Chapter Text
The first moment Keonho opened his eyes, he already felt the urge to throw everything he saw against the dormitory walls. Extremely loud trumpets blasting some random, upbeat rhythm shattered his eardrums as he woke up from his short sleep.
"Great, this place has alarm clocks," Keonho muttered to his friends, who were getting up just as confused as he was.
Martin’s hair pointed in every possible direction, and James’s eyes were wide open, though Keonho genuinely couldn’t tell if he was actually awake or not.
"Well, today is our first day of real classes, let’s get up already. I’m sure if we’re late, we’ll get scolded," Martin said. Keonho knew the blonde didn't give a damn about a potential scolding; he just wanted to get to his sewing class as fast as possible.
Keonho let out a frustrated groan and threw himself back onto the mattress. "I would do anything to avoid stepping foot in Auradon History. Seriously, I feel like the first mention of the royal family is going to make me throw up in the teacher's face."
Martin let out a small chuckle and got up, pulling Keonho by the arms. "Let's go, Mr. Grumpy. I even customized our uniforms a bit to liven things up."
The two boys changed and then gave James a hard smack on the head to wake the oldest up. "Seriously, how does this guy manage to sleep through the trumpets of hell playing right in our ears?" Keonho thought.
Once changed, wearing the uniforms styled by Martin—which basically consisted of cut sleeves, pinned pants, and a spiked belt around the waist—the trio headed out of the dorm toward the cafeteria to get some food in their stomachs.
As soon as they arrived, most of the faces were unfamiliar. The cafeteria was considerably fuller than the day before, packed with students chatting about trivial nonsense. Keonho’s eyes scanned the room and landed on a table set further away from the crowd, watching Eom Seonghyeon and his shadow, Kim Juhoon, eating together peacefully.
"Seriously, that guy Kim Juhoon looks like a door. I genuinely don't think he has real emotions," Keonho complained while eating an irrefutably delicious omelet.
"Or maybe he just hates us. Look at how he’s smiling at the prince," Martin pointed out, following the duo's movements.
Keonho rolled his eyes. "Everybody is always smiling at the prince, always desperate to kiss his ass. I doubt Seonghyeon has any genuine relationship with anyone."
"Relax dude omg, it’s way too early, let’s leave the insults for later. Don't you agree with me, James?" Martin added. "James??"
Yep, James had fallen asleep right at the breakfast table, too.
♛
Keonho was now standing at the door of his assigned classroom. He couldn't muster up the courage to open it; every time he placed his hand on the doorknob, his face twisted in disgust and he pulled his hand away from the metal handle. To make matters worse, he was completely on his own—none of those lucky bastards had been assigned to Auradon History.
"Are you going to let people through, or are we going to have to walk right over you, island rat?" a boy said from behind Keonho with a mocking voice. The dark-haired boy immediately spun around to see who was insulting him.
"What did you say, asshole?" Keonho didn't recognize the kid or the others standing behind him, but that didn't stop him from taking a step forward and puffing out his chest to project respect.
"You heard me. Move. Out. Of. My. Way," the unknown boy continued.
Before Keonho could give the kid a shove, a louder voice cut through the group.
"Minjun, get in the classroom with your friends right now. I don't want anyone being late to my class," an older, tall man wearing glasses said. Keonho figured this must be the teacher for the subject.
After watching Minjun and his friends file into the room, the teacher's gaze dropped down to Keonho.
"And you must be Mr. Ahn Keonho, right? Welcome to my class, I'm Lee Seokmin, but you can call me Mr. Lee. I hope your day here has been pleasant, Mr. Ahn."
Keonho reluctantly had to give a bow out of respect, his jaw clenching tightly while his head was lowered.
"Yeah, yeah, a real pleasure, Mr. Lee. Can we go in now, too? I can't wait for this class to start," Keonho said, sarcasm dripping heavily from his voice.
The two of them walked in, and Keonho sat down at the only empty double desk in the room, thanking the gods that it was one of the farthest ones away from Mr. Lee's whiteboard. The room was already packed, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Minjun not too far away from him. Keonho had a strong feeling that this kid was going to be a massive pain in the ass. The other students were glaring at him, but at least they didn't have the guts to face Keonho head-on. Minjun, on the other hand, looked like he had some sort of hidden desire to torment Keonho. The boy just hoped Minjun wouldn't chicken out if the day ever came when Keonho decided to break his face.
"Good morning, students. As you already know, we have a new student among us. Be welcoming to Keonho," Mr. Lee made a point of introducing Keonho before immediately diving into his lecture.
Keonho managed to pretend to pay attention for a grand total of ten minutes. He stared right at the teacher's face, but not a single word was actually sinking in. His uniquely talented brain managed to filter everything out, so Keonho only heard random snippets of "Kings," "Battles," and "Victories" spilling from Seokmin's mouth, occasionally letting his head drop to scribble something random in his notebook.
