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“ On her return she sees the Son of Heaven,
The Son of Heaven sits in the Splendid Hall.
He gives out promotions in twelve ranks
And prizes of a hundred thousand and more.
The Khan asks her what she desires
‘Mulan has no use for a minister’s post.
I wish to ride a swift mount
To take me back to my home.’ ”
- The Ballad of Mulan
“Why am I so nervous?!” Taehyun squeaks out nervously as Kai giggles and cups his face.
“Maybe because it’s your first royal decree?” He offers sweetly, small smile creasing his face.
“And maybe because the people kinda hate me after I destroyed half the kingdom?! We can’t forget that I’m the reject heir to the throne, the prince who went mad with dark magic?!” Taehyun panics before Kai takes his other hand and runs it through the elder’s fluffy auburn hair.
“Calm, deep breaths okay? Just be yourself, be your smart and charming self okay?”
Taehyun takes a deep shuddering breath before resting his head on Kai’s chest, wrapping his arms around his torso, and squeezing as tight as he can.
Which is surprisingly tight.
Kai struggles to breathe for a few minutes until Sujin calls Taehyun out. The elder prince grabs Kai’s hand and squeezes as the younger boy straightens his crown. Kai straightens his own, his sisters had his collection sent over as soon as they found out he was moving in with the crowned prince.
They weren’t too upset, happy that Kai was only a few hours by carriage ride away. He promised to come visit regularly at Sujin’s regency coronation and they did as well. It was an overall happy occasion since their families were once again bonding and this time Taehyun could be there. It was his first time seeing their families together and he was really excited to finally meet Kai’s parents.
To say the least they were thoroughly impressed, and confused, Taehyun had the tendency to use big words when he was nervous. They were proud of Kai for managing to earn the love of the crowned prince of the most powerful kingdoms in history.
And confused, but they didn’t say that to his face.
Taehyun looks up at him nervously and Kai pecks the top of his head like he did when they first approached the palace. If he could take down his father’s communist dictatorship with Kai by his side, he could do anything.
He walks out from behind the curtain and looks out into the large crowd of staff members, there had to be over a hundred. He didn’t realize how many people were behind the upkeep of the grand palace. Cooks and maids and butlers and tailors and all kinds of people dropped to their knees, bowing in his presence.
He’d never get used to it.
He looks over to Sujin and she nods before commanding them to rise.
Taehyun can’t help but notice a few unhappy, to say the least, faces in the crowd and he feels his chest tighten.
He clears his throat before speaking, “As you may know, we will be having a few new additions to the royal family. You will not be caring only for my father, Sujin, and I anymore. You have three more people to care for now. Yeonjun, Soobin, and Beomgyu are now on your lists for daily care AND respect. If Prince Kai or I catch anyone disobeying these new rules immediate and severe discipline will be in order. Is that understood?”
“Yes, your highness.” They all say in a robotic monotone and Taehyun tries his best not to cringe. It reminds him of when he was in Sujin’s spot and his father was in his own as he watched the man harshly command people. He shudders before quickly walking off the platform and back behind the curtains.
He hears Sujin dismiss them as he buries his face in Kai’s chest.
“I-I think you did good, if it means anything.” The maknae says softly into Taehyun’s hair as he wraps his arms around him.
“You did perfect lil squirrel.” Sujin coos as she pinches the chub on Taehyun’s jawline and pulls.
“Noona!” He whines as Kai gasps in awe of how fluffy Taehyun’s cheeks secretly were.
“Where did all that come from?!” Kai coos now as he pinches the other side of Taehyun’s face.
“Sometimes when you’re stuck in a tower and have endless cookie baking supplies and thousands of books, you don’t feel like exercising.” Taehyun huffs as they both continue to coo and tug at his face.
“No no no, he’s always had these, that’s where he keeps all his nuts.” Sujin corrects and Kai pauses before quirking an eyebrow.
“Isn’t that a-“
“Chipmunk?” Taehyun finishes, “I keep trying to tell her that.”
“Well he looks more like a squirrel than a chipmunk, I can’t help that he has cute little cheek pouches!”
“Do you guys have anything better to do than pester me? Hyungs have been sleeping in random places around the palace and I think it’s about time that they get a proper room.” Taehyun huffs in frustration and Kai smirks.
“Someone’s getting frustrated...”
“No! I will not let you tease me!” The elder prince yells before storming out the room. Sujin and Kai giggle before high-fiving as they watch the smaller prince make his exit.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
“Hyunnie, we just wanted to thank you again for letting us stay in your GORGEOUS palace, it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.” Soobin flatters, causing Taehyun to blush humbly and Beomgyu scoffs.
