Chapter Text
At sunset, the royal family gathered at the gates of the palace and outside there were people gathering around the streets like they would during a festival, children were on their parents shoulders while others stuck their heads out to watch the woods. All of them hoping to catch a glimpse of the fey that once only lived in stories. And not just any fey but the Seelie king that their own king would soon marry.
"This seems unsafe." Prom whispered, eyeing the streets that were filling with people. "They are about to step out of the grove for the first time in a millenia and they have no protection. We should have atleast sent someone to escort them."
Yin laughed and shook his head, surprising his brothers with how carefree he seemed to be. "If I had done that, I would have managed to insult them before they stepped in our land. Besides, they don't need our protection, they've been doing well enough on their own, don't you think?"
"Still, we don't know what could happen in a crowd like this and it always feels like there's someone after your neck. Now they have a new target."
"My fiance may look like he couldn't hurt a fly but trust me when I say that no one can hurt a single hair on his head. If they tried, not only will they have to go through me first but also they'd have to go through his court. And even if they do get to him, well- no one has lived long enough to tell the tale apparently." The king had a smug look on his face after saying that, knowing it all to be true. "He is a very accomplished with his sword, remind me to ask him to duel with either of you sometime."
"Yeah, I'll pass." Bonnadol replied, rolling his eyes at his brother's playful smirk. "There is no way you expect me to agree after saying all that."
"I second that."
"I'd pity anyone who even tried honestly." The king shrugged, remembering the first time he and the seelie king crossed swords. It was nothing but a silly duel and neither of them really took it seriously but somehow he found himself on the ground with a very amused War sitting on his thighs. The seelie teased him a little and promised to teach him some tricks if he promised to listen.
"You have that stupidly in love look in your eye again." Prom shoved his shoulder. "Don't make it look too obvious that you're whipped."
"But I am." He replied instantly.
"Okay, we get it. Wait-" The three of them turned to the forest when they heard gasps coming from the crowd, the king hiding a little smile at the sight of his stunned brother's. "Your fiance has a flair for dramatic entrances doesn't he?'
"And I love him all the more for it."
It was as if the trees themselves were moving, shifting to create a path between them for someone to walk through. First came the three most important members of the seelie court, the seelies that War considered as his own flesh and blood. The three were walking in a triangular formation, each equally beautiful and ethereal. And once they were at a safe distance from the grove, the last and most important member of the seelie court finally graced them with his presence.
People watched in awe as the seelie king himself stepped outside the fey territory to walk among men for the first time, flowers bloomed at his every step and all living creatures stopped to stare, even the fireflies were flocking around the seelie like moths to a flame. Similar to his waiting fiance, he was wearing a golden crown on his head, but unlike the human king whose crown stood tall and proud, his was carefully woven in his hair, as if there were golden vines circling his head.
The other seelies made way for their king, letting him lead their group and following close behind, their flowy silk garb dancing in the wind as they passed. It was quite a sight, especially since despite the throng of people waiting for them, the seelie king had his eyes trained on the man waiting for him at the palace gates, the small dimpled smile ever present on his lips.
When they reached the palace gates, Yin and his brothers also made their move, closing the space between them and the faes. The king was visibly giddy and the only thing stopping him from running to his fiance being the hundreds of eyes watching their every move.
"Yin Anan." War smiled when the man in question held his hand. "Fancy meeting you here."
"My love." The king replied, tangling their fingers in a subtle show of affection. "You look absolutely dazzling."
"I could say the same about you."
Formalities were soon thrown out the window when Yin gently wrapped his arms around his fiance, letting his worries fade away with the thought that this was the start of the change he had been hoping for. Watching War walk along the sea of people was more stressful than he made it out to be, whatever happened today would soon define not only their future but also the future of their people. But having War in his arms was enough to drive those worries away.
"I am so happy you're here."
"Were you scared I was going to run away?"
Yin pulled away from the hug to look War in the eye. "Never."
"You put too much trust on me Yin Anan. Aren't you scared?"
"With you in my arms? Not even a little."
