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“Please kiss me.”
Hyunjin could not have rolled his eyes harder. “For the last time, no!”
“Please.” The frog puckered his lips. “Just one little peck.”
“No way!” Hyunjin, still squatting beside the pond he had found in the otherwise familiar woods, squinted at the slimy amphibian with a curled lip. “That’s disgusting.”
“You’re disgusting!” The frog shot back, clearly offended.
Hyunjin sighed, the headache increasing between his furrowed brow. “Can I please just have my ring back?”
“No.” The frog’s annoying little pout turned up. “Kiss first.” The puckered lips came back tenfold, the frog proceeding to make gross kissing noises.
Hyunjin sighed again, all his frustration bleeding out in his defeat. “Fine.” He began to rise.
The frog’s slimy face lit up. “Really!?”
“Fine, you can keep it.” Hyunjin reiterated.
The frog deflated. “You’re so rude.”
“I’m rude? You’re the one—” Hyunjin stopped, took a breath. “Why am I talking to a frog?” He turned to leave.
“Hey! Come on, please! Just a little kiss. I promise it’s not that bad!”
Hyunjin looked at the frog like it was responsible for his own clumsy hands dropping his ring in the pond. “I am not kissing a frog.”
It was the frog’s turn to roll his eyes, leaning back on his lily pad like the most casual amphibian in the animal kingdom. “You won’t be kissing a frog. You’ll be kissing me.” He ended the word with a smirk and a jerk of his head; the image of wiggling eyebrows if frogs had any to wiggle.
Hyunjin could only sigh for the millionth time that day, and give him a bland stare, then turned back and began walking back to the castle.
“Hey, wait!” The frog panicked. “I’ll give you back your ring, I promise.”
“Not worth it.”
“Rude!”
“You’re a frog!”
“I have a name! And maybe I don’t want to kiss you, either.”
“Then why did you ask…?” Hyunjin turned back to him then, trailing off when he realised the damn thing was following him. He widened his steps.
“I need to kiss my true love.” The frog panted.
What th— Hyunjin could have laughed. “You think I’m—Wait. That’s not even a reason.”
“Is too!” He argued. “If I kiss my true love I can turn back.”
“Turn back? Into what?”
“An incredibly handsome young man you would actually swoon over, thank you very much.”
Hyunjin raised an eyebrow at him. “So, what, you’re not just a frog?”
“Exact—”
“You’re an annoying, narcissistic frog with an identity crisis?”
“I’m not a frog!”
“Oh yeah?” Hyunjin was annoyed at the frog that somehow kept pace with him, panting as he hopped along. But if he was going to insist on following him, he could at least have fun bullying him meanwhile. With any luck, the frog would get tired and disappear, because god forbid Hyunjin runs to the castle. Walking is enough exercise when everyday is cursed with Minho’s insistent and brutal sparring lessons. “Prove it.” Hyunjin provoked.
The frog gawked at him. “Um, hello? Are you deaf? I’m literally speaking.”
“And?” He wouldn’t tell him that it was definitely unusual and probably enough to convince him.
“And!? And how many talking animals do you meet on a daily basis?”
Well between Minho and Jeongin, he could safely say he knew at least one talking cat and one talking fox.
He gave the frog a look.
“I don’t count!”
Hyunjin laughed. “Alright, alright. So, I haven’t met any other talking animals. What does that prove?”
“That talking animals don’t exist?” He squinted up at him as if beholding the simplest man he’d ever met.
“They might. After all—”
“I don’t count!”
Hyunjin lost it at the frog’s growing frustration. The sour look on its face was priceless. “Alright, alright.” He said, trying to appease the frog but his laughter betraying his intentions.
“You’re so rude.” The frog repeated.
“Pfft. As if you’re one to talk.”
“What’s that supposed to mean.”
Hyunjin gave him another look, this one disbelieving. “Do you ask every passerby to kiss you?”