“Um, hello?! I’m sitting right here.” The fairy smirks from Yeonjun’s shoulder and the changeling giggles as he fills his cheeks with chocolates.
He had been eating nonstop since they arrived, even after Soobin had told him he didn’t have to stuff himself at every meal. They had only been at the palace for a little over a week and the changeling was already putting on weight. His cheeks had gotten fluffier and his fingers had gotten pudgier.
“I said ONE of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.” Soobin replies, eyes rolling with faux annoyance as they make their way down the hall.
“What about me?” Yeonjun asks innocently after a hiccup as he licks his fingers free of melted chocolate.
“ONE of, ONE! You two are still tied for first, jeez.”
Taehyun can’t help but let out a soft chuckle as he listens to their innocent bickering. He opens a door to a partially destroyed part of the castle that they hadn’t rebuilt yet after he...destroyed it.
“Wow, you really messed this place up huh Hyunnie?” Beomgyu scoffs, impressed by the damage. The whole wing of the castle had practically been blown to smithereens and there was an entire chunk out of the roof.
The crowned prince blushes in embarrassment and Soobin shoots an expectant glare at Beomgyu.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean-“ He starts and Taehyun waves him off.
“No I get it, I kinda lost it.” Taehyun nervously chuckles as he walks down what remains of the hall, “But, I PROMISE nothing like that will EVER happen again, I have more control now.”
He doesn’t say, ‘I think’ as he looks down at his hands and looks back at the three.
“Unless you lose Hyuka again?” Yeonjun pipes up and Soobin facepalms.
“He’s mentally six Soobin, be patient, he needs to ACTUALLY be raised.” He says to himself silently enough that nobody hears.
“Hopefully I have more control over my um, darkness, before that happens.” Taehyun replies softly, voice wavering slightly, like he doesn’t trust himself.
“You will.” Soobin softly encourages and Taehyun smiles up at him.
“My hands spark when I get angry so, we’ll see.” Taehyun says to nobody in particular before clapping his hands together, “ANYWAYS! We’re turning this entire wing of the palace into WHATEVER you want, living quarters wise.”
The three look at each other with various levels of confusion on their faces.
“Um, okay like, a bedroom? Do you wanna start there? You guys have been sleeping on the floor in the main living room for a little over a week now.” Taehyun offers and he can’t help but giggle at them. When the maids come to clean they always tell Taehyun about the pile of creatures in the middle of the floor.
“How big can it be?” Beomgyu flitters around, scanning the walls, “Can we have a room that’s just. A bed?”
Soobin interrupts, grateful but wondering about logistics, “That sounds nice Hyunnie, thank you. I’m just a little worried that they’ll be a little...”
“Prejudiced?” Taehyun scoffs as he crosses his arms, “If you have ANY trouble, let me know and they will be SEVERELY disciplined. I had a meeting this morning about it and I will have NO discrimination in my palace, everyone is welcome here no matter their species.”
Yeonjun smiles, “Thank you, I’ve never been welcome anywhere before.”
Taehyun’s heart clenches in his chest as he looks at his Hyungs. Little sprouts growing from Soobin’s head, horns from Yeonjun’s, and wings from Beomgyu’s back. They’re different and some people make it painfully obvious.
Taehyun just doesn’t understand how someone can take a look at Yeonjun’s round face, Soobin’s soft eyes, or Beomgyu’s small stature and think of danger .
“It’s my pleasure,” Taehyun smiles, stretching his arms up and into the air. It’s a little crisp, a little sunny, today. Under any other circumstances he’d enjoy the ventilation the castle is getting, in any case. The air inside always tasted a bit stale, to him.
Soobin scrunches his nose in a grin at him and asks, “So, let’s plan for a bit!”
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Kai’s heart is hammering in his chest as he peeks over the corner of the hall, terrified out of his mind. He can hear footsteps wherever he goes, echoing in every direction, causing him to jump even when nothing’s actually there. A few times he hears his name being called, and he uses that to guide him to run in the opposite direction, but right now…
It’s quiet. Too quiet. Quiet enough that all he can hear is his own harrowed breathing, getting sharper as he realizes that he’d rather hear the footsteps than not know where-
A hand lands on his shoulder.
Kai screams, and Sujin cackles before dragging him along.
“Let me go!” Kai claws at her hand as gently but as desperately as he can, gulping as he sees his sisters standing side by side at the end of the hall with smug looks.
“You’re being whiny ,” Sujin crows victoriously, “We just want to ask you a few things!”