Their quiet moment was interrupted by a dry laugh from behind the seelie and a small pat on Yin's shoulder, the latter shooting an annoyed look at his brother while the former stepped away from their intimate reconciliation with his cheeks a little rosier than usual.
"While I understand that you two missed each other from being apart for -" Bever shot the seelie king a teasing look. "- a day, I believe we should take this inside."
"And although I am only too happy to see the fearsome King Anan turn all soft and smitten, our dinner is getting cold. And if I have to watch the two of you act all lovely, I might as well have some food and wine."
"When you fall in love, I am going to enjoy every minute of rubbing it in your face." The king answered, letting his fiance hold his hand as he led him inside the palace doors. "But that is in the far future. For now, I have a fiance to impress."
---
In the beginning, the dinner went without a hitch. And although it was obvious that the seelies and the two prince's were biting their tongue and trying their best to be on their best behavior out of respect for the couple, the kings were grateful nonetheless. After all the couple knew that there was no love lost between the two princes and the two other members of the seelie court, something that they themselves never completely understood the reason to - they just never got along.
"We've decided on a Yule wedding." War began, smiling up to his fiance with loving eyes. "The winter solstice is important to the fey, I want to make show themthat we are honoring our traditions to hopefully convey to them that I will never forget my roots. Aside from that, winter is a beautiful time to get married."
"And I am the loving fiance that will just agree to whatever you say." Yin laughed, dodging an attack from War's fist. "I'm kidding love. I think it's a great idea and I too want to honor both our traditions. Especially seeing as ours will be the first between human and fey."
"Thank you Anan."
"Of course, not to mention I think it would be a wonderful time to holiday somewhere with snow after the ceremony. I already have a few places in mind."
"And pray tell, who do you expect to run our kingdoms while we're gone?"
"What is family for right?"
The couple shared an amused look, turning to face the odd combination of faeries and humans in the table. "Is that alright with all of you?"
"It is alright with me." One of the seelies spoke up, the only one who didn't look forced to sit in the table. "It is a pleasure to see my friend finally find his match, you two take all the time you need. But we do need to have our king back sometime after."
"I don't know, it might be a little hard to let go of him once I have him all to myself." Yin pursed his lips, leaning his head on his palm to look at his fiance. "What if I realize that I never want to share you with anybody else and want you all to myself?"
"Yin Anan, not only will you have every seelie breathing down your neck but you will also a have a very very upset husband."
"Ah when you say it that way, then I shall have no choice. I don't want my husband to get angry with me before we even celebrate the first month of our wedding."
"You are really intent on teasing me today, aren't you?"
"I never get to do it in front of other people, it's fun."
"Just wait until I get you alone and-"
Yin leaned close to his fiance, an annoying smile on his face as he watched the blush creep up the seelie's cheeks. "And what?"
"You are dangerous Yin Anan."
"So I've been told."
---
And everything was fine, truly, the couple was convinced that they could pass the night without any blunders. But that's the thing about hoping for too much, your hopes crash and burn.
"Stop staring at me." One of the other seelies blurted out, glaring at the youngest prince. "Or I will make you."
"I am not staring at you." Prom replied, a teasing tone in his voice. "But perhaps, you are staring at me?"
"And why would I do that?"
"I don't know, maybe you should tell me?"
Yin sent a look at Prom which he hoped sent the message that said, stop it. But of course this would be the one time that neither of his brothers seemed to be listening to him, the younger just continued to stare at the seelie who was very obviously starting to get more and more annoyed.
"I said stop staring at me."
"I've read that faeries are kind but you've been nothing but hostile to me since we met-"
"Then you have not been reading the right literature."
War massaged his temples, failing to comprehend what was going on between the two but knowing that there must be something that happened between them for this to spark an all out argument. He looked at his fiance for guidance but Yin looked as confused as he was, telling him that neither of them knowing why there was so much hostility between the two.
"We should just get out of here." Yin whispered, idly playing with their fingers that remained clasped under the table. "It will save us a headache."
