Oh, by the way, no this is not a vampire!AU -_-" because the hints and the suspicion makes it sound like it's highly implied there's vampires, which I obviously didn't mean to do.

He scratched the back of his head, confused at the large words. Then again, the book about politics never made any sense. Myungsoo felt arms drape around his shoulders as a chin settled on top of his head.

"Myungie, what are you doing?" Sungjong asked curiously.

"'Myungie'? Where did that come from?" Myungsoo asked back, removing Sungjong's arms and chin from his body as he stood up, making Sungjong pout due to him being about 10 cm. taller.

"A nickname! And sit back down! I don't like it that you're taller than me!" Sungjong huffed, looking like a angry kitten.

"You're probably just a late bloomer when it comes to growth," Myungsoo chuckled as he sat back down on the floor and picked up the book again, "Besides, I'm studying."

"Boorrriiiinnng!" Sungjong picked up the book and carelessely threw it to the side. He grabbed Myungsoo's arm and started tugging on it, "Come on! Let's go outside!"

"I can't. I need to study. Go ask one of the maids to play with you," Myungsoo said, but somewhere in his mind he wanted to try to escape again, but that would lead to his hands getting hit with a ruler.

"But I want to play outside with Myungie! Aren't friends suppose to play outside?" Sungjong asked, tugging on his arm harder.

'Friends'. He remembered, they were now friends after the incident yesterday. That's what he's always wanted. The only thing keeping him away from going outside with his friend was the pressure and high-expectancy from everyone.

"We can always sneak out~," a mischievous tone took over Sungjong's naturally innocent toned voice.

Myungsoo came to a conclusion that he's thought about so many times already: Screw adulthood.

A smirk took over his face, "Follow me then."

"Wow~!" Sungjong exclaimed, staring at the tree maze in front of him with amazement.

"Right? The tree maze is the perfect place to hide away, plus, when you get past the maze there's a flower garden," Myungsoo grinned.

"Sounds fun! Let's go!" Sungjong smiled. He held Myungsoo's hand and led the way, probably wanting to find the exit himself while they were on a journey.

While Sungjong cluelessely yet excitedly walked around the maze, Myungsoo couldn't help but focus on his hand. Sungjong's body was basically covered 50% with bandages and a majority of it was wrapped around his hands and feet.

Myungsoo only felt the bandages but there was a little bit of skin here and there that he could feel.

"Sungjong, doesn't it hurt to move?" Myungsoo asked.

"Mm... somewhat, but it's nice to see what it's like outside," Sungjong took a deep intake of air, feeling the calm wind barely move his clothes. The clothes were actually Myungsoo's since the maids decided to throw away his blood-stained ones, deeming it too stained to be cleaned.

"How... How did you get those wounds?" Myungsoo asked hesitantly.

"... I ran away," Sungjong said without turning to face Myungsoo, making him wonder what kind of facial expression Sungjong had right now.

"Why?" the question escaped his mouth before he could stop his curiosity.

"I was trapped... I wasn't allowed to go out of my room... So I ran... I ran and ran until I found your mother... it didn't matter how hurt I got... I was just glad to get away and see how the world changed..."

Myungsoo closed his mouth shut as his curiosity went wild in his head.

Why was Sungjong trapped?

What did Sungjong mean by 'how the world changed'?

Did Sungjong even have a life like his?

What was Sungjong's family like?

"Oh, we're here!" he felt Sungjong release his hand and saw him run forward and into the flower field, "So pretty~!"

He saw the doll-like boy turn to him and smile, and right then and there, his heart beated an odd rhythm. The scene was oddly captivating, seeing how the sunlight seemed to focus on Sungjong, the colorful flowers in the background, and no matter how bruised and fragile he looked, his smile still shines through.

The odd rhythm put together with the scene was- well- weird, but not unpleasant.

"Myungie! Who made this garden?" Sungjong asked curiously as he picked out a bouquet of flowers without messing up the garden.

"Oh- uh..." Myungsoo blinked, returning to reality, "The head maid and anoth-"

"Ta-da~!" Sungjong threw the bouquet of flowers into the air, letting all the flower float down and onto their hair.

"Hey, didn't you want to hear about who made this garden?" Myungsoo huffed.

"Teehee, I thought that I would try to make a flower crown while you talk about that but I gave up!" Sungjong giggled.

"It's not that hard. I can teach you if you want," Myungsoo said.

"Really?! Yay~!" Sungjong cheered, and quickly went to go search for more flowers after stopping and turning back to Myungsoo, "How about I make one for you and you make one for me?"

The quiet boy smiled softly, "Sure."

"Jeez, mine seems so bad compared to your's," Sungjong pouted, not quite understanding the delicate process of how to create flower crowns.

"Well unless you're the type of person who gets by on dumb luck I highly doubt that it would turn out pretty on the first try," Myungsoo said, tying off the flower crown neatly.

"..." Sungjong stopped for a moment to stare at the simple pattern of jasmines, orchids, and rare lavender roses that Myungsoo created on his flower crown.

Myungsoo obviously noticed the staring, "Yeah?" he places the flower crown on top of Sungjong's head.

"Why did you pick those types of flowers?" Sungjong asked.

"I thought that the colors suited you," Myungsoo said, which was true. The lavender flowers had a nice soft color that suited Sungjong's delicate body, the white on the other two flowers were unstained and he obviously thought that it suited Sungjong's purity, and the small yet bright amount of yellow on the one flower reminded him of how happy and bright like the sun Sungjong could be when he simply smiled (do note that Myungsoo doesn't know what flower is named what other than the most commonly seen ones).

"Well, I read a book about flower meanings and if I remember correctly... Jasmines mean sweet love, orchids mean deleicate beauty, and lavender roses mean love at first sight."

Myungsoo choked on his spit and could feel his ears burning, "W-What?!"

"Oh, so you don't know what certain flowers mean?" Sungjong asked innocently.

"O-Of course not! I picked them out b-because of the colors!" Myungsoo stuttered, feeling like his face was about to explode from all of the heat.

"Then I better tie a white rosebud onto here," Sungjong did exactly that after reaching for one in the flower pile he made.

"W-Why?"

"It means you're in your girlhood and too young to love-"

"SUNGJONG!" Myungsoo yelled, obviously even more flustered as the younger giggled.

"Here~!" Sungjong placed the crown on Myungsoo's head.

Myungsoo swore that this kid would be the death of him, which was true once the head maid found them.

He grumbled, his hands too numb to even write.

The boy sighed, scratching his head when he realized that he was still wearing the flower crown on his head. Myungsoo took the flower crown off and stared at it in his hands.

He giggled, a warming feeling in his chest as he carefully observed how crudely and clumsily the crown was made. There was still an effortful aura to the crown.

Myungsoo then remembered how Sungjong said he read a book about flower meanings.

The boy made sure that none of the maids saw him lose focus on his homework as he quickly walked up the spiral staircase to the top floor of the library and looked for a book possibly titled along the lines of flower meanings.

Once he found one, he searched for pictures resembling the flowers Sungjong had put on the crown. He stared at the flower meanings in bewilderment once he found the pictures that matched up to the two flowers (other than the single white rosebud).

Myungsoo looked back to those two flower types on his crown:

Begonias and Zinnias.