“But it’s weird ,” Kai insists, “I know what you’re gonna ask me, and I don’t want to answer that kind of stuff! My sisters and Hyun ’s sister who’s Queen Regent don’t need to know about our love lives! Let me leave!-”
“It’ll be quick, Oppa!” Bahiyih grins cheekily at him. Kai waves his arm around.
“Can’t you just go find Hyun instead?”
“He’s in his lesson right now,” Lea provides, cocking a hip, “He finished delivering the plans for the new wing while you were running in the gardens. Terrible etiquette to make a pregnant woman chase you, by the way; What would Mom and Dad say?”
“Hopefully that it’s bad behavior for a pregnant woman to chase someone in the first place,” Someone quips behind him, and Kai whips around with a smile already blooming on his face.
Taehyun stands there with his arms already open, breathing a little hard, and Kai takes the unspoken invitation gladly as he goes to hug him.
“Taehyun-ah? What happened to your lesson?” Sujin asks, eyes narrowing in suspicion. Taehyun smiles innocently at her as he runs his palm over Kai’s hair, but there’s something tense in his eyes.
“It finished early,” he says, “I understand the concepts already. Is there a problem?”
“No, no,” Sujin clicks her tongue, and Taehyun’s near-bruising grip on Kai loosens enough that he can face the women again.
Kai takes this as an opportunity to pull Taehyun into his body, the smaller boy’s head resting comfortably on his chest as Kai sits his chin in the fluff of his light brown hair and takes in that oh so familiar apple scent. He rubs small circles into Taehyun’s belly and smiles softly as the elder prince melts in his arms. He was clearly tense but decided it would be better to ask why when they WEREN’T being interrogated by their sisters.
“Taehyunnie darling you’ve always been diligent in your studies but never for royal protocol and for things of the such, never really cared enough to pay attention. Are you SURE you understood everything from today’s lesson?” Sujin presses as she takes a step closer to her little brother, finger swinging accusingly. Taehyun shrinks into Kai’s chest and the younger boy pulls his arms tighter around Taehyun, almost protectively.
He gulps before responding, “Um, well, I-I’ve always just uh-“
“Sujinnie? My love! Did you forget you had a pregnancy yoga session on the back lawn this afternoon?”
Kai has never been so happy to hear Baekhyun’s annoying voice in his life.
His sisters tackle him into a hug and he takes that as an opportunity to finally get a private moment with Taehyun.
“Come on, while they’re distracted.” He whispers as he grabs Taehyun’s wrist and slowly backs away.
“Where are we going?!”
“Somewhere private where they can’t ask a thousand questions.”
Taehyun smirks before grabbing KAI’S wrist, “I know JUST the spot, not even my Noona could find me.”
“PLEASE, just lead the way.”
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
“You just have a thing for towers huh?” Kai teases as he looks around the big empty room, feet creaking the floorboards with each step. Taehyun opens the curtains and lights the torches with a few swishes of his wrist and Kai chokes on the dust that’s released into the air.
“I think it was supposed to be a watchtower but someone built it WAY too close to the palace so it was abandoned. I’m sure the men who failed were executed, that’s just how my family rolls.” The elder prince explains as he dusts off a few of the old bookshelves that line the walls and pulls some cushions into a warmly lit corner.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, it sucks, but once I take the throne things will be different.” Taehyun sighs as he looks out the window and over the palace property, “I used to practice my magic here, ya know?”
“Wow! Really?!” Kai gasps as he looks closer at the bookshelves that line the walls and a table that looks similar to the one that Taehyun healed Beomgyu on.
“Mhm, all the time. It was quiet, nobody knew where I was, and it was away from my father.” Taehyun explains, smiling fondly as a white lightning crackles around his hand.
He drops onto one of the cushions in the corner and waves Kai over before the younger boy quickly drops to his side, “I genuinely wanted to be a wizard when I grew up. So when my father told me I could either take the throne or take my magic, I took my opportunity and chose my passion over the throne, which meant nothing to me. It was just a symbol of power gained through torture and bloodshed and I didn’t want to sit upon it. He sent me to my room without dinner and I angrily cried myself to sleep, when I woke up I was locked in my tower with my belongings and basic necessities. I didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye to Noonim.”
Kai looks up at him in disbelief before nuzzling him, “Hyun th-that’s so- that’s so CRUEL!”
“I thought so too, I cried for days. All I had was my magic and myself, so I made both as strong as I could. I came out the Taehyun you know and love. I think that’s a pretty good ending to that story, yeah?”
