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Gon frowned as he adjusted the cufflinks on his sleeve. “Where’s Yeong?”
Ho-Pil bowed. “I am not sure, Your Majesty. Captain Jo only told me to guard you at the conference today.”
That’s strange, Gon thought. It was very unlike Yeong not to guard him personally at events outside the Palace, and Yeong hadn’t said anything last night.
“Let me escort you, Your Majesty”, Ho-Pil was saying now, and Gon followed the Sub-Captain out. He was distracted the whole flight to Seoul, where the annual Mathematics Challenge was being held. Twice, Secretary Mo asked if he was alright. Gon said yes, he was just thinking about his opening speech, but all that really came to mind was: Did something happen? Was Yeong sick?
He was still distracted when he found himself seated as the Guest of Honour at the conference. Eyes wandering, Gon caught a glimpse of Ho-Pil standing at the side of the hall. He was talking rapidly into his earpiece and looked both nervous and worried. When he glanced up and saw Gon looking at him, Ho-Pil quickly averted his eyes. Gon felt a vague sinking feeling in his stomach. He was about to stand and ask Ho-Pil what the hell was going on when he heard himself being invited to say a few words. As Gon got up and made his way to the podium, he could swear he saw relief on Ho-Pil’s face.
When the bright lights and applause finally faded, Gon cornered Ho-Pil. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“Your.. Your Majesty?” Ho-Pil stammered, looking down.
Gon felt his patience wearing thin. “I know something is up. What is it?”
Ho-Pil shuffled on his feet. “Your Majesty, well, you see… Captain Jo said not to tell you…”
“Yeong?”, Gon tried not to sound flustered. “Ho-Pil, I swear. Don’t make me repeat myself.”
The sharpness in the King's voice made Ho-Pil wince. He spoke in a rush. “Captain Jo… Captain Jo is in the hospital!”
“What?” Gon sucked in a breath. “What happened?”
The Sub-Captain tripped over his words. “Your Majesty, Captain Jo heard that some rebels were planning an attack on the Palace. So he wanted to launch a counter-strike while you were away. But, but they just said he’s in hospital now. I don’t know what—“
“And you didn’t tell me!” Gon snapped, furious. “Ready the helicopter. We’re flying back to Busan.”
Ho-Pil barely had time to respond as Gon spun round and addressed Secretary Mo. “I’m going back now”, he said firmly.
“What? But it just started, Your Majesty“, Secretary Mo was flustered.
But Gon just looked at her and said “Yeong is injured”, as if that was all the explanation anyone needed. He walked off as both Ho-Pil and Secretary Mo scrambled to keep up.
“What will I tell them, Your Majesty?”, Secretary Mo asked, anxiously trying to stave the PR storm she knew was coming.
“Anything, I don’t care. Just say I’m sick”, came the cursory reply.
~~~
“The King attended the annual Mathematics Challenge in Seoul today, where he gave a warm opening speech. However, he left shortly after as he was not feeling well, the Press Secretary of the Palace shared in an interview with—“
Yeong sat up immediately. He glared at the radio by the hospital bed, and reached for the phone with his good arm. When the call went to voicemail, he half-shouted down the line: “Ho-Pil! What did I say about being contactable at all times? And what do you mean he’s not feeling well?”
A second call to Secretary Mo similarly went unanswered. No surprise really, she would be swarmed by the media if the King was suddenly unwell. Unwell. He looked fine yesterday though.
Yeong winced in pain as he threw his phone down. The counter-strike against the rebels had gone well and they had been caught by surprise. But their leader had tried to get away at the last moment, and Yeong took a stab in his arm as he jumped the rebel and they wrestled on the ground. His men had insisted on sending him to the hospital afterwards when the bleeding wouldn’t stop, and he had ended up here. Off duty, yes, but still worrying about Gon.
The radio had moved on to other news, and after five more unanswered calls in just as many minutes, Yeong was ready to go back to the Palace and find out for himself. If Gon was unwell he would be back at the Palace. He would be in bed. He would need Yeong. Yeong always sat by his side when he was ill, ever since they were children and Gon started having these awful nightmares whenever he had a fever. Gon would need him.
Yeong swung his legs out of bed and was ready to stand when the King himself stormed into the room.
“Shit, Yeong. Are you okay?” Gon’s voice was a pitch higher than usual, his eyes frenzied. Then he saw the shoes on Yeong’s feet and stared straight at Yeong. “And where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“Your Majesty!” Yeong managed in his surprise. “I thought you were at the conference. They said you were unwell…” He scanned Gon’s face for any sign of discomfort, but apart from the worry in Gon’s bright eyes, he seemed fine.
Gon walked round to Yeong’s side and took in his bandaged arm. He looked at Yeong for a long, quiet moment, but when he spoke again his words were light. “I was at the conference. Until someone decided he had a secret plan. Which doesn’t seem to have gone as planned.”
Yeong couldn’t help but chuckle. “It did go as planned, Your Majesty. We apprehended the rebels.”
“Yes, but you got injured. Unless that was part of the plan”, Gon deadpanned.