Eventually, his boredom peaked. He rested his head on his crossed arms and decided to take a nap right there on the hard wooden desk.
Keonho was already halfway to dreaming about puppies when he heard the thud of a heavy book slamming down on his desk, making him jerk his head up, feeling a bit dizzy.
His very first sight upon opening his eyes was Seonghyeon. Keonho was starting to get annoyed by the fact that this had already happened for the second time in under 48 hours; opening his eyes and coming face to face with the prince just made his blood boil.
"Excuse me? Why did you wake me up, asshole?" Keonho asked, looking somewhat indignant.
"Well, in case you didn't look around, the class literally ended, and you're still here."
Keonho glanced around, and the room that had been packed with snobs before he fell asleep was now completely empty, with only Keonho and Seonghyeon standing there.
"Tch, that useless teacher didn't even wake me up," Keonho grumbled under his breath, more to himself than for the prince to hear.
"Nobody has any obligation to wake your lazy ass up, and I'm pretty sure he didn't even bother counting your presence in this class."
"What are you even doing here anyway? Don't you have some annoying bullshit to do?" Keonho retorted irritably.
"My annoying bullshit is right here. I'm covering for one of the teachers for the etiquette classes. The students will be here soon—including your friend James—so I need you to get your ass up and leave."
"You're always going to be an arrogant little piece of shit, aren't you? I'll get up whenever I damn well please." Keonho wanted to provoke him further, stretching out across the wooden desk a bit more.
"Hmm, this is actually so comfortable."
"Keonho, I'm serious. If you don't behave, I can easily report you to the dean, and guess who’s going to end up forced into etiquette class instead? Please do me a favor and spare me from looking at your ugly face for a single second longer than absolutely necessary."
Seonghyeon finished speaking, maintaining that unshakable posture of his, and walked over to the front desk, dropping his materials and wiping away what was left on the whiteboard used by Mr. Lee.
"You're a complete asshole, you know that?" Keonho said, rolling his eyes as he finally stood up from his seat.
"Yeah, you've said that already. Maybe you need to expand your vocabulary a little bit." Seonghyeon flashed a fake, closed-eye smile.
"Fuck off, Eom. I'm only leaving so I don't give you the pleasure of looking at my face for a single second longer," Keonho sneered one last time before storming out of the room—though not before blowing a sarcastic flying kiss at the prince followed straight up by his middle finger.
Seonghyeon just rolled his eyes and went right back to what he was doing.
♛
Keonho had spent the last two hours all by himself, waiting for his friends to finish their classes.
When he finally met up with them, the contrast between the two was almost comical.
Martin had a sparkle in his eyes and a small smile on his face, while James looked like he had just survived a major war.
"How much prison time do I get if I suffocate Prince Eom? Seriously, I just went through the worst hours of my existence. Those etiquette classes felt like disguised torture; I had to learn how to use CUTLERY, and if I messed up, Seonghyeon made a point of giving me a horrible scolding in front of everyone," James said defeatedly, draping his arms over Martin’s broad shoulders.
"Well, my class was amazing! Despite a few assholes giving my uniform dirty looks, I managed to use some really cool and different fabrics, guys. Seriously, it wasn't all bad. And you won't believe it—apparently Kim Juhoon is my teacher's assistant, and the guy is actually good! I thought he’d be totally devoid of personality, but Mrs. Yu showed us some of his sketches, and they were really good," Martin recounted enthusiastically.
"Oh, Martin, that's great, seriously, good thing your life is full of rainbows, butterflies, and dresses. Now let's get back to my misery over here!" James continued in his dramatic voice. "Seonghyeon told me that only the worst students get sent to etiquette classes—THE WORST—and I need to know why the hell I'm even in there if I have this rabid dog as a friend," James finished, pointing a judgmental finger right at Keonho.
"Well, then maybe you're the rabid dog, asshole. But I'm not doing much better than you either; at least I managed to sleep through my entire class," Keonho said. "Do you guys want to get some air? Seriously, I need to figure out what's up with the walls of this place, they always feel so suffocating. Even the blanket of thick smog we lived under was more breathable than in here," Keonho finished, loosening his tie.
The three boys spent some time hanging out in the open courtyard in a comfortable silence. James was smoking just tobacco, since lighting up a joint in public would basically be asking to die young, while Keonho rested his legs on the lap of Martin, who was deeply focused on some silly sketch of him. The trio stayed like that until they heard some movement near them.
"Hey, look, it's Minjun the asshole," Martin pointed out, gesturing toward the scene unfolding in front of them.
"Hello Seonghyeon, you look absolutely adorable today! I bought a latte for you!" Minjun said in the sweetest voice possible.
