more into his skin. The only thing that Taeyong could feel was warm liquid slowly coming down his neck.

Before he knew it, he and Doyoung were walking backwards, Doyoung’s brother and a few others moving carefully so that no one would notice their movements. Suddenly, a loud bang was heard and a wall of smoke appeared in front of the prince. The assassin quickly grabbed the stunned male’s hand and began to run as fast as possible with him.

Jaehyun and Johnny see Doyoung running and quickly begin to make their way to the smoke, but something, more like someone, stops them. Jaehyun looks at his boyfriend confused, but also worried for the prince’s safety.

“Let him go,” Yuta says, only grabbing Jaehyun’s hand and bringing him to the opposite side of the palace on a hill, a secretive place that overlooked almost the entire palace. Johnny of course followed and they all began to look out to the village. The two watched in shock as the two ran hand-and-hand out of the castle together, with seven others.

They were far away, but Jaehyun could see his own brother within the crowd, and he also swears he saw both Taeyong and Doyoung exchange smiles. Unknowingly, a tear fell down the males face, something about seeing the prince run to his own freedom while also being with his brother made him happy.

After running for who knows how long, Taeyong finds himself following Doyoung to the edge of the forests they just ran through and into a medium sized boat. Without a second thought, the prince got on after Doyoung along with the other seven who were following close behind.

As they drifted away from shore, the boat was silent. Everyone was trying to catch their breath from their lengthy full-speed run. Taeyong sat down and Doyoung sat beside him. He watched as Doyoung’s brother walked over to Jaehyun’s brother and rested his head on the other’s shoulder.

“So where are we going?” Taeyong was the first to break the silence. He was honestly curious, and very happy he hasn’t died… yet?

“You’ll see,” Jaehyun’s brother talks with a smile, his eyes sparkling, which Doyoung’s brother is sure to complement.

The rest of the boat ride is quiet, the only talking done after Taeyong’s question was when Doyoung gave Taeyong a pair of his clothes and told him to change. As the boat reached a dock at a new piece of land, the prince watched as everyone put on their hoods and he followed. He then watched as one of the males created a hole in the bottom of the boat and him and another pushed it as far as they could from where they docked.

As the boat went with the current, away from where they were, Taeyong watched as it slowly began to sink, along with his coronation clothes that Doyoung had told him to keep there. They then walked through a small village and continued up a mountain.

When they get closer to the top, Taeyong sees a house begin to appear. After they get to the top of the hill, the house is fully visible. It doesn’t look too big, if anything it looks like a small cottage that could barely even hold a family, let alone nine people. It is still a beautiful cottage, however, the outside is a cream color with wood around it. The door is green and there are little round windows on it.

Not long after arriving, the door of the cottage swings open and a male walks out smiling. He looks around and gives a small bow before turning his attention to the male that created the hole in the boat to sink it.

“Yangyang!” the male happily says while running to the cottage owner’s arms and jumping, giving him a short peck on the lips. No one cringes at the scene, anyone can tell that the two haven’t seen each other in a while.

“I missed you so much Renjunie,” the other says with a smile, putting the smaller down. He then turns and smiles at the prince and the others. “Let’s go in.”

When they walk in, Taeyong isn’t surprised by the inside of the cottage. Everything about the cottage was like fairy-tales that the prince used to read to his brother. It's like he has already seen everything within the small cottage. He follows Yangyang and the others through the house and up into a room. The room is basic with yellowish walls and a bed. There isn’t much to it, until Yangyang walks to the wardrobe and pulls it down. After the wardrobe has been removed from its place, a doorway is shown that the others begin to walk into.

Taeyong follows Doyoung and only looks back to see Yangyang setting it back into place. Although it is dark, the tunnel floor is smooth so no one trips. After walking for a while, the group is met with several doors in front of them, many having locks on them. Yangyang goes to the one on the far right, the door having vines growing all over it. He unlocks it quickly and the group walks into the door. They are met with a wall of vines that they walk behind and then are met with another, more modern house. The house is bigger than the cottage they walked through.

They walk towards the house and when they get in they are met with a modern white kitchen and wall, the other side being a nice and open living room with a large window. While looking around, Taeyong feels Doyoung grab his hand and he leads him up wide stairs and into a room. The room has a queen sized bed, a dresser, and plenty of room to move around. There is also a door to a bathroom that connects to the room.