The frog seemed to shrug. “Pretty much. But mostly the pretty ones.”
Hyunjin let out a surprised laugh. “Why?”
“Because I’m trying to find my true love, I told you.”
He knit his eyebrows at him, inviting him to elaborate.
The frog sighed. “I was cursed by a sorcerer. Now I have to kiss my true love to turn back. You know, like the old cure for curses.”
“True love’s kiss?”
“Exactly!”
“But aren’t you supposed to actually fall in love for that to work? I don’t think kissing strangers is what they meant.”
The frog stared up at him, bewildered, then seemed to consider his words. “So, you don’t believe in soulmates?”
“Do you?”
“Of course I do.” He smiled proudly. “That’s why I never miss an opportunity to get to know someone.”
“Never miss an opportunity to flirt, you mean.”
“Technicalities.”
Hyunjin scoffed and shook his head. What in the world was he talking to this frog for? It was probably the biggest pervert in the kingdom.
“So, what did you do to make a sorcerer this mad at you?”
“Well… nothing, really.”
“Oh really.” He deadpanned. “So, you were just minding your own business and some random sorcerer decided they hated you.”
“Yes! Really! I didn’t do anything.”
He gave another eyebrow raise in his direction.
“Stop looking at me like that! I am nothing if not honest.” Hyunjin turned away with a roll of his eyes. He didn’t care enough to really argue. He felt the frog’s glare burning his skull before he heard it sigh. “Fine. Well, it’s not that I made him mad, it’s more like… he got a little annoyed at me.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I mean, he couldn’t appreciate that a man such as myself must be free to enjoy the luxuries of life that are accessible to him. I can’t be expected to say no to every opportunity when I could be enjoying my youth instead. What kind of man would that make me?”
“Responsible. Mature. Patient. Able to control himself—”
“That was a rhetorical question!”
“Well, as my hyung always says: Indulgence breeds stupidity, patience waits for accidents to happen.”
The frog squinted at him. “What?”
“Well, he’s a little strange, but there’s some truth to his… logic.”
“Okay…” The frog stared a little longer in thought. “Your hyung sounds a little terrifying.”
Hyunjin huffed a laugh. “That’s an understatement. You wouldn’t want to get on his bad side, for sure.”
At this point the castle was drawing ever nearer, the magnificence of it emerging from behind the last of the trees. Hyunjin looked back at the frog that was still hopping along, doing his best to keep up with his long legs.
“Are you going to keep following me?” He asked, hoping that the frog would realise that he was a little far from his pond.
But he kept hopping along. “Until you give me a kiss, yes.”
Hyunjin rolled his eyes one more time. “Haven’t we been over this?”
“You have to sleep sometime.”
“You are sleeping in the bathtub.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why? It’s not like I have a pond in my chambers.”
“Frogs can’t stay underwater, you know.”
“Which is why the bathtub will be full.”
The frog grumbled.
Hyunjin sighed. It might be a mistake to let this frog stay with him. He wasn’t sure exactly why he didn’t want to just shut the door on him once he made it inside. Call it empathy? Curiosity? Maybe just apathy? But whatever, it’s not like he had much of a choice anyway. Plus, he’d always wanted a pet. He’d just imagined something a little more… fluffy.
“I’m Hyunjin by the way.”
The frog’s eyes lit up. “Hi Hyunjin! Are you a prince?”
Hyunjin was a little confused by the question for a second but then he looked up at the castle. “No, not really.” Although it would be a fair assumption, considering how he lived.
“So, you’re a servant?” The frog looked disbelieving. “Did you steal this ring, or what?”
He laughed. He didn’t mean to. “No, I mean I’m… I’m sort of the king’s ward.”
“Oh cool, so basically a prince.”
“Uh, well…” The roles weren’t all that similar, but he supposed in a way… “Sure. What about you? What do they call you?”
