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Yoongi didn’t talk much during breakfast the next day, and Taehyung was understanding of that. A lot of people didn’t like mornings, and maybe Yoongi was just one of those people. It wasn’t like he was used to seeing the older man so early in the morning.

The way he stared down into his food and pushed it around his plate.

The way he sighed every few minutes and leaned his cheek on his hand.

The way he occasionally glanced at Taehyung with a frown…

That didn’t mean anything bad happened, right?

Yes, by the time noon rolled around, Taehyung had convinced himself that he was just being paranoid. Jungkook’s ominous words from last night were probably making him think things that weren’t true. That had to be it.

Had to be…

Except it wasn’t. That wasn’t it at all, and Taehyung realized this when Yoongi kissed him hard and bruising later that evening.

“I’m sorry,” the Prince apologized, once he had pulled away from Taehyung’s panting mouth. He had the brunet pressed up against the windowsill they always met at, the cool afternoon air caressing the younger’s hair from behind. “I just… I missed you.”

Taehyung let out a breathless laugh. “But you’ve seen me all day.”

He expected Yoongi to laugh along with him at his own absurd actions, but the Prince’s face remained as serious as ever. Taehyung’s smile slowly fell. At first he thought he said something wrong, but the way Yoongi’s gentle hands carefully cupped his cheeks to hold his face said otherwise.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered, not at all liking how scared his own voice sounded to his ears.

Yoongi opened his mouth like he wanted to say something. The words were on the tip of his tongue as his eyes searched Taehyung’s own, but then he let out the heaviest sigh Taehyung had ever heard, and managed a small smile.

“Nothing, my little flower. Everything is as it should be.”

Taehyung wasn’t convinced. He tried to stare deeper into Yoongi’s bottomless orbs, hoping to draw out the truth somehow, but then the prince was kissing him again. Only this time, it was tender and sweet.

So sweet, Taehyung was sure he tasted honey.

~+~

The ominous feeling didn’t leave Taehyung for the rest of that week. He tried to enjoy himself to the fullest, basking in the Prince’s affection, but it was like an itch that you couldn’t quite reach. He knew it was there, he felt it everyday, but no matter how hard he tried to he just couldn’t find the source.

“Your magic is cloudy today,” Namjoon commented from behind a large stack of ancient books. He was trying to find a particular piece of literature for Taehyung that he had assured the younger was essential for his training. While he searched, he instructed Taehyung to practice his conjuring. “It feels dense and thick with worry. Is there something you are worried about, Taehyung?”

Taehyung slowly lowered his trembling hands and sighed. No matter how hard he tried to conjure the white dove depicted on the scroll before him, his magic continued to produce nothing.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked to the senior wizard.

“No… yes… I don’t know!” he exclaimed in exasperation. “Prince Yoongi--”

“Ah yes, our dear prince,” Namjoon said with a knowing smirk. “Trouble in paradise?”

Taehyung’s face turned an embarrassing shade of scarlet. “No, everything is fine. Well, that’s what Prince Yoongi says at least.”

“A prince, especially one as young as Yoongi, always has trials and tribulations he must surpass. I’m sure whatever is troubling him does not concern you. He’ll be back to his usual self in no time,” Namjoon assured him. He found the book he was looking for and blew away the thick layer of dust covering it. “Now, let us take your training one step further...”

~+~

As exciting as his magic lessons were, Taehyung couldn’t really focus on anything. He kept thinking back to his breakfast with Yoongi and how distressed the prince looked.

Namjoon tried to convince him that it was normal for Yoongi to have worries, but something still didn’t sit right with Taehyung. He knew what Yoongi normally looked like when he was worried or stressed out about the kingdom, but this felt completely different.

Taehyung just needed to find the root of it.

“You have been deep in thought all day.”

Taehyung looked up at Jungkook and tried to smile in a way that said “I’m fine” but there was no hiding the crease between his brows. He was currently sitting in the garden at his favorite bench. Jungkook preferred to stand.