Kai nods as he squeezes Taehyun, “An amazing ending.”
“Now I get to write a WHOLE new book, with you.”
“Ironic that it starts with YOU locking your father in your old tower but, I’d take that as an honor.” Kai smirks as he pats Taehyun’s belly.
“I do, very much so.” The elder prince giggles as he cups Kai’s face, “Now tell me about your childhood. I know you grew up with three insane siblings in a beautiful kingdom, that’ll you’ll have to give me a tour of one day, and absolutely SURROUNDED by plush toys. Anything else I should know?”
“I’ve already told you everything else, about me skipping classes and not taking life seriously. There isn’t much else honestly, no emotional and mental scar creating trauma.” Kai chuckles awkwardly and Taehyun gives him a small smile.
“That’s good, I already filled that position in this relationship.” Taehyun smirks and Kai rolls his eyes.
“Do you have any good memories? Any at all?” Kai asks and Taehyun purses his lips in thought, nibbling at his lip habitually as he tries to recall.
Kai hates that. That he has to think for so long about it. He on the other hand can think of three just from the day he left.
“A few, most of them are alone when I figured out a new skill that I had been practicing or when Sujin-noona took me on walks and told me stuff she had learned from Baekhyun-ssi, who I didn’t know was your brother at the time.” Taehyun giggles and Kai touches their foreheads.
“Let’s create tons of amazingly happy memories together.” He whispers as he looks into Taehyun’s soft brown eyes.
“We’re creating one right now.”
They continue to just talk for hours, sun setting through the window as they watch together. They were about to play a game until Kai’s stomach growled and Taehyun decided it would be a good time for dinner.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
It’s hard to make dinner not be awkward; Bahiyih and Lea only arrived that morning, and aren’t as used to the strange sigh of the varied crowd around the dining table. However, the two don’t comment or ask undue questions of the Hyungs, and for that much Kai is grateful.
Instead, Kai finds himself at the center of the attention. His sisters (and Sujin. And Baekhyun; doesn’t his brother have anything better to do?) stare like hawks at his and Taehyun’s sides leaning against each other. He’s eternally grateful for the constant barrage of meals, and makes sure to wink at Yeji if she just so happens to be the one serving the meats in the middle of a prying question directed at the two of them.
“I wonder what it is about you Huenings, though,” Sujin muses aloud. Baekhyun looks at her, tilting his head in confusion.
“What is what?” Kai mumbles, shucking some bulgogi onto his and Taehyun’s plates before it all spontaneously disappears once Yeonjun has it. Soobin is too distracted cooing at Yeonjun, feeding him rolls of meat and bites of rice, to try the meat himself. Beomgyu naps idly amongst the elf’s hair sprouts, already full since the start of the meal.
Sujin raises her eyebrow, looking as Kai opens his mouth obediently when Taehyun raises some meat rolls to his lips, and turns to look at Baekhyun, who holds a similar meat roll up to her face with a pleading look.
“Nevermind,” she says curtly, rolling her eyes and accepting the bite of meat. Baekhyun grins brightly at her, silently cheering and looking for some other dish to feed her. Sujin holds back a smile, chewing slowly, and scrunches her nose at the giggling of Lea and Bahiyih.
It’s clear that everyone starts winding down when Kai yawns widely before taking a drink of water, setting off a chain of yawns around the table. Kai laughs, scooting back in his chair.
“Should we turn in?” he asks Taehyun, biting his lip, “I think we’re eating more out of gluttony than actual hunger at this point.”
Lea claps once, “Are you two in-”
“Let’s go ,” Taehyun agrees quickly, standing up and pulling Kai out of his chair and pushing in both of theirs. “Goodnight! See you all tomorrow!”
“But-”
“Sleep well!”
“One room-”
“ Bye! ” Taehyun shuts the door quickly behind them, racing down the hall towards their shared bedroom. The two of them don’t stop running until they’re outside their doors, catching their breaths, gasping and panting for air before exploding into silent laughter.
“They’re going to skin me alive tomorrow,” Kai complains, but he’s smiling so broadly his cheeks feel the stretch.
“They can try,” Taehyun fires back, shoving their bedroom open and going inside, “You can just come with me to my lessons if you’re really scared.”
“Aren’t you supposed to, you know, learn ?”
“Says who I wouldn’t?” Taehyun teases, picking out his pajamas, but looks at Kai over his shoulder as he steps into the bathroom. “I’d rather spend time with you than study things I already know for the most part.”
Kai gulps, heart suddenly thumping in his chest.