“Huh?” The frog looked confused for a moment before realisation lit up his features again. “Oh! Gosh, no one’s ever asked for my name before. It was always Mr. Frog, or it.” He cleared his throat, eliciting a croak. “I’m Jisung, Han Jisung. My friends call me Han, or Sungie.”
“You have friends?”
“Oi.”
Hyunjin laughed. “Nice to meet you, Han Sungie.”
Han Jisung smiled the biggest smile a frog’s features would allow.
***
“There’s one thing I can’t understand.” Hyunjin began, preferring to fill the silence with conversation as he sketched the frog in a teacup that was apparently warm and smelled nice but otherwise empty of that morning’s breakfast tea.
“What’s that then?” Han prompted as he maintained his pose, legs dangling from the cup’s edge, lounging like a night lady in the bathtub; a little promiscuous and a lot self-adoration.
Hyunjin unfortunately approved of the pose and would not admit his fascination and favouritism of his new muse.
“Why would a sorcerer curse someone, even if they annoyed them by their… less than appropriate habits?”
“Hm.” His thinking sounded more like irritation at the question… or at the answer, more likely. “I don’t know. He was pretty adamant I learned my lesson on mutual respect and consideration for others.” He wiggled his little webbed toes around the words. “But whatever. Like, I know all that, I respect people. I respect and consider their feelings. It’s not like I ever took anything that wasn’t willingly given, anyway.”
“Did you break their heart or something?”
“Pfft! As if! That puppy-faced lunatic doesn’t have a heart to break.”
“Then what?” Hyunjin laughed disbelieving. “Did you taint his sister’s virtue?”
He scoffed. “No! I’m a gentleman.”
“Did you break his sister’s heart.”
“No.” He sighed.
“…His mother?”
“What? No!”
“Then what? Brother? Friend?”
“I didn’t break anyone’s heart.” He crossed his little frog arms. “Maybe I disappointed some people, but I mean, look at me— Actually don’t look at me.”
Hyunjin snorted. He must have been handsome if he was this narcissistic. Or maybe it wasn’t that… Narcissistic didn’t quite seem to fit. Maybe it was just confidence. He had to admire it. Especially when it wasn’t tampered down by his current state.
“So, what? Did you unknowingly have an affair? Was he an angry spouse?”
“No, no. Actually, he was a completely unbiased, uninvolved, outside party that chose me for his sick little game.”
“He’s that crazy?”
“He’s evil.” Han leant out the teacup to give Hyunjin wide, terrified eyes. “He looks like the cutest puppy with the most devastating adorable little face, but it’s all a disguise. Don’t be fooled by appearances. That man is evil!”
This sorcerer was starting to sound a lot like Minho.
“I don’t know, he sounds like he might be onto something.”
“Excuse me!?”
“If you’re that much of a player, maybe you needed a little humbling.”
“Pfft. Maybe you should mind your business.”
“Maybe you should get out of my teacup then and go home.”
The frog tsked, grumbled under his breath. “I don’t have a home.”
Hyunjin heard it, and the guilt sank into his gut like something sickly warm and sticky. “Oh… Sorry.”
“Whatever.”
The silence was a little too heavy after that, and Hyunjin couldn’t bring himself to make another line in his sketch. He put it face down on the table. He had the basic shape done, anyway; he could finish it later.
He took a breath. “I’ll help you find your true love.” Han perked up, stared at him with stars in his eyes. The contrast gave him whiplash.
Hyunjin lifted a finger at him before he could say anything. “But! You can’t ask for kisses from strangers. You have to get to know them first and then decide whether or not they could be the one.”
The frog was nodding enthusiastically. “Yes! Absolutely! I promise! Thank you, Hyunjin-ah!”
“Also, it would probably be best not to show you around to everyone in the castle. Not many people are fond of frogs.”
“Tell me about it.” The frog mumbled.
“Best you don’t speak unless I speak to you first, as well. Understood?”
“Understood.” He sighed.
“I’ll introduce you to people from afar and tell you about the ones that might interest you. Then we might tell them about your… circumstances.”
