Chapter Text
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Jonghyun paused mid-yawn, starting a little as he once more took in the scenery framed by his bedchamber window. It looked familiar—he had seen it before—and the sense of having repeated this scenario occupied his thoughts until a fluster of sheets in the bed nearby stole his attention.
“Hmm…?”
Jonghyun smiled to himself as the déjà vu ended at the sight of Minhyun sitting up from his bed, next to the spot the king had previously occupied. If his memory served him right, the last time he saw an entourage of guests coming through the castle gates just like this, there was no Minhyun in this very room, with brows furrowed at him in either lethargy or inquiry or both.
“Slept badly?” Jonghyun asked, watching as Minhyun grunted and struggled against the bedclothes in search of his robes, then subsequently gave up as soon as the latter recognized what the former was wearing.
“Sorry,” Jonghyun went on unapologetically in response to the queen clucking his tongue. Soon, a bundle of bedclothes shuffled over to where the king sat, and he was able to make proper reparations by way of a morning kiss. Leaning snugly against his king, Minhyun peeked at the scene at the gates and hummed.
“On time this time.”
“On time this time,” Jonghyun echoed, his voice vibrating nicely against Minhyun’s temple.
“We should get dressed,” Minhyun said after a few moments of watching the procession advance towards the castle entrance.
“I am dressed,” Jonghyun replied absentmindedly, tightening his arms around the thick blankets covering his otherwise undressed spouse.
“And not funny,” Minhyun flicked the button of his own stolen shirt in annoyance. He felt Jonghyun heaving with silent laughter against him, and Minhyun’s eyes crinkled along despite himself.
“It would be bad form if we reward punctuality with tardiness, wouldn’t it?”
“Indeed, it would.”
“And as hosts, it would be intolerable to keep our guests waiting.”
“Simply intolerable.”
“And they are family.”
“Yes, they are.”
“So…”
“So.”
“…won’t Your Majesty let go of me now?”
Jonghyun bent his head towards Minhyun, twinkling eyes searching his face. The dull early morning cast a gentle dimness everywhere else but for the king’s smile as he answered, “Never.”
The looming threat of Minhyun losing even the blankets to Jonghyun came to an end through a violent—and timely—clearing of Aaron’s throat as he threw the door open.
“Hyuuunnnggg…” Jonghyun whined at the newcomer as the bundle of bedclothes laughingly escaped his clutches and disappeared behind the folding screen on the other side of the room.
“Yes, well, do forgive me if I have to prove you wrong quite so literally and so early in the morning,” Aaron said bluntly, revealing that he had been within earshot for a while and was not even sorry for interrupting, “and what I had meant and wanted to say is a simple ‘Good morning, Your Majesties’ had the situation been more accommodating.”
“Good morning, Hyung!” The folding screen of moon and stars was cheerfully jostled as Minhyun busied himself with fabrics that actually fit.
“Yes, good morning, Minhyun-ah,” Aaron beamed at his king even as the latter frowned, apparently questioning whatever it was that was worth being smug about.
“Good morning, Hyu--Noahhhhh,” Jonghyun’s grudging greeting instantly switched to cooing when Noah bounded towards him in complete abandon. “Good morning, how are youuu?”
The dog’s lively barking filled the room as Jonghyun petted and played with Noah, forgetting Minhyun long enough for the other to finish getting dressed.
“I am surprised he did not marry Noah while I was away,” Minhyun quipped at the prince, watching the human-dog pair frolic as he fumbled with the buckles of his boot.
“I would be lying if I said I was never worried he might actually do,” Aaron acknowledged. He took a low chair and helped Minhyun with his footwear, adding, “but there was no doubt in my mind that, out of us four, Jonghyun was the one waiting the most for your return.”
Minhyun smiled. “You have an elaborate way of needlessly telling me to not be jealous of your dog.”
“I have had an elaborate way of needlessly telling myself to not be jealous of your husband.” Aaron retorted. “He's always had a way with animals but, well, I’m Noah’s father.” He patted Minhyun’s foot away and stood back up. “Come now, Noah!”
Noah cut short his affectionate licking of Jonghyun’s face to bark in obedience. He wriggled out of his arms, trotted over towards Aaron and followed him out of the room. “We’re expecting Your Majesties to be downstairs in no time,” the prince called back, giving his king and queen pointed looks each before disappearing once more.