“Sir Jeon, what you told me last night… was that a warning?”

Jungkook didn’t answer and Taehyung clutched the edge of the bench as he leaned forward. “Do you know what is wrong with Prince Yoongi?”

“The Prince’s business is not for me to gossip about,” Jungkook finally answered, and Taehyung let out an annoyed huff. He didn’t know why he even thought for a moment that Jungkook would tell him anything. The knight was as loyal as they come.

Growing frustrated, Taehyung stood up and started walking.

“Where are you going? That look can only mean trouble,” Jungkook said, and Taehyung decided to do the ignoring this time around. He kept a steady stride through the castle, only giving brief nods to the servants who greeted him when he passed. There was no set destitionation in his head, but he hoped that if he just kept walking then maybe he would finally find someone who could give him the answers he was looking for.

I just have to know. I… I deserve to-

Taehyung stopped in his tracks, standing in the middle of a random hallway in the castle. It was so abrupt that Jungkook nearly ran into his back.

Did he really deserve to know? Did he even deserve anything at all? So what if the prince kissed him and took him on secret dates to the lake? It was just that, a secret. No one knew the prince loved to hold his face and slot their lips together. No one knew the prince tucked flowers behind his ear and showered him in protection spells. No one except for Sir Jeon maybe, and it wasn’t like he was going to go preach it to every corner of the kingdom any time soon.

He was a loyal knight after all.

His whole life, Taehyung did what was expected of him. He followed whoever had the most power and didn’t question anything. He let himself be used and didn’t find fault in it because even he thought himself weak.

His parents expected him to be a thief, so he stole.

People expected the southern clan to be full of heartless criminals, so he never corrected them.

And now Prince Yoongi was expecting him to be… a what? A lover?

But what came after that? Would Taehyung be forever hidden in the shadows? A stain on Yoongi’s life that the prince would never be proud enough to show to anyone else? There was no denying the affection in Yoongi’s eyes when he looked at him, but what would happen if Taehyung wanted more?

The brunet was having an internal crisis, and Jungkook seemed to notice this because he walked around to stand directly in front of him.

“What are you thinking?”

Too much, Taehyung thought, but he shook his head and hugged himself.

From the beginning, things had been different with Yoongi. Taehyung never felt forced, or expected of anything in the Prince’s presence. He smiled at Yoongi because he wanted to. He held his hand because he wanted to.

He kissed his lips and inhaled his gasps because he absolutely wanted to.

So he couldn’t just write this off as another instance in which he was used or stepped on. There was nothing wrong with what they had, except for the fact that Taehyung had no idea where any of it was going.

And that thought alone terrified him.

“I need to see the Prince,” he breathed, and Sir Jeon looked taken aback.

“Now?”

“Yes, now.”

“You can not show up un--”

“I have done it before so I will do it again,” Taehyung pressed, and there was no convincing him otherwise. He started walking towards Yoongi’s chambers with earnest now. Jungkook followed behind him with protests on his lips.

“Prince Yoongi has been meeting with very important people all day. You can not just--”

“It will be fine.”

“Will it? Taehyung, I don’t think you fully grasp--”

“He loves me.”

As soon as Taehyung said it, he realised it was true. Yoongi was constantly showing him, without telling him, that he loved him. Taehyung didn’t fully understand the word yet, and maybe it wasn’t even at a romantic level, but he knew in his heart that Yoongi loved him. Yoongi had a special space in his heart reserved for Taehyung alone, and that was more than the former thief had ever received from anyone else.

“Taehyung…” Jungkook sighed softly, and it was the first time Taehyung did not hear him sound so detached from his emotions. “Please… be careful.”

“I will,” Taehyung promised, even though he didn’t know if he could be careful when it came to Yoongi.

They finally came upon the prince’s chamber doors, and Taehyung pushed them open before he could lose the nerve to.

“Oh, if it isn’t my friend, Kim Taehyung!” a cheery voice greeted, and Taehyung felt his blood rush up to his ears, blocking out any further sounds.