“Cool. Deal.”
“So, what kind of people are you into.”
Han took a deep breath, opened his mouth to start talking.
Hyunjin stopped him. “By that I mean, life-partner-ideal. Not physically-ideal.”
Han let out that breath slowly, in a way that was sadly akin to a balloon with a tiny puncture. “…Fine.”
***
“What about that one?”
“Nah.”
“Why not?”
“He seems a little…”
“A little what? Come on. He’s young, handsome. He has a nice smile, see?”
“Yeah but, like… He smiles a little too much, you know?”
“Uh… no. I don’t know.”
“No one’s that happy. Definitely can’t trust him.”
He sighed. “Okay then… What about her?”
“Eh.”
“What now?”
“Too desperate.”
“How do you—” Hyunjin watched the girl—a kitchen maid he had barely ever seen—put her hand out to one of the royal guards and smile flirtatiously.
It was frowned upon to distract the guards. She must be either really desperate, or extremely selfish. It was unsurprising that Han could tell; he must have been an expert on this kind of… hunt.
“Okay, never mind.”
This Search for Sungie’s Soulmate was becoming a tiring task. Hyunjin was already weary after just a few suggestions.
The frog was looking bored, hidden in a flowerpot by the stone bench where Hyunjin sat. It was a good place to scout as a lot of people, staff and court alike, frequently cut across the courtyard or otherwise took a stroll around the fountain and admired the decorative flowers around its edge. Many of the servants took the path around it while it was one of the fewer paths that led to the kitchens and living quarters.
But Hyunjin was starting to wonder if he might be looking in the wrong place; the castle staff might be reliable in their jobs but that didn’t make them totally trustworthy as a friend or partner. Hyunjin knew the staff’s habit of gossiping; any slither of information they got on the royal family spread like wildfire. Even reaching the lower towns and outside villages on occasion, depending on the time of year.
Just last week, Hyunjin heard the kitchen staff debating the possibility of Jeongin’s eleventh toe, just because he tripped over air once or twice (or thrice) in the span of ten seconds.
The truth was they had actually dressed him accidently in Minho’s shoes.
They just loved to speculate. And they loved to blame their employers for even their tiniest problems. Like they don’t at least get paid a fair wage and have a nice secure place to sleep.
Seriously. There are people who have it so much worse. Hyunjin would know.
“Maybe we should get someone else to help.” Hyunjin thought aloud.
“Like who?” Han side-eyed him, the boredom evident in his flat glare.
“Well… My friend Jeongin has always been pretty open-minded. And always willing to help.”
“Would he know more people?”
“Um… Maybe not. A lot of people misjudge him, actually. So, he keeps his circle small.”
“What do they misjudge.”
“I don’t know…” Hyunjin thought about it. “I guess because he’s a little clumsy people think he’s stupid. But he’s probably one of the smartest people I know.”
Han laughed. “Sounds like we’d get along well. I swear I have two left feet, sometimes.”
Hyunjin joined in with a chuckle. “Well, I’ll have to see for myself when you don’t have webs between your toes.”
“Ew. Why d’you have to say it like that.”
“What’s wrong with that? It means you’re a good swimmer.”
Han really laughed at that. “The irony is, I can’t actually swim.”
“Really!?” Hyunjin cackled. The image of a frog that couldn’t swim was hilarious even if it shouldn’t be.
“Don’t laugh at me!” He scolded, but he was still smiling. “I never had any need.”
“Where do you come from, to not have a need to swim.”
“Um, land.”
Hyunjin’s laugh broke out of him in a wheeze and he was getting funny looks. Even if they could see the frog, they would never be able to fathom what Hyunjin found so funny he was struggling for air.
Beside him, the frog was laughing just as hard, catching the contagious fits of laughter. And seeing a frog laugh just made Hyunjin lose any composure he had left. Soon enough, they were just laughing at each other, wiping tears from their eyes and trying to catch a breath of air to calm down.