Jonghyun, his right ear ringing from that final bark, stood up from the floor apologetically upon realizing that he got dog fur all over Minhyun’s clothes. “Sorry,” he said, meaning it this time as he patted the loose clothing.
Minhyun sighed, leaning back against the chair he was occupying. “You really should stop hanging out with Noah, he’s rubbed off on you nothing else but...puppiness. Or did I unwittingly marry a puppy?”
“Ah, but you love puppies,” Jonghyun countered, taking his turn to dress behind the folding screen.
“I should have married Noah then.”
“Noah doesn’t love you the way I do.”
Minhyun was sure that from behind the screen Jonghyun was wearing a grin identical to his, both of them knowing what Minhyun was supposed to say next.
“How do you love me?”
Jonghyun chuckled. “Let me count the ways…”
“You’re absurd, Jju-yah,” Minhyun said after they finished exchanging butchered lines from yet another sonnet, a routine that revealed how much they actually do love one another by being idiots together. “I feel like the bigger fool for agreeing to marry you.”
“There’s often no rhyme or reason when it comes to love, my love,” Jonghyun answered, pushing down the crown on his head lopsidedly.
Minhyun stood over to fix it for him. “Yet, my love, you’ve said something rather reasonable and wise just now.”
“Did I now?”
Minhyun leaned in and they shared a deep kiss. “It’s probably the crown talking,” he answered breathlessly. “You should wear it more often.”
“Yours looks good on you.”
“It does, doesn’t it?”
— » — « —
The current Caratteul inhabitants, which comprised over a dozen royals and their staff, now occupied a whole wing of the Rabudeul castle to themselves. It was not that surprising that Rabudeul could in fact accommodate them, given that said castle had once housed Seungcheol and some of his (then fellow, now his own) charges back when he was still a princess and without his own country to rule. Even now, he and Jeonghan occupied his previous quarters, which looked more or less the same as when he had left it years ago. One thing that made all of his visits to Rabudeul so great was that it still felt like home to him—and that it would probably continue to do so for who knows how long.
Jeonghan plopped on the bed they were to share for the duration of their stay, which was nothing more than a lengthy stopover from their latest adventure. It was Seungcheol’s idea—their company would have to pass by their old country on the way back to their own, so why not come visit and relax for a bit?
He had hesitated at first, as they—all thirteen of them—have just been there not six months ago for Jonghyun and Minhyun’s wedding. However, his initial misgivings turned out to be the unpopular opinion, as the other royals have themselves one or so business with their neighbours and extended family that an inadvertent stay was a most welcome notion for everyone.
“I want to go out of this room and make sure the kids are all settled in theirs but...” Jeonghan let himself fall on the mattress as he sighed, and Seungcheol knew very well that it meant “feeling too lazy to be bothered”. He knew his queen was currently fighting a longstanding battle within himself—a battle between love for their “children” and love for lying around—and Seungcheol was not sure which side he wanted to take, although he had automatically flopped down beside his spouse.
“Have some rest,” Seungcheol said after a few minutes of staring at their bed canopy and taking turns flicking each other’s hands in silence. “I’ll go check on the kids—”
“No, don’t go,” Jeonghan whined, grabbing the king’s hand.
The imploring tone hardly matched the incorrigible smirk that the queen wore. Soon enough, Seungcheol found himself mirroring it as he pulled Jeonghan on top of him.
“See, I told you this is their room,” Wonwoo griped as he stepped into the room from behind a secret door, brushing cobwebs off of himself and his floppy hat of blue velvet. “Hi, Dad, Mom, sorry for interrupting.”
Wonwoo’s companion emerged similarly, his matching floppy hat of green velvet nearly hidden by a thick veil of spidery threads, some of which he had inadvertently inhaled. Soonyoung coughed unceremoniously, holding onto the other prince for dear life until the fit subsided and he could greet his king and queen. Or dad and mom, just as Wonwoo called them.
“Alright, fine, so I will need to draw a map,” Soonyoung huffed, looking around the bedroom for writing paraphernalia.
“Excuse me?” Seungcheol waved to his two charges, “mind telling us what’s going on?”