“Welcome to your new home for the time being,” Doyoung lets out a nervous breath, scared that the prince in front of him won’t like the room. “Umm I snuck into your room at the beginning of coronation, so I brought your clothes. That assassin that was assigned let me through pretty easily so that is good.”

Taeyong doesn’t say anything and just walks around the room in awe. He looks out the window and sees a backyard with a small garden of flowers and a small waterfall as well. Although the prince wants to say something to the nervous assassin, no words come out of his mouth. He is literally speechless.

“I am sorry if you don’t like it,” the male stumbles on his words as the prince isn’t saying anything. “I don’t know if you wanted to leave, but we thought it would be safer. We just—” The male is cut off when he feels the older hug him tightly.

Doyoung hugs the smaller male back, but he feels a weird sensation as his heart begins to speed up at the feeling of Taeyong’s breath on his neck. When Taeyong moves away, he slightly misses the warmth, but that thought leaves his head when he sees tears falling out of the prince’s eyes. The assassin quickly wipes them, mumbling a quick “what’s wrong”.

“Thank you,” Taeyong finally speaks to the male whose thumbs haven’t left his face. “It’s beautiful and I’m happy to be here. You are my first real friend outside of people that work with me and you being with me here and now means so much.”

Doyoung and Taeyong don’t know why, but both of them feel like the word “friend” sits weird. They both guess that it might have to do with the fact that they are enemies, but both know in the back of their minds that isn’t the case.

Taeyong hugs the taller male one more time before the both of them walk downstairs to greet the others in the living room. When they get there, they hear the front door opening and Taeyong is surprised to see Yuta and Jaehyun walking in. Taeyong runs and hugs Jaehyun before looking up at him curiously.

“What are you guys doing here?” Taeyong is slightly scared at the sight of his bodyguard. He grabs the assassin’s hand—who happens to be giving Jaehyun an evil eye for no apparent reason—and pulls him closer behind him. The prince is holding onto the assassin for dear life, scared that his new friend is going to be taken from him.

“Do you think I wasn’t in on the plan as soon as I saw Doyoung go into your room and pack your stuff frantically?” Yuta spoke to the prince, glancing at the tight grip the latter had on the assassin. “I wanted to help get you out of there, and Jaemin is here. I can’t leave Jaehyun there with Jaemin here.”

Hearing his name, Jaemin’s eyes shot up—before he wasn’t really paying attention, no one made a signal that there may be danger, so it wasn’t his problem. As Jaemin looks up, he makes eye contact with his brother he hasn’t seen for almost two years. He shoots up from his spot and runs and jumps into Jaehyun’s arms, tears coming out his eyes so quickly that he can’t even try to hold them back.

The hug lasts a couple of minutes before the two go on the couch and talk about the things they have been doing over the past two years, Jeno by the younger’s side as Jaemin talks of his boyfriend—that Jaehyun did in fact know of. Taeyong, on the other hand, was still staring at Yuta, his grip not loosening on Doyoung.

“Where’s Johnny?” Taeyong tightened his grip on Doyoung. It isn’t that he doesn’t trust Yuta or Johnny, he is just worried. He’s terrified. He isn’t only scared for himself, but the group of people who helped him get out of the place they were.

“He is back with Ten,” Yuta explains slowly so that Taeyong can grasp every word. “They are searching for you. It's their job. Johnny stayed back and invited Ten so that they could lead everyone in all the wrong directions.”

Taeyong nods and finally releases Doyoung’s wrist. He is still scared, but something about Yuta’s presence and Doyoung behind him makes him feel safer than before. Just as he lets his guard down, however, a thought crosses his head.

“Wait,” everyone looks at the prince as he speaks. “What about Sungchan?”

“He is with my brother,” Yuta answers as soon as the other finishes, The prince cocks his head in confusion, he didn’t even know the Japanese had a brother. “You must be confused. Umm my brother Shotaro and him have become close friends, although I do think they are developing feelings for each other. Anyways, they are together at a different hideout.”

Taeyong nods slowly as he really does believe Yuta. Why shouldn’t he believe Yuta, he kept him safe. He is also dating Jaehyun who just so happens to have the highest of standards for people, like seriously this man only likes the highest class of personalities (and sometimes looks).

The house they are hiding in became a place where everyone could be free. Yangyang and Renjun lived in the front cottage together, acting as a normal married couple who just owned a cottage on a hill and knew nothing of a prince and assassin. Neither of them were known by the palace or village people; Yangyang because he had lived in this village rather than the other his whole life, and Renjun because his identity has always been well hidden.