Little bubbles of laughter broke out before they fully calmed down and Hyunjin voiced the reluctant idea he hoped he didn’t have to put into practice but needed to consider anyway.
“Um… There’s also Minho-hyung.”
Han’s laugh bubbled out stubbornly, still. “Please tell me that isn’t the hyung that waits for accidents to happen.”
Hyunjin’s laugh broke out anew. He shouldn’t find this funny. “Well… yeah. I promise it’s great to have him on your side, though… if you’re lucky enough.”
“Reassuring. Thanks.”
“Well, he knows more people and I can vouch for his discretion, but…”
“But?”
“He’s a little…”
“Scary? Intimidating? From what I’ve heard, a bit suspicious?”
“No, no… well yes, but…” Hyunjin took a breath, let it out slowly through his nose. “He can be a little… pessimistic might not be right. You could say, he’s… a realist?”
“Okay…”
“Like… He basically hates everyone.”
“So, everyone is going to die. Got it.”
“Okay, well…” That was wrong. How could he explain this? “Hate is probably too strong. He mostly just doesn’t trust people. Plus, it takes a lot to earn his respect.”
“Sounds like a barrel of laughs.” The frog deadpanned.
“Yeah, actually.” Hyunjin chuckled. “Once you get to know him, he’s hilarious.”
“But I might be dead by morning?”
“Not if you behave yourself.”
“So, I’ll be dead by morning?”
He sighed deeply. “Yeah, probably.
“Great!” He exclaimed, sarcastically over-enthusiastic. “Can’t wait to meet him.”
Hyunjin sighed for the thousandth time, shaking his head disbelieving, if not fondly, at the frog. “I promise that, if by some miracle he does happen to like you, he’s the most loyal friend a person can wish for.”
“Nothing to worry about.” Han puffed out his chest, a croak sounding as said chest expanded. “Everyone loves me.”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s hope so.”
***
“What. The fuck. Is that?”
Minho looked at the frog with its bulging eyes that seemed fixed on his very soul. It was clearly unnerving, and Minho visibly recoiled, his own eyes wide and fixed back on them like they would fly out any moment, and he’d have to be ready to duck.
The council had just left, and Minho had been collecting his papers when Hyunjin had thrown caution to the wind and approached him with his… problem.
“It’s a frog.” Hyunjin answered simply. He held it up in his palm, the pads of its feet feeling sticky and wet against his skin. He tried to keep the disgust off his face.
“I can see that.” Minho took his eyes off of it for a second to shoot Hyunjin a flat look before returning them quickly in case the frog was just waiting for a chance to strike. “Why in the hell do you have a frog?”
“It’s a talking frog.” He said, just as plainly, as if it was something one could expect to find on a daily basis.
“A what?” Minho turned another flat look on him, his tone just as flat as if he just figured out Hyunjin was beyond stupid.
“It’s a talking frog.” He repeated.
“It’s—” He inhaled, pinched the bridge of his nose. “Hyunjin.” He sighed.
“What?” Hyunjin tried to act like it wasn’t the craziest thing that had ever happened. To be fair, when Han first spoke to him, holding his ring in the air with a teasing flair, Hyunjin almost batted him right out of the pond. He might have done so if he wasn’t frozen in shock, unsure if he was in danger, dreaming, or downright insane.
“Okay, then.” Minho sighed again as his hands returned to his hips. He levelled his gaze at the frog, flinching a little as he got close. “What say you, little frog?” He waited, piercing gaze unwavering. “Speak.”
The frog gulped.
They waited.
Silence.
Ribbit.
Minho turned an unimpressed glare on Hyunjin. “If this is your ploy to get out of lessons, you’re failing epically. In fact, I might double the torture.”
“Hyung. Please don’t. I swear, he speaks!”
Minho straightened, just to cross his arms and raise an expectant eyebrow at him.