“Ah, that. No, but overall it went as planned”, Yeong started, then stopped himself. “Wait. How did you know? I’ll kill Ho-Pil—“
“I’ll kill you”, Gon cut in, eyes suddenly ablaze. “How dare you do this behind my back? It could have been - well no, it is too dangerous!”
Yeong had enough good sense not to provoke the King further. “Your Majesty, I’m fine. For your safety, I had to wait till you were away.”
“Still, you didn’t tell me anything and I was so worried! And I really don’t like this idea of a counter-strike, Yeong, it’s too—“
Yeong stopped listening after “I was so worried”. He knew he shouldn’t be happy that the King was in any form of distress whatsoever, but in spite of himself he felt a warmth rising in his chest.
“Yeong, are you listening to me?” Gon’s voice cut through the haze of his thoughts.
“Your Majesty?”
Gon sighed. “I asked you what you want. For the rebels. A beheading?”
At that, Yeong sat up straight again. “That is too serious, Your Majesty. A beheading is only for those who make attempts on your life—“
A hint of coldness crept into Gon’s eyes. “An attempt on your life is the same as an attempt on mine”, he said shortly. “I will not forgive it.”
He looked so stern and Yeong knew he meant it, meant every word of it. But Yeong was worried what people would say about a King who killed for his Captain. Yeong would kill for his King - without any doubt or hesitation - but Gon should not dirty his hands for Yeong.
He lowered his eyes and bowed. “Your Majesty, thank you. But please, let me look into the matter tomorrow and decide on the best course of action.”
The ice receded from Gon’s eyes. “Tomorrow? You’re going to be resting tomorrow and for the next 2 weeks, Captain. Doctor’s orders.”
“2 weeks!” Yeong protested at once. “That’s way too long. Who is going to train the Guards and protect Your Majesty and—“
“Shut up, Yeong. There’s Ho-Pil and literally the entire team”, Gon rolled his eyes.
“Yes, but you’ll be away on all your schedules and it’ll be hard to keep track of where you are and all the security detail”, Yeong persisted, clearly worried.
But Gon just chuckled and said coolly, “Oh, that’s easy enough. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere till you recovered anyway. In fact, I’ll cancel everything now.”
He flashed Yeong a wink as he strolled out of the room, searching for Ho-Pil. And poor Yeong sat dumbfounded, gaping at Gon’s readiness to cancel everything just to be there. The nation put on hold, just so Yeong wouldn’t worry about his security detail. He could hardly believe it. For a brief moment Yeong considered getting injured more often, but he reined in the thought immediately. Gon would kill him if he heard. And more importantly, he wouldn’t be able to protect Gon if he was injured. For Yeong, decisions were ridiculously easy to make; everything simply circled back to Gon.
~~~
It was dark when Yeong woke. He didn’t remember falling asleep. As he blinked awake, he was startled to see Gon’s sleeping form by his side, his head resting on the blanket. Gon was so close, close enough to touch, and Yeong gasped in pleasant surprise.
Moments later, Gon was squinting up at him, eyes heavy with sleep and concern. “Yeongie, what is it? Are you in pain?”
“No, no”, Yeong said quickly, slightly embarrassed. He had forgotten that Gon was such a light sleeper. “I’m fine, Your Majesty. You on the other hand, you should go back and rest. You always get a headache if you don’t sleep well.“
Gon sighed softly and rubbed his eyes. “Yeong ah, stop worrying about me. I didn’t hear you complain when you sat up beside me all those nights.”
“That’s different!” Yeong protested at once. “You’re the King. You’re the King and I’m your—“
“Friend”, Gon interrupted, not wanting to hear the rest of it. “You’re my best friend”, he said quietly.
Yeong felt his heart make a little leap as Gon held his gaze. His face prickled with heat and he wanted to look away, but instead he locked eyes with Gon and whispered back: “You are mine too, Your Majesty.” In the silence and the intensity of Yeong’s gaze, they both knew what Yeong was really saying. You are my best friend and my King and I would die for you.
That was just like Yeong - he didn’t know friendship without unflagging loyalty. But Gon shook his head even as he smiled at Yeong. “You can’t die unless I behead you”, he said softly. Then he reached up to tousle Yeong’s hair, just like he did when they were children.
“Go back to sleep, Yeong ah. It’s a good thing you woke me up, I have to get through all these papers tonight”, Gon remarked, pointing at the stack of State papers piled on the bedside table. Clearly Gon had intended to sit up beside Yeong through the night, and had brought work to clear.
Yeong was about to chide his King when Gon interrupted. “Don’t say a word, Yeong. If you won’t go back to sleep with me here, I’ll take these papers to the corridor outside and read them there. But I’m not going back to the Palace.”
Yeong sighed. Gon was truly insufferable. “Stay, Your Majesty. I’ll go to sleep”, he conceded.
Gon looked way too pleased with himself as he reached for the papers. Yeong rolled his eyes and couldn’t help but chuckle. He fell asleep with Gon on his mind and a smile on his lips.