The others have been living in the house. Jaehyun and Yuta live a little off in another village. Jeno and Jaemin have rooms at both places and switch for the two brothers. Chenle and Jisung live in the same house as the prince while Mark and Haechan live with Jaehyun.

Every two sets of people share a room so that there are enough beds for everyone. Taeyong and Doyoung never found it weird sleeping on the same bed. Their late night talks together at the palace had carried on to the new house, the only difference being that they went to sleep after their talks. The weeks that passed by have made Doyoung and Taeyong confused about their feelings. They were friends, but both felt something was missing. Even so, they continued to live happily.

It is the one month mark of living in the house together and everyone was gathered in the yard outside of the house gathered for a meeting. The yard had become a normal place that everyone would hang out. Even if they couldn’t go out to the village, they would still get fresh air in the garden and beside the waterfall. When the warm days at summer's end would appear, they would play in the water together and sometimes even throw around a ball in the perfect grass.

“Okay,” Yuta starts off the meeting, he and Doyoung have been making plans for a while. “We are going to need to move somewhere farther. They have yet to find us or any leads thanks to Johnny and Ten, but we are going to need to leave at some point. We are still too close to the capital to be safe.”

Everyone nods in agreement. They were always scared when Renjun and Yangyang would send a message saying that people were visiting, but thankfully a house search wouldn’t even happen to the two. Yangyang and Renjun always seemed like such a genuine, unknowing, newly wed couple, so guards and other village people never felt the need to look through their house.

“Me and Doyoung have been thinking,” Yuta pauses and looks over at Doyoung, who just nods to the other as a sign to continue. “We go to the lowest part of the country, the part that Johnny and Ten have already thoroughly checked many times.”

“We got in contact with Johnny,” Doyoung continues as he pulls out a map and lays it on the ground in the middle of their circle. “He and Ten found a spot for us as they were searching. It will be safe, out of the way, and they have searched it so much the chances of them going back there is low.”

“What about the people in that village?” Renjun looks up from the map, a look of worry on his face. “Won’t they know that the prince is being searched for. I mean if you think about it the guards have gone through the village enough that they probably won’t go back, but doesn’t that mean that the village people will also be on the lookout for the prince?”

Yuta’s normal smirk just grows more as Renjun finishes talking, “we wouldn’t just have Johnny make that village clear for nothing.” Everyone cocks their head in confusion as Doyoung just nods and the two assassins exchange a fist bump.

“God Yuta you could just explain,” Jaehyun finally speaks after the two just leave everyone in a silence of confusion for multiple minutes. “The village is disconnected from the kingdom, which is part of the reason Johnny and Ten were able to really make them think we went there up until a while ago. As it is disconnected from the kingdom, there is a different person running the place. She goes by the name Chenle’s mom.”

Chenle’s eyes grow at what Jaehyun said. He knew which village they were talking about at that moment. His family had bought the bottom part of the kingdom when the queen began to not care as much, the sum of money given to her was satisfying enough. The village was beside the beach and filled with people conspiring on Chenle’s side. His side you ask? It was for neither the assassin’s nor the prince. When Jisung met the boy and shared that he and his friends believed the same thing, they became extremely close.

“Won’t they be even more suspicious though if the person who runs that village is related to Chenle?” Taeyong is scared of getting caught, scared of being found out. Not just for him, he is the prince for goodness sakes, but his friends. At the coronation it looked like Taeyong got kidnapped, his friends would receive a death penalty if they found them now.

“There are no open ties to each other,” Doyoung responds, putting his hand on the other's thigh to hopefully calm his nerves. “No one knows of the relationship between Chenle and that village. I even didn’t know about it until I became closer to you and Jeno didn’t know of it until many months into his relationship with Jaemin. They won’t know.”

“Don’t worry,” Taeyong looks over at the male who talks in a squeaky voice and receives a smile from him. “Even if they were to find out about the village being owned by my mom, the townspeople will all help us and we will be out before then. My family owns other safe places too. We will be okay.”

Taeyong just nods. The rest of the meeting just consists of the group talking about when they will leave in the morning in a week and how they will travel. They also talk about precautionary measures that all of them will take along the way. For the time they talk about this, Doyoung never removes his hand from Taeyong’s thigh, and it would be a lie to say the prince’s heart wasn’t racing at the touch.