The frog gulped again. I weird sounding croak escaping its throat.
Hyunjin gave Han a little jolt, a tiny poke. “Come on, Sungie. What’s wrong with you? You couldn’t shut up before.”
Ribbit.
“Sungie, please!”
Ribbit. Ribbit.
Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit.
The croaks were growing increasingly frequent. They both stared at the frog with different versions of concern. “Sungie?”
Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. “Will you please kiss me?”
Minho jumped back, hit the table behind him and the chairs he tried to cling onto almost toppled over.
“Sungie.” Hyunjin’s voice came out in an irritated groan. “What did I say about asking strangers.”
“Please.”
“No, Han Jisung, you cannot kiss the prince.”
“He’s a prince!? No wonder he has the cheekbones of a god.”
“Are you serious, right now?”
“Dead serious.”
Hyunjin sighed. By gods he was exhausted.
Minho stood wide-eyed and frozen, leaning on the table and staring at the frog that had yet to tear its gaze away.
“You are so beautiful.” Han breathed. One would think he was looking at a deity.
Minho simply stared, the bobbing of his adam’s apple the only movement he made.
“Okay. We’re leaving.” Hyunjin promptly closed his hand around the frog and left the room, leaving the very stunned and unmoving Minho behind.
***
“What the hell was that!?”
“I’m sorry! I couldn’t help it!”
“You couldn’t help but ask a complete stranger to kiss you!?”
“Have you seen him!?”
“Before or after you broke his brain?”
He sighed, dreamily. “Both.”
Hyunjin sighed, irritated.
“Okay, in my defense, I managed to stay quiet for a really long time.”
“You managed for all of sixty seconds!”
“Like I said, a really long time.”
“Ugh.” Hyunjin scrubbed a hand over his face. “Come on, I guess we’re going to Jeongin for help.”
“No need. I found the one.”
“Minho-hyung is not the one.”
“He is absolutely the one. The one who’ll break the curse, or the one who’ll break my heart. Either way, I love him.”
“You just met him.”
“And I love him. What aren’t you getting?”
Hyunjin had never been so exhausted in his whole life.
“That’s it. I’m calling a family meeting. We’re gonna need all the help we can get.”
***
A family meeting to Hyunjin happened to be quite small, given that his family consisted of the two princes and no one else. The King may have been his guardian, and he was as kind to Hyunjin as any honoured guest, but it had always been clear that he would favour his real sons over the boy that simply grew up under his care.
It was Minho that raised him, in the end. And it was Minho’s chambers where he now sat, the go-to spot for these family meetings that Hyunjin usually enjoyed, given the exclusive nature and privacy he got to indulge in with the only two people in his life he actually liked.
Today, however, Prince Minho sat as far away from Hyunjin as possible. Which was fair, given the frog that sat on the table beside him. The eldest Prince was at the head of the table, leaning as far back in his chair as he could, two whole seats away from them. Overkill, but Hyunjin couldn’t really blame him.
Not so differently, his younger brother, Prince Jeongin, sat almost opposite them, closer to Minho and giving the frog very wary side glances, while said frog was staring back much like he had done with Minho before.
“Han Jisung.” Hyunjin said through clenched teeth. “You cannot kiss Prince Jeongin, either.”
“Oh, no, I already tried that one.”
“Say what now?”
Jeongin flinched at the sound of the frog’s voice, but did not react as strongly as Minho, who also flinched and seemed to be working hard not to lean further back.
“He already kissed me. He’s not the one.”
“He—”
“I did not!” Jeongin immediately argued.
“Did too!”
“Did not! Why would I?”
“Because I asked you too. I said give me a little kiss and you did!”
“Did not!”
“Yes, you did!”
“I’ve never met you before in my life!”
“You liar—!”
“Okay, okay! Please!” Hyunjin put his hand out between them. “Whatever happened, doesn’t matter. You are not kissing the princes.”
