Chapter Text
They arrive at the training grounds and the commanding officer calls for everyone to stand at attention to greet the prince. Soonyoung dismisses them, stating that he is only there to observe, and they should continue as they were.
They wait for the practice to be over, and most of the soldiers are off to do their rounds. Soonyoung approaches the young soldier that he was eyeing. "Lee? Do you have a moment?"
The soldier seems taken aback by the prince approaching him, but he composes himself quickly. "Of course, your royal highness."
Seeing that the prince is now with another royal guard, Eunjun does not follow. Seokmin, however, does. "Seok," soonyoung smiles. "I'd like to speak with him alone, please."
Seokmin's mouth forms an O shape, he retreats to where Eunjun is standing and strikes a conversation.
"Your name is Jihoon, correct?"
"It is," the guard nods.
"Well then, Jihoon…"
The guard gulps, worried that he may have committed a grave mistake. For why else would the prince himself approach him? Soonyoung seems to have noticed this change in demeanour, for he quickly reassures the younger. "No need to be nervous, I just had a few questions and needed to satisfy my curiosity."
He nods quickly, the tips of his ears turning bright pink from embarrassment.
"Do you happen to know a man by the name of…" Soonyoung trails off, suddenly forgetting the name of Wonwoo's roommate. He knew it started with the letter S, but what was it exactly? Song… Sin… Seung? That was it , "Choi Seungcheol?"
The guard shakes his head, "I'm afraid not, your royal highness, is he perhaps related to Choi Hansol?"
"Choi Hansol? I've never heard of him, but I'll find out. Thank you."
Well, that rules out the possibility of Jihoon being stuck in the same situation as Soonyoung. Yet a tiny voice in the back of his head tells him that he should keep this boy close. Think, Soonyoung, think! "Would you have any interest in being my personal guard?"
The soldier's eyes widen at him. The role of being the prince's royal guard is a role that is only offered to the best of soldiers. If he does get the role, it would make it way easier for him to rise through the ranks. And the fact that the prince himself is offering him the role? "It would be my greatest honour, your royal highness. Thank you."
"No worries," he assures. "I'll be sure to request for you, and then I'll let you know again if my request is approved. I've seen you train, and you're brilliant, so I don't think that my request would get denied."
"Thank you, your royal highness."
When soonyoung returns to where seokmin and eunjun is, he notices seokmin waving at jihoon. "You know him?"
"Yeah," seokmin smiles.
"You're friends with everyone."
"Hello, sir," Jihoon greets Seokmin before turning to Eunjun, "sir."
Eunjun nods in approval whilst Seokmin cocks his head to the side. "Sir? Wow, that's my first time hearing that from you. Maybe i should stick to Soonyoung twenty-four-seven, everyone is suddenly so respectful towards me."
"Then I'll have to be extra mean to you to make up for it."
"I'm sorry," seokmin grins, "would you like me to call you 'Prince Soonyoung, his majesty'?"
Soonyoung grimaces, "Please don't."
Later on, when Soonyoung and Eunjun privately discuss the end of his term, Eunjun apologetically tells Soonyoung that he would like to return to the main group, as there was an opportunity for him to advance his rank and it had always been his dream to command an army. Oddly, soonyoung feels relieved. Eunjun was his favourite personal guard so far, but eunjun renewing his term would mean that Jihoon would not stand a chance. Soonyoung barely knows anything about him, but Jihoon's eyes are so pretty and his voice is so soft, Soonyoung already feels drawn to him. Soonyoung quite badly wants to get to know this boy more, and he's not so sure if it is because of wonwoo's words anymore.
The rest of the day consists of Soonyoung meeting with the head of defence, requesting for a soldier by the name of Lee Jihoon to be his personal guard. Seeing as the prince doesn't often make such requests, and that the soldier has been a diligent one so far, it did not take much for the request to be approved— with the condition that he undergoes the necessary tests and the shadowing of eunjun for a month.
Soonyoung finds the soldier to break the news, but word travels fast in the castle and he was already informed. (Though, he does give soonyoung a wide smile and a million words of gratitude. The twinkle in his eyes remain in Soonyoung's mind long after he had left the barracks.)
When he is finally out of his tight-fitting suit and cosied into his pyjamas, Soonyoung is glad the day is over and he's excited to go to bed. Being able to truly pursue his passion for dance was always more interesting anyway.