This isn’t the only time this has happened. While living in the house, Doyoung and Taeyong began to get a lot closer and skinship began to be a norm, but at the same time, the prince began to feel something he never had before. The first time was when they were playing in the grass outside, it had been a warm day with a nice breeze, so the group decided to kick around a ball. Once while trying to get the ball, Taeyong had tripped and fell… on Doyoung. It was at this moment that time felt like it had stopped and the prince began to feel butterflies in his stomach along with a quickly increasing heart rate.

Ever since then, Taeyong would feel butterflies in his stomach when Doyoung and his own eyes would meet, his heartbeat would quicken constantly, and his cheeks would even flush red. Some of the others began to notice, but they could never tell if the assassin did. It's not like he wasn’t paying attention to the latter, no his attention was on him as if he would disappear if he turned his head for a second, but when you have feelings that you know of for someone else, sometimes your first thought is always that there is no way they would like you back.

The week went by quickly, constant packing, planning, and meetings. Everything was going at the speed of light and everyone was beyond tired. If they weren’t thorough enough, they were going to for sure get caught by the palace guards. They had to find ways to get in contact with Johnny to make sure that they don’t cross paths; thankfully Johnny did send a map showing where they were planning to go ahead of time.

While running around and going back and forth with their planning, everyone is finally finding hope as the week goes on. Although the pace that everything was going at was stressful, everyone had so much hope for the future and a good gut feeling that made everything a little less stressful. The thing that made the prince not stressed, however, was not the same as everyone else.

Yes, it is true that the prince felt hope with finding a new home. He would obviously miss the little fairy-tale of a home they are living in now, but he wanted to be able to go out and enjoy the village and the people within the village. The thing, or someone for that matter, that was keeping his nerves down the past week was Doyoung. He has an unexplainable amount of comfort that he gets from the male.

The late night talks were more heart-to-heart. Taeyong got to hear of Doyoung’s mom passing away at the age of seven, when the sandbox incident happened, and Doyoung heard of Taeyong’s fun aunt whom he hasn’t seen since the day he was sent to the castle. They would face each other as they laid in bed and talked. They would look at each other's eyes and smile. Every moment would make their hearts beat and feel as if they would pop out of their chest, but neither talked of their feelings with the other. Even so, they are happy with the relationship they have now.

Today is the day that they will be leaving for the new house. It may be a far trip, but nobody minds. Getting to safety is the most important thing for all of them right now. Doyoung and Taeyong are more in like with each other than ever before, so the trip will be an interesting one. It showed, and everyone knew it, but no one knew why they weren’t pursuing it.

After gathering all of their bags—which is like one each, since they haven’t gone to the village they also haven’t collected more clothes or belongings—Jisung, Chenle, Jeno, Jaemin, Doyoung, and Taeyong head out of their fairy-tale garden and into the cottage where they see Renjun and Yangyang happily waiting for the four of them. As they walk into the living room, they see the others and exchange smiles before going through the plan one more time.

“So,” Yuta finishes going through the plans one more time. “Remember, even if someone sees us, they cannot know we are traveling with Taeyong. You see someone, you hide Taeyong. Does everyone remember whose job it is?” They all nod and turn to Jaemin.

“I run and hide Taeyong,” Jaemin says, pronouncing every word in slight aegyo for some odd reason that Jeno just happens to think is adorable. “I swiftly tell Doyoung where he is, I then distract the guard whose eyes are going to be glued on Doyoung and he then runs to Taeyong. Me and Jeno continue to distract and Chenle and Jisung pretend like they don’t see the guard and say something about the cottage we were at and dumping Taeyong in the river. If they explore the river, they will find Taeyong’s clothes and head to the village. The only thing we need to worry about is the guards who are going to try to imprison us.”

Everyone nods at Jaemin’s long explanation. The plan was made and contributed by everyone, but Taeyong still didn’t like the thought of the youngest of them all being in the most danger. When the idea was first brought up by the group of the youngest seven, the prince refused profusely. Jaemin and Jeno were the ones who talked to Taeyong about them being good at deception and escaping, which really didn’t make the prince feel any better about their situation, but they insisted. Jeno and Jaemin both were very good at getting away with certain things, even when it came to Jeno’s dad. Do you really think that they would’ve just got away as they did without talking to Doyoung’s father? Jeno led that man in so many directions and lost him in so much misinformation, he is trying to get help from the palace to find his lost sons. In the end, Taeyong did end up agreeing to the plan.