"And leave them here to kill each other?" War asked with a raised brow, a small smile in his lips when his fiance only pouted in answer. "What is this? The fearsome king not wanting to deal with a petty squabble."
"To be very honest with you, I would much rather spend time with my beautiful fiance than sit here and watch them rip each other's head off. I know a place in the palace you would love and I had it specially prepared for you to see today, I was thinking more after dinner but I am not opposed to changing our schedule."
"Flattery and bribery will get you nowhere Anan, you should know that by now."
"I disagree, it got me the role of your fiance." Yin winked, choosing to ignore the growing voiced around them to focus on the pretty smile on his fiance's lips.
"Touche."
It would have been an adorable sight had it not been for the fact that someone had slammed their fist on the table, almost splitting it in two with the force they used. The couple were immediately on high alert, War even standing up in defense when he spotted his glass of water bubbling in heat. It was the first indication that someone had gotten magic involved and the crack that travelled along the length of the large table told him who it was from, Bonnadol was staring up at another visibly upset seelie, whose fists were clutched tightly on his side.
"I am leaving, now." The youngest seelie announced, glaring at Prom one last time before pushing his chair back to stand up.
"I should leave too, before-" The other seelie agreed. "I do not wish to harm a human tonight, no matter how stupid they may be."
The third seelie helplessly looked at War, knowing that he alone could not stop the other two from leaving if they wished to do so, only to shudder in fear when he saw the look in the seelie king's eyes.
"Both of you stop right now." War muttered icily, effectively stopping the two seelies in their tracks. He rarely used his authoritative voice with them but he felt that it was important that he did so at this moment.
As for Yin, he was content with letting his fiance speak to his friends, his brothers he will deal with when they were alone. They may be stubborn but he could always get through with them when he needed to. Although he would also need to speak to them about the events that transpired a minute ago, there was no way they could provoke the anger of the seelies with a simple dinner, no, there was something more there.
"There is no one leaving this table aside from me and Anan, you four are high ranking members of both our courts and yet you insist on acting like children in not only a diplomatic visit but also at our engagement dinner. I do not expect you to be friends immediately, in fact I am perfectly fine with you not being friends at all - that is your choice. All I am asking is for you to do is set aside your differences for one night - just one night, so that we could celebrate." War stared down each of them, eyes visibly glowing in suppressed anger. "If it is so easy for you to fight after spending less than an hour together, what kind of example are you setting for the others? And since no one is telling us what happened, we will leave you to deal with your own problems. I expect everything to be in order when we get back."
Yin saw one bulb begin to shake, the light vibrating inside it's cocoon, and decided to interfere. He reached out and held War's hand in a tight grip, standing up to whisper something in his ear to calm him down before turning to their family. "We are here to celebrate, my intention for this night was to show each other that our marriage means that his family is mine and my family is his. We can't make any of you do something you don't want to do but I hope you can reflect on what happened tonight. We will leave you here while I will take my fiance out for a walk to calm him down. I trust that you're all old enough to fix your own problems."
War said nothing, letting Yin drag him away from the table and pull him to his side. It was only when they were a safe distance away that he let himself relax, the stress of everything going on around them evaporating as soon as they were alone.
"I'm sorry for what happened, I talked to them before going here but none of them would tell me why they despised your brothers."
"None of that was your fault, I will have to speak to Prom and Bonnadol later since I don't know either. But I do feel bad for leaving one of your friends behind, he was also just caught in the crossfire."
"It's okay, he can deal with them far better than I can."
"I don't feel bad about snatching you away though." Yin commented, gently kissing War's knuckles. "I've missed you and I think I am still too used us alone that I don't know how to act around other people."
"Oh? I had the impression that you were perfectly fine with flirting with me in front of other people." This time it was War that started teasing his fiance, enjoying the sound he made in protest. "Am I wrong?"
"Not at all. I'll get used to it someday, especially since I can now love you freely, no more hiding and sneaking around."
"We weren't really good with the hiding."
"Oh well, it's all in the past now." Yin replied with a casual shrug, stopping to look at his fiance. "Now, I owe you a date."
"A date?"
"Let me show you something."
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