"Good morning prince soonyoung!" he sits up, wide-eyed and bleary. Was he somehow still stuck in the other reality? He blinks twice, finally realising that it was Wonwoo's voice.
"Ugh, you suck." He falls back down with the back of his hand covering his eyes. Thump. He forgot that he had fallen asleep on the floor.
"Was it believable? Your majesty?"
"Shut the fuck up, Wonwoo." He was rubbing the back of his head, grimacing in pain. "Firstly, nobody wakes up the prince, ever. secondly, it's your royal highness, not your majesty."
"Ah," Wonwoo says, pretending to be interested. Really, all that he cares about is teasing Soonyoung. "Are you hungry?"
"Yes, actually. What time did I fall asleep?"
"Around seven, right before we had dinner."
"Oh, sorry. Did you eat alone?"
"No, actually. I bumped into Jihoon and his friend Jeonghan, they invited me to eat with them."
There he is again, Lee Jihoon. Soonyoung wonders if the Jihoon in this reality is as sparkly-eyed as the one from the other. He wonders if his voice is just as soft.
"Want to grab brunch?"
Soonyoung nods almost too eagerly, his stomach feels empty and he needs food in his system if he's going to dance with Chan later on.
They reach the place that Wonwoo chose and it was a fancy brunch restaurant. "Seriously? Wonwoo?" Soonyoung whines. "We're not rich enough to be eating like this."
"Says you who can get his fill of fancy food every night. I'm sick of the food from campus, and it's not like we eat this often."
Knowing that wonwoo made a good point, Soonyoung shuts up, admitting defeat.
When they were finally seated and waiting for their food to arrive, the conversation picks up again.
"So, how was last night?"
"That sounds like I just had sex."
Wonwoo pulls a face, "gross."
"What? Sex? You think sex is gross? Come on, be mature."
"Whatever."
"Anyway, I talked to him."
"Who?"
"Lee Jihoon."
"Aha! I knew you weren't close friends with him."
"Whatever," Soonyoung rolls his eyes. "He's a guard at the palace. I've watched him practice for a while and he's really good… but I spoke to him for the first time yesterday."
"You've been watching him practice? That's kind of creepy, isn't it?"
"No, it's an honour for you to be watched by Prince Soonyoung."
Wonwoo scrunches his nose in disgust.
"I'm kidding! I have to watch all the soldiers from time to time, and... well, he caught my eye."
Wonwoo nods.
"He's really pretty. His voice is very soft too. I offered him the opportunity to be my personal guard. He was really happy and kept thanking me, it was honestly cute."
"Gross. Being attracted to people is gross.."
"Dude, shut up? You're literally dating Junhui. Besides, I'm not attracted to him, I just think that he's kind of cute."
Wonwoo hums, "You keep telling yourself that."
"I don't think it matters. All I have to do there is marry a princess and produce an heir, then I can die or whatever."
"Hm, then maybe I should bring you to meet the Lee Jihoon here, maybe you'll find him cute too."
Soonyoung does not take up Wonwoo's offer, but he does not reject it either. Instead, he scrunches his nose as a reply as a waiter brings their food to the table.
The rest of the day consists of Soonyoung attending dance practice with Chan, Minghao, and Junhui. Chan was a junior from his high school dance club who shared his passion for dance. They came to Pledis University and continued dancing together. Minghao and Junhui were a pair Soonyoung met back in their first year. Soonyoung was partnered with Jun for a showcase, and he met minghao when he stopped by often to meet Jun. As it turns out, Minghao was a dancer as well. unfortunately, he did not participate in that showcase due to a foot sprain. The four started practising together after minghao had suggested it once, and it had been a weekly thing ever since. Soonyoung introduced Junhui to Wonwoo in their second year, the two grew close quickly and eventually started dating.
After dance practice was homework. Wonwoo doing calculus (again.) and Soonyoung, economics. (It was not related to his major, but his mother had always thought that it was a useful thing to learn.)
"I am very much considering going to sleep right now."
Wonwoo eyes Soonyoung, "for real? Escape economics for a while just to be stuck with your princely duties?"
Soonyoung makes a face at Wonwoo, "you're right, it's not worth it."