When they left the cottage, they were instantly met with many eyes as they walked through the village. Everyone had their faces covered except for Yangyang and Renjun who were walking down a different street looking like the happy newlyweds the village sees them as. People would obviously go up to the happy couple and ask what they were buying food for and why they had bags, the two just said that they were finally going on their long awaited honeymoon. The village people believed them; because why wouldn’t they? They were known in the village and nothing suspicious ever came of them.

The others walked like it was a normal day, even with their faces hidden. Jaemin and Jeno, on the other hand, didn’t cover their faces either. It was part of the plan. Taeyong was wearing one of Doyoung’s jacket and his face was covered with a mask, the last thing anyone would think is that he is the prince, he looked like one of them. Overall, the plan was that if they were to run into a palace guard, when they arrived in the village the guards would ask if they had seen Jeno or Jaemin, either by showing them a drawn picture or describing them. Obviously, the village people would say yes.

It doesn’t matter if the villagers saw where they went, because the guards saw them too, did they not? The villagers don’t technically know where the group came from, they entered the village from different directions and only Yangyang and Renjun entered from the way of their cute little cottage. The guards will probably ask and maybe even raid Yangyang and Renjun’s home, but they are heading to a new one, so nothing at that point will matter. Yes, they thought all of this through. The deceptions they will be making, the faces that will be showing, the suspicious behavior they will specifically show in specific places compared to other ones. They want every inconvenience they run into to have a plan.

Although they had planned for a run in with the guards, they didn’t expect it to happen within the first two hours of travel. While walking, Taeyong noticed the slight green hidden behind black clothing. The point of these guards was that someone not in the palace, like an assassin, wouldn’t know that the clothing belonged to the guards. It is a deception to get people who think they are safe on the run captured and imprisoned.

Taeyong knew that the man was a guard and knew no one else would know, and quickly tightened his grip on Doyoung and pulled on the back of Jaemin’s sleeve as he started to notice more. Doyoung notices the prince’s sudden tense state and looks up to only see normal looking people walking, he guesses that it's just because he is nervous, until he notices the male tugging on Jaemin’s shirt.

Jaemin turns around and looks at the prince with a small smile that quickly fades when his rainbow eyes meet the prince’s enlarged ones. He scrambles back to the prince and leans towards him, trying to make it not too obvious he is talking to the male.

“What’s going on,” the male asks. Jaemin continues to look as if he didn’t ask a worrisome question to the male as he keeps a straight face. He doesn’t know that there are palace guards that are continuously getting closer and closer to.

“Those guys up there,” Jaemin takes a quick glance that goes unnoticed by everyone except the prince. “They are undercover palace guards. Look at the bottom of their right leg, that green thing. It is used for the undercover guards of the palace.” Jaemin nods slowly before quickly letting out a small whistle.

When the palace guards turned their head to where the whistle came from, they see a group of guys, the majority of them with their faces covered. They look between the males, analyzing Jaemin and Jeno’s face, along with the eyes of Jisung and Chenle, then finally Yangyang and Renjun. Not seeing their intended target, they walk by calmly, but occasionally look back to see any suspicious behavior.

Jaemin made another whistling tone a bit later, and about a minute afterward, Taeyong and Doyoung joined the group of men. The group sighed in relief, happy that no one questioned the others, but sadly, the trip didn’t go smoothly after the first run in. Many other undercover guards would go by, however, thankfully, they would just look over them and pass by when they don’t see anything they are looking for.

Although, that can’t be the case for every time they pass by someone. After Jaemin made the whistling noise, the regular palace guard’s eyes went to the group leaving Jaemin to have to hide Taeyong as originally planned, the past few times, they have had time for Doyoung to sneak off with the prince without getting noticed. This time, however, the moment the guard looked over, their eyes made contact with the assassin’s.

After hiding Taeyong within some trees, Jaemin quickly goes to Doyoung and tells him where the prince is located before walking towards Jeno to be prepared to distract the guard. All the younger did was slightly brush their shoulders and the guard was looking at Jaemin square in the eye. The other palace guards hadn’t noticed the presence of Doyoung yet, so they were able to keep their attention on the young male who was staring at the main guard with his eyes raised. Doyoung took this time to quietly go to Taeyong and the two sat and watched the scene, unable to do anything.