The thing was, Seonghyeon couldn't stand Minjun in the slightest, and he knew the kid stalked him and threw himself at him purely for status. However, he couldn't do much since that little jerk's parents sponsored YCC's sports leagues. So, Seonghyeon did his absolute best to put up with the guy.
Today, though, was not a good day. Seonghyeon felt strangely overwhelmed—perhaps because of the classes he had to cover or yet another argument with his father that morning. So all the prince wanted right now was to get away from Minjun.
"Ah, right, thanks Minjun. You really didn't have to do that," Seonghyeon forced himself to say, quickly trying to walk away from the guy.
Minjun acted like he wouldn't just accept that and grabbed the prince's wrist tightly.
"Wait, Seonghyeon, don't you want to go out with me later? I promise you won't regret it, I'm good at a lot of things," Minjun said, giving him a wink.
Seonghyeon could only feel utter disgust.
"No, Minjun, I'm very busy, but I appreciate the offer," Seonghyeon said politely, trying to yank his wrist out of Minjun's grip.
"You know, Seonghyeon, I really don't like hearing 'no' from people," the kid continued, squeezing the prince's wrist even harder. The sheer audacity of him disrespecting someone like Seonghyeon was staggering.
Before Seonghyeon had time to lose his cool and do something that would ruin his pristine, respectful prince image, a third hand shoved its way right between Seonghyeon's wrist and Minjun's grip.
Juhoon.
"Seonghyeon, they said they need you in the sewing room. Can you come with me?" Juhoon said fakely, pulling Minjun's hands away from his best friend.
Minjun genuinely respected or feared Juhoon—why, Seonghyeon wouldn't bother asking, but today he was more than grateful that his friend had shown up.
The thick-lipped boy was already dragging Seonghyeon away in the opposite direction from Minjun.
"Tch," Minjun just let out a low curse, and Juhoon immediately snapped his neck around to glare at him.
"I assume you don't have any problems whatsoever, right Minjun? So I suggest you go to the library to study or something," Juhoon said with that terrifying smile of his, which made Minjun hurry up and scurry away from the two of them.
"Are you okay?" Juhoon asked.
"Yeah, don't worry. That asshole was just being annoying again, but thanks. He squeezed my wrist so hard I had to hold myself back from punching him and getting an earful from my parents," Seonghyeon said.
"Call me whenever you need to get rid of him. That coward always runs away from me," Juhoon added.
"You don't have any commitment in the sewing room, but come with me anyway, I need help with some stuff," Juhoon said, already walking ahead.
Before following his best friend, Seonghyeon swept his eyes across the courtyard, catching Ahn Keonho’s intense gaze for a few seconds that felt way too long in Seonghyeon's mind. Keonho had his eyebrows furrowed and a certain expression of disappointment on his face?
Seonghyeon decided not to think too much about it and followed Juhoon inside the grand school building.
Meanwhile, Keonho was pissed. He, Martin, and James had just witnessed the whole scene with Minjun, and Keonho couldn't believe Minjun. The dark-haired boy had already dealt with plenty of pretentious assholes back on the Isle, but they always lowered their heads the moment they saw a giant blonde walking beside Keonho—even if Martin wouldn't hurt a fly.
Yet, seeing Seonghyeon do nothing and just let Minjun talk to him and touch him however he pleased made his blood boil.
How could a prince who always walked with his head held high accept that from some nobody like Minjun? Keonho couldn't believe Seonghyeon was such an idiot! Who knows what would have happened if Juhoon hadn't intervened.
"It's funny how he and his family are great at treating people from the Isle with arrogance, but they'll accept any old crap coming from a rich little student," Keonho said out loud.
"I wonder why Minjun respects Juhoon. He did that before when that asshole was messing with me and Martin," James said curiously.
"Juhoon is a very mysterious guy," Martin mused.
Keonho pulled his legs off Martin's lap and got up from the small bench, dusting off his pants.
"Let's go eat already. It's almost dinner time, and we've wasted way too much time watching these boring snobs," Keonho finished.
The trio ate a delicious bibimbap and retired to their shared dorm, with Keonho and Martin arguing over who would take a shower first while James threw himself onto his bed still wearing his uniform.
Looking fresh out of the shower, Martin sighed, "It feels like the days here last 72 hours. I am way more exhausted than usual."
"It's those blinding lights," Keonho said as he slipped into an old, faded t-shirt and a fresh pair of gray sweatpants.
"Let's just go to sleep already, tomorrow we have PE classes," James said with his eyes already closed, exhaustion completely taking over his body.
"Fuck, I hate PE," Martin complained.
"Of course you do, you can't use your height for a single sport, you klutz," Keonho mocked, dodging a pillow thrown right at his face.
"Good night, idiots," Martin said.
"Yeah, good night," Keonho and James murmured back.
♛
Keonho hadn't slept.
He even tried, but he had a goddamn dream about his mother screaming at his feet about some morbid bullshit that completely killed his sleep, leaving him lying wide awake for at least twenty minutes now.
