Chapter Text
“Wake up? So it was all a dream?”
going down in the white marble stairs, leaning against the walls, his mind still turbulent in the face of all the confusion. He had a large, fancy house, the floor was porcelain tile with gold markings reminiscent of chic and expensive marble, the walls were white, and the furniture was all custom-made, designed to be there. There were only formal family photos, which were taken annually. A few plants decorated the living room, which was attached to the kitchen. No flowers, only strong, healthy green leaves.
“Dad will be happy to know that you woke up too!” A knot in his stomach greeted him, and it was inevitable that it wouldn't show.
“Ahh, don’t make that face. You know... he loves you very much, he regrets talking to you that way. But you have to understand that you're at the age to get married, not every arranged marriage is doomed to failure, JUST LOOK AT MINE!"
Leaning on the beige suede sofa, soft and cozy like puppy fur, but not like Changbin's pillow
“Jin... look, I don't want to talk about it now.”
“DAD! I'm so glad you're here, Seungmin woke up!” Seungmin quickly turns toward the front door, afraid of who he might find.
His heart was jumping in his chest; he was sobbing and sweating in the cold recording room. Everyone watched him in fear. Changbin was the closest, kneeling beside the black leather sofa, worried about the poor boy.
“I thought I'd never see you again...” The angel grabbed Changbin by the shoulders, and before he knew it, he was crying.
Looking up and seeing everyone around him, he realized how ridiculous must have looked. For a brief moment, he hid his face in the prince's neck and tightened his embrace, embarrassed. His heart races, and not knowing what this feeling means, he pushes Changbin away, who falls to the ground—surprised by the order of events, confused about what to feel. Seungmin was back to normal.
“...I was so happy.”
Roughly wiping away the remaining tears.
After all the mess, sleeping was almost impossible for Changbin. “What did he mean by that? Did he miss me, or does he not want to see me anymore?”
The fear of losing Seungmin haunted him every night. He always pretended to sleep peacefully and woke up in the middle of the night to check on the dog, ready to comfort him if anything went wrong. Fortunately, it was a one-time occurrence.
“You sleep a lot” said Yeonjun standing beside the bed, throwing a gray sleeveless gym shirt at him. Seungmin was no longer by his side, his insecurity returning, all the fear of losing him forever.
“Oh, you’re so pathetic, he just went to see how the field where the games will take place is doing, it’s like you two were born Tied at the hip.” He carried an imminent tiredness in his voice.
“Get ready, we have to go to the gym, you need to train.”
“What? Why train? I have super strength, remember?”
“That's exactly why we're going, you need to learn how to control it. It's to throw the old ladies at the center of the target, not through it.”
Very unhappy, he got up and accepted his friend's opinion.
At the gym, Changbin's workouts are varied, from throws to choreography, ending with a weightlifting session — not that he needs it, of course, but Yeonjun does, and he was there to guide him.
“So, you see? You can't do that? It's the minimum!”
“Oh yeah, sure, without any kind of super strength, I'll be able to lift a hundred pounds with one arm.”
“Well, you should be able to. Are you a demon or a mouse?”
Without warning, Seungmin was already there beside him.
He spotted Seungmin and instantly lost all focus. Train Yeonjun? Screw him. Changbin lifted more and more weights, and with each lift, his muscles flexed more and more.
“Gross, you're drooling.” Rolling his eyes, Yeonjun walked away.
“Huh...? Well, I'm here because you still have to train your Skzoo, that's his name, right?” Wiping the saliva still wet from his chin.
“Oh, are we going to do that today too? Okay, Yeonjun, can you bring Dwaekki to us?”
“Sure, prince!” They both played and fought, but from a young age they knew that they should put respect and duty above all else, regardless of their relationship.
In a large, long field of freshly cut grass, they waited for Yeonjun to arrive.
From a distance, they could see him walking with a heavy, strange animal—in other words, unusual. At first glance, it had rabbit ears, but its pig-like face and long, shiny pink fur appeared to be soft. It wore a heavy metal muzzle, and from the way Yeonjun was surrounded by strong, well-trained guards, it must have been a dangerous animal—certainly agitated.
The closer they got, the more Seungmin took steps back. With a confused look on his face, he asked,
"Is it safe for me to be here?"
Without even looking at him, Changbin agrees.
"Wow, it was hard to get here, he's gotten so fat," Yeonjun snorted, pulling the big small Skzoo.
"Haha, what's up, big guy? Long time no see!" Changbin said as he slapped his thighs, calling Dwaekki to play with him. Without thinking twice, the hybrid animal threw himself on top of him, and if it weren't for his super strength, he would have been felled.
From the circuit to the rings, everything was destroyed. He was like a destructive killing machine, and the more he destroyed the protective clothing the instructors wore, the more horrified Seungmin became; everything about him scared him—he should have known that, because he froze in the middle of the field, slowly turned toward the angel, and... when they least expected it, he ran. With all his speed, Seungmin also ran with all the strength of his canine legs, but even so, it wasn't enough to escape Dwaekki's grip. He threw him to the ground and mounted him; now in his human form, he screamed as he received sticky licks on his cheek.
"Look, he likes you."
"It must be the dog smell," Yeonjun added, both standing and looking at Seungmin lying on the floor.
"HELP ME?? GET HIM OUT OF HERE!"
A whole day of training was successfully completed, and, like this one, others followed, each more disciplined and better prepared for what was to come.
Dwaekki no longer attacked Seungmin—who, despite constant interaction, still felt afraid of the hybrid. Changbin no longer threw ladies in the neighboring kingdom—which made Jisung very happy, since during one of his friend's training sessions, he had been hit by an elderly woman while just was in his room. Everything was going as expected, if not better.
Every night, Seungmin made a habit of massaging his prince's broad shoulders, even when he hadn't trained. This became a habit between them, as did the late night walks they took to the company at least three times a week, or the free afternoons they spent in the garden. They did everything together because they enjoyed the time they shared; their conversations ranged from the most profound to the most silly.
It was 9 p.m., and they were getting ready for bed—earlier than usual—but there was a good reason for that. The next day, they—or at least Changbin—would have to be prepared and ready for all kinds of things that had been in the works for the past few months.