“You little shit,” seeing the guard taking steps towards Jaemin, Jeno quickly grabs his boyfriend’s hand and brings him closer in worry. The guard notices and directs their attention to the other, quickly recognizing the boy. “Ah, where’s your brother Kim?”

“I'm Lee, not Kim,” Jeno responds calmly as if he doesn’t understand. It wasn’t a lie, Jeno had taken his mother’s surname instead of his fathers so that if the business was ever caught he, being the youngest, could get out the easiest.

“Where. Is. Kim. Doyoung?” The guard is threatening, not one ounce of mercy left in them after the many days and weeks of trying to find the prince. Taeyong draws in a nervous breath at the sound of the guard. They were one that worked for Taeyong rather than the queen, one that really worried for the Prince’s safety, not of the kingdom having no king, but as much as Taeyong would like to step out there and tell him he is doing fine and to just let them pass, he can’t. The guard may want Taeyong’s safety over anything, but they are also a strong believer that the prince will be the safest in the palace, and most importantly, away from Doyoung.

“I don’t know,” Jeno quickly tries to give Chenle and Jisung a glance, he wants to tell them to change plans, he wants to tell them that they no longer know of what happened to Taeyong. He wants to tell them that they shouldn’t pretend like they threw them in the lake. He wants them to make it seem like they too are looking for Doyoung and the male the guard saw in the group was just their eyes playing with them.

To Jeno’s disliking, Chenle and Jisung began to walk over while talking. Jaemin noticed the younger’s panicked state and let out a whistle that normally means surrender. Taeyong and Doyoung notice as the two stop in their tracks. Jeno looks at the two and gives them a look they understand too well, they quickly walk over to Yangyang and Renjun. Their masks were off unlike before and they quickly put smiles on their faces and held each other’s hands.

“There you guys are,” Chenle speaks in an excited tone, not one note out of place, as if he really meant it. “We were looking for you everywhere. Did you tell the village that you wouldn’t be home for a while?” Yangyang and Renjun quickly nod. They look to the side and throw an apologetic look at the guards before they continue walking and talking about their honeymoon.

This is when Taeyong notices something, the guard is already beginning to cuff Jaemin and Jeno, while letting the other four pass, and Mark and Donghyuck, as well as Jaehyun and Yuta are gone. As the guards walk away with the two, Taeyong starts to walk out of his hiding spot, but Doyoung holds him there.

“Wait,” Doyoung puts his hand on Taeyong’s, trying to calm the prince. Taeyong looks at the assassin beside him, and his eyes don’t leave the other's face even when he looks forward and observes. It was this moment. This time when Taeyong’s heart began to pound, he knew he fell in love with the assassin before him.

“Doyoung,” Taeyong talks softly, too softly. It is more of a mumble than a voice, one that Doyoung doesn’t quite catch.

“Let’s go,” Doyoung stands up, his hand still in Taeyong’s. “We should walk off the trail for now, it's too dangerous to walk on the path. Plus the other’s have an alibi and I don’t want to ruin-” the assassin stops talking as he notices the prince’s frozen state. He follows the prince's eyes down to their locked fingers. He quickly lets go of the other’s hand and mumbles a quick apology, but Taeyong grabs his hand again and intertwines their fingers.

“Let’s go?” Taeyong looks at Doyoung, this time he is the one frozen, and gives him a reassuring smile. The two begin walking through the trees, but Taeyong can’t help but think of the others as they go.

“Doyoung,” the assassin just hums in response. “Where are Mark and Donghyuck? Oh, and Yuta and Jaehyun. I don’t remember any part of the plan having them missing.”

“You knew the palace guard, right?” Doyoung asks while glancing at the prince beside him who just nods at the question. “Well I guess Yuta and Jaehyun did too. The moment they saw them Jaehyun told me he needed to go and get Jaemin and Jeno out of imprisonment. I didn’t know what he meant until Jaemin whistled. Donghyuck and Mark went ahead to the house. The sooner we get people there, the sooner we can get help for the others.”

Taeyong just nods as they continue to walk through the trees, Doyoung’s eyes open for anything that might be of harm to them. As the two walk, only the sound of branches and leaves under their feet can be heard. Neither speak, but they don’t know why. They don’t know why they can’t form simple words into sentences. They were talking the entire way before, even being playful here and there, but they couldn’t when they were alone. Both wanted to break the silence, but neither did.