“Just one—”
“No. Princes.” Hyunjin fixed a look on him that dared him to argue and Han pouted back.
“Fine.” He mumbled.
The king’s ward turned to the two princes, those he grew up with and thought of as his own blood. “So, I know you must be a little shocked, but I swear there is an explanation.”
“Please.” Minho croaked, eyeing the frog warily.
The frog caught his gaze… and sighed.
“So.” Hyunjin pointedly began, breaking Han out of his trance before Minho fled the room. “Han Jisung—”
“You can call me Han or Sungie.” He shyly told Minho, who shifted a little in his seat.
“Han Jisung…” He began again, giving the frog a scolding look. “Is a human being who was cursed by a sorcer—”
“Evil sorcerer.”
“—who actually had a point—”
“Hey—”
“—but we don’t need the details right now. The important thing is that in order to break it, Han here needs to find his true love—”
“Which is M—”
“—And kiss that true love, who remains unknown! And voila, change back into a man.”
He held his hands up in a gesture of finality. Silence followed.
Until Jeongin spoke up. “So, you’ve just been kissing every passerby you came across?”
“Pretty much.”
More silence.
Thoughtful cogs turned.
And in Hyunjin’s brain, they clicked together with a spark of sudden insight. “So, you did kiss him!”
“I told you!”
Jeongin threw his hands up. “I’m a sucker for talking animals! Sue me! I thought if I did what he wanted he’d be, like, attached or whatever. I wanted my own princess companion, okay!?” He sat back and pouted, arms crossed and cheeks rosy.
Minho seemed to be getting more exhausted by the second. “What the fuck is a princess companion?”
“You know…” Jeongin mumbled. “Their loyal pet side-kick that talks to them.”
“Whatever princesses you know are insane.”
“I second that.” Han’s webbed hand waved in the air. “Princesses are insane.”
“Is that because you tried to kiss them.” Hyunjin asked. His cheek coming to rest on a fist, too exhausted to even keep his head up.
“Excuse me, haven’t I told you that I am a gentleman. I ask. Politely.” Then, eyes going a little distant, he added, “And no… I never even got the chance.”
“You’re not planning on kissing me, are you?” Minho asked with a little concern, a little warning.
“Planning? No. Dreaming? Absolut—”
“Sungie.” Hyunjin warned.
“I literally just said I wasn’t going to!”
“Okay.” Minho shot up, palms on the table. “I’ve had enough of this.” He squared Han with a stern look. The frog shrank back and gulped hard. “Who exactly are you? How do we know you’re not a spy or something.”
Han said nothing.
Hyunjin scoffed. “He’s not a spy. Look at him. You think anyone would voluntarily turn into a frog and stay that way for days?”
“Weeks.” Jeongin corrected.
“Months.” Han corrected.
“Months, Hyung.”
“No one can prove he’s always like this.” Minho pointed out.
“Well, no but… he’s never asked for important information.”
“Maybe he doesn’t need to. Maybe all he needed was to get inside the castle.”
They sat in heavy silence while each of them digested that, knowing that Minho could very well be right. But Hyunjin was so sure he wasn’t. Han was not a spy.
Was he?
When Han spoke, it was with a feeble little croak that barely cut through the silence. “I don’t want to be dead by morning…”
Minho heard him, leant in closer to glare down at him with narrow eyes. “Then you’d better prove that we can trust you. And fast.”
Han gulped again, but this time he might have actually been scared. He looked at Hyunjin in quick pleading glances, unable to fully take his eyes away from the immediate threat.
Ribbit.
But Hyunjin found it odd; he had seen Minho threaten people before; he’d seen him suspicious and untrusting of men and women in the royal court and staff; he’d seen the fire in Minho’s eyes when he was truly scared that his family was in danger.
Ribbit. Ribbit.
But when he looked at Han with that piercing glare, unrelenting and merciless, daring him to be anything but innocent, there was an odd absence of that fire. No real heat that threatened violence or war. It was as if he barely felt what he was implying. Or more that he hoped he was wrong.