Prince Yoongi was sitting on the edge of his bed… and in his lap was Jimin, the Prince of Busan.

~+~

Taehyung could see Yoongi pushing Jimin off and walking towards him. He could see the prince’s mouth moving, a pleading look on his face as he reached his hands out to him. Those hands, the same ones that cradled Taehyung’s face and ran through his hair, were now rubbing his arms. They were trying to coax him out of his shocked stuper, but it was like all of the sound in the world had been out by a large sink hole.

Taehyung imagined that very same sinkhole swallowing him whole.

“Is he broken?” Jimin mockingly asked, and Yoongi looked over his shoulder to shoot him a glare.

“You should get out.”

Jimin looked offended. “Excuse me? Shouldn’t he be the one to leave? He entered your personal chambers unannounced! If your father hears about this--”

“Father will know nothing,” Yoongi snapped. “You will leave and you will say nothing to no one. Do I make myself clear?”

Jimin slowly closed his mouth, looking somewhat scared at the expression on Yoongi’s face.

“Very well then,” he harrumphed, before storming out.

Taehyung could see Yoong directing his attention to him again, and his ears gradually started to let back in all of the sound. He took in a deep breath and exhaled it.

“You two were--”

“We did nothing. Prince Jimin is a very forward person, and took it upon himself to climb into my lap.”

“I saw him. I saw you,” Taehyung pressed, and he didn’t realize he was crying until the salt from one of his tears was caught by the corner of his mouth.

That’s strange. I almost never cry.

“Believe me when I say I did not plan on doing anything with him, Little Flower,” Yoongi said, and Taehyung hated that he was using a nickname he loved so much in a situation like this.

“You did not push him off.”

“But--”

“Only when you saw me did you push him off. You had him on your lap.”

“It was never in my intention for things to escalate to--”

“Yoongi, do you love me?”

A tattoo hand fell from his arm, and then the other dropped as well. Yoongi straightened up as he looked at him, and Taehyung did not like how he could visibly see the walls of a prince come up in Yoongi’s eyes. He could see the rules, the mandates and everything else in this world that said they couldn’t be together.

“I should have Sir Jeon take you back to your room, so that you can calm down.”

Taehyung shook his head and stepped closer. He felt like he was being dragged out to sea by a strong wave, and Yoongi was the beautiful ship he so desperately needed to swim back to.

I can not lose you.

“I do not know what love is,” Taehyung whispered. “I am just a boy from the southern clan after all, but I know that I feel something strongly when I am with you, Prince Yoongi. You have made me the happiest I have ever been, but I have no idea how you feel and it is frustrating.”

Yoongi clenched his jaw and swallowed. He was holding himself back from reaching out for the crying boy in front of him.

“Outside this room I told Sir Jeon that you love me, but then I walk inside to see you and Prince Jimin in a compromising position. Am I wrong about love? Is the person you love supposed to hurt you?”

"Compromising," Yoongi chuckled softly at the word, but there was a pained expression in his eyes. "Junmyeon is teaching you well."

Taehyung would usually smile at the compliment and blush, but all he could do was stare at Yoongi and take in every word he said. Hoping to hear the one thing he needed to know. 

“Magic is the closest I have ever come to love, and it is all I know on the subject,” the prince answered with a pained expression, lifting his marked arms and holding them up in front of him. “These markings? They are the work of magic and a mother’s love. Both my mother and I were dying during childbirth, and she told Namjoon’s father to use her dying breath to save me. He had to tap into a lot of raw, dark magic but it worked. I was left with green hair and these symbols permanently etched into my skin, but I never hated them because they saved me.”

Taehyung stared at the lines he had traced so often.

“So I mean it when I say magic saved my life. I love it and it loves me. As for what I share with you…”

The brunet looked up, and he felt something in him break when he saw that Yoongi’s eyes were closed so tight that the edges crinkled.

“My kingdom has to come first.”

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