The walk began to feel suffocating. It obviously wasn’t silent, the two were walking through a forest with fallen leaves from autumn starting and sticks from the trees, and those noises weren’t enough to cover the awkwardness between them. Why are they so awkward? No matter how much that question runs through both of their heads, neither had an answer.

Although, when they came to a stop to watch guards pass the road next to them, another sound was added to the silence they were trying to make. As if the rest of the world could hear it, Taeyong mentally cursed at his heart for basically beating out of his chest; in this moment he truly did believe that the guards just beside where they were hiding would hear it. That wasn’t why his heart was beating out of his chest, however. Taeyong was used to hiding from guards, even if it had just been from today, but he will never get used to Doyoung’s touch. The feeling of Doyoung’s hand gripping his tighter, the way that when Doyoung saw the guards he pulled Taeyong with him behind a bush causing the prince to fall into the other’s chest.

Taeyong’s breath begins to get unsteady the longer he stares at the male he fell on. Doyoung doesn’t notice and continues watching the guards walking away, but his heart begins to speed up at the feeling of Taeyong against him. He knew of his feelings for the male for a while now, but even with knowing, he hasn’t pursued anything, scared of losing a friendship he has found not too long ago.

When the guards finally pass by, Doyoung looks down at Taeyong, only then seeing how close the male was. Their faces were only a few inches apart and Taeyong’s body is basically on top of the younger’s. Neither moved from the position they were in, the both just stared at each other’s eyes, both also glancing at each other’s lips before directing their gaze back up.

“Doyoung,” Taeyong begins to lean forward slowly, his eyes beginning to close. The assassin also begins to lean in, and within seconds that felt like minutes, their lips had met. The soft touch of their lips ended rather quickly, which caused Taeyong to panic. “I’m so sorry I-” before he could finish, Doyoung places a short peck on the prince’s lips to shut him up.

“Not here,” Doyoung says before standing him and Taeyong up. He locks their fingers once again and they continue walking—which is more like Doyoung dragging the frozen, not cooperating, prince along.

After days of walking, short train and boat rides, and an occasional carriage hitchhikes, the prince and assassin finally make it to Chenle’s family village. They walk into the village, still hand-in-hand, and look around. Unlike all of the villages the palace owns, this one had a vintage feel. While the palace was all about new and modern looks with dashes of neon green, this village was composed of browns and old fashioned style housing. Taeyong found the look refreshing, it was like the cottage, something he would only see in fairy-tales he’s read.

Another kiss never happened. After the first one, the two did become more touchy than they already were, but they never went past a certain line, not while they were traveling. Being consumed by a kiss and it leading to another’s capture or death would be traumatizing, so they agreed… mentally though, these men really should work on their talking skills when it comes to their feelings.

Someone notices the two males standing at the entrance and begins to walk towards them. The boy has big features as well as a big smile planted on his face. He walks towards them happily, another male with sharp features as well but a softer appearance starting to follow behind. They stop when they are right in front of the prince and the assassin, both of the two approachers being taller.

“Hello,” the tallest talks first, his deep voice booming through the streets of the village. “You must be Doyoung and Taeyong.” The man has a wide smile while looking between the two of them. The prince and assassin nod slightly.

“Welcome,” the slightly smaller male talks in a soft voice that is almost hard to hear. “If you wanna follow us, we will show you to your house.” The two nod once again and begin following the others through the village.

As the two walk, they get constant looks from the people around them, but the look always ends with a soft smile instead of one of disgust, even with their fingers still being locked around each other’s.

After walking for a few minutes from the entrance of the village, they are met with a house, the same color scheme and pattern as the rest of the village, with several floors. They both look at the house in awe at it’s fairy-tail-like feel. The larger of the two other males gives the door a couple of knocks before it opens and Renjun peeps his head out, smiling when he notices Doyoung and Taeyong.

“Guys,” Renjun calls back into the house. “They’ve made it.” Not even five seconds later, Mark and Haechan come running out excitedly to meet the two. They smile at them and drag them inside, saying a quick thanks and goodbye to the two that brought them.

“Your rooms are on the third floor,” Mark talks to the two, his smile never fading. “It’s the room on the right, there is a bathroom connected.” Although the boy whose talking’s smile never fades, the person beside him smile does.

“Are Jeno and Jaem far behind y'all?” Donghyuck looks behind the two, a little hope still left in his eyes. Doyoung looks down sadly, and the other doesn't need to wait for an answer to know what the assassin would say. Actually, Doyoung doesn’t answer at all, he rather just shakes his head no.