But then, after a long stretch of semi-threatening silence, Han made a move that no one could have ever expected… but that no one should be surprised by:
He flopped onto his belly, rolled onto his back and looked over at Minho with upside-down eyes. “I’ll do what ever you say, your Highness. Just, please, be gentle.”
Un-believable.
Speechless, utterly speechless. Minho, Jeongin and Hyunjin all stared down at the frog’s belly with nought a word they could say nor a thought they could think.
So, despite the threat, and despite the (apparent) fear in the frog’s eyes, all this time Han was still just as hopelessly in love as he had always been.
The silence did not last long, because as Hyunjin sighed the last of his soul out to the heavens, face falling into his hands, Minho… laughed.
It came in a disbelieving scoff. Then another. Soon breaking into bubbly giggles. He sat down and continued laughing until even Han had rolled back to stare at him in wonder.
When he calmed down, Minho just seemed amused by the frog, but no less mistrusting. “You are either really smart or really dumb, aren’t you?”
Han blinked before answering. “Can’t I be both?”
Minho giggled some more. Hyunjin had never seen the prince laugh like that. He might have nightmares tonight.
“I tell you what.” He slapped the table. “If you can prove yourself trustworthy within a week, I’ll let you stay here in the castle as a guest. Sound good?”
“Uh.”
“But…” Minho leaned in again, very much back to serious, still oddly lacking the real threat in his eyes. “If I find out you’re really a spy, I will be investing in a tiny guillotine, just for you.”
Han gulped once more. “Well… no one’s ever bought anything for me before…”
Something flickered across Minho’s eyes. But just as quickly, it was gone.
He sighed. “Just to be safe, I’m going to keep you in a terrarium in my bed chamber so I can keep a close eye on you.”
“I accept your terms, your Highness.” Han agreed extremely quickly.
“Uh.” Minho blinked at the speed in which Han agreed to be prisoner. He was clearly trying to be intimidating, suggesting the frog’s prison and a dangerous warden to give him little peace. He obviously didn’t think that one through. “Great. Good.” He continued to pretend it was threatening, however. “I will arrange it right away.”
Han whispered, then, (not so) subtly to Hyunjin. “Do me a favour and burn his privacy screen.”
Hyunjin leaned in and just as quietly, he whispered. “No.”
“After all I’ve done for you.”
“Literally nothing.”
“Fair.”
Minho was standing, missing all of that while Jeongin shook his head in disbelief at every part of the conversation. The elder came over to stand next to Hyunjin, hesitantly holding out his hand to Han, who looked at it with something between confusion and awe.
“Come on, then. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
Han’s whole being lit up with excitement. “Yes, your Highness!”
When he hopped into his hand, Minho didn’t even recoil. It was as if he had expected it to be gross but at the contact found to be proven wrong and actually relaxed.
Then, he took him away, leaving Hyunjin feeling very relieved and also very concerned.
Before they left earshot, however, he heard Han utter one more daring comment. “Just so you know, Stockholm syndrome is a real risk, and I cannot be held responsible if it occurs.”
Not his problem. Not his problem.
He then heard Minho speak one final threat. “If you dare try to kiss me, I will sew your lips together.”
Well, he might remain a frog for a little longer, but Hyunjin was sure Han Jisung wouldn’t mind it so much anymore.
A few weeks later, Minho would let it slip to Hyunjin that he found the frog to be kind of cute; that he enjoyed watching the weird way he struggled to eat and, most of all, enjoyed talking to him.
He would then threaten him not to tell anyone, or he would drag him down to the kitchens and throw him in the oven for about twenty minutes, so he’d be nice and crispy; the perfect way to cook Hwang Hyunjin.
Of course, when one day a strange and radiant boy tackled Hyunjin with a warm and overly excited hug, Hyunjin knew he was safe. Minho’s little secret was finally out.