Keonho glanced at the clock sitting beside his bed and immediately regretted it.
3:00 AM.
Shallow hell.
Giving up on trying to sleep, the boy gently sat up, carefully grabbing his pack of cigarettes so as not to wake Martin and James—who were already lightly snoring—and slipped out of the room.
He decided to head back down to the open courtyard. That spot was probably Keonho's favorite, seeing as it was the only place that didn't make him feel completely suffocated.
Despite its large size, the garden only had a single stone bench big enough for about three people. But much to Keonho's bad luck, someone was already there.
Eom Seonghyeon.
Keonho hadn't expected to see Mr. Perfection awake at this hour, and to say the least, the boy looked utterly defeated.
The moment Keonho turned on his heels to leave, a voice cut through the quiet.
"You can stay. I don't have the mental energy to argue with you right now; let's just endure each other's presence for four seconds," Seonghyeon said, his voice laced with exhaustion.
Keonho considered it for a moment before deciding to sit down anyway, taking the absolute opposite end of the bench and pulling out a cigarette from his pocket, instantly slipping it between his lips.
As he lit it with his lighter, he could feel a pair of eyes on him through his peripheral vision.
"Can you spare one?" Seonghyeon asked, his voice hesitant.
Keonho stopped what he was doing, his eyebrows furrowing before a mocking smirk took over his face.
"So, you're telling me Eom Seonghyeon isn't so perfect after all?" he provoked.
"Shut up, today has just been a stressful day,"
Seonghyeon retorted, stretching his arm out to take a cigarette and the lighter straight from Keonho's hands.
Keonho watched as the prince lit the cigarette with a disconcerting familiarity; it definitely wasn't his first time doing this.
Seonghyeon took the first few drags and handed the lighter back to Keonho. The two of them were wrapped in an awkward silence, each burning their own filters and blowing away their own smoke.
Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but Keonho decided to break the silence.
"I saw your little scene with Minjun today."
Seonghyeon looked at him in surprise for a millisecond before letting out a soft chuckle, taking another drag of Keonho's menthol cigarette.
"Minjun is an asshole. I wish I could break his face," Seonghyeon said.
"Then why didn't you?" Keonho replied.
"It wouldn't be proper for a prince to punch the son of one of the school's main sponsors just because he was flirting with him. There are certain images that need to be maintained, Keonho," Seonghyeon said with a look that suggested he was stating the most obvious fact in the world.
Keonho let out a small, mocking snort and rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, right. Almost forgot about all your fake-ass bullshit."
Seonghyeon took another drag, the red tip of the cigarette glowing brightly against the darkness and the cold night air.
"It's not about being fake. It's about having a target on your back all the time," Seonghyeon murmured, his voice slipping out more vulnerable than he intended. "Do you think it's easy living with everyone watching your every move, or wondering which noble family the royalty is going to ally with next? If I step out of line for even a second, my father destroys me—especially if I don't act like a role model for people my age."
Keonho glanced sideways at the prince, his brow furrowed. For a brief, fleeting second, his habitual hatred gave way to a twinge of genuine strangeness. He had never imagined the most untouchable boy in Auradon feeling cornered like that.
"Tch. Honestly? I'd take a target on my back a million times over rather than be born with a gold leash around my neck and pretend to like it," Keonho shot back, his tone losing a bit of its previous venom, sounding almost pensive. "You guys have everything and still manage to bitch about pressure you created yourselves."
Seonghyeon let out a low, dry, bitter laugh, turning his head to lock eyes directly with Keonho for the first time that night.
"That's why you don't understand a damn thing, Ahn Keonho. You people from the Isle think the world is just about who hits the hardest. But the truth is, the real world is a lot bigger than that. If you'd just wrap your head around your current reality sooner, your days here wouldn't feel so heavy. You don't have to act like an Isle rebel every single minute.” Seonghyeon fired back, a slightly stressed edge cutting through his voice.
"Wow, for a second I forgot how much you Auradon pricks think you're better than everyone else. Spare me the speech, Seonghyeon. You don't know shit."
Keonho stood up and tossed his cigarette onto the grass. "I knew I couldn't have a normal conversation with you. Enjoy your smoke—maybe this is the closest you'll ever get to escaping your daddy. Good night, asshole. Reminded me exactly why I'm never going to like you Auradon snobs."
Keonho ranted, shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his sweatpants, and stormed out of the garden without looking back.
Back in his room, Keonho laid down feeling far worse than when he had left, his chest rising and falling rapidly. Seonghyeon disrespecting where he came from pissed him off way more than he expected. A sigh of sheer annoyance tore from his throat, and he forced his eyes shut.
His thoughts drifted off to freezing nights, menthol cigarettes, and the acid-laced words of a prince he probably hated just a little bit more now.