He grabs one of the bags of his clothes that arrived that morning with his sisters (thank god, he’s tired of awkwardly borrowing Soobin’s shirts every night) and picks out his own set of pajamas, waiting patiently outside the bathroom for his turn.
Their nightly routine isn’t quite practiced, not yet. It’s very new for both of them, but it’s going much faster than the stuttering the first night where they tried to figure out who changed first, who was the little spoon, and all that.
This time, it’s barely fifteen minutes later until they’re lying on the bed and facing each other, Taehyun tucked into the crook of Kai’s neck and drumming his fingers on his back.
“Comfy?” Kai asks, smiling into Taehyun’s hair.
Taehyun hums, “Mhm.”
“Warm?”
“Mhm.”
“Cuddly?”
“Mmh.”
“Tiny?”
“M-Wait, no, what?” Taehyun pinches Kai’s back, causing him to let out a short screech, “Don’t take advantage of me when I’m sleepy, you hooligan.”
“I had to try!” Kai snickers, nuzzling his nose deeper into Taehyun’s hair. Taehyun clicks his tongue, already drumming his fingers again, mind racing a mile a minute even with his ‘sleepiness’.
“What are you thinking about?” Kai asks curiously, “I can practically see the cogs turning in your head. Hear them, too; Thudding along in the middle of that big, empty skull of yours-”
“I will bite you,” Taehyun threatens, clicking his mouth shut dangerously.
Kai shrugs, “Just tell me what’s on your mind, Hyun.”
Taehyun goes quiet. He doesn’t say anything for so long Kai fears he’s gotten angry and just fallen asleep, until he speaks and shatters the silence.
“Do we...I mean,” Taehyun swallows, “I know we already said ‘I love you’, but...what are we?”
Kai has to think about it for a second. To reassure Taehyun he didn’t say anything wrong, he makes exaggerated thinking noises, hugging him tighter with every hum rising in volume until Taehyun is lightly slapping his back for air.
Kai ducks his head, meeting Taehyun’s eyes with seriousness but a tiny, bright smile, and says:
“Whatever we want to be, I guess.”
“...You’re right,” Taehyun agrees, but his eyes drift to the side.
Kai sighs knowingly, “What else? That can’t be it.”
“No, it is!” Taehyun denies, but amends it, “I mean, kind of. You say that, but what does it mean? As in, what can I expect? Will you-”
As Taehyun pauses to collect his thoughts, Kai leans their foreheads together, and patiently waits for him to continue. They’re in no rush.
Taehyun’s voice is barely audible over their breathing, and a little shaky, when he finally says, “Will you... stay with me?”
“Yes,” Kai answers without hesitation. Taehyun whines, frustrated.
“As long as you’ll have me?”
“Of course.”
“As long as I... need ...you?”
“I’d say that’s a given.”
“Even if I go all crazy again? Even if I get so close to just destroying everything?” Taehyun’s voice is a little desperate, now. As if somehow seeking a denial, some form of rejection, almost like he can’t believe what he’s hearing.
“I mean, hopefully I can stop you, but yes.”
“Even when I become King?” Taehyun grimaces, wetness leaking slightly from the corners of his eyes, “Even if I change, and rule over everyone, and become-”
Kai runs his hands through Taehyun’s hair, “You’ll be a great King, Hyun. I’ll stay. I’ll stay and help.”
“You promise?” Taehyun whispers, and Kai’s heart squeezes and expands simultaneously.
“I promise. Pinkie promise, even,” Kai says, holding up a hand with his little finger extended. When Taehyun stares at him for a moment, eyes filled with tears and bewilderment, he wriggles it a little, “Don’t leave me hanging, now. It’s awkward if only I do it. You have to promise to stay with me too, you know.”
Slowly, gingerly, hesitant as if waiting for Kai to back out, Taehyun links their little fingers together.
Kai smiles at him encouragingly, "Say it with me?"
Their voices meet together for the chant, one slow and unsure, while the other is strong enough for both of them. Once they finish, they both go quiet, unwilling to disturb the odd atmosphere that suddenly bloomed in the air.
It feels sacred. Fragile, but not ephemeral.
Testing its permanence, Taehyun chuckles, "You are one of a kind, Huening Kai."
"I hope you mean that in a nice way," Kai winks, then closes his eyes, "Goodnight. I love you."
Taehyun waits until Kai's breathing evens out, until his chest moves deeply with every breath he takes, before closing his own eyes and pressing a feather-light kiss onto the pulse at his throat.
"I promise I'll keep you safe," Taehyun mutters, gently, against the side of Kai's neck. "For as long as you'll let me. I love you."