Donghyuck just nods sadly in response before taking the two to their shared room in the large house. The room is a comfortable size for the two of them and contains basically the same things from the house within the cottage.

When they get into the room, the prince sighs and plops down on the bed, laying down and dropping his bag shortly afterwards. Doyoung slightly smiles as the latter closes his eyes and pats the space next to him. The assassin lays down next to Taeyong and closes his eyes. Both of them are exhausted from the long trip, so they unintentionally fall asleep; both of their feet hanging off the end of the bed.

Doyoung woke up first the next morning and looked to the side. He was in the same position as when he fell asleep. When he looked to the side and saw Taeyong who was curled up in a small ball and facing him, he smiled softly. At that moment, the assassin’s heart beat began to quicken. The prince looks small and adorable, but when Doyoung’s eyes travel up to the male’s face, he holds his breath; the prince is breathtaking what can he do.

As he looks at the other’s lips, Doyoung remembers the kiss the two had on the trip. While lost in thought, his eyes not leaving the others lips, the prince begins to wake up. His eyes look at the others, but the assassin’s eye never leaves the prince's lips. He not only wants to kiss them at this moment, but he wants to tell the prince of his feelings; the feelings that came and grew when he walked into the prince’s room many weeks ago.

“Doyoung,” the prince talks in a soft voice, grabbing the younger’s attention, but his eyes are still locked on the other’s lips.

“Hmm,” as if in a trance, the assassin doesn’t even glance at the other’s eyes, he doesn’t even blink.

“Are you okay?” Taeyong begins to worry at Doyoung’s state, it is almost as if the other is frozen.

“No,” the assassin answers almost instantly. Panicked, the prince sits up and settles himself in front of Doyoung, sitting criss-cross. Doyoung too sits up, still in a half-trance.

“What’s wrong?” Taeyong sits as close as possible and sets his hand on Doyoung’s forehead, moving it when he can confirm that his temperature is normal. “Do you feel sick? Are you hurt?”

“Taeyong,” the assassin’s eyes finally move from the other’s lips and up to his eyes. Their eyes lock, and for a second, it feels like time has stopped. Everything around them moves slowly, even their thoughts begin to slow, even disappear. However, the words Doyoung is about to say don’t disappear. Instead, they highlight in his mind, as if projecting the words so that he can say them loud and clear. “I love you.”

Within seconds, the only thing Doyoung feels is Taeyong’s soft lips on his own. The prince wraps his arms around the others neck as he continues to kiss the assassin. Melting into the kiss quickly, Doyoung puts his arms around the older’s and pulls him closer. They only stop to take a breath. Taeyong puts his forehead on the others before whispering an ‘I love you too’ and with that, they reconnect their lips with a smile lining their faces in between kisses.

***

Two days after Taeyong and Doyoung’s arrival, Jeno, Jaemin, Yuta, and Jaehyun had made it as well. After the kiss, the prince and the assassin began to date, and in years to come they would get married.

Johnny later moves with Ten to Thailand and Sungchan moves in with Shotaro as their friendship had grown immensely over the months in hiding. The kingdom they lived in before had fallen and is soon run by Taeyong’s returned aunt. Doyoung’s father went missing not too long after they had settled in Chenle’s village. The group lies happily, with only a few bumps along the way.

The prince finally gets to live his life as a normal person who is loved by the people in the village, and Doyoung finally gets to live as someone that isn’t feared and his brother isn’t fearing for.

Although all of this is just the near future and they will have a long way to go, at this moment they are happy. Just walking hand-in-hand has felt euphoric for the two.

Doyoung couldn’t be happier, he was glad that he made the passage and visited the prince that one night. He didn’t know what being happy felt like until now, and he never wants this feeling to go away. Taeyong too was happy. And neither were going to let something ruin that, no matter what was to come in the future because they had each other, and nothing could change that.

They had grown so much over the years and they couldn’t help but think of their petty fights from time to time. The scar was something that Taeyong and Doyoung saw as beautiful as it looked like a rose as if the world knew they were soulmates. Although things would be different if they had been friends to begin with, both felt that they wouldn’t have the same connection they do now without the hardships.

However, Taeyong always felt that he had one thing to thank when it came to their relationship and never ending ties with each other, and it is none other than,

The sandbox.