“Oh, never you mind us, Dad,” Soonyoung replied dismissively, heading towards the writing desk in one corner of the room. “Pray, proceed with making out with Mom, we’ll just be over here.”
Wonwoo had grabbed a chair and sat down beside Soonyoung, and soon the two princes were hunched over the desk. “No, we took the second left,” he was heard muttering while Soonyoung scribbled.
Jeonghan chuckled, pushing himself off of his husband. He headed over towards the two princes and peeked over their floppy hats. “That doesn’t look like a map,” he commented after a while.
“I’ll have Mingyu draw the final draft,” Soonyoung answered distractedly, crossing out yet another arrow that Wonwoo had corrected.
“That doesn’t even look like a draft,” Seungcheol joined in, pressing his whole weight against Soonyoung’s back.
“Please, Your Majesties, we’d sooner finish this and get out of your room if you’d, you know, do what you’re better off doing,” Soonyoung then turned to Wonwoo, “so which turn is to Seokminnie’s old room?”
“Hello, Hyung, which what is to my old room?” Seokmin asked, peeking out from the same secret door and looking fresh and cobweb-free. Looking even fresher, Jisoo stepped into the room after Seokmin and gave everyone a serene smile.
“Goodness me,” Jeonghan was on the verge of laughing. Seungcheol wanted to be affronted by the subsequent intrusions, but the way things were going seemed to indicate that they may not need to go check on the children all that much.
“Ooh, are you drawing the map?” Seokmin asked, after affectionately tackling Jeonghan and Seungcheol off of the pair huddled over the writing desk. “Oh, that one’s where I met Jisoo-hyung earlier, so if you backtrack here, it leads to my old room with him and Seungkwannie.”
“Wait—hold my floppy hat. Who’s rooming with whom now?” Soonyoung frowned.
Seokmin shrugged, but held the older prince’s hat in place anyway.
“I don’t think anyone else is sharing,” Jisoo answered as his eyes scanned the bookshelf across the writing desk, “apart from Cheol and Han, I mean.”
“Come, Hyung, let’s go back in there and find out,” Seokmin suggested and, soon enough, he and Soonyoung disappeared through the secret door which then disappeared into the wall. A roll of parchment, a couple of quills and the ink bottle were notably missing from the previously occupied desk.
“Will no one go after those two?” Seungcheol asked. “They might get lost.”
Wonwoo, who had drifted away from the desk and succumbed to the magnetic pull of the bed, stretched out and yawned by way of replying. “Oh, uhh, they will, but we can just ask the servants to round them up before dinner. They’ll have finished the map by then, I think.”
“They do know they can just ask Minki, right?”
Wonwoo gave the tiniest of shrugs. “True, but where’s the fun in that? By the by, this bed is most relaxing.”
“Dear me, I can’t find your favorite storybook, Wonwoo-yah,” Jisoo said abruptly, “I think we should go look for it in Jonghyun’s library.”
“What? No, I want to stay here,” Wonwoo complained.
“Library,” the prince repeated, holding out his hand imperiously.
Grumbling, Wonwoo took the proffered hand and allowed himself to be pulled up from his comfortable lounging. “I’m not really in the mood to read.”
“Are you also not in the mood to pet the cats?”
“Oh.”
“Thought as much.”
“Hyung, you do know that they do know we’re all past the awkwardness of seeing them kiss, right?” Wonwoo insisted even as he followed Jisoo out the actual door of the bedroom opening out into the actual hallway.
“I still don’t think anyone of you are quite ready to have them fully demonstrate how their shamelessness knows no bounds,” Jisoo could be heard answering before their conversation faded.
“We are not that shameless,” Seungcheol tried to argue, looking to his queen. “Are we?”
Jeonghan thought for a bit. “Probably not, seeing as I don’t think you’ve ever wanted to have me all to yourself that much.”
Seungcheol snorted. “Hark! For never was a story taller than our Mingyu been told before.”
“Oh, do I love your candor, my darling, my king.”
Then, after moving the writing desk against the wall where the secret door ought to remain hidden, Seungcheol and Jeonghan demonstrated how shameless they were to one another, thereby proving Jisoo’s statement to be correct and accurate